Existence and God Essay

Submitted By leahirth
Words: 1018
Pages: 5

On the internet and in bookstores, a thousand gurus tout different remedies for human misery. How can we find out which remedies work? We need to consult one of our greatest gurus, the scientific method. Recently we have seen a dramatic upsurge in scientific studies on Positive Psychology and the science of happiness or to put it simply, discovering what makes happy people happy. Fortunately, many of these studies point to specific ways of thinking and acting that can strongly impact our sense of well-being and happiness. The resulting discoveries are enriching the practices of counseling, clinical psychology, psychiatry and life coaching. In these pages, we review the most scientific studies and translate the results into non-technical English.
EXISTENCE OF GOD Logical argument: Gods existence doesn’t use evidence only thought.
(Idea that you can prove that God is real by using the word God.) If you can picture something greater then God then you don’t really believe in God. Empirical Argument: Used evidence, its uses our observation.
(“the fact that we can observe that most people believe in God, for ex. Provides evidence that there is God.” -Pena) Most arguments of God are empirical. Argument of design : (things look like they are designed, so there’s a designer (God)
For everything that is designed there is a creator. We always think that the earth was shaped for us but that’s not true, The earth was here before us. So humans are perfect for the earth.
We are perfect for the earth ( true)
Earth is perfect for us ( false) Ontological argument: (St. Anselm) the argument that God, being defined as most great or perfect, must exist, since a God who exists is greater than a God who does not. No one has found a true def. of God.
God: being then w/ nothing greater can be created thought. Etiological argument:

Aristotle – Cosmological argument: (Aristotle doesn’t believe in a heaven or hell) Existence of God can be proven by human reason. Chains of motion - mobile/mover/mobile/mover/ ….
It keeps on going.
Nothing can move something without moving itself.
Every motion requires time.
If Aristotle is right then that means God didn’t make anything just started motion. (primal) (immediate) (final) Ex nihilo” is a Latin phrase meaning “out of nothing.
“Creation ex nihilo” is generally understood as the belief that the universe came into existence without the use of pre-existing matter. Conversely, “creation ex material” means “creation out of matter,” is the belief that the universe came into existence out of some already-existenting matter.
Prime movement.
Matter has always existed.

Thomas Aquinas 5 proofs God exist.


The First Way: Argument from Motion 1. Our senses prove that some things are in motion. 2. Things move when potential motion becomes actual motion. 3. Only an actual motion can convert a potential motion into an actual motion. 4. Nothing can be at once in both actuality and potentiality in the same respect (i.e., if both actual and potential, it is actual in one respect and potential in another). 5. Therefore nothing can move itself. 6. Therefore each thing in motion is moved by something else. 7. The sequence of motion cannot extend ad infinitum. 8. Therefore it is necessary to arrive at a first mover, put in motion by no other; and this everyone understands to be God.
The Second Way: Argument from Efficient Causes 1. We perceive a series of efficient causes of things in the world. 2. Nothing exists prior to itself. 3. Therefore nothing is the efficient cause of itself. 4. If a previous efficient cause does not exist, neither does the thing that results. 5. Therefore if the first thing in a series does not exist, nothing in the series exists. 6. The series of efficient causes cannot extend ad infinitum into the past, for then there would be no things existing now. 7. Therefore it is necessary to