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The Five Ways

" The Five Ways" by St. Thomas Aquinas, helps us to understand the existence of God. The argument is explaining that everything and everyone had to come from a cause because there has to be a cause in order to have an effect, and ultimately the cause of being is God. The article of "The Five Ways" helps us to understand how God is the cause of the universe. St. Thomas Aquinas does go against what Aristotle believes. Aristotle believed that the universe had always been, that it came from nothing. This bothered Islamic people because they believed that Allah was the ultimate cause of existence. So, as a result of this they wrote the Qur'an. This really did not fully explain how God can be the cause of existence but it did get the ball rolling for St. Thomas. He believed that whether the universe was "eternal or not" there had to be an explanation for the cause of it. Hence, the five ways to help explain. The first way explains that nothing can be put into motion without an outside force therefore God had to put the universe into motion. The second way talks about how there has to be a "first efficient cause" in order for other things to take place ( an intermediate cause to lead to an ultimate). Therefore, God is the " first efficient cause". The third  way deals with existence and how something can only exist if it has existed before. The fourth way states that the cause of all beings is God because he is to all beings, which also connects with the previous way because He already existed which connects to the phrase "made in God's image". The final way, which is the fifth way, explains that if a person lack intelligence it cannot be fulfilled unless it is guided by someone who already obtains intelligence and knowledge therefore God is our source.  All of this sums up how we, as well as the universe, exist. The question that if God is so good why does evil exist? Since God is "wholly good" he does not let evil exist. He turns evil things into good things. Evil comes from the greediness of man.  I personally agree with St. Thomas and his conclusion of how the universe came into existence and how it is not eternal. Everything has to come from something.I also agree that evil is of mans own creation and God turns that evil into something good and something that we can hopefully learn from and not repeat. My final question is where does God come from? That's for another time.

Comments

  1. UnknownSeptember 21, 2017 at 12:00 AM

    I really like your mention of evil and how it is mans creation. The thing i found really interesting is your final question and how it slightly contradicts the notion of the "first efficient cause" because if God was the first and the beginning he doesnt necessarily come from anything or else he wouldnt be the first. I also wonder the same thing you do, and the question is hard not to ask, but with this theory it doesnt seem that God would have an origin.

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  2. Jasmine WinebargerSeptember 21, 2017 at 8:15 PM

    I also like your last question. Where does God come from? For me he has just always been there. He was the only one and therefore created us. He is an eternal God instead of temporary,

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