How do we know God exists?

You can't touch him. You can't see him. You can't feel him. You can't smell him. Yet, you know
him. For many of us, this is the proof that he exists. Our faith is proof that he exists. But, what about our God given reason? Are we just suppose to abandon it to the conviction of faith?

Not at all. God created us to use our intellect - as my dad often said to me  "Use your God given brain" or "God gave you a brain. Use it." While I was usually in trouble when I heard these phrases, I imagine the Heavenly Father saying the same thing. "Look around and think!" "Open your eyes."

All around we see proof of the existence of God.

1. Nothing moves without something pushing it. There had to be a "first mover" that got everything started, and was never started itself.

2. Something doesn't come from nothing. Everything comes from something, but this can't go on forever. There must be something that always exists (existence itself) from which everything else comes.

3. Order does not come from disorder. Yet, we see order everywhere in the universe. Therefore, there must be something intelligent that gives order to everything.

Compare to 1,2, and 5 of Thomas Aquinas proofs of God's existence.

Numbers 4 relies on the acceptance that there are objective truths. In other words, something can actually be more or less good because it is closer or further from the true, objective good. The example St. Thomas gives is that an object is more or less hot depending on its distance from fire (considered to be the source of all heat.) So, man's being and perfections (goodness, beauty, etc) must come from his proximity to some source of being, goodness, and beauty.

Number 3 is an argument, simply put, that if there was a time that nothing existed then (as in number 1) we wouldn't exist now. Therefore, something had to always exist.

Therefore, using our God given brains and looking around the world around us, we can see that God exists. He is the first mover, the cause of all that exists, the intelligent being that gives order and purpose to our world, the source of all goodness, beauty and perfection, and eternal.

All powerful. All good. All knowing. All present. God.