Who Needs an External God?

Who needs an external God?

Cover Page

It has been often argued that there must exist an external God i.e. God external to nature and universe to account for creation/origin, evolution and management of nature and universe. Almost all religions advocate existence of external God which has been described as omnipresent and omnipotent but which is not amenable to sensory perception. It is further stated by almost all religions that the said external God is a matter of experience, feeling, faith and belief and realizing the same would lead one to a state of eternal bliss. It is also said that one is unable to experience that external God only because of one’s inexperience and lack of devotion. This external God is regarded as the ultimate cause and explanation for all natural phenomena that are otherwise inexplicable.

However, if there existed an omnipotent God capable of doing anything and everything, then why should it be constrained in creation by time, place, natural laws, material resources etc. Why there are only 2 million known species of plants and animals on earth and why not all the biodiversity that human mind can imagine can actually be seen. Why an omnipotent external God needs to be bound by its own creations i.e.  natural laws, order of natural origins/creations and properties of various components of nature and universe. Why should this external God opt for natural hierarchy and be dependent upon history in order to express its creativity. Why should that external God create its own rival i.e. man. Why does an external omnipotent God need to establish natural order.  An omnipotent external God could have easily managed its ends without trappings of an order.  Why and how an unconstrained, omnipotent, external God need to and establish universality of communication, co-operation and interaction among its creations. For example for viruses to cause various illnesses, they should be able to interact with genome of their host. How an external God would be able to manage its affairs at all times and at all places. How would one explain relationships, particularly biological relationships such as symbiosis, commensalism, parasitism etc. in a universe created by an external God.

Perception of a natural order induce one to think of an omnipotent external God as the source of the perceived order. But existence of a natural order in itself is antithetical to existence of an omnipotent external God, since there is no reason that such an external God would admit any constraints to its own activities imposed by natural order. So to explain natural order in terms of an external God is self contradictory and absurd.

The universe created by an external God would be quite unlike the universe we see today. It would be more like a universe created by a software engineer devoid of universality of communication and interaction, plagued by compatibility issues and can’t be self evolving and self-healing. For each and every difficulty one would have to rush to the software engineer for effective resolution.

A universe created by an external God can’t be self-evolving, self-organizing, self-managing and self-sustaining. Relationships would be meaningless in such a universe.

Therefore, there can only be an embedded God that expresses itself through its material creations as some of the properties of its creations, is omnipresent but is not omnipotent since it has to provide room to its creations for their self expression. Therefore this embedded God is constrained by natural laws and natural order, yet exercises influences that prevail over the rest. Only an embedded God can explain universality of communication, interaction, co-operation, relationships. Such an embedded God is bound by its own rules/natural laws, so does not derogate its laws but supersedes them by acquisition of higher functions materially expressing as higher formations and this is how evolution proceeds. Only an embedded God contained within its own creations can explain this self-evolving, self-organizing, self-managing and self-sustaining universe.

This God, internal to nature need not have any physical form but its presence can be felt in pursuit of the first cause. This embedded God need not be and is not omnipotent, is rather constrained in its creativity in various ways which includes determination of realizable potentialities and selection thereof.

Therefore, to understand cosmic phenomena, we do not need an external omnipotent God. Rather we need an embedded God that is constrained ab initio and that must have preceded creation of nature and universe, is valid across the natural hierarchy and is as effective today as in the past.  

Author: Dr Mahesh C. Jain is a practicing medical doctor has written the book “Encounter of Science with Philosophy – A synthetic view”. The book begins with first chapter devoted to scientifically valid concept of God and then explains cosmic phenomena right from origin of nature and universe up to origin of life and evolution of man. The book includes several chapters devoted to auxiliary concepts and social sciences as corollaries to the concept of God.

www.sciencensgod.com/clipboard.htm

Visit: http://www.sciencengod.com

          http://www.sciencengod.com/clipboard.htm