Existence of God, in religion, the proposition that there is a supreme supernatural or preternatural being that is the creator or sustainer or ruler of the universe and all things in it, including human beings. In many religions God is also conceived as perfect and unfathomable by humans, as all-powerful and all-knowing (omnipotent and omniscient), and as the source and ultimate ground of morality.
Belief in the existence of God (or gods) is definitional of theism and characteristic of many (though not all) religious traditions. For much of its history, Christianity in particular has been concerned with the question of whether God’s existence can be established rationally (i. e. , by reason alone or by reason informed by sense experience) or through religious experience or revelation or instead must be accepted as a matter of faith. The remainder of this article will consider some historically influential arguments that have been advanced to demonstrate the existence of God.
Arguments for the existence of God are usually classified as either a priori or a posteriori—that is, based on the idea of God itself or based on experience. An example of the latter is the cosmological argument, which appeals to the notion of causation to conclude either that there is a first cause or that there is a necessary being from whom all contingent beings derive their existence. Other versions of this approach include the appeal to contingency—to the fact that whatever exists might not have existed and therefore calls for explanation—and the appeal to the principle of sufficient reason, which claims that for anything that exists there must be a sufficient reason why it exists. The arguments by St. Thomas Aquinas known as the Five Ways—the argument from motion, from efficient causation, from contingency, from degrees of perfection, and from final causes or ends in nature—are generally regarded as cosmological. Something must be the first or prime mover, the first efficient cause, the necessary ground of contingent beings, the supreme perfection that imperfect beings approach, and the intelligent guide of natural things toward their ends. This, Aquinas said, is God. The most common criticism of the cosmological argument has been that the phenomenon that God’s existence supposedly accounts for does not in fact need to be explained.
It is completely upto a person whether to believe in God or not. I do believe that a supreme power is above all of us however do not support all the atrocities that is been done in the name of God.
Existence
of God, in religion, the proposition that there is a supreme supernatural or preternatural being
that is
the creator or
sustainer
or ruler of the universe and all things in it, including human beings. In
many
religions God is
also
conceived as perfect and unfathomable by humans, as all-powerful and all-knowing (omnipotent and omniscient), and as the source and ultimate ground of morality.
Belief in the
existence
of God (or gods) is definitional of theism and characteristic of
many
(though not all) religious traditions. For much of its history, Christianity
in particular
has
been concerned
with
the question of whether
God’s
existence
can
be established
rationally
(
i. e.
,
by
reason
alone or by
reason
informed by sense experience) or through religious experience or revelation or
instead
must
be
accepted
as a matter of faith. The remainder of this article will consider
some
historically
influential
arguments
that have
been advanced
to demonstrate the
existence
of God.
Arguments for the
existence
of God are
usually
classified as either a priori or a posteriori—
that is
, based on the
idea
of God itself or based on experience. An example of the latter is the cosmological
argument
, which appeals to the notion of causation
to conclude
either that there is a
first
cause or that there is a necessary being from whom all contingent beings derive their
existence
. Other versions of this approach include the appeal to contingency—to the fact that whatever exists might not have existed and
therefore
calls for explanation—and the appeal to the principle of sufficient
reason
, which claims that for anything that exists there
must
be a sufficient
reason
why it exists. The
arguments
by St. Thomas Aquinas known as the Five Ways—the
argument
from motion, from efficient causation, from contingency, from degrees of perfection, and from final causes or ends in nature—are
generally
regarded as cosmological. Something
must
be the
first
or prime mover, the
first
efficient cause, the necessary ground of contingent beings, the supreme perfection that imperfect beings approach, and the intelligent guide of natural things toward their ends. This, Aquinas said, is God. The most common criticism of the cosmological
argument
has been that the phenomenon that God’s
existence
supposedly
accounts for does not in fact need to be
explained
.
It is completely
upto
a person whether to believe in God or not. I do believe that a supreme power is
above all
of us
however
do not support all the atrocities that
is been
done in the name of God.