SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS’ EXISTENCE OF GOD

1/27/2024

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Whether the Existence of God is Self-Evident?

Things in the world exist in two ways – known by us, and not known by us. When the essence of something is understood by all, it is accepted by all and becomes common knowledge. However, there are disputes of knowledge and knowing – mainly because the essence of something is not recognized by another but may be known to someone else. By way of a predicate and a subject, a proposition is established. For the existence of God, the predicate and the subject IS the proposition, for the Lord is truly in himself and exists through himself – to which all things that exist must come forth from. However, the Essence of God is not self-evident and must be demonstrated by familiar things man can associate to the material world through effects. Just as it was made known to the witnesses of great signs and miracles in the past, the same Essence of God is still ever present in our own day, even though the material world and its legions of unbelievers do not recognize it. As it was self-evident then, so it is now. The effects of God demonstrating his power in society are given a preferable label along with a different name to those who do not acknowledge Him with the intention of denying His self-existence.

Whether It Can Be Demonstrated That God Exists?

Causes are known by their effects (demonstrations). If bubbles can be seen forming at the top of the water, one can infer there is a fish or air pocket present below. So, one can see the effects of God in the world, and that everything that exists has a purpose, thus God demonstrates His effects to us which originates from Him as the First Cause. Nothing is an accident to God – how can it be? From a human perspective in our own experienced ways, does one accidentally bake a cake, accidentally build a house, or accidentally dress oneself in the morning before work? No, for a cake has ingredients that must be put together by the cause and will of another. A house must be planned and constructed by the efforts of many. Clothing must be made, purchased, and placed on one’s body in a desired fashion to cover nakedness, but it does this through a successive order, not accidentally as if it were to skip many steps to achieve its end state on the basis of chaos and randomness. In the metaphysical sense, it just so happens that man who has the freewill to choose many different things, just as he may determine what form he shall mold a lump of clay into, experiences a mode of being which is dependent on the will of God - and to Him, there is no accidents. But to the man who chooses many things, the act of his free will are “accidental” in the sense he chose to do something that God has not decided, but has entrusted the person to do through the ultimate gift of free will, which is the ability to choose and decide, which is what is referred to by Saint Thomas Aquinas as accidental, and outside the scope of what is not accidental which is God, who does not make any accidents, but ordains mankind to choose. Hence, there are no accidents in God, for this is impossible, and it just happens to be that SOMETHING cannot come from NOTHING, for this is impossible as well - but in mankind, through his freewill given to him by God, the choices that come forth by his hand is accidental in the sense it comes from the free will. For the purpose of understanding, it is important to determine what Saint Thomas Aquinas means by “accidents” in that He is not referring to God and the universe in this way, but the choices of humans, who are beings in potentiality as opposed to God who is being in actuality. These concepts will be discussed in further summary points.

Whether God Exists?

The existence of God is proven in five ways: one, all things that are in motion have been set forth in motion by another. Trace this back to the original “unmoved mover,” and this is what you will find that we know as “God.” Two, God is the first efficient cause, which successively places all other causes into effect that works to an ultimate effect or end. Efficient causes other than God do not have their own cause, except for God alone, and cannot work to their own end – but will always fall into the design the Lord wills. If efficient causes were their own and not successive, that is, one cause causing another to occur, causes would go on to infinity. However, this is impossible, because the Lord has set an order of efficient causes in place that originates with Him that ends in an ultimate effect that He wills. The third way – possibility and necessity; for every necessary thing has its necessity in another, which makes that thing possible. “Something” cannot come from “nothing,” for this is impossible. Things that are, must come from something that Is, Was, or Both – God. The fourth way God can be proven is through successive degrees or changes. For something to reach its climax or “maximum,” it must gradually move upward the scale of intensity, effect, and perfection. Just as warm turns to hot and hot turns to fire, the feeling of heat is made perfect through the maximum of fire in its perfect state. Since fire is the cause of warmth and is also what makes an object hot, it serves as the ultimate cause for what makes something warm and hot. Therefore, there must be something that causes all goodness and perfection in all things to which we know as God – the ultimate maximum for all things set forth into existence. The fifth way is governance of the world. Natural bodies that lack intelligence (things such as storms and wave or wind patterns, slugs, worms, and ants) work towards an end almost all the time in the same fashion to achieve its end. Whatever is lacking in intelligence cannot achieve an end unless something was directing it that possesses intelligence and knowledge. Ultimately, an intelligent being directs its actions to an end, and this is what we know to be God. Secular data driven societies, as in the modern age, use datasets, statistics, and information collecting through surveys, exit polls, and registrations to build the profile of a person to better understand them and place them in datasets where their behaviors can be predicted on a larger scale and replicated through simulations. From there, a product line is determined, a course of action, or direction is taken. The pagans and unbelievers use swathes of recorded answers and actions to determine how they will extract sorted gain from others to harness additional power for themselves. In the absence of faith and morality, they direct their actions on the premises of probability; however, in blindness and error, they fail to consider the probable series of events which clearly demonstrate the surety of their very existence. Consider all the known variables in the universe that prevent life from occurring. To one who does not believe in the existence of God, this person may claim that all life is “accidental.” According to this unbeliever, the belief that all life is an accident and taken simply by chance can be represented as the value of 1 (for there is only one reason why something occurred – it is the outcome the unbeliever favors). Now, let’s just say that there are over 100,000 variables (there are more) in the known universe that can prevent life from occurring (stopping the accidental formation of life by way of chance – total outcomes). Through simple probability formula, we now have the following:

1 (the belief that life is an accident)

DIVIDED INTO

100,000 (variables in the known universe that prevent life from occurring)

When we divide 1 into 100,000, we receive 0.00001. In other words, there is a less than one percent chance, considering the known variables in the universe that prevent life, that life can accidentally occur. Nobody of a sound mind would risk their investments or their money on a less than one percent chance of receiving something in return or returning a profit – yet the unbeliever is willing to take this bet with his or her soul. Now let’s flip the equation around; for the one who believes in God and declares that He has made and created all things into being – including life itself, this position can be represented as 1 (favorable outcomes). Now, for the believer in God, this person declares there is only one outcome (the Lord’s will) and that position too can be represented as 1 (total outcomes). Yet again, through simple probability formula, we now have the following:

1 (the belief in God)

DIVIDED INTO

1 (God wills it that life must occur)

When we divide 1 into 1, we receive 1. In other words, there is a one-hundred percent chance God brings all things into existence that never were. So, what is the problem? It’s not that the concept of a higher cause and “unmoved mover” is impossible – in fact, He alone is the only thing that makes sense. The reason is obvious, for it is the one who says, “down is up, and up is down,” satan, he is the one who whispers in the ears of men. He tells them that their purpose and reason for existence is accidental, and that life can form itself out of nothing – which is impossible. Yet, in our age, the belief in the unbelief, the belief in nothing, the gospel of death, is truly a religion within itself that worships the void, the worm, and the rot. It just so happens these ones are the ones who commit the most harm in society – using all resources available to them to proselytize everyone around them through their destructive habits and attitudes that always lead themselves and others to sin. The opposite of life, which is from God, is death and when sin matures it always equals death.

I am blessed to be a Third Order Lay Dominican. However, the ideas expressed in this post are my own and do not represent the endorsement of or position of the Order of Preachers as a whole.

Commentary regarding Saint Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologiae derived from: ST part (I), Q. 1-26 from newadvent.org with permission.

Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

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