Act of Faith O my God, relying on thy infinite goodness and promises, I hope to obtain pardon of my sins, the help of thy grace, and life everlasting, through the merits of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Redeemer. Amen.

Chapter One: Knowing God Through Creation

Lesson One: Knowing God When did you first realize God exists? How do you know?

Saint Thomas Aquinas’ Proofs for the Existence of God 1) First Mover: Anything moved is moved by another. There cannot be an infinite series of movers. So there must be a first mover. 2) First Cause: Anything caused is caused by another. There cannot be an infinite series of causes. So there must be a first cause. 3) Necessary Being: Contingent beings require an already contingent being to bring them into existence. So there is a necessary being upon which other being depend for their existence. 4) Greatest Being: Whatever is great to any degree gets its greatness from that which is the greatest. So there is a greatest being, which is the source of all greatness. 5) Intelligent Designer: Whatever acts for an end must be directed by an intelligent being. So the world must have an intelligent designer who directs all things in it.

What We Know, and How Through reason, we can know that God exists. Through revelation, we can know more *about* God. E.g. God is one in three Divine Persons.

Romans 1:20 “Ever since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes of eternal power and divinity have been able to be understood and perceived in what he has made…”

Order and Design Order and design in nature, pointing to an orderer/designer who set it up that way The appearance of design points to a designer Anthropic Principle – the universe is fine tuned to support life, especially eventually human life If gravitational constant was stronger or weaker, galaxies and solar systems and planets (including ours!) would never have formed

Nature’s Perfections If ocean waves are great and powerful, the one who made them – God – must also be great and powerful Beautiful colors of spring – God must be beautiful as well An effect cannot be greater than its cause

Fides et ratio Fides et ratio means “faith and reason.” Faith and reason are not to be viewed as competing ways of understanding; they are complementary and do not contradict one another. 9. The First Vatican Council teaches, then, that the truth attained by philosophy and the truth of Revelation are neither identical nor mutually exclusive: “There exists a twofold order of knowledge, distinct not only as regards their source, but also as regards their object. With regard to the source, because we know in one by natural reason, in the other by divine faith. With regard to the object, because besides those things which natural reason can attain, there are proposed for our belief mysteries hidden in God which, unless they are divinely revealed, cannot be known”. (Fides et Ratio, Pope St. John Paul II, 1998) E.g. Evolution – does it pose a problem? http://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_14091998_fides-et-ratio.html

Humani Generis

Essential Parts God is our Creator There is an order to creation Man is the highest level of natural creation Man’s soul is created only by God There was a Fall of two first parents (monogenism)

Evolution 36. For these reasons the Teaching Authority of the Church does not forbid that, in conformity with the present state of human sciences and sacred theology, research and discussions, on the part of men experienced in both fields, take place with regard to the doctrine of evolution, in as far as it inquires into the origin of the human body as coming from pre-existent and living matter - for the Catholic faith obliges us to hold that souls are immediately created by God. However, this must be done in such a way that the reasons for both opinions, that is, those favorable and those unfavorable to evolution, be weighed and judged with the necessary seriousness, moderation and measure, and provided that all are prepared to submit to the judgment of the Church, to whom Christ has given the mission of interpreting authentically the Sacred Scriptures and of defending the dogmas of faith. http://w2.vatican.va/content/pius-xii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_12081950_humani-generis.html

Other Religions What beliefs do we have in common with other religions? What do other faiths lack? The Church has the fullness of the means of salvation (the Sacraments and the fullness of the truth as revealed by God in Christ).

Activity Book, p. 1 1) Can we know God exists by reason alone? – Yes. 2) How can we know that God exists by looking at creation? From order and design: - We see order and design in nature. Things do not become ordered by chance. For example, a watch must be designed and the numbers must be put in order by a watchmaker in order to work properly. Creation must have been ordered and designed by someone. From nature’s perfections: -Nature’s perfections can tell us about God. He must be powerful like the ocean and beautiful as other things in nature. 3) What can we know about God from reason alone? – His existence, greatness, beauty, power, other attributes. 4) From reason alone, can we know God as the triune God of Christianity? – No.

Homework Pick *two* of Aquinas’ Proofs and write one page on the least convincing and most convincing proofs

Act of Faith O my God, relying on thy infinite goodness and promises, I hope to obtain pardon of my sins, the help of thy grace, and life everlasting, through the merits of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Redeemer. Amen.