FallenSoldier
Member
- Apr 4, 2013
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I may sure as heck not know much about the bible or even be that great with God, but I do firmly believe he is there, and his son Jesus is alive and with us. I recently learned from a philosophy course I'm taking in college about five proofs of the existence of God. An actual pastor of a Christian church came in and talked about and explained them to us, and it was very interesting. I feel by my (hopefully good) attempt to explain this will help a lot of people on this forum. Some of you may already know about this. But for those who don't, read my attempted explanation, and really think about it. Don't just make up excuses like "what about this" and bla bla bla… And do not take this as a faithful perspective. As you read through this, think in a scientific manner. Abandon your faith for the moment, open up your head and dust off the cobwebs around the logical thinking part of your brain. FAITH AND SCIENCE DO NOT GET ALONG. Faith is believing without seeing. Science is having to observe, hypothesize and prove. Faith has no part in science. The term science literally means "to know."
A Christian philosopher, St. Thomas Aquinas, came up with five proofs for the existence of God. These proofs are still debated today and have yet to be disproved, and Aquinas came up with them around the years 1200, almost 800 years ago. Think about this. 800 years ago, and scientists today still cannot prove him wrong. Pretty wild. Anyways, here it goes.
Proof one: Argument from motion
Look at an object such as a lamp, your cell phone sitting on the desk, or even your desk. It’s just sitting there, right? Well how did it get there? Something had to move it there right? Most likely you or whomever you may be living with. So it was once in motion, but now it’s at rest. And if you were to get up, go for a walk and come back, it would still be in that same exact spot. So you can't deny that an object at rest stays at rest. Newton’s law of motion states "An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion at the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force." You can't deny physics. Newton was a very smart man. Now think of our universe. All the planets "move" around the sun. Now, you may argue that gravitational pull is that unbalanced force, BUT, something had to get the ball rolling first. If a planet and a sun are at a constant distance apart, not at motion and just far enough apart for gravity to have no effect, then the first law of motion says they will be at that constant distance apart forever. And with the big bang theory, things would have exploded outward, not inward, moving away from the sun. So what first moved the universe? What first moved the thing that moved the universe? You'd have to go back forever, things moving things to move things. So with this, there first had to have been a first move that is not itself moved. God? Hm…maybe.
Proof two: Argument from cause
The big bang theory basically says that all matter in the entire universe at one time was smashed very very VERY tightly together, about the size of a pen tip. (Seriously now?) And that much matter being that close together causes friction, which in turn causes heat. So all of that matter caused so much heat that a huge explosion occurred, and planets and life and trees and birds magically appeared, and we came dancing out of the fires dressed in robes playing a harp. How glorious. Go outside, get a gallon of gas, light at match and blow something up. Did you create a planet? Any signs of life? No? Darn... Anyways, our universe was caused by something. Something had to have caused it to be created, and caused it to be put in motion, and caused it to have such sophisticated life and matter on it. Now with this you might argue the first Law of Thermodynamics stating matter is neither created nor destroyed. Very true, but the second law states that things in the universe tend to increase in entropy, or become less organized. Like your room, for example. You pick up all your clothes, and then a week later when it’s a mess again you swear to your mother that a typhoon rolled through and it wasn’t your fault. So then how could such an almost perfect, so sophisticated universe come out of simplicity, or nothing? And think about this. These are LAWS, not theories. Theories are educated guesses, laws are what actually happens. So something must have caused such an organized universe. And only an uncaused cause could have caused this to happen. And there’s only one uncaused cause that we know of. God.
Proof three: Argument from necessity
How did you ever become you? You weren't here forever, right? If that were true, you'd be eternal. And we all know nothing in our realm of existence is eternal. So you're not eternal. Well that sucks. So how did you get here? Your parents, right? Then how did they get here? From your grandparents. And your grandparents from their parents, and so on. So then if life comes from life, how did the first life get here? No life on earth is forever. So how dang it?! And why the heck are we even here to begin with?! (think about that one.) Well you can sit here and argue the Big Bang Theory this and the evolution theory that bla bla....*Snore* Well, those are just "theories." Not laws. Existence has to come from existence. Nothing comes from nothing. And if nothing existed before, then nothing would ever have existed, and we would not be here. But look around you. We do exist. Your dog, your spouse, your parents, that sweet HP Pavilion dm4 laptop sitting in front of you, it all exists. So, there must be a “necessary” being, one that always has existed and never ceases to exist. This necessary being caused something to exist when nothing else existed. This being must be eternal, and only one being we know of is eternal. I think you’re starting to figure out who that is by now.
Proof four: Argument from perfection and degree
This argument I had a hard time understanding, and I think the speaker told us he could blow holes through it all day long. So he never went over this proof. But if anyone knows about it and can explain it, please do. This doesn’t cancel out the other proofs though!
Proof five: Argument from intelligent design
Have you ever heard the phrase “things happen for a reason?” Well, they do. Birds don’t just fly south for exercise. They do so for their survival. Have you ever wondered how in the world they know winter is coming? Very few things in this world are predictable. If you throw a rock in the air, it’s going to come down. If you put on a cape and go running off the roof, you will not fly and instead go hurdling face first into the ground. You break your bones, they heal. Everything in the world is organized beyond belief. The fact that our world shows order means there has to be some form of intelligent design. Again, the second law of thermodynamics, things don’t go from unorganized to organized. Is your car in better shape than it was when you bought it? Sadly, it isn’t. Inanimate objects cannot act with design or purpose in mind. Therefore, there must be an intelligent designer. One that is uncaused. One that is necessary. One that is eternal. One that knows EVERYTHING. One that is God.
Well that just about sums it up. I hope I made sense, and got my facts straight. If you haven't figured it out yet, I do not have a doctorates in philosophy, I'm actually a computer major. (Yea I'm a geek what of it?
)
Anyways, If anyone has anything to add or to fix something I may have said wrong, by all means please please do. I hope people actually read this, and I really hope it helps someone who may be thinking and wondering (or not thinking and wondering). God bless guys, and thanks for reading.
A Christian philosopher, St. Thomas Aquinas, came up with five proofs for the existence of God. These proofs are still debated today and have yet to be disproved, and Aquinas came up with them around the years 1200, almost 800 years ago. Think about this. 800 years ago, and scientists today still cannot prove him wrong. Pretty wild. Anyways, here it goes.
Proof one: Argument from motion
Look at an object such as a lamp, your cell phone sitting on the desk, or even your desk. It’s just sitting there, right? Well how did it get there? Something had to move it there right? Most likely you or whomever you may be living with. So it was once in motion, but now it’s at rest. And if you were to get up, go for a walk and come back, it would still be in that same exact spot. So you can't deny that an object at rest stays at rest. Newton’s law of motion states "An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion at the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force." You can't deny physics. Newton was a very smart man. Now think of our universe. All the planets "move" around the sun. Now, you may argue that gravitational pull is that unbalanced force, BUT, something had to get the ball rolling first. If a planet and a sun are at a constant distance apart, not at motion and just far enough apart for gravity to have no effect, then the first law of motion says they will be at that constant distance apart forever. And with the big bang theory, things would have exploded outward, not inward, moving away from the sun. So what first moved the universe? What first moved the thing that moved the universe? You'd have to go back forever, things moving things to move things. So with this, there first had to have been a first move that is not itself moved. God? Hm…maybe.
Proof two: Argument from cause
The big bang theory basically says that all matter in the entire universe at one time was smashed very very VERY tightly together, about the size of a pen tip. (Seriously now?) And that much matter being that close together causes friction, which in turn causes heat. So all of that matter caused so much heat that a huge explosion occurred, and planets and life and trees and birds magically appeared, and we came dancing out of the fires dressed in robes playing a harp. How glorious. Go outside, get a gallon of gas, light at match and blow something up. Did you create a planet? Any signs of life? No? Darn... Anyways, our universe was caused by something. Something had to have caused it to be created, and caused it to be put in motion, and caused it to have such sophisticated life and matter on it. Now with this you might argue the first Law of Thermodynamics stating matter is neither created nor destroyed. Very true, but the second law states that things in the universe tend to increase in entropy, or become less organized. Like your room, for example. You pick up all your clothes, and then a week later when it’s a mess again you swear to your mother that a typhoon rolled through and it wasn’t your fault. So then how could such an almost perfect, so sophisticated universe come out of simplicity, or nothing? And think about this. These are LAWS, not theories. Theories are educated guesses, laws are what actually happens. So something must have caused such an organized universe. And only an uncaused cause could have caused this to happen. And there’s only one uncaused cause that we know of. God.
Proof three: Argument from necessity
How did you ever become you? You weren't here forever, right? If that were true, you'd be eternal. And we all know nothing in our realm of existence is eternal. So you're not eternal. Well that sucks. So how did you get here? Your parents, right? Then how did they get here? From your grandparents. And your grandparents from their parents, and so on. So then if life comes from life, how did the first life get here? No life on earth is forever. So how dang it?! And why the heck are we even here to begin with?! (think about that one.) Well you can sit here and argue the Big Bang Theory this and the evolution theory that bla bla....*Snore* Well, those are just "theories." Not laws. Existence has to come from existence. Nothing comes from nothing. And if nothing existed before, then nothing would ever have existed, and we would not be here. But look around you. We do exist. Your dog, your spouse, your parents, that sweet HP Pavilion dm4 laptop sitting in front of you, it all exists. So, there must be a “necessary” being, one that always has existed and never ceases to exist. This necessary being caused something to exist when nothing else existed. This being must be eternal, and only one being we know of is eternal. I think you’re starting to figure out who that is by now.
Proof four: Argument from perfection and degree
This argument I had a hard time understanding, and I think the speaker told us he could blow holes through it all day long. So he never went over this proof. But if anyone knows about it and can explain it, please do. This doesn’t cancel out the other proofs though!
Proof five: Argument from intelligent design
Have you ever heard the phrase “things happen for a reason?” Well, they do. Birds don’t just fly south for exercise. They do so for their survival. Have you ever wondered how in the world they know winter is coming? Very few things in this world are predictable. If you throw a rock in the air, it’s going to come down. If you put on a cape and go running off the roof, you will not fly and instead go hurdling face first into the ground. You break your bones, they heal. Everything in the world is organized beyond belief. The fact that our world shows order means there has to be some form of intelligent design. Again, the second law of thermodynamics, things don’t go from unorganized to organized. Is your car in better shape than it was when you bought it? Sadly, it isn’t. Inanimate objects cannot act with design or purpose in mind. Therefore, there must be an intelligent designer. One that is uncaused. One that is necessary. One that is eternal. One that knows EVERYTHING. One that is God.
Well that just about sums it up. I hope I made sense, and got my facts straight. If you haven't figured it out yet, I do not have a doctorates in philosophy, I'm actually a computer major. (Yea I'm a geek what of it?
)Anyways, If anyone has anything to add or to fix something I may have said wrong, by all means please please do. I hope people actually read this, and I really hope it helps someone who may be thinking and wondering (or not thinking and wondering). God bless guys, and thanks for reading.
