existence of god & god the father

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    The Existence of God & God the Father

    Today Many Live As Though God Does Not Exist.

    Others believe God acts as though we dont exist, He doesnothing.

    Faith In God and Knowing Something We cannot See --Faith in Gods existence can be as certain as tomorrowssunrise.--We are capable of knowing with certainty something wecannot see, such as anger, joy, love and beauty. We cantmeasure them or weigh them, but we know they exist.--We know for certainty that all of us yearn for happiness, wedesire everlasting happiness- to live forever.

    All humans are created with a fundamental capacity for God.For Example: plastic bag has a capacity to hold food or water.A sheet of wax paper has no capacity to be filled with water.--We also have a fundamental desire for God.

    --We all seek truth, beauty and love.

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    The Existence of God & God the FatherThere Are Questions We Ask Ourselves And TheseQuestions Are Religious. Who am I?

    Why am I here on earth?What is the meaning of life?

    The Baltimore Catechism states why we arehere on earth and the meaning of life.

    Q. Why did God make you? A. God made me to know Him, to love Him,

    and to serve Him in this world, and to behappy with Him for ever in heaven. Q. Who is God?

    A. God is the Creator of heaven and earth,and of all things.Q. What is man?

    A. Man is a creature composed of body and soul,and made to the image and likeness of God.

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    The Existence of God & God the Father We Can Come To A Certain Knowledge of God Through TheCreated World. There is an order and beauty we come to enjoy.The earths natural beauty and appeal is not a cosmic coincidence.

    Do the Mountains of Colorado, just happen to be beautiful against thesky line?The Kansas sunsets just happen to be awe inspiring?We take delight in what we see.

    St. Paul said , Ever since the creation of he world His invisible nature, namely,his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have

    been made: (Romans 1:19-20)

    (Wisdom 13:1-9)For all men were by nature foolish who were in ignorance of God, and who

    from the good things seen did not succeed in knowing him who is, and fromstudying the works did not discern the artisan; But either fire, or wind, or theswift air, or the circuit of the stars, or the mighty water, or the luminaries ofheaven, the governors of the world, they considered gods. Now if out of joy intheir beauty they thought them gods, let them know how far more excellent isthe Lord than these; for the original source of beauty fashioned them. Or if theywere struck by their might and energy, let them from these things realize howmuch more powerful is he who made them. For from the greatness and thebeauty of created things their original author, by analogy, is seen. But yet, forthese the blame is less; For they indeed have gone astray perhaps, though theyseek God and wish to find him. For they search busily among his works, but aredistracted by what they see, because the things seen are fair. But again, noteven these are pardonable. For if they so far succeeded in knowledge that theycould speculate about the world, how did they not more quickly find its LORD?

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    The Existence of God & God the FatherWe Can Also Arrive at the Knowledge of God, by ourown Natural Reason, Especially Through Conscience. Reason prompts us to arrive at the knowledge of God

    by our natural light of reason. Our reason propels ustoward God by helping us to make sense out ofeverything.For example, when we try to make sense out of 9-11,we turn to God for an answer. Why did it happen?

    Clearly it was evil. Wasnt there a good that came outof the horrible evil, many came back to God and weresearching for an answer. There was a kind of spiritualawakening that occurred in our country.By way of our conscience we naturally strive to be

    good and avoid evil. Through our reason and our conscience, we enjoy doinggood and feel ashamed when we do evil. In our pursuitof goodness, we come to know there is someone who isgoodness Itself, someone who loves us and cares for us

    and daily takes care of us.

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    The Existence of God & God the FatherEvolution Vs. CreationismYou will be surprised to know the Catholic Church doesnt have aformal decree on creationism or Darwinism.

    The Catechism of the Catholic Church gives the principles for Godcreating things, such as God created out of nothing, etc.. But itdoesnt directly address the theory of evolution. The reason for thisseems to be given in Pope Benedicts words. For example he said,We are not some casual and meaningless product of evolution.

    But he also said, Currently, I see in Germany, but also in the UnitedStates, a somewhat fierce debate raging between so-called

    creationism and evolutionism, presented as though they weremutually exclusive alternatives: those who believe in the Creatorwould not be able to conceive of evolution, and those who insteadsupport evolution would have to exclude God. This antithesis isabsurd because, on the one hand, there are so many scientific

    proofs in favor of evolution which appears to be a reality we cansee and which enriches our knowledge of life and being as such.But on the other, the doctrine of evolution does not answer everyquery, especially the great philosophical question: where doeseverything come from? And how did everything start whichultimately led to man? I believe this is of the utmost importance.

    A thought to consider: There doesnt seem to be any currentevolution taking place, especially in the past 500 years or more. Soif Darwinism were true, why is it no longer occurring? That beingsaid, a Catholic could believe in it, if one were to believe that Godwould be the one who would be the cause of it.

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    The Existence of God & God the FatherGOD THE FATHERWho is He? He is the first person of the Blessed Trinity. The

    Trinity is one God, who are three person, Father, Sonand Holy Spirit.

    Attributes of God In scripture, we see God one who is almighty, strong,

    protective of His Chosen People. He commandsobedience and holiness, yet He is tender andcompassionate. God is seen as Father in many placesin scripture, but was not fully revealed until Jesuscame to reveal the Father.

    Jesus Sent by the Father Jesus as God always existed, yet He was sent by HisFather to reveal the Father to man and to savemankind. The Holy Spirit is also revealed as Jesuscomes into the world.

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    The Existence of God & God the Father

    Perfections of GodGod is eternal- God was and always will be and willalways remains the same.God is all Good- God Himself is love.God is all knowing- Omniscient-He knows, all things

    past, present, and future (even secret thoughts) Jesusoften told others their secret thoughts.God is All Present- Omnipresent -God is everywhere.We do not see Him because He is a spirit.God is almighty- Omnipotent-God is all-powerful andcan do what He wants when He wants with nolimitations and at the moment He thinks it.God is all wise, all holy, all merciful and all just.

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    The Existence of God & God the Father God and the Christian Family Adam and Eve were created in the imageand likeness of God. God is not a man or

    woman and it is wrong to depict God asmother God, which some do today.God is a totally spiritual being and has nogender. Human masculinity and femininitydo reflect in a limited way, things that are

    true about God.When a man and a woman are marriedand have a child this is an image of theBlessed Trinity. Man gives Himself to Hiswife his wife to her husband and the lovebetween them is a child. The familyprovides our first experience of God. Ourfather and mother reflect in a limited wayabout God. Man as a provider, care-taker,protector and guardian of the family.Woman, who is tender, compassionate

    caring, and gentle.

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    The Existence of God & God the Father Fatherhood Finds Its Origin in God the Father God the Father is the origin of all that everexisted and will exist. Some think that whenwe call God our Father, we are projectingmerely human concepts on God. God is theone, who has said, He is Father. He wants usto call Him Father. God is the first and perfectFather.Human fathers are imperfect. Some are harsh

    and maybe even mean, otherwise are weakand fall into sin. Yet, they are imperfectimages of God the Father. They are like faintreflections of the perfect, all-powerful, andall-loving Heavenly Father. Young boys areoften times astounded at their fathers

    strength they think no one could beat uptheir father. When we come to understandthe imperfections of our fathers, we can placethese on God the Father, for example see Godthe Father, as one who harshly punishes whenwe do something wrong. Or expects us to be

    perfect.

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    The Existence of God & God the FatherGOD THE CREATORIn the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. (Gen. 1:1-3)Scripture shows that God as creator, created all things out of nothing.God Himself is uncreated-He always existed.

    God created heaven and earth.He created the entire material universe as well as every spiritual being.

    Everything God creates is good.

    Noting exists apart from Him.

    God sustains all things living and material.

    All that is not God is a creature or His creation.

    Why did God create anything at all? Not to increase His glory, for His gloryis infinite, but rather to show it forth and communicate it.

    God creates out of His goodness and superabundant love.

    Everything from the laws of the universe gravity, science, even the lowliestcreatures in its own way, reflects Gods goodness and beauty. The beauty ofa butterfly that was once an ugly caterpillar, to the beauty of bumble beewith its black and gold rings.

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    The Existence of God & God the Father

    Justice Justice is to give to a person what is due to the person. As His

    creatures, and the fact that God made us means we are bound in justice to obey Him and to give an account of our lives. God did notcreate us out of necessity. God is infinitely perfect and has no need ofcreatures.

    God Sustains God sustains us and if He did not want us to exist, we wouldimmediately cease to exist.If God were to withhold His providence, we would not survive for aminute. We are entirely dependant upon His taking care of us-

    Fruitful and Multiply God blessed our first parents Adam and Eve and said, be fruitful andmultiply, fill the earth and subdue it. (Gen. 1:28). Men and womenare able to cooperate with God in creating the greatest possible gift-a new human person.

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    The Existence of God & God the Father Man Can Participate in Gods Creative Work Human work, building things, inventing things-of whichman receives his knowledge from God to invent.

    Mans Stewardship of the World Its a great blessing to be able to care for the earth, butthere is a great responsibility to do so.

    God made us Free We have the freedom to choose Him and His will or tonot choose Him. We do not have to love God, we donot have to obey Him, but we choose to do so becauseHe deserves it and because we love Him and desire tohonor Him.

    God did not create Evil, or suffering or death. They were brought into the world by the disobedienceof Adam and Eve. But, God can and does bring goodout of evil and suffering which is seen most clearly with

    the Cross of Jesus- the cause of our salvation.

    God judged itbetter to bring

    good out of evilthan to suffer no

    evil to exist. St. Augustine

    It only through sufferingthat we become holy.

    And become holy is ouronly purpose in life, our

    only preparation forheaven.

    Blessed Fr. Seelos----------------------------

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    The Existence of God & God the FatherDoes God Exist? - 5 Ways of St. Thomas

    First Way: The Argument From Motion

    St. Thomas Aquinas, studying the works of the Greek philosopher Aristotle, concluded from common observation that an object that is in motion (e.g. theplanets, a rolling stone) is put in motion by some other object or force. From this, Aquinas believes that ultimately there must have been an UNMOVEDMOVER (GOD) who first put things in motion. Follow the argument this way:

    1) Nothing can move itself.2) If every object in motion had a mover, then the first object in motion needed a mover.

    3) This first mover is the Unmoved Mover, called God.

    Second Way: Causation Of Existence

    This Way deals with the issue of existence. Aquinas concluded that common sense observation tells us that no object creates i tself. In other words, someprevious object had to create it. Aquinas believed that ultimately there must have been an UNCAUSED FIRST CAUSE (GOD) who began the chain ofexistence for all things. Follow the argument this way:

    1) There exist things that are caused (created) by other things.

    2) Nothing can be the cause of itself (nothing can create itself.)3) There can not be an endless string of objects causing other objects to exist.

    4) Therefore, there must be an uncaused first cause called God.

    Third Way: Contingent and Necessary Objects

    This Way defines two types of objects in the universe: contingent beings and necessary beings. A contingent being is an object that can not exist without anecessary being causing its existence. Aquinas believed that the existence of contingent beings would ultimately necessitate a being which must exist forall of the contingent beings to exist. This being, called a necessary being, is what we call God. Follow the argument this way:

    1) Contingent beings are caused.

    2) Not every being can be contingent.

    3) There must exist a being which is necessary to cause contingent beings.

    4) This necessary being is God.

    Fourth Way: The Argument From Degrees And Perfection

    St. Thomas formulated this Way from a very interesting observation about the qualities of things. For example one may say that of two marble sculpturesone is more beautiful than the other. So for these two objects, one has a greater degree of beauty than the next. This is referred to as degrees orgradation of a quality. From this fact Aquinas concluded that for any given quality (e.g. goodness, beauty, knowledge) there must be an perfect standardby which all such qualities are measured. These perfections are contained in God.

    Fifth Way: The Argument From Intelligent Design

    The final Way that St. Thomas Aquinas speaks of has to do with the observable universe and the order of nature. Aquinas states that common sense tellsus that the universe works in such a way, that one can conclude that is was designed by an intelligent designer, God. In other words, all physical laws andh d f d lif d i d d d d b G d h i lli d i