In the article “The Five Ways,” by Thomas Aquinas, Aquinas gives an interesting set of arguments that approach the existence of God. In one of his arguments, referred to as the argument for causation, Aquinas claims that since all things have been caused by something else, there must have a been a first cause, namely God. In another argument, the argument from intelligent design, he sates that our universe requires so much order that it had to be designed by an intelligent being, that being is God. In a world with as much complexity and interconnectedness as ours, I find it hard to believe that everything could have just appeared out of nothing, and therefore I agree with Aquinas’ argument for causation and argument from intelligent design. From a logical point of view, it is hard to believe in God. There is no empirical proof of God. He may have, as Aquinas says, been the original mover, or the uncaused first cause. At the same time, it is hard to believe that swirling hydrogen and helium gases came together with particles of dust that were exposed to the effects of gravity, and thereby created the universe. There is no scientific explanation as to how they were formed. Did they just appear? Did they always exist? Since both of those suppositions are hard to believe, I must defer my logic to choose which one I will support. I am inclined to believe the most logical explanation, which in my opinion, is that an intelligent designer created the universe.
In all of human existence, we have developed a basic understanding of all the physical aspects of our universe, except for its creation. All processes and objects on earth have only come about through other objects and processes, so there has to be a cause that is beyond our understanding. I believe that the next level of understanding, which we cannot comprehend, has to be divine, and is therefore God. Since all material things are subject to the laws of science, I find it more difficult to believe that these gases were always in existence- that these unthinking elements, which are always the victim of their own properties and environment, were able to magically be present without being created. I choose to believe that they were created to follow the rules of an all-powerful being, the one we call God. Not only are these elements created by God, they follow well-defined laws. This, as Aquinas and I argue, is very likely the result of an intelligent designer, one who designed the universe with a purpose. With this purpose in mind, he implemented an order for the universe, which we call the laws of nature. The orderliness of nature assures that everything tends toward a goal. In the case of those initial gases and dust particles at the beginning of existence, they formed an entire universe. They formed one capable of supporting diverse life and myriad landscapes far beyond human imagining, and well beyond our understanding.
