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The aim of this article
We cannot simply dismiss the question of God’s existence as a purely theoretical and philosophical question. It concerns the very purpose of our own existence. In this article we have gathered various thoughts which ought to help in gaining a clear answer to this fundamental human question.
The acknowledgement of God’s existence touches man at his deepest inner being and prompts him to take a position because the acceptance of God’s existence should mean the complete renunciation of his unbelieving and selfish life and demands godliness.
Types of Arguments
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• Why is God’s existence rational?
• God’s being compared to the limits of the world
• General causality argument
(contingency) -
• Where do order and harmony come from?
• Is everything only by chance? What is the final aim of everything? -
• What is the meaning of life?
• Can the wish for happiness, immortality, righteousness, etc. be fulfilled? -
• What do scientists say about the human spirit?
• Is the human spirit merely the result of the evolution of matter?
Sufficient Reason for the Existence of the Universe
Argument from design
Arguments from human nature
Scientists on the human spiritSome Objections
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“God-belief is old-fashioned. I don’t believe in God—an old man with a long white beard sitting on a cloud.”
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“Science has disproved God’s existence. God has been replaced by science which gives a satisfactory answer for everything.”
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“I would believe in God if he showed himself to me. I want to see a miracle.”
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“If God is omnipotent and loving, why do evil and suffering still exist?”
Who is God?
Science and God
If I do not see I cannot believe
The problem of sufferingFinal Thoughts
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What is the aim of the arguments? Why should we deal at all with arguments if God’s existence is in any way a matter of faith?
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We cannot simply dismiss the question of God’s existence as a purely theoretical question. It concerns the very purpose of our own existence.
The validity and aim of the arguments
ConclusionsThe God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for “In him we live and move and have our being”; as even some of your own poets have said, “For we are indeed his offspring.” Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead. (Acts of the apostles 17:24–31)