Belief: Does God Exist - Essay Example

My family gave me a moral code by which to live by which included the potential outcomes from a judgmental God. This vision of a more wrathful God led me to pursue new explanations because my personal faith would not allow me to see a supreme being in just one light. I have always felt that my family's viewpoint on God and religion was narrow-minded and needed a more flexible outlook. No information is available which proves God exists, therefore my beliefs are faith-based. This faith is built on an argument from one author who incorporates the lessons of St.

Augustine when saying, "Since God is the highest good, He would not allow evil to exist in His works, unless His omnipotence and goodness were such as to bring good out of evil" (Aquinas, p.87). My faith has always led me to believe that God allows injustice to occur simply for the sake of creating good from immorality and hatred. This faith-based belief is the only solid answer that I can provide about why evil continues to exist in today's society across the world. Otherwise, evil in the world would be random and without any real meaning.

Aquinas' an argument does have a weakness, however, when stating, "man's ultimate happiness consists in the contemplation of truth" (Aquinas, p.87). Looking at society would create a different picture, with societies struggling for material wealth and finance as a first lifestyle priority. For those who dissent against this idea, basic social observation would seem to justify that truth-seeking is much less common as a personal happiness goal. The pursuit of material possessions and wealth make it easy to explain away God's existence because, in order to believe, people in society would have to abandon some of these material goals.

Another author offers, "Custom is our nature. Anyone who grows accustomed to faith believes it, and can no longer help fearing Hell, and believes nothing else" (Pascal, p.153). In deeply traditional family environments, this belief is at the root of spiritual beliefs and acts as the moral and ethical guidance for family members. In my personal life, my faith makes me believe in God's existence because the concepts of Heaven and Hell have been beliefs which have kept societies under a moral and ethical code.

My belief is that only God could have come up with this method of keeping people from harming one another with the idea that they would either be punished or rewarded based on how they chose to live their lives.However, a weakness exists in the author's argument when stating, "If you win, you win everything. If you lose, you lose nothing. Do not hesitate then: Wager that he does exist" (Pascal, p.151). This is a faith-based belief where the outcomes of not believing in God has more consequences than trying to believe.

The argument is weak because it does not support that God exists using solid evidence by which to reason.