Before I start the paper there are a few points that must be established. First is a clear definition of Philosophy of Religion, which is the area of philosophy that applies philosophical methods to study a wide variety of religious issues including the existence of God. The use of the philosophical method makes Philosophy of Religion distinct from theology, which is the study of God and any type of issues that relate to the divine. Now there are two types of theology, Revealed and Natural Theology. Revealed Theology claims that our knowledge of God comes through special revelations such as the Bible, the Holy Spirit, and the Koran. Saint Thomas Aquinas indicates that Revealed Theology provides what he calls “Saving Knowledge”, which is knowledge that will r

The next argument is probably the most debated of all the ones we will be examining. The Cosmological argument reasons from the existence of the universe to the existence of God as its cause, creator, or explanation. While there are numerous variations on the argument, Saint Thomas Aquinas is the most used. While his whole argument consisted of 5 proofs, only two of these are really relevant today.

Both Bubar and Fackenheim claim that there argument is not one that argues from a religious experience; hence they are immune to the fallacies of that argument. Yet critics counter that they are presenting an argument from a religious experience, one that is incompletely stated. One might remark that many people, who claim to have had glimpses of God, as Fackenheim puts it, are in both of these philosophers mind delusional. Charles Guiteau who assassinated President Garfield acted upon what he thought was instructions from God. As John Baillie puts it, there must be some criteria to distinguish fake encounters from real. We simply cannot take Bubar’s word that certain glances are illusionary while others are not.

What frequently gets pointed out about the causal premise is that even if it were valid it would not establish the existence of God. It does not show that the first cause is all-powerful or good. Defenders of the cosmological point out that the argument is not meant to prove God’s existence, and that supplementary arguments are needed to ascertain the first causes qualities. The causal argument is only meant to be an important step in proving God’s existence.

Another problem with the Ontological Argument is the belief that existence is a real predicate. A predicate is something that adds some type of description to a subject. To say that something exists is to merely state that there is something in our reality that correlates with the description we have. It answers the question of “Is there any”, but not the one “What is it”. It can also be pointed out that if the Ontological Argument was valid then one could prove the existence of a perfect singer, perfect scientist, or any other perfect beings. This alone should make it clear that there is something drastically wrong with this argument. Lastly this final note must be made, the Ontological may prove God’s existence but the question of his nature is never dealt with.

The first one is the causal or efficient cause. He starts by saying we find that things around us come into being as the result of activity of other things. These causes are in fact the result of yet other activities. Yet this causal series cannot go back to infinity, hence there must be a first member. This first member is not caused by any preceding member, and hence labeled God.

John Stuart Mills and other philosophers state that to claim that all natural objects require a cause in esse is illogical. Forces such as gravity, or particles, show no causes in esse. While most will grant particles did not cause themselves, it is not evident that these particles cannot be uncaused. Professor Philips admits that there is nothing self-evident about the proposition that everything must have a cause in esse. From this comment I am reminded about a snide remark Schopenhauer made about how the cosmological arguments treats the law of causation “like a hired cab which we dismiss when we reach our destination”(1). Back to the subject at hand, opponents of the argument state that after it’s restructuring, the argument still does not address the difficulties in which I have already pointed out.

Some topics in this essay:
Auschwitz God, Thomas Aquinas, Paley Paley, Richard Dawkin, Teleological Argument, John Locke, Bertrand Russell, Species” Darwin, Ontological Argument, Saint Anslem, god’s existence, infinite series, teleological argument, biblical faith, existence god, cosmological argument, causal argument, ontological argument, prove god’s existence, eclipse god, causal series, contention biblical faith, objects require cause, existence god cause, saint thomas aquinas,