How do we know there is 1 God?

[Ceil-1]

Zeus, Schmeuse. We are already sacrificing to the God, Mammon, on the altar of convenience. And, the sacrifice is human, in the tune of about a billion, so far, in the world. What has Mammon done for us?

All the God of the Israelites is asking for is a little gratitude, and for us to be nice to each other.

 

[Friar_David_O.Carm]

ByzCatholic- I asked for no Bible references because I’m playing ‘devils advocate’ and excluding religious proofs. I guess you can say I’m looking at it from the point of someone who believes in a God, but doesn’t know if there is strictly 1 (one) or of there are many. Hope that clears things up.

I was not the one that commented on the rules you set out in your original post.

What I posted, two of the proofs of St Aquinas and the Ontological Argument of St Anselm of Canterbury use no Scripture in them.

I am awaiting your response to them. If you need a reminder they are in the 2 post of this thread, the first one following your original post.

 

[coolduude]

I was not the one that commented on the rules you set out in your original post.

What I posted, two of the proofs of St Aquinas and the Ontological Argument of St Anselm of Canterbury use no Scripture in them.

I am awaiting your response to them. If you need a reminder they are in the 2 post of this thread, the first one following your original post.

Oh yeah my mistake. Oops

Well I actually understand those so that’s good and they do prove God so far as I can tell

But they don’t totally prove there is 1 (one) God and 1 God only. You know what I’m saying? I think they prove more that there is a Supreme Being, but they don’t rule out other ‘gods’.

So maybe I don’t understand it

 

[AlbertBall]

:thumbsup:Ah, yes I love that argument:thumbsup:, when someone disagrees with you it is because they do not understand/are ignorant, rather than them just having a different understanding than you do.

You - “2+2 = 5”

Me - “No, 2+2 =4”

You “Many people disagree with you”

Me - “Thats because they don’t understand maths and the 2X table”

You - “:thumbsup:Ah, yes I love that argument:thumbsup:, when someone disagrees with you it is because they do not understand/are ignorant, rather than them just having a different understanding than you do.”



Belief and knowledge ARE NOT the same. Just because you believe something, does NOT mean you KNOW it.

 

[Biggie]

Logic…
Logically there can only be one everlasting god, if there were more, one would have had to create the others (I know this is not a very good reply, but just think about it logically)

Right, I agree with this and taking it together with Acquinas’ uncaused cause it must be so.

 

[Friar_David_O.Carm]

Oh yeah my mistake. Oops

Well I actually understand those so that’s good and they do prove God so far as I can tell

But they don’t totally prove there is 1 (one) God and 1 God only. You know what I’m saying? I think they prove more that there is a Supreme Being, but they don’t rule out other ‘gods’.

So maybe I don’t understand it

This is part of the argument against them, that they do not prove that God is one, but using logic I see that they do.

There can only be one Unmoved Mover, only one Uncreated Creator, and only one that nothing greater can be thought.

For me, the Ontological Argument proves this the best.

I think if you look up the 5 proofs of St Aquinas you might find one that works better for you.

I only recall these two as these are the two I used in my exams (mid-term and final) for my Philosophy of God class I took a couple of years ago before entering the theologate.

 

[coolduude]

Why?

 

[rick43235]

:thumbsup:Ah, yes I love that argument:thumbsup:, when someone disagrees with you it is because they do not understand/are ignorant…

Sounds very much like the response one gets when one claims to disagree with a Catholic teaching. “The Church teaches the truth. If you disagree it’s because you don’t understand.”

 

[Friar_David_O.Carm]

Sounds very much like the response one gets when one claims to disagree with a Catholic teaching. “The Church teaches the truth. If you disagree it’s because you don’t understand.”

Apples and oranges my friend.

When the argument is from reason, as this one is as it is a philosophical discussion. When one argues from reason the appeal to authority is a weak argument.

When one is arguing religion (The Church Teaches…), the appeal to authority is one of the strongest arguments.

Catholics believe (and IMHO rightly so) that the Catholic Church is God’s Church, so the argument works.

This can also be found in St Thomas Aquinas’ Summa.

 

[coolduude]

The Ontological Argument by St Anselm of Canterbury which is my favorite of all goes like this.

1. God is something of which nothing greater can be thought.
2. God may exist in the understanding.
3. To exist in reality and in the understanding is greater than to exist in the understanding alone.
4. Therefore, God exists in reality.

Just reread this. Totally lost.

 

[Friar_David_O.Carm]

Just reread this. Totally lost.

We know that there is nothing we can think of that is greater than God would be.

We know that we can think of God so He exists in our mind.

We know that something that exists in our mind and also exists in reality is a greater thing than just something that exists in our mind only.

So because God is greater than anything that we can think of He must exist in reality.

Did that help?

Many people do not like this argument.

 

[AlbertBall]

We know that there is nothing we can think of that is greater than God would be.

We know that we can think of God so He exists in our mind.

We know that something that exists in our mind and also exists in reality is a greater thing than just something that exists in our mind only.

So because God is greater than anything that we can think of He must exist in reality.

Did that help?

Many people do not like this argument.

LOL, thats because its utter gibberish.

 

[Michael700]

How do we know there is only 1 God and not many? How are we 100% sure?

Please don’t use Bible references in your response.

Thank you,
coolduude

Thousands of years of great minds (Saint Augustine, Saint Thomas Aquinas) wrestling with this and other conundrums has left us with little doubt.

 

[Friar_David_O.Carm]

LOL, thats because its utter gibberish.

Why do you even bother to post here?

Wait don’t bother to answer, ignore works very well.

 

[Friar_David_O.Carm]

Thousands of years of great minds (Saint Augustine, Saint Thomas Aquinas) wrestling with this and other conundrums has left us with little doubt.

Even as far back as Plato and Aristotle.

 

[grace_singh]

well, we all have an innate capacity to understand that there is “Something” beyond us, worth finding, learning about, and connecting with.

a “Something”, not many “somethings”. many couch this “Something” in philisophic or pantheistic terms, using words like “One” or “Reality” or “The Absolute”.

this “Something” is actually “Someone”, who made the heavens and the earth, and us, and whose existence and glory are manifest to us through His creation.

we can understand there is a God, a One, an Absolute, but no one has yet figured out a truly workable and sure way of connecting with or knowing Him finally and personally. the truth is, we can not do this, because our sin nature makes this impossible. we can struggle upwards all we want, but we can never personally and satisfyingly bridge that gap or satisfy that hunger for God.

this is why God came down, as and through His Son, Jesus. so that we might be saved, redeemed, reconciled to Him, and have His peace and grace in our lives, and eternal life in the world to come. through Jesus we can know, see, and be saved by God, and He is the Only Way. if you want to know and walk with God, humble yourself before the Lord Jesus, ask His help and forgiveness, and surrender your life to Him. He is God in flesh, the Saviour, and the Messiah. God wants you to know Him, follow Him, and belong to Him, and without Him we do not truly have God, however deeply we believe in One God, and strive hard to be good people.

 

[Liz_J]

I think it is good to look for proof for God outside the bible. Yet at the same time, asking for proof that there is only one God, without quoting the bible, feels a bit like saying 'How do we know the earth is round? And please do not quote any scientists." We’re ignoring the experts!

 

[cerad]

Well, it was a poke at you, just as your’s was at me. If I were to tell you my mother is near and dear to me, that she has done all of these wonderful things for me, does she not exist just because you don’t know here? Honestly, this is the point being made here, how can I get you to believe she is who she is if the only proof you will accept is flying her down to meet you? You are doing the same thing with us and our relationship with God. Just because you have none doesn’t mean he doesn’t exist.

But this particular thread is about showing there is one and only one God. The poster I was responding to indicated that they knew there was only one God because the rest never did anything for them. I personally think it’s kind of cute that Christians feel they have a God at their beck and call. But to think that all gods are required to respond to Catholics seems to be a bit extreme.

And by the way I am perfectly willing to accept that you have a mother. Now if you claimed that you had two(or more) biological mothers then yes I would want to see some evidence.

 

[rick43235]

When the argument is from reason, as this one is as it is a philosophical discussion. When one argues from reason the appeal to authority is a weak argument.

When one is arguing religion (The Church Teaches…), the appeal to authority is one of the strongest arguments.

I suppose that’s true if everyone involved in the discussion agrees on the validity of the authority being appealed to. If not (to use our example), “The Catholic Church is correct in it’s teachings about there being only one God because the Catholic Church says so” is still a pretty weak argument.

 

[AlbertBall]

I think it is good to look for proof for God outside the bible. Yet at the same time, asking for proof that there is only one God, without quoting the bible, feels a bit like saying 'How do we know the earth is round? And please do not quote any scientists." We’re ignoring the experts!

This is incorrect, we don’t believe the world is round because scientists say so, or because it say in a science book. We believe it because of repeatable-testable evidence.