Einstein believed in God. He called his god is a Cosmological God who once created the universe, does not intervene with his creation again. So I think his god does not interfere with our human world in any activities. He believed that there was a beginning and an ending of the universe. His god is more a creator rather than a god.

For Spinoza, God is equated with substance that is Nature. On the other hand, God does not create anything that is different from Him, so He is Nature himself in another sense. Being does not mean being that is created by god, but simply God’s being. Man is not free and the world does not have a teleological end; everything is necessary and causally determined. Man is a slave because he believes he is free while being drawn along by necessity. Only one type of freedom remains open: knowledge. So the terms God, substance, Nature and Being describe the same thing.

For Hegel, being, through its internal movement, has hurled us into nothingness, and nothingness into being, and we cannot remain stationary in either of the two. Being has passed into nothingness and nothingness has passed into being. This is becoming. Hegel’s God, the absolute, exists only in a state of becoming. Hegel concludes, it can be said that the content of the Logic (pure reason) is the exposition of God as He is in His eternal essence, before the Creation of nature. This implies that God could be an entity as an “Absolute Law” before the creation of the universe. God does not interfere with the world. God is only a Creator.

God is the supreme being, creator and the ruler of the universe. The creator is an entity or being to cause something to exist. God, as the ruler of the universe, He will intervene with our human world. He will judge our thought and behavior whether we are good enough to enjoy the eternity. However, Einstein’s Cosmological God is only a creator and once the universe was created, he will leave his creation alone. The universe is self-sufficient and is capable to continue to exist. The creator would not interfere with our human affairs.

Every thing, says Spinoza, in so far as it exists in itself, tends to persevere in its being. The desire or longing to continue to exist forever is the actual essence of the thing. Thus, to be means to want to be forever, to have a longing for eternity. For Schopenhauer, every object in the world manifests itself as a longing or will to be. In other words, man is entirely controlled by the will to live. The ego can be perceived as a body but also as will. Thus, reality is will.

The will to exist is the essence of the universe. Every living and non-living things have struggled to exist by all means and they long for eternal existence. Thus the will to exist could be the First Cause for the existence of the universe. Again the will is just another name of God or Creator. The singularity starts the Big Bang. Before singularity would the “Will” be the First Cause or Prime Mover as suggested by Aristotole? It is known that at singularity all the laws of science will break down if General Relativity is correct. Therefore I would tend to think that before singularity spacetime could not exist. Perhaps there is only nothingness. What is nothingness? Is the will to exist is a nothingness? According to the Book of Genesis written by Moses, God created the universe by his word. Is that the “word” and the “will” means the same thing?

Scientists have proved that the universe is expanding from the “Red Shift” phenomenon. If the total amount of spacetime is included in the universe, then what is the substance beyond the universe? When the universe is expanding, the stars are moving away from the center of the universe. If the space is finite then the expansion of the universe has a limit. Einstein has introduced a Cosmological Constant in his General Relativity so that the model of the universe is a static one. If the space is infinite, then the universe could be expanding forever if it is necessary. However, according to the general theory of relativity there must have been a state of infinite density in the past, the big bang, which would have been a beginning of time. Similarly, if the whole universe re-collapsed, there must be another state of infinite density in the future, the big crunch, which would be an end of time. If Einstein is right, there must be a God or Creator who has created the universe.

Aquinas follows Aristotle in claiming that there must be something which explains why the universe exists. Since the universe could, under different circumstances, conceivably not exist, its existence must have a cause. It must be something which exists by necessity,. If the universe has always existed, it still owes that existence to Aristotle’s Uncaused Cause. In other words, the existence of the universe requires an explanation, and an active creation of the universe by a being outside of the universe—generally assumed to be God—is that explanation. Bertrand Russell had once said “ I cannot prove that there is not a God, I ought to add equally that I cannot prove that there are not the Homeric gods. ”For most of his adult life, Russell thought it very unlikely that there was a god.

Kierkeggaard wrote: How did I get into the world? Why was I not asked about it, why was I not informed of the rules and regulations but just thrust into this world? How did I get involved in this big enterprise called actuality? Why should I be involved? Isn’t it a matter of choice? And if I am compelled to be involved, where is the manager—I have something to say about this. Is there no manager? To whom I make my complaint? Based on this, Heidgger, and later Sartre, dubbed the term “throwness” to describe this idea that human beings are exposed to or “thrown” into existence – in that we have no choice to come into existence. Sartrean existentialism argues man exists without purpose, finds himself in the world and defines the meaning of his existence. Identities are constructed by the individual consciousness only. An “identity” can include beliefs, projects, and various other things of value. Satre argues that no one else, including God if He existed, can choose your “identity” for you. So Sartre and some other existentialism believers deny the existence of God.

In the meantime, let us not to argue whether God does exist or not. Different philosophers have different concepts about God. Let me make a bold assumption that the concept of God is different from that of Creator. The Creator once created the universe He has left His Creation alone for the Creation is self-sufficient. However, God would watch and care our human world and He will make judgements whether our thought and behavior will satisfy Him. He is the only being who will decide every human being’s destiny—whether one can enjoy eternal life or throw him into the hell after death.

King Lee (ID kcl0341)