Introduction
The various views of God’s existence provide a plurality of ideas and arguments used to justify God’s meaning as a phenomenon. Rational, theological, and critical ideas form the underlying principles of the probability of God’s existence. A unified view of God is impossible because denying it would have a more significant effect. Instead, one must accept that God and his creations are different manifestations of the divine and not confuse transcendence with rationality.
Perception of God
The perception of the rationality of faith depends on many factors and, above all, an understanding of what ends faith leads to soul’s fullness. Whether it is only the pursuit of rationality and explanation that one seeks or whether the transcendence of God delights in and thereby compels one to believe given supra-rationality (Rea, 2020). An essential aspect of this question is the very understanding of truth and revelation that is theoretically or physically attainable (Geisler & Feinberg, 1980). It is the difference in views on the very essence of revelation that conditions the position on the extent to which one can perceive the existence of God and reflect it in one’s reality (Hewitt, 2019). The most relevant position seems to be that a reinterpretation of God leads to the fact that its rationality is not denied. This position leads to a worldview in which divine revelation exists and is accepted, but rationalism and drawing the line between the real and the mythological. The irrationality of phenomena is not a reason to deny their myth; consequently, they continue to be part of the worldview and perception.
God as a phenomenon is unusual because it combines a collision of consciousness reflection and creative natural processes. The world’s creation occurred by a set of circumstances, so God used the available substrata and created something new and perfect in his view. That his representations do not collide with the way society perceives them does not diminish his merit. Therefore, the reality of divine influence on the world cannot be denied (Geisler & Feinberg, 1980). The differential understanding of this influence is realized through the perception of observed phenomena and, consequently, is diverse enough that the reality of God is not denied. Accepting only one view reduces all human existence to meaninglessness, which is untrue. God is as much one as he is diverse, which is precisely the arrangement of the world that is most true.
Criticism of God
One view of God’s existence that makes one wonder about being is the pantheistic worldview. In this view, God is one with the universe and every part of it, so every activity is merely the result of a mortal mind (Geisler & Feinberg, 1980). This view simplifies the understanding of things and, at the same time, elevates it to absolute truth. The whole one looks at is always good, and those parts one denies because they are evil are just part of a mistake and a wrong view (Geisler & Feinberg, 1980). Rethinking the world this way brings the person to the knowledge that unchanging truths are good. These truths are set by the nature of things and the nature of God, who acts as the criterion of the perfect and the imperfect. As long as one’s view of the world fluctuates within the framework of simple truths, one can determine the causes of one’s doubts and, consequently, the errors of the mind that can lead to evil.
Denial of God and his place in society is a failure to understand why his existence as a whole is possible. A conflict arises between what is perceived under the universe by the scientist and creator and what the atheist current assumes without a rational grain. Eternity as a universe is a concept to describe the relation to the world, not the existence of something from outside (Geisler & Feinberg, 1980). One should perceive divine influence, speech, and essence as entirely different things because otherwise, the very meaning of God is confused (Mosser, 2021). It is essential to accept the necessity of denying each element because it is impossible to establish truth unless each component is examined separately and all false or irrational variants are discarded. To believe that the process of agreement alone shapes attitudes toward God is not rational. Doubt is a natural part of the journey to God, so each persona opens a path to transcendence (Geisler & Feinberg, 1980). This path is how the Divine is perceived and why His creations do not entirely reflect Himself.
Conclusion
The perception of God is a way of knowing one’s way of understanding the universe, reality, and transcendence. Doubt and criticism are part and parcel of knowing the divine discourses and creations because truth cannot be known without understanding imperfect things. The good can be seen only if one sees things as a Whole and understands the relationship of each part to the other. Simple truths are always virtues, so the perception of evil is only a consequence of a mortal mind that has not yet discovered transcendence and completed the journey to God.
Reference
Geisler, N. L. & Feinberg, P. D. (1980). Introduction to philosophy. A Christian perspective. Baker Academic.
Hewitt, S. (2019). God is not a person (an argument via pantheism). International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, 85, 281–296. Web.
Mosser, C. (2021). Deification and union with God, in T&T Clark companion to analytic theology, Arcadi, J. M. & Turner, J. T. (eds). Bloomsbury (pp. 269–280).
Rea, M. C. (2020). God beyond being: Towards a credible account of divine transcendence”, in Essays in Analytic Theology, 1, Michael C. Rea (ed.). Oxford University Press (pp. 120–137).