...Proof of God’s Existence Charles Porter COM 200 Final Argumentative Paper Is the proof of God necessary? Proofs are used to prove, using a deductive method, that a given necessarily exists. Proof is often like geometry there are given and certain rules is used to arrive at a conclusion of why that given is true. The proof for the existence of ‘God’ has an ultimate goal to prove that God logically and ‘necessarily exists’. If the proof is successful, any rational person cannot find fault in the claim that God does exist. Within the proofs ‘god’ must necessarily exist not just contingently exist. An example of contingent existing would be a balloon is in my hand; prior to making this balloon the balloon did not exist and after the balloon pops and disintegrates it too will not exist. This balloon has contingent existence and it is not necessary. The proof that God exists must be a necessity and should be stronger than evidence that ‘God’ does exist. Something had to create the universe because it did not always exist, therefore God must exist. Many people dispute, thus saying that there is not actual proof that God does exist but that is where faith comes in the picture. Which argument for the existence of God is strongest and why? There are a few strong arguments for the existence of God. First there is the ontological argument which states that it is quite likely that a flawless being...
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...The teleological argument Teleological arguments are often divided into types by philosophers; 1. Arguments based on purpose 2. Arguments based on regularity Thomas Aquinas 1. When you look at the natural world, you can see that everything in it follows natural laws, even if the things are not conscious, thinking being. 2. If things follow natural laws they tend to do well and have some goal or purpose. 3. However, if a thing cannot think for itself it does not have any goal or purpose unless it is directed by something that thinks: take an arrow as an example. It can only be directed to its goal and used for its purpose by someone, such as an archer. 4. Conclusion: everything in the natural world that does not think for itself heads towards its goal or purpose because it is directed by something which does think. That something we call ‘God’. William Paley Part 1. 1. Paley suggests that if you went for a walk and found a rock, you could conclude that it had been there forever and not think any more about it. Whereas if you found a watch (an old fashioned watch with cogs and springs) you could examine it and find that it had moving parts which demonstrate that: (a) The watch was for a purpose: telling the time (b) The parts work together or are fit for a purpose (c) The parts were ordered and put together in a certain way to make the watch function (d) If the parts are arranged in a different way the watch does not work, i.e. it does not fulfil...
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...It is a plain and simple fact, evil exists and it can be seen every where in today’s society. No matter how old or young, no matter where we look, whether it is in our textbooks or comic books, on TV or in our video games, evil is always there. There is evil of different types, with different causes and effects, with one event being more evil and has the power to stir up different emotions than the last. By examining opinions offered by people like John Hick, we can understand why God allows evil and the reasons extreme cases of destruction, as in “The Star” by Arthur C. Clarke to exist in our world or anywhere. There is no denying that evil has a tight grasp around the world we live in. It is this simple fact which defines the problem of evil. However, to understand this problem one must first understand evil itself. Webster’s English Dictionary defines evil as morally objectionable behaviour which causes harm, destruction, or misfortune. That being said, there are two different types of evil, moral and natural evil, each of which having their own unique characteristics. Moral evil, or wickedness, is the pain and suffering which is a direct result brought about from human action. Since humans are free to choose and act as they wish, they are free to choose to do good or they can choose to do evil. Most crimes and sinful act which cause pain and suffering, such as rape, murdered, and war are all considered morally evil acts. The second category of evil is natural evil....
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...Hamartiology: The Problem of Evil (Theodicy) – Your neighbor Sam greets you outside as you return home from church one Sunday. After the usual chitchat, he confides in you that he has been troubled with the news, recent reports of natural catastrophes, wars, disease, and so on. He asks if you could help him make sense of the presence of evil in the world - if indeed God exists. Keeping this scenario in mind, answer the following questions in your essay: • What is the problem of evil? • Define moral evil and natural evil, and illustrate them with examples. • Seek to explain why there is sin among mankind (the philosophical problem of moral evil) and why bad things happen in nature (the philosophical problem of natural evil). Consider the various theodicies presented in the reading, and address the merits and faults of each one. • Briefly explain why a theodicy must be internally consistent, and defend the internal consistency of your explanation of evil’s existence. • Consider how personal experience of evil may affect one’s relationship with God (the religious problem of evil). Do you believe someone can dispute a certain belief about God without actually attacking God Himself? Sam, evil in the world is a problem that exists. Even someone, like yourself, who is unsure of the existence of God recognizes a problem with a blemish in what seems to be an otherwise perfect world. I think you could agree that if evil was removed from the world, it would be near perfect...
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...Renaissance to Revolution Term Paper Abbas Ali David Hume and the Fallacy (Philosophy) of Religion David Hume is considered the greatest philosopher Britain has produced and an intellectual hero to many atheists. His arguments against religion are clear, incisive and devastating. However, some people have misconstrued his agnosticism to represent faith and claim that while Hume challenged conventional religion, he himself believed in God. In this paper I will attempt to refute some of these claims by briefly highlighting some of Hume’s most compelling arguments against religion and showing how they leave little room for belief. I will also delve into some of the context surrounding Hume’s work to show how speaking against religion was a dangerous game in those times and restricted Hume’s ability to speak freely. Some of the primary sources used for this paper include Hume’s most famous works on religion, including The Natural History of Religion and Dialogues concerning Natural Religion. Secondary and tertiary sources include scholarly critiques of Hume’s texts as well as reviews and journals interpreting his work one way or another. To start with, lets have a look at an excerpt from, The Natural History of Religion, published in 1757. In the following passage, Hume summarizes his views on religion as “sick men’s dreams”: What a noble privilege is it of human reason to attain the knowledge of the supreme Being; and, from the visible works of nature, be enabled to infer...
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...AS Philosophy of Religion 2001 1. (a) What are the key features of the design argument for the existence of God? (10 marks) (b) Identify the strengths of this argument. To what extent are these strengths more convincing than its weaknesses? (10 marks) 2. (a) Describe the main strengths and weaknesses of the cosmological argument for the existence of God. (14 marks) (b) To what extent do the weaknesses of this argument limit its effectiveness? (6 marks) 3. (a) Examine the characteristics of BOTH a religious and a scientific interpretation of the origins of the universe. (14 marks) (b) Comment on the view that the differences between these interpretations rule out any major disagreement between them. (6 marks) 4. (a) What do religious believers mean by the ‘problem of suffering’? (5 marks) (b) Select any TWO theodicies and consider how far they offer solutions to this problem. (15 marks) 5. (a) Examine TWO philosophical reasons for belief in miracles. (6 marks) (b) Outline at least TWO problems with belief in miracles. (8 marks) (c) Consider the claim that there are no acceptable solutions to these problems. (6 marks) 2002 1. (a) Outline the design argument for the existence of God. (7 marks) (b) ‘The design argument fails because of its weaknesses.’ Examine and comment on this claim. (13...
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...Romeo Agnew Natural Law Notes Thomas Aquanas- Divine Command theory with Human reason Faith and reason in his other writings Thomas Aquanas- Believed God Exists Humans are made in the image of god Part of what it means to be mad in gods image Devine Law- Which comes from god Universal Law Human rights -Right to self preservation ( you have the right to preserve your own life) Even animals have this right -Humans have the right to pro creation -The right of education the right to grow to be curious and the right to maturation. To expand your knowledge. Nobody has to right to keep you in a place to be stagnant. -The right to socialization. Humans are social animals and they reserve this right. People are not allowed to keep you locked away or to keep you separate from other beings. No higharchy to these rights. No set order or one better then the other. There are two sets of qualifiers for this particular law. Forfeiture- which means if you attempt to take away someone’s right you take away our own equivalent rights. For example if I poke you in the eye and you loose your eye I would forfeit my own eye. If someone trys to take my life I can defend myself with lethal force. The attempt has to be equal is what needs to be kept in mind. For example if someone rapes me. It wouldn’t be equal to kill them. If the victem no longer is able to socialize after the event. Then the offender shouldn’t be able to socialize in the end result. Eye for an eye tooth for a...
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...“The verification principle offers no real challenge to religious belief.” Discuss [35] The verification principle is a significant concept used by many philosophers in order to determine whether a religious statement is meaningful or not. This was highly influenced by logical positivism: group of 20th century philosophers called the Vienna circle and was then further developed by British philosopher A.J Ayer. Religious language refer to statements such as ‘God exists’ and ‘God loves me’. Whilst these metaphysical claims are often rendered as meaningless by verificationism, one must take into account the strengths and weaknesses. Ayer, in his first edition of ‘Language, Truth and Logic’ (1936), asserts that a statement is meaningful if and only if it can be verified by the sense observation or a tautology. By this he means that they are either a priori (before sense experience) analytic, where the predicate is entailed by the subject, or a posteriori (after sense experience) synthetic, where the predicate is not entailed by the subject. An example of a priori analytic statement would be that ‘all unmarried men are bachelors’ and this is also a tautology as it is true by definition. An example of a posteriori synthetic statement would be that ‘John is a bachelor’. For Ayer, if a statement cannot be verified in this way, then it is factually insignificant and thus, meaningless. He affirms that religious statements fall into neither category of priori analytic nor posteriori synthetic...
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...two categories: natural and revealed. Natural theology is knowing that God exist, we know this because of study of nature and the creatures God created. I am a follower of natural theology, I enjoy studying creations because it makes my faith for God a lot stronger. Anything other than the knowledge of God and his creations is labeled under revealed theology. As I read and read the New Atlantis, I am beginning to see that the society in the story is definitely a scientific society. Also, in the New Atlantis, the need for man to be driven does not exist, also the scarcity is demolished because there is no need for money. It is all based off of science. I can agree on some aspects of science and religion. However, there are a few points that I can make as a Christian as to why religion is not science. The first point is the creation of the world. I do not believe it was science that created the world, I believe it was God who created the heavens and the Earth and everything that lives on it. This can even go as far as believing in evolution, the science of believing man evolved instead of being created. I do not agree with evolution in any aspect of the science, not only have I been taught not to, but also my heart does not believe it. Don’t get me wrong, science and...
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...The article by H.J. McCloskey, titled “On Being an Atheist” is certainly a controversial topic for those of the Christian faith, especially those with very strong beliefs. We as Christians believe that God is almighty and there is really no need to believe in any other being or even question that he exists. In this article from McCloskey, he talks about God’s existence and if there truly is a God, then why is there evil in world? This essay will have my findings on the questions we were asked as class about McCloskey’s thoughts and the thoughts from the book, Philosophy of Religion. When believing in anything, people like to have proof as to why something exists. Christians might show proof in God’s existence or Atheists might show proof in that there is no God. We all have reasons as to why we believe in certain things and sometimes its can be hard to prove. McCloskey talks about proofs in his article, saying that there are proofs to the non-existence of God. In a presentation titled “Approaching the Question of God’s Existence”, the author is quite the opposite of McCloskey. He doesn’t believe that we should try proving anything; it is a word to steer away from. We shouldn’t try to find proof that God exists, but find a best explanation to why he exists. McCloskey says that proofs cannot actually make a case that there is a God. In the presentation, though, it is explained that we can make our best case for why he exists. The author says, “There are certain things we see...
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...Consider how far free will is a satisfactory explanation for the existence of evil in a world created by God To a certain extent the concept of free will is indeed a satisfactory explanation for the existence of evil in a world created by God. John Hick, in his book, Evil and The God of Love - states that God gave us free will to develop and become perfect. Hick argues that we are born as immature and imperfect, therefore we develop virtues in order to become more in God’s likeness; we develop these virtues by suffering. This suffering therefore is caused by pain, so arguably evil is the cause of our developing characteristics that enable us to reach heaven and to become one with God. Furthermore, Augustine puts forward the argument that evil is the result of human free will, and not God’s own doing. Augustine sheds light on The Fall,where it is stated that God gave Adam and Eve free will. However, they chose to abuse this, as they supposedly ate the forbidden fruit. Thus, resulting in the ‘lapse’ of mankind. However, if God had not permitted the possibility of evil, as humans we would be restricted to have free will. Catastrophic events such as the Holocaust show clear indications of evil on large scales, caused by arguably human misuse of free will decision making. If God were to stop such events, he would arguably be having to choose and draw lines between different occurrences of evil, such as larger scale events as opposed to an individual murder. God cannot be said...
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...the age group was still much larger than the number of attendance from groups of the lower age. The reason for the decrease in religious participation for the younger generation can be due to the changes occurring in society relating to religion. According to Voas and Crockett the age difference in religious participation is due to the generational effect. The idea of this theory is that over the years society had and will become more secular which in effect means that those of the new generation will become less religious than those before them. Additionally, Bruce argues that due to the decline of religion as a social institute this has hand an effect on those of the younger age. This is because the church had once provided education for the children however now this has been overtaken by the state. This in result means that religion is losing its influence on the children thrus leading the younger generation down a path that lacks religious considerations. Similarly, Hervieu-leger argues that here has been a cultural amnesia where the knowledge of traditional religion which is supposedly passed down the family generation has been disregarded over the years. So instead of the parents teaching their children their knowledge of religion they are leaving the children to decide for themselves what to believe. This means that younger people do not have to inherit the fixed religious identity passed down the family generation. So due to the lack of religious...
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...Shenyu Wang PHL101 Summery Essay 3 7/22/2015 I think that God does not exist. if God exists, if it is material, it should be seen. But I have never seen it before. if God is immaterial, that everyone can create their own God in their hearts; if God had not the slightest effect on the material world, he exists only in the spirit of the believer, this means that God does not exist in this world, like a young man, he does not like all the girls, and the girls fall in love with his own spirit, so the presence of the girl in the end does not exist? there is no reliable evidence that the existence God, therefore God does not exist. Evil exists, because the world is not peaceful, many people still suffer from war and disease. suffered physical pain is evidence of the existence of evil. at the same time, there is evil in the human, many of whom are followers of God, if God exists, then he should be good, he should do something to stop the war, or to prevent a war. he should go to cure people of illness, he should punish the wicked person. but we do not see God do these things. war still occur from time to time, the doctors treating the patients, the wicked persons are punished by law, majorities people make their own efforts to live better. When I finished reading, I think the same as i did before. my biggest problem of the existence is that if God exists, why is there evil? God is moral, he should avoid and stop the evil. philosophers to explain the existence of God are inadequately...
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...Philosophy of Religion My God or Your God Throughout the history of mankind, humans have believed and had no doubt in the existence of a God or gods, for thousands of years. People lived their lives believing and worshiping some sort of superior power. But after thousands of years, we notice that in the 19th century and beyond to present day, people have lost connection with God and stopped having faith. In regards to faith, I believe that we are limited with evidence, therefore we have limited answers. With so many beliefs, religions, and faiths out there in the world, it is easy for someone to give up in their faith, and end up believing in nothing. We then potentially become atheists or agnostics. Also, if we are born with no strong background religion, then it will be impossible for someone to believe in God or any faith. I think people take the easy route; if it does not make sense to them, then they automatically do not believe in it. This acquisition questions our purpose of living in this world. Why are we here? What is our purpose? These questions I believe are difficult or maybe even impossible to understand. As a Gnostic theist I strongly believe that God does exist. I am going to defend my position using the teleological argument. Here are the reasons that I am going to discuss that justify the existence of God: 1. the universe has complex purposes. 2. The human mind is incapable of understanding the complexity and aims of the universe. 3. There are no valid...
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...not believe in God and he does not exist then our sins will not be punished. Kant attempted to show how philosophy could prove the existence of God, but for him his previous work showed that we could not know reality directly as thing-in-itself. What is real in itself is beyond our experience. Even if God exists, we cannot know God as he really is. For Kant the Christian could have faith in God, and this faith would be consonant with reason and the categorical imperative. Given that human beings have the autonomy to create moral values; it would not be irrational to believe in a God who gives purpose to the moral realm. Hegel thought that the God of religion was an intuition of Absolute Spirit or Geist. For Hegel God is immanent and when we have understood that history is the process of Geist coming to know itself it appears that we are all part of Geist, or God. For Feuerbach and Marx religion is seen as the projection of the human essence onto an ideal: God does not make man. Rather "God" is the invention of human consciousness. Marx also sees that religion is part of an ideological view that encourages the oppressed to accept their fate. As he says: "Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the sentiment of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people. "The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of men is a demand for their real happiness. The call to abandon their illusions about their...
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