Book
Title:
Conception of God¹
Author:
J. Herculano Pires
Description:
Description from the back cover of the book²:
It is not even
possible to conceive the nothingness, the absolute emptiness, from which God
would have risen as the Absolute Being. To take out the Absolute from
Nothingness is a contradiction that our understanding refuses to accept. The
existence of God preceding creation is inconceivable. And [yet] if something
existed before, we have a creative power preceding God. The Buddhist thesis of
a self-existent Universe, i.e., which has always existed, subordinates the power
of God to this mysterious and inexplicable existence. Our mental limits are not
able to solve these problems since they are mysteries that have served to [bring
about] the
sophisms, worldplays and monstrous conclusions of the theological thought.
However, when we apply the good-sense in accordance with our finite and
ephemeral modesty as [imperfect] creatures, before the Infinite and Eternal, we can reduce
the unlimited to the limits of the intelligible reality. Then the deductive
reasoning, of a scientific order, which comes from the evident existence [of]
the accessible heights, little by little, points out a reality that we can
comprehend. God as Existent, who exists in our human reality, can be touched
with our fingers, and also realized, i.e., recognized by our ordinary senses. We do
not need extra-sensory perception to perceive His existence.
¹
Translation of original in Portuguese, titled “A Concepção de Deus”
²
as published in 2007 by the Editora Paidéia Ltda.