Proving God's Existence From the World's Order (Aquinas 101)

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St. Thomas Aquinas is well known for his Five Ways for proving the existence of God in the Summa Theologiae. But, his Summa Contra Gentiles has other arguments for God's existence as well. In this episode of Aquinas 101: The Five Ways, join Fr. James Brent, O.P., a Dominican friar from the Province of St. Joseph, as he presents an argument for the existence of God based on the order of the world, from St. Thomas Aquinas's Summa Contra Gentiles.

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Aquinas 101 is a project of the Thomistic Institute that seeks to promote Catholic truth through short, engaging video lessons. You can browse earlier videos at your own pace or enroll in one of our Aquinas 101 email courses on St. Thomas Aquinas and his masterwork, the Summa Theologiae. In these courses, you'll learn from expert scientists, philosophers, and theologians—including Dominican friars from the Province of St. Joseph.

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[MarmotCanales]

1:04 cats go "meow" 🐈‍⬛
2:44 fire burns... water quenches 🔥🌊

[roisinpatriciagaffney]

For in Him we live and move and have our being. Acts 17:28.
Thank you, Father Brent.
Our Lady, Seat of Wisdom, pray for us.

[sigurdholbarki]

This was the one that brought me out of apostasy.

[JohnR.T.B.]

An existence that is devoid of intelligence, supreme immaterial truth, that orders how beings are ought to be with themselves and with one another cannot ever find the order of beings, in contrast to what we witness first hand in every fabric of the very universe and existence we are in; that is it cannot exist and doesn't have any need or purpose whatsoever to exist. But we do have structures, orders, the so-called "intelligibility", and of course purpose. If things have no purpose to exist, that there is no such a thing as purpose, then there is no consequence of anything. For example, if I can take out the sun from the solar system, everything could just operate normally as if the sun were still there if the sun has no purpose of existence; hence there is a purpose in existence, therefore there is a supreme intelligence that gives rise to the order of beings.

[alvynglencaccam]

this channel really helped me out during my philosophical studies in the seminary especially on our subject Seminar on St. Thomas Aquinas. Thanks a lot!

[unholy.latin.republic]

Fr. Brent, come to Mississippi State University!

[sjorsvanhens]

Can someone point me out in which text Thomas Aquinas argued something to the effect of “the Church flourishing despite Jesus warning his disciples that whosoever followed him would suffer persecution is a miracle in and of itself and a proof that Jesus is God”. I remember reading something like this, but I don’t remember where.

[EnyaBayting-pzzv]

I am human believe in our GOD..gives knowledge with good life

[EnyaBayting-pzzv]

Why we need to be hurt...
GOD represent jesus to save us all from our poor understanding..
We need GOD.

[EnyaBayting-pzzv]

Why we should ask if there is god? Rather than

GOD IS OUR CREATOR..

[PabloCardonaMusic]

The problem with this argument is that it doesn't make the case for the Christian God but for some kind of vague deity. Islam and Judaism could make the same argument for their own worldview.

I would even argue that this is somewhat incompatible with Christianity because this argument would let you to believe that creation in its current state is the way God intended it, but in reality what happened was that the entirety of creation changed to a sort of corrupt state after the fall of Adam and Eve.

This argument would have to imply that things such a disease, evil, death, etc are all part of God's intention, when in reality those things are not created but are the result of human sin, and you could never reason that from looking at the world around you, it needs to be revealed, because no one on earth alive today was there to see creation before the fall.

[gabrielteo]

If the world's order is evidence for God, is disorder evidence against God? If not, it seems as though you have an unfalsifiable assertion. What if I said both the order and disorder of the world is evidence for magic?

[holaguacamole]

why is it all so coordinated? science can shed some light on this: because matter currently has certain physical properties (unlike just after the Big Bang, where everything was so hot no atoms could form), and those properties include atraction to form bunches of atoms, and include which molecules are easiest to form and destroy under specific circumstances.

not always has the universe been like this, and planets and stars and life is the result of the most probable and durable configurations of atoms, while the unstable and improbable configurations are rarely seen.

life is a complete mistery, or was, until scientist detected organic molecules embedded in meteorites. those molecules are the same ones that conform DNA and RNA, and it is a pretty exciting discovery. they didn't found DNA in those extraterrestrial rocks, but the building blocks for any genetic code.

I think philosophy gave many wrong answers, trying to explain the world, but nobody knew which argument was right and which was wrong until science and observation and experimentation revealed many before unseen things. and the tendency continues.

[PInkW]

The universe is ordered
So there must b a God.

[frederickanderson]

Are typhoons earthquakes famines virus' epidemic all disorder.

[lucianopavarotti]

I guess Aquinas didn't have much information to go on, and so it's understandable he came up with such ludicrous arguments.

[bitofwizdomb]

That’s great and all, but it’s not yaweh