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    The document discusses arguments for and against the existence of God. It notes that throughout history, great minds have put forth philosophical proofs for God's existence, such as the cosmological, teleological, ontological, and moral proofs. However, these proofs have also faced challenges and criticisms. For Ethiopian churches specifically, the existence of God has not been questioned as much as debates around God's identity. Younger generations in Ethiopia influenced by postmodernism have started questioning God's existence. The document also outlines three models of how God can be said to act in the world: deism, thomism, and process theology. Overall, the existence of an infinite, supreme being cannot be fully proved by human reasoning alone according to

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    The document discusses arguments for and against the existence of God. It notes that throughout history, great minds have put forth philosophical proofs for God's existence, such as the cosmological, teleological, ontological, and moral proofs. However, these proofs have also faced challenges and criticisms. For Ethiopian churches specifically, the existence of God has not been questioned as much as debates around God's identity. Younger generations in Ethiopia influenced by postmodernism have started questioning God's existence. The document also outlines three models of how God can be said to act in the world: deism, thomism, and process theology. Overall, the existence of an infinite, supreme being cannot be fully proved by human reasoning alone according to

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    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    21 views3 pages

    Does God Exist, Redwan Abdella

    Uploaded by

    Redwan Abdella
    The document discusses arguments for and against the existence of God. It notes that throughout history, great minds have put forth philosophical proofs for God's existence, such as the cosmological, teleological, ontological, and moral proofs. However, these proofs have also faced challenges and criticisms. For Ethiopian churches specifically, the existence of God has not been questioned as much as debates around God's identity. Younger generations in Ethiopia influenced by postmodernism have started questioning God's existence. The document also outlines three models of how God can be said to act in the world: deism, thomism, and process theology. Overall, the existence of an infinite, supreme being cannot be fully proved by human reasoning alone according to

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    of 3

    Does God exist? How?

    Redwan Abdella

    Reflection Paper

    Basics of Systematic Theology (ST 501)

    Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology

    November 5, 2020

    Does God exist? How?

    The ontology of God has been a greatest concern for human beings. Its mot a new thing o

    observe arguments on the existence of God specially on the western world. The greatest minds of
    Redwan Abdella, Does God exist? How? November 5, 2020

    humanity have concerned with this says Hans Kung. Plato and Aristotle to neo-Thomism in a

    neo-Scholastic form, the proof of God have an impressive tradition. For Kant, four classical

    proofs of God are generally distinguished. Cosmological proof of God; God as a first cause.

    Teleological proof of God; God as a world orderer and world creator, likewise a supreme goal, a

    final goal. Ontological proof of God; God as the most perfect and supreme being. Moral proof of

    God; God as condition of the possibility of the highest good.1

    However, arguments against the proof of God have been raised. “Can a proof prove God?” “Can

    God still be God in a proof?” “Can man’s reason reach so far?” Regarding the Cosmological

    proof of God, it lacks to be logically demonstrable have been challenged. In case of Teleological

    proof of God, supreme goal can not be proved rationally in a universally convincing way. Where

    as Ontological proof of God, it cannot be proved that such a being actually exists. 2

    For Ethiopian churches, argument on the existence of God has not been a challenge. Having the

    fact that Christianity has a two-millennium history in Ethiopia, we don’t actually observe

    questions on the existence of God rather on the identity of God. That means the arguments in

    Ethiopian context is whether the Christian belief of the identity if God is right or the Islamic one.

    Even though this has been the case, with a post-modernism influence, questions on the existence

    of God has been observed recently in the younger generation. Having a young generation which

    sees questioning the existence of God (“rationality”) as a modernism, the Ethiopian church

    awaits a significant challenge in the future.

    McGrath introduces us three models on how God can be said to be present and active in the

    world. Deism; God acts through the law nature, omits the providence of God. Thomism; God

    acts through secondary causes, God as “unmoved mover.” And Process Theology; God acts
    1
    Hans Kung, Does God Exist? An answer for today (New York: Crossroad publishing company, 1980), 530-531
    2
    Hans Kung, Does God Exist? 531-535

    1|Page
    Redwan Abdella, Does God exist? How? November 5, 2020

    through persuasion, God is affected and influenced by the world. McGrath tells us that the

    Christian understanding of the matter is rich and complementary.3

    Throughout the history theists have been developing an argument to prove the existence of God.

    Similarly, atheists have been denying the existence of aa supreme being. Developed arguments

    has their own strength and weakness for the reason that an existence of a supreme and infinite

    being cannot be rationally proved by a finite human reasoning. I believe that the human

    definition of existence is so narrow that it won’t fit for a supreme and infinite being. For the

    holly Bible, the existence of God is not an issue. The Bible states that God is the creator and

    sustainer of the universe (Gen. 1:1, Heb. 1: 1-3). God is active and present throughout human

    history as described in the Bible.

    3
    Alistere E. McGrath, Christian Theology: An Introduction (United Kingdom: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011), 371-377

    2|Page

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