Does God exist?

I had a really great conversation with my children last night.  We talked about religion.  Micah gave the "god-of-the-gaps" argument: that there is no real God, people just make up a god to explain the things with which we are ignorant.  For example, we don't need to invoke a god of rain because we can make our own rain by pumping water out of the ground.  Or, we no longer need to pray to God to remove a pestilence because we have antibiotics.  Of course this is a logical fallacy.  Let's say I have to call a plumber every time I have a need, but then I learn about plumbing and don't need him anymore, does the plumber cease to exist?  Or, when we grow up and are able to make our own money, buy our own house and food and no longer need our parents, do they cease to exist?  Understanding natural laws and being able to take care of ourselves does in no way preclude the existence or need for God.

We talked about other fallacious arguments that there is no God: the existence of evil and death, the clock maker who makes the clock and walks away, Einstein didn't believe and he was smart so he should know, natural evolution, the big bang, and so forth.  The people who propagate these arguments have not learned to think clearly.  They don't know about logic so they make up things that sound good.  I told my children that they had to go to church with me so they would know how to think and understand logic, and not just accept what society gives them.  So far, every (with few notable exceptions) orthodox teaching in every society has been wrong.

As children do, they talked about belief.  "I believe..." was the beginning of all arguments.  This is childish because mature people are not so self-centered; they know that reality falls outside of belief.  My believing the world is flat doesn't make it so.  Maturity requires that we seek truth so we can conform to it.  Ignorance creates pain, suffering, death, destruction, and all that is evil.  By finding truth we can change our beliefs and find happiness, power and ease of life.  I explained that they needed to go to church and seek pearls of wisdom so they can change their beliefs and conform to reality. 

They also need to know that over half of what they hear in church is not true.  God is Holy, or set-apart from the world so our explanations don't come close to who He really is.  This information is given to those few who seek Him and come to know Him intimately, as Abraham, Moses, and others talked with God face-to-face.  The rest of us are like "the blind leading the blind."  We do the best we can, but since none of us has ever seen the whole elephant, we can only describe it by the part we feel.  The key is to find those beautiful little pearls that each person has to give, and just let go of the ugly oyster.  It's a talent, and it takes time to learn, but it's definitely worth the effort.