Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Reasoning about God

The book speaks of "proving" God's existence. It's important to notice that "proof" in this sense is not the same as experimental proof in science.

Read Can You Prove God Exists? by Peter Kreeft, a well-known Catholic apologist. It discusses what is meant by proof in this context.

Also, read the following quotes from Pope John Paul II:

On what we mean by proof:

In speaking of the existence of God we should underline that we are not speaking of proofs in the sense implied by the experimental sciences. Scientific proofs in the modern sense of the word are valid only for things perceptible to the senses since it is only on such things that scientific instruments of investigation can be used. -- Proofs of God's Existence by Pope John Paul II
On the proof from causes:

He who reflects with an open mind on what is implied in the existence of the universe, cannot help but pose the question of the problem of the origin. Instinctively, when we witness certain happenings, we ask ourselves what caused them.How can we not but ask the same question in regard to the sum total of beings and phenomena which we discover in the world?

A scientific hypothesis such as that of the expansion of the un;verse, makes the problem all the more clear. If the universe is in a state of continual expansion, should not one go back in time to that which could be called the "initial moment", the moment in which that expansion began? But, whatever the theory adopted concerning the origin of the universe, the most basic question cannot be avoided. This universe in constant movement postulates a Cause which, in giving it being, has communicated to it this movement, and continues to sustain it. Without such a supreme Cause, the world and every movement in it would remain "unexplained" and "inexplicable", and our intelligence would not be satisfied. The human mind can receive a response to its questions only by admitting a Being who has created the world with all its dynamism. and who continues to maintain it in existence.
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