Thomas Aquinas Arguments In The Existence Of God
Introduction
As I was a Christian, my parents use to ask me to read different types of books about God and religion. One of my favorite books that I had read during my high school years was a book by Thomas Aquinas. Thomas Aquinas believed in a unique combination of faith and reason in his believes of God, and had brought up five different arguments on his believes in political and ethical in the existence of God.
1st: The First Mover
Aristotle got the idea that the whole universe is in motion from Heraclitus, and he wrote it in his Metaphysics. When Aquinas read this, he was amazed by this idea. Aquinas argued that everything must be moved by something.
"Everything that moves is moved by something else, for nothing can move unless …show more content…
Aquinas then identifies the first mover who is not moved by anyone as God.
2nd: First Cause
Aquinas states that there must be an efficient cause for everything in the world and it is impossible for something to cause itself. "In the world of senses we find that there is a sequence of efficient causes, but we never find something that causes itself, and it is impossible to do because it would precede itself - which is impossible" (Aquinas, 1950) Aquinas argues that if one can trace back infinitively, it is possible to find the first cause that causes everything. Aquinas got that idea from Aristotle, who said "efficient cause" is what it cause itself and cause everything else, and Aquinas called the first cause God.
3rd: First Being
Aquinas ponders the theory of existence, wondering why everything exist if there used to be nothing? According to Aquinas, the world can 't be just here all the time, some 'necessary being ' must have created it. "Everything cannot be [merely] possible but there must be some necessary being in existence. Something is necessary being either as a result of the action of another or not" (Aquinas, …show more content…
If God exist, why would there be evil? Why doesn 't God just create a perfect world which there is no suffering? Aquinas tries to answer the with very cliché Christian views that do not satisfy me. He claims that God is testing our faith and God gives us free-will because we are intelligent. If God is powerful and omniscient, why doesn 't he just create human beings that are faithful and not sinful? There is no point to test our faith if God knows we have faith or not. The theodicy problem is an endless discussion and I believe neither Aquinas nor any person in the current world can fully explain
As I was a Christian, my parents use to ask me to read different types of books about God and religion. One of my favorite books that I had read during my high school years was a book by Thomas Aquinas. Thomas Aquinas believed in a unique combination of faith and reason in his believes of God, and had brought up five different arguments on his believes in political and ethical in the existence of God.
1st: The First Mover
Aristotle got the idea that the whole universe is in motion from Heraclitus, and he wrote it in his Metaphysics. When Aquinas read this, he was amazed by this idea. Aquinas argued that everything must be moved by something.
"Everything that moves is moved by something else, for nothing can move unless …show more content…
Aquinas then identifies the first mover who is not moved by anyone as God.
2nd: First Cause
Aquinas states that there must be an efficient cause for everything in the world and it is impossible for something to cause itself. "In the world of senses we find that there is a sequence of efficient causes, but we never find something that causes itself, and it is impossible to do because it would precede itself - which is impossible" (Aquinas, 1950) Aquinas argues that if one can trace back infinitively, it is possible to find the first cause that causes everything. Aquinas got that idea from Aristotle, who said "efficient cause" is what it cause itself and cause everything else, and Aquinas called the first cause God.
3rd: First Being
Aquinas ponders the theory of existence, wondering why everything exist if there used to be nothing? According to Aquinas, the world can 't be just here all the time, some 'necessary being ' must have created it. "Everything cannot be [merely] possible but there must be some necessary being in existence. Something is necessary being either as a result of the action of another or not" (Aquinas, …show more content…
If God exist, why would there be evil? Why doesn 't God just create a perfect world which there is no suffering? Aquinas tries to answer the with very cliché Christian views that do not satisfy me. He claims that God is testing our faith and God gives us free-will because we are intelligent. If God is powerful and omniscient, why doesn 't he just create human beings that are faithful and not sinful? There is no point to test our faith if God knows we have faith or not. The theodicy problem is an endless discussion and I believe neither Aquinas nor any person in the current world can fully explain