The ontological argument and presuppositions

I don't know why I am bummed about it. I really shouldn't be but I am.

One of the first proofs of God's existence that I had been exposed to was a rationalist one put forth by Descartes which fell under the category of an ontological argument. Basically it says that God is a being that holds all perfections and that existence is a perfection so God must exist. That's all well and good, but it suffers from a variety of issues I am afraid. Most of the issues can be overcome to one degree or another, but there is one that I think makes it just a bad argument from a natural reason or a rationalistic perspective: the definition of existence as a perfection.

In order to hold that it is better for there to be something (existence) rather than nothing (non-existence) I would have to approach the argument with a certain presupposition, namely, one that espouses a Biblical worldview or some other one that holds that belief. Believe me, I am a firm presuppositionalist as I see that as the only way to even approach any type of epistemology or knowing how we know. I know that there are lots of people that are not presuppositional in their perspective and I would love for there to be a point of connection with those people that did not entail talking about what they bring to the table as they figure out what is true or not.

But that's just me. I like cosmological arguments the best anyway as I look at trying to show that God has to, necessarily, exist rather than have faith that the universe has always been here. Again, though, there are presuppositions there that I cannot ignore. Maybe (actually I am quite sure) that it is just my flesh that kicks against all of this rather than embrace it. I am a creature after all and neither a creator nor master of anything. That should bring me comfort, right?

I don't know why I am bummed about it. I really shouldn't be but I am.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

tightvnc keyboard mapping problem in Ubuntu 9.04

Image
I have been, off and on, having an issue with the keys on my keyboard mapping to the correct values when using the tightvnc client when paired with the vncserver vino in Ubuntu 9.04. I am not exactly sure what keyboard layout the client and server was expecting, but it seemed like every time I restarted the OS the keyboard mapping problem would come back and I would be at square one again. Well, I think I have found the workaround I was looking for . Hopefully this will help anyone else that is having this issue.
Read more

The manifestation of the "I" and the gift of self - Part 1

I am continuing my journey through Pope John Paul II's Theology of the Body and I had never realized how body-focused the 2nd and 3rd chapters of Genesis truly are.  But then it all makes so much more sense when it was brought to my attention that the body we have been given in a manifestation of me, or to put it another way, the "I". And it goes beyond that still. Not only does it reveal me, but my body also reveals, in no small measure, the image of God. That is not to say that God is made of flesh like me as is depicted in so many Renaissance paintings. The old man in the sky is nothing like the God as revealed in the Bible. However, the love that God is, the holiness that he is, the justice he is, the righteousness that he is...all of it is shown to the world through my body. In a very real way, my body allows for others, and for me, to participate in the mystery (the hiddenness) of the image of God. That is by design; from the beginning.  If God is revealed in nature...
Read more

Let me learn what I need to learn

In the “I don’t know what God is trying to produce in me…” portion of the blog: I work across (not with) an incredibly loud person. We are in cubes and he refuses to use a handset when he is in a conference call…or headphones. Everything is done via speaker phone. Maybe his handset is broken? I don’t know and am too timid (read “interested in keeping the peace”) to ask him. Of course he shouts into his speaker phone as well when he talks. Now he even refuses to use a keyboard. He has a speech recognition program that allows him to speak to the computer rather than type. Good for him! Now we can all hear “Comma…open parenthesis…close parenthesis…tab…tab...tab…” Was it my sin or my parents sin that relegated me to this placement in the office. We all know the answer to that but man…it sure feels like I am getting punished for something.
Read more