Reasons in the Existence of God

Aquinas: "Reasons in proof of the existence of God"

Does God really exist? Most of us easily answers "yes, he exist" or "no, I don't think God exist." But when we are asked why and what made us think that way, the difficulty in reasoning out and making a stand starts to set in. We state our ideas, our principles and even our beliefs. Sometimes, our faith in God becomes unsteady while we are continuously fed with questions regarding his existence. I admire those people who are very firm with their belief that God indeed exists. Nevertheless, I hold no right to criticize those who are confused and those who don't believe such a thing. The question of God's existence involves a long and controversial argument that continues today. Defining the term "God" in and of itself is not an easy task because different people have their own concept of what God means to them. There are still no right nor wrong answers to the big questions in life, but only some of the satisfying proof of great philosophers. Thomas Aquinas is one of the few philosophers who puts forth his attempt to prove the existence of God into five arguments. People will disagree or agree with Aquinas' proofs but his arguments are both logical and satisfying.

If there did not exist a first mover, God, then nothing would exist now, and consequently there would be no use for the universe if there did not exist a first mover. Therefore, Aquinas' evidence for the existence of God is a convincing argument because the argument of the first mover provides a sufficient ground and starting point for the existence of the universe. The existence of God is not immediately obvious but that it is one that requires demonstration. However, the notion of simultaneous state of potentiality and actuality does not solve the problem of things that exist. For this reason, there would ultimately have to be an infinite being that has started on the sequence of these events in which we see God as the first cause of being. We can merely put forward the existence of God, for the necessity for the existence of the universe. In effect, all possible beings in potentiality would then need to be actualized with a first cause, which is God. Consistently, the prime mover must , without question, be God. However, one may argue that the notion of a first cause does not follow that the entire entity of all possible beings requires a cause. When we look at parts of an existing structure, there may be parts that require a cause but in the end the whole entity does not necessarily require such a cause.

According to Aquinas, he states that common sense tells us that certain things work in particular ways in which we can conclude that these were created and specifically designed by God. Since this notion that "nothing comes from nothing" is supposed to be common sense and seemingly true, but it does not