5 Proofs for God that Destroy Atheism
Atheists are strange. They claim that belief in God is illogical.
However, they fail to see that the Catholic Church uses both faith and reason to understand the existence of God. St. Thomas Aquinas, one of the greatest minds in history, gives us five proofs for God's existence.
Once you learn them, you will be prepared to defend the faith and maybe even convert an atheist. As Isaac Newton observed, “A man who thinks halfheartedly will not believe in God, but a man who truly thinks has to believe in God.”
First Proof: Motion
Have you ever watched dominos fall? What caused the last domino in the series to fall? The logical answer is the one before. And if I asked you what knocked that domino down, you would say the one before it, and so on.
Eventually, you would trace it back to the first domino, which caused all the other dominos to fall. This is one of the ways St. Thomas Aquinas argues for God’s existence.
In other words, whatever is set in motion is put in motion by something else. Things don’t just move on their own. A ball doesn’t throw itself but requires a thrower to move, just as a plane needs a pilot to fly.
What is motion? Motion is going from potentiality to actuality. Potentiality is having the potential to be X, and actuality is actually becoming X. For example, my morning coffee is hot. But my coffee is potentially cold. If I put my mug in the refrigerator, it will actually become cold.
Something cannot go from potentiality to actuality by itself. In other words, it’s impossible for something to move without being put in motion by something else.
This applies to Creation. Things are constantly moving and changing, but none of these changes happen by themselves. If you search for the first cause and keep going back far enough, you will conclude that there is a mover that was not moved by another.
That is, someone outside the series of motions put everything into motion. This is the only logical explanation for how the series of motions began. This first mover cannot be part of the series, or there would be nothing that could explain his “motion.” In the case of the dominos, it would be the person who knocked down the initial domino. And in the grand scheme of things, this first mover is God.
Second Proof: Causality
The second proof, similar to the first, is about the cause or creation of things. Nothing can create itself; that is, nothing is the cause of its own creation. It would be ridiculous to think that a car created itself.
It is important to note that a cause answers the question ‘why.’ Such as why is it warm outside? Because of the sun. In a similar way, the car was created or caused by the workers who made it.
The same applies to you. You weren’t the cause of your existence. You didn’t create yourself. You came from your parents, your parents from your grandparents, and so on. This series of causes cannot be traced back to infinity or else we would have no explanation of how we got to where we are in the first place.
Logically, a first cause must exist to explain all subsequent causes. And this first cause would be God.
Third Proof: Contingency
We are not self-sufficient but rely on other things for our existence. We are contingent.
Just as a tree depends on sunlight for its existence, and the sun relies on nuclear fusion and hydrogen, we also depend on other beings. We rely on water, plants, and animals for food. Without these things, we would not exist.
Every existing thing depends upon some other thing for its existence. In the end, if you trace everything back, you must conclude there is something that is not dependent on anything for its existence. Because if there were no independent being, everything would be rootless and unexplained. This independent being is God. God’s very essence is to exist. Before creation, it was just Him. He does not rely on us, the angels, or anything else for His existence.
Fourth Proof: Degrees of Perfection
We compare things all the time. Such as, this food is saltier than that food, or this church is more beautiful than that church. But what is this objective standard of saltiness or beauty?
With the example of the church, what is our standard of beauty from which we can say an object is pointing towards or away? Or, what is the maximum standard of beauty from which I can say this church is either pointing towards or going away from? When I say this church is more beautiful than that church, I am saying this Church reflects the ultimate standard of beauty more perfectly.
In the case of saltiness, things can be more or less salty. French fries can be saltier than pizza. And salt is the cause of all things that are “salty.” Because, if salt didn’t exist we wouldn’t be able to say that some things are saltier than others. As things resemble salt more closely, they achieve greater perfection on the scale of saltiness. The most salty something can be is salt itself. Pure salt is the most perfect “saltiness” that something can be.
Now, there must be a maximum ideal of perfection, a perfect being that accounts for the degrees of perfection in all things. There must be a perfect being of immense grandeur, which is the cause of all perfection. And this is God.
Fifth Proof: Finality
Nothing exists without a purpose. A thing is complete once it has achieved or fulfilled its purpose. A chair, for example, is made to sit on. Once a chair is used, you can say it fulfilled its purpose. Now, humans have intelligence and act for an end: Eternal happiness in Heaven is our ultimate goal.
However, there are other things that “lack intelligence” yet act for an end. For example, the finality of an acorn is to become an oak tree. It fulfills its purpose once it becomes an oak tree. It does that naturally by virtue of what it is. The acorn doesn’t think, “Oh, I need to become an oak tree.”
St. Thomas says, “Whatever lacks intelligence can only act for an end if it is directed by something which has intelligence.” (Summa) For example, an arrow’s purpose is to hit the target. How does it attain its purpose? Well, it can’t do it on its own. The arrow requires an intelligible thing (or an archer) to move towards its end. An arrow exists to hit the target in the same way that an acorn exists to become an oak tree.
If there were no ultimate goal or purpose in things, then everything would be for nothing. “Therefore, some intelligent being exists by whom all natural things are directed to their end; and this being we call God.” (Summa)
Now you know how to defend your faith and stump an atheist with good arguments.
Sources used:
The Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas, Part I
Summa of the Summa by Peter Kreeft
Aquinas (A Beginner’s Guide) by Edward Feser
College Apologetics (Proof of The Truth of The Catholic Faith) by Fr. Anthony F. Alexander
An Underrated Argument for God’s Existence: Aquinas’ 4th Way by Jake (Cutting The Gordian Knot)