1. Goals Define “God” by the Judeo-Christian definition Define omnipotence, omniscience, omni- benevolence, and omni-presence Be able to list and defend several common proofs of God’s existence Be able to list and defend several common proofs of God’s non-existence

2. What is God? Think/Groups/Brainstorm

3. The 4 Omnis Omni-Benevolent All-Good

4. The 4 Omnis Omnipotent All-powerful God can do anything God wants or would ever want to do.

5. The 4 Omnis Omnipresent Everywhere God is in all places at all times

6. The 4 Omnis Omniscient All-knowing

7. God: The 4 Omnis Omni-benevolent: 100% Good ◦God is good ◦God wants that which is best. Omnipotent: All-Powerful ◦God can do anything God wants or would ever want to do. Omni-present: Everywhere. ◦God is in all places at all times. Omniscient: All-Knowing ◦God knows everything.

8. “Proofs” of God’s Existence

9. Thomas Aquinas Tommaso de Aquino Born AD 1224 In 1244, he joined the Dominicans 1 month later, his brother abducted him and held him captive in his family’s castle for a year He eventually convinced them to let him become a priest.

10. Aquinas’ 5 Proofs First Mover First Cause Greatest Being Necessary Being Intelligent Design

11. First Mover Newtonian physics 300 years before Newton By their nature, objects are at rest. There is motion. Motion is caused by other motion. Therefore, something had to cause the first motion. “Domino effect”

12. First Cause Everything is caused by something else. There is not an infinite set of causes. Therefore, something must have caused all other things to be. Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

13. Greatest Being By natural law, we know that some things are better than others. There has to be a “best being” to compare with good and bad things. Which is better: winning $30 million, or seeing a good film? Which is better, seeing a good film or kicking puppies?

14. Greatest Being Kicking puppies Seeing a good film Winning $30 mil

15. Intelligent Designer Look at the planets perfectly circling the sun. Look at the moon perfectly circling the earth. Look at the perfect balance of plants and animals in the ecosystem. This doesn’t happen by accident. There must be an intelligent designer.

16. Necessary Being It is possible for anything I can sense not to exist. Therefore, it is possible that nothing I can sense exists. Non-existence is impossible. Something must exist necessarily. Therefore, there is something that exists necessarily which I cannot sense.

17. St. Anselm b. 1033 AD Anselmo de Candia Ginevra Born noble Wanted to join the monastery at 15 Dad wouldn’t let him Left home to travel at age 23 Entered a Benedictine abbey at age 27.

18. St. Anselm’s Ontological Argument If I am thinking of the greatest being imaginable, I can think of no being greater. ◦If it is false that I can think of no greater being, it is false that I am thinking of the greatest being imaginable. Being is greater than non-being. If the being I am thinking of does not exist, it is not the greatest being imaginable. If I am thinking of the greatest being thinkable, I am thinking of a being which exists.

19. YOU JUST GOT……… INCEPTIONED!!!

20. St. Anselm’s Ontological Argument If I am thinking of the greatest being imaginable, I can think of no being greater. ◦If it is false that I can think of no greater being, it is false that I am thinking of the greatest being. Being is greater than non-being. If the being I am thinking of does not exist, it is not the greatest being. If I am thinking of the greatest being thinkable, I am thinking of a being which exists.

21. Other “Proofs” Anthropological Argument Argument from Love Argument from Beauty

22. “Proofs” of God’s Non-Existence

23. The Problem of Evil There is evil in the world. Some of it is here by man’s choosing. Some is not. Why would a God who is all good and all- powerful let evil into the world? EG: Hurricane Katrina

24. Omnipotence is an inherent contradiction The very idea of omnipotence is impossible. Can God create a log so heavy God cannot lift it?

25. If there is an omniscient God, we cannot have free will. If God knows what I’m going to choose before I choose it, do I really have free will? Causality doesn’t matter.

26. Occam’s Razor All things being equal, the simplest explanation tends to be the right one. If two hypotheses both sufficiently explain the data, use the one which makes fewer assumptions. Belief in God requires more complex assumptions than non-belief Ironically, William of Occam was a Franciscan priest.

27. Contact http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAp3j T8n6Qs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAp3j T8n6Qs