It Is Time to Redefine God: A Psychological and Natural Science Perspective

By Riaan Jacobs

It is difficult for many people to make up their mind about the possibility that God exists or does not exist. Does it make any sense to simply believe what you are told about God if there is no physical evidence or any logical explanation for what you are told?

This book is an honest, holistic approach to the concept of God, which focuses upon physical evidence, verifiable scientific facts, and logical arguments from a psychological perspective.

Riaan Jacobs provides answers to many questions that people ask or are too afraid to ask, such as: Why do people believe that God exists?

Why don't religious people and science-oriented people see eye to eye?

Is God a physical being, and what is the Holy Spirit?

Where will the kingdom of God be? This book will show the reader why realistic facts should be reflected within religion.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Oct 30, 2019
• ISBN: 9781645367666

Riaan Jacobs

Riaan Jacobs was born on April 20, 1951, at Fauresmith in the Orange Free State, South Africa, where he grew up in a typical Afrikaans-speaking family that attended the Dutch Reformed Church. After he matriculated in 1968, his mother remarried and they moved to Pretoria. From April 1969, Riaan received training at the Army Gymnasium in Heidelberg and served as an instructor at Danie Theron Military School near Kimberly until his recruitment ended in 1970. From 1971, he studied at Normaal College of Education in Pretoria, where he received the Transvaal Higher Education Diploma (Industrial Arts) in 1974. As a teacher at two secondary schools (Staatspresident C. R. Swart and Menlopark) from 1975 until 1990, he studied part-time at the University of Pretoria and at the University of South Africa. After Riaan received his Med. (Psychology) in 1990, he became a psychologist at the Department of Education in Pretoria. He continued his studies and received his PhD on March 29, 1996. During his years as a psychologist, he mentored three post-graduate students and assisted them to get their dissertations ready for submission. He continued to work as a psychologist at the Gauteng Department of Education until he retired on April 30, 2016.

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About The Author

Riaan Jacobs was born on April 20, 1951, at Fauresmith in the Orange Free State, South Africa, where he grew up in a typical Afrikaans-speaking family that attended the Dutch Reformed Church.

After he matriculated in 1968, his mother remarried and they moved to Pretoria. From April 1969, Riaan received training at the Army Gymnasium in Heidelberg and served as an instructor at Danie Theron Military School near Kimberly until his recruitment ended in 1970.

From 1971, he studied at Normaal College of Education in Pretoria, where he received the Transvaal Higher Education Diploma (Industrial Arts) in 1974. As a teacher at two secondary schools (Staatspresident C. R. Swart and Menlopark) from 1975 until 1990, he studied part-time at the University of Pretoria and at the University of South Africa.

After Riaan received his Med. (Psychology) in 1990, he became a psychologist at the Department of Education in Pretoria. He continued his studies and received his PhD on March 29, 1996.

During his years as a psychologist, he mentored three post-graduate students and assisted them to get their dissertations ready for submission. He continued to work as a psychologist at the Gauteng Department of Education until he retired on April 30, 2016.

About The Book

It is difficult for many people to make up their mind about the possibility that God exists or does not exist. Does it make any sense to simply believe what you are told about God if there is no physical evidence or any logical explanation for what you are told?

This book is an honest, holistic approach to the concept of God, which focuses upon physical evidence, verifiable scientific facts, and logical arguments from a psychological perspective.

Riaan Jacobs provides answers to many questions that people ask or are too afraid to ask, such as:

Why do people believe that God exists?

Why don’t religious people and science-oriented people see eye to eye?

Is God a physical being, and what is the Holy Spirit?

Where will the kingdom of God be?

This book will show the reader why realistic facts should be reflected within religion.

Dedication

I dedicate this book to my children, who find it difficult to understand why I sometimes disagree with some traditional religious interpretations and convictions.

Copyright Information ©

Riaan Jacobs (2019)

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher.

Any person who commits any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

Ordering Information:

Quantity sales: special discounts are available on quantity purchases by corporations, associations, and others. For details, contact the publisher at the address below.

Publisher’s Cataloging-in-Publication data

Jacobs, Riaan

It Is Time to Redefine God: A Psychological and Natural Science Perspective

ISBN 9781645367666 (ePub e-book)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019914323

The main category of the book — PSYCHOLOGY / General

www.austinmacauley.com/us

First Published (2019)

Austin Macauley Publishers LLC

40 Wall Street, 28th Floor

New York, NY 10005

USA

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Acknowledgements

My genuine appreciation to:

Janus and Alet Jacobs, my son and his wife, who gave me a book with blank pages as a present for my sixtieth birthday. They sowed the seeds for this book when they asked me to use the blank pages in that book to write down the lessons I’ve learned during my lifetime.

Eré Rudman, a dear colleague of mine who shared the office with me when I worked at the Gauteng Department of Education. She gave me the courage to persevere with this book, because she was able to comprehend what I tried to explain.

Gayle Goddard, who did the manuscript’s initial proofreading.

Henriette, my wife, for all her sacrifices, as well as her love and patience during the time I wrote this book.

The staff at Austin Macauley Publishers for their hard work, especially the senior editor, Ashley Pascual, who recognized the potential of this book.

Introduction

Like most people, I often had doubts about the existence of God. One part of me wanted to believe that God is like a good father to us, but another part of me told me that this idea is nothing more than wishful thinking. Does it really make any sense to believe that such a compassionate being exists if there seem to be no physical evidence for his existence, or if some of the actions we ascribe to Him seem cruel and unfair? Maybe God is just a symbolic figure that represents the processes in nature, as well as certain concepts, such as justice, care, compassion, and destiny? However, if God is indeed a physical being, our inability to fully understand His ways may be because we are misguided about what we believe He is and how He functions.

In order to determine if God is a real physical being, I decided to ignore my personal needs, wishes, and expectations about God and focus upon physical evidence, scientific research, and verifiable facts. In this book, I share the information I gathered as a holistic discussion about my journey to investigate which of our assumptions about God may be valid, as well as the impact that this may have on our future.

To me, verifiable scientific facts and physical evidence are like the information that reliable instruments on a plane provide a pilot. A pilot of a plane should constantly check and trust the readings of his plane’s instruments because, without doing so, he may become disorientated and confused due to a lack of information or due to conflicting information from his senses.

My approach is different from those people who express their ideas about creation, an afterlife, what God is like and what He thinks, without any realistic facts to back up their ideas. For this reason, I first try to provide some scientific evidence, before expressing my views about God, religion, an afterlife, and so forth. I realize that some people may find these sections of scientific background information difficult to comprehend or even boring, but I suspect that most people will realize that they are relevant and interesting.

It is not my intention to promote or discredit any religion, sect, or movement in this book. I want people to appreciate the value of a factual and scientific approach to mysteries and uncertainties. This approach will allow them to integrate seemingly incompatible ideas about God, supernatural phenomena, religion, and science.

This book is nothing like the average novel that removes you from reality and helps you to relax. It will test your ability to concentrate and to think logically about the concept of God. You may even be shocked by certain sections in this book if you are unable to detach yourself from some of the ideas and beliefs that society and religion indoctrinated you with. However, if you keep an open mind, and if you are able to be honest with yourself, you may be pleasantly surprised to find that the information in this book makes a lot of sense.

Nothing is too wonderful to be true if it be consistent with the laws of nature.

— Michael Faraday

Chapter 1

Needs, Convictions, and the Concept of God

My maternal grandfather was the principal of a primary school in a very small town in a semi-desert area of South Africa. When I was three years old, my parents got divorced and my mother moved in with her parents. Although grandpa was a very strict person, he loved children very much and I always had the impression that my mother did him a huge favor when she brought me and my sister, who was two years younger than me, into his house. Grandpa was an exceptional storyteller who used his interesting stories to teach us how to appreciate the world we lived in, and by doing that, contributed to the forming of my identity and value system.

One of the most precious memories that I have about my grandfather is when we stood in front of his house one October evening in 1957. He pointed out a moving star to me, explaining that it was Sputnik, the first man-made satellite to orbit the Earth. At that moment we shared the kind of excitement and awe that a person experiences when a magician seems to make the influence of gravity disappear as he levitates his assistant into the air. In stark contrast to our enthusiasm, my grandmother became very upset. I remember her saying with conviction that God will not allow this, that He will punish mankind for interfering with heaven, and that this will lead to the end of the world. Even as a child of six and a half years old, I found it hard to believe that my grandmother knew God so well that she knew exactly what He thought and what His plans were. This incident was my first experience of the tension that exists between science and religion.

As the years went by, I tried to figure out why some religious people and certain science-oriented realists, especially physicists, were so intolerant and hostile towards each other’s viewpoints. Their ideas about the way everything was created and what determines our fate seemed completely incompatible. On the one hand, you find very religious people who view their unconditional trust and acceptance of religious matters as a wonderful personality trait, with the result that they are quick to reject the views of people who do not exhibit this trait. On the other hand, there are people who prefer a more logical and scientific approach. To them, this unconditional trust and acceptance is a serious flaw in the process of reasoning. They argue that someone who believes something that contradicts researched and proven facts believes things which are not true. This means that such convictions are nothing more than superstitions.

It became clear to me that there are some people who are very credulous, who will believe anything that someone they trust tells them, while other people are constantly looking for proof and physical evidence before they will believe anything. People who demand only proven facts are usually also interested in exactly how everything fits together, or how it functions.

In order to be as unbiased, objective, and logical as possible, it is necessary to illuminate some of the psychological factors that contribute to the idea that a god may be around and why some beliefs and convictions of individuals are so difficult to change.

The Influence of Natural Phenomena

It is possible that the idea about the existence of gods or deities first originated when primitive man observed that animals congregated in areas where new vegetation was available after rain fell there. They must have been intrigued by clouds, especially thunder clouds, which seemed to come and go as they wished and terrified people with the associated wind, lightning, and thunder. The people realized that rainclouds were responsible for providing them with water and food because the animals which they hunted congregated in those areas where the rain fell. It is, therefore, no wonder that they tried to get the clouds to return at times when resources were limited. For this to happen, they had to find a way to communicate their needs to the clouds, the wind, or whatever they thought was responsible for the movement of rain clouds. They probably tried this at different locations and in many ways. If rain fell shortly after one of their attempts to persuade the clouds to return, it was very likely those people believed that the specific location was very special or holy. Consequently, they might have returned there at times of need to repeat whatever actions they thought helped them to bring on the rain in the past. They might even have erected some structure there to remind them where they had to perform their rainmaking rituals.

It is also probable that a few observant people in antiquity realized that there are many cycles in nature, and looked for ways to predict them, especially the cycles in nature that were important for their survival. It is a real possibility that Stonehenge in England, as well as other very ancient structures were not only religious centers, but that they also served as observatories. One of the functions of Stonehenge might have been to indicate the day of the Mid-Summer Solstice, while certain markers inside other structures, for example, at the Durrington Henge timber structure, probably indicated the day of the Mid-Winter Solstice. From a specific location people could identify these days by tracking the spot on the horizon where the sun rose every day during the year. For example, the Mid-Winter Solstice is the day when the sun’s position on the horizon would stop moving in one direction, before reverting back to the positions which were associated with the longer, warmer days of summer. It is also possible that other markers gave people an indication of when to expect migrating animals, or when to start planting their crops.

Instead of just accepting that the movements of the sun and stars coincided with dry, wet, cold, and warm periods, primitive man inferred that the heavenly bodies were actually the cause of all the changes in nature. This error in judgment probably tempted them to view the sun as a thinking deity who controlled the seasons. In the same way, other heavenly bodies like stars, clusters of stars and planets also became associated with gods or supernatural beings. Some cultures even regarded the meteors which streaked across the sky at night as gods that sometimes visited the Earth inside fiery chariots.

Society’s Influence and the Motivational Ability of a God

It is very likely that certain people from primitive societies, who possessed the knowledge about re-occurring events in nature, preferred to keep the knowledge to themselves. They chose the times that they made their requests to their gods very carefully so that it coincided with the changes in nature that were about to take place anyway. When the unforeseen happened, such as the outbreak of a disease that they did not know the cause of, they blamed the problem on the influence of evil spirits, sorcerers, and specific people who supposedly angered the gods. Needless to say, the actions and rituals that these priests performed served the purpose to convince other people that they, as priests, had a special relationship with their deity. This elevated their status, increased their self-worth, gave them power, and provided them with many other privileges in their societies. This means that the priests purposefully maneuvered