Origins of Creation
Exported from Holy-Writings.com on 2026-07-06 - 1 clipping

Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Farjam Majd, Origins of Creation, bahai-library.com.
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

Origins of Creation

Farjam Majd
published in Lights of Irfán15, pp. 229-290

Wilmette: Haj Mehdi Armand Colloquium, 2014

Abstract: Probably the most ancient and fundamental question of all times on the individual and the collective mind is: "Is there a God?"

The answer to this question has profound implications, and indeed direct impact on the life of mankind and how it looks upon the very meaning and purpose of life. It can change what we strive for, how we look at ourselves and others, what goals we set, and how we live. In regards to proof of existence of God, opinions range from "there is no god," to "the existence of God cannot be proven or disproven," to "the existence of God can be proven." `Abdu'l-Bahá was of the latter mind, and this paper follows His lead.

The meaning of proof, types of proof, and conditions of the existence of a proof are explored. A few of the classical proofs of the existence of God are briefly examined. Some of the modern reasons believed by some to show why God is not needed to explain the universe are also reviewed.

The proof of existence of God is pursued on two levels, which have been the traditional stomping grounds of those examining this question: the phenomenal world and its fundamental laws and properties, and the evolution of species on earth. The approaches chosen are necessarily extra-scientific, that is, beyond the domain of science, but not beyond the domain of rational discourse. More specifically, it is shown that "something cannot result from nothing," or put metaphorically, "there is no free lunch." This pre-existence principle is applied to the physical world itself and the properties embedded therein.

The pre-existence principle is also applied to the phenomenon of evolution by examining information contents at various organizational levels of living organisms. A second approach applied to evolution is based on probabilities. A simplified model of DNA permutation is presented and argued that low level organizations cannot spontaneously assemble into higher level organizations by a purely random process.

It is concluded that the ultimate source of pre-existence is God, and that the pre-existent properties are attributes of God. It is further concluded that the DNA molecule is endowed with pre-existent potentials and configurations of life gradually triggered to be revealed over the course of time, which is outwardly observed as evolution.

Download: lights15_majd_creation.pdf.

METADATA

Views5297 views since posted 2015-03-18; last edit 2015-10-30 23:49 UTC;

previous at archive.org.../majd_origins_creation
Language
English
Permission
editor and publisher
Share

Shortlink: bahai-library.com/4488
Citation: ris/4488

select Collection:
Archives
Articles
Articles-unpublished
Audio
Bibliographies
BIC
Biographies
Books
Chronologies
Compilations
Compilations-NSA
Compilations-personal
Documents
East-asia
Encyclopedia
Essays
Etc
Excerpts
Fiction
Glossaries
Guardian
Histories
Introductory
Letters
Maps
Music
Newspapers
NSA-documents
NSA-letters
Personal
Pilgrims
Poetry
Presentations
Resources
Reviews
Scripts
Software
Statistics
Study
Talks
Theses
Transcripts
Translations
UHJ-documents
UHJ-letters
Video
Visual
Writings

home

sitemap

series

chronology

search:
author

title

date

tags

adv. search
languages

inventory

bibliography

abbreviations

links

about

contact

RSS

new
-- Origins of Creation (Used by permission of the curator)