The Case for the Existence of God - Essay Example

of the essay’s assignment is due: Early Christian Readings St. Patrick, St Augustine and St. Anthonybelieved in God and worshipped Him alone. They lived their lives according to the stipulations of the Bible. The phenomenon of religious experience expresses the existence of God. People experience God in their daily lives therefore, He must exist. The case for the existence of God is the ontological argument which states that ‘God is that greater being than which none can be conceived.’ It can therefore be concluded that God exists and He is all knowing, all powerful, holy and faithful to those that believe in Him (Porter and Danforth, 472).

These early Christians beliefs are at par with the present day beliefs on the existence, holiness, faithfulness and the power of God. The views of the early Christian teachings on evil, the devil and sin based on the teachings of the three saints are obsolete. In religion, the problem lies with explaining the cause and proof of these ideologies. The saints attribute all evil and sin to the devil. St. Anthony states that he envies all what he considered good and holy (Porter and Prince Danforth, 472).

He referred to him as the ‘opponent or the enemy’ who was associated with sins including fornication. They believed that the devil was the cause of all temptations and he targeted those who were staunch believers. According to the early teachings, discipleship was interpreted as living one’s life based on the teachings of Jesus Christ. The disciples were bestowed with the duty of preaching the gospel to many people in accordance to the teachings of Jesus and converting them to Christians through baptism.

Discipleship required a lifestyle of selflessness, continuous hardships and in the case of St. Anthony he experienced physical torture (Russel and Amy, 51). These conditions for discipleship are harsh and not legalistic. In the 21st century there are diverse religious beliefs and early principles including discipleship, brotherhood and sisterhood are slowly fading away. The saints viewed the world as full of evil and attributed this to the devil. The saints were not successful in their mission to convert the world.

The saints were not irresponsible by trying to withdraw from the world. They were trying to take responsibility for all the evil in the world by taking up the burden of fighting against the ‘enemy’ alone (Kelly, 146). They were just attempting to reinforce the already existing Christian values and not creating an alternative model. Though they managed to convert a few individuals through their discipleship lifestyle, what they considered sin or evil became widespread in the world. Christian life is governed by various standards that include faithfulness, prayer and fasting, constant confession, selflessness and commitment to God (Saint Augustine of Hippo and St.

Augustine, 20). These standards are universal and require utmost commitment from all Christians. The life of St. Anthony is a model that can be emulated by all Christians. He lived a life of full commitment to God, minded the poor and had absolute faith in God. It can be observed that the magnitude of intellect and accomplishment minimizes ordinary Christian life. Awareness on different intellectual theories leads to a critical analysis of religion and individuals tend to be more skeptical. These are unreachable models as they are not flexible and are too demanding.

Works Cited Kelly, Joseph F. The World of the Early Christians. Liturgical Press. 144-146. 1997. Porter Darwin & Prince Danforth. Frommers Italy 2007. John Wiley and Sons. 2nd ed. 472- 473.2006. Russel, Michael F. & Wall, Amy. The Everything Christianity Book: A Complete and Easy-To- Follow Guide to Protestant Origins, Beliefs, Practices and Traditions. Everything Books. 50-51. 2004. Saint Augustine of Hippo & St. Augustine. The Confessions of Saint Augustine. Filiquarian Publishing LLC. 20-22. 2008.