there are many a people who believe that a god exists and has a plan for us even
though nobody knows what those plans are (one aptly named priincess... hahaha)
then there are some who don't (like me) i live my life on "go with the
flow" among many other things. so on that aspect, do i not live my life
according to god's plan? even though it's stated differently and i don't believe
in the christian god, do i not follow exactly what the bible says via other
christians tell us to do: leave it to god and he'll show us the way? forget the
part about having christ and god in my life, that's not the main topic or point
of this discussion. so am i right or not?
Hey oudorobou, maybe its better if we give this a rest. I really doubt we are
going to change the opinions of anyone regarding religion on this board.
Christianity survived the collapse of the Roman Empire (Well, reached whole new
levels of influence during it) and has continued since. Religious people say its
because its God's true religion, Nietzsche said it was because Christianity was
a filthy cancer which attracted the damned, the retarded and the pariah castes
which allowed its survival.
As we've seen from scientific advances and even Christian museums in America
finding ways to collaborate dinosaurs with Adam and Eve, Christianity has moved
from a philosophy to a corporate entity intent on dominating nearly every aspect
of life. Its flexibility is evidence of its readiness to adapt and thus enables
it to continue its grasp on its followers.
I don't really care much for Gods either but I think its best if we call off any
more of these unwarranted arguments; we're only going to get the same answers
over and over again.
I was promised salvation and rewards if I was loyal and pious to God. But after
years of turning the other cheek and hopeless praying, I realized God was dead
and a better master to serve would be myself.
There were so many things wrong with the religion: The emphasis on pain,
suffering and worship of a man crucified to a cross suffering terrible agony
were the first things to plant doubt in my mind.
The next things were the intolerance, the uncompromising zeal and even prejudice
towards non believers. But what finally got me was when a Priest condemned all
atheists to hell. My father is an atheist and a good man at that; Any man who
condemns solely on the basis of belief in some divine being rather than the
goodness of a person's heart or their deeds does not have my respect.
Religion is now little more than an imperialistic entity left over from the
archaic ages.
Quote: i live my life on "go
with the flow" among many other things. so on that aspect, do i not live my
life according to god's plan?
well, have u done everything
God asks like shown in the Bible?
Well, let's see, shan't we?
"Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do
all your work, but the seventh is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you
shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant,
nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your
gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all
that is in them, and rested the seventeh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the
sabbath day and hallowed it." (Exodus 20:8-11)
Quote: "Remember the Sabbath
day and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the
seventh is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you,
nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant,
nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the
Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and
rested the seventeh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and hallowed
it." (Exodus 20:8-11)
Yeah right.
no matter what time/day we must worship God. the New
Testament were created to perfected the Old Testament, so if u want 2 read
Bible, read the New Testament 1st
Quote: "Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. Six
days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh is the Sabbath of the
Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter,
nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your
stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and
the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day.
Therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it." (Exodus
20:8-11)
Yeah right.
no matter what time/day we must worship God. the New
Testament were created to perfected the Old Testament, so if u want 2 read
Bible, read the New Testament 1st
I'm not talkin' 'bout worshippin whatever deity you have in mind.
I'm talking about the commandment herein: you must - MUST - do no work on the
Sabbath, not you, nor your parents, nor anybody else in your household, nor even
a guy as unrelated as me.
Under pain of death. Yeah, the loons actually stoned a man to death, who was
seen picking up branches at the Sabbath, under God's express dictation.
as i said that the Old Testament isnt perfect yet, then God made the new one.
the loons actually stoned a man to death? which part of the Bible wrote this
one?
You have free will to choose what path you want to follow. Its your
life.
Me personally, I'm a christian... lutheran to be exact. I try to do what I can
to keep God and myself content. I know that based on my beliefs, I must follow
the Bible and its teaching. I try to do that, but I believe that "all fall
short the glory of God." I think God has a plan for all of us and we just
don't know it yet. To me, that's okay. I'm fine with it.
Anyways, so I believe that we have free will and we can choose what we want to
do with our lives. Its that easy. If you want to believe in religion, its your
choice... same as deciding to be an athiest or a humanist... or anything. Its
choice. I don't believe that anything should be forced upon another though. I'm
against that. I'd like people to believe how I do, but if they don't... again,
its their choice. I think people just need more understanding of others and
their feelings. Example: Why one person believes in their God or why someone
doesn't. If we'd all just understand other's points of view and be tolerant of
them, perhaps we'd get along better? If not that, (in general) we (as a whole
human race) would understand why other peoples hate others so much.
Quote by priincessas i said that the
Old Testament isnt perfect yet, then God made the new one. the loons actually
stoned a man to death? which part of the Bible wrote this
one?
The loons I mention here are the Jews, who, too observant (or too fearful?) of
their murderous deity, stoned the poor harmless guy to death. Go to Numbers
15.
On what criterion do you say that the Old Testament isn't perfect, anyhow?
I've always thought that the whole "it's all part of God's plan" is
just kind of a cop out. Just like "it happens for a reason." I was hit
by a drunk driver and paralyzed... but it happened for a reason. I lost my job
and I'm on the verge of bankruptcy... but it happened for a reason. My wife was
cheating on me and now we're about to go through a messy divorce... but it's all
part of the divine plan.
Besides that, it just seems like a license to throw your hands up in the air and
say "it ain't my fault, it's part of the plan." I have free will and I
have the power to do what I want... when I want. I passed a hard test, not
because of a god, but because I studied hard. I got through basic training, not
by the divine power of a god, but hard work. Take away my accomplishments in
life and give them to a god, and I'm going to find myself extremely
depressed.
Oh and FYI, I just had a conversation with God and he says he really hates when
people use "u" in place of "you". He says it's lazy and does
not give YOU the free will to do it. Come on, it's serious conversation/debate,
not the chat lounge's latest game.
Quote: OK - this time, I do not
understand you; your first statement contradicts your
second.
u'd get both of them.
Quote: when I want. I passed a hard
test, not because of a god, but because I studied hard.
right. but u arent alone, God helps u on it. like what? with the smart brains He
gave to u, or maybe voices behind u, telling that u need to calm down if u want
a good result, something like that^^
Quote: and I'm going to find myself
extremely depressed.
n that's why He gives u the Bible to
learn passion, love, honesty, ...etc, including, self-controlled
Wait, hold on a second... you can't just take a snippet of a sentence and then
reply to that. To only take "and I'm going to find myself extremely
depressed" and say that's what the bible for is a crock. I said if you take
away all my accomplishments in life and give them to God, I am going to be
depressed. Now taking my ENTIRE sentence into context, you ultimately said he
get's credit for it and all I get is the bible to heal my wounds? Doesn't that
come off a bit self-centered and dare I say vain? I read that much like
"Good job on that test, but seriously that was all me. But to make you feel
better, read this book about all the awesome things I've done."
According to the bible God has a plan for you and he knows the date of your
birth and death. If this is true God plans all rapes that result in
pregnancy/birth and all murders. Somebody might so but God doesn't set rapes and
murders up it's Satan's doing. That may very well be true but your God knows it
will happen and does nothing to help. So i ask you do you really want to believe
in a God that does nothing to prevent 2 of the worst crimes possible?
PS i'm paraphrasing something off of youtube.
The medieval understanding of God, which St. Thomas Aquinas espoused, does not
allow for doubting his existence. The proof that follows is a paraphrasing of
the Angelic Doctor's many writings that dealt with this subject. It proves the
existence of a being that is one, immutable, eternal, infinite, omniscient, and
omnipotent:
Let's start by taking a position of radical doubt. Suppose for a moment that you
are not really a human being with an actual body. In reality, you are nothing
more than a brain floating in a vat of fluids, with electrodes attached to
various parts of your exterior that allow scientists or machines to manipulate
you into thinking that what you perceive is actually there, when in fact it is
nothing more than an imaginary world. Right now, they are making you think that
you are reading this when in fact you are not.
From this point of extreme skepticism, we will prove beyond all possible doubt
that a God-like being exists.
1. One cannot deny one's own existence.
Cogito, ergo sum. Even if you're just a brain in a vat, your own existence can
be verified simply by the fact that you perceive, that is, you see, hear, smell,
taste and touch things. Whether or not your perceptions are accurate is another
question, but even if you doubt your own existence, you must exist, for it is
impossible for a non-existent thing to doubt. In fact, the very act of doubting
proves that you exist. Therefore, denying your own existence is a contradiction
in terms. I can deny yours and you can deny mine, but I can't deny mine, nor can
you deny yours.
2. There is at least one thing that exists.
It is possible for you to be deceived in your perception. In fact, it's
conceivable that every one of your perceptions is a delusion. But even if that
is the case, even if nothing you think exists actually exists, you still must
exist.
Entity is the word we have for anything that exists. You exist, so you are an
entity.
3. There is such a thing as existence.
You can know with certainty that there is at least one entity, at least one
thing of which the term existence can be predicated. If there were no such thing
as existence, nothing would exist, not even you. But, as we have seen already,
that is impossible as long as you can perceive.
As Aquinas would say, there must be an "act of being" in which all
entities participate. This act of being must itself exist; it must be an entity.
Thomas calls this entity esse, which is Latin for "to be" or "to
exist."
4. The nature of esse is actuality.
Now that we have established that esse is an entity, we must ask: What is the
nature of this entity? What is its definition?
To answer these questions, we must consider existence by itself, apart from
everything else.
What do we mean when we say that something exists? We mean that it is actual.
For example, an acorn is actually an acorn and potentially a tree. A tree is
actually a tree and potentially lumber. Lumber is actually lumber and
potentially a desk. A desk is actually a desk and potentially firewood. Firewood
is actually firewood and potentially ashes.
In other words, a thing is actually what it is right now; it is potentially what
it might be in the future.
Now when we say that something exists, we normally refer to actuality rather
than potentiality. For instance, if I held up an egg and said, "This egg
exists," you would understand me, because what I am saying is "This
egg is actual" or "This is actually an egg." But if I held up the
egg and said, "This chicken exists," that would not make sense,
because even though the egg is potentially a chicken (that is, the chicken
exists potentially), the concept of existence applies primarily to the egg's
actual state and only secondarily to its potential state.
Now potentiality is still a form of existence, but we realize that it is, in
some sense, inferior to actuality. In other words, potentiality is a
"shade" of existence the same way that pink is a shade of red. Just as
we would say that pink lemonade is red but not in the same way that Hawaiian
punch is red, so we say that potentiality exists but not as much as actuality
does. Actuality is the fullness of existence.
So, again, taking the brain-in-a-vat hypothesis, you know that you are actual,
even if nothing else you perceive exists.
5. Esse is nothing but pure actuality.
Potentiality is a privation of actuality. That is, it is not a thing in itself
but the absence of something. In the same way, darkness is not a substance
itself but the absence (or privation) of light.
Now a thing considered in itself contains nothing but its fullness. The nature
(or essence) of light consists of nothing but light itself; it does not contain
darkness. Therefore, the essence of esse contains nothing but its fullness,
actuality. There is no potentiality in the nature of esse. Thus, the essence of
esse is pure actuality, just as the essence of light is pure light.
Thomas argues that all entities participate in esse insofar as they are actual.
Therefore, that in which they participate, esse, must be actual. In fact, it
cannot admit of any potentiality.
6. Esse not only does exist but must exist.
Existence itself is pure actuality, with no potentiality in it. This means that
the essence of existence is nothing other than existence. Existence is its own
essence.
From this it follows that esse itself must exist, for if it did not, it would
violate its own essence, which is impossible.
7. Esse is distinct from everything else that exists.
You can know from step 1 that you exist, and we know from step 3 that esse
exists. But we also know that the two are not identical.
Let's say you're just a brain in a vat, that everything you perceive is an
illusion. You can still recognize that, while you are actual in some ways, you
are potential in other ways. You actually perceive that you're reading this
article right now; youâ??re potentially perceiving something else. You are
actually existing right now; you potentially exist five minutes from now.
Moreover, anything else that may exist has the same attribute: Its essence is
composed of both actuality and potentiality.
But, as we saw in step 5, esse is nothing but pure actuality. Thus, it must be
distinct from any other entity.
8. Esse must be one.
If there were more than one esse, then there would be distinctions among them.
But distinctions imply limitations, and limitations imply potentiality. But
since esse is pure actuality, it has no limitations, which means there is no
distinction in esse. Therefore, there is only one esse.
9. Esse must be immutable.
Change involves potentiality. In order for something to change, it must first
have the potential to change; it must have a potentiality that is to be
actualized. But since esse is purely actual, it has no potential to change.
Therefore, esse is unchanging.
10. Esse must be eternal.
Time is nothing but the passing of the future into the present into the past. It
is the changing of the not-yet into the now into the no-longer. But because esse
does not change, it does not change from the future to the present to the past.
It must be outside the realm of time, which means that there is no future,
present, or past with esse. In other words, esse is non-temporal, or
eternal.
11. Esse must be infinite.
Space is nothing but the changing of the over-here to the over-there. Anything
that is actually here is potentially there. But because esse is immutable, it
must be outside the realm of space. It has no spatial constraints, that is, esse
is infinite.
12. Esse must be omniscient.
Even if you're a brain in a vat, you can perceive that you have the capacity to
know. Because you are only partly actual, and esse is purely actual, esse must
know all there is to know. That is, esse is all-knowing, or omniscient.
13. Esse must be omnipotent.
You can perceive that you have the capacity to do some things that are logically
possible. Since you are only partly actual, and esse is purely actual, esse must
be able to do all things that are logically possible. That is, esse is
all-powerful, or omnipotent.
We have thus proven the existence of a being (esse) that not only does exist but
must exist and is one, unchanging, eternal, infinite, omniscient, and
omnipotent. This matches our definition of God that we stated at the
beginning.
We can conclude, then, that even if all of your sense perceptions are false,
even if you are nothing but a brain in a vat being manipulated into believing
that you are reading this article right now when in fact you are not, there are
two things you can know with absolute, 100 percent certainty: (1) You exist, and
(2) God exists.
Whose God? What Religion worships him? There is no way to prove that, therefore
from here all we've got is faith.
The God of Christianity supposedly has a plan for everything. If this is the God
you choice to believe in, and if all the good and evil in this world are a part
of that plan, then we only have the right argue so far as any created thing has
the right to argue with its creator. This is to say, no right at all. The amount
of arrogance that is needed to think one is wiser that an infinitely wise and
all-knowing being is immense.
These are my thoughts; take them as you will, I hope that they're useful to you
and I hope you take the time to understand. Peace be with you all and have a
good day
there are many a people who believe that a god exists and has a plan for us even though nobody knows what those plans are (one aptly named priincess... hahaha) then there are some who don't (like me) i live my life on "go with the flow" among many other things. so on that aspect, do i not live my life according to god's plan? even though it's stated differently and i don't believe in the christian god, do i not follow exactly what the bible says via other christians tell us to do: leave it to god and he'll show us the way? forget the part about having christ and god in my life, that's not the main topic or point of this discussion. so am i right or not?
Hey oudorobou, maybe its better if we give this a rest. I really doubt we are going to change the opinions of anyone regarding religion on this board. Christianity survived the collapse of the Roman Empire (Well, reached whole new levels of influence during it) and has continued since. Religious people say its because its God's true religion, Nietzsche said it was because Christianity was a filthy cancer which attracted the damned, the retarded and the pariah castes which allowed its survival.
As we've seen from scientific advances and even Christian museums in America finding ways to collaborate dinosaurs with Adam and Eve, Christianity has moved from a philosophy to a corporate entity intent on dominating nearly every aspect of life. Its flexibility is evidence of its readiness to adapt and thus enables it to continue its grasp on its followers.
I don't really care much for Gods either but I think its best if we call off any more of these unwarranted arguments; we're only going to get the same answers over and over again.
yeah. no doubts about it. same people, same words, same whatever. but who cares. i'm just here to kill time. hahaha
So, let's start. Why do you have no belief in Gods/ or gave up in a God?
I'm a former Roman Catholic.
The piliing evidence against God's existence, the brutality of most of God's laws, and the brutal application of those laws.
I too am a former Roman Catholic.
I was promised salvation and rewards if I was loyal and pious to God. But after years of turning the other cheek and hopeless praying, I realized God was dead and a better master to serve would be myself.
There were so many things wrong with the religion: The emphasis on pain, suffering and worship of a man crucified to a cross suffering terrible agony were the first things to plant doubt in my mind.
The next things were the intolerance, the uncompromising zeal and even prejudice towards non believers. But what finally got me was when a Priest condemned all atheists to hell. My father is an atheist and a good man at that; Any man who condemns solely on the basis of belief in some divine being rather than the goodness of a person's heart or their deeds does not have my respect.
Religion is now little more than an imperialistic entity left over from the archaic ages.
heyy!
well, have u done everything God asks like shown in the Bible?
for people who believe only. well, like yesterday i needed help then i prayed, this morning i've already had the answer X) thx God
Well, let's see, shan't we?
"Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventeh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it." (Exodus 20:8-11)
Yeah right.
no matter what time/day we must worship God. the New Testament were created to perfected the Old Testament, so if u want 2 read Bible, read the New Testament 1st
I'm not talkin' 'bout worshippin whatever deity you have in mind.
I'm talking about the commandment herein: you must - MUST - do no work on the Sabbath, not you, nor your parents, nor anybody else in your household, nor even a guy as unrelated as me.
Under pain of death. Yeah, the loons actually stoned a man to death, who was seen picking up branches at the Sabbath, under God's express dictation.
Yeah RIGHT!
as i said that the Old Testament isnt perfect yet, then God made the new one. the loons actually stoned a man to death? which part of the Bible wrote this one?
You have free will to choose what path you want to follow. Its your life.
Me personally, I'm a christian... lutheran to be exact. I try to do what I can to keep God and myself content. I know that based on my beliefs, I must follow the Bible and its teaching. I try to do that, but I believe that "all fall short the glory of God." I think God has a plan for all of us and we just don't know it yet. To me, that's okay. I'm fine with it.
Anyways, so I believe that we have free will and we can choose what we want to do with our lives. Its that easy. If you want to believe in religion, its your choice... same as deciding to be an athiest or a humanist... or anything. Its choice. I don't believe that anything should be forced upon another though. I'm against that. I'd like people to believe how I do, but if they don't... again, its their choice. I think people just need more understanding of others and their feelings. Example: Why one person believes in their God or why someone doesn't. If we'd all just understand other's points of view and be tolerant of them, perhaps we'd get along better? If not that, (in general) we (as a whole human race) would understand why other peoples hate others so much.
I believe there is no plan, only us and the emptiness of space. So, I live my life as I please, or as society wants me to at least
.
He gives u free will, but u must know every consequences of ur choices. as He's our Father, actually we're His servant n it's our duty to serve Him.
The loons I mention here are the Jews, who, too observant (or too fearful?) of their murderous deity, stoned the poor harmless guy to death. Go to Numbers 15.
On what criterion do you say that the Old Testament isn't perfect, anyhow?
Old Testament isn't perfect, as someone says in the Old testament, i forgot who
well bcoz they did as what God said, of course there were prices for it. but no one can stone or kill anyone so there will be punishment
Who?
OK - this time, I do not understand you; your first statement contradicts your second.
I've always thought that the whole "it's all part of God's plan" is just kind of a cop out. Just like "it happens for a reason." I was hit by a drunk driver and paralyzed... but it happened for a reason. I lost my job and I'm on the verge of bankruptcy... but it happened for a reason. My wife was cheating on me and now we're about to go through a messy divorce... but it's all part of the divine plan.
Besides that, it just seems like a license to throw your hands up in the air and say "it ain't my fault, it's part of the plan." I have free will and I have the power to do what I want... when I want. I passed a hard test, not because of a god, but because I studied hard. I got through basic training, not by the divine power of a god, but hard work. Take away my accomplishments in life and give them to a god, and I'm going to find myself extremely depressed.
Oh and FYI, I just had a conversation with God and he says he really hates when people use "u" in place of "you". He says it's lazy and does not give YOU the free will to do it. Come on, it's serious conversation/debate, not the chat lounge's latest game.
Who?= a prophet
u'd get both of them.
right. but u arent alone, God helps u on it. like what? with the smart brains He gave to u, or maybe voices behind u, telling that u need to calm down if u want a good result, something like that^^
n that's why He gives u the Bible to learn passion, love, honesty, ...etc, including, self-controlled
Wait, hold on a second... you can't just take a snippet of a sentence and then reply to that. To only take "and I'm going to find myself extremely depressed" and say that's what the bible for is a crock. I said if you take away all my accomplishments in life and give them to God, I am going to be depressed. Now taking my ENTIRE sentence into context, you ultimately said he get's credit for it and all I get is the bible to heal my wounds? Doesn't that come off a bit self-centered and dare I say vain? I read that much like "Good job on that test, but seriously that was all me. But to make you feel better, read this book about all the awesome things I've done."
Name him. Put something of an identity to him (they made sure there would be no prophetesses, huh?).
According to the bible God has a plan for you and he knows the date of your birth and death. If this is true God plans all rapes that result in pregnancy/birth and all murders. Somebody might so but God doesn't set rapes and murders up it's Satan's doing. That may very well be true but your God knows it will happen and does nothing to help. So i ask you do you really want to believe in a God that does nothing to prevent 2 of the worst crimes possible?
PS i'm paraphrasing something off of youtube.
The medieval understanding of God, which St. Thomas Aquinas espoused, does not allow for doubting his existence. The proof that follows is a paraphrasing of the Angelic Doctor's many writings that dealt with this subject. It proves the existence of a being that is one, immutable, eternal, infinite, omniscient, and omnipotent:
Let's start by taking a position of radical doubt. Suppose for a moment that you are not really a human being with an actual body. In reality, you are nothing more than a brain floating in a vat of fluids, with electrodes attached to various parts of your exterior that allow scientists or machines to manipulate you into thinking that what you perceive is actually there, when in fact it is nothing more than an imaginary world. Right now, they are making you think that you are reading this when in fact you are not.
From this point of extreme skepticism, we will prove beyond all possible doubt that a God-like being exists.
1. One cannot deny one's own existence.
Cogito, ergo sum. Even if you're just a brain in a vat, your own existence can be verified simply by the fact that you perceive, that is, you see, hear, smell, taste and touch things. Whether or not your perceptions are accurate is another question, but even if you doubt your own existence, you must exist, for it is impossible for a non-existent thing to doubt. In fact, the very act of doubting proves that you exist. Therefore, denying your own existence is a contradiction in terms. I can deny yours and you can deny mine, but I can't deny mine, nor can you deny yours.
2. There is at least one thing that exists.
It is possible for you to be deceived in your perception. In fact, it's conceivable that every one of your perceptions is a delusion. But even if that is the case, even if nothing you think exists actually exists, you still must exist.
Entity is the word we have for anything that exists. You exist, so you are an entity.
3. There is such a thing as existence.
You can know with certainty that there is at least one entity, at least one thing of which the term existence can be predicated. If there were no such thing as existence, nothing would exist, not even you. But, as we have seen already, that is impossible as long as you can perceive.
As Aquinas would say, there must be an "act of being" in which all entities participate. This act of being must itself exist; it must be an entity. Thomas calls this entity esse, which is Latin for "to be" or "to exist."
4. The nature of esse is actuality.
Now that we have established that esse is an entity, we must ask: What is the nature of this entity? What is its definition?
To answer these questions, we must consider existence by itself, apart from everything else.
What do we mean when we say that something exists? We mean that it is actual. For example, an acorn is actually an acorn and potentially a tree. A tree is actually a tree and potentially lumber. Lumber is actually lumber and potentially a desk. A desk is actually a desk and potentially firewood. Firewood is actually firewood and potentially ashes.
In other words, a thing is actually what it is right now; it is potentially what it might be in the future.
Now when we say that something exists, we normally refer to actuality rather than potentiality. For instance, if I held up an egg and said, "This egg exists," you would understand me, because what I am saying is "This egg is actual" or "This is actually an egg." But if I held up the egg and said, "This chicken exists," that would not make sense, because even though the egg is potentially a chicken (that is, the chicken exists potentially), the concept of existence applies primarily to the egg's actual state and only secondarily to its potential state.
Now potentiality is still a form of existence, but we realize that it is, in some sense, inferior to actuality. In other words, potentiality is a "shade" of existence the same way that pink is a shade of red. Just as we would say that pink lemonade is red but not in the same way that Hawaiian punch is red, so we say that potentiality exists but not as much as actuality does. Actuality is the fullness of existence.
So, again, taking the brain-in-a-vat hypothesis, you know that you are actual, even if nothing else you perceive exists.
5. Esse is nothing but pure actuality.
Potentiality is a privation of actuality. That is, it is not a thing in itself but the absence of something. In the same way, darkness is not a substance itself but the absence (or privation) of light.
Now a thing considered in itself contains nothing but its fullness. The nature (or essence) of light consists of nothing but light itself; it does not contain darkness. Therefore, the essence of esse contains nothing but its fullness, actuality. There is no potentiality in the nature of esse. Thus, the essence of esse is pure actuality, just as the essence of light is pure light.
Thomas argues that all entities participate in esse insofar as they are actual. Therefore, that in which they participate, esse, must be actual. In fact, it cannot admit of any potentiality.
6. Esse not only does exist but must exist.
Existence itself is pure actuality, with no potentiality in it. This means that the essence of existence is nothing other than existence. Existence is its own essence.
From this it follows that esse itself must exist, for if it did not, it would violate its own essence, which is impossible.
7. Esse is distinct from everything else that exists.
You can know from step 1 that you exist, and we know from step 3 that esse exists. But we also know that the two are not identical.
Let's say you're just a brain in a vat, that everything you perceive is an illusion. You can still recognize that, while you are actual in some ways, you are potential in other ways. You actually perceive that you're reading this article right now; youâ??re potentially perceiving something else. You are actually existing right now; you potentially exist five minutes from now. Moreover, anything else that may exist has the same attribute: Its essence is composed of both actuality and potentiality.
But, as we saw in step 5, esse is nothing but pure actuality. Thus, it must be distinct from any other entity.
8. Esse must be one.
If there were more than one esse, then there would be distinctions among them. But distinctions imply limitations, and limitations imply potentiality. But since esse is pure actuality, it has no limitations, which means there is no distinction in esse. Therefore, there is only one esse.
9. Esse must be immutable.
Change involves potentiality. In order for something to change, it must first have the potential to change; it must have a potentiality that is to be actualized. But since esse is purely actual, it has no potential to change. Therefore, esse is unchanging.
10. Esse must be eternal.
Time is nothing but the passing of the future into the present into the past. It is the changing of the not-yet into the now into the no-longer. But because esse does not change, it does not change from the future to the present to the past. It must be outside the realm of time, which means that there is no future, present, or past with esse. In other words, esse is non-temporal, or eternal.
11. Esse must be infinite.
Space is nothing but the changing of the over-here to the over-there. Anything that is actually here is potentially there. But because esse is immutable, it must be outside the realm of space. It has no spatial constraints, that is, esse is infinite.
12. Esse must be omniscient.
Even if you're a brain in a vat, you can perceive that you have the capacity to know. Because you are only partly actual, and esse is purely actual, esse must know all there is to know. That is, esse is all-knowing, or omniscient.
13. Esse must be omnipotent.
You can perceive that you have the capacity to do some things that are logically possible. Since you are only partly actual, and esse is purely actual, esse must be able to do all things that are logically possible. That is, esse is all-powerful, or omnipotent.
We have thus proven the existence of a being (esse) that not only does exist but must exist and is one, unchanging, eternal, infinite, omniscient, and omnipotent. This matches our definition of God that we stated at the beginning.
We can conclude, then, that even if all of your sense perceptions are false, even if you are nothing but a brain in a vat being manipulated into believing that you are reading this article right now when in fact you are not, there are two things you can know with absolute, 100 percent certainty: (1) You exist, and (2) God exists.
Whose God? What Religion worships him? There is no way to prove that, therefore from here all we've got is faith.
The God of Christianity supposedly has a plan for everything. If this is the God you choice to believe in, and if all the good and evil in this world are a part of that plan, then we only have the right argue so far as any created thing has the right to argue with its creator. This is to say, no right at all. The amount of arrogance that is needed to think one is wiser that an infinitely wise and all-knowing being is immense.
These are my thoughts; take them as you will, I hope that they're useful to you and I hope you take the time to understand. Peace be with you all and have a good day
uhm, ehehe
no, u cant heal your wounds if u just read, but; beliefs and also hard works