Reddit reviews Five Proofs of the Existence of God

I commend you to start doing some personal research on acquainting yourself with the literature defending the rational justifiability of Christianity. The work of professional analytic philosophers persuaded of Christianity like William Lane Craig and Edward Feser would be, I think, indispensable to your intellectual development if you would give them a chance. Reasonablefaith.org has amassed tons of material answering just about anything you could ask about or argue against Christianity (see the Q&A section, popular articles section and podcasts). His work Reasonable Faith sets out a defense of Christianity in general, offers various defenses of God's existence and explicates the historical evidence for some of the New Testament's most central claims (such as the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth).

Edward Feser's latest book Five Proofs of the Existence of God systematically defends the five most historically significant arguments for the existence of God, which have survived scrutiny and enjoyed wide assent for centuries, the present ignorance of which in mainstream atheism and academic philosophy says nothing about the arguments themselves and everything about the (pitiful) state of contemporary philosophy (not to mention the quality of religious discourse today). His book The Last Superstition is a more approachable but less ambitious project rebutting the arguments of and generally responding to the "new atheist" movement (championed by Richard Dawkins and his ilk).

It so happens that Dr. Feser was an atheist for about 10 years after he began his studies of philosophy and, subsequently, he experienced a complete shift of paradigm that he attributes to his studies of the arguments for God's existence and the general truth of Christianity. That's not to say he must be right or that he's therefore impervious to bias, but I hope it helps cast doubt on the popular atheist assertion that Christian belief can only consist in emotion-driven fideism.

I wouldn't expect to find every conclusion of both of these writers to be compelling or convincing (I personally disregard Craig's arguments from contemporary astrophysics simply on the grounds that the science they adduce is subject to future revision, for example), but the general impression I hope this will make to you is that extremely intelligent, reflective Christians who can offer an articulate and well-reasoned defense of their beliefs aren't hard to find.

David Bently Hart and C.S. Lewis would also be worth looking into.

As for critiquing the atheistic worldview indirectly, I think the points made in this essay are quite salient. In it it is argued that atheism is impossible to be lived out consistently and that, therefore, no self-described atheist is capable of manifesting logical consistency in their lifestyle or with respect to the peripheries of their belief systems and fundamental presuppositions about the value of human life, the meaningfulness of the concept of morality, and so on.

I should also add that educating yourself on theology in a systematic fashion would be extremely helpful in learning to defend Christianity (after all, you can't really defend an idea you have yet to completely understand or define). There's a long lecture series on Reasonablefaith.org under the "defenders class" with a curriculum on theology that I think would be an excellent resource and, perhaps, a place to start.

I'm also open to talking to you if you're interested. God bless!

There is several logical proofs of his existence such as Aristotle's or the Aquinas proof. https://www.amazon.com/Five-Proofs-Existence-Edward-Feser-ebook/dp/B0754MJFMG

Its interesting but there's a lot that needs to be unpacked.

>Can I prove that God exists?

Well that depends on what is meant by "prove." Does Peter mean, "Can I prove God exists by scientific means?" Is so then of course the answer is "No." Now if he means "Can I provide a solid philosophical or logical proof for the existence of God?" Then I'd have to say that it is quite possible to prove God's existence.

Ed Feser's book Five Proofs for the Existence of God does a great job of summarizing some of the available proofs, as well as some of the more potent objections against them.

Of course it goes without saying the St. Thomas Aquinas provided 5 very good metaphysical arguments (read proofs) for His existence.

> From the Bible and from debating religious people.

The Bible doesn't provide this definition of 'religion.' You are admitting you've not read any academic work on religion, right? And how in the world do you have a debate about something of which you are admittedly ignorant? Could you debate English lit without having read the primary sources and scholarship on it? Why assume expertise in a field you're unwilling to engage at any level?

>How is the bible not a novel? You say making claims when you're ignorant isn't ok.. then prove God's existance scientifically right now, or never claim he's real again.


The Bible isn't a novel because it isn't a novel. Why isn't Twilight an epic poem? Because it isn't. It doesn't conform to the characteristics of the genre.

Secondly, why would one look to science, which only studies the physical world, to prove God, who by definition is outside of the physical world? Science's scope is by nature limited to the material and God is by definition immaterial. Science has no means to detect anything beyond the physical. To mistake that method for a metaphysic is one of the great epistemic problems of our age. It's a bit like using a metal detector to find buried pottery and, when no pottery is found (since the metal detector does not detect pottery), claiming there must be no pottery in the ground. It's the wrong tool for the job.

If you're actually curious about philosophical proofs for the existence of God that have been around for ages, Ed Feser just wrote a new book that you should check out. You can find it here.

Peter Kreeft (popular level) has a great handbook: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0038BR1UK/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

Edward Feser is very good. See: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D40EGCQ/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

And: https://www.amazon.com/Five-Proofs-Existence-Edward-Feser-ebook/dp/B0754MJFMG/ref=pd_sim_351_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=ZGZBEGJ6ZCH5G8ZAB2W2

Any topic you want to learn more about specifically?

I am convinced that Hegel's 'Lectures on Proofs of the Existence of God' offers a definitive demonstration. The only catch is that this work presuppose familiarity with 1) the Ontological Argument (i.e. the concept of God includes its own being), 2) the Teleological Argument (i.e. the specificity of particulars points to a self-specifying universal), and 3) the Cosmological Argument (i.e. the contingency of finite beings presupposes a necessary infinite being); -- not to mention knowledge of Hegel's own peculiar dialectical method of logic and speculative system.

The Alvin Plantiga-inspired book, Two Dozen (or so) Arguments for God is highly technical but equally persuasive.

Edward Feser's 'Five Proofs of the Existence of God'is also very well-argued and highly accessible.

Joshua Rasmussen's 'The Bridge of Reason'provides a short step-by-step rationale for God's existence.

I'm glad you liked them! Kudos to you for taking the time to read them. There's always more to Catholic thought than the caricatures and oversimplifications out there might indicate, but so few people take the time and effort to discover that. :)

Regarding God's existence, is your hesitation in the mind or in the heart? If merely intellectual, there's also a ton in the Catholic tradition that demonstrates God’s existence quite solidly. For starters, in order by time commitment:

1. This comic is a small attempt at trying to make one of these these rather abstract and high level but really cool arguments understandable: http://sweetheartsseekingsanctity.blogspot.com/2014/05/why-god-exists-rational-proof.html.
   
2. Edward Feser has a collection of posts about the same basic argument that goes into a lot more detail: http://edwardfeser.blogspot.com/2012/07/cosmological-argument-roundup.html.
   
3. And I’ve found this short-ish book to be a great natural language, step-by-step, understandable journey through the argument: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00WZMNOOA/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1.
   
4. Finally, Feser’s new book explains this argument and four other compelling ones rather rigorously: https://www.amazon.com/Five-Proofs-Existence-Edward-Feser-ebook/dp/B0754MJFMG/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1517730412&sr=1-1&keywords=feser+proofs+for+the+existence
   
   If, on the other hand, your hesitation is more in the heart (which is usually the case, even for me sometimes), I would suggest trying prayer. If you ask God honestly to help you find the truth, even if you don’t think he’s really there to listen, he will help. As long as you are open to finding him . . . he will find you. :) I don’t mean this in some over-emotional protestant way (which often ignores reason entirely), but faith really is a matter of our (I sigh at using this word, but oh well) relationship with God. So often today faith is defined as sheer, willed belief, without evidence or even in the face of evidence. But that’s a new-ish definition with origins in protestantism. For Catholics, faith is better defined as trust in God and what he has revealed. You can sure as heck have good reasons for that trust, including the intellectual knowledge that God exists. But at the end of the day, it comes down to you and God. (Just as knowing that my wife exists is a necessary precondition for our love, but doesn’t actually help me get close to her.) :)

There's a great book on the subject, just released. [I can't recommend it enough.] (https://www.reddit.com/r/classicaltheists/comments/6xyxmj/five_proofs_of_the_existence_of_god_by_ed_feser/) We can prove G-d exists and the counter arguments are horrible, worse than I'd thought.