What’s Next? See all videos below In previous videos, I have been talking that I wanted to do some videos on apologetic arguments. Until now, I have chosen different topics each time. Topics that some of you suggested and also topics suggested by my own family. The latest suggestion was that of the impact of […]
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Argument from the Origin of the Idea of God Made simpleThis argument is closely related to the ontological argument. It starts from the idea of God. However, unlike the ontological argument, it does not say that real being is part of the content of that idea. Nope, it tries to demonstrate that only God Himself could have make this idea to develop in our thoughts.
It was René Descartes (1596-1650) who came up with this argument. You know how it is with smart people! They write long essays in which they explain their ideas. Combine such an essay with difficult words, and you end up totally confused. So, to save time, I’ll use a very short sum-up of this argument.
- Ideas arise from either causes outside of us or arise from inside us.
- God definitely exists as an idea.
- The idea of god could not have arisen from inside us because we are not perfect, and no effect can be greater than its cause.
- Therefore, the idea of god must have come from outside of us.
- Only god is perfect, and therefore God only has the qualities to cause an idea of god.
- Therefore, God must have caused the idea of God, and therefore God must exist.
Any objections? Of course! Many will try to debunk an argument like this. One such attempt goes as follows: The concept or idea of God can easily arise in another way. For example, humans find levels of perfection among finite beings—the one being is more perfect than the other. Knowing this, humans just started to fantasise about this idea. It became bigger and better, bigger and better, and eventually this being became infinitely big. You see? There is no need for a real God to give an answer to this argument. All you need is some creativity and an intelligent mind to think this idea through and come to this concept that exceeds the limitations of humans.
But now I’ve got a question. How can humans reason away limits or imperfection unless humans first recognise it as limited or imperfect? And how can we, as humans, discern it as such unless we already have some belief of infinite perfection? To distinguish things as imperfect or finite, we need to have a criterion in our mind that makes the recognition possible.
Do I say that all humans constantly think about the concept of God? No, but interestingly enough, when I look at children they all seem to grasp the idea of an all-powerful God. Somewhere down the line, all humans think about this concept… Well, to avoid the fallacy(argumentum ad populum) I should say: many humans. Thinking about the concept of God requires a standard. The standard must be there in order for us to use it. But how did we get this standard? Certainly not from our own behaviour, and definitely not from people around us, and I would say that the world in general doesn’t contribute much as well. We can only say that the things we see and the things we, as humans, do, are imperfect because infinite perfection is already supposed beforehand in our thinking. Therefore, none of us can be the beginning of the idea of God; only God himself can be that.
Well, that was a nice and short argument, wasn’t it? I guess it is a real open invitation to criticise the argument, I think I would try to do that if I didn’t believe in God! This argument is just too short and too good to be true. Let me know what you think. Mind you! Because of our lousy internet speeds here in the countryside of Madagascar, I am not able to respond quickly. Quite often I leave the responding over to other viewers.
Do take a look in the description of this video! You’ll find ways to support me, or you could visit my website and read the transcript of this video. I always try to make the transcript available in Dutch and English. I would also like to invite you to my Odysee channel. Odysee is a platform which based on a new protocol called LBRY. Video that are uploaded through the LBRY protocol are censorship free, unlike others. It would be great if you start following me there. I am mostly active on that channel. You can also comment on my videos on BitChute or YouTube, but because of the aforementioned reason (speed internet) and because I am not very active on those two channels, you most likely won’t receive a reply there. If you want to start your own channel on Odysee you can use my invitation in the description. If you do, we will both receive some free LBC!
As always, thank you for watching, God bless you, and we see each other in the next video!
All videos of this series
Ontological Argument Made Simple
Introduction In his 1078 work Proslogion, Anselm of Canterbury came with the idea which is known as ‘the ontological argument’. In this argument God’s existence is not just possible or probable or very likely, but is logically ensured. Anselm defined God as “that than which nothing greater can be thought”. Anselm said that this being […]
Cosmological Argument Made Simple
Do you know mister William Lane Craig? This is a hugely smart man, and listening to him sounds like you’re reading an official academic essay. I’ve written a lot of essays and I wish I could write them as fast as he formulates his sentences. Mister Craig is well known for his philosophical way of […]
Teleological Argument Made Simple
What do you think? Are we like orphans or are we citizens of our universe? Are we just an accident, a fluke, a product of mere chance? If we have to belief the secular world we are just a result of time, space, matter, chance and impersonal laws. No, the universe is just what it […]
Moral Argument Made Simple
A new video! On apologetics again. I promised in my last video to show you a bit of our road here in the countryside of Madagascar. So, stay tuned, because I will paste some of that footage at the end of this video. Anyway, let’s get started. I grew up in a time that knew […]
Religious Experience Argument Made Simple
We have discussed several arguments for God. Now we’ve come to the fifth argument and I think this one will tricker most resistance. The Religious Experience argument for the existence of God! A religious experience is when someone feels they have had a direct or personal experience of God. This argument basically says that if […]
Argument from Change Made Simple
The material world we know is a world of change. My oldest son is about 1.76 metre. But he was not always that height. When he was born, he was about 51 centimetres. Yes, he changed a lot during the last 15 years. General Sherman is the biggest tree in the world. According to estimates, […]
Argument from the Origin of the Idea of God Made simple
This argument is closely related to the ontological argument. It starts from the idea of God. However, unlike the ontological argument, it does not say that real being is part of the content of that idea. Nope, it tries to demonstrate that only God Himself could have make this idea to develop in our thoughts. […]
Argument from Miracles Made simple
This argument from miracles, and others, like the argument from religious experience and the argument from change, are not designed to prove the absolute existence of God they only claim a strong probability. Still, I include these kinds of arguments because they, together with all the other arguments, form a strong cumulative case. Other arguments […]
The Argument from Conscience Made Simple
What is good for you, isn’t necessarily good for me. Did you hear that one before? I did! It is called ‘moral subjectivism’, and it is very popular in our western society. But things seems to change if you start to talk about one’s conscience. I have met many who do not, or who refuse, […]
The Common Consent Argument Made Simple
In the last video, and the videos before I asked you whether you have any topics you would like me to discuss. So far, I have several. One of you want to talk about deism and why it is or isn’t a flawed idea. And Nortega came up with also a good topic. He said: […]
Pascal’s Wager
You Wanna Bet on it? My kids love to climb trees. Overall, I’m okay with that, but I normally give them one very important but simple rule: You are not allowed to fall out! And whatta you know… They tend to break that one simple rule every time. One day, one of them came running […]
Atheist’s Opinion – Again the Wager
Atheist Experience 30-03-2008i This wager thingy was still on my mind when I came across a YouTube channel called the ‘Atheist Experience.’ This channel is already running 13 years, so you could say that these guys are pretty experienced in them being atheistic and all. One of the faces of this channel is mister Matt […]
Thomas Aquinas’ first Mover Argument
Article by I. Hofmann, July 2024. All right reserved. Published with permission on Apologeet.nl. Translation by J. Hofmann. Introduction Thomas Aquinas is a well-known Roman Catholic philosopher and theologian from the 13th century. He lived from 1225 to 1274 and was declared a saint in 1323, 49 years after his death. During his lifetime, he […]
