No Arguments Necessary


Have you ever noticed that the Scriptures nowhere advance a philosophical argument for the existence of God?  Moses doesn't begin Genesis by saying (a la Thomas Aquinas), "The existence of God can be proved in five ways..."

No insult to the Angelic Doctor, but there is no such arid stuff in the Bible.  Instead, Genesis opens with the beautifully simple and majestic statement:  "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." His existence is simply taken for granted. 

This is not difficult to explain.  The Torah was written by Moses in the midst of a remarkable divine intervention in human history:  a self-revelation of God in the exodus of Israel from Egypt and the giving of his law from Sinai, with all the attending miracles. Can you imagine Moses telling Israel, "Now that you have seen him plague the Egyptians and divide the Red Sea and kill Pharaoh and all his hosts, and have been fed by bread from heaven, let me demonstrate his existence by several philosophical proofs. First, the argument from motion..."

Under such circumstances, no arguments were necessary.

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