THE QUESTION OF GODLesson 9 - GOD AND THE WORLD

Presented by:Arnel O. RiveraLPU-Cavite

Based on the presentation of:Mr. Alexander Rodis

Review: Who’s line is it? Anyhow?

Identify who said the following lines. Write if it is from PLATO, ARISTOTLE, ST. AQUINAS or ST. AGUSTINE.

Who’s line is it? Anyhow?1. EVIL IS NOT REAL.2. Natural law governs all morality and

human behavior must conform to it.3. There is nothing wrong with loving

things other than God, you must not love them as if they were good in themselves for only God is intrinsically good.

Who’s line is it? Anyhow?4. The good of each kind of thing is

defined with reference to the nature of that kind of thing . In the case of humans, goodness is happiness.

5. The divine law is God’s gift to us, revealed through his grace.

THEOLOGY It comes from the Greek word “theos” which

means “God”Theology is the study or science or

knowledge of God.

TWO TYPES OF THEOLOGYNatural TheologyRevealed Theology

WHAT IS NATURAL THEOLOGY?It means the study or knowledge of God

through the natural intellect. This means the intellect in its natural state unaided by any special or supernatural input.

It is also known as philosophical theology or rational theology.

 

WHAT IS REVEALED THEOLOGY?The knowledge of God through special

revelation, such as the Bible, the Church, Moses, Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the like.

NATURAL VS. REVEALED.In natural theology, people attempt through

their own natural faculties to approach God, whereas in revealed theology God has in his own special way approached humanity.

Natural theology if successful , delivers some basic knowledge of God’s existence and perhaps something or his nature but in revealed theology, if true, delivers a knowledge which bears on human salvation.

NATURAL THEOLOGY: A POSTERIORI ARGUMENT OF GOD’S EXISTENCECOSMOLOGICAL TELEOLOGICAL

COSMOLOGICAL ARGUMENTSBecause it is based on the kosmos, the Greek word for

world. The world means here not just Earth by the whole physical universe or the sum total of space and time.

It is also called the First-Cause Argument because it attempts to show that there must be a first cause of the world.

EXAMPLE:There has to be a God, because, well the universe

couldn’t just happen.Do you think things just popped into being from

nowhere?There must be a first cause of everything.

THE COSMOLOGICAL ARGUMENT IS USUALLY FORMULATED AS FOLLOWS:1. Here is the world, or space and time.2. It could not be the cause of itself.3. It could not come from nothing.4. It could not be and effect in an infinite series of

causes and effects.5. Therefore, it must be caused by something outside

space and time, something uncaused and ultimate.

Stated in this way, it begins with the fact of the physical world and then by a process of elimination arrives at the only possible explanation for it: GOD, the FIRST CAUSED.

THE COSMOLOGICAL ARGUMENTStated in categorical syllogism

All contingent (or caused) being depends for its existence on some uncaused being.

The cosmos is a contingent being.Therefore, the cosmos depends for its existence

on some uncaused being.

THE FIVE WAYS OF THE PROOF OF GOOD ACCORDING TO AQUINAS:The existence of Good can be proved in five ways:1. The argument in motion.

Whatever moved is moved by another. But there is the first mover moved by no other, and this everyone understands to be God.

2. The nature of the efficient cause.There is nothing in this world in which is a thing is found to be the efficient cause of itself; for so it would be prior to itself which is impossible. Efficient causes cannot go on in infinity, because in all efficient causes following in order, the first cause if the cause of the intermediate cause, and the intermediate cause is the cause of the ultimate cause. And to take away the cause is to take away the effect. Therefore, it is necessary to admit a first efficient cause, to which every one gives the name of God.

3. Gradation to be found in things.Among beings there are some more and some less good, true, noble and the like. But more or less are predicted of different things according as they resemble in their different ways something which is the maximum. Now the maximum in any genus is the cause of all in that genus. Therefore, there must also be something which is to all beings the cause of their being, goodness and every other perfection.

5. Governance of the world.Things which lacks knowledge such as natural bodies, act for an end, and this is evident from their acting always I the same way, so as to obtain the best result. Whatever lack knowledge cannot move towards an end, unless it is directed by some being endowed with knowledge and intelligence. Therefore, some intelligent being exists by whom all natural things are directed to their end.

 

TELEOLOGICAL ARGUMENTThe argument of the existence of God has something to

do with teleology.Teleology comes from the Greek word “telos” which

means “design or purpose”It is also a posteriori reasoning that employs the idea of

causality.God is the only adequate explanation for the apparent

order, purpose, unity, harmony and beauty of the cosmos.

It goes beyond the cosmological argument by identifying the ultimate cause as the rational cause and the rationality displayed in the cosmos must be a product of mind.

THE TELEOLOGICAL ARGUMENT Stated in Categorical Syllogism

Watches, houses, ships, machines, etc. all exhibit design and they are planned and produced by intelligent beings

The universe exhibits designsTherefore, the universe was planned and

produced by an intelligent being.

One of the best known, though out-of date, statements of this argument is provided by the Anglican divine William Paley (1743-1805).

Narrow Teleology In his famous, watch analogy, Paley argued

that the human eyeball demands an intelligent creator no less that a watch.

Paley belied in a special creation of the universe and humans all at once, once upon a time, as a watcher makes watch.

Paley’s watch analogy became irrelevant when Charles Darwin published the Origin of Spicies.

Darwin believed in the gradual and evolutionary development of man over an untold number of years. Instead of immediately fashioning , say the human eye, evolution substituted long and progressive sequences of natural causes and effects.

THEISTIC EVOLUTIONF.R. Tennant (1866-1957) – wider or cosmic

teleology

He suggested to shift our attention from specific instances of design to the “design of the whole” and to appreciate the process and laws, including the evolution as “conspiring” as it were , upon the production of an intelligible universe, and upon humanity – the bearer of moral and aesthetic values – the crowning glory.