I. Faith and Reason
The Catholic Church teaches- and has always taught- that although faith is superior to reason the two can never contradict since both come to us from God, who is all truth. Some people today say you must choose either faith or reason- you can’t have both- but this notion is a fallacy which ignores 2,000 years of Catholic teaching. For Catholics, the Bible is not a science book, nor is a science book Scripture. If I want to discuss the meaning of life and my purpose in it, then I will go to a priest. If I have a broken arm and need it mended, then I will go to a doctor (same goes for seeking advice during a pandemic).
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| Barack Obama and Pope Francis |
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| Descent of the Holy Spirit by Jan Joest |
II. Spirit, Matter, and the Spirituality of the Human Soul
Our universe consists of both material and immaterial objects. Our bodies are material but our ideas are immaterial. We know the source of our bodies- our parents- but what is the source of our ideas? The brain cannot be the source of our ideas since the brain is made of matter and only an immaterial faculty has the power to create immaterial objects that cannot be seen or measured.
We call this immaterial faculty the soul. Every living organism has a soul but man is the only creature whose soul is made of spirit. Spirit is invisible. It has no shape and no parts. A spirit knows and loves. God is a spirit. Each person is a union of spirit and matter. Unlike matter, spirit cannot decompose; therefore, our spiritual souls will continue to exist after death. This idea is pretty scary for most people.
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| St. Thomas Aquinas by Francisco de Zurbarán |
III. Proof for the Existence of God
Saint Thomas Aquinas, the great 14th century Catholic priest, philosopher, and theologian, developed five proofs for the existence of God (although many people today- including college students- seem to be woefully ignorant of these proofs). Aquinas used reason- not faith- to demonstrate the existence of God. We can also use reason to see the truth of the following three statements about God:
1. There must be one God because there had to be one Ultimate Cause outside the material universe that caused everything else.
2. God must be a spirit because He exists outside the material universe which He created.
3. God must be infinite because He creates 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.)
Belief in God is a rational response to the question of human existence, and no scientist or atheist can provide a better explanation as to the origin of why we are here. In fact, the more we learn about the material universe and our own existence, the more we see God must exist.
Perhaps it’s because I was born into the faith but these three Catholic beliefs- the unity of faith and reason, the spirituality of the human soul, and the existence of God- all seem pretty reasonable to me and can be explained and understood through reason alone.
But what does it mean to say God exists and belief in God is reasonable? Is that it? Or can we as creatures use our reason to learn and say more about our Creator? The answer is yes and using reason to study and understand the attributes of God would be my next step in explaining my faith to someone and I would begin with a focus on time and space.
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| Pope Francis on Christmas Eve |
IV. God is Eternal
A person’s belief in God is either inherited from his family- from whom this belief is passed down- or gained through some other experience. While reason alone does not usually compel a person to believe in God, reason can demonstrate to believers and non-believers alike that belief in God is not a wish or a delusion but a rational conclusion based on reason (which, like faith, is a gift from God).
Because God is infinite, it can be difficult- though not impossible- for finite beings to describe Him using words (I prefer paintings and statues). Yet as Catholics we believe the existence of God can be known through human reason- without the aid of revelation- and God loves us and wants us to know Him. So before we even open the Bible or start talking about religion, what can human reason alone- without faith- tell us about our Creator?
A person’s belief in God is either inherited from his family- from whom this belief is passed down- or gained through some other experience. While reason alone does not usually compel a person to believe in God, reason can demonstrate to believers and non-believers alike that belief in God is not a wish or a delusion but a rational conclusion based on reason (which, like faith, is a gift from God).
Because God is infinite, it can be difficult- though not impossible- for finite beings to describe Him using words (I prefer paintings and statues). Yet as Catholics we believe the existence of God can be known through human reason- without the aid of revelation- and God loves us and wants us to know Him. So before we even open the Bible or start talking about religion, what can human reason alone- without faith- tell us about our Creator?
Nearly all scientists and serious thinkers- religious and non-religious alike- agree on two main points: 1) our universe had a beginning; and 2) something created the universe. I think these two ideas are a wonderful starting point when explaining our Christian belief in God because they do not require faith and can be understood through reason alone.
Even most educated non-believers agree that “something” certainly created the universe though it is impossible for humans to know who or what it was. But Christians disagree. As Christians, we believe we can know a great deal about our creator not only from faith but through reason.
Since the universe had a beginning and was created, we know someone- or something- must have existed before the universe and then created it. Christians call this someone or something God.
There is no other explanation for our universe. Something created it from nothing. In order to have created the universe from nothing, this Ultimate Cause- God- must have certain attributes. If the Ultimate Cause does not possess all of these attributes, then it is not the Ultimate Cause- and not God.
Unlike everything else in our universe, God does not need a cause for His existence because God is existence itself and His existence explains the existence of all other things. Nothing existed before God except God who not only continues to exist but holds all things in existence.
If I were going to discuss the necessary attributes of God (ie. the Ultimate Cause of the universe) then I would start with something everyone knows (or thinks they know): time. Of course, time is immaterial and exists only as an abstract concept, a tool we use to measure change. If the universe has a beginning (which it does) then this means there was a time when the universe did not exist. So, what was there before the universe? If we say nothing existed before the universe, then what started the universe? Nothing cannot start something so that answer is insufficient. However, if we say something existed before the universe and this something started the universe, then we are on solid scientific and philosophical ground since we know everything has a cause and the cause of our universe has an explanation: something else caused it.
But then we are still left with the problem of how to explain the existence of the Ultimate Cause: where did it come from and how old is it? The answer is- and must be- it did not come from anywhere and is not subject to change (time) because it has always existed and continues to exist, unchanged, outside the limitations of what we call time.
Because the Ultimate Cause of the universe is uncaused and created what we call time and space, it could not be affected by those things and would thus be timeless and immaterial. Unlike our material universe, which had a beginning and continues to change and expand, the Ultimate Cause has always existed, is changeless, and is existence itself- the very existence in which we are living at this very moment. This is what we mean when we say the Ultimate Cause- God- is eternal.
Since the universe had a beginning and was created, we know someone- or something- must have existed before the universe and then created it. Christians call this someone or something God.
There is no other explanation for our universe. Something created it from nothing. In order to have created the universe from nothing, this Ultimate Cause- God- must have certain attributes. If the Ultimate Cause does not possess all of these attributes, then it is not the Ultimate Cause- and not God.
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| God Creating the Sun, the Moon and the Stars by Jan Brueghel the Younger |
If I were going to discuss the necessary attributes of God (ie. the Ultimate Cause of the universe) then I would start with something everyone knows (or thinks they know): time. Of course, time is immaterial and exists only as an abstract concept, a tool we use to measure change. If the universe has a beginning (which it does) then this means there was a time when the universe did not exist. So, what was there before the universe? If we say nothing existed before the universe, then what started the universe? Nothing cannot start something so that answer is insufficient. However, if we say something existed before the universe and this something started the universe, then we are on solid scientific and philosophical ground since we know everything has a cause and the cause of our universe has an explanation: something else caused it.
But then we are still left with the problem of how to explain the existence of the Ultimate Cause: where did it come from and how old is it? The answer is- and must be- it did not come from anywhere and is not subject to change (time) because it has always existed and continues to exist, unchanged, outside the limitations of what we call time.
Because the Ultimate Cause of the universe is uncaused and created what we call time and space, it could not be affected by those things and would thus be timeless and immaterial. Unlike our material universe, which had a beginning and continues to change and expand, the Ultimate Cause has always existed, is changeless, and is existence itself- the very existence in which we are living at this very moment. This is what we mean when we say the Ultimate Cause- God- is eternal.
The Ultimate Cause of the universe- God- must be eternal because if He had a beginning then He would not be the primary cause of existence but a creature subject to change (time) and the result of some other previous cause. God must also be spirit because if He were material then- like all materials things- He would have limits and be subject to something else and not the Ultimate Cause of all things. God is not a creature, after all, but the Creator of all things.
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1 Frank Sheed, Theology for Beginners (Brooklyn, NY : Angelico Press, reprint edition 2011)
We must concentrate upon the concept of eternity; it brings us deep into the meaning of God. You and I and all men are in time: which means that we are never at any moment the whole of ourself. What we were last year, what we will be next year, all belongs to our total being; but last year has gone and next year has not arrived. There never is a moment when we are all there. We possess our being, the philosophers say, successively. Not so God. All that He is, He possesses in one single act of being. Eternity does not mean everlasting time, time open at both ends, so that however far you go back into the past there is no beginning, however you far you go forward into the future there is no end. Eternity is not time at all. It is God’s total possession of Himself.
Infinity, omnipresence, eternity- these are rich and rewarding concepts, but we should not stay with them too long a time without returning to the Gospels to meet the living God. Christ is there for us, “Whom,” as St. John says at the opening of his first Epistle, “we have seen with our eyes, whom we have looked upon, whom our hands have handled.” The Infinite we are studying is the same Infinite whom we meet in the Gospels, the same Infinite we receive in the Blessed Eucharist. 1
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| The Last Supper by Joos van Cleve |
V. Conclusion
To say our universe was self-created or just appeared from nowhere is contrary to science and perhaps the greatest wishful thinking there is. Like all material things, we know our universe had a beginning which means something created it (ie. ignited the spark that caused the Big Bang from which our universe continues to expand). It is self-evident that the Ultimate Cause of the universe must be outside it, not subject to it, and has therefore always existed. The Ultimate Cause, then, must be immaterial, or spiritual, which means it is not only without parts and limitations but also has the power to create something from nothing which means it can do anything (including turning water into wine).
Christianity (as well as Judaism and Islam) believes in an all-powerful, infinite spirit God, a belief that is in harmony with what science and reason tell us about what the Ultimate Cause of our universe must be. There is much more to say about this, of course (including why God created the universe as well as our part in the love story), but clearly Catholics’ belief in God is not contrary to reason for it reasonably explains without any delusion how and why we (and our universe) exist. What’s your explanation?
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| Pope John Paul II |
1 Frank Sheed, Theology for Beginners (Brooklyn, NY : Angelico Press, reprint edition 2011)
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