Belief in God – Part 2

Believing is possible only by grace and the interior helps of the Holy Spirit. But it is no less true that believing is an authentically human act. Trusting in God and cleaving to the truths he has revealed is contrary neither to human freedom nor to human reason... In faith, the human intellect and will cooperate with divine grace: “Believing is an act of the intellect assenting to the divine truth by command of the will moved by God through grace.” 1

God the Father by Girolamo dai Libri

“Who Made God?”

Bernard Shaw tells of asking a priest “Who made God?” The priest, says Shaw, was thunderstruck, his faith shattered. Whether he committed suicide or merely left the Church Shaw does not tell. But the whole thing is ridiculous. Every student of philosophy has heard the question: and they all know that there must be a being which did not need to be made. If nothing existed except receivers of existence, where would the existence come from? In order that anything may exist, there must be a being which simply has it. God can confer existence upon all other beings precisely because He has it in his own right. It is in His nature to exist. God does not have to receive existence, because He is existence. 2

George Bernard Shaw

Reason alone tells us there can only be one God. The ancient Greek philosophers came to see this clearly. They realized that in a universe where all things can be explained through causes, there had to be an Ultimate Cause outside the material universe that causes everything else. This cause had to be one if it was the final explanation of all that exists. 3

Plato and Aristotle by Raphael

Proofs for the Existence of God

Not only does reason tell us that God exists, it also reveals many important things about God: that He is one, spiritual, eternal, and uncreated. Some truths about God cannot be known by human reason alone, such as the Trinity and the Incarnation. These mysteries can only be known by public revelation. 

How can reason tell us that God exists? There are five classic proofs for the existence of God. St. Thomas Aquinas lists them in the Summa Theologiae:  

1. The need for a Prime Mover.
2. The need for a First Cause.
3. The need for a Necessary Being.
4. The need for a Supremely Perfect Being
5. The need for an Intelligent Designer.

Proofs 1, 3, and 4 are highly philosophical and thus, not ideal to use with an atheist. Atheists tend to be steeped in materialism and attached to the scientific method. They are not ordinarily moved by abstract arguments. Arguments that resemble those used in science and that rely heavily on the observable universe will be more convincing to an atheist. Proofs 2 and 5 are best suited for this. These arguments are also easier to understand and strongly supported by recent scientific discoveries.

The Triumph of St. Thomas Aquinas by Benozzo Gozzoli (Note Artistotle and Plato to his right and left)

The Need for a First Cause

Everyone with the use of reason can easily grasp that everything in the material universe is explained by a previous cause. Nothing begins to exist without a cause. Nothing can cause its own existence. Every material object is the end product of a long chain of causes. If we go back far enough, we end up asking the ultimate questions: why does mater exist at all? Where does it come from? 

Just like every other material object in the universe, matter itself needs a previous cause to explain its existence. Since nothing can cause itself, why does matter exist? The only answer is that some power outside the material universe created matter to begin with. That power must be spirit, because it is outside the material universe. That power must be infinite to create something out of absolutely nothing. The gap between nothing and something, between a non-being and actual existence, is infinite. It takes an infinite power to bridge that infinite gap. Only God has infinite power. 

Recent discoveries in astrophysics have proven scientifically that the universe had a clear beginning: the Big Bang. This makes the First Cause proof especially compelling to atheists. Simply ask: “Who set off the Big Bang?” Many astrophysicists who are on the cutting edge of recent discoveries are answering, “God.”

NGC 3949 - a galaxy similar to our own

The Need for an Intelligent Designer

When we see a complicated system that has been perfectly constructed for an obvious purpose, common sense tells us that an intelligent being is responsible. For example, if we found a perfectly running watch in the middle of the wilderness, we wouldn’t even consider that this watch came into existence by chance. Why? For two important reasons: 

1. The object is composed of many parts.
2. The object was designed for a clear purpose: to tell time. 

We immediately know there must have been intelligent beings responsible for this watch. No atheist would argue with this obvious conclusion.  

Consider the human eye. It is an amazingly complicated organ that is arranged for a clear purpose: to see. The development of the eye from the first cells in the embryo to the fully mature organ consists of countless steps in which many complex elements come together in perfect harmony. Each complex step in the process could only proceed because a previous complex step occurred correctly. The chain of steps is extremely long, as any microbiologist will confirm. This long, intricate process proceeds toward a clear purpose: to form an organ capable of sight. 

Assembling a watch is relatively easy. But no one argues that watches are made by chance. Assembling an eye is unbelievably complicated. All of the scientists of the world working together with the most advanced technology cannot synthesize a human eye. Yet, atheists insist the development of the human eye is the result of purely random, chaotic processes. The marvel of the human eye virtually screams: “Intelligent design!” Intelligent design demands an intelligent designer.

An eye by Leonardo da Vinci

If we examine the material world, we find countless examples of complex, purposeful systems that require an intelligent designer. In living organisms, we could look at the brain, the heart, the ears, or the digestive system. In the nonliving world, we can look at the findings of modern astronomy. With amazing tools like the Hubble telescope, we are discovering that the universe is more complicated than we ever dreamed. At the same time, it is more perfectly organized than we ever suspected. 

Astrophysicists have shown that the universe began with “the Big Bang,” an explosion so powerful it staggers the imagination. This awesome blast had to be regulated within an extremely narrow range in order for the universe to be formed. If the speed of the elements in the explosion had moved just fractionally faster or slower, there would have been only chaos instead of the amazingly complex, perfectly organized universe we know. Scientists tell us that events appear to have been “guided” to bring about a planet like earth, capable of sustaining intelligent life.

A view from the moon

Amazingly, the bodies and movements of the universe appear to have been “deliberately” made to correspond to the operations of the human mind and to be intelligible to it. Like the human eye, the processes of the material universe seem to shout: “Intelligent design!” Given the immense size and complexity of the universe, it is easy to see that this intelligent designer must be God. 

We can go even further and say the awesome power, beauty, and majesty of the universe appear designed to reflect the infinite power, order, beauty, and majesty of God. 4

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1 Catechism of the Catholic Church (Città del Vaticano, Libreria Editrice Vatican, 1994)

2 Frank Sheed, Theology for Beginners (Brooklyn, NY : Angelico Press, reprint edition 2011)

3 Fr. Frank Chacon and Jim Burnham, Beginning Apologetics 2: How to Answer Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons (Farmington, NM : San Juan Catholic Seminars, 2007)

4  Fr. Frank Chacon and Jim Burnham, Beginning Apologetics 4: How to Answer Atheists & New Agers (Farmington, NM : San Juan Catholic Seminars, 2010)