/lit/ - Literature

>>11021431
none, it's a revealed religion

>>11021431
none

>>11021434
>>11021446
So why did such a clever man as Aquinas dedicate his life to Christianity? Surely there must be some reason for his strong beliefs?

>>11021454
The way society was structured in Europe at that time, and with the knowledge they had and deemed to be legitimate, the revelation of Christ was practically a given truth.

>>11021454
Why did Plato support belief in the gods? Why did Muslim philosophers follow Islam?

>>11021431
for classical theistic attributes of God you can start here
https://fivebooks.com/best-books/arguments-existence-of-god-ed-feser/
the question:
>Can you suggest how, from an analysis of the idea of an unactualised actualiser, you can get in the direction of the other classical divine attributes?

if you're really convinced of the existence of God then probably all you need to be convinced of Christianity you'll find in Girard

>>11021431
Read Aquinas, go to a library and check out the first volume with questions 1-5 or whatever. Just look at the TOCand look for the questions that address Aquinas's discernment of a Christian God after proofing the necessity of pure actuality.

And you could look at the historical evidence for Christ and look at the miracles(Marian Apparitions, Eucharistic Miracles) with their scientific evidence.

>>11021826
>Marian Apparitions
>scientific evidence
What?

>>11021894
Referencing to the Tilma of Our Lady of Guadalupe and the miracle healings of Our Lady of Lourdes. sorry for not making those distinctions!

>>>/his/

>>11021431
If you're reading the Summa Theologiae, turn the page. He presents arguments on the divine nature and a defense of Christianity, as true faith, later in the book.

>>11022697
This. Aquinas literally answers your questions later in the Summa.

>>11021454
Ah, perhaps he wasn't quite the intellectual he's taken for.

>>11021431
>So I understand his arguments for the existence of a God

You clearly don't.

>>11021431
>I'm convinced by them
how come? What evidence would you need to have in order to no longer be convinced of them?

>But what arguments are there for a theistic god, or even Christianity in general?
Some like Aquinas and Averros tried to demonstrate it via the same logic most mainstream religions is via revelation.

>>11021431
>and I'm convinced by them
keep the strength of the argument in your mind, and reflect on it, investigate it - that's good.
but you're convinced by it? like the flick of a switch? after "understanding" it?

>>11021431

That you are convinced by the arguments means that you do not understand them. To understand the arguments is to reject them, which most of the people who study them do not do, which is as much as saying that most people are wrong.

>>11021454
He liked being alive I guess

>>11021611
He didn't tho. Platonic philosophy is pantheistic

>>11021826

>>11025487
Can you expand on this? Aquinas seems to have been simply forgotten and left aside rather than refuted.

What are the philosophers/works who are actually familiar with scholasticism and Aquinas and reject it?

>>11025504
What have you been reading if this is your conclusion?

>>11021454
Consider Logos.

>>11025551
Listening to Manly P Hall lectures

>>11025504
The gods emanate from the monad in Plato's world view, he absolutely believed in the gods. There isn't a hard distinction between pantheism and polytheism, you can have multiple gods which emanate from the one God.

>>11025559
Sorry I forgot that /lit/ doesn't read.

>>11025579

>>11021446
Ehrman is a reputable agnostic scholar who goes out of his way to say his historical findings are not a threat to non-fundamentalist Christians, do you actually read his books?

>>11021431
I'm trying to imagine an argument for a non-theistic God. I'm drawing a blank. It sounds like a circular triangle or kosher bacon-wrapped shrimp

>>11025836
>non-theistic God
me desu

>>11025836
A deistic god is an entity that is the creator of the universe but isn't involved in miracles or anything that would make it theistic.

>>11025487
>to reject them, which most of the people who study them do not do
Is that even true nowadays? Pretty sure most philosophers now are atheists, but I guess when it comes to people who study Aquinas it'll be more skewed towards Christians.

>>11021434
fpbp

>>11021431
>But what arguments are there for a theistic god, or even Christianity in general?
You don't understand Aquinas, or have not sufficiently studied the New Testament and its history, or its effect on history. In short, like first poster said, it has not been revealed to you perhaps because you have not looked. Jesus the Messiah of the Israelites came, he died, he became the myth of the Christ. This was a being who taught us literally everything we needed to know in order to grow and maintain an enlightened civilization. Perhaps the tradition of an anthropomorphized deity was carried over from the Jews' YHWH, or perhaps that is just how man most naturally tends to understand the concept of God. While it is important to recognize Christ because he was first among all the gods to actually help mankind, keep in mind that all roads lead to God. That is: God contains all gods. Christ, being the Way to this certainty, is foremost of the group.

>>11021431
>But what arguments are there for a theistic god

Theistic god is a tautology.

>>11028388
>what is deism

>>11028388
>what is Buddhism

>>11028368
>This was a being who taught us literally everything we needed to know in order to grow and maintain an enlightened civilization.
Yeah, telling me to hate my family is really foundational for society.

>>11028388
>durr

>>11025836
A triangle can be a circle on a globe and a bacon wrapped shrimp is kosher if you are starving to death. A nontheistic God is simply a creator but not a source of cosmic meaning.

>>11029116
>A triangle can be a circle on a globe
no