WHO MAKES YOUR GOD

Introduction

Before the idea of God it was started by wanderers to wondering. That was happen during the time of Ionians the time of Thales who says that the composition of the earth was came from water.  The Inescapable facts of universe--> facts of change, birth, growth, decay and death; spring and autumn; childhood and old age; coming into being and passing away. Consciousness of the dark side of existence

a.       Will to Power- constant fighting among the Greeks and venality of so many public figures. Efficiency is male power for the Greeks. It knows what one wants and gets it. ARETE-ability to achieve. Dionysian Frenzy  (History of Philosophy)

They started to ask questions from where these matters come from like water, air, earth and fire. All of them were not agreed on each other. But clearly implies the idea of unity. The fact of change and motion suggest the notion of unity though motion is not explained.

They were essentially materialists in that they assigned a form of matter in the principle of unity and primitive stuff of all things, but not in today’s concept of materialism where distinction of matter and spirit is realized. They did not stop at sense but they went beyond appearance to thought. They did not arrive at their conclusions through scientific experimental approach but by means of the speculative reason: the unity posited is indeed a material unity but it is unity posited by thoughtàABSTRACT MATERIALISM- philosophic notion of speculating from data of appearance.

Ionians were convinced of the reign of law in the universe.

Manàfate as controlling over will to power to live in moderation.

Universeà cosmic laws are there to preserve balance and prevention of chaos and anarchy.

 Thus the Ionians were the first to have established a scientific cosmology (law-governed universe) over fanciful mythology (lawless and fanciful domination of one element over another). They were wise men who were not yet aware of the distinction between science and philosophy despite coming out with philosophic notions and real scientific assertions.

As a whole the Ionians;

•       They were materialist because they tried to explain the origin of things out of some material elements

•       They were not materialist for they did not deliberately deny the distinction  between  matter and spirit( such distinction hasn’t been conceived yet during those times)

Ionians did not raise the critical problem instead they ventured on the naivete of wonder and joy of discovery.

Discourse

Parts of the development of the philosophy are the thoughts of PLATO, SOCRATES and ARISTOTLE. The discussion of God was been long debated over hundreds of centuries by these three great fathers of philosophy.  Unlike the Ionians talked only about matters but now was developed into deeper understanding considering that MATTERS has FORM.

The theory of Form of Plato says;

Forms provide the objects which are known prior to birth in order to justify Socrates’ undefended insistence that once  we recognize our ignorance we can successfully search for what we fail to know. In other words Forms are the “things that are”.

¨  Final argument-states that the soul is immortal and not merely long-lasting due to :

1.Causationàaccording to which what causes something to be, that is, the soul, like the Form, causes Beauty to be, not the body or any sensible.

2. Partaking of and being present inàother than resemblance, sensible partake of and is present in the Forms

3. Essentialismàsensibles are essentially related to some Forms and not to others, that is, snow is to coldness.

Now if you notice the development of ideas starting from the Ionians, it was started from material to something spiritual. These three believe the existence of the soul prior to the birth of individuals (Theory of Recollection). Before I proceed to the Idea of God at least I made clear the existence of the spirit for I have foundation to present my idea of God which is not perceivable by the five senses.

Knowledge of the real is to be grasped by faith and understanding, “believe in order that you may understand”. Thus philosophy for Augustine is pursued so that we may have a more complete grasp of the objects of faith. Philosophy then is not an end but a means, a means for a blessed life. (St. Augustine’s CONFESSION) the influence of Augustine was on the philosophy of Plato. To avoid biases some philosophers rejected most of the medieval philosophy because of their assumption that most of the great philosophers that time belong to Christian without considering the foundation of their thought coming mostly from PLATO and Aristotle and example to this was St. Thomas Aquinas who was very Aristotelian. The world we perceive by sight, hearing, feeling, tasting, smelling is the sensible world different from the other world, an intelligible world of eternal truths.

Strictly speaking the object of sensory experience are only beliefs not knowledge. Knowing is not an activity of the body but by the soul. Furthermore, the body cannot causally act upon the soul. Therefore, sensory ‘knowledge’ cannot be a matter of the body’s causing, through the senses, certain judgments in the soul.

Senses themselves are never in error for they do not judge. Senses merely display how it is that things appear in circumstances of some particular sort. Judgement is a function of the soul, not the body

What then are these claims independent of sense experience?

                They are for Augustine the immutable and eternal truths. He has in his mind the truths of mathematics and logic as well as moral truths. Such truths are not only necessarily true, they are universally true.

How are eternal and immutable truths grasped if they are independent of sense experience?

                They are grasped by all with reason, not by the senses since such truths are not about this empirical world. Rather they are truths of the intelligible world.

In other words The Idea of God is independent by our five senses since it is not part of the sensible world but rather it is belongs to the intelligible world, therefore it is grasped by REASON alone not by senses (fedis quaerines intellectum) faith seeking for reason.

 How is it possible for a human being to gain access to this intelligible realm of eternal truths?

                It is through “divine illumination”à a restatement of Plato’s theory of recollection but with a Christian doctrinal adaptation to override unacceptable theological implications. The source of this doctrine is undoubtedly Plotinus’s doctrine of emanation and Plato’s own discussion of the Form of the good as that which illuminates both the Forms and the mind. Central to this doctrine is that the divine light is always present in the human soul. And this is the divine light or illumination, which enables us to “see” truths which possess immutability and necessity. These immutable truths are sometimes spoken of as divine ideas, thus with access to divine truths, we have access to God’s ideas.

Reaction proper

A question of who makes your God is something very important to understanding in philosophical perspective. It is the main stream of the history of humanity. Even primitive people believe that there is a supreme being exists in this sensible world. In fact they attributed to the nature that produces phenomenal events such as typhoons, volcanic eruptions earthquakes to the point they worship to this nature as such of their beliefs that supremacy exists.

The knowledge of these must be credited considering that they acknowledge the forces produce by the nature itself. Even to this advance technology, materialism and existentialism are considered most influenced to the mind of every human being.

 I as observe we go back to the time of Ionians which they started thinking the composition of the earth out of material alone. Without considering that there are forces binding beyond the capacity of our five senses to be grasped at. The materialistic outlook overrides the eternal and immutable truth as the only access to God by illuminating our soul.

Atheist have their own philosophical thoughts denying the existing of God relative to the sceptics who says that the THRUTH is unattainable but if you try to look up it very closely considering their claim that TRUTH is unattainable but we are CERTAIN that they are sceptic (doubting).

PERSONAL STAND

 “Who makes your God” the answer is none.  The question cannot reconcile the truth of non existing Being to “being” that has their own existence. The non existing Being can be proved by reason alone through logical mathematical and abstractions. While the other can be prove through physical and appearance.

If everything has a cause then it will follow the question that causes the existence of God. The existence of necessary being is needed to be discussed. It will not affect as a candle in the absence of fire. The 

Matter and Form: basic constitution of substance which can neither exists without the other. Form serves as the property of matter which by itself (matter) has no property although it has the potential to take on properties. Likewise properties have no existence except in matter, they are what make matter into actual substance.( ex. Consider 2 books one is reading. What makes them different, though they have same properties, is their matter, not their properties or form. If there were no matter, there could not be multiple instances of the book, or of anything else.)

 Forms of substance: substantial form and accidental forms

Substantial formà it is what makes a thing the kind of thing that it is, or without which it would not be that kind of thing.

Accidental formàa property that a thing happens to have, but could exist without(ex.hair style is accidental form one can have, but hair style can be changed without necessarily affecting the human person) .

                Substantial form is the rational intellect or soul without which the person wouldn’t be the substance he isàa human being.

Example on potentiality to actuality

Bronze statueà the bronze out of which the statue is made is like matter; the shape it takes on in becoming the statue is like form.  It can then be said that the bronze out of which the statue is made has the potential to become a statue.  The form of the statue- its shape- is what makes the bronze into an actual statue.

(However, the bronze in itself is a kind of substance that can exist by itself)Ultimately, the matter out of which all things are constituted is prime or first matter, which has no properties but has the potential to take on any property.

Conclusion

Aquinas thinks that even though they have no matter, incorporeal substances have potentiality, they are not pure actuality. He believes that only God is completely actual.  In addition, since matter individuates particular substances, and incorporeal substances have no matter, there can only be one incorporeal substance of any given time. (There can only be one angel of its kind)

Necessary being must exist (God) in order things must be also exist (contingent being). A coconut tree (necessary being) is necessary to exist in order that coconut fruit (contingent being) brought into existence. The coconut will never change even if she has not bearing fruits. The same with God never change of his essence and existence even without the existence of humanity.

The very fact that these intelligible truth can be grasped at by reason, it must be not put into taken for granted as if the denying of their existence is the denying of truth. Human dimension as mentioned even in the field of psychology considered the spiritual aspect as part of human being. The composition of body (matter) and soul (form) is the proof of unity to form “life”. Therefore it is natural for human being to go beyond physical (metaphysics) seeking understanding and to search for meaning of life. “Who makes your God” falls into absurdity as I presented the necessary Being and the contingent being governed to this sensible world. The motion or movement of the planet in the universe must be move by the other the prime-mover. Things are not sufficient by itself, as a machine cannot move by his own, a necessary force coming from outside of the machine (man) to ignite the engine, the machine now performing a movement cause by the outside force.  God is not created but he is necessary to exist.

Prepared by:

Jeffrey Paloga

Eng’g Building room 308

Humanity 2. Philosophy