Theism: Examples and Definition - Literature review Example

Theism is the view that God is beyond the world. He created the world, and he is infinite. God acts in this world as a supernatural being, and he does what he chooses. God is beyond the universe and in the universe. Theism is represented by ancient Islam, Judaism, and Christianity (Clement, 15-20).  Some authors have various arguments against theism. One of the authors who argue along this line is Russel. He states that it is impossible to know whether God exists (Mackie, 86). Through his reasoning, it implies that God does not exist.

He argues that some people believe in life after death. Those who die pure will have a new life in the after-death world; they are the ones to know if God exists or not (Joshua, 77-80). This reasoning pastes a clear thought of God is non-existent. He argues that every truth is not known, thus, no reason to believe God as possessing the supernatural and omniscient powers. He argues that without truth, faith does not convince him that there existent a being who designed others in this world Clement, 182-190).

Russel says that since no-one has risen from death to prove the idea of life-after-death, objects in this world were meant to exist without the control of any supernatural being. He says that life has a meaning, but one finds himself in this world by fate (Clement, 156-158). He argues that those believing in God’s existence have not seen or proved that he exists, thus, the only people with a clear point are those who are against theism. Many authors have had an argument in support of theism and the existence of God as a supernatural being, one of these arguments for theism is discussed in this paper.

Thomas Aquinas argues in favor of theism. He argues that although contingent things exist, they are not omnipresent. This argument supports that God is the only being that is supernatural and omnipresent. So, if everything was contingent, there would be a time at which nothing exists but God’s existence has been there and will be there always. He goes on to argue that, if the world at one was to remain empty, it will remain so forever, but God who is the creator of everything has powers to restore life in the world.

So, if the world was to be empty, nothing was to exist presently, thus, the world is not empty, meaning that some superpower’s work made it to be full of life (Mackie, 116-122). It can be concluded that there is another being that is not contingent, hence, God exists. The other argument for theism by Aquinas is that of objects having properties to be greater or lesser. He argues that; if an object has a property to a lesser extent, then there exists another object that has the property to the maximum possible degree.

This implies that there is an entity that has all properties to the maximum possible degree. This entity represents a supernatural being that has the power to make an object lesser or bigger. This supernatural being is God who exists and has powers than are non-existent to any other object (Joshua, 198-202). Some objects have brains while others do not, they all must have been created by one being who had a brain and creativity to make each look beautiful and all are inter-dependent for their existence.

From all the arguments by Aquinas, one can conclude that God exists. I support Aquinas’ argument that God exists and he is a supernatural being. This is attributed to the fact that even Russel agrees that there is life after death. This implies that with one the pure who are allowed to enter into the after-death world, thus the existence of God. The present world is designed in a complex way, with different races, tribes, various species of animals, and plants among others. This is not the work of an ordinary being, but one who has control of all the things in this world.

The design is marvelous and the way each object in this world inter-related implies that the designer must have had supernatural brains and the highest level of creativity. The proof of his existence is that every human being, no matter the status; rich or poor, dies at a certain point, but those who are still alive agree that God is the one who has created and has the destiny of each on his own hands. Russel’s argument does not conclusively point out that God does not exist, but Aquinas precisely supports his argument for supporting theism.

Thus, I conclude that God is supernatural, exists and he is in control of all the activities ongoing in the world.