Joval, Rowena S.

PHILO 106 Final Exam

Summer 2008

A.) On the Active Presence of the Transcendent God

Discuss how the Transcendent God is at work in the:
1.) natural world
2.) human world or the life of man
3.) In a world filled with evil and sufferings. (Be able to explain the seeming absence and
silence of God in the midst of evil and sufferings or why God is hidden and silent as
humanity suffers).

B.) On Becoming Human

1.) Be able to refute the contention of the atheists that the existence of an Omnipotent,
Omniscient and Omnipresent God does not allow man to be truly human. Show that
man can be truly human in a world where an Omnipotent and Omniscient God is
present.
2.) Discuss how sufferings can make a self-centered human become other-centered and
be an active participant in God` s creative activity of transforming chaos into cosmos.

C.) On Structured Religion

1.) Discuss the role of structured religion in this mutual cooperation of man and God in
the creative evolution of the universe.

“The Transcendental Existence”

The world, in its vastness, with the creatures dwelling below its skies and above its
solid ground, runs in its course. Earth as what it is called, is known to be continually moving
around a massive ball of fire which is the sun. Such natural phenomenon is said to be
considerably responsible for the continuance of existence and life in the natural realm. But
what is the massive force behind such motion? How did earth and everything in it managed to
keep itself active for over millions of years?
It is said that gravity keeps our planet orbiting around the sun. Gravity then, is the
force that keeps the earth and all else in it, on track. Moreover, following up this train of
thought, it turns out that with respect to gravitational force, we, and everything existing in this
world are all subjected to the law of gravity. It is the immense force that keeps us and all else
on the ground. Without such force, everything on earth will be floating in vast space. Life
would’ve been very difficult, if not, impossible. But where does gravity come from? Such
power of great intensity could only come from a being that possesses power greater than that
of gravity. Thus, it follows that it is even greater that the natural world; the domain that is
subjected to such force. As argued by St. Thomas, it is impossible for an effect to be greater
than the cause. Therefore, the cause is greater than the effect. That is to say that what
causes gravity is superior to such force. The Cause, being God who is the Primary Cause of
all things.
This is how God is at work in this world. The immense power such as that of gravity
comes from Him. He is in control of the forces that keep our planet in motion and
paradoxically, everything in it, in place.
 Other than gravity, another recognizable natural phenomenon is that of change.
Through experience and observation, we have the awareness that this world is ever
changing. Change then, is always present. May it be a seed that has grown into a tree, a cub
that has matured into a lion, a baby that has turned into an adult and the list could go on.
Change is evident, and it has in fact, over the period of time, became familiar to us, humans,
and the rest of the living things that have thrived and continually thriving here on earth. This is
the fundamental basis of the theory of evolution, and that of natural selection. Nonetheless,
back in the early days of civilization, and even before Darwin` s concept of evolution, the
phenomenon of change was already noted by ancient Greeks. Heraclitus for instance,
believed that everything in nature is in a state of constant change. “Everything flows,” says
Heraclitus. Everything is in constant flux and movement. God is the source of such
movement. The incessant flux found in nature emanates from Him.
This signifies the active participation of God in the physical world. The Transcendent
God embraces the whole world; its motion, and the flow of nature. Everything in this world is
designed for a purpose. This is the reason why there are changes that take place in the
natural realm. Every existence has a reason for existing. Things change because it is directed
to a certain end. All things has an end; a goal that must be reached. Thus, a seed can only be
a tree once it is firmly rooted in the ground; once it has reached the fullness of its being as a
tree. Somewhere in between its existence as seed and as a tree, changes had come to pass.
Nature is pointed towards growth. It is directed by God who keeps everything in the right
place in the order of things. The forces that sustain existence come from God. He gives
motion, order and direction in the universe and above all, in this world.
It` s hard to imagine what would it be like without gravity. It is also unthinkable what
would the world be if things would perpetually remain as it is; unchanging, unmoving, which
would mean that there would be neither growth nor decay; no life nor death. Yet, even more
inconceivable is a world without God being actively at work in the natural realm. Without the
active involvement of God, the world would starkly cease to be.
But since God is acting upon the world that we` re living in, everything on earth is in
the process of becoming. Nature is moving towards an end, and so does man.
Man is said to be a being that heaves himself forward, toward a goal that he wills
himself to reach. And in order to achieve his goals, the possibility of choosing is presented
before him. With every choice that man makes, motion is present. Movement is not a
question, for when an individual makes a choice, he is apparently letting go of other
possibilities by choosing a definite possibility. This is the path that he has chosen to tread.
Thus by choosing, man is indubitably in motion. But the question that arises in every crucial
event does not have that much grave concern about movement or stasis, but it is that of
direction. A major event in man` s life calls him to response. “What am I suppose to do?”
“Which way should I go?” Such questions arise from one` s own consciousness. Thus, every
decision is a call for direction, the way that paves man` s destiny. Man then, shapes his entire
being by the choices that he makes out of every crucial event. As what was said by the
existentialists, “Man is nothing but what he makes of himself”. A person then, makes the
ultimate choice for himself. No one else can choose for him. Even if conforming to what
others have to say, he` s still the one who has made that choice, that is, to conform.
Correspondingly, by choosing, man is making himself. One chooses what he wants to
become. Thus, by making a choice, one must be aware of himself, awareness that he is
responsible for every decision that he makes. For every choice defines who he is as a human,
the entirety of his being and his life as a whole. And here lies the weight that comes along
with freedom: the responsibility of every decisive choice that man has to make. Every crucial
event is a defining moment for man` s existence. In the outcome of a choice whether or not it
is good or bad, he is held accountable for his own actions.
This implies the friability of man` s existence. He is aware that he is not in control of
everything, including the outcome of his choice. It could be either his make or break. The
freedom given by God to man can either be a gift or blight, it could create or destroy. Thus, in
crucial times, it could either be life or death. Life, in the sense that man can achieve a much
meaningful existence; or death that could turn everything in a state of utter meaninglessness.
This calls out for a need to hold on to a certain reality amidst the ocean of
uncertainties in life; to hold on to what is absolutely real and true. This is how God is at work
in the human world. He is not some distant grandfather of the universe sitting in a throne,
doing nothing but gaze down at his creatures and have nothing to do with them at all. This
God is an active God, a personal Deity, concerned about the well-being of man. On the shaky
ground of human existence, God is the pillar that we can depend on. In human life, He is the
source of what is certain and genuine.
The problematic character of human existence, as what was said by John E. Smith,
lies in our “dependence upon a power that is not in ourselves, and of the need to find an
object of supreme devotion”. God possesses the power that we humans depend upon; we do
not have it within us. Absolute value such as love or the ultimate concern, which is good in
itself, comes from God. All that is absolute comes from an Absolute Reality. We are not
absolute beings. On the contrary, we are never ceasing to be lacking. We are in a constant
state of incomplacency. And in truth, we are always found wanting. God, being the Absolute is
the plenitude of all that we lack, He is the abundance in man` s inadequacies. It is the reason
why we are reaching towards the Infinite. The eternal void in our hearts could only be filled by
the Eternal God. God is the one who puts motion in our soul. Thus, we are dynamic beings.
There is a drive in all of us to reach out for the Ultimate Fulfilment in the Infinite and such
fulfilment can only be found in God.
Then again, to yearn for the Ultimate Fulfilment has been, and still remains as a
choice. The freedom bestowed to humanity allows man to become more or less of a human;
to have the existence which can either be more or less meaningful. This freedom is in a way,
analogous to the choice between good and evil. Indeed, we are living in a world that is
paradoxical. Freedom unfolds possibilities that exist within the paradoxical realm. There can
be joy but there can also be sorrow, there is life yet there is also death, there is good and
there is also evil. Death gives us sorrow and so does evil and suffering, both of which can be
considered akin to one another. Man has, and always has been well aware of the horrendous
presence of evil and the pain of suffering. The atrocities of men, starvation and diseases such
as AIDS, disasters such as earthquakes and hurricanes, the holocaust, bombings, and wars,
have taken away the lives of countless humans, regardless of age, gender or race. Children
for instance, are the ones who have suffered greatly. Despite of their innocence, they were
not spared of the sufferings that were brought about by the evil doings of power-hungry men.
Where is justice then? If God is all good, why did he ever allow such injustices to happen? If
He is all powerful, why did He not intervene to prevent the loss of the lives of men? That is
also to say, why did he not tried to save humanity from demise and suffering?
Certainly, it is difficult for us humans to understand why God would allow such things
to happen. Beyond this, however, one could reason out that knowing that God is all powerful
and loving doesn’t follow that everything has to be well and in a state of perfection. In the
same way, even if God possesses mercy and goodness, it doesn’t mean that man must not
suffer and it also does not follow that there can be no evil. If in a world where wrong actions
such as that which is evil were impossible, freedom of the will therefore, will be without any
meaning or value. If God would alter events so as to preclude evil and suffering, then the
freedom that He bequeathed unto men will be null and void. Men will turn into puppets tied in
a string, being moved by the hands of God in order to achieve an end which is a world without
evil and pain. Man then becomes a means to an end. Freedom will be stripped away from
them, or if men are led to believe as “free beings”, with God` s intervention amidst every
single event that might bring forth evil and suffering, then freedom will be nothing but a
subterfuge.
This is the reason why, despite of the world being filled by evil and suffering, God
remains in the background, His presence and intervention being hidden amidst the sufferings
of humanity. However, this doesn’t mean that God does not care at all. In truth, God is not
apathetic to human struggle and pain. He hearkens to the afflictions of His people. The
Scripture, historical accounts, personal experience of near-death experiences attests to that.
He is not however, in constant intervention just for the sake of obviating suffering. For him to
do so, would mean that He would have to deprive man of the capacity to be free. Without
freedom, human life will never be fully lived.
In his book, “The Problem of Pain”, C.S Lewis contends, “In a world where there are
fixed laws, consequences unfolding by causal necessity, the whole natural order, are at once
limits within which their common life is confined and also the sole condition under which any
such life is possible. Try to exclude the possibility of suffering which the order of nature and
the existence of free wills involve, and you find that you have excluded life itself”.
Thus, to do away with suffering is to relinquish life itself. It` s like choosing not to be
free at all, by choosing not to be free is also choosing not to live. Man is inherently free, but
without the consequence of his choice that perhaps bears much pain and suffering, then the
essence of his humanity is all but lost.
 Without a doubt, in the belief that God is all-powerful and all-knowing, it follows that
He is capable of destroying evil and averting man from loss and suffering. However, to
destroy evil and to eliminate suffering equates to destroying and taking away human freedom.
It is then a contradiction to the assertion of the atheists that God, being the Omnipotent and
Omniscient impedes man from achieving the fullness of his humanity. To be fully human does
not mean that man must not feel any kind of affliction at all. To be truly human is to transcend
pain and suffering, to rise above its limits. Suffering creates a wall that limits us from
embracing life. The despondency that arises out of a painful situation is the wall that fends us
off from moving forward. By losing the will to move on, despair will replace the hope that one
has for the future. The one who succumbs his entire being to despair will stop living for
tomorrow. But yielding to despair out of suffering is a choice. Thus, one can always choose to
rise above the direst circumstance. A person could turn tragedy into triumph as long as he
chooses to rise above his dismal situation. It would all fall down to one` s own choice. This is
the transcendental existence, which calls for the reliance upon the creative freedom bestowed
by the Transcendent God unto man.
The horrendous genocide in Auschwitz for instance, has shown the terrible misery of
over 6 million Jews. About seven years ago, the 9/11 attack have caused one of the gravest
event in America. Thousands of lives were lost. These are some of the events that showed us
what human beings are capable of. Evil, yes, that` s for sure. But it also brought out goodness
that man is more than able to give. As what was observed by Frankl, the life in the
concentration camp turns simple acts of goodness into a much meaningful concern for
another man. A piece of bread for example, shared by one prisoner to another reveals the
selfless act of man amidst his own hunger and deprivation. The brave men who fearlessly
volunteered to rescue the ones trapped in the ruins of the 9/11 bombing showed how people
are capable to willingly risk even their own lives in order to save others. People taking care of
each other for no other reason than it was the right thing to do. It is wonderful to think of such
goodness. In a way, it reminds us to hold on to hope, that amidst every suffering and pain,
there can be, and will always be triumph. To believe that goodness is never an impossibility
even in the direst situation.
The most difficult events in our lives call us to make a response. The way in which we
accept even the most dismal situation in our lives and the suffering it entails, the way that we
bear every heavy burden is an opportunity to add deeper meaning into our lives and to be
fully aware of the richness of being human. We may choose to be brave and dignified, to rise
above the circumstance and attain growth or we may choose to let go of the opportunity to
add a deeper meaning to our existence and to give up the possibility of becoming. By this, we
are saying that here is a chance to make a choice for ourselves - to either take advantage of
the chance of being a step closer to be fully human, attaining moral values out of a dire
circumstance or to let the chance slip away. Thus, every situation that calls for our response is
a chance to find meaning in our lives and to be fully aware of ourselves as humans. This is
who we are. Indeed, we are free. We humans have the capacity to choose to remain being
enslaved and caged in by despair or we can choose to rise above it. To be truly human is to
choose the latter; to achieve the fullness of our being, we must move forward into living a life
of transcendence.
This is the existence that beckons the involvement of the Transcendent God. For
such power of turning triumph out of a tragedy necessitates the active presence of the Divine.
To care deeply for the needs of others and for every sacrifice that has to be made in reaching
out to be more truly human, one must hold on to the depth of his existence, to what is
genuinely true and good, to the ultimate concern of man. Such profoundness can only be
found in the Ultimate God. This is the revelation of God to man; the truth that in the process of
becoming, we are delving into the profundity of our being, we are living for something bigger
than ourselves, we are moving closer to God, towards the Ultimate.
God then, has revealed Himself to us. This is what religion is all about. It springs forth
from the convergence between God and man. And in such religious experience, man is
confronted of the infinite depth that is found in God, for He is the Infinite and Depth of all
being.
In the words of Paul Tillich, “Religion is the substance, the ground, and the depth of man` s
spiritual life”. As we collide with the Infinite, as we come into cognizance of the religious
experience, we begin to be aware of the endless depth that calls for our response. It calls for
a unique response which demands ingenuity. Our world, and the rest of the universe will
never be the same again. For we find that with every response that we make, we are shaping
the world within and the world around us. Everything is evolving as we move on towards the
deeper realities. Thus, our lives and everything else moves towards growth and
profoundness. This is transcendence in man` s existence. We have been called by God to live
a life that has an ultimate depth and meaning, beyond the narrow confines of superficial living.
It is up to us to dive below the surface of life, into the deeper realms and to that which is the
deepest, towards the Infinite Reality – this, being God.