Apologetics - Existence and Nature of God

Does God exist? It is rather an important question for us believers to revisit, rethink
and reevaluate our belief and also to be able to defend the faith from those who would
believe otherwise. The existence of God is very natural and is already a given and
cannot be disproved. For those in the faith we believe that there is one God in three
person, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. They are one but
different from each other. They complement each other and and together they form
the Holy Trinity.

The belief in God is not only out of superstition, but it is also rational and well
defended.

One notable defense of this was in the 13th Century. There was an Italian priest named
Thomas Aquinas who believed that reason is found in God and that philosophy is led
towards God. Philosophy or love of wisdom can never ignore the existence of God, to
this effect it is true that the reason for having reason is to have knowledge of God.

In his literary theological work Summa Theologia he wrote that the existence of GOd
is self-evident and the knowledge of God can be known by reason through searching
for the answer for the nature of human existence, why we are alive and who created
the creatures and why create them and this whole world. With this we arrive to the
idea that the cause of all we see and everything that exist is none other than God.

In St. Thomas work, as he was a priest canonized as saint 50 years after his death by
Pope John XXII, he stated that the existence of God can be demonstrated in 5 ways.

Now we say demonstration for the act of proving God to the unlearned and to the
faithless is very much an argument for debate which is already well concluded.

For those who grew in the faith it is easier to believe than to not. Although as we
grow older we learn to reason and make our own decisions, we ought not to forget to
stray off the path we were led to instead test it with our reason and find accordance
with it.
But to the non believers, we must know where they came from and originated from.
Understand what kind of environment they lived and experiences in life theyve had.

For us to be undaunted by these kinds of person we ought to know what it is actually

we are believing in. We believe in God.

For a non believer, it would be actually very hard to believe that God exist, if God
exist then why could we not see him, we could not smell nor touch him, nor hear
whatever it is he is saying? These are some questions that asks for the evidence of
God. For what evident there is to be found here in this world that would show or
prove that God exists?

During the time of St. Thomas, there were notions about the faith that needed much
further elucidation and clarification. These ideas, notions and beliefs varies from
person to person even among the christian community thus making the faith more
prone to attacks from opposing communities and ideologies. St. Thomas set the
standard for these notions, a rule of thumb to follow, and the way to determine
whether to incorporate these to the faith or to condemn. If t God is not evident, for
what is evident is that which is apparent and so thus does not need any further
demonstration, does not mean that there is no God, rather in the light of these
demonstrations, we now learn how from the efficacy of the being suggests the notion
of a maker. These are the facts that would led to the proof of Gods existence.

The 5 ways to demonstrate Gods Existence

First we have motion or change. No one doubts about this fact. As long as there is
motion the idea of an existing God is at unrest. Unlike the statement God Exists,
motion is rather evident. Now we shall see what we really mean with motion. Motion
or the act to be in motion is an imperfect act. And if it were the act to be not in motion
or in potency, it would mean that the there is no movement. And if an action is perfect,
it means that it has already done moving. So what we are truly after is something in
between, an act that is imperfect that is.
Now in order to act, a thing has to be in act therefore only the act moves. And for
something to act, it has to be first, i.e. to be in act, because if it is in potency, it is not
yet. It is, only when it is in act. Therefore inorder to move, it has to be in act. (de
Torre, 1980)

The idea here is who is the one who made the first move, for things cannot move itself
unless acted upon by another movement. It is always an infinity of something moving
another to create an infinite reaction of something being moved. But who is the one
progenated the first movement?

The second way is activity. We observe that every action there is a consequence just
like in the 3rd law of motion that states for every action there is an equal and opposite
reaction. There again, actions produces effects, they cause something to become
something. But again one cannot produce effects on its own, rather one cannot cause
his/her own existence. When we see the natural actions and its consequence that
happens in real life, just like when couples begets children, we can say that in order to
produce these effects one first has to exist, and not the other way around. Then we ask
the question who caused the creation of everything your eyes can see? The first cause
which did not caused itself is God.

The third way is generation and corruption

We all know that nothing lasts forever in this world. Everything either generates or
degenerates/corrupts. With this observation, if things corrupts and things generates we
come down to the principle that these are things that are unnecessary. If everything in
this world does this then what is the point of having them in the first place. For if
everything may possibly not exist or exist at the same time for they undergo
corruption and generation, none of them would be: therefore there must be something
that cannot not be, that being God.

Now that necessity for something that cannot not be is either be of itself or given by
another. Also if there only exist of beings that are caused by another, existence as we
know it cannot be, therefore there must be one that cannot cause itself and is the cause
of all things.
The fourth way is perfection

As we live and learn we observe that there are things that are beautiful and things that
arent. We perceive things close to perfection in comparison to the other. With this we
beget the notion that there must be something that is perfect something that stands
above the pedestal of perfection to which we measure our sense of perfection as one
stated that those degrees imply the existence of a maximum, because the more and
the less mean something only in relation to a most.

The fifth way is order and intelligence

This affirms our experiences that all things act for an end: whatever moves, moves in
a direction, towards a destination. But what is an end? We do something for the sake
of an end. But the end can only be called the end if it is known beforehand, but only
an intelligence can do this. So if all things, including those of non intelligent ones act
for an end, there must be a universal intelligence which directs all things to their end.

Even we humans who are also endowed with intellect are not free to choose our own
end as such but rather the appropriate means, there must be an Intelligence that orders
all the beings if the universe to their end. And this infinite and universal intelligence is
what we call God.

With this we can relate our reasoning to our faith, and we should not stray from the
path for the belief in God is not based on hearsay but rather also endowed to us by
reason.

The Nature of God

It must be known to us that we can not fully define what God is with our human
intelligence, not that we cannot know him, but rather we cannot contain his fullness
and infinity in our own shortage of definition. One therfore is that God is
incomprehensible

Now let us define what motion is. In motion we have an act, an imperfect act so to
speak. If it where potency it would not be moving and if it is a perfect act, it is no
longer moving; so it must be in between: an act but imperfect. Now, in order to move,
if it is in potency, it cannot move (a potency does not move). In order to act, a thing
has to be in act: only the act moves. For something to act, it has to be first