Did our creator create you and everything else in existence? Does it build into everything it creates the ability to reproduce itself? For example, each plant produces seeds some of which automatically grow into copies of themselves through the fertilization process our creator built into it. Each male animal was created with an instinct that causes it to fertilize an egg in a female of its type. All this happens without consent. Plants and animals cannot decide not to reproduce. Only humans were created with the free will whether to reproduce. Our creator made its creation of every human dependent on two humans’ willingness to initiate that creation through a process we call procreation.
It gave us the ability to take part in the creation of every human being. Hopefully, it will not allow us to create a human being on our own! Almost certainly we would screw it up, resulting in dire and untold consequences. Still, can any human be created without our cooperation?
Why would our creator prevent itself from creating human beings without our participation? Why would our creator make its creation of humans dependent on our procreation? Might it want us to partner with it in the act of creation? Could it be because it wants us to know what it is to be a creator? In so doing, might its intent be that we come to know it better?
What can we learn about our creator from our experience as procreators? Do you love the children you create? Does everyone you have encountered love the children they create as well? If you have never encountered a procreator that doesn’t love the child it created, is it not a pretty safe bet that all creators, including our creator, love what they create? Can we not conclude that our creator loves us?
But wait! Would that conclusion not be unsubstantiated the first time we encountered a creator that did not love what it created? Upon reflection, do we not witness those exceptions regularly? What about those who procreate accidently or as a result of rape? Do not some of them abandon or even abort their children? What about those incapable of love, either due to never having experienced it from others or due to extreme narcissism or self-centredness? If even one of these does not love its child, then our conclusion, that every creator loves its created, has no foundation.
But what if we were to limit our observation of creators to those who create intentionally and are capable of love? This would not exclude our creator because, to have created all of us and everything that exists, it must be capable and intentional. Let’s apply this to our prior thinking. If you have never encountered a capable and intentional creator that doesn’t love the child it created, is it not a pretty safe bet that all capable and intentional creators, including our creator, love what they create? Can we safely conclude that our creator loves us?
If you'd value learning how to apply disciplined reasoning in support of what you've just read, you'll find it in the Meaning of Life Video Series. In addition, the series will show you how to establish reason-based knowledge of the meaning of life. Happy reasoning!
Del H. Smith conducts research into life’s meaning and is the award-winning author of the AMAZON Best Seller, Discovering Life’s Purpose.