The Existence

of GodDeacon Ken

ReisorSeptember 15,

2011

We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and

earth, of all things seen and unseen…

-Nicene Creed

God’s Existence

How do we know there is a God?

God’s Existence

“There is a God-shaped vacuum that only God can

fill.”

God’s Existence“What else does this craving, and this helplessness, proclaim but that

there was once in man a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and

trace? This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him,

seeking in things that are not there the help he cannot find in those that are, though none can help, since this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and

immutable object; in other words by God himself.” Pascal

God Is Known Through Personal Experiences

• Restlessness (unfulfilled desire)– Our hearts are restless , O Lord,

until they rest in Thee. St. Augustine of Hippo

• Sense of Justice– Heaven and Hell

• Love– No material explanation can fully

explain it• The Human Person

– Moral goodness– Sacrificial love– Truth and beauty

• Rom 1:20Ever since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes of eternal power and divinity have been able to be understood and perceived in what he has made.

As Catholics, We Understand The Importance of Both Faith and

Reason• Faith (Divine Revelation)

– What we can know about God has been revealed by Him through His Son and taught by His Church

• Reason (Rational thought)– What we can come to know about

God through our natural abilities

• Faith and reason do not conflict – Faith and reason are like two wings

on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth – in a word, to know himself – so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves.”

– Pope John Paul II (Fides et Ratio)

REASON or RATIONAL THOUGHT,

otherwise…PHILOSOPHY

St. Thomas’ Proofs for the Existence

of God• The First Mover

– A thing must be first moved by something else; it cannot move itself (move here means “change.”)

• The First Efficient Cause– There is no case known

(neither is it, indeed, possible) in which a thing is found to be the efficient cause of itself; for so it would be prior to itself, which is impossible.

St. Thomas’ Proofs for the Existence

of God• There are three others but

let’s stop here…

• “I felt in my bones that this universe does not explain itself.” C.S. Lewis

• Ultimately, we come to the agreement that there must have been something at the beginning that always was!

God Is Known

Through Divine

Revelation

God Is Known Through Divine

RevelationHoly Scripture

In Holy Scripture, there

is no real elaborate argument

attempting to prove that God

exists…

God Is Known Through Divine

RevelationHoly Scripture

His existence is, basically, taken

for granted.

God Is Known Through Divine

RevelationTraditionSola Scriptura

APOSTOLIC LETTER ROSARIUM VIRGINIS

MARIAE

God Is Known Through Divine

RevelationOur response to

Divine Revelation is……Faith

So, what is God like?

Qualities of God

• Oneness – God is one• Eternal – God has no

beginning and no end• Omnipotent – God is all

powerful• Omniscient – God is all

knowing• Immutable – God does

not change• Supremely Holy – God is

goodness itself• Personal – God is

intimately concerned about His creation

In Conclusion…• Let’s take a look at Deacon Ken’s philosophical theory called the…

“Well,Duh” Factor.• Does God exist? • Well, duh…