A logical approach, but is it faith?

[Anthony_V]

Hi, My name is Anthony V., and I am 14
I am a modern age “thinker”, and a very spiritual person.
Last night, I composed a logical approach to believing in God, based off the works of
St. Thomas Aquinas. As you can see, my theory is very long, but I have a question at the very end, if you do read the entire thing.

“Why We Are Here”

By Anthony V

“God talks to us through our heart!” The thinking of that scene always humbles me. It brings to rise who we are as Christians. We are like holographic images. When you look at us from a Christian view, you should see us as being the ones who believe in the Holy Trinity and God. When you look at nearly every other point of view, we are uneducated idiots. There is something about being who we are as Christians, a dignity, and a strength that follows us. It embraces us and protects us like a lion to his pride (family). My question is, why does the human race have a wanting to justify our origins? Why are we “stupid” enough to want to look for that God, even though we cant sense him physically? Is that our drive as a human race? Reason? Given that, what would be the purpose of our Universe if it is only for Reason? The human race would rise, and fall. Then we become extinct. Somewhere out there, another chemical reaction would happen, giving life to a combination of chemicals forming, and eventually, a new life. They would take our place in the wondering of the purpose of life as well, and then they would die, creating a viscous cycle. Why would we need a purpose in the Universe? Everything in the Universe has purpose on a smaller scale (i.e you use your ears for hearing). Based on the natural hierarchy of systems, wouldn’t that make the Universe at the top of the list, since it is the largest, and contains the most variables, the most important purpose? Given that, how could you assume that we have no purpose as human beings?

Given that my previous statement is true, then St. Aquinas’ “five reasons” must be also true.
(1) Objects are in motion.
(2) If something is in motion, then it must be caused to be in motion by something outside of itself.
(3) There can be no infinite chain of movers/movees.
(4) So there is a first, unmoved mover.
(5) Therefore, God exists.

[SIGN]Aquinas’ Second Argument, Causality[/SIGN]
(1) Some events cause other events.
(2) If an event happens, then it must be caused by something outside of itself.
(3) There can be no infinite cause/effect chains.
(4) So, there is a first, uncaused cause.
(5) Therefore God exists.

[SIGN]Aquinas’ Third Argument, Contingency [/SIGN]
(1) Contingent things exist.
(2) Each contingent thing has a time at which it fails to exist (contingent things are not omnipresent).
(3) So, if everything were contingent, there would be a time at which nothing exists (call this an empty time).
(4) That empty time would have been in the past.
(5) If the world were empty at one time, it would be empty forever after (a conservation principle).
(6) So, if everything were contingent, nothing would exist now.
(7) But clearly, the world is not empty (premise 1).
(8) So there exists a being who is not contingent.
(9) Hence, God exists.

[SIGN]Aquinas’ Fourth Argument, Properties That Come in Degrees[/SIGN]
(1) Objects have properties to greater or lesser extents.
(2) If an object has a property to a lesser extent, then there exists some other object that has the property to the maximum possible degree.
(3) So there is an entity that has all properties to the maximum possible degree.
(4) Hence God exis
6 minutes ago

[SIGN]Aquinas’ Fifth Argument, From Design[/SIGN]
(1) Among objects that act for an end, some have minds, whereas others do not.
(2) An object that acts for an end, but does not itself have a mind, must have been created by a being that has a mind.
(3) So there exists a being with a mind who designed all mindless objects that act for an end.
(4) Hence, God exists.

[SIGN]Anselm’s Argument, The Ontological Argument [/SIGN]
(1) God is by definition the greatest possible being.
(2) A being who fails to exist in the actual world (while existing in other possible worlds) is less perfect than a being who exists in all possible worlds.
(3) Hence, God exists, necessarily.

 

[Anthony_V]

Now Our Problem Is, How Can We Discern The Real God From The fake, Or Man Made Ones?
This can be proven because of the fact that Good always triumphs over Evil, why? Because Evil is destructive in its nature, and eventually implodes itself.

How Do we know there is not more than one God?

That is supported by a few answers:
(1) One all powerful and everliving God could sustain the Universe on his own, not needing another God for assistance. By the nature of nature in itself, and given the pinnacle of the hierarchy of Good is God, than there can be no one as great as he.
(2) Hypothetically, If there were two gods, then they would have to be equal. In St. Aquinas second argument, causality, every universal being was made by a blue print, whereas supernatural beings are infinite. In accordance to this, and the hierarchy of creation itself, there must be a pinnacle, just explained in my last postulate. God is defined as the source of all creation, the highest part of the hierarchy. Multiplying the amount of god’s equal to him would be multiplying the amount of eternity, which is impossible. The reason being, is that since there would be many gods equal to him, he could not be the pinnacle, giving rise to a new pinnacle, which could repeat the process, going against St. Aquinas postulate, “There can be no infinite cause/effect chains” If that process continues, you have a new supernatural universe, which would be governed by the next highest Ultimatum. The theory proves Infinity² false, because infinity times itself is infinity to a greater amount, and infinity is the greatest amount.
(3) There can’t be lesser gods because a god is infinite and all powerful. A infinite being can’t create infinity because infinity is a state of being, not an object.

A Definitive Overview

Based on St. Aquinas’ postulates, the God that rules us has a plan for us. Since he is the ultimate good, he has an ultimately good plan for us.
The ultimate good is defined as perfection, therefore, all things spawning from the perfect God are immediately good, naturally.
In the fullness of power and omniscience, God may bestow upon a being Free Will.
Free Will is a creator’s purposeful non-dominion over a being. The reason is logically unknown.
Humans have free will. We can blink as we wish. We can move our arms or hands. We have instinct, but we are not driven by it. Think of a time when you became so scared that you immediately started running away, not even thinking about it. That is instinct.
Humans are not perfect today, however, so an event in the past must have tainted the human race, causing us to fault.
Humans have fallen short of God.
Since God has devised an ultimate plan of good for us, he must have planned a way absolve us of our sins to restore us like before! However, since we constantly sin, God must be willing to constantly absolve us. This is a sign of love, proving that God loves us.
Based on St. Aquinas’ third argument of contingency, things in our universe decay over time. Therefore, we will die someday. When we reach the point of death, given that God’s plans for us are ultimately good, he will either have arranged a way for us to continue existing happily, or continue not existing, happily.
In a jump back to free will, we find that we can distinct right from wrong, and act upon it. Animals can not. When an animal makes a mistake It does not attempt to correct the mistake the next time the situation occurs in a natural state. They have no discernment between Good and Evil.
Humans, on the other hand, naturally try to look for judgement, even if it is an unjustified judgment. That is the reason why humans naturally strive for order, or at least judgment.

What Is Our Purpose?

Based on St. Thomas Aquinas’ theorems, in short, God has a plan for everything, and for everything, there is a reason.
Since we are the only life form known to have free will, that makes us very special. God has a purpose for each and everyone of us in this universe, and each of our purposes is different.
This makes each person unique, and special. Bringing out our uniqueness into the world is part of our role, and part of our being.
The rest relies on who you are.

How Should I Put My Faith In God?

" When he enterened capernaum, a centrueion eapproached hum and appealed to him, saying,
‘Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully.’
He said to him,
‘I will come and cure him.’
The centurion said in reply,
‘Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter my house; only say the word and my servant will be healed. For I am too a person subject to authority, with soldiers subject to me. And I say to one, ‘Go’, and he goes; and to another, ‘Come here,’ and he comes; and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.’
When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him,
"Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith.’ "

With that said, I am wondering if this approach is too logical, and not based enough on faith. Any ideas or comments?

 

[Katholish]

I am not going to address your entire argument, but wish to address the question at the end.

Faith is not required for things that can be known by reason alone. It does not require faith, for instance, to believe in God.

Faith means believing in something that we do not know by reason alone–accepting it on God’s authority. For instance, I believe that God is a Trinity of Persons, not because I can prove through reason, but because God said so, and I can prove through reason that there is a God, that He knows all things, and that He cannot deceive. Hence, it is only logical that there must be a Trinity. I am ultimately accepting it because of God’s authority, not my philosophical arguments, hence, it is based on faith.

I don’t think there is such a thing in theology as being too logical, for true logic shows the limitations of reason as well as its strengths.

There is one thing, for instance, that I noticed in your argument which I don’t think can be proven from reason alone, and that is this:

Since God has devised an ultimate plan of good for us, he must have planned a way absolve us of our sins to restore us like before! However, since we constantly sin, God must be willing to constantly absolve us. This is a sign of love, proving that God loves us.

 

[Anthony_V]

Thanks Katholish
That was a reminder to me that love is without reason.
[SIGN]Thank you![/SIGN]

 

[severntofall]

Keep in mind that even if the universe was created, that is still not evidence of any specific theology or god. The universe was created =/= the creator is the god of Xtianity.