Support The Existence Of God And Six Evidences And Theories (Research Paper Sample)

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Existence of God
The existence of God has been a subject of debate in the philosophy of religion and culture. Philosophers, scientists, and masters of theology have propounded arguments supporting the existence of God and counter arguments against the same. The arguments are encompassed in philosophy and involve philosophical disciplines for example epistemology which explains the nature and the scope of knowledge, the arguments also based on ontology which is a field of philosophy which is concerned with studying the nature of human beings, understanding the existence and reality of the supreme being and the human kind. The theory of value which is found in philosophy also featured in the argument about the existence of God, this theory explains in depth the concepts of God being perfect and how these concepts are connected to the nature of God. The arguments can be classified into four main categories: metaphysical arguments, subjective arguments, empirical and logical arguments. The debate on the existence of God has been there for many decades, Plato and Aristotle are philosophers who are credited to be the founders of arguments which are categorized as cosmological, other scholars including Renes who was a great mathematician are credited to be the authors of the argument that God is a benevolent God, the argument stated that the existence of God is confirmed by the existence of Good in the world. Great scientists as well have been featured in this argument, for example, Stephen hawking is known for providing strong arguments against the existence of God. This essay will provide solid arguments supporting the existence of God and counterarguments on the same. To begin with, the arguments supporting the existence of God will be discussed in details, the counter arguments will follow suit and the essay will be capped by a general and neutral view of the subject which will be based on the understanding developed in this research essay.
Arguments Supporting the Existence of God
There exist several arguments supporting the nature and existence of God as will be discussed and developed below. The categories range from empirical arguments, deductive arguments, and inductive arguments, subjective and Hindu arguments.
Empirical argument. One of the best arguments supporting the existence of God was developed by Thomas Aquinas in his theology book. The arguments are famously known as the Aquinas five ways which are founded on the ontology developed by Aristotle (Velasquez 250). Thomas five ways are developed in a systematic order from the unmoved mover, first cause, degree argument and teleological argument. The unmoved argument cites that the motion that is experienced in the world suggest that there must have been something or someone who initiated the motion (Velasquez 250). Thomas argued that it is evident that any motion experienced on the globe is set in motion by something else, thus God is the power and the author of the world which is always in motion. For everything in motion, there must be an initiator of the motion and the initiator is unmoved that is, the unmoved mover. Aquinas propounded that there is no cause that can cause itself, the human kind and the world would not exist just by itself, it is also not possible to have a chain of infinite causes (Velasquez 254). Thus there must be a cause for every creation on the globe; according to this argument, the cause is a supreme being. The argument by Aquinas that all human beings on the globe are contingent, Aquinas suggest that it is possible for human beings not to have existed, this philosopher asserted that if there is a probability of things not have existed, as things exist now, there must be a supreme being with necessary existence. The Supreme Being with necessary existence according to Aquinas is God (Velasquez 253).Aquinas further supported his assertion about the existence of God through another argument fronted from a degree. It is argued that the occurrence of goodness in the world suggest that good things are good in relation to a standard of goodness which is maximum. The maximum of goodness thus causes all good occurrences; the maximum good is beyond doubt a Supreme Being also known as God who is known as the author of good things as propounded by the philosophy of religion (Velasquez 265). The teleological argument brought forth by this philosopher asserts that living things without intelligence are observed to move towards a certain purpose, this philosopher cited that these things must definitely be ordered by another being which is intelligent, thus there is an intelligent being which exists and move things to their definite purpose, God. The above five fronts developed and expounded by Aquinas reiterate that there is the existence of a supreme being who is the author and architect of the lives of both intelligent and unintelligent beings existing in the world. The author is none other than God (Velasquez 249).
Deductive arguments. The first argument under this category is the ontological argument which was developed and brought forth by two philosophers St. Anseim and Renes. The argument is centered on the assertion that the existence of God is self-evident. The above philosophers cited anything that is found in an idea and it is very clear and concise in that idea is something that is already in existence (Velasquez 252). The fact that human beings have a clear cut and concise idea about God is enough evidence suggesting that God really does exist because ideas are predictions of things which exist. This argument has been criticized by Immanuel Kant who cited that the term God represents both the idea of God and God. This philosopher cited that the argument does not hold any waters on the basis of the word God being ambiguous (Velasquez 253).
Inductive arguments. This type of argument is based on inductive reasoning. Philosophers supporting this argument cite that their occurrences which act as evidence supporting the existence of God. These philosophers suggest that faith is enough to dismiss all obscure points against the existence of God (Velasquez 260). This view is held by Arthur Darfur in a book known as the foundation of belief. Dr. Dennert an orthodox protestant also conforms to this view confirming that it holds some water.
Speculative arguments. Proponents of Christianity cites that Gods existence can be proved by the act of God to intervene in the life of the Jews during special events in history for example during the exodus by providing a guiding star to lead the Israelites. Another intervention of God is seen during the giving of the Ten Commandments (Velasquez 258). This argument is solid because the commandments were presented in front of all the twelve tribes of Israel thus there is a good number of witnesses. The resurrection of Christ is supported by sufficient historical evidence; this event proves that Christ is the son of God, thus is it definite that God exists. A son cannot exist without a father. This argument can be classified as an Christological argument supporting Gods existence. The Islam religion cites that the Quran came into existence as a result of a revelation from a supernatural supreme being, thus God exists (Velasquez 261). The appearances of Jesus and angels to Joseph Smith and the translation of the book of Mormon which is used the church of Jesus Christ provide sufficient evidence that God exists. There are other arguments which are based on personal experiences which asserts that God really do exist, for example, Paul of Taurus complete reversal of lifestyle from the persecutor of Christians to a staunch preacher of the word suggest that God truly exists as it supported by the conversion of Paul on the road through an occurrence of Gods appearance to Paul on the road to Damascus (Velasquez 249).
Hindu arguments. The majority of schools of the philosophy of Hindu religion support the assertion that God exists. This is strongly supported by the law of Karma (Velasquez 248). The Vedanta school of Hindu cites that the karmic acts of a human being can result in either good things or bad things. Since karmas law is unintelligent, God affects the environment of an individual and thus has power over whether good or bad things will happen to a person according to the person’s karmic acts (Velasquez 259). God is thus the author and supervisor of karma which has been found to be true and practical. The arguments above support the existence of God.
Arguments Disapproving the Existence of God
The counter arguments which will be explained below cite that the existence of gods or any other supreme being is null and void. Just like the supportive arguments, these counter arguments are divided into categories as will be discussed below.
Empirical arguments. These arguments are anchored on knowledge brought forth in the process of doing experiments and conducting observations. One argument used to nullify God’s existence is the apparent contradiction found in the scriptures which are purported to contain the word of God (Velasquez 244). The Christian bible and the Quran all contain apparent contradictions in single chapters and within the chapters when compared to another (Velasquez 263). These contradictions are against the Christian assertion that God is perfect and a God of order. The contradiction clearly depicts that the scriptures themselves denounce the existence of God. The world is faced by constant evils; this contradicts the view that a good god exists who is not the author of evil. Theist suggests that if god existed, the good god would not permit people to suffer from evils. The existence of evil depicts that there is no god. Parsimony argues that there is enough evidence from natural theories to explain the existence and his...