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Question

Dear Father Angelo, first and foremost I want to thank you for solving my previous doubts. I am writing to you once again because I cannot find an answer to this question: why is there a God rather than nothing? We can prove that God exists if we start from his creatures and their contingency, and if we acknowledge that their existence requires something necessary. Saint Thomas Aquinas proved that this necessary thing is alive, intelligent and infinite (not quantitatively).

Up to this point, everything is clear. I also understand the necessity of God’s existence. In fact, something ceases to exist only when one of its parts is taken away from it. But since God is infinite, nothing can be taken away from Him. He is in fact the existence itself, and existence cannot be removed from what is already existence. But this reasoning is similar to those which state that, given God’s existence, it is possible to understand the necessity of his existence or, given the creatures, it is possible to understand that God exists.

The problem is: if I have no premises to start from, how can I understand that God exists? Why does God exist, and nothingness cannot exist? As a matter of fact, if I ask myself this question, I must start from the premise of my own existence, and from this point I can easily comprehend God’s existence. But how can one prove God’s existence without any premise, not even that of their own existence?.

I will appreciate it if you choose to answer my question. I apologize for bothering you once again.

Answer from the priest

Dear reader,

1. I applaud you for your accuracy and for the sequence of concepts you have expressed.

2. To answer your new question: it is not possible to understand God without any premise.

Faith itself helps us think this way. Saint Paul says: “Ever since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes of eternal power and divinity have been able to be understood and perceived in what he has made” (Rm 1,20).

3. Why is there a God rather than nothing?

One would say: because that’s how it is. We are obliged to acknowledge this fact. It is not us who have to determine why “being” rather than “non-being”.

The reality in which we live precedes and accompanies us.

In this sense people are called upon to comprehend the limits of their nature as creatures.

4. Some intellectuals attempted to infer God’s existence not from the creatures He made, but from the very concept of God, as Saint Anselm of Canterbury and Descartes did.

They thought that it was possible to infer the perfection of existence from the concept of God, whose nature is fullness of perfection.

God would not have fullness of perfection if there was not fullness of existence.

They both thought this was such an easy path to prove the existence of God, that it could even convince every atheist able to think, unlike the extremely long path that starts from the creatures and leads to the Creator.

However, this last path is the mandatory path.

It is in fact the same creatures that force us to acknowledge the hand that supports them.

5. Our mind cannot follow any other path, because God cannot be understood immediately.

If he could be understood immediately, we would comprehend the reason why He is the necessary Being, why Him rather than nothing.

And with this, the problem of God’s existence would find an answer too.

Thank you for raising this issue, I am sure it will be helpful for many others.

I remember you to the Lord and I bless you,

Father Angelo

Translated by Chiara Midea.