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Knowledge of God's existence - Coggle Diagram

- - - - too much emphasis is put on the idea of the Fall. Catholics downplay this and focus instead on the gap between us and God because of our very natures so it is possible to know something of God through reason
      - perhaps God's nature is never knowable in any way. it is not a result of the Fall as much as complete otherness of God
      - no Christian denomination believes natural theology on its own is dufficient. it is entirely reasonable to suggest that there are different ways of finding knowledge of God
    - - the idea of Cicero's universal consent argument can be rejected simply because even though many people have a sense of religion or deity, the fact that they interpret it so differently proves that human reason is inadequate
      - human nature is clearly flawed and it would be wrong to say that fallen humans should attempt a relationship with a perfect God - we are not deserving
      - the effects of the Fall utterly decimated human relationships with God. The Bible is clear that humans must labour alone (in the punishment of Adam) unless God chooses otherwise
  - - - natural knowledge gives a different sort of knowledge to revelation. nobody becomes a believer through natural theology alone
      - natural knowledge must be different because it is impossible due to the Fall as the points of contact between heaven and earth have been lost
      - the two opera in different spheres: in order to 'do' natural theology you need to put revealed theology aside - because some say that you cannot fairly prove God exists using logic if you already believe him to exist
    - - proving that God exists is simply recognising an already revealed truth
      - all complex questions require several different approaches at once. the distinction between the two types of theology is artificial and ways to come to know God could be split into different categories
      - the two are simply different sides of the same coin because you cannot have natural knowledge without revealed knowledge first
  - - - faith without the support of reason could lead to beliefs in anything - such s a giant Flying Spaghetti Monster out in space
      - why would God create humans with the ability to be rational and then seem only to offer some and not all humans the gift of faith?
      - atheist thinkers dismiss faith as a projection of human desire for there to be more to this life than meets the eye. as such, all acts of faith must be rejected
    - - it stands to reason that a God who is beyond this earth will not be able to understood without faith and God's grace to enable that faith
      - belief in God's existence is a relationship with a apersonal God and all relationships require more than just a theory
      - engaging with God should not be seen as merely an academic exercise but as a spiritual and emotional task: life is not just about academic or physical things
  - - - it does not make sense to say that humans can find God entirely on their own. God is by definition ineffable, beyond human experience. it is arrogant to suggest we can know God ourselves
      - humans are sinful and this comes from OS. humans cannot know Gof through reason because our reason is tarnished by the Fall
      - reason is an intellectual exercise and not all people are academic. perhaps it is not reasonable to suggest that everyone can use rreadson correctly to understand God
    - - Pre-Christian philosopher Cicero talked about the 'universal' consent argument' - the idea that so many people believe that it must be art of the natural makeup of humans
      - reason is required to know God because all claims that rely on faith cannot be meaningful - they cannot be proven and they could simply be projections of human imagination
      - if God has created humans then it makes sense that he would provide ways of humans being able to discover and get to know him. we should be able to find the tools for this in all people
  - - - belief in God gained solely through natural theology is not the same as a persona relationship with God
      - belief in God does not make living a Christian life easy - there are many challenges from evil, science or society to make someone doubt whether they should fully trust God
      - belief in God needs proper context and understanding - through an understanding of JC as mediator is taught by Church
    - - if the idea of points of contact is correct. then recognising these points of contact should lead to faith because something true about God has been recognised
      - all people believe in diff ways- some are intellectual and some are not, surely does not matter to God who made humans to worship him. belief in God in whatever form should lead to a commitment
      - belief in god requires a leap of faith. if one is prepared to make that leap then one must put trust in God
- - - - the idea comes from the first book in the Bible, Genesis
        
        'Then God said, 'Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along in the groun.' So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.'
      - 'Imago dei'
        
        due ot this biblical verse, Catholics often used the Latin term to describe the relationship between God and humans
        
        many scholars use this belief to argues that because humans are created so, they have an inbuilt desire to know God
        
        this includes human openness to beauty and goodness as aspects of God
    - - John Calvin
        
        argues that we naturally recignise and understood that beauty comes from God
        
        in the 16th century he claimed we have an innate sense of the divine
        
        made this claim in Institute's of the Christian Religion
        
        'That there exists in the human mind and indeed by natural instinct, some sense Deity [sensus divinitatis], we hold to be behind dispute, since God himself, to prevent any man from pretending ignorance, has endued all men with some idea of his Godhead ... this is not a doctrine which is first learned at school, but one as to which every man is, from the womb, his own master; one which nature herself allows no individual to forget' (Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion)
      - 'seed of divinity'
      - can be experienced in 3 ways
        
        beauty
        
        intellectual ability
        
        conscience
      - innate knowledge
        
        this means humans have an intellectual ability to reflect on and recognise God's existence
        
        Calvin took the view that the beauty of the world is clear evidence of the existence of God
        
        this shoes our human openers to beauty and goodness as aspects of God
        
        argues every human being is born with a knowledge that God exists and the we are accountable to him
        
        learned the concept of innate knowledge of God from St Paul especially from the first 2 chapters of Romans
  - - - argued the complexity of the world and suggests there is purpose to it
        
        suggests there must be a designer which he said is God
      - used a watch to illustrate his point
        
        if Paley came across a mechanical watch on the ground, he would assume that its complex parts fitted together for a purpose
        
        the watch had not come into existence by chance, there must be a watchmaker
        
        went on to reason the world is much more complex than a watch
        
        for eg look at the design of the cells of a leaf, the fin of a fish, photosynthesis
        
        so the world must be much more complex than a watchmaker
        
        only God can be the designer of the world as He is seen to be omniscient, omnipotent and omnibenevolent
    - - put forward the cosmological argument
        
        looks at the chain of cause and effect in the world (in particular he looked as seen in the order of creation)
        
        concluded that natural theology was important in demonstrating reasonability in Christian belief
        
        because the universe exists, something must have cause it ti exist ->. Aquinas argued that God created existence
    - - offers the view that natural world demonstrates truths about God
      - in the book of Psalms, the writer looks up at night sky and sees clear evidence of the existence of god and God's relationship with humanity
      - 'When I consider your heave, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? You have made them a little lower than the angles and crowned them with glory and honour
      - ' You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet: all flocks and herds, and t he animals of the wild, the birds in the sky and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!' (Psalm 8:3-9)
    - - argues that our humans reason and powers of observation support the probability that there is a God
- - - - Grace is God's gift of knowledge of himself through the Holy Spirit
    - - all humans are sinful and have a finite mind
      - bases his belief in the book of Genesis and 'The Fall' of man
      - so natural knowledge is insufficient to gain full knowledge of God
      - knowledge of God is possible through faith and grace
    - - immediate
        
        when someone is give direct knowledge about God
      - mediate
        
        learning about God but less directly
        
        it could be through someone else who has experienced God
  - - - wrote about faith and the ways in which it complements and differs from other kinds of knowledge
      - in 'Summa Theologica', he explores how empirical and logical knowledge 'sciential' is certain
      - he sees this as certain because we can see. the evidence right in front of us, either through our sense or by using reason
  - - - so is a voluntary choice
        
        'an act o the intellect assenting to the truth at the command of the will'
    - - faith is about this things where certainty is not readily available
      - science is about those things we can test and confirm for ourselves
    - - for Aquinas, faith differs from opinion too
        
        because opinion does not have certainty that faith does
        
        like faith, opinion is a matter of choice
        
        this is because the evidence is not clear in supporting one view or another
        
        but opinion is open to change as people might be persuaded to change their opinions
        
        faith has a certain solid commitment that does not have elements of doubt
- - - - for this reason, Jesus' words are believed to be very words of God - his actions and sacrifice on the cross are believed to be the actions and sacrifice of God, revealing God's omnibenevolent nature
  - - - Jesus calming the storm reveals God's omnipotence over the laws of nature
      - Jesus healing of people from leprosy, blindness, and paralysis reveals God's grace in restoring people
      - Jesus feeding of the 5,000 shows God is the giver of everything people need for their lives
      - Jesus raising Lazarus reveals God as the giver of life after death
  - - - immediate revelation is when someone is given direct knowledge about God
      - mediate revelation is learning about God but less directly - could be via someone else who has experienced God