Almighty God - Existence of God

Existence of God

Countless arguments have been proposed in attempt to prove the existence of God. Some of the most notable arguments are the 5 Ways of Aquinas, the Argument from Desire proposed by C.S. Lewis, the Lord, Lunatic or Liar Trilemma by C.S. Lewis, and the Ontological Argument formulated both by St. Anselm and Descartes. Even to theists, these proofs are heavily debated. Some, such as the Ontological Argument, are highly controversial among theists. Aquinas spends a section of his treatise on God refuting St. Anselm's proof.

St. Anselm's approach was to define God as, "that than which nothing greater can be conceived." Famed pantheist philosopher Baruch Spinoza would later carry this idea to its extreme: “By God I understand a being absolutely infinite, i.e., a substance consisting of infinite attributes, of which each one expresses an eternal and infinite essence.” For Spinoza, the whole of the natural universe is made of one substance, God, or its equivalent, Nature. His proof for the existence of God was a variation of the Ontological argument.

Renowned physicist Stephen Hawking and co-author Leonard Mlodinow state in their book, The Grand Design, that it is reasonable to ask who or what created the universe, but if the answer is God, then the question has merely been deflected to that of who created God. In this view it is accepted that some entity exists that needs no creator, and that entity is called God. This is known as the first-cause argument for the existence of God. Both authors claim however, that it is possible to answer these questions purely within the realm of science, and without invoking any divine beings.

Some theologians, such as the scientist and theologian A.E. McGrath, argue that the existence of God cannot be adjudicated on for or against by using scientific method. Agnostic Stephen Jay Gould argues that science and religion are not in conflict and do not overlap.

There are many philosophical issues concerning the existence of God. Some definitions of God are sometimes nonspecific, while other definitions can be self-contradictory. Arguments for the existence of God typically include metaphysical, empirical, inductive, and subjective types, while others revolve around perceived holes in evolutionary theory and order and complexity in the world.

Arguments against the existence of God typically include empirical, deductive, and inductive types. Conclusions reached include: the view that "God does not exist" (strong atheism); the view that "God almost certainly does not exist" (de facto atheism); the view that "no one knows whether God exists" (agnosticism); the view that "God exists, but this cannot be proven or disproven" (weak theism); and the view that "God exists and this can be proven" (strong theism). There are numerous variations on these positions.