St. Thomas Aquinas Five Ways Essay Example

St. Thomas Aquinas agrees that god exists. He uses the A Posteriori approach to explain his arguments. One of St. Thomas Aquinas arguments is known as Efficient cause. Everything has a cause and nothing could happen with out one. Aquinas explains that it is impossible for anything to have its own cause. If something were to have its own cause it would have had to existed prior to itself, which would be impossible. Even if you were to believe in the Big Bang theory their has to be a first efficient cause. Aquinas gives the first efficient cause the name God.

Another argument in favor of the existence of god is St. Anselm’s Ontological Proof of God’s Existence. Unlike St. Thomas Aquinas he uses the A Priori approach. Instead of using physical features to prove God’s existence he puts a rational argument in your head. St. Anselm tells a story about a conversation he had with an Atheist. In his story the atheist agrees that in his head he understands that the definition of god is that nothing greater can be conceived. The Atheist believes that God only exists in your mind and not in reality. Then St. Anselm goes on to explain that the Atheist also understands that St. Anselm believes that God exist in his mind and in reality. After the Atheist has agreed that he understands that god can exist in the mind and reality St. Anselm explains that the Atheist had a contradiction in his head explaining that the understanding of definition of God which is that of nothing greater can be conceived and the understanding the belief that god exists in the mind and in reality. He explains that the Atheist had just conceived an idea greater then the idea of God himself in his own head, because of this you would have to believe that God exists both in your mind and reality. You can take this argument and make it very simple. For example you can think of the best possible hot dog. No greater hot dog can be conceived, but it would be better if the hot dog existed it reality and