Some arguments for the existence of God

 

 

Evidence of the existence of an Infinite Being is to be found in

the Bible, in the facts of human consciousness, and in the physical

universe. Dr. Charles Hodge sets forth as follows the principal

arguments used to maintain the existence of a God:

 

    I. The _a priori_ argument which seeks to demonstrate the being of a

    God from certain first principles involved in the essential laws of

    human intelligence.

 

    II. The cosmological argument, or that one which proceeds after the

    _posteriori_ fashion, from the present existence of the world as

    an effect, to the necessary existence of some ultimate and eternal

    first cause.

 

    III. The teleological argument, or that argument which, from the

    evidence of design in the creation, seeks to establish the fact that

    the great self-existent first cause of all things is an intelligent

    and voluntary personal spirit.

 

    IV. The moral argument, or that argument which, from a consideration

    of the phenomena of conscience in the human heart, seeks to

    establish the fact that the self-existent Creator is also the

    righteous moral Governor of the world. This argument includes the

    consideration of the universal feeling of dependence common to

    all men, which together with conscience constitutes the religious

    sentiment.

 

    V. The historical argument, which involves: (1) The evident

    providential presence of God in the history of the human race. (2)

    The evidence afforded by history that the human race is not eternal,

    and therefore not an infinite succession of individuals, but

    created. (3) The universal consent of all men to the fact of His

    existence.

 

    VI. The Scriptural argument, which includes: (1) The miracles and

    prophecies recorded in Scripture, and confirmed by testimony,

    proving the existence of a God. (2) The Bible itself, self-evidently

    a work of superhuman wisdom. (3) Revelation, developing and

    enlightening conscience, and relieving many of the difficulties

    under which natural theism labours, and thus confirming every other

    line of evidence.” [WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN].

 

"THE EXISTENCE OF GOD A FIRST TRUTH.

1. That the knowledge of God’s existence answers the first criterion of universality, is evident from the following considerations:

 

A. It is an acknowledged fact that the vast majority of men have actually

recognized the existence of a spiritual being or beings, upon whom they

conceived themselves to be dependent.

 

B. Those races and nations which have at first seemed destitute of such

knowledge have uniformly, upon further investigation, been found to

possess it, so that no tribe of men with which we have thorough

acquaintance can be said to be without an object of worship. We may

presume that further knowledge will show this to be true of all.

 

C. This conclusion is corroborated by the fact that those individuals, in

heathen or in Christian lands, who profess themselves to be without any

Knowledge of a spiritual power or powers above them, does yet indirectly manifest the existence of such an idea in their minds and its positive influence over them.

 

D. This agreement among individuals and nations so widely separated in

time and place can be most satisfactorily explained by supposing that it has

its ground, not in accidental circumstances, but in the nature of man as

 

man. The diverse and imperfectly developed ideas of the supreme Being

which prevail among men are best accounted for as misinterpretations and

perversions of an intuitive conviction common to all.

 

2. That the knowledge of God’s existence answers the second criterion of necessity, will be seen by considering:

 

A. That men, under circumstances fitted to call forth this knowledge,

cannot avoid recognizing the existence of God. In contemplating finite

existence, there is inevitably suggested the idea of an infinite Being as its correlative. Upon occasion of the mind’s perceiving its own finiteness, dependence, responsibility, it immediately and necessarily perceives the existence of an infinite and unconditioned Being upon whom it is dependent and to whom it is responsible." [Strong].