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.
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