The Controversial Subject of God Essay

The idea that God gave humans free will is one that is essential to the Christian faith. This is highlighted in Genesis. If we were to believe this concept consequently, we would believe that we are morally responsible for our actions. The idea of omnipotence logically requires God knowing what we will do before we do it. This is a problem with the idea of free will, as this may mean that we do not entirely have freedom. It could be argued that God has no right to reward and punish if he is able to foresee what will happen. In the Bible there are many passages which demonstrate God rewarding and punishing.

in this world, and they are effects derived from a cause. The effects in turn

Thou shalt steal everything you desire. Thou shalt torture innocent children in your spare time. ..." The reason that this is possible is that killing, raping, stealing, and torturing were not wrong before God made them so. Since God is free to establish whatever set of moral principles he chooses, he could just as well have chosen this set as any other.

One burning and enduring problem in philosophy to which we have given considerable examination is the question of the existence of God--the superlative being that philosophers have defined and dealt with for centuries. After reading the classic arguments of St. Anselm and St. Thomas Aquinas, the contentious assertions of Ernest Nagel, and the compelling eyewitness accounts of Julian of Norwich, I have been introduced to some of the most revered and referenced arguments for and against God's existence that have been put into text. All of them are well-thought and well-articulated arguments, but they have their holes. The question of God's true existence, therefore, is still not definitively answered and put to rest; the intensity of this

Is there a god? This is a question that all types of people regardless of their religion have been asking for hundreds of years. If there is, why did the holocaust happen? Why is North Korea in the totalitarian state they are in now? These hypothetical questions can not be answered 100% correctly, however people from different religions have different explanations as to why god/god’s let bad things happen. This begs the question, is religion a worthwhile and beneficial practice for humans? The answer to that question is yes, religion is a worthwhile and beneficial practce for humans.

God does what He does and we do what we can do and good things are the result. I have also realized there are some things that God will not do. It doesn’t mean that God can’t do them; it’s just that He won’t do them. Big difference! God has no limitations but He does have boundaries. God has placed certain restrictions upon Himself these restrictions are a reflection of His nature and essence within our created world. God created all of humanity to be participants in His creation and not to be spectators of it

The belief in some higher presence, other than our own, has existed since man can recollect. Religion was established from this belief, and it can survive and flourish because of this belief. Christianity, one of several forms of religion that exist today, began sometime during the middle of the first century. Christians believe in a higher presence that they call "God." This belief in God is based on faith, not fact; faith is "unquestioning belief that does not require proof or evidence." (Webster's New World College Dictionary, 1996, p. 487). The belief in God exists primarily for two reasons: It answers the question of why we exist, and it is used to exert moral control over society

My argument and ideas are based on parts of Thomas Aquinas and William Paley’s arguments on the existence of God. As a Christian, at some point in time you wonder or start to question religion. Does God exist? I feel as though this is a natural question people ask through their personal spiritual journeys. The existence of God is provided by the premises of a first mover, a first causer, the proof of possibility and necessity, and God being the designer of the universe, therefore God exists. The natural world must have had a maker. Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” I wonder if God made the universe, who made God? God is the transcendent personal cause of the universe, exists independently, there is no beginning. Therefore, nothing caused God.

I will argue God’s non-existence through the argument from evil. God can not control what is “logically impossible.” The problem of evil is “the difficulty of reconciling the existence of suffering and other evils in the world with the existence of God” The Philosophical Journey: An Interactive Approach. The existence of evil and suffering in our world is a compelling argument disproving the existence of a perfect God. If God were all-knowing, wouldn’t it mean that God would know about all of the horrible things that happen in the world. With the argument from imperfection in our world and the role these imperfections play in natural evils that take place in our world, and the argument from moral evils are how I will show why I believe there is no God. To quote a passage from Philosophy of Religion

The belief in Gods has always existed throughout human’s recored history. Whether it be the Greek Gods: Apollo, and Zeus, or the Judeo-Christian God, believed by Christians in modern day society. The belief of God has always existed among humans, however, assuming God does not exist, what explains the cultural evolution of such a false belief, namely religion? I shall argue that the reason this false belief is successful is because it manipulates human nature better than any other belief by these three points: an avoidance of death (the soul), a sense of worth (knowledge), and a sense, or need of belief (faith).

This goes to show how it should be no surprise that religion has been part of the human nature for so long. When something cannot be proven or disproven, there will always be sides. Although, the only logical side would be to choose the middle. This is why Kierkegaard is correct in saying that a leap of faith would be required in following a certain religion. Having an experience that one would consider divine would be able to sway someone towards religion. On the other hand, there isn’t swaying anyone towards atheism. Neither can be truly correct as there are no facts to back up either side. That is why the philosophy of religion exists in the first

Most major arguments of God are rooted in the existence, or lack thereof. However there has been a continuous debate regarding the specific characteristics of God. In this debate, Charles Hartshorne, Alfred North Whitehead, and other the processed theologians oppose Anselm, Augustine, and other classic theologians. Although there are many points of disagreement, there are some characteristics for which both sides can agree upon. I will show one strong point of agreement and one strong point of opposition, and allow you the opportunity to decide for yourself how different, or similar, these two camps are.

There is no guarantee that a free moral agent will never choose wrongly. For a person to say that God should not have created people with the ability to choose sin, is saying he should not have created people at all. J.L. Mackie contends that God could have indeed created beings that would act freely (but always right). If this had happened we would not be free, but more like robots. If God had created creatures of superior moral character but lacking the ability to choose, these creatures would not be what we call human beings.

One of the rational reasons that I offer as proof of God's existence is exactly because of the impasse of this debate. Given this, the deductive argument/thesis that I pose for the existence of God is:

The existence of God has been questioned since the beginning of time. Religions thrived on answering the unanswerable questions of the universe and people were able to find solace in the answers. As science has expanded and been able to answer these questions with natural, as opposed to supernatural answers, many people stopped looking to God and religion for the causes of things and started looking towards science. God was dead, according to many scientists and people of all professions. Many philosophers, however, have different conclusions.