Arguments for the Proof that God Exists


* Please note that these are not all things which I deem true or believe in at all. My only goal is to invoke mental stimulation*


The question of whether or not God exists is something that has both maddened and inspired people from all walks of life since the beginning of time. In the thirteenth century C.E, St. Thomas Aquinas developed a "five way" list which philisophically sheds more light to the belief that God exists.
  1. The "unmoved mover" argument. It is a known fact that there is constant motion in the world. All things in motion are first put in motion by another object which is in motion. In order to stop an infinite regression, we must claim something to be the "first mover," which is God.
  2. The "nothing is caused by itself" argument. For example, the chicken comes from the egg, which is developed from the sex cells of its parents. Since we cannot go on into infinity, there must be a first cause, which is God.
  3. The cosmological argument. All things under the sky shall eventually perish, including vampires (though we do have a longer expiration date). And since time is infinite, there must have been a time when no physical things at all existed. But, if there were a time when nothing was present, then how could there be anything present now? The conclusion is that one thing must remain eternal and constant, and that is God.
  4. All objects in the world have differing degrees of certain qualities, such as goodness. In order to speak of more or less goodness, we need something of maximum goodness by which it can be compared to, and this is God.
  5. The teleological argument. Everything in the world moves towards some kind of goal with some kind of ambition, whether they be conscious about it or not. Just as the arrow needs an archer to direct it to its goal, we all need something to direct us to ours, and the one to do it is God.

    6. Two other important "proofs" are the ontological argument and the moral argument. The former states that it would be logically contradictory to deny God's existence. God was defined by St. Anselm as "that [being] than which nothing greater can be conceived." This being said, if God only existed in the mind, then He would not be the greatest conceivable being, since we can imagine an even greater being which exists not only in the mind, but in reality as well. This being is God. And since it is a logical contradiction to believe God to only exist in the mind and not in reality, it serves as "proof" for God's existence in both the mind and in reality.
    Immanuel Kant said that religion could be established as presupposed by the workings of morality in the human mind (also known as "practical reasoning"). According to Kant's theory, God needs to exist as a necessary presupposition. If there are to be any moral judgements that are objective and go beyond minor relativistic moral preferences, then these judgements require standards which are external to any human mind -- and therefore, they presume God's mind.

    All information taken (C)opyright 1992 the New York Public Library

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