Lesson 01: God, the Soul, Religion

Guide Questions

Is it possible for us to know anything about God? How?
Can we prove that God exists?
How would you explain God's existence to a free thinker?
How important is reason in our faith? Is belief in God a sentimental thing?
Why are some people atheists?
How do we know we have a soul?
Did God himself tell us something about himself?
If man can know God on his own why did God reveal himself?
Why is there only one true religion? (Or is any religion just as good as any other?)

1. Natural Knowledge of God Through Our Knowledge of Creatures

In the introductory lesson, we have seen the different ways by which we acquire knowledge. Though we often take our capacity to know for granted, it is important to affirm it, for there have been and there still are people who deny that it is possible for us to truly know. This attitude towards reality and the truth is called skepticism.

We have also seen how it is possible for us to know things in three different ways. We cannot know God's existence through our senses because God is invisible. (A little girl once wrote a letter to God saying, "Dear God, Are you really invisible, or is that just a trick?") Our knowledge of God's existence can come to us through reasoning and also through belief or faith.

1.1 We Can Know God Through the Things He Has Created

1.1.1 Proof from Sacred Scripture

The Sacred Scripture itself attests to this possibility. Here are two passages, one from the Old Testament, another from the New Testament.

Wisdom 13:1-9.
- 1 For all men who were ignorant of God were foolish by nature; and they were unable from the good things that are seen to know him who exists, nor did they recognize the craftsman while paying heed to his works; 2 but they supposed that either fire or wind or swift air, or the circle of the stars, or turbulent water, of the luminaries of heaven were the gods that rule the world. 3 If through delight in the beauty of these things men* assumed them to be gods, let them know how much better than these is their Lord, for the author of beauty created them. 4 And if men* were amazed at their power and working, let them perceive from them how much more powerful is he who formed them. 5 For from the greatness and beauty of created things comes a corresponding perception of their Creator. 6 Yet these men are little to be blamed, for perhaps they go astray while seeking God and desiring to find him. 7 For as they live among his works they keep searching, and they trust in what they see, because the things that are seen are beautiful. 8 Yet again, not even they are to be excused; 9 for if they had the power to know so much that they could investigate the world, how did they fail to find sooner the Lord of these things?
Romans 1:19-23.
- 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20* Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse....

1.1.2 Proof from the Teaching Authority (Magisterium) of the Church

The Church's Teaching Authority or Magisterium teaches the same thing. Both the Catechism of the Catholic Church [henceforth "CCC"] and the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church [henceforth "CCCC"] summarise and affirm this teaching.

Catechism of the Catholic Church, 36.
- Our holy mother, the Church, holds and teaches that God, the first principle and last end of all things, can be known with certainty from the created world by the natural light of human reason."
Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 3.
- How is it possible to know God with only the light of human reason? Starting from creation, that is from the world and from the human person, through reason alone one can know God with certainty as the origin and end of the universe, as the highest good and as infinite truth and beauty.

1.2 The Knowledge of God Radically Affects One's Whole Life and Values

Knowing that God exists is not a mere theoretical question. It changes the whole scheme of things. It is just like knowing that in an office you have a boss. You cannot move around furniture the way you please. You cannot take a break anytime you like. There are so many things you cannot do. You might feel your freedom is curtailed. (Bill Cosby once quipped that men mistakenly think they will become the boss when they marry.)

Accepting God's existence affects our daily living and may require drastic changes in the way we live. The process that leads to that acceptance could prove difficult. Thus, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, no 30, says:

Although man can forget God or reject him, He never ceases to call every man to seek him, so as to find life and happiness. But this search for God demands of man every effort of intellect, a sound will, 'an upright heart', as well as the witness of others who teach him to seek God.

Discovering God's existence and accepting it is both an intellectual task (that means it's not easy) and a moral endeavour. To know God it is necessary to want to know God.

What we are trying to say here is that in spite of clear evidence the God exists, a man may opt to deny him. This decision to shut God out from one's mind and life is atheism. We shall take this up again later.

2. From the Material World to God

2.1 Proof from Magisterium

Point 31 of the CCC says:

Created in God's image and called to know and love him, the person who seeks God discovers certain ways of coming to know him. These are also called proofs for the existence of God, not in the sense of proofs in the natural sciences, but rather in the sense of 'converging and convincing arguments', which allow us to attain certainty about the truth. These 'ways' of approaching God from creation have a twofold point of departure: the physical world, and the human person.

To reiterate: God can be known from creatures through (1) physical creation, and also through (2) the human person. Let us tackle the first source of knowledge--the physical world.

The next point (no 32) of the CCC says:

The world: starting from movement, becoming, contingency, and the world's order and beauty, one can come to a knowledge of God as the origin and the end of the universe.

Note that there are five starting points: movement, becoming, contingency, and the world's order and beauty. These points are actually taken from the proofs presented by St Thomas Aquinas to demonstrate the existence of God. These proofs were, in turn, inspired by Plato and Aristotle, by Avicenna, and by St Augustine and St John Damascene. Recall the second way by which we know. St Thomas teaches that by observing certain phenomena in creation, our mind is naturally led to the Creator. We know the Cause through his effects, just like we know there is a painter because we see the painting.

What is the practical consequence of this? It means that even if one were not Catholic or Christian or were born in a place so remote from civilisation, he would still be able to have an inkling about the existence of a Supreme Being, as long as he has use of reason.

2.2 Philosophical Explanation

Each of the five proofs of St Thomas requires an understanding of the philosophical terms used therein. Here, we will limit ourselves to describing these ways without going into detail. Each one of the ways is structured in the following way:

Starting point: a fact of experience, considered from a philosophical point of view
Applying the principle of causality: things that don't happen by themselves (effects) have a cause. (This is based on the principle "Nemo dat quod non habet"--"No one can give what he does not have.")
Appealing to the impossibility of a series of infinite causes that do not explain why there is such a causality in the first place (in the first three ways)
The conclusion: the source of this causality is the one we call God.

Let us outline each of the ways according to the above schema:

2.2.1 By Way of Motion

Starting point: we observe motion or change. Motion, or change, is a passage from a potential state to an actual or perfected state
Apply Principle of Causality: a change from a potential state to an actual or perfected state needs another external cause which is already in an actual state itself
Impossibility of an infinite series of causes: an infinite series of things in an actual or perfected state cannot explain why they are actual at all. There must be an ultimate source of the actuality or perfection that is transmitted.
Conclusion: this ultimate Source of perfection we call God.

2.2.2 By Way of Efficient Causality

Starting point: we observe that things don't just come into being by themselves
Apply Principle of Causality: things around us require a cause for them to come to be
Impossibility of an infinite series of causes: an infinite series of causes cannot explain why these causes exist at all. There must be an ultimate source of their being.
Conclusion: this ultimate Source, the ultimate Cause, we call God.

2.2.3 By Way of Necessity and Contingency

Starting point: we observe that things around us come to be and cease to be--they are not permanent, but contingent; they do not necessarily exist; at a certain moment they did not exist
Apply Principle of Causality: if they come to exist, some other existent thing must have brought them to existence. If everything were contingent, then at a certain time they did not exist. There must be something that always existed (because it exists by necessity) that causes contingent things to come to be.
Impossibility of an infinite series of causes: but an infinite series of contingent beings which owe their existence to another cannot explain why anything at all exists; there must be some necessary being which always exists, which always is
Conclusion: this Necessarily Existing Being we call God.

2.2.4 By Way of Degrees of Perfection (inspired by Plato)

Starting point: we observe that things are noble or good or beautiful (etc.) in different degrees
Apply Principle of Causality: but we use "more" or "less" with reference to a maximum, something that is Most Noble, or Most Good, or Most Beautiful, or most Perfect...., and which is the Cause of all the partial perfections.
Impossibility of an infinite series of causes: ---
Conclusion: this most Noble, most Good, most Beautiful, most True we call God.

2.2.5 By Way of Order and Purposefulness in the Universe

Starting point: we observe that even things that do not have a mind of their own always act towards a certain end. To act with an end in mind is the work of an intelligence.
Apply Principle of Causality: Things with no mind of their own must be directed by a Mind.
Impossibility of an infinite series of causes: ---
Conclusion: the Mind or Intelligence that directs all of creation in an orderly way we call God.

3. From the Human Spirit to God

Not only the external world speaks to us about God. When we look at ourselves, we also find there a path that leads to God. So closely tied to the acceptance of God's existence is the question about the meaning of life. The quest for God is the quest for the meaning of life. Every man, sooner or later, starts asking questions like

Why am I here?
Where have I come from?
Where am I going?
Why am I me (and not that other guy)?

3.1 The Existence of a Spiritual Soul in Man Leads Man to God

Before we proceed with the main topic, we need first to define the terms of our discussion, especially the term "soul". What do we mean by "soul"? How do we know that something has a soul or not?

Observation: some things are inert and passive, while others are capable of growth from the inside, nutrition, reproduction, and reaction to their surroundings.
We call those beings capable of certain functions (such as growth, nutrition, reproduction, and reaction) "living things".
Living things have something which non-living things do not have, something which makes them capable of these functions.
The "thing" that living things have and non-living things don't have is what we call the soul. (In Latin, anima; hence, we can say that the soul animates the body, it makes it alive.)

Why do we say that man has a "spiritual soul"? What does this mean?

3.1.1 Philosophical Proofs

Observation: among living things, we find differences as well.
Some living things can sense and move from one place to another (locomotion) while others cannot. We thus separate animals from the plants.
But still there are beings with capabilities more sophisticated than animals.
PROOF FROM MAN'S INTELLECT
PROOF FROM MAN'S FREE WILL
PROOF FROM THE UNIVERSAL CULTURAL PRACTICE OF HONOURING THE DEAD
- In all cultures, the dead are honoured in one way or another, e.g. their bodies are buried.
- Men believe in a life beyond the grave.
- If the body has died, it must be another "part" of man that lives on.

3.1.2 Proof from the Magisterium

The CCC (no 33) teaches us:

The human person: with his openness to truth and beauty, his sense of moral goodness, his freedom and the voice of his conscience, with his longings for the infinite and for happiness, man questions himself about God's existence. In all this he discerns signs of his spiritual soul. The soul, the "seed of eternity we bear in ourselves, irreducible to the merely material" [Vatican II, Gaudium et Spes, 18 # 1; cf. 14 # 2], can have its origin only in God.

3.2 The Natural Desire for Happiness Leads Man to God

St Augustine said: "You have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you." (Confessions I, I, I: PL 32, 659-661.)

3.3 The Natural Law Leads Man to God

By nature, we abide by some basic moral principles.
These moral principles call for an objective reference point to gauge the goodness or evil of acts.
That objective reference point is God.

3.4 The Human Race Has a Universal Belief in God

Belief in some form of deity can be found across cultures and throughout the history of mankind. This is a sign that man can arrive at the knowledge of God with the use of his natural powers alone.

4. Possibility of Denying God (Atheism) or Denying the Possibility of Knowing Him (Agnosticism)

4.1 Atheism

Since man does not grasp the existence of God with immediate evidence (but through created things), he could purposely refuse to acknowledge it and prevent his intellect from arriving at the truth. This is atheism.
Pope Pius XII, in the Encyclical Letter Humani generis, no 561 (quoted in CCC 37) taught:
- Though human reason is, strictly speaking, truly capable by its own natural power and light of attaining to a true and certain knowledge of the one personal God, who watches over and controls the world by his providence, and of the natural law written in our hearts by the Creator; yet there are many obstacles which prevent reason from the effective and fruitful use of this inborn faculty. For the truths that concern the relations between God and man wholly transcend the visible order of things, and, if they are translated into human action and influence it, they call for self-surrender and abnegation. The human mind, in its turn, is hampered in the attaining of such truths, not only by the impact of the senses and the imagination, but also by disordered appetites which are the consequences of original sin. So it happens that men in such matters easily persuade themselves that what they would not like to be true is false or at least doubtful.
Nonetheless, atheism is never a reasonable stance, because reason can demonstrate that God exists and because man without God cannot find a coherent answer to the ultimate problems of existence. (Cf Romans 1:18; CCC 2125)
Some people think that belief in God is opposed to the dignity of man because it degrades him. Hence, they want to shut God out of their personal life, or throw him out of social life. (Cf CCC 2126)
Belief in God imposes on us a duty to care for the well-being of our neighbour and to build up the earthly city.

4.2 Agnosticism

Agnosticism, on the other hand, maintains that it is impossible to affirm or deny the existence of God.
But we have already said that the living and true God can be known with certainty by the natural light of human reason through created things. This was especially taught by the First Vatican Council.
Furthermore, God is good. He gives us the means to know and love Him. Every denial of God and every rejection of supernatural revelation presupposes a morally culpable error of the intellect.
A man who has abandoned God knows deep in his conscience that his freedom has intervened in doing so.
It is important to help those persons acknowledge that their denial of God or of the Church is not a matter of intellectual conviction but also a grave sin against faith.

5. Natural & Revealed (Supernatural) Religion

Religion is the relation or bond of the creature with his Creator, manifested in
Religion can be considered both objectively and subjectively.
We can distinguish between natural religion and supernatural religion. The former is the result of man's search for God, the latter the result of God's revealing of himself to man. Religions outside the Judeao-Christian belief are natural religions. Only the Judeao-Christian tradition can claim, "God has spoken to us!"

5.1 Natural Religion

Natural religion is man's search for God using his reason.
Hence, it includes all the truths about God that man can know with his own reason, as for instance
These forms of expression are universal. CCC no 28 says the following:
- In many ways, throughout history down to the present day, men have given expression to their quest for God in their religious beliefs and behaviour: in their prayers, sacrifices, rituals, meditations, and so forth. These forms of religious expression, despite the ambiguities they often bring with them, are so universal that one may well call man a religious being.
Man is naturally inclined to know and deal with God rather than be an atheist or settle for indifference. Man is, by nature, a religious being.
Many factors can contribute to giving up the search for God or rejecting Him, among them:
But how about evil?

5.2 Revealed Religion

Because man has difficulties in coming to know God by reason alone, God wanted to reveal Himself so He can be "known with ease, certainty and no error." (Cf CCC 38, 50)
Christianity is not just a search by man: it is God who takes the initiative, it is God who searches for man.
Revealed religion has as its foundation the truths revealed by God in the Old and New Testament.

6. There is Only One True Religion

As there is only one true God, there is only one true religion.
The elements of religion are all found in the Catholic religion:
Jesus Christ is the only mediator. And all of these aspects of religion converge in him. *Hebrew "Messiah", Greek "Christos", Latin "Christus" means "Anointed". In the Old Testament, only these three kinds of persons were anointed.
In his First Letter to the Corinthians (8:5-6), St Paul says
- 5 For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth--as indeed there are many "gods" and many "lords"-- 6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.
St John also attests to this in his gospel (1:18), where he says
- No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known.
St Matthew (11:27) records Jesus' claim to being a unique go-between:
- All things have been delivered to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
St Paul writes to Timothy (I Tim 2:5):
- For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
Revealing Himself to men, God established the one sole supernatural religion, the Catholic Religion. In Lessons 12 and 13, we shall see how Jesus Christ promised to institute his Church (not churches), and how he spoke of bringing together one flock under one shepherd.
To think that all religions are the same is called religious indifferentism. Religious indifferentism is a grave error.
Natural religion leads man to know and love God, to submit to Him completely. From this flows the natural duty to seek to know Divine Revelation and to accept it.
It is incumbent on all Christians to lead others to the true religion.

7. What about other Religions?

Natural Religions
Partly Supernatural, Mostly Natural
Supernatural (Revealed) Religions
and their offshoots

Hinduism
Buddhism
Taoism
Islam
Judaism
Christianity

Websites

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse