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The evolution of a Democrat to a Republican
Part of my political conversion from Democrat to Republican has to do with my religious values. I am not saying Democrats cannot also have religious beliefs, but religious views and values will always give one a tendentious political outlook of how the world should be. We know that in many ways, Jesus was a socialist, but my religious values coupled with my knowledge of history and finance is the reason I was a Democrat in my younger years, but now am a Republican. My beliefs were also, in part, formed by the teachings of my Dad. I was raised a Catholic but later I converted to a non-denominational evangelical belief system because I felt the Catholic church could not square with portions of scripture. I was married in the Catholic church in Nicaragua and I am glad for it because of its rich tradition. Even though my parents were more driven by faith, and not too concerned with facts, I always wanted to see the proof, similar to Thomas in the scriptures who needed to see Jesus' scars before he would believe. That is why I always remember my father's talks about St. Thomas Aquinas (1224-1274), a Dominican priest, theologian and philosopher. He is considered one of the greatest Christian philosophers that ever lived. From my studies, I have come to the conclusion there is ample proof of the existence of God even though faith is still required. In Aquinas' Summa Theologiae, he gives his five reasons for the existence of God.
First Way: The Argument From Motion St. Thomas Aquinas, studying the works of the Greek philsopher Aristotle, concluded from common observation that an object that is in motion (e.g. the planets, a rolling stone) is put in motion by some other object or force. From this, Aquinas believes that ultimately there must have been an UNMOVED MOVER (GOD) who first put things in motion. Follow the agrument this way: 1) Nothing can move itself. 2) If every object in motion had a mover, then the first object in motion needed a mover. 3) This first mover is the Unmoved Mover, called God.Second Way: Causation Of Existence This Way deals with the issue of existence. Aquinas concluded that common sense observation tells us that no object creates itself. In other words, some previous object had to create it. Aquinas believed that ultimately there must have been an UNCAUSED FIRST CAUSE (GOD) who began the chain of existence for all things. Follow the agrument this way: 1) There exists things that are caused (created) by other things. 2) Nothing can be the cause of itself (nothing can create itself.) 3) There can not be an endless string of objects causing other objects to exist. 4) Therefore, ther must be an uncaused first cause calledGod.
Third Way: Contingent and Neccessary Objects This Way defines two types of objects in the universe: contingent beings and necessary beings. A contingent being is an object that can not exist without a necessary being causing its existence. Aquinas believed that the existence of contingent beings would ultimately neccesitate a being which must exist for all of the contingent beings to exist. This being, called a necessary being, is what we call God. Follow the argument this way: 1) Contingent beings are caused. 2) Not every being can be contingent. 3) There must exist a being which is necessary to cause contingent beings. 4) This necessary being is God.
Fourth Way: The Agrument From Degrees And Perfection St. Thomas formulated this Way from a very interesting observation about the qualities of things. For example one may say that of two marble scultures one is more beautiful than the other. So for these two objects, one has a greater degree of beauty than the next. This is referred to as degrees or gradation of a quality. From this fact Aquinas concluded that for any given quality (e.g. goodness, beauty, knowledge) there must be an perfect standard by which all such qualities are measured. These perfections are contained in God.
Fifth Way: The Agrument From Intelligent Design The final Way that St. Thomas Aquinas speaks of has to do with the observable universe and the order of nature. Aquinas states that common sense tells us that the universe works in such a way, that one can conclude that is was designed by an intelligent designer, God. In other words, all physical laws and the order of nature and life were designed and ordered by God, the intellgent designer
. "The truth of the Christian faith...surpasses the capacity of reason, nevertheless that truth that the human reason is naturally endowed to know can not be opposed to the truth of the Christian faith "
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Mark,
These proofs suffice for you because you have faith; they are insufficient to me because I do not. In the end, it is the question of faith that is central -- all the rest is added on.
Faith is inherently subjective -- a chosen belief in something for which there is no satisfactory evidence. You can provide reasoning but ultimately at the bottom is an untestable premise that God exists.
Given this, how ought we to regard one another? It seems reasonable to me that my unbelief and your belief are equally subjective, and that we may either choose to dispute the point or agree to disagree, respectfully.
My preference would be to respectfully disagree, but I find that many believers wish me to respect their beliefs but do not themselves reciprocate.
My hope is that our public lives as citizens will not be limited by the beliefs of our neighbors; my hope is that our restraint will permit us to see past our differences to discover that which we hold in common.
Neil
1/18/05 8:12 AM