Answering the Atheists
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by Jim J. McCrea
Belief in God is the only rational position.
God is not like an orbiting teapot or the flying spaghetti monster which, if they exist, are finite contingent beings which would require empirical observation to verify their existence.
Rather, the existence of God is arrived at by deductive reasoning based on first principles.
First of all, we observe a physical universe that exists and exists in a particular way.
Now it is logically possible for the universe to not exist or to exist in a way other than it does (and this is true for any given thing in the universe). This is what is meant by its contingency.
Contingent being, then, requires the existence of a being that is non-contingent or necessary to explain it - that cannot not exist and which must exist in the manner that it does - that being is called God. God is not meant to explain a gap in our knowledge of the physical universe or explain *a particular* contingent being (as does the physical sciences), but contingent being in general. Thus knowledge of God is derived from metaphysics rather than physics.
Logically, such a necessary being - God - must be both infinite and absolutely simple. His absolute simplicity means that He has no parts whatsoever and there is a complete identity between all His attributes and His very being (so logically He would not be one of a pantheon of mythic gods which are finite and composite, which answers the skeptic's question of how we know that our God is the true God).
God is the cause of anything else that exists or can possibly exist, therefore is necessarily and logically prior to anything actual or possible. Therefore, He is subject to nothing (either actually or potentially), so therefore has no limitations, establishing His infinity. God must be absolutely simple, for if He were not, both His parts and their composition would be in some manner prior to Himself, thus contradicting His absolute primacy.
God must be "He" and not "it" because God must be personal. If He were impersonal, then man having a personal nature would rank above God, which is absurd. For the personal is always greater than the impersonal. An impersonal absolute is a contradiction in terms.
In fact, God's Revelation (His telling us) shows us that He is three divine persons - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - in one God, which is the primary mystery of the Catholic Christian Faith.
The second revealed truth to the Trinity is that of the Incarnation - that God the Son - the Word - assumed a human nature and lived among us as a man in history, saving us from our sins and ignorances by His Life, Sufferings, Death on the Cross, and Resurrection in Glory, so that we can enjoy eternal and perfect happiness with Him in heaven.
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