1. Just Looking … What Evidence is there for the Existence of God?

2. Just Looking … A cautionary note … Could you prove that you love someone ? Probably not … but you know that you do!

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4. An argument from logic Arguments from looking at the world around us The argument from experience The argument from revelation

5. Just Looking … The Ontological Argument   from Greek for “ to be ”, so “ concerned with being ”   God ’ s definition entails his existence What is the better gift: “ virtual ” roses.. or the real thing?

6. Just Looking …   God is “ that than which nothing greater can be thought ”   the concept of God exists in the understanding   God is a possible being   if God exists only in the mind and is only a possible being, then if he existed in reality he would have been greater   if so, God is a being than which a greater can be thought … which is impossible! Anselm (1033-1109) The Ontological Argument

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8. Thomas Aquinas’s “Five Ways” 1. Everything is changing – but something must have caused it. 2. Every effect must have a cause 3. Things come into existence, and cease to exist. There must be a cause. 4. Excellence must come from perfection 5. The harmony of things suggests design. This all must be God!

10. Just Looking … The Cosmological Argument   cosmos - the world or universe   based on what can be seen   concept of contingency - dependent on something that may or may not happen

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12. The Argument from Design The Teleological Argument William Paley (1743-1805) “ In crossing a heath, suppose I pitched my foot against a stone … I might possibly answer that … it had lain there for ever … But suppose I found a watch upon the ground … I should hardly think of the answer which I had given before … when we come to inspect the watch we perceive … that its several parts are framed and put together for a purpose …” Natural Theology

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15. The Argument from Beauty

16. Just Looking … The Argument from Experience

17. Just Looking … The Argument from Revelation

18. Just Looking … Does Philosophy offer Proof of the Existence of God? No - but some more recent philosophers have argued that there is a demonstrable weight of probability that makes belief in God an intellectually defensible claim

19. Just Looking … Pascal’s “wager” You believe there is no god, and you find you’re right You believe there is no god, and you find you’re wrong You believe there is a god, and you find you’re wrong You believe there is a god, and you find you’re right Nothing lost Lose, big-time Win, big-time