Existence of God Philosophical Argument

Many preachers found problems and challenges to convince their followers of Christians, particularly those who refrain from embracing the truth of God. A significant number of people do not consider God as real and so many of them discard the teachings and rituals as laid down in the Holy Books and condemn them. Various thinkers have presented significant claims about the role of God based primarily on teleology, ontology and cosmology (Collins 182). Over the past decades, heated debates on the same subject that different philosophers and theologians have been leading basing solely on their proofs have been held unendingly. Therefore, the main objective of the current paper is to present the existing views maintained by various philosophers on the question “Does God Really Exist?” As the number of philosopher and their theories are abundant, the article is to focus and dwell on two chosen arguments. These are St. Thomas Aquinas’ approach and logic maintained by philosopher Plato.Analysis of the ArgumentsPhilosopher St. Thomas Aquinas put forward various proofs to support his argument on the existence of God. To begin with, he contended that there are things that keep on changing from time to time in the universe, moreover such changes are brought about by the force from another thing that is in motion. The philosopher asserted that the moving state, in which a thing in motion is placed, is due to the efforts made by another thing, also in motion, and for the series of motions not to be endless, St. Thomas Aquinas made an assumption of the first mover and the foundation of motion which is, according to him, God (Corrigan and Harrington 211). Secondly, efficient causes are the basis of another argument brought about by St. Thomas Aquinas. In this universe, there is a chain of efficient causes of various things. Therefore, this line of reasoning states that one event occurs as a result of another occurrence and that failure of one event to occur in the chain will lead to the non-existence of other subsequent events. As a result of a sequence of sources wherein the series cannot be endless, the sources are all linked to one first source which is regarded to be God. St. Thomas Aquinas’s third argument is an argument from possibility and necessity. He declares that things depend or rather depended on other things for their survival in this world. The philosopher also assumes that all the existing at the moment materials are as a result of other things that already existed before and that the only thing that does not need a pre-existing thing so as to occur is God. Also, St. Thomas Aquinas asserts that the only one surviving on its own requirement is God and for those reasons he further states that everything existing should therefore trace God as their origin (Johnston 17).Philosopher Plato, on the other hand, argued in favor of the existence of God basing his case on the beauty of nature. He states that the beauty shown during sunrise and sunset as well beauty experienced in various other occasions have a distinct source. Therefore, Plato supposes that the attractiveness of all things may have a common origin despite the fact that the beauty of one thing is independent of another thing’s beauty (Corrigan and Harrington 266). In addition to that, similarly to beauty, Plato presumes that moral things like excellence, truth, justice and virtue have a core. He anticipates the likelihood of principle that various moral things share, and conclude that to be a type of form, the Form of Goodness, and because God is known to be the being with much goodness, He becomes the Form of Goodness (Johnston 36).Furthermore, taking into account all the arguments presented by the chosen philosophers, I am more inclined to agree with St. Thomas Aquinas reasoning about the existence of God. The reason is that his arguments are based on the Holy Book teachings which all churches employ to preach to their Christians, and according to the religion followers, God talks to them through His teachings. In addition, St. Thomas Aquinas states that God is the only natural being that directs all the things that lack intellect like the ordinary bodies to their respective ends. Finally, the philosopher argued that the only being that created the universe and everything in it is God just as written in the Bible (Johnston 28).ConclusionIn conclusion, arguments concerning God’s existence put forward by philosophers and theologians are still debated. However, most people are urged to believe in the existence of God, even though they cannot physically see him. The Christianity teachings indicate the road to deliverance and light (Corrigan and Harrington 241). Therefore, the Word of God is preached and taught to those who walk in ways that are not righteous and against the teachings of the Word, so that they may as well be delivered from darkness and brought to light. Finally, the beauty of the world and all its creatures should be traced back to God for the Christian teachings acknowledge God to be the creator of everything in the universe (Collins 202).Works CitedCollins, Robin. “A scientific argument for the existence of God.” Philosophy of Religion: An Anthology, edited by Louis P. and Pojman Michael Rea, Wadsworth Publishing, 2014, p. 210.Corrigan, Kevin, and Michael Harrington. “Pseudo Dionysius.” Ancient Philosophy of Religion: The History of Western Philosophy of Religion, edited by Graham Oppy and Nick Trakakis, Routledge, 2014, pp. 277-290.Johnston, Eric M. “The apostle, the philosopher, and Friar Thomas: The place of Aristotle in Thomas Aquinas’s Dominican vocation.” Logos: A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture, vol. 19, no. 4, 2016, pp. 15-46.