Do you remember your first day of school? Your first date? the first time you fell in love? Your first child's first tooth, or her first step? There are many firsts in life. Everything has to have a beginning. But how did the "beginning of the beginning" happen?

This question has been circulating since the beginning of recorded time. Ask INFIDEL, or AGNOSTIC and you will get one answer. BELIEVER will give you another.

INFIDEL: an agnostic, atheist, unbeliever (one who does not accept aпу religious belief).

BELIEVER: one who has conviction of acceptance that something is true or real.

Let's see what these fellows have to say about "beginnings."

INFIDEL: "If there was a creator a BEGINNER OF BEGINNINGS, who created him-or IT? It would be impossible for the BEING to be mortal, as all living creatures need oxygen to live. Where could IT dwell? Of what substance could IT be composed?

"No one can be sure how things got started. There are far too many unanswered questions. It is beyond the human mind to comprehend anything other than material phenomena. Unlike gullible BELIEVER, who swallows anything that is rammed down his throat, I am a rationalist, a skeptic. However, as long as my thought exists I will continue to search for the answer to the question of BEGINNINGS."

BELIEVER: "The first words in the Bible-which, of course Infidel does not believe—are: In the beginning GOD created the heavens and the earth.
(Genesis 1:1) As for substance of the BEGINNER OF BEGINNINGS, He needs neither body nor atmosphere to contain Him. He is GOD, and God is a Spirit. God does not have a natural or bodily nature. And the Creator did not need a creator. He has life in Himself. (John 5:26) He (God) did not have a BEGINNING because He always was."

INFIDEL: "Rubbish! What you say is impossible. BEGINNINGS connote START. No. It is far easier to accept that the universe, and the earth and its inhabitants, are simply the result of DESIGN, which needs no conscious thought. It could just as easily have happened by a swirling Conglomeration of atoms assembling, like chips floating around in pond, coming together into a loose pattern—"

BELIEVER: "How can you believe that graduating life just HAPPENED? How could the universe just COME TOGETHER like sawdust in a windstorm? Even if that were the case, which it is not, where did the first piece of matter come from to begin this SWIRLING process? It had to come from somewhere. There had to be something—or Someone—who began it all. There had to be a Creator, even of that."

INFIDEL (a.k.a. Agnostic): "Creation by a Divine Being is nothing more than hypothesis, an unproven theory, merely speculation. There is no proof of the existence of God."

BELIEVER: "A God capable of proof would be no God at all" (Jacobi). It is a fact taken for granted, a universal belief that comes from within (even in remote parts of the earth). There may not be proof, but there is evidence. We breathe, don't we? Spring comes every year, bringing with it new life, doesn't it? The sun rises and sets every day; the stars stay in place; the ocean knows its boundaries. What further proof—or evidence—do we need?

"Oh, there's a Creator, all right. He always was, and always will be. It was God who designed the universe. It was God who created the earth. It was God who made man. God is not some disinterested BEING controlling our destiny. He's personal. He cares about His creation. He made man with a free will and gave him provision to avail himself of a choice as to his final destiny."

INFIDEL: "Well, I agree about the choice of final destiny. Look at the progress man has made. Look at how far he has EVOLVED—from the lowest form, to having developed science and technology enough to put a man on the moon."

BELIEVER: "Yes! And what of this technology, this science? Who created science? Where did the knowledge come from? Can science alone create a rose, with its beauty and aroma? Can it cause a fragrant pine tree to spring up out of nowhere? Is science responsible for making the honey bee, or designing a delicate butterfly? Can science give wisdom to the birds to tell them when to take flight, or give them the ability for that flight? And what about the intricacies of a human being, who breathes, who can think, who can love, who can procreate another of its kind? Is this a gift of science?

"And you say you cannot know that the Creator—GOD—exists? How can you doubt Who it was that brought about the BEGINNINGS?"

INFIDEL: "Your speech is very eloquent. But man cannot find truth if he develops an uncompromising attitude, as you seem to have. He must allow room to interpret, to discover, to debate."

BELIEVER: "Hold it! Even though you may question what I say. I suggest you ponder the words of one of the greatest prophets of all time, Isaiah: "Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span?... Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord? ... It is He that sitteth upon the circle of the earth. -.. Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching of His understanding." (from Isaiah 40:12.13.21.22, and 28. KJV) — but of course you don't believe the Bible, do you? —Well, read these passages anyway. How can you argue with that?"

INFIDEL: "I don't believe that a human can know the truth until he or she has traveled to the ends of the universe. Only then, when natural laws no longer apply, will humankind be able to unravel the riddle of his existence. Only then will we fully comprehend the truth of IN THE BEGINNING. That is all I have to say."

BELIEVER: "Well one day I expect to be in that dimension where natural laws, as we know them, no longer apply. When the Creator has completed His final redemption; when believers are forever united with Him; when our mortal bodies shall be changed to immortal and can no longer restrain us; then we shall journey to the furthest reaches of the universe, thus witnessing personally, the solution to the RIDDLE OF EXISTENCE.' Then, it will be only THE BEGINNING."


© Helen Dowd

hmdowd@telus.net