Gods Existence and Knowability

CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY

COURSE TITLE : SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY

p DISCUSS THE EXISTENCE AND KNOWABILITY

OF GOD

PROGRAMME : MA YEAR 1

LECTURER

APRIL 2007

TABLE OF CONTENTS Page No

INTRODUCTION 2

CHAPTER 1 : THE EXISTENCE OF GOD

Schools of thoughts 3

Evidence from the Inner Witness 4

Evidence from Scriptures Nature 4

Traditional Proofs 8

Arguments against the existence of God 12

CHAPTER 2 : THE KNOWABILITY OF GOD

2 .1 Scriptural Basis 12

2 .2 Characteristics of the Knowability

of God 15

CONCLUSION 16

BIBLIOGRAPHY 17

INTRODUCTION

One of the most important problems faced by the human mind is the question , Does God exist . The question seems to be very simple however , the simpler is the question the more difficult is to find a correct answer . The philosophical reflection aimed to grasp the concept of God 's existence and knowability is the attempt to understand the nature of faith . Therefore , it should follow the theology that , in its turn , implies God 's existence . Therefore , the main idea is to obtain the evidence of God 's existence . The inability to find out the demonstrative evidence of God 's existence means a state of blissful ignorance in relation to the being of the subject whom all religious beliefs relate to . In another way , it is impossible to know anything about God in case it is unknown whether He exists or not

The knowability of God is another important issue . It relates to the extent to which God can be perceived and known by people . Some scholars consider that God cannot be known due to his uniqueness . In to support this opinion , scholars bring in evidence the fact that God is so unique that it is impossible to understand and to know him . Different philosophical schools have different opinions . There is the opinion that as far as God is infinite and we are infinite , we are unable to understand Him . At the same time , people are able to know at least something about God 's wisdom , power , love , and other attributes

So , these are two main aspects we are going to examine in the essay

CHAPTER 1

THE EXISTENCE OF GOD

Some scholars do not see the necessity to justify that they follow the rules of theology , because they do know that God 's existence is not the statement of the implicit faith . They rather adhere to the fact that all statements of faith imply God 's existence . Otherwise they would inevitably be pointless and purposeless . In such a way , to find the rational argument in support of the statement God exists ' means to elicit the prerequisite truth if not relating to the concept of faith so at least the argument in support of the fact that human mind conceives as solemn truth everything in relation to the subject of faith . In this respect the belief in God 's existence virtually embraces the belief in everything we can and should believe in . Intellectual cognition and knowability of the God 's existence implicitly contains everything we...