Proof of God’s

Existence
How belief in God’s existence
makes a difference in one’s
daily life
Summa
Theologica
St. Thomas Aquinas believed
that it was possible to discern
truths about God with the use
of human reason and
revelation.
ONE WAY:
MOTION
Motion here is to
be understood as
change. It is a
movement from one
phase to another.
There must be One who is
unmoved and unchanged.
That One is called the
Unmoved Mover or The First
Mover.

Now whatever is moved is

moved by another.
Therefore, it is necessary to
arrive at the first mover,
moved by no other; and this
everyone understands to be
God.
SECOND WAY:
CAUSATION
Causality (also referred to as
causation, or cause and effect)
is efficacy, by which one process
or state, a cause, contributes to
the production of another
process of states, an effect,
where the cause is partly
responsible for the effect, and
the effect is partly dependent on
the cause. In general, a process
has many causes, which are also
said to be causal factors for it,
and all lie in its past.
An effect can in turn be a
cause of, or causal factor
for, many other effects
which all lie in its future.

Some writers have held

that causality is
metaphysically prior to
notions of time and
space.
THIRD WAY:
CONTINGENT
To be
CONTINGENT is
to be dependent to.
Therefore everything
has the possibility of
existing or not existing.
To be or not to be.
"Is there
anything of
substance that
exists through
eternity?"
Therefore there is
an eternal being
in existence to
allow definite
beings to exist,
otherwise nothing
would exist.
"Everything cannot be" "If
everything cannot be, then
there was at a time nothing
in existence."

If this were true, nothing

would exist because things
only exist through an
existing being or something
presently existing.
Contingence
is proof of His
existence because if
God did not exist,
nothing else would
FOURTH WAY:
GOODNESS
We can see around there is
gradation of goodness and
perfection. Something can be
compared and be said to better
than other. Even without any
criteria or rubrics, we can say that
something is beautiful and the
other is more beautiful though
there can be differences in
judgement, there is still universal
acceptance that something is
better than the other.
All the goodness that
all things posses must
come from someone
or something
which/who possesses
and causes them to all
FIFTH WAY:
DESIGN
The Universe has order and
purpose The complexity of
the universe shows
evidence of design.

The designer is God.

The things we see around
us are all planned and
made that they work
according to their
purpose.
Example: A plant serves a source of energy for other
life forms. It gives of oxygen in exchange for
carbon dioxide. Some plants even serve an extra
purpose such as medicine. Works that lack
knowledge are poor and discouraging.

Example: An engineer who fails to do the calculation

correctly for the bridge will either make it
impassable, or passable but with risks. Whatever
lacks knowledge cannot move toward
their purpose, unless it is directed by
some being endowed with knowledge.
Example: An arrow shot is
nothing more than that,
just an arrow. But It was
shot with a purpose by
the archer, which is to hit
the target. God made
sure the world and the
universe work according
to His plan.
God’s Existence Makes a
Difference
If God does not exist,
Life is ultimately
meaningless
If a person lives just to die,
then it won’t matter what the
person does while he/she lives
because it won’t make any
difference at all.
If God does not exist,
then we must ultimately
live without hope
No hope for deliverance from
the shortcomings of our finite
existence
If God does exist, then not only is
there meaning and hope, but there is
also a possibility of coming to know
God and His love personally
if God exists, we really do have a
transcendent purpose, and really
do have meaning for our lives. Not
only do we find day-to-day
significance in our lives, but an
ultimate significance through our
hope in eternal life.