The Perfect Pie: God Transcends Quality Imagine, in front of you, is the most perfect pie that you could ever see. Its roundness is so perfect that you cannot even see a single crease on the pie. However, once it is sliced, the flawless curves have vanished, then you start to wonder, “where did my perfect pie go?” You see that your perfect pie has become a crooked Pacman figure–can you still consider that as a perfect pie? The perfect pie can be analogized with St. Anselm’s Ontological argument; for the pie to remain perfectly circular, the pie should not be sliced. Similarly, anyone knows that the only perfect being one could imagine is God. To say that He’s not existing is as if slicing a portion of that pie and leaving a gap. With that space, it is as if God lacks a quality making him not perfect. For God to be perfect, God must have the quality of existence. Yet, the quality of existence is somehow not believed by many people like Immanuel Kant, a famous philosopher, affirming that existence is not a quality; it should be settled only by observation, not by logic as St. Anselm is proposing. If scientists observe Big Bang Theory’s evidence by finding its cosmic remnants, Catholics can also observe God’s existence by simply looking at each other. Remember that humans are the peak remnant of God’s creation, made by His own image and likeness; humans can simply prove God exists by saying they look like God. Nevertheless, God is beyond quality. Quality is just only in the human mind. These are words just to describe human and worldly things. You can say a mumbo jumbo of words like a square circle, but those qualities will not make any sense because it is mutually exclusive. Speaking of mutually exclusive, the Ontological argument states that the phrase “does not exist” and the word “God” can never be used at the same time, for as the Lord is forever and always perfect, and for Him to be perfect, He has to have the quality of existence. Mere humans describe things using words, but as St. Anselm Said, God is that than which nothing can be thought. No words, no quality, can be thought of just to describe God. The word “existing” is just the way for humans to understand Him. If man created God, human language is sufficient enough to understand him, but the reality is God created man, so human language is inadequate to describe God. In the end, St. Anselm’s Ontological argument is teaching people that imagination and reality combined are greater if they are individually separated; it indicates that a being that exists outside of the mind is greater than one that is just in the imagination. The only difference between the perfect pie and God is that the pie does not exist because you just imagined it, but God does exist because He is perfect– He is in mind and in reality. Yet, no matter how many arguments or analogies scholars will make, people have to remember that this two-palm-sized brain can never fit the true nature and meaning of God. It is only through Him that people can perfectly understand him better. Five Ways of St. Thomas Acquinas Explanation Argument from Motion (God as the Prime Mover) According to the First Law of Physics, an object at rest stays at rest, and an object in motion stays in motion unless acted upon by an unbalanced force. We would not come into this age if someone did not cause a force. And the only being who is powerful enough to move all things and make this universe is no other than a powerful deity, God. So how would that BIG COSMIC BALL from the Big Bang theory have exploded if that cosmic ball was only by itself billions of years ago? That would be contradicting with the First Law of Physics because a force is needed for something to move or even explode. With that said, God is the primary mover. The First mover, the creator of all things. If you are wondering who created God, remember that it is impossible: First, it will create an infinite loop if you think about that. And second, to say that there is something before the First Mover is faulty. As God is perfect, He is the Prime Mover. Argument from an Efficient Cause (God as Uncaused Cause) From the word Prime, meaning First, it is no wonder why God is Called an Uncaused Cause because He is the First Mover. If you were to think that God is caused by another entity then meaning there is something stronger and better than God, which contradicts the belief that God is perfect. And if He is perfect, then he should be the strongest, he should be the cause of all causes. So for an atheist to say that the cosmic ball causes itself to explode is impossible because it would exist prior to itself which is not sense because science said that before the Big Bang there is no space and time. Also, if you are still asking who created God, He did not create Himself because that would be against St. Thomas’ second argument. Just remember that God has already been there for no time. What I mean is God is already there since the beginning as he is beyond time; He is the FIRST mover and the UNCAUSED cause. Argument from Necessity and Contingency (God as the Necessary Being) There was one time on Earth that everything was contingent or made by chance. There’s a time that I did not exist, as well as my parents up to their ancestors. But to say that everything is contingent or accidental will not make sense because there will be one time that nothing could have existed. If all things are contingent then there will be the time that the massive energy ball from the Big Bang theory did not even come into existence, meaning the universe will not even be made. Always remember there is one that is not contingent, one that needs to exist, and that is God. So that is why He is necessary for us to come into being; God is a Necessary Being. Argument from the degrees of perfection in Being (God as the Most Perfect Being) I have already been saying that God is Perfect for the first two arguments. And for you to further understand it. I’ll explain this to you. Remember that NOBODY’S PERFECT, and it works out even in non-living things. Yet, there are things that have more good qualities than others. In this world, it is reasonable to say that humans are close enough to the perfect being. But how could you say something is perfect if there is no standard? To say that something is nearly perfect, there should be something that exists to become a standard. That standard of Perfection will, of course, be God. Argument from the Governance of the World (God as the Governor of the world) In addition to the fourth argument, as things and beings are starting to have more qualities based on the perfect being, God, then those beings are starting to have the quality of being intelligent, the quality of having knowledge. Yet, though we, beings, already have the knowledge, remember that we’re not perfect; we lack knowledge. Yet, because we believe in God, and He is the one that is reigning over us, we reach our goals in life. He governs us and guides us to the path and the target we beings want to reach in life. One True Christian Vote As years go by, people are becoming more in favor of the separation between the church and the state. Divorce, same-sex marriage, and the RH bill are some of the issues that many think should not be relied on by the church because not everyone is Christian or religious. Although it is nice to see that the world is constantly changing, people must remember that they have to change for the better; A change that does not need to step on others’ lives, a change still aligned with God´s moral principles. No matter how people blind themselves with the illusion that the church has nothing to deal with the state, they can never disclude God with people’s decision making for as He is omnipresent, He will always and forever be part of our lives. So that’s why this upcoming election, it is crucial to base our decision on God; always ponder if God will be happy with your chosen candidates. During my 7th grade, I remember when my history teacher told us about the ¨mandate of heaven,” a Chinese belief that insists that those on the throne are the ones chosen by the heavens. But I beg to differ with that belief because the lord being omniscient does not mean He already chose who will be the leader of a certain place; it is the people’s freedom that places them in that position. Sadly, most Filipinos, including that teacher, still believe in that ideology that politicians are destined to have those authorities; for this reason, it blinds them from the corrupt and malevolent doings of those officials. People should not forget that it is their own hands that put candidates in their position, not God. As Christians, as children of God, our duty is to be stewards of one another, and through voting the righteous ones, we are fulfilling that mission. If God is the efficient cause of all creation in this world, we too are the efficient cause of what will happen to ourselves. Through our decision in voting, we are the ones that will make our tomorrow. Like in the old testament, people offered sacrifices for God; likewise, the government is the one that should be sacrificing for us. Remember, the government is not above us; it is the people who should be above them. In the end, God can never be removed from our lives. Hence we should think about Him in every decision we make. Let us think of God as our guider in voting for the right leaders, for they will be the ones that will guide us to have better lives. As 2022 unfolds, let us learn from all the mistakes we did in 2016; let us leave behind those hypocritical officials and look forward to those Christ-like candidates. Always remember, our vote is sacred; no money, no bribe, no thing can ever buy your tomorrow.
