Thomas Aquinas and the Gradation Essay

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Or Aquinas will rely on the evidence of Augustine, himself a convert to the Church, and who also had a keen interest in the teachings of Plato and Aristotle. Therefore, it is unfair to assert that Aquinas is only attempting to prove the existence of God after the fact of his conviction -- for Aquinas' conviction is based upon the proofs he gives -- that which is found in nature.

In fact, Aquinas' faith relies upon the use of reason. Such is the essence of Aquinas' doctrine. Reason is what leads him to believe in God, and reason is the tool by which he means to get those who study his doctrine to believe. How such a method could be applied in modern life is not difficult to see.

The modern world is compelled to view faith and reason as two separate entities -- not as things that go together. We separate church and state. That is essentially like saying we should separate faith and reason. However, Aquinas lived in a time in which church and state were not separate and in a time when faith was governed by reason -- not vice-versa as critics like to say. Aquinas' reason told him that there was a God and that God was Jesus Christ who walked the earth and died for our sins and founded the Roman Catholic Church. Why then should not the Church work with the State in governing man to his ultimate end, which is Heaven with God? Everything was meant to work together to man's final end.

Today, men have little inclination of a final end. There are the ends of each day, day-to-day final ends -- but the larger picture -- the Final End receives virtually no attention from the talking heads on radio or television -- unless one counts TV evangelists.

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But such evangelists appear to rely more upon miracles and healing as opposed to reason in their conversations about God. Aquinas, however, bridges the distance between faith and reason. It is not silly to believe in God -- in fact, Aquinas tells us, it is rational. Why then should we keep our religion in the closet as if it were offensive to the minds of men? Aquinas did not keep what he believed in the closet, he wrote it down and taught it for others to see. Such persistence in the uncovering of truths should be everyone's objective. To keep the truth of God's existence separate from the governance of man, is to keep men separate from the truth.

But are there not many truths some might say? Aquinas will answer no. In fact, he can take such simple characteristics in nature as the gradation to be found in things and turn it into a proof not only of God's existence, but also of the divine nature of Christ and the truth of sacred scripture, etc. -- if only one stops long enough to pay attention.

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