The Existence of God
and Divine Revelation
 God
created us in his image and likeness
 Because of this we have the power to reason,
free will, and an immortal soul
 He calls us to seek holiness so that we can
know, love, and serve God in this world AND
enjoy eternal life with him in heaven.
 How
can we know there is a God?
 Aquinas
demonstrates how humans can
use reason to conclude that there must be
a God.
 First
Mover
 First Cause
 Possibility and Necessity (Contingency)
 Degrees of Perfection
 Grand Designer (Absolute Intelligence)
Everything in motion was moved by some other mover.
There must be some First Mover to set things in motion.
First Mover = God
Everything is an effect of some
other cause.
There must have been some
Uncaused Cause which caused all
other things…God.
Everything in nature is contingent –
it depends on something else for its
existence.
There must be something necessary
on which all things depend.
Necessary being is God.
Things in
this world
have
different
degrees of
goodness,
beauty, etc.
There must
be some
highest good,
etc., to which
all the rest are
compared.
Perfect being
is God.
There is a great complexity to the natural world in which all things seem
to have some sort of purpose. There must be some designer behind it.
That Absolute Intelligence is God.
 “You
have created us for yourself, O God,
and our hearts are restless until they rest
in you.” – St. Augustine
 An
unquenchable thirst for joy and
happiness
 An experience of beauty and truth
 A sense of personal conscience, moral
goodness, and justice
 Love
 Theism
• Polytheism • Monotheism • Deism
Belief in the existence of God
Belief in many gods
Belief in one God
Belief in a supreme being who
does not interact with humans or
the universe
 Agnosticism - Belief that God’s existence cannot
be determined with certainty OR
(agnostic)
does not care whether God exists
or not
 Atheism
- The denial of the existence of God
(atheist)
 The
ways in which God communicates
Himself & His will to people.
 This
refers to the truths about God that
we could not have known without God
revealing them to us.
 Why does God reveal these truths
 To draw closer to God and our salvation.
to us?
When does God reveal the truths of our salvation?
- Gradually over time: Salvation History.
- Beginning with Adam and Eve and continuing to
today, God revealed himself little by little.
- Meant for all people, over all time.
- Covenant: solemn agreement/vow between God
and people.
- Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of God’s
revelation and his promise of salvation.
How does God reveal the truths of our salvation?
1) Sacred Tradition
2) Sacred Scripture
All of God’s revelation is contained in these 2, and are
interpreted by the Church. Together they make up
the Word of God.
Sacred Tradition – the living tradition of the Church –
the practices, beliefs, and teachings of the Church
handed down throughout history.
- predates Scripture
Sacred Scripture – books containing the truth of
God’s revelation. Composed by human authors,
inspired by the Holy Spirit, and without error.
OT:46 books NT:27 books
 Canon, from
the Greek word “kanon,”
means “a straight rod” for correct
measure
 The canon refers to the correct measure
of the books of Scripture, or what is to be
considered the inspired and inerrant
Word of God.
 Put together over time and formalized in
the 4th century.
 Protocanonical – books always accepted
 Deuterocanonical – initially controversial
 Apocrypha – not part of Sacred Scripture
 The teaching authority of the Church.
• The Holy Spirit guides the Church and preserves her
teaching from error in faith and morals.
• The authentic interpreter of Sacred Scripture, Sacred
Tradition, the Deposit of Faith, and the Revelation of
God.
• Made up of the Pope and bishops.
• Jesus gave this authority to the Church when he said
to Peter “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build
my church…I will give you the keys of the kingdom
of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be
bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth
shall be loosed in heaven (Mt 16:17-19)
• Seal of infallibility – Christ’s guarantee that the
Church will never teach an erroneous doctrine.

1) The literal sense
• Proper: actual meaning of the words used
• Improper: meaning conveyed by figures of speech and
metaphors

The spiritual sense goes beyond the literal meaning to find
the deeper meaning of the text.
• 1) The allegorical sense: Recognizing people or events as
types/prefigures of a later person or event
• 2) The moral sense: The events reported in Scripture ought to lead
us to act justly. As St. Paul says, they were written "for our
instruction".
• 3) The anagogical sense : interprets the text as a guide to Heaven

Use these ways of interpreting Scripture (also on pg 43-44) to help
understand the meaning of the passage from Matthew 14:13-21 (on the
next slide)
 13 When
Jesus heard of it, he withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by
himself. The crowds heard of this and followed him on foot from their
towns. 14 When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was
moved with pity for them, and he cured their sick.15 When it was
evening, the disciples approached him and said, “This is a deserted
place and it is already late; dismiss the crowds so that they can go to
the villages and buy food for themselves.” 16 [Jesus] said to them,
“There is no need for them to go away; give them some food
yourselves.” 17 But they said to him, “Five loaves and two fish are all we
have here.” 18 Then he said, “Bring them here to me,” 19 and he ordered
the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking[a] the five loaves and the
two fish, and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing, broke the
loaves, and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the
crowds. 20 They all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up the
fragments left over[b]—twelve wicker baskets full. 21 Those who ate
were about five thousand men, not counting women and children.
 If
Jesus is the fullness of Divine Revelation,
does that mean that God no longer reveals
himself to us today?
• No more PUBLIC revelation from God until the end of
time.
• We do continue to experience God’s revelation
through Scripture, Tradition, and the Magisterium
through the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
• Private Revelation – refers to miraculous events in
which God, Mary, or a saint or angel appears to
someone today.
• These revelations MUST NOT contradict the Faith,
and MUST be approved by the local bishop.
 Our
response to God’s revelation is faith.
 Faith
is man’s response to God by
completely submitting our intellect and
will to God. (CCC 26, 142)
 We
come to know God through Faith and
Reason.