What is God?

  • Westminister Catechism:

    • a Spirit
    • infinite
    • eternal
    • unchangeable
    • wisdom
    • power
    • holiness
    • justice
    • goodness
    • truth

  • James Packer:

    • Eternity
    • Personality
    • Deity
    • Creating
    • Animating--Giver of life
    • Revealing
    • Incarnate

  • Karl Barth: God is dialectical and paradoxical

    • God is unknown but God is also known
    • God is distant but God is also near
    • God is transcendental but Jesus is a full human
    • God is eternal but Jesus had died
    • God is infinite but Jesus is finite

Arguments for God's Existence

  • Common consent --Belief in Deity is universal among human groups (e.g. Augustine).

  • Ontological argument --The nature of human thought requires affirmation of the existence of God. Faith precedes and provide the context for reasoning (e.g. St. Anslem).

  • Cosmological argument --This complex cosmos cannot exist without a first cause or a first mover (e.g. St. Thomas Aquinas).

  • Moral argument --With God as the final judge, you can do whatever you wants. God is a necessary foundation of morality (e.g. Kant).

  • Telelogical argument --The presence and purpose in the world suggests the existence of God.

  • Psychological argument --Humans need love and meaning, which is given by God, to lead a healthy life (e.g. Paul Tillich).

  • No argument --The Bible makes no attempt to prove the existence of God. God is not an object or existence for study, but the presupposition of all existence.