How do we know if god exists

Essay by EssaySwap ContributorCollege, Undergraduate February 2008

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How do we know that God exists? Throughout history there have always been questions that we as humans are just unable to answer. The questions surrounding the topic of God seem to be ever elusive, just beyond our reach. The human race has made strides to answer these difficult questions. Unfortunately, as with all knowledge we find ourselves asking more difficult questions. The question of God's existence can be considered one of the most difficult questions ever ask by a human being. Attempts have been made on both sides of the argument, but holes in everyone analyzation of this question has left us at a stalemate of sorts. Therefore, we have reached the point of trying more to disprove an argument rather than finding new proof of our own. While disproving an argument is a good thing, it has gotten us nowhere and we have been left without a positive answer to the question.

In a sense, all someone does about the existence of God is split hairs and cause more frustration in their thinking.

But what are the arguments that have been presented? For without these, we are unable to draw conclusions ourselves. Maybe these argument provide adequate proof for some people. As such, we will take a look at some of the more noteworthy argument, on both sides, and briefly analyze them.

First off is the ontological argument. An ontological argument for the existence of God attempts to include the definition of the concept of God the fact that he exists. An example of this would be Anselm's argument. Saint Anselm(1033-1109) was a Benedictine monk in Bec. At that time, Bec was one of the Great centers of learning in Europe. His book Proslogion contains his famous ontological argument. This argument was the first formal proof for the...