Bible -- Theology; Theology, Doctrinal -- Popular works
Man has an idea of an infinite and perfect Being. From whence this
idea? From finite and imperfect beings like ourselves? Certainly
not. Therefore this idea argues for the existence of an infinite
and perfect Being: such a Being must exist, as a person, and not
a mere thought.
e) The Moral Argument; Anthropological.
Man has an intellectual and a moral nature, hence his Creator must
be an intellectual and moral Being, a Judge, and Lawgiver. Man has
an emotional nature; only a Being of goodness, power, love, wisdom
and holiness could satisfy such a nature, and these things denote
the existence of a personal God.
Conscience in man says: "Thou shalt," and "Thou shalt not," "I
ought," and "I ought not." These mandates are not self-imposed. They
imply the existence of a Moral Governor to whom we are responsible.
Conscience,--there it is in the breast of man, an ideal Moses
thundering from an invisible Sinai the Law of a holy Judge. Said
Cardinal Newman: "Were it not for the voice speaking so clearly in
my conscience and my heart, I should be an atheist, or a pantheist,
when I looked into the world." Some things are wrong, others
right: love is right, hatred is wrong. Nor is a thing right because
it pleases, or wrong because it displeases. Where did we get this
standard of right and wrong? Morality is obligatory, not optional.
Who made is obligatory? Who has a right to command my life? We must
believe that there is a God, or believe that the very root of our
nature is a lie.
f) The Argument from Congruity.
If we have a key which fits all the wards of the lock, we know that
it is the right key. If we have a theory which fits all the facts
in the case, we know then that we have the right theory. "Belief
in a self-existent, personal God is in harmony with all the facts
of our mental and moral nature, as well as with all the phenomena
of the natural world. If God exists, a universal belief in his
existence is natural enough; the irresistible impulse to ask for
a first cause is accounted for; or religious nature has an object;
the uniformity of natural law finds an adequate explanation, and
human history is vindlcated from the charge of being a vast imposture.
Atheism leaves all these matters without an explanation, and makes,
not history alone, but our moral and intellectual nature itself,
an imposture and a lie."--_Patton_.
g) The Argument from Scripture.
A great deal of our knowledge rests upon the testimony of others.
Now the Bible is competent testimony. If the testimony of travelers
is enough to satisfy us as to the habits, customs, and manners of
the peoples of the countries they visit, and which we have never
seen, why is not the Bible, if it is authentic history, be enough
to satisfy us with its evidence as to the existence of God?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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