FREE ESSAY ON SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS

SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS

Saint Thomas Aquinas
Saint Thomas Aquinas was a philosopher, theologian, Doctor of the Catholic Church, and is
the patron saint of Catholic Universities, colleges, and schools. He was born in Rocca
Secca, Italy, in 1225 and was born into a wealthy family. He even was related to the
kings of Aragon, Castile, and France. His journey into Catholic beliefs seemed
predestined, for he was told when he was a young child that he would become a friar and
no one would be equal to him. He started his questioning of faith and religion when he
was a youngster, frequently asking his teachers, "What is God?" 
Saint Thomas was a panentheist, meaning that he arrives through logical argument at the
conclusion that God must be present in all things. In humans He is especially present,
through grace, as the Holy Spirit. Saint Thomas also said that we can know and love God,
but we cannot fully comprehend him in our time here on Earth. Saint Thomas had five main
reasons for the knowledge of the existence of God. I will now expound on these five
points in detail.
Saint Thomas Aquinas' first way to prove the existence of God was the argument of motion.
By his common observation he was able conclude that an object is put into motion by some
other object or force. From this, Aquinas believed that there had to be an unmoved mover
who first put things in motion. That is where he concluded that God exists. His summary
of this statement went as followed: 1) Nothing can move itself. 2) If every object in
motion had a mover, then the first object in motion needed a mover. 3) This beginning
mover is the unmoved mover, called God.
The second approach of Saint Thomas' evidence that there is a God was the cause of
existence. He concluded that no object creates itself, in effect there had to be a God
who began the chain of existence for all things. The way Aquinas explained this was as
follows: 1) There exists things that are caused or created by other things. 2) Nothing
can create itself. 3) There cannot be an endless string of objects causing other objects
to exist. 4) Therefore, there must be an uncaused first cause called God.
The third manner of Aquinas' support of God was that there are two types of beings,
contingent beings (humans) and a necessary being (God). Saint Thomas believed that this
necessary being (God), was necessary for the contingent beings (humans), to exist and
without God, we humans would not exist. The easiest way to explain this very confusing
subject would be as follows: 1) Contingent beings are caused. 2) Not every being can be
contingent. 3) There must exist a being that is necessary to cause contingent beings. 4)
This necessary being is God.
Saint Thomas Aquinas' fourth argument of the presence of God came from his observations
of the quality of objects. For example one may say that of two paintings one is more
beautiful than the other. So for these two objects, one has a greater degree of beauty
than the next. This is referred to as degrees or graduation of a quality. From this fact
Aquinas concluded that for any given quality (e.g. goodness, beauty, knowledge) there
must be a perfect standard by which all such qualities are measured. These perfections
are contained and reflected in God. God is the ultimate and everything is insufficient
compared to His greatness.
The final way that Saint Thomas Aquinas speaks of God's existence has to do with the
observable universe and the order of nature. Aquinas states that common sense tells us
that the universe works in such a way, that one can conclude that is was designed by an
intelligent designer, God. In other words, all physical laws and the order of nature and
life were designed and ordered by God, the intelligent designer. Everything from a slug
to dirt to man were created and perfected by God into whatever He pleased. He created
physical laws such as gravity and water pressure, and we are merely living in the world
that He has created.
Saint Thomas Aquinas was a brilliant man with an incredible education and faith in God
unequaled by almost no one. He was well respected because he did not follow the
guidelines set by the Pope and the Catholic Church. He took risks on how far Catholics
would accept his beliefs. My favorite of all of his quotes, though, came from his Summa
Theologica, written in 1273. He was speaking to one of his pupils, and he said, "Clearly
the person who accepts the Church as an infallible guide will believe whatever the Church
teaches." I believe this quote showed his devotion to not just allow what people told
him, but to find out the answers of God and his existence by himself. I now greatly
respect Saint Thomas' accomplishments and his teachings because they can be comprehended
by the common man without studying his writings or papers. He has affected my life by
showing me the truth in how God exists and the ways that I am able to support my beliefs
without just claiming faith.