Most of the Bibles, and nearly all the religious teachers of the world,
have represented God as being a personal being, and, at the same time,
an infinite spirit. But that is another of the "thousand and one"
absurdities that have been taught and believed in the name of religion.
A personal being must, in all cases, be an organized being. This is so
self-evident as to need no argument; and that an organized being can not
be an infinite being is almost equality self-evident. An organized
being must be a finite being. The word "finite" is used to express the
opposite of "infinite." To assume, therefore, that a finite being, or
a being with a finite body, can also be infinite, is equivalent to
assuming that a thing can be white and black, large and small, long and
short, light and heavy, &c., at the same time; which is a self-evident
absurdity. A personal being must be constituted of different parts, or
members,--as a head, heart, body, feet, &c.; and, if such a being
could be infinite, then each member must be infinite. But as it is
self-evident that a being to be infinite must fill all space, and that
nothing can be infinite unless it does occupy all space, it can be seen
at once, that, if one member were infinite, it would occupy all space,
which would preclude the possibility of another member being infinite.
Thus we are completely swamped at the first step toward making a
personal God infinite. Here let it be noted that the God of the Bible
is represented as possessing all the members of the human body,--eyes
(1 Pet. iii. 12), ears (Ibid.), nose (Isa. 65, 5), mouth (Isa. xiv. 23),
feet (Rev. i. 15), arms (Isa. xxx. 30), hands (Exod. xiii. 3), fingers
(Exod. viii. 19), head (Dan. vii. 9), heart (Isa. lxiii. 4), lips (Ps.
xvii. 4), &c. Now, it is evidently impossible that such a being could
be infinite. We may be told that these members are all to be taken in a
spiritual sense. Granted, and the thing is equally impossible; for they
must still be separate members. There could be no possible sense in
applying all these terms to the whole being. They must apply to separate
parts; and, the moment we use terms which imply the existence of
more than one part, we concede the impossibility of such a God being
infinite: for only one part, one being, or one thing can be infinite.
There can not be two infinite beings,--self-evidently not.
And there are other logical difficulties in the way of admitting the
existence of an infinite personal God. If there could be such a thing as
an infinite personality or organized being, it is evident that only one
such being could exist. What, then, becomes of the Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost, and also the Devil? They are all spoken of in the Bible as
being omnipresent. Hence they must all be infinite, which is another
self-evident impossibility. We could as easily conceive of two heads
wearing the same hat at the same time, as two such beings being
infinite. If one of them is infinite, the others can not be; and
yet each is represented as being omnipresent, which would make them
infinite. And thus we fail in every attempt to make a personal God
infinite. David, in speaking of the God Jehovah, says, "If I descend
into hell, behold thou art there." Then he would not find the Devil
there; for two infinite beings could not be found there. And, if God's
dwelling-place is in hell as well as in heaven, it can make but
little difference which of the two places we go to, as we are told our
happiness will consist in being in his presence.
The defenders of a personal God sometimes have recourse to an
illustrative argument. They tell us that the sun is a local,
circumscribed body, and yet shines to a boundless extent. It is here
assumed that the rays of the sun are a part of the sun; but this is not
true. They once constituted a part of the sun, it is true; but to assume
that they are still a part of the sun, after they have left it, is as
absurd as to assume that the breath is still a part of the human body
after it has escaped from the mouth. Thus every argument and every
illustration fail to establish the self-evident absurdity of a personal
God of the orthodox world being an infinite being; or, in other words,
of their conception of a God conforming to the teachings of science and
good sense.
Those who assume the existence of a personal God must hold him
accountable for all the crime and all the misery existing in the world.
For such a God could not be controlled or circumscribed in his
actions by any arbitrary laws; and hence could and should, by personal
interference, put a stop to all the crime, misery, suffering, and wrong
of every description existing on earth; and the fact that he does not do
it we hold to be _prima-facie_ evidence that there is no personal God,
but that every thing is governed by fixed, immutable laws, which control
God himself, and which no God can alter.
Note.--We have shown in the twelve preceding chapters that all the
leading doctrines of Christianity are wrong,--from that of a belief in
divine revelation to that of the conception of a personal God. Hence a
better religion is needed for this age.