Ch. I Proofs for the Existance of God p 5-11

CHAPTER I

PROOFS FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD

I suspect that most of mankind, deep down, doubt that God really exists. For Liberals, “Truth” is determined by how they feel, not by logic or reason. Their feeling is that they don’t want God to really exist because then they will be held accountable for sin, even for those that in the eyes of men, they got away with! For many Religion is a social gathering where they can feel good about themselves rather than grow in Sanctity and truly do the Will of God. However, God does exist. How do we know this Truth?

There are two ways to know a Truth: Someone can tell us about it or we figure it out ourselves through out senses or with logic and reason. Most of us know that God exists because The Catholic Church taught it to us. She knows it because it was revealed to her by God. This is probably the easiest and best way to learn a Truth.^[1] The existence of God can also be proved by reason without the aid of revelation.

St. Thomas Aquinas’ Proofs:^[2]

St. Thomas Aquinas, in his Summa Theologica gives five proofs that do not rely on the Bible or the opinion of any religious leader or the tenets of any church or sect. His proofs from just reason and logic are:

1. Proof from Motion. 2. Proof from Causality.

3. Proof from Contingency.

4. Proof from Degrees of Perfection.

5. Proof from Design.

1. Proof from Motion:

In science class we learned about the Law of Inertia: Bodies at rest tend to stay at rest and bodies in motion tend to stay in motion, unless acted upon by an outside force. If you get hit by a bucket of water, you are unlikely to buy the argument that it just did it by itself. In other words, everything that moves is moved by something else (an outside force). Our earth is filled with motion: baseballs, bees, wind, planets, airplanes, etc. What is the source of all that motion? Who was the first mover? The obvious answer is God. The Unmoved Mover- moved by no one or nothing else - who always was and always will be. God then, is a Being outside the series of movers. He did not receive the power to move from anyone.

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2. Proof from Causality:

All of the things of this world (and the universe) came into being (owe their existence) to some cause. Statues, cars, tools, furniture, games, and watches are all made by someone. An acorn turns into a tree by the action of the sun, water and soil nutrients. Everything that exists is the result of a chain of causes. For example, the cover on the bed came from the store, which got it from the tailor, who got the cloth from the weaver, who got the cotton from the farmer, who grew it with the help of the sun, which gets its energy from burning fuel, etc. All things come from the interaction of matter and energy. In our world of nature the 1^st Law of Thermodynamics states that matter and energy can be neither created nor destroyed.!? This is a Law of Nature. There are no exceptions within Nature. Then tell me, if matter and energy can’t be created, then where did it come from? What caused it? What was the First Cause that was uncaused by anything else? It must exist because matter and energy exists. Furthermore, since the 1^st Law of Nature prohibits creation within Nature, then there must be a First Cause outside on Nature. There has to be a Supernatural First Cause - God.

3. Proof from Contingency:

Contingent things are things that do not have to exist. They are not necessary. They come into existence, and undergo change, and pass away. They are however contingent, depend on other things for their existence. For example, plants and animals depend on food, water, and protection from extremes of weather. “A” depends on “B” which depends on “C” which depends on ....... and so on. Eventually at the end of the chain, one must reach a necessary Being which depends on nothing else and which always existed, does not undergo change and does not pass away. This Being must exist because contingent things exist. God must therefore exist.

4. Proof from Degrees of Perfection:

In the world about us we see things with various degrees of perfection in various attributes. For example things can be: beautiful, more beautiful, or very beautiful; noble, more noble, or very noble; just, more just, or very just. We see things around us with limited (finite) degrees of perfection. A limited perfection cannot contain an exhaustless perfection. It follows then that a limited perfection is a received perfection. It must be received from a Being Who possesses perfection in an inexhaustible and infinite degree. This Being who is infinitely beautiful, noble, just, etc. we call God.

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5. Proof from Design:

There are about us things which were designed to serve a purpose. The boy who used his intelligence to design and then build a kite. The men who designed and then built an airplane. The kite and the airplane were made from various parts. Each of these parts had to be used and assembled in the correct way or the kite and plane would not fly. Other things composed of parts require even more intelligence because of a more complicated design. For example eyes to see, ears to hear, wings to fly, gills to breathe. An outside intelligence must have been in operation in designing these complicated things. The eye is more complicated than a watch. It is therefore more outrageous to say that an eye just “evolved” without a designer than it would be to say a watch just evolved without a designer. This necessary ultimate Designer of the universe, we call God.

Miracles - Physical Evidence of the Supernatural and God:

5. The Stigmata:^[7] The Stigmata are the wounds of Christ that have miraculously formed on various Saintly people, through the Centuries.St. Francis of Assisi^[8] received the Stigmata in September 1224.

Teresa Newman^[9] received her first Stigmata on March 1, 1926. In addition, for 40 years, her only food was The Blessed Eucharist! She did not appear the least bit undernourished. She was very closely studied by many doctors, who could find no natural explanation. She died on September 18, 1962.

Padre Pio^[10] (1887 -1968) received his Stigmata on September 20, 1918. He is associated with many other miracles.

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6. Other Miracles:^[11] Evidence of the supernatural and of God are found in many, many other miracles associated with Catholic saints such as: bilocation (being in two places miles apart at the same time), levitation, odor of sanctity, transport, multiplication of food, etc. An excellent book on this subject is “Mysteries, Marvels, Miracles In the Lives of the Saints” by Joan Carroll Cruz. It’s available from TAN Publishers.

7. The Appearance of Our Lady at Fatima - The Miracle of the Sun:^[12] In 1917, Our Lady appeared to three children, at Fatima, Portugal. She performed The Miracle of The Sun during Her last visit there. There were over 100,000 witnesses. They were soaking wet after standing for hours in the rain and mud. The sun whirled in the sky. It was visible within a radius of more than twenty miles. It lasted about twelve minutes. When it was over, the people were not only dry, but their clothes had been cleaned as well! The photographic evidence is clear. There are many books on Fatima. A recent good one (lots of pictures) is: “Meet The Witnesses”, by John M. Haffert; AMI Press, Washington, NJ.

The physical evidence of the Supernatural is abundant. Even Satan helps prove the existence of the Supernatural and God. There are many books describing actual cases of Exorcisms by Catholic Priests, of poor souls suffering from diabolical possession.

^[1]. “Jesus saith to him: ‘Because thou hast seen me, Thomas, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and have believed.” John 20:29

^[2].”College Apologetics” Ch. II, by Fr. Anthony Alexander. See also “How To Survive In Your Liberal School” Ch. 13, by James Fitzpatrick. See also “Apologetics” Ch. I, by Rt. Rev. Paul Glenn. See also “A Tour of The Summa”Q2, by Msgr. Paul Glenn.

^[3]. “The Holy Shroud, Mirror of Christ” by Rev. Charles Foley. “The Holy Shroud and Four Visions” published by Radio Replies Press, Inc.

^[4]. “The Incorruptibles” by Joan Carroll Cruz.

^[5]. “Eucharistic Miracles” by Joan Carroll Cruz.

^[6]. “Raised From The Dead” by Father Albert J. Hebert

^[7].”The Stigmata and Modern Science” by Fr. Charles M. Carty.

^[8]. “Life of St. Francis of Assisi” by St. Bonaventure written shortly after his death. TAN Publishers.

^[9]. “Theresa Neumann - Mystic and Stigmatism: 1926-1962" by Adalbert Albert Vogl.

^[10].”Stories of Padre Pio” by Madame Katharina Tangari

^[11]. “Mysteries, Marvels, Miracles In the Lives of The Saints” by Joan Carroll Cruz.

^[12]. “Meet The Witnesses” by John M. Haffert, AMI Press.

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QUESTIONS

Apologetics: Introduction and Chapter I - Proofs For The Existence of God

(Each Question worth 10 points)

1. Write your name so I can read it.

2. Apologetics is: a) A study on how to Apologize for past errors.

b) A study on how to examine your conscience in preparation for the Sacrament of Confession.

c) A study listing the reasons for holding a particular belief.

d) A study concerning the Apollo spacecraft.

3. We study Apologetics because (Circle all that apply):

a) To learn the reasons for the Truths found in the Catholic Church.

b) To learn how to defend the Catholic Faith.

c) To learn how to examine our conscience.

d) To learn about the Apollo spacecraft.

e) To be better able to help others accept the Catholic Faith.

f) To be better prepared to resist non-Catholic attempts to separate us from the Mass and Sacraments.

4. Circle “T” or “F” when the following statements are True or False:

T F “Faith” is a Gift God gives to those who love Truth seek and ask for It.

T F The human mind is Blessed with the Gift of logic, therefore a person will always

accept a point of Catholic Doctrine when logical proof and the Truth of It is explained.

T F The best thing that we can do to make our defense of the Catholic Faith more effective

is to study Apologetics.

5. Describe St. Thomas Aquinas’ Proof of the existence of God from “Motion”.

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6. Describe St. Thomas Aquinas’ Proof of the existence of God from “Causality”.

7. Describe St. Thomas Aquinas’ Proof of the existence of God from “Contingency”.

8. Describe St. Thomas Aquinas’ Proof of the existence of God from “Degrees of Perfection”.

9. Describe St. Thomas Aquinas’ Proof of the existence of God from “Design”.

10. Give 5 examples of Physical evidence that prove the existence of the Supernatural and

thereby the Existence of God.

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