Existence of God
Why do Catholics(and Protestants in general) believe that the universe and all life in it was created
by, and is governed by, an all-powerful Spirit Being called God? What actual
proof is there of God's existence and omnipotence?
Catholics believe that the universe is the creation, and the exclusive dominion
, of an infinitely powerful Spirit Being, called God, because the evidence which
points to that conclusion is so overwhelming that there is no room left for even
the slightest vestige of doubt. First there is the evidence of logic. Through
the process of simple mathematical-type reasoning, man inevitably comes face
to face with certain indisputable principles: Everything has a cause; nothing
can bring itself into existence. Obviously there is a long chain of causes in
the universe, but ultimately there must be a first cause, an
uncaused
cause. This uncaused cause we call "God." (The theory of evolution, even if it
could be proved, would not explain the origin of anything; evolution
simply deals
with what may have happened after matter came into existence.) Further,
1)personal creation (man) presupposes a superior Personal Creator, 2)universal
order presupposes a Universal Orderer, 3)cosmic energy presupposes a Cosmic
Energizer, 4)natural law presupposes a Universal Law Maker. Basic principles
of reason such as these explain why so many of the world's leading scientists
are firm believers in God (Louis Pasteur was a devout Catholic).
Then, there is the evidence of divine revelation--on countless
occasions God
has revealed Himself by voice, vision, and apparition (by means which are receptive
to the human senses), and demonstrated His Omnipotence by stupendous, obviously
supernatural miracles. Many of these revelations are a manner of authenticated
historical record. The Scriptures, for example, are full of such accounts; and in
modern times the world has been witness to such Heaven-sent miracles as those at
Fatima (Portugal), Lourdes (France), and St. Anne de Beaupre' (Canada), where the
cured have left a forest of crutches in testimony. (The Lourdes Medical Bureau is
open for examination by any doctor.) In addition, there is the liquefaction of
the blood of St. Januarius which still takes place in Naples, Italy each year on
September 19, his feastday; the incorruption of the bodies of many Catholic saints
(such as St. Bernadette, who died in 1879); and the miraculous Eucharistic Host
of Lanciano, Italy, which has been scientifically proven to be human flesh and
human blood, type AB--to mention only a few of the miracles still on-going in the
20th century, which point to the existence of God.
And lastly there is the evidence of human intuition. Psychologists have long
known that every human being--the atheist included--intuitively seeks
God's help
in times of great calamity, and instinctively pleads for God's mercy when death is
imminent. Hence the renowned Voltaire, who was so eloquent in his denial of God
while he enjoyed health, fame, and fortune, repudiated all his atheistic writings
on his deathbed and frantically sought the ministrations of a Catholic priest.
Nikolai Lenin, as he lay on his deathbed, looked around him and frantically asked
pardon of the tables and chairs in the room. For as hunger for food proclaims the
existence of food, man's intuition hunger for God proclaims the Reality, the
Omnipotence, and the Justice of God. Catholic belief in God, therefore, is purely
and simply an expression of intellectual sanity.
Excerpted from "The Catholic Church has the Answer." by P. Whitcombe