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Darren wrote:

Hi, guys —

I was talking with my friend who is an atheist and he asked me how can I believe in God. I used this as a time to share my faith with him but got stuck so I thought you could help me.

He believed that as a believer we should approach everything in a Ad hoc (if that's the right word) manner. I disagreed and said we should approach everything from a combination of faith and reason. That from the moment we are born to the time we die we never see anything come into being from nothing and if we follow that reason all the way to its cause, you need something that is not contingent. We call this Person God.

He said we no nothing about what was there before the big bang, which I said it was a void of nothingness in which God, the Perfect Act of Being, created everything we see.

He then said:

  • Why couldn't there be something that was inanimate that was also not contingent?
  • Could haven't this created the universe by random effect after multiple tries?

Could you please help me answer his questions.

Thanks!

Darren
  { Instead of God, why couldn't there be something that was inanimate that was also not contingent? }

Paul replied:

Darren,

You are correct in saying the Catholic faith is fully supported by reason, and that the existence of God can be known through (unimpeded and unbiased) reason alone.

You have used three rational proofs for the existence of God:

  1. the need for a first uncaused Cause
  2. a non-contingent Being, and
  3. a Big-Banger who created the original dense material out of nothing and banged it for a purpose.

You could also introduce him to three more of Aquinas' proofs:

  1. the first unmoved Mover
  2. the intelligent Designer, and
  3. the Model of Perfection, whose arguments point directly to the necessity of God.

Look up Aquinas' five proofs.

Peace,

Paul
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