The Nature of God
In Christian theology, God has become visible in Jesus Christ His true image. Christian philosophy and theology conceived God in terms of analogy of beings as Absolutely Holy, Supreme, Exalted above the world, personal, Absolutely Necessary, uncaused caused, Existing in Himself and therefore Eternal and Infinitely Perfect Being.
The cosmological argument is based on the assumption that the existence of the world or some aspect of it needs to be explained. The activity of God is said to provide this explanation. The first three of Aquinas’ Foe Ways (arguments for the existence of God) are forms of the cosmological arguments.
Much of our knowledge of the world comes from sense experience. But sense experience is not the only kind of experience we have. Some people also have religious experience. Swinburne (1991) identifies five kinds of religious experience. The five experiences include those in which God, or God’s action, is identified in a public object or scene, such as the night sky, those that occur as a result of unusual public events e.g. the appearance of the risen, Jesus to his discipline, those that an individual can describe using normal language e.g. Joseph’s dream that an angel appeared and spoke to him, d) Sensations that cannot be described in normal language e.g. mystical experiences and those in which the individual has no sensations but is directly aware of God.
The existence of miracles is thought by many to be a compelling reason for believing in God. The sacred texts of many religions are filled with accounts of wondrous events. The Bible for example tells us of a stick turning into a snake, of the Red sea being parted and of the sun standing still.
There are some subsidiary proofs of God’s existence. One of the subsidiaries proof is moral obligation of the conscience. Man perceives within himself a law commanding him to do certain acts because they are good and avoid others because they are evil. Since there is no law without a law giver, such natural law owes its origin to a supreme law Giver, God as the author of human nature. Another proof is man’s desire for happiness. Man is some constituted that he always strives for happiness, but never completely attains it. Since this tendency cannot be fully satisfied in this life where all goods are limited and imperfect a spring good must exist somewhere that completely satisfies man’s aspirations that is God.
The universal consensus of mankind is another proof. The human race as a whole has always recognized the existence of a Superior Being on whom man and creatures depend. But mankind and the human mind cannot be universally deceived in a matter of such importance therefore God must exist. Human race believe in the existence of Super Natural Being called God. They do so not by facts or mythology but by things surrounding them and their circumstances with regards to causes and effects.
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R. Popkin, et al Philosophy Made Simple (London: William Heinemann Ltd, 1981) p. 105.
B. Russell Our Knowledge of the External World (London: Routledge, 1993) p. 214.
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Ibid p. 118.
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R. Descartes, Meditations v, the Philosophical works of Descartes. Trans E.S. Haldane and G.R. Ross (Cambridge, University Press 1911) p. 182.
Direct Interview on Chief Akunne of Ezinifite.
O. Walter, Marxin and Existentialism: Anchor Book (Garden City: Double day and Co 1965) p. 13.
J.P. Sartre, Existentialism is a Humanism Trans by Philip Mairet, (London: Methuen and Co, 1960) p. 27 – 28.
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Post CommentLeonardo da Vinci E.
On September 13, 2009 at 3:43 pm
“The sun stood still” is merely proof that ancient writers of the bible (who had no real understanding of physics) were liars, since they imagined that the sun appearing to rise each morning was something that could be made to stand still, when in fact the illusion of the sun rising is caused by the earth traveling around the sun (therefore; the sun always stands still;relatively speaking). But their religious piety could not detect that little fact. Their writing indicates that they wrongly thought the sun travels around the earth. As for Gods: Whatever Gods there be, let them come down in the here and now and speak for themselves. Let not a man speak in their place and certainly let not a book substitute. Gods can speak, let them speak for themselves.