Atheism and Agnosticism
Some doubt or deny the existence of God, the Supreme Being and Creator of the world. The Catholic Church teaches that the existence of God can be known by the power of natural reason. May those who read this article come to be certain of His existence, and learn about His divine nature.
Questions
- Does God exist?
- What is God?
- Who is God?
- Did God make the world?
- Did God make man?
- Does God take interest in human affairs?
- Why does God permit evil & suffering?
- Why do I need to worship God?
- Are all religions equal?
1. Does God exist?
Proofs for the existence of God:
- -
- -
- -
- -
Objections to the existence of God:
- God is undetectable.
- God could not permit so much suffering.
- God is only a man-made idea.
- Nature explains everything without God.
- Human progress goes on without God.
- The evil actions of believers.
Introduction
Responding to a rise of atheism and agnosticism, the Catholic Church declared in 1870: "God, the source and end of all things, can be known with certainty from the consideration of created things, by the natural power of human reason : ever since the creation of the world, his invisible nature has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made."
In this article we will demonstrate how the natural power of human reason can arrive at the existence of God.
In this article we will demonstrate how the natural power of human reason can arrive at the existence of God.
2. What is God?
3. Who is God?
4.
5.
6.
7.
8. Why do I need to worship God?
Firstly, as a matter of justice.
Secondly, as a matter of human happiness or well-being.
Secondly, as a matter of human happiness or well-being.
It is first of all a matter of justice:
_________________________________________________________________________________
Essay
We search for the truth and origin of all things: is divine Intelligence the source, or did this world form itself out of primordial Chaos? If we are men of intelligence, it would seem right for us to look up to the Intelligence of God as the Father of our own; but if it turns out that we are beasts of chaotic passion, then it would seem natural to have Chaos for our mother. When we observe the Order and Chaos in this world, do we say: that Order came first, and Chaos later; that Chaos came first, and Order later; or that Order and Chaos are co-eternal? Men of all ages, wanting to understand the world and themselves, considered these things; what is peculiar about our age is: that men who say that the world was made by Divine Reason, are called the enemies of reason; whereas those that say that Chaos and passion came first, are regarded as the great defenders of reason!
Neither Socrates (who was willing to die for the sake of natural truth), nor Jesus Christ (who was willing to die for witnessing to divine truth) were atheists. Yet atheists today are often absurdly convinced that the great martyrs for the truth have always been unbelievers, and that religion has done nothing but persecute the truth. But we ask the following question: why should the atheist, who claims to be made out of only dust and chance, have any regard for the truth in the first place? As that greatest of atheists, Friedrich Nietzsche, asked: "why truth? why not, rather, a lie?" If we were not created by the eternal Truth, but were made by the will to power and survival, why should we not rather believe and tell a lie that will give us power in the world, than a truth that will expose us to persecution? This is why Nietzsche, the true atheist, mocked those half-hearted atheists who claimed to speak on behalf of the truth: what is truth, if a man is only a beast driven by instinct?
Therefore, atheists are inconsistent when they claim to be defenders of truth, as, according to their own testimony, they are not beings formed by intelligence and created to know truth, but beings of passion made by chance for survival. Therefore, they should not say that they are defending the truth, but that they are defending their passions; and that passion in particular which causes them to hate believers for contradicting their own account of the world and mankind's origin and purpose. The fact that humanity desires to know the truth, and is often willing to suffer loss, sorrow, and even persecution and death for the sake of knowing and proclaiming the truth: is evidence of humanity's divine origin and essentially religious being, which causes it to sacrifice itself for the Truth.
"What is truth?" The Truth is immaterial, infinite, and eternal. It seems that if atheists knew the Truth, they would worship the Truth, and would no longer call themselves atheists.
The wise see that the eternal Truth has left its print on the human mind, and that our own limited intelligence is a kind of reflection of the infinite Intelligence of the Creator: all see this, who are not blinded by passion. As soon as we set off sincerely to search for the Truth, we already admit, at first perhaps unknowingly, that God, the eternal Truth, exists. So if the searcher is sincere, who cannot yet imitate Jesus Christ in dying for the Truth, he should at least imitate Socrates the philosopher in having a great respect for the Truth and fear of telling a falsehood, and in having a deep knowledge of his own ignorance: "all I know, is that I know nothing." If he comes this far, he will soon marvel at the wonderful order, intelligence, and purpose in the world and in his own being, and arrive from there at the knowledge of God.
Neither Socrates (who was willing to die for the sake of natural truth), nor Jesus Christ (who was willing to die for witnessing to divine truth) were atheists. Yet atheists today are often absurdly convinced that the great martyrs for the truth have always been unbelievers, and that religion has done nothing but persecute the truth. But we ask the following question: why should the atheist, who claims to be made out of only dust and chance, have any regard for the truth in the first place? As that greatest of atheists, Friedrich Nietzsche, asked: "why truth? why not, rather, a lie?" If we were not created by the eternal Truth, but were made by the will to power and survival, why should we not rather believe and tell a lie that will give us power in the world, than a truth that will expose us to persecution? This is why Nietzsche, the true atheist, mocked those half-hearted atheists who claimed to speak on behalf of the truth: what is truth, if a man is only a beast driven by instinct?
Therefore, atheists are inconsistent when they claim to be defenders of truth, as, according to their own testimony, they are not beings formed by intelligence and created to know truth, but beings of passion made by chance for survival. Therefore, they should not say that they are defending the truth, but that they are defending their passions; and that passion in particular which causes them to hate believers for contradicting their own account of the world and mankind's origin and purpose. The fact that humanity desires to know the truth, and is often willing to suffer loss, sorrow, and even persecution and death for the sake of knowing and proclaiming the truth: is evidence of humanity's divine origin and essentially religious being, which causes it to sacrifice itself for the Truth.
"What is truth?" The Truth is immaterial, infinite, and eternal. It seems that if atheists knew the Truth, they would worship the Truth, and would no longer call themselves atheists.
The wise see that the eternal Truth has left its print on the human mind, and that our own limited intelligence is a kind of reflection of the infinite Intelligence of the Creator: all see this, who are not blinded by passion. As soon as we set off sincerely to search for the Truth, we already admit, at first perhaps unknowingly, that God, the eternal Truth, exists. So if the searcher is sincere, who cannot yet imitate Jesus Christ in dying for the Truth, he should at least imitate Socrates the philosopher in having a great respect for the Truth and fear of telling a falsehood, and in having a deep knowledge of his own ignorance: "all I know, is that I know nothing." If he comes this far, he will soon marvel at the wonderful order, intelligence, and purpose in the world and in his own being, and arrive from there at the knowledge of God.