Chapter 6 MAN AND GOD

Regardless of how much science we know or think we know, we cannot have a

complete picture of reality.

Introduction
What is it over there that gives light? asked the child
The moon was the mothers answer.
And who made the moon? The child asked the second time.
God, A brief answer came from the mother.
And who is God? Retorted the inquisitive little girl.
A powerful, all loving Supreme being. He was; he is and he will be.
How do you know that he exist? came another question from the child.

THE THREE MAJOR POSITIONS

Barcalow, 1993:17
1. Theist- believe that there is God and He really exist.
2. Agnostics are those people who neither believe nor accept Gods existence;
in other words these people are still undecided if there is God. They neither accept
nor refuse Gods existence.
3. Atheist refer to those who do not accept Gods existence.

IS AN ATHEIST AN ANTI-CHRIST?

Anti-Christ anyone who opposes God. Attacks anything about

God, his message, his character. Man of lawlessness
Characteristics of an Anti-Christ based on the bible.
A powerful man who can lead the world.
Anyone who teaches other doctrine other than the doctrine of
Christ.
Anyone who denies Christs teaching and his existence.

Therefore an Atheist is an Anti-Christ which falls in the description of

being an Anti-Christ.

ARGUMENTS ON GODS EXIXTENCE

Philosopher are great thinkers and they present several arguments to support their
stand on Gods reality. If God is a non-physical being then it is difficult to sense or
feel
one who has no physical aspects. (Double, 1999: 236)
There are three major reasons:

God exist because mans reason tells him to believe that there is God.
(Experimental Argument)
God exist based from observed facts in the world as valid explanation.
(Design Argument)
God exist by pure logic.
(Ontological Argument)

Fallacies to support the stand on Gods existence

Fallacy of popular belief

Fallacy of lack of proof.
Gods existence can still be further argued by simply stating that ones faith
suffices to believe in his existence.

EXISTENCE OF GOD (Different Views)

That God really exists has remained a quest for man. And how many views
and concepts Gods existence depends on his intellectual thinking and critical
temperaments.

1. ST. ANSELM (1033 1109)

I am lowly is social status, yet the lord has promoted me from the ranks
and placed me above even the grandees.

Anselmo dAosta (Anselm of Canterbury)

Born on c. 1033 and died on April 21, 1109 in Canterbury, England
He held the office of archbishop of Canterbury from 1093 to 1109.
He composed dialogues and the treaties with a rational and philosophical
approach.
He was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by a bull off Pope Clement XI in
1720

God is being which no greater being can be conceived. He exists in both

the understanding and reality. (Double, 1999: 264)

Man must have faith to conceive Gods existence. Faith is enough to accept this truth
although he certainly knows God may not be physically present to sense, see or
tough him.

No one can be greater than him, a supreme being he is. A mental and natural reality,
he truly is God in existence.

Immanuel Kant and St. Thomas Aquinas disagreed with him

2. ST. THOMAS AQUINAS (1224 1274)

He was an Italian Theologian and Philosopher who was raised to sainthood and
later named Doctor of the Catholic Church. From his Summa Thelogica, he
presented five famous arguments on Gods presence.
1. Argument from the Motion refers to the postulate motion.

State that God is the motion starter. It is God who sets the world in motion.
First introduced by Aristotle, the early Greek philosopher.
this has been explained and affirmed by the early scientists whom they
termed as The Law of Motion.

2. The First Cause Argument

Tells that there are events that occur in the natural world caused by the
First cause, who is God Himself.
Every event requires a cause other than itself.

3. Contingent Argument

Maintains that contingent things go in and out of existence could not continue
to exist by itself alone. It needs a God to sustain these things in the physical
universe.
St. Thomas described Gods indispensible role in the conversion of the
existence of physical objects also parallel to the Conversation Law.
This sometimes termed as the Cosmological Argument.

4. Teleological Argument

Argues that the orderliness of nature is best explained by postulating that

God is the one who sets all these in order.
also known as the Argument of Design.

5. Degrees of Perfection

Tells us St. Thomas stand that this degree od perfection proves Gods
existence

3. GOTTFRIED WILHELM LEIBNIZ (1646 - 1716)

To have a uninstructed people go into battle is tantamount to

abandoning them.

He was a German Theistic Philosopher who made an important contribution

to the history of the ontological argument. He argued that;
He was a German Theistic Philosopher who made an important contribution
to the history of the ontological argument. He argued that;
 This world is the best God created but this is not perfect place.

He believed in God who, being absolutely perfect in power, wisdom and

goodness could not have failed to choose the best possible world.

Leibniz defines a perfection as a simple quality which is positive and

absolute or which
expresses without any limits whatever it does express.

4. BLAISE PASCAL (1623 1662)

PASCAL'S VIEW OF REASON

Pascal realized that there were more ways to find truth than through reason
alone. Pascal not only recognized other ways of knowing besides reason, but he saw
that man's reason is often influenced by other factors. Man is not always true to his
reason. He did not believe man could deduce everything from one point of rational
certainty. Pascal respected the role of reason in knowing truth; but, he also
recognized that reason has its limits. Pascal was willing, as we shall see, to use
reason to defend the Christian Faith. Still, he recognized man to be more than a
thinking machine. Man comes complete with prejudices, emotions, a will, and a vivid
imagination. The whole man must be evangelized, not just his mind.

The Paradox of Man

Pascal believed that only the Christian religion rightly explained man's nature.
Man is both wretched and great. Pascal believed that man's greatness could be
explained in the fact that man was created in God's image. And he argues that man
would not understand his wretchedness unless he had some remembrance of a
former greatness from which he had fallen.

The Human Condition

Pascal sees the human condition as ultimately a one-way road to death. Death
is a fact from which all men try to hide; nonetheless, it is a fact. We will all eventually
die and we know it. However, we live as if we will never die.

MAN'S RESPONSE TO HIS HOPELESS CONDITION

Pascal states that man responds to his hopeless condition in three
ways: diversion, indifference, and self-deception. Rather than admit human
wretchedness and death and look for a cure, we would rather ignore the
human condition and lie to ourselves.

Blaise Pascal saw that the use of reason alone would lead few, if any, to
Christ. Pascal realized man is ruled more by his passions than by his reason.
Therefore, he focused on shaking men out of their indifference and removing their
diversions. He reminds men that eternal issues are of far greater worth than mere
temporary ones. Pascal did not try to reason men into the kingdom; he attempted to
sway men to desire Christianity to be true. He encouraged men to earnestly seek the
God of the Bible. Modern society is based more on pleasures and desire than on
reason.
Pascals Wager

Pascal pleads with his readers to wager their lives on God:

When you have nothing to lose and everything to gain, the wise man will
wager that God exists. Pascal is not trying to rationally prove God's existence with
this argument. Instead, he is attempting to persuade the unbeliever that it wise to live
as if God exists, while it is unwise to live as if God does not exist. Pascal believed
that everyone who sincerely seeks God will find Him.

Other Philosophical Contentions

Is there God or does he really exists?

To St. Augustine of Hippo, this has remained a mystery which is a mystery to

human comprehension. And since it is a mystery faith suffices to accept that
there is God, supreme and powerful yet loving and merciful.
To Immanuel Kant, God exists only in ones mind. In his work Foundation of
Metaphysics of Morals he emphasized the good will and the use of these
gifts which have the full worth in themselves.
To Ludwig Fairebwek, God is simply a product of ones imagination. We have
the awareness of God as a result of mans capacity to think, believe and
accept his existence.
To Friedrich Nietzsche (1844- 1990), God is dead and therefore man cannot
relay nor expect anything from him.

CONCLUSION

Gods existence has been a never-ending discussion among some thinkers. Theists,
Atheists and Agnostics presented three different position just as different arguments
were also discussed together with fallacies.

Doctors of Catholic Church presented different arguments as presented in their

different works. There are also other philosophical contentions as presented by
Immanuel Kant, Ludwig Fairebwek and Friedrich Nietzche.

SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS

Robert has a very good and friendly relationship with his papa. Based from it
How do you think will Roberts relation with God is likely to be?