Philosophical Fun 4

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end, amen. My God, I wish to include the argument of Your Creation in this series of writings as well. So I pray that You accept this small offering of mine.

The argument of God’s attributes

1.     God is infinite

2.     Therefore, God lacks nothing

3.     God possess infinite power, knowledge, and goodness.

4.     However, God is simple

5.     Therefore, God is omnipotence, omniscience, and omnibenevolence.

In prose form, we know that God is infinite from our previous argument. We also know that God is simple existence. As such, if God possess anything at all, those things would actually be identical to the Necessary, Simple, and Infinite Existence which is God’s Essence. Therefore, God must be infinite power, knowledge, and goodness, since those things are contained within His Infinity, yet they are not separate from Him but identical to His very being. This argument is established for the further argument of creation.

1.     Only God is necessary

2.     Therefore, anything other than God is contingent or unnecessary.

3.     Contingent things must come from God

4.     Contingent things are contingent precisely because they do not have to exist

5.     Therefore, God possess the freedom to create or not create

6.     Contingent things exist

7.     Therefore, God created.

8.     God is omniscience and omnibenevolence

9.     Therefore, all of God’s operations are for perfect goodness.

10.  God’s operation of creation is for perfect goodness.

11.  God cannot do anything that would increase His own goodness.

12.  Therefore, God creates for the perfect goodness of creatures.

In prose form, we know that only God is necessary. So other things which are not God cannot be necessary. We also know that only necessary things can be eternal and thus have no beginning. Therefore all contingent things must have their beginning in God. However, contingent things are contingent because there is the logical possibility of non-existence, therefore God can not create them. However, because these contingent things do exist, it means God did create. Since God is omniscience and omnibenevolence, we are obliged to say that whatever God does is for goodness. However, as God cannot increase His own goodness, He must then create things for the perfect goodness of creatures.

God, I seek to connect these lines of reasoning or arguments into the idea of revelation. So I pray that You help me with understanding the rational basis of Your Communication to Creation and thus to us Mankind.

1.     The greatest goodness for any being is union with God, for God Himself is goodness.

2.     Yet union with God is only possible for beings possessing an intellect to perceive goodness.

3.     Therefore, were there to be creation at all, there is necessity for intellectual beings to unite all creation in union with God. Rational beings exist.

4.     Rational beings are finite, so they cannot come to God on their own power.

5.     This means only God is the principal cause of the union of rational beings with God.

6.     We know that union of God happens through the intellectual perception of God. Therefore, God must reveal Himself and other things pertaining to Him to beings to cause union with Him.

7.     Therefore, Divine Revelation exists.

Another argument for revelation.

1.     Everything contingent and good comes from God.

2.     Therefore, whatever good a rational being receives must come from God in the end.

3.     Therefore, everything good that a rational being receives is a revelation from God.

4.     Therefore, everything, be it God or creation, is a revelation directed to creation for their goodness.

There is distinction between natural and supernatural revelation, what is the distinction? Natural revelation is revelation of God and things pertaining to God by God made to creatures by the mediation of the natural world. Supernatural revelation is the same revelation by God made to creatures without the mediation of the natural world, that is they are made directly to rational creatures in a direct way of communication. An argument may be made about supernatural revelation being transmitted through the mediation of another rational creature. Then we may respond that such revelation remains supernatural as the content was first received in a supernatural way.

Natural revelation is the first revelation all man receives from God, and only later in life will they accept supernatural revelation. So how do we verify which revelation is authentically supernatural? The answer is to verify all revelation using the initial natural revelation which we receive from God. In other words, the revelation which coheres with natural revelation must be from God as well and so must be accepted as authentic supernatural revelation from God and so we must believe it for our own goodness. This prose form may be converted into argumentative form.

1.     Natural acts of God are done through the mediation of the natural or the contingent world.

2.     Supernatural acts of God are done without or in contrary to the natural or the contingent world.

3.     Therefore, natural revelation are revelations of God through the contingent world.

4.     Therefore, supernatural revelation are revelations of God without mediation of the contingent world.

5.     Natural revelation is the basis of certainty.

6.     Therefore, supernatural revelation must be verified on the basis of natural revelation to be certain.

This shall be sufficient for now, I will continue this into another writing, thank you Lord. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end, amen.