Aquinas’s Proofs of the Existence of God

Aquinas’s Proofs of the Existence of God

                Thomas Aquinas was widely remarkable scholasticism, philosopher, and Thomism Catholic priest to have ever existed. Aquinas was a Roman Catholic Church theologian and a doctor of religious whose philosophical proofs of the reality of God (1225-1274) is greatly remembered for its contributions in reconciling faith and presenting a comprehensive theological system. Arguably to up to today, hard to find any rival whose work beats Aquinas’s in influence and breadth?  Other than illuminating Christian doctrine, the greatest inspiration for his work was shaped by his theological writing. Hence, I agree with Aquinas’s argument concerning the existence of God, which is persuasive.

The in-depth, voluminous Aquinas’s work depicts his imminent philosophical skills in discovering Gods’ nature and majorly protecting Christian canons. To satisfactorily comprehend Aquinas’s theology, we are obliged to first factor the twofold manner of knowing God. These involve reason and sacred teachings.  Firstly, it gives an account of the reason that reveals God on philosophical presumed success to exhibit specific facts about God’s nature and being (Burrell, 2016). The sacred teachings exhaustively narrate about Gods’ in account of our faith. It is a source of deific fact and also helps in separating intelligent believes of the doctrine on Christian faith.

In essence, Aquinas theology clinched the ideas advocated by Aristotle, and he referred to as “the philosopher, “which he integrated aristocrat philosophy with Christian ideologies. In his understanding, he did not presume that the human mind could directly know God but through demonstrations of God’s effects in human existence, which are more self-evident to us (Dreyer, 2018). In the demonstration, Aquinas invokes reasoning that yields necessary conclusions and a high degree of certainty in knowing the truth of the grounds of in protests.  Reasoning enhances our knowledge that God exists.  This demonstrates God’s essential attributes that include eternality, immateriality, and oneness. These divine aspects of life in which reason can express encompass what is known as natural theology. In sacred teaching, divine realities matters on the truth it says about God. This requires considerations of the role of faith in support of what sacred teachings profess.

Aquinas philosophy worked out five arguments that strongly stress the existence of God that proved influential in various Christian applications, which are very convincing. In developing the five ways, Aquinas’s system employs the Incarnation of the Word of God and special revelation in Jesus Christ (Dreyer, 2018). The first three arguments of Aquinas philosophy expresses what is referred to as cosmological arguments for divine existence? These arguments initiate the truth concerning the existence of the creative source of the universe preceded by natural phenomena. Cosmological arguments are from the unmoved mover, from causation, and contingency.

 The argument from the motion is also referred to as the argument of the unmoved mover.

This explains the perception of our senses concerning the manner in which objects react to one another. Any movement of something is caused by something else that initiates the chain of motions without itself changing its definite position. Aristotle referees the initiator as the prime mover “God.” i.e., God of Christianity (Dreyer, 2018). Aquinas argues that these motions are created by God, who gives various potentials to things which make them change without Him changing. Hence I agree with those Aquinas arguments which are persuasive covering God’s existence.

 The Argument of the First Cause known as the argument from causation. This referees to the notion that everything is caused by something else, and hence without the initial cause, there would be no others (Dreyer, 2018). In Aquinas, understanding of the existence of things depends on the existence of simultaneous dependency of relationships with an efficient cause. The -argument is about the first cause in the hierarchy, unlike the derivative cause. That cause is God.

The Argument from Contingency: Aquinas elucidates the survival of   God by bringing in the distinction between necessary and possible beings. Since objects that are in the world must exist and extinct, it is more likely for existing or not exists at any given period since nothing can come into existence without something that existed before (Dreyer, 2018). Just as there cannot be the existence of a large chain of essential beings whose necessity is caused by another required beings, there must be being which is compulsory in itself, and the being is God.

The Argument from   Gradation: this argument advances that, different degrees of goodness exists in different things (Burrell, 2016). In the Great Chain of Being, there is a steady scaling in complexity, objects transform from unformed inorganic matter to biologically complex organisms. This proves that there must be the highest degree of good, which is the topmost perfection. God is the perfect being.

The    Argument from    Design: the fifth way argues that predefined order exists to all things that dictate their success to achieve predetermined goals. Proper design and purpose has to be in place for the order to exist in the universe. For this to take place, there must be a designer with divine intelligence. This signifies God.

There were some oppositions that criticize Aquinas’s dispute of the existence of God. For instance, they contend that he does not deliver evidence of showing God is identical, where he only uses tacit agreement. This means that he insinuates that there already exists prior consensus, which God is the sole entity that is capable of catalyzing causation (Burrell, 2016). Additionally, the presumption that he makes about God is an efficient cause that fails in acknowledging different possibilities. However, this is countered through the explanation of using contingency.

In conclusion, the above arguments predominantly present Aquinas’s philosophy is an eminently peculiar way to prove the existence of God to humanity. He proved that God is the prime mover who makes things to move without Him moving, God is the superior being without which nothing can exist, and nothing can exist on its own. God is a perfect being through which other things were formed; God is God of the order who intelligently designed all things and makes them achieve their divine purpose.  Hence I agree with Aquinas’s arguments that support that there is the existence of God.