What is man that thou art mindful of him,
and the son of man that thou dost care for him? - Psalm 8:4
Does God exist?
I have a question for you … Why are you asking?
The answer to this question is important for a useful response to the GOD question.
Everybody engaging in the discussion has a background. It influences the debate.
If I am already convinced I don’t want a God to exist, that I am happy making my own choices on how to live, that I don’t want anyone telling me what to do … then no argument will convince me that God exists because subconsciously I know the conclusion I want to come to.
One the other hand, a teenager starting adult life asking this serious question for the first time is looking, perhaps, for understanding. If the answer to the question is YES, it is intuitively obvious that fact is important for their life. It is not so much about proof as such. It is about wanting to know the truth.
One doesn’t try to prove a sunset is beautiful. You just see one and know it is beautiful.
So with the investigations about God. An open mind just wants to know if it is true… lead me to an understanding. With understanding, proofs are no longer the main point.
Another factor that will influence our investigations about God is how we live. If the enquirer has a healthy moral compass it is a positive factor for a clearer understanding. A dissolute life obscures intellectual clarity.
Any discussion about God is about something non-physical. The arguments are intellectual. So it always possible to not accept them because there is no finished material product that you can point to and tell everyone “There it is right before your eyes!”.
For intellectual discussions, there is going to be a time when an act of the will is called for. Do I accept the argument or not? There is no compelling physical presence to effectively force it.
That is when the ‘moral compass’ makes a difference because the light is clearer.
If I see the sunset, I can freely assent to the idea “a sunset is beautiful” because I experience the view of it. So with an argument or line of reasoning about God. Hopefully I get to the point I can ‘see’ its truth and can make that assent, in spite of its consequences for my life.
So what are lines of discussion that might lead to understanding about God?
St. Thomas Aquinas, a prominent philosopher and theologian, proposed five arguments, sometimes referred to as “Five Ways” or “Five Proofs,” for the existence of God. These arguments rely on reason and observation of the natural world, rather than on faith or scripture. Here’s a breakdown of each:
- The Argument from Motion (Unmoved Mover): Everything that moves is moved by something else. This chain of causation cannot go on infinitely, so there must be a first mover, an unmoved mover, that initiated all motion and is itself uncaused. This unmoved mover is identified as God.
- The Argument from Efficient Cause: Every effect has a cause. If we trace back the chain of causes in the world, we cannot have an infinite regress of causes. There must be a first cause, uncaused by anything else, that brings about all other causes. This first cause is God.
- The Argument from Contingency (Possibility and Necessity): We observe things in the world that could exist or not exist (contingent beings). If everything were contingent, then at some point, nothing would have existed. But things do exist. Therefore, there must be something necessary that has always existed and caused the existence of contingent beings. This necessary being is God.
- The Argument from Gradation (Degrees of Perfection): We see varying degrees of perfection in things like goodness, truth, and beauty. This implies a standard of ultimate perfection from which these gradations arise. This ultimate perfection is God.
- The Argument from Final Cause (Teleological Argument): We observe natural objects and organisms exhibiting purpose and design. An acorn grows into an oak tree, for example. This suggests an intelligent designer who has planned and ordered the universe for a purpose. This designer is God.
Or when all the thinking is getting too much, go to a lonely high place and look at the view.
“Hear my prayer O Lord; let my cry come to you. Do not hide your face from me on the day of my distress.” Ps 102