“Anselm’s
Argument”
There is a God. I
have struggled with my concept of the existence of God. My family followed the Christian
religion. The churches that we would
attend always seemed to disappoint either my mother or father. Then later when we were confirmed in the
Episcopal Church and because of some church members’ attitudes of inclusiveness
I began to question the existence of God.
It was not until later that I began to realize that God does exist
through those people within our lives that hold us to a higher standard. These friends or family ask us to be better
than we see ourselves. For example, I go
to Life Change Church and I am a Christian, so I am challenged on a daily basis
to live a life that lives out the example of Christ. I also fail because I am human. This understanding of God also plays out in
with my family, work and school life. It
is how I present myself in these environments that will show people that being
a Christian is not about being perfect, but doing our best to bring a real life
existence of the being of God. What does
Anselm say on the existence of God?
Anselm was a monk and later the Bishop of
Canterbury. He is the philosopher that
brought reason and Christianity together.
Anselm is noted for his ontological argument. The text book defines ontological argument
as, “Arguments that reason from the concept of God to the existence of God.”
(Vaughn) The ontological argument that Anselm gives is that God must exist
because a deity that is in reality, but only existing in understanding would
not make sense. This being is the
greatest being. God would not be the
greatest being if he only existed in our imagination. “Logic would dictate,” (Spock) that there
would be signs by design or evidence in the cosmos or with creation on
Earth.
As I have written in my introduction the evidence for the
existence of God is based in everyday reality.
For example, my son, who is Autistic, when he was around two years old,
was not speaking. As a parent I prayed for
an answer in what to do for my son. My
belief is that God put people in our lives that could be his helping hand. For example, his speech therapist when he was
two and later his behavior resource teacher at school in the fifth grade. Although, we are having trouble with getting
his homework done he doesn’t stop talking mostly about social studies and
politics. God is in reality and in our
understanding he can be as big or little as we can imagine. We just have to open our eyes to those around
us who exhibit characteristics as helping hands for God.
