What is God?

Chong Ho Alex Yu

• 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.