Questions 4 to 9 - Proofs of the Existence of God
Spirits's replies to Allan Kardec
"In an axiom you apply to all your sciences: ‘There is no effect without a cause.’ If you would search for the cause of whatever is not the work of human beings, then reason will answer your question."
"That God exists; otherwise, where would such a sentiment come from if it were not based on something real? This is an application of the principle that there is no effect without a cause."
“If that were the case, why would members of your primitive cultures have this intuition?”
Allan Kardec's remarks:
If the sentiment of the existence of a Supreme Being were only the product of education, it would not be universal. Like all scientific ideas, it would only exist in the minds of those who received such education.
"Even if you could, what in turn would be the cause of those properties? There must always be a first cause."
Allan Kardec's remarks:
To attribute the first formation of things to the innermost properties of matter would be to mistake the effect for the cause since such properties are themselves an effect that must have had a prior cause.
"Another absurdity! How could anyone with any common sense believe that chance is an intelligent agent? Moreover, what is chance? Nothing."
Allan Kardec's remarks:
The harmony that governs the forces of the universe reveals certain set combinations and designs, and thus an intelligent power. To attribute the first formation of things to chance would be nonsense because chance is blind and cannot produce intelligent results. An intelligent chance would no longer be chance.
"You have a proverb that says, ‘The workman is known by his work.’ So, look at the work and you will find the ‘Workman’! Pride is what creates disbelief. Human pride believes in nothing above itself, and that is why people think they are so powerful. Poor beings! A mere breath from God could blow them over!"
Allan Kardec's remarks:
We judge the power of an intelligence by its works. Since no human being could create what nature produces, it is obvious that the first cause must be an intelligence superior to humankind.
Whatever may be the marvels accomplished by human intelligence, such intelligence itself must have a cause; the greater the results, the greater the first cause must have been. No matter what name you give it, that intelligence is the first cause of all things.
KARDEC, Allan. The Spirits’ Book. 3.ed. International Spiritist Council, 2011.
Allan Kardec's remarks:
To believe in God, we need only to behold the works of creation. The universe exists; therefore, it must have a cause. To doubt God’s existence would be to deny that every effect has a cause and to believe that something could have resulted from nothingness.