God

GOD Is there anyway to know that God exists? There have been many attempts to prove the existence of God. If you had to debate an atheist, what would you say?

Can we prove the existence of God?

Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225 – 1274) an Italian Catholic priest in the Dominican Order a philosopher and a theologian He was a proponent of natural theology. The work for which he is best-known is the Summa Theologica. One of the 33 “Doctors of the Church”, he is considered by many to be the Catholic Church's greatest theologian and philosopher. Based on reason and experience

Quinque viae The Five Ways The argument of the unmoved mover The argument of the first cause The argument from contingency The argument from degree The argument from design

“Proofs” for God’s Existence Evidence from History God the Uncaused Cause God the Intelligent Designer

God the Uncaused Cause Everything that exists in time & space has a cause outside of itself. The physical world (the universe) exists in time & space. Therefore, a cause must exist for the physical universe outside of itself.

A variation of The Uncaused Cause Whatever begins to exist has a cause. The Universe began to exist. Therefore, the Universe had a cause.

Everything that exists in time & space has a cause outside of itself. Examples: Counter-examples: Perhaps the universe was caused by a chain of cause & effect, going all the way back to the “big bang.” But what caused the “big bang”?

A variation of God the Uncaused Cause Something cannot come from nothing, things do exist today, therefore there has to be something that always existed, without a cause. That is an Uncased Cause. In other words, if there was a time when nothing existed, then nothing could ever exist.

God the Intelligent Designer Every object with order and design must have had an intelligent designer, The universe (& the human being) have tremendous order and design, therefore the world must have been created by an intelligent designer.

Perhaps design can happen by random chance. Can the most intricate designs be created randomly if given enough chance? But can cars and computers could form naturally? Humans are more complex than cars or computers.

But, you say doesn’t evolution explain how everything came to exist?

Infinite Monkey Theorem Will a monkey hitting keys at random on a keyboard for long enough amount of time eventually type Hamlet by William Shakespeare? No, A billion monkeys typing nonstop for a billion years would not produce even one page.

Probability shrinks exponentially, To get just the first 20 letters in Hamlet correct, the probability is one in 19,928,148,895,209,409,152,340,197,376

Evidence from History Virtually all cultures in all places at all times have believed in the existence of a higher power, universal human beliefs & reason are trustworthy, therefore it is more reasonable to conclude that there is a higher power than that there is not.

Other Arguments for the existence of God Pascal’s Wager Miracles

Pascal’s Wager You have two choices: there are two possibilities: belief no belief God exists God doesn’t exist heaven hell nothing nothing Society is better Society suffers

Blaise Pascal (1623 – 1662) a French mathematician, physicist, and religious philosopher. With faith in God, you have everything to gain, and nothing to lose. Without faith in God, you have everything to lose, and nothing to gain

Miracles Do you believe in miracles? Do you believe they still happen today? What is a miracle?

What is a Miracle? Dictionary.com - Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary 1. an extraordinary event in the physical world that surpasses all known human or natural powers. 2. such an event considered the work of God. 3. a wonder; marvel.

What is a Miracle? An event that is perceptible, surpassing the powers of nature, produced by God, intended to witness to some truth or testify to someone's sanctity. CatholicReference.net

Does the Catholic Church specifically affirm certain miracles? Yes, Although Catholics are not obligated to believe any miracles outside of public revelation (e.g. those in the Bible).

Miracle of Lanciano The miracle of Lanciano is officially recognized by the Catholic Church as an eucharistic miracle. In the city of Lanciano, Italy, around A.D. 700.

During Holy Mass the host was changed into live Flesh and the wine was changed into live Blood. In 1970-'71 and again in 1981 there took place a scientific investigation by several renowned scientists. These analyses sustained the following conclusions: The Flesh is real Flesh. The Blood is real Blood. The Flesh and the Blood belong to the human species. The Flesh consists of the muscular tissue of the heart. The Flesh and the Blood have the same blood-type: AB (same as the blood on the Shroud of Turin). The preservation of the Flesh and of the Blood, which were left in their natural state for twelve centuries and exposed to the action of atmospheric and biological agents, remains an extraordinary phenomenon.

Arguments Against the Existence of God Thomas Aquinas could only come up with two arguments against the existence of God: Science The problem of Evil

Science The ability of science to explain more and more of the world. Science explains much of the world that people in the past relied upon religion to explain.

Solution As science advances and explains more and more of the world, is there more or less mystery about the world around us? More

The Problem of Evil Did God created everything? Does evil exist? Did God create evil? yes yes yes or no

God attributes of God: Omni-benevolent Omniscient Omnipotent All-loving All-knowing All-powerful

How can evil exist given such a God?

Solution to the “Problem of Evil” Evil is not a thing Evil is a choice Evil is a choice we make Example – drunk driver

Can we know God exists? The existence of God the Creator can be known with certainty through his works, by the light of human reason, even if this knowledge is often obscured and disfigured by error. ---CCC 286