Course:Meetings for teaching/Existence of God/Teleological/study questions

Study Questions & Sample Answers

1. On Types of Order (Some Answered Questions, Ch. 1)

Questions: What is the difference between simple self-organizing patterns (like snowflakes) and the "interdependent coordination" 'Abdu'l-Bahá describes in nature? Why is this distinction crucial for proving a Conscious Creator?

Sample Answer: Simple patterns like snowflakes occur through basic, repetitive physical forces acting on uniform elements. Interdependent coordination involves diverse, unconscious components acting together to achieve a complex, shared goal (like organs in a body or parts in a telegraph). This distinction is crucial because while simple symmetry can be explained by basic physics, coordinated cooperation among blind parts requires an overarching, conscious agency that understands and directs the whole system.

2. On the Creator and Creation (Some Answered Questions, Ch. 2)

Questions: How does 'Abdu'l-Bahá use the analogy of the painter and the painting to illustrate the relationship between God and humanity?

Sample Answer: 'Abdu'l-Bahá uses the painter and painting to show that an effect is inherently limited and dependent, whereas the creator possesses higher capacities than the artwork itself (e.g., the painting cannot paint itself or understand the painter). Similarly, humanity cannot be the source of its own existence, and our Creator must possess capacities superior to our own.

3. On Cause and Effect (Some Answered Questions, Ch. 1, Par. 6)

Questions: Explain the "root and branch" argument in plain language, including how to respond to the objection that "branches grow fruits that roots don't have."

Sample Answer: The argument states that a cause (the root) cannot produce a capacity in an effect (the branch) that is fundamentally absent from its own nature. While a physical branch may bear fruit that the root lacks outwardly, the genetic potential for that fruit exists throughout the whole organism. Likewise, if humanity possesses consciousness, the capacity for mind must be inherent in the primary Source of reality, rather than an accidental byproduct of mindless matter.

4. On Systemic Unity (Tablet to Auguste Forel, pars. 24-29)

Questions: How does 'Abdu'l-Bahá use the human body and workshop machinery to argue for an "all-unifying Power"?

Sample Answer: He shows that while parts of a body or machine interact, their blind interaction alone cannot explain why they work in organized harmony toward a single goal. Just as the invisible human mind is required to coordinate the body's organs, an all-embracing Universal Power is necessary to coordinate the infinite, diverse parts of nature so they work together without falling into chaos.

5. Critique and Reflection (Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 82)

Questions: Imagine a skeptic argues that "we don't need a God because science explains how natural laws work." How would you use 'Abdu'l-Bahá's talks to respond?

Sample Answer: Science describes the routines and behaviors of natural laws (the how), but it does not explain why those laws exist in the first place or what enforces them. 'Abdu'l-Bahá points out that nature is unconscious; it obeys laws without knowing it obeys them. Describing the routine of a law does not eliminate the need for a conscious Mind that established and maintains those laws.