Theology

Thomas Aquinas was an Italian philosopher and theologian of the Medieval period who raised valid arguments as to why evil exists. His first argument was that evil in fact does not exist but that there is only a “privation of the good” (Renick, pg 33). What this means is that God creates only good, therefore evil does not exist. Things only turn into bad when the good of an object of person has less of the good that it was initially given. Aquinas’s next arguments all go together; at least that…

For example, one can look at Huckleberry Finn’s simplistic explanation of prayer and morality. “And I about made up my mind to pray, and see if I couldn’t try to quit being the kind of a boy I was and be better. So I kneeled down. But the words wouldn’t come. Why wouldn’t they? It warn’t no use to try and hide it from Him. Nor from ME, neither. I knowed very well why they wouldn’t come. It was because my heart warn’t right; it was because I warn’t square; it was because I was playing double. I…

In Augustine’s “On Free Choice of the Will”, Augustine states, “…Through whom God made all the things that were made from nothing” (4) meaning that God is the creator of all things. This makes evil an issue since if evil is a thing, and God has created all things, then it is safe to assume that God has created evil. This creates problems for those who believe that God is all loving and all powerful because if God is truly all loving, then why would he create malice for his beloved children. If…

The cosmological argument for God’s existence has been called the empiricists’ form of argument. This is because it starts on the basis of human encounter with the physical universe. There are forms of this argument in the philosophies of Plato and Aristotle. However, its most eloquent representation is found in the philosophy of Saint Thomas Aquinas, a Dominican priest. He was basically an Aristotelian philosopher. In his time, he argued for the existence of God not minding the existential…

Act of God as defined by Winfield and Jolowicz: Where an act is caused (harmful to a party) directly by natural causes without human intervention in “circumstances which no human foresight can provide for and againstand of which human prudence is not bound to recognize the possibility”, the Act of God as defence can be applied. The Act of God was recognized by Blackburn J. in the case of Ryland V. Flethcher which is discussed below -  Rylands v. Fletcher The facts of the case were that B,…

The third premise of the Kalam cosmological argument states that the universe has a cause of its existence. Craig believes that if he has shown this premise to be true, he has proven the existence of the theistic God. It is important to note that according to current science the beginning of our universe also marks that beginning of time. So, there is no temporal moment before the beginning of our universe at which God might cause our universe to begin. Therefore, God could not have caused our…

Love is a very controversial topic. Everyone in the Symposium has different views about Love and what Love is. Agathon and Phaedrus believe love is a god. Eryximachus believes love is a bodily response. Pausanias believes there are two kinds of love, common love from Common Aphrodite and Heavenly love from Aphrodite, Daughter of Uranus. Aristophane believes love developed from a myth and that love can work against us. From each of these speeches the personalities and characteristics of each…

All believers must grow and mature in our journey of faith. We can all identify areas in which we must grow, but this growth is a process that takes time. It is a process in which I allow God to work on me, but I invest time for this to happen. The spiritual disciplines or rules of life are intentional external and internal changes that we desire and decide to do to love God and our brothers in a deeper way. But my desire and my effort are not what will transform me. By exercising the spiritual…

In this paper I will argue that St. Anselm’s ontological argument is not adequate in proving the existence of God. First I will discuss his ambiguous use of the term “God”. Then, I will move on to analyze the term “greatest” made in his premises. Lastly, I will also criticize Anselm's argument by demonstrating that Anselm’s reply to Gaunilo’s objections are unconvincing. Anselm was the first one who developed the ontological argument, an argument for God’s existence based on reason, not on…

Augustine asserts that despite being the most intelligent being God created, Man’s speech and intellect are inadequate in explaining or understanding God’s essence. However, Augustine quotes Book of Wisdom, Psalms, and Prophet Isaiah when asserting that those who believe in God do not seek Him in vain. Those who seek God will find Him and find joy in the process. Augustine insists further that the search for God is continual process. After establishing the value of studying God, Augustine then…