Different Philosophical Interpretations About God 's Existence

Throughout Confessions, Augustine, in retrospect, rejects many of the texts he came across in his life. He first exhibits this when he describes how wrong it was to have reacted emotionally to the Aeneid. He “wept over Dido, who ‘died pursuing her ultimate end with a sword’” (Conf. 1.21), while at the same time he failed to realize he was “dying by [his] alienation from [God]” (Conf. 1.20). Here Augustine laments the fact he wept over Dido’s death while at the same time worsened his own condition by ignoring God and his own sinfulness. He is highly critical of himself in the way he approached the Aeneid as a child, describing himself as having “abandoned [God] to pursue the lowest things of [God’s] creation” (Conf. 1.21). Because the Aeneid leads Augustine further away from God it cannot have any significance in one’s life.

The question of whether God exists pervades the study of philosophy, with both sides providing substantial arguments that appear believable upon first reading them. However, delving below the surface of such arguments shows holes in the reasoning of these philosophers. Though I would like to believe in the existence of God, after seeing the arguments for God's existence thoroughly discredited, I am not entirely sure what to believe.

In Confessions, Saint Augustine recounts his infancy, adolescence, and adulthood, which entails a journey from different philosophies, ideologies, and religions. Confessions is considered the first autobiography and is a model for Christian writers into the middle ages. Augustine’s gives anecdotes and uses biblical references to make insightful messages about his sinful youth and mid adulthood. His main struggle is with his search for understanding truth, good, and evil, while being sidetracked by his lust. Eventually, he is able to rise above his desire for sex, breaking the shackles which held him to a life without God.

Christians believe in a God who is Omni benevolent, omniscient, and omnipotent. Since there is evil in the world atheist believe one or all of the following: God is not good and therefore responsible for the evil in the world, he is not omniscient and did not know what would happen, he is not omnipotent and couldn’t prevent evil, or he does not exist. This research paper will discuss the three arguments for the existence of God: The Cosmological Argument, The Syllogism Argument, and The Moral argument.

Confessions is a self-written book of Saint Augustine’s life incorporating sin, regret, and redemption. I decided to focus on the first nine books, as they dive into and focus on Augustine’s life: what he did right, what he did wrong, and overcoming his own regrets. They illustrate St. Augustine’s life and inner turmoil as he struggled to find his true connection with God. Moreover, he provides the reader with many personal anecdotes that highlight the major themes of his life. Saint Augustine went through many stages in his life, and he demonstrates them throughout Confessions.

Between the two opposite views of God, theist and atheists, there is a middle ground and it is called agnosticism. People who are agnostic believe that there is not enough reason to believe there is a God but there is also not enough reason to believe there isn’t one. I will argue why agnosticism is valid and must be supported. The reason we, as a society, must remain agnostic is because there is not enough evidence to support atheism or theism. So, we also must keep searching for valid evidence when it comes to the existence of God.

Augustine 's Confessions is a series of complex books that he compiled to elucidate his relationship with an all-powerful, all-knowing and all-loving God who is also the Creator of all things. Confessions recapitulates that those who have commenced their return to God must acknowledge their state before God so that He might set them free. It should be mentioned that Chan and Outler each point out that the word confessions has a two fold meaning.1 It refers to knowledge of the truth about the self – in Augustine 's situation, his confessing his sins. The word confiteri also means to declare to God the truth one knows about God. Here the meaning is give honor, praise and glory to God. To confess is a practice in self-discernment and true humility in an environment of grace and atonement.

Saint Augustine’s books of confession are simply about his journey to becoming baptized and becoming part of the church. Towards the very beginning of the book Augustine has many questions regarding God, evil, and what it means to be part of the church community. He wants to learn how does one seek God without knowing exactly who or what God is. Augustine is a very curious person, and he seeks wisdom, he wants to be able to have a full understanding of God and also he wants his questions to be answered before he is converted. He learns that in order to seek God you need to have faith, and then God will eventually reveal himself to us. There were many events, readings, and people that you discover along the readings of his confessions that have a major impact on his decision to becoming part of the church community and finally accepting his religion.

The existence of God has been in question for as long as mankind has existed and thought logically. Many questions have plagued the human mind in regards to God, and there have been many arguments drawn with the hopes of proving the existence of a supreme being whom we know as God. The “God” question has been presented to every individual at some point in their lives. It is a topic that will bring forth never-ending questions and an equal amount of attempted answers. Many philosophers have formulated different rationales when examining the topic of God, some of which include how the word itself should be defined, what his role is in human existence, whether or not he loves us, and ultimately, if he even exists at all. Mankind cannot

Confessions is a autobiography of St. Augustine, but shouldn’t be taken in the literal sense. The book is more of a framework for a theological and philosophical dynamic. The book focuses on the story of Augustine’s life from his birth, all the way up to his conversion to Catholicism and the events that happened between. St. Augustine chose to recount certain events in his life because they present a view of larger issues. Augustine was born and raised in Thagaste, in eastern Algeria. He is in a world that he eventually sees as sinful.

The existence of God is a question that has troubled and plagued mankind since it began to consider logic. Is there a God? How can we be sure that God exists? Can you prove to me that He is real? Does His existence, or lack thereof, make a significant difference? These loaded questions strike at the heart of human existence. But the real question is, can we answer any of them? These questions are answered in the arguments of St. Thomas Aquinas, Blaise Pascal and St. Anselm of Canterbury. For thousands of years, theologians, philosophers and scientists have been trying to prove or disprove God’s existence. Many, including the three mentioned above, have strong proofs and theories that attempt to confirm God’s existence. Although, without any scientific evidence, how can they be entirely sure? “Philosophical proofs can be good proofs, but they do not have to be scientific proofs,” (Kreeft). Gravity similar to God’s existence ; it cannot be seen nor explained, yet it still exists. With faith, reason, understanding and even some math, God’s existence can be verified rationally.

Although Augustine died as a religious fanatic, according to some critics, obsessed with finding the perfect image of God, and while it is relatively simple to undermine the significance of his confessions purely based on romantic language he adopted in praising God, he was a human, first and foremost. His mortality, his humanness, some would say, exudes from Confession, and even he was quick to reiterate his human vices. His sins, as he labels them, did not reduce his importance, however, as it was his very human nature, his proneness to commit sin without hesitation until he receives guidance from an external source, which bound him to humanity, past and present. If Augustine had been baptized as a child, grown into an adult without ever straying from the “true path,” and died as an ardent Christian, he would have lived an ideal life but would have been disconnected with humanity’s suffering; his confessions would have been obscure and ungraspable, and his mind and heart unappreciative of the blessings he had received. For the reality was that only those who had suffered alongside their human brothers and sisters, committed sins, and had been lost could truly appreciate being found. Therefore, while he lived ages ago in a world much different from today, his confessions and life story resonate with all of humanity, especially the youth who are liable to stray and divulge in confusion, and maintain his position as a relevant figure in the twenty-first century.

The question of God’s existence has been challenged by many philosophers and non-philosophers alike over the years. If I am honest with myself, during many hard times I have questioned Gods existence myself. Arguments that have been used to support the existence of a divine being includes; the cosmological argument and the theological argument. However, there are some who oppose these arguments and philosopher H.J. McCloskey is among this group. In the article “On Being an Atheist” written by H.J. McCloskey, he argues that both these arguments are false and insufficient as it relates to “proof” of God’s existence. McCloskey believes that without proper proof, we must completely dismiss the idea of God’s existence. In his well-written article, he offers a few reasons why he believes that atheism is a much more comfortable belief versus, a belief in a God who allows the suffering of his people. He suggested that the problem of evil and the fact that evil exists means that God could not exist. McCloskey urges that people should just help each other rather than, placing their faith in a God that is clearly imperfect due to the imperfect world that he has created. Credible as McCloskey may be, I saw many errors in his theory. It is my opinion that his attempt to define God is completely unsound, and his philosophy is at best debatable. In this response paper, I will be carefully

Throughout the course of this essay we shall examine two of the major philosophical arguments for the existence of God. The arguments that we are going to focus on shall be the Design argument and the Ontological argument. We shall compare, evaluate and discuss both the Design (or teleological) argument for the existence of God and the Ontological Argument for the existence of God, as well as highlighting philosophical criticisms of both theories too. By doing so, we shall attempt to draw a satisfactory conclusion and aim gain a greater understanding of the respective theories and their criticisms of each theory.

Augustine did very well in school and his father decided to send him to Carthage to pursue a study in forensic studies (Farrell 5). The young man found a city living by pagan rules, where every desire of evil was encouraged. Augustine had a very competitive spirit, and in such a city the only goal was who could be the very worst. During this time he had a girlfriend whom he had a son with, and he lived with her for thirteen years. His son only lived for seventeen years, and then died (Chadwick 20). This period of his life was eventually looked on by himself with a great deal of regret and guilt which lead to some of his writings including his famous books Confessions. At this point he decided to turn his life around and saw rhetoric, reason, and philosophy as his new found passions.