A Guide to the Arguments “For” and “Against” God
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by Michael Hall
The first of the three most common arguments for disbelief in God is that there is too much evil and pain in the world. If God is perfectly loving, then he must wish to abolish evil. If God is all-powerful, he must be able to abolish evil. Evil exists. Therefore God cannot be both omnipotent and loving. The response to this argument is that we have freewill and there is a natural law that prevents a world with no problems because such a world would be undesirable.
The second argument is that belief in God is said to be unscientific and merely the result of wishful thinking. The response is that it is an unfair criticism because it deals in finitude. And finite concepts cannot explain the infinite
The third argument is that the name of God has lost its true meaning. When you are young, you have a child-like notion of God. But as you get more educated, these child-like notions become insufficient. The response is best noted in J.B. Phillips, “Your God is too small”. As your mind expands, so should your appreciation and understanding of God, and it is not a reason to lose faith.
There are five proofs for God’s existence. The first is the ontological argument. It states: God is “that which none greater can be conceived”; if God is merely and idea in our minds, we could easily conceive of a God who exists in reality; thus it is a contradiction to say that perfection does not exist.
The cosmological argument states: everything that happens has a cause, and this in turn has a cause, and so on in a series which must either be infinite or have its starting point in a first cause.
The teleological argument states: the order and the progress in the universe imply an intelligence and purpose and must have been rationally designed.
The moral argument states: from objective moral laws, one infers a divine Law Giver, or from the fact of man’s conscience, sense of obligation, or sense of duty one infers a moral God.
The argument from special events and experiences states: belief in God is part of an age-old tradition among all people. Miracles and answers to prayers establish the reality of God
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