GOD We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things seen and unseen‌ -Nicene Creed
Outline • •
The big questions Proofs for God’s Existence – Reason and faith
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God’s Nature – His qualities
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God as Creator – Spiritual and Material
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Evil and Suffering – Why does it exist?
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The Central Truth about God – Trinity and Love
The Big Questions • • • • • • • •
Is there a God? If there is a God what is He like? Am I here because of chance or did God make me? Why is there evil and suffering in the world? If there is a God does he care about me? Does my life have any meaning? Is there a heaven and hell? Does it really matter how I live my life?
God’s Existence How do we know there is a God?
Faith and Reason • •
We come come to know God through both faith and reason Faith (Divine Revelation) – What we can to know about God has been revealed by Him through His Son and taught by His Church
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Reason (Rational thought) – What we can come to know about God through our natural abilities
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Faith and reason do not conflict – Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth – in a word, to know himself – so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves.” – Pope John Paul II (Fides et Ratio)
REASON = True Philosophy
Personal Experience as a Proof for the Existence of God •
Restlessness (unfulfilled desire) – Our hearts are restless , O Lord, until they rest in Thee St. Augustine of Hippo
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Sense of Justice – Heaven and Hell
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Love – No material explanation can fully explain it
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The Human Person – Moral goodness – Sacrificial love – Truth and beauty • Rom 1:20 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
St. Thomas’s Five Proofs for the Existence of God •
The First Mover – A thing must be first moved by something else; it cannot move itself
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The First Efficient Cause – There is no case known (neither is it, indeed, possible) in which a thing is found to be the efficient cause of itself; for so it would be prior to itself, which is impossible.
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Possibility and Necessity – In nature things are possible to be and not to be, since they are found to be generated, and to corrupt, … – Therefore, if at one time nothing was in existence, it would have been impossible for anything to have begun to exist; and thus even now nothing would be in existence — which is absurd. Therefore, not all beings are merely possible, but there must exist something the existence of which is necessary
St. Thomas’s Five Proofs for the Existence of God •
The gradation to be found in things – Among beings there are some more and some less good, true, noble and the like. But "more" and "less" are predicated of different things, according as they resemble in their different ways something which is the maximum, as a thing is said to be hotter according as it more nearly resembles that which is hottest; so that there is something which is truest, something best, something noblest and, consequently, something which is uttermost being
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The governance of the world – We see that things which lack intelligence, such as natural bodies, act for an end, and this is evident from their acting always, or nearly always, in the same way, so as to obtain the best result.
God’s Nature If there is a God what is he like?
Qualities of God • • • • • • • •
Oneness – God is one Eternal – God has no beginning and no end Omnipotent – God is all powerful Omniscient – God is all knowing Immutable – God does not change Utterly Simple – God is pure spirit Supremely Holy – God is goodness itself Personal – God is intimately concerned about His creation
God the Creator Maker of heaven and earth, of all things seen and unseen.
Creation • What does it mean to create? – Ex Nihilo
• Why did God create? – To share his glory
• Both the material world and the spiritual world were created • Man is the crown of God’s creation – A being that is both material and spiritual
• All that God created was good
Evil and Suffering Why do they exist if God is good?
What is evil? • Evil is not a thing but it is also not an illusion (Buddhism, New Age) • God did not create evil • Evil is the deprivation of a good – To the degree that a being lacks the goodness that it should have it is evil – Evil is not something present, but something missing, a privation.
Why do bad things happen? (The origin of evil) • Misuse of free will – As free creatures man has the ability to reject the good (i.e. God)
• The result of the misuse of man’s free will is a fallen world – Original sin
• God allows evil to exist to bring about a greater good – Romans 8:28 We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose. – It appears that a deeper, more profound good results when virtue is won by free, moral souls struggling with evil, rather than simply granted to them as an element of their constitution.
Why do bad things happen? (The origin of evil) •
God made a world in which true moral decision-making and development of virtues is possible in humans, manifest by persons whose character is formed through growth and struggle. – Hebrews 5:8-9 8
Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered; 9 and being made perfect he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him
– The Cross •
Mystery – Job 42:3-6 …Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. 4 ["You said,] 'Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.' 5 My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. 6 Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes."
The Central Truth of Christianity: The Most Holy Trinity God is love. -1 John 4:8
The Trinity • Three Persons in One God • Nature and Personhood • The Trinity is relational