L1: THE OBJECT OF FAITH: THE TRINATARIAN GOD

I BELIEVE IN GOD

• The object from whom believe in

• Or the act and symbol of what it means to be

• Why is God an object of faith and not a subject of faith?

CAN GOD BE KNOWN WITHOUT FAITH?

• Using the natural light of reason, God can be known by observing the natural world

• By demonstration of effects we can proceed to the knowledge of the cause

• Ever since the creation of the world, God’s invisible attribute of eternal power and divinity have been able to understood and perceives in what he has made.: (Romans 1:20)

St. Thomas Aquinas is influenced by

Plato and Aristotle

Natural light of reason

• human reason

• By human reason god can be know by observing the natural world

natural world

it is the living things

5 WAYS GOD’S EXISTENCE

1. Motion

2. Causation

3. Possibility and necessity

4. Gradation in things

5. Governance of the world

EFFECTS

How the natural world reveals God’s existence

CAUSE

How human reason perceives God

EFFECTS OF MOTION

whatever is in motion is put in motion by another. But this cannot go on to infinity

CAUSES OF MOTION

God as the primary mover or the unmoved mover

EFFECTS OF CAUSATION

there is an order of efficient causes. There is no case known in which a thing is found to be the efficient cause of itself. And this cannot go on to infinity

CAUSE OF CAUSATION

First efficient cause or uncaused cause

EFFECTS OF POSSIBILITY AND NECESSITY

there are things possible to be and not to be. That which does not exist only begins to exist by something already existing. But not all beings are merely possible 

CAUSES OF POSSIBILITY AND NECESSITY

The only necessary being

EFFECTS OF GRADATION IN THINGS

among beings, there are some more and some less good, true, noble, and the like, The maximum in any genus is the cause of all that genus

CAUSES OF GRADATION IN THINGS

Perfect being

EFFECTS OF GOVERNANCE OF THE WORLD

Things that lack intelligence act for an end. Whatever lacks intelligence cannot move towards an end unless directed by something endowed with knowledge and intelligence

CAUSES OF GOVERNANCE OF THE WORLD

Grand architect or intelligent designer

what does the 5 ways of god’s existence prove?

The reality of God is beyond us

THE TWO-FOLD ORDER OF RELIGIOUS KNOWLEDGE

1. NATURAL REVELATION

2. SUPERNATURAL OR DIVINE REVELATION

SUPERNATURAL OR DIVINE REVELATION

• Faith 

• Persons and events

• Deposits of faith

• Who is God?

persons and events

God communicated himself and his will through these

NATURAL REVELATION

• Human reason

• Created world

• Observation

• What is God?

HUMAN BEINGS ATTAIN THEIR LAST END BY KNOWING AND LOVING GOD

• Faith is necessary to know God in His essence and to attain perfect happiness

• Faith is our golden ticket to eternal life

• It is God who makes the first move; He provided us with the means of knowing Him on a personal level

• Once the virtue of faith is infused to us, it increases our reasoning.