Perhaps the most universal of all human experiences is pain. No matter what stage of life one may find himself in, pain and suffering are ubiquitous. The question is what if any meaning does pain have? If God is good and loving, why does He allow suffering? In the following discourse, I will explore these questions. First, we will see how the Bible addresses pain and look at two examples from the sufferings of Job and Saint Paul. Lastly, I... Read more
“God takes everyone he loves through a desert. It is his cure for our wandering hearts, restlessly searching for a new Eden.” – Paul E. Miller. For most, the desert rarely conjures up images of God or Heaven. Yet the desert plays a significant role in the Bible and has provided a wealth of spiritual treasure within the Catholic tradition. The following article will discuss how the Bible portrays the desert. I will review some of the significant passages that... Read more
This article concludes my series on Aquinas’s Five Ways for the existence of God. Thus far, I have sought to explain Aquinas’s arguments from motion or change (the First Way), his argument from causation (the Second Way), the argument from contingency (the Third Way), and the argument from degree (the Fourth Way). The Fifth Way is an argument from the design or intelligibility of the universe. As I have done with Aquinas’s previous proofs, I will introduce the Fifth Way... Read more
I continue my series on Thomas Aquinas’s Five Ways for the existence of God by discussing the fourth way. The fourth way is an argument from the grades of perfection in created things. In this sense, the fourth way is perhaps the most philosophical of Aquinas’s five ways. Because of this, it is often considered the most difficult to comprehend. I will begin by introducing the argument before providing the actual proof as framed by Aquinas. Finally, I will... Read more
In continuing my series on Thomas Aquinas’s Five Ways for the existence of God, I now turn to Aquinas’s third way. This particular argument is a type of cosmological argument in that it is based on the contingency and necessity of the universe. I will begin by introducing Aquinas’s third way. I will then provide the argument itself and provide an analysis of the third way. Lastly, I will discuss whether Aquinas is justified in his conclusion that God must... Read more
In my previous article, I began a series on Thomas Aquinas’s five ways or arguments for the existence of God. Aquinas’s first way is an argument from motion or change. Things move from potency to act; for example, a seed exists potentially as a tree, and a tree exists in act in relation to the seed. We saw that such a chain could not proceed on infinitely. Aquinas argues that an infinite regress of change would eliminate a first cause... Read more
As both a saint and a doctor of the Church, Thomas Aquinas is arguably the most significant figure in Catholic theology. No less significant are Aquinas’s contributions to philosophy and science. Aquinas’s opus is the Summa Theologica (Summary of Theology). It is a compendium of Catholic theology and philosophy. While the Summa contains several arguments for the existence of God, the most enduring of these are the quinque viae or five ways. The five ways are logical arguments, and, as... Read more
“Three basic questions may be asked of any text: What does it say? What does it mean? How does it impact me?” – Edward L. Hayes. The Bible is not a book. Rather, the Bible is a library containing seventy-three books. Like any library, the books of the Bible are written by several authors writing at different times and for various reasons. In addition, the Bible contains many different genres of literature, such as history, prophecy, and poetry. All of... Read more
“I have no faith in human perfectibility. I think that human exertion will have no appreciable effect upon humanity. Man is now only more active – not more happy – nor more wise, than he was 6000 years ago.” – Edgar Allan Poe Perhaps one of the most intriguing and challenging sayings of Christ is His commandment to be perfect. (Matthew 5:48). As Catholics, we are to follow Christ, but is it possible for human beings to be perfect? This... Read more
“For those whom He foreknew, He [God] also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” – Romans 8:29-30 Predestination refers to the belief that God directs human beings to their supernatural end, either salvation or damnation. That is to say, God has already decided who will be saved and who will be damned. Predestination, therefore, presents a theological dilemma. How does theology in general and Catholicism,... Read more
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