Within all the theological debates, there has been one thing all parties have been able to agree upon: God cannot be witnessed or imagined. In spite of this agreement, theists and atheists immediately revert to what they agreed is impossible when defending their positions. Theists describe God in ways that can be likened to something measurable or ways that inspires the imagination. Atheists demand sensory evidence as the only valid proof for God.
It is easy to blame this tendency on sensory perception being our primary learning tool. That excuse falls apart when we realize it isn’t our only tool. It’s not even our most reliable. Magicians and optical illusions are constant reminders that vision isn’t as trustworthy as some people imply.
Math and logic are not just tools we use to clear up any confusion when what we perceive doesn’t match our beliefs. They are also useful in taking what we can observe to extract information that we can’t observe. While people act like it is taboo to use logic and math in regards to theology, a reality that cannot be perceived or imagined would be the perfect situation for their application.
You Cannot Escape Reality
Whether your aim is to accept or reject the concept of God, logic and math offer the same evidence and proof of a creator. Because the results challenge and ultimately disprove essential ideas from both sides of the typical theological debate, the reaction is evasion and deflection. I may be the one introducing the truth to you, but the truth itself is not my invention or opinion.
What if I’m right about God and you choose to ignore me? Even with your most vicious personal insults, who will you hurt most? What does it say about you when you choose to be confused about a subject you care so much about? What are you gaining by ignoring me? Even if you think you are protecting your ego, wouldn’t pride in being right about something this important do more to boost it than admitting you were wrong can damage it?
What’s At Stake
If I’m wrong about God, it would be easy to point out the flaw. I use zero’s foundational role in math as a mirror for God’s role as the origin of everything to which numbers can be applied. If you want to argue zero isn’t foundational, argue with any good math teacher and the number line. If you think there is a logical reason to exclude zero from math’s application to reality, express it. If you think there is something created that is more valuable than the creator because you have access to it, show it off.
I have taken on the burden of proof, so if I’m wrong I’ve made it easy for my assertions to be debunked. The time wasted in refuting me would be minimal. If you are convinced that what you believe is sound and there is logical reason to believe it, don’t ignore me. Put your belief to the test. Because, if I’m right and you choose to ignore me, you are inviting unnecessary grief into your life that could be avoided.
The God Analogy
I’ve summed up my logical conclusion about God into the analogy: God is to reality what zero is to math. It is not an attempt to argue by analogy. It is an attempt to get the message to your eyes and ears before your bias can distort it. Unfortunately, comprehension is filtered through a lens that bends what we receive into something that fits our wants or expectations. If I can’t avoid your bias, let’s confront it.
There is no reason to use alternative uses for zero as a shield against the only use I refer to. Just because zero can be used to refer to emptiness or null value doesn’t stop it from being foundational. Its role in place value is irrelevant to its role in defining the value of all numbers. The ability to bake, broil, or stew chicken doesn’t take away from or add to the ability to fry it. As the foundational reference point in math, zero deserves the highest esteem because even the greatest value depends on it for existence and definition.
Since zero has no opposite, there is no need to get hung up on activity, animation, or personification. Every action having an equal and opposite reaction isn’t just a law of thermodynamics. It is a law of reality proven by math itself. Whatever virtue you deem worthy of praise counters a negative. Without the negative, the positive is useless. Zero is without flaw or surplus, which makes activity or change unnecessary.
Before I introduced the analogy, both sides already agreed God is not perceivable or imaginable. After the introduction of the analogy would be an awful time to get hung up on those inabilities. Sensory perception is our matter’s recognition of the matter outside of us. Imagination is just its simulation. We shouldn’t expect to perceive the origin of matter. The comparison to zero holds up because we can’t use other numbers to define zero. It is defined by their absence.
A Dishonest Debate is Unwelcome
In order to resist the logic of understanding God by comparing zero’s foundational role in math, you will have to get personal or evasive. Is your conviction that I’m wrong so strong that you must drop context and build strawman arguments? Are you going to call me arrogant and unwilling to see the flaws in my logic even though you can’t point to any?
Will you make the absolute statement that absolute realities don’t exist or we can’t know them? Are you going to belittle math and act like we invented the principles because we invented the sounds and symbols within it? Will you pretend it is possible to replace God with some fictional characters in my analogy?
My Honest Response to Evasion
In complex matters, it is virtually impossible to avoid using some key words that have multiple meanings or varying connotations. Because I’m aware of this, I have taken the time to give context to anything that could be ambiguous. Ignoring parts of what I’ve already addressed in order to feign confusion or muddy any clarity exposes your desire appear victorious rather than ascertain what is true.
Who I am and how I feel about myself is irrelevant. There is no way to avoid ruffling feathers while telling people with strong convictions that they are wrong. Instead of focusing on what’s wrong, I focus on what’s right. Your views only come up in order to compare and contrast. Any feelings of a personal attack are because your identity is wrapped up in your beliefs. I am only trying to help.
Absolute realities exist. If there were no absolute and unavoidable reality that is beyond our control, everything would be like a dream where each of us is in control of reality. We wouldn’t be able to have shared experiences. Learning would be impossible and debate would be futile if you believed that. Our cognition is limited and there are gaps in our knowledge, but we are able to know what we know.
The sounds and symbols in math are our inventions, but the concepts and principles they represent are discoveries. Zero is not mysterious. We know exactly how it is defined and we know its role in defining every other value. It is so basic, we learn about zero’s role in math as children during the introduction of algebra.
Brahmagupta defined zero and Muhammad ibn Musa applied it to value estimation and balancing equations centuries ago. Calculus and quantum mechanics don’t refute their findings. That’s why we are still taught what they discovered long before any of us were born. Challenging me to reassert them so that you can pretend they are my opinions is an admission you have no leg to stand on.
No fictional character can replace God in my analogy. If you believe a spaghetti monster, leprechaun, unicorn, or any other mythological creature that can be imagined or illustrated can be used as the foundational reference point for math; you don’t understand how math or analogies work.
If I were to replace the word “God” with an “X” and told you to “solve for x” in the analogy, the only possible result would be the Creator of all, Universal Origin, or Infinite Singularity. The imaginable and human-like traits you associate with God that would be missing are the source of all theological contradictions, which are what the analogy is meant to eliminate.
No Reason to Fight
Resistance to the analogy isn’t just something I expect. It is something I desire. As long as you are being honest with yourself, rational scrutiny is the only way you can be convinced of its accuracy and validity. Once it becomes clear that the logic is sound, there is no reason to continue fighting.
Fully understanding zero’s foundational role in math points to the benefit of worshipping God even though there is no activity on your behalf taking place. Most notably, applying absolute value to reality unlocks the power of positive perspective.
In math, we learn positive and negative are opposing perspectives of the same absolute reality. Even what appears to be negative is positive by default because reality is what it is. Of course, this doesn’t work on material pain and there are some situations that are so heinous that finding the benefit of them seems impossible.
Realizing Heaven and Hell are the same event and death is the only way to reach it helps to make the shift in perspective that’s necessary to take advantage of all that happens. Without an opposite, only the Creator can be the Destroyer. The only way to cease to exist as individuals is to return to God. For those who see no positive, it sounds like torment. For those who see no negative, it is bliss.
The ability to see bliss within the most dreaded mortal event dulls the bad and intensifies the good enough to open the door to experiencing the best of what we experience. The lack of proof for or against God has given us the ability to control the narrative around God and give our inner children a safe haven from reality’s cold intrusions on what we thought was true. The mathematical and logical proof for God allows that child to be free from such fear.
Intellectual Righteousness
There is no reason to ignore or resist these two facts and one opinion: God is to reality what zero is to math. With God is Heaven or Hell. Remembering those two facts can drastically improve your appreciation of all that you experience. They should be understood, accepted, and embraced. All you have to lose are your expectations and hindrances to enjoyment.
You already knew the truth before I pointed it out, but natural tendencies can get in the way. By the time we get introduced to zero, we see it as a lack and think of God as a being. We take pride in our intellect separating us from beasts. It would be a shame not to use it on what’s most important. Explore the unseen constant of reality and you will find peace.
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