THE PHILOSOPHERS AND GOD

in #philosophy7 years ago

Hello friends!

This will be my first philosophical article on Steemit. 

As a philosopher, i am always faced with the question, do you believe in God? People go into hasty conclusion whenever you tell them you are studying philosophy. Most times, it is not a question but about conviction. As always, we try to enlighten them about the disaster of such conclusion. We call such conclusion Hasty Generalization or Argument-um ad ignorantiam (A fallacy that simply appeals to ignorance).

First, i was introduced into this question of God's existence in my second year. It was not a question about whether God actually exist but about why philosophers think He does not. Many scholars have tried to advance many arguments to prove the existence of God. By so doing, they do more harm than good to the discourse. 

This question can actually be traced back to the Medieval era which marked the beginning or perhaps the infusion of philosophical discourse into religion. Scholars like St Augustine's of Hippo, Thomas Aquinas, St Anselm argued to support their claims that God exist. 

With their different positions, we have many theories. We have the ontological argument by St Anselm, cosmological argument by Thomas Aquinas, logical necessity by Rene Descartes, and Immanuel Kant's argument that God's existence can be deduced from the idea of Good!

The flaws in their arguments are the attributes they give to God such as benevolence, all knowing, all powerful, etc. While we regard them as the apologists (because they believe God exist), those who do not share such sentiments are called non-apologists (While some simply call them atheist).

Some of the views of the non-apologists are:

1)  Creator: If God created everything and the world, who created Him? This is because the idea that something create itself or bring itself into existence is illogical.

2) Benevolence: If God is an all-good God, why are there evils in the world? 

3) All-powerful: If God is all powerful, why can't He stop evils in the world?

4) All-Knowing: If God is all-knowing, why can't He prevent future evils?


These and many other questions are raised by the non-apologists and some how the apologists find it very difficult to defend without referencing the Holy Books.


Now to the question, does God exist? 

As a philosopher, we try as much as possible to explain every word we use because we know some words have contextual meanings. 

To deal with this, let look at the word: exist! Existence can be physical or contextual (non-physical). For instance, i exist, the readers of this piece also exist to be reading it. In the contextual realm, many things exist in this world that our eyes cannot ordinarily see like germs, that people are in Germany, USA, etc. With this, we say God must exist.

To the question of belief! Virtually all the philosophers i know believe God exist. Note that there is a difference between belief and knowledge. To believe is one thing but to  know is another thing. To know is to be certain, to make an affirmative assertion about a claim. To say you believe means you have an opinion. 

In philosophy, an opinion could be true or false. So when they say they believe, they mean they have an opinion about the idea of God which they think is either true or false.


Without going into the non-apologists method, it is easy to just use their methods against them. If they claim God does not exist, why take the pain in proving His non-existence? It means they must try to prove the 'God' which they ACCEPT as an entity does not exist. The simple logical answer is that if they could prove that a God does not exist, it means they KNOW that an entity which the apologists are defending does not exist.


What do i believe in? Do i believe that God exist or do i know that He exist? Yes i do!!!! Aristotle used a phrase in one of his is arguments called: THE UNMOVED MOVER. 

God's existence, ways of working and doing things are way beyond human beings. He is the unmoved mover! We are finite beings but we are using our finite knowledge to question the existence of an infinite Being. How can that be possible? We have a whole lot of imperfections and think we can rationalize our thoughts into proving that a perfect God cannot exist.

Do not join them in believing that philosophers are bunch of people who do not believe or know that there is a Supreme Being that exist. I was created and not a product of Big Bang Theory neither do i come into existence by chance! I WAS CREATED BY  A SUPREME BEING AND I KNOW HE EXIST.


Thanks for reading! 

If you have other ideas, bring it on and let's argue because it is what philosophers love doing!


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Very nice sir @smyle, philosophy and the concept of God has always been things I ponder about. I do understand that the idea that a supreme being exist is subject to multiple interpretations, but ultimately, its only ones personal interpretation that matters really.

If your big on philosophy, @gavvet has a lot of interesting topics I'm sure you'll love.


If your not on already, I suggest you register into steemit.chat , and join the Africaunited group in there.


Thanks. Yes, personal views matters too but they always end up in the realm of subjectivism.

Hello @smyle

Poeple of the world have gone to great lengths to disprove the existence of God and they have also gone ahead to spin their own opinion of how the Earth and the Universe were created.

I for one believe in the existence of God, and I will use one very popular desire by Man to butress my view.

Man was created in the Image of God and one of the way this is shown is by Man's desire to live long, God lives forever, he cannot die, so Humans also have that innate desire to live long.

No One wants to die, but everybody wants to go to heaven

All theories brought forth by science to explain creation id foolish, In my opinion the most Foolish is the Big Bang theory, if it was a bang or explosion why is everything in the universe properly arranged, why is your Nose not in your buttocks or your Hands attached to your Waist.

God Is Not Dead

He is alive and he is the creator of the World.

Thanks to @destinysaid for reseteeming this post.

@ogochukwu

Thanks @ogochukwu for your comment. @destinysaid sure helped this post too and i'm grateful. Innatism and God's image are another topics i will surely talk about and i will appreciate your input on them. Thanks once again.

hello, debating the existence of God is always interesting. I for one am a firm believer but hold the view that God is his entire creation and that God experiences and looks at Himself through his creation. Long story short, I find the concept of monotheism divisive.

PS: i write too about metaphilosophy and metaphysics, economics @earthcustodians

Thanks for commenting. I will check your blog. Followed you already!

great... and tnx, lets debate more in the future

Proud of your achievement. Steem on!

Each time i experience a gigantic issue, profound inside i question if really does God exist? Terrible things aren't intended to happen to great individuals however yet regardless I experience heaps of this happenings motivation behind why i continue posing this inquiry. In any case, where it counts in my heart, i know he genuinely Exist. Thanks for sharing.

Yeah! Problem of evil is another huge topic that is also an open ending discourse in philosophy. We ask so many questions and get carried away in our finite knowledge. Most times, this questions run in circle thereby leading to infinite regress. Thanks for your comment.

yes evil is a huge topic but it stems from the fact that most people want to eradicate evil and we cannot. One thing is certain, one doesnt fight evil with evil.

There is only one tenable stance in 2017 and that is something along the lines of post-metaphysics. We know via The Myth of The Given (Sellars) that reality is not what the senses tell us it is. This leaves us in the peculiar position of having to admit uncertainty. Haha! This is why I call myself an Agnostic Gnostic! But, I do have the ability via aperspectival cognition to hold paradox without causing cognitive dissonance!

Oga jed. Lovely post.

I want to know more, do you know i am your follower @ronaldmcatee

What a great post your improvement on steemit is so amazing. Steem on sir @smyle

He is God all by Himself.
.

There must always be a supreme being. Everything is well designed and arranged

You are boomin bro. Nice

@smyle, nice post sir.my humble idea is that i strongly believe in the existence of God.as far as i am a christian, i learnt that God exists, he made all things, he cares for us, eveil does not originate with him but from the devil and he looks on while evil is done on the surface of the earth cos he has a time or day set to judge the world, his silence has given way for the wicked to turn around.Taking a look at new born babies, birds of the sky and other magnificient things around me, i cant help to attribute it to a maker, God.your post must have taken you time to create, well done sir

Thank for the information. At least I now know that philosophers believe The Omnipotent, Omniscience and Omnipresence SUPREME GOD, THE ELOHIM FATHER Exist. Thanks.

God exist and is real, that is what i believe