JCB
New Member
Hey, I'm new to this forum and I'd like to kick around some ideas. Not looking for a fight and I don't want to go down the rabbit hole of dogmatism, but if you help me sharpen some of my ideas, I would greatly appreciate it. Here's a proof that I accept for the existence of God. It's basically based on rationalism, as I understand it. If you see points of error or need for clarification, please share. Thanks!
Definition - God is the self-sufficient existence of general consistency
Definition - God is the self-sufficient existence of general consistency
- Rational reason assumes all reality is generally consistent (with self and other reality)
- This means all of reality exists in a manner that respects general consistency
- Things exist (eg your thinking about this God proof)
- Things that exist have a nature that is either arbitrary (bounded by something other than itself) or non-arbitrary (bounded only by itself)
- All arbitrary things are ultimately contingent upon some non-arbitrary thing. This is because either
- An arbitrary thing has a finite number of arbitrary things in a chain of causes
- An arbitrary thing has an infinite number of arbitrary things in its chain of causes. This means the thing is defined as the consequence of its infinite chain of causes, thus the thing is equivalent to the infinite chain of causes in a generally consistent reality. This chain is not bounded by anything outside the chain and therefore is non-arbitrary. Thus the thing, which is the chain, is non-arbitrary.
- Since (1) some thing(s) exist, (2) all things are either arbitrary or non-arbitrary, (3) all arbitrary things are contingent upon some non-arbitrary thing, then there must exist some thing that is non-arbitrary.
- God is the non-arbitrary thing that is self sufficient (being non-arbitrary) and generally consistent.