In our lives as we live today, we live by a moment of truth, what is right and what is wrong. By most people's standards we are raised to believe that there is a higher power, that God does exist and to disbelieve is a mortal sin. But who can actually say that there is one? Has anyone been to heaven and lived to talk about it? Throughout this essay I will explain the many reasons why there is a God not only in mind but in reality.
In the study of theology it is necessary to believe that there is a God based on faith. "If I were asked to prove that Zeus and Poseidon and Hera and the rest of the Olympians do not exist, I should be at a loss to find conclusive arguments" (Bertrand Russell). There is just no way you could prove or disapprove that statement. Faith is the only thing that that can bind us with God. There is no DNA or forensic evidence that can be used to prove or disprove this case. We have no way of knowing that there is absolutely a God. However if there is a God in our mind then there must also be one in reality, right? "To imagine God as existing only in the mind but not in reality leads to a logical contradiction; this proves the existence of God both in the mind and in reality" (Anselm). St. Anselm defined in his words "that (being God) than which nothing greater can be conceived" (Anselm). So if we can conceive God in our minds he/she must also exist in reality.
One of the most profoundly influential of all the medieval philosophers was Dominican Thomas Aquinas, who was refered to as "the angelic teacher." Aquinas was widely known for his work in Christian theology. St. Thomas Aquinas developed the famous "five ways" by which God's existence can be demonstrated philosophically. He also states three main arguments on which his ways are defined. The first three ways are in support of his "cosmological argument." The fourth way is supported by his "moral argument" and the fifth by his "teleological argument.
