A Premier Catholic University in the Province of BoholHOLY NAME UNIVERSITY

Cor. Gallares & Lessage streets, Tagbilaran City

The Philippine Values Systems

UNDERSTANDING MAN’S EXISTENCE

VALUING PROCESS

JUAN PAOLO S. ARANASIMEE E. SELMA

Masters in Public Administration

DR. GRACE M. SAMSON Professor

THE MEANING/DEFINITION OF PHILOSOPHY

Philosophy is just like any other endeavour or field of learning in the context of its being a science. It investigates and presents evidenced, systematically-arranged, and complete body of knowledge or truth.

The purpose of Philosophy• Philosophy enables us to understand ourselves better;• Philosophy helps us understand others; our fellowmen; • Philosophy helps us understand others’ ways of thinking• Philosophy helps us understand the world and our place and role

in it; • Philosophy helps us understand the significance, meaning, value

and finality of human life; and • Philosophy helps us know and understand God in his nature,

essence, activities, and attributes.

Thus, philosophy enables us to understand all things in their ultimate causes, reasons, and principles through our reasoning faculty.

THE MEANING OF PHILOSOPHY OF MAN

Philosophy of Man is an open-minded, cerebral-empirical activity. Philosophy is linked with; •It is connected to metaphysics since it studies the being of action; with •Sociology since it considers the horizontal or social dimension of man; with •Psychology since it studies the nature of man as a being composed of body and soul endowed with reason; with•Theology since it inquires into the avenue of man’s relatedness to God in the context of faith; with •Epistemology since it investigates the true notion of the human nature specifically man’s intrinsic ability to know about truth; and with •Theodicy since it provides an arena of questions about human nature and human conditions from the standpoint of the nature, essence, and activity of God.

Philosophy of Man is a course that deals with man that desires to know who and what man are.

The primary objectives in studying Philosophy of Man:

•Philosophy of Man gives us a broader horizon in understanding ourselves, others, and God. •Philosophy of Man helps us to identify the points of divergence and convergence between us and animals and between us and the plants; •Philosophy of Man exposes us to a thorough and deeper understanding of ourselves as unique dipartite creatures; that we are the substantial unity of body and soul; •Philosophy of Man helps us understand better our nature, the meaning of our existence, our point of origin, and our terminal point who is God; and •Philosophy of Man enables us to encounter the diverse views of different philosophers concerning our nature, our uniqueness, and our role in the whole spectrum of God’s creation.

THE PROBLEMS IN PHILOSOPHY OF MAN

• Philosophy of Man has two main problems, namely:

• The nature of man What is man? Who is man?

• Condition of being human

What is the state or condition of being human? Why does man exist? How does man exist?

MAN IN THE CONTEXT OF HIS NATURE

Relative views to the issue of Human Nature:

•Encyclopedic view – (taught primarily by Dennis Dedirot) this maintains that the nature of man is good. (In Chinese Philosophy, this is also maintained by Kong Zi – whos Latinized name is Confucius and his discipline Meng Zi – whose Latinized name is Mencius)• •Economic view – (taught by Adam Smith and his adherents) sees man as one who is destined to be happy in the context of material abundance.

• Scientific view – (Sir Karl Popper) believes that man lives in three worlds, to wit:

1. Physical world – bodily existence2. Internal world – which is the locus of ideas, thoughts,

and emotions3. Social world - which pertains to man’s social relations or

inter-subjectivity.

• 4. Scholastic view – basically upheld that man is a being, a creature, whose destiny is to live in two worlds, viz.: the spiritual world and physical or material world.

THE MEANING OF HUMAN NATURE

According to the postmodern philosophers, it is good to say that we really do not know anything at all. Like Socrates’ humble one-liner: “What I know is that I do not know.”

According to philosophers, there is nothing wrong if measures and efforts to adapt those well-defended and well-established thoughts about the meaning of human nature and many other issues are done and pursued.

Here, Classic understanding of Nature as the ultimate principle of operation of a given reality.

Classic view of man dictates that the nature of man is to think, to feel and do or act only those that are inherent in his nature.

Human Nature is characterized as: •Universal •Static

Three-fold level of Human Nature

•Somatic Level – refers to the body, substance, constitution, or stuff of man and secondarily (or accidentally) to bodily structure, color, etc which are conditioned by culture and environment.

•Behavioral Level - refers to the mode of acting of every man. Man has a universal way of acting or conducting himself properly.

Approaches of behaviour (Psychologists)

Cognitive – refers to knowledge or understanding or the mental dimension of human existence

Affective – refers to the emotional or the dimension or the feeling – part of man.

Psychomotor – pertains to action

• Attitudinal Level – refers to the mental reaction of every man to a given stimulus or the position of every individual concerning his opinion, feeling or mood.

THE MEANING OF HUMAN CONDITION

• Human conditions absorbs and embraces the totality of human nature

• Thus, to talk of human condition is to consider how man exists and lives distinctively as a human being (how is it to be human?)

• Third, if man has a distinctive way of existing and living, how does man realize this?

Man’s experience of existing and living as man is the indispensable ground where man can discover the meaning of his existence.

In sum, human condition means realizing the state of being human and finding the meaning of existence as man. (The term “meaning” means sense, purpose, and direction of human life.”

MAN: ACCORDING TO THE EXISTENTIALISTS

Existentialism stresses the difference between existing and living. To the Existentialists, it is an imperative for every man not only to live but also to exists; man must not only live but but also exist.

For them, the subsequent fact of simply living one’s life is to assume a life that has no vitality, no responsibility, and no self-consciousness.

Salient Points in Existentialism

For the existentialists, particularly Martin Heidegger, man is the only kind of being that exists. Only man has existence because man is the only kind of being who knows he knows he exists.

Reality for the existentialists is richer than existence.

Man: The Focal Point in Existentialism

• Man is a subject; he is neither an object nor a means to be used but a value in himself.

• Man is an initiator of action; he is creative; and only man can perform responsible and free acts.

• Man is the center of feelings and emotions; he has the power to feel not only pain but pleasure but also passion, like, love, hope, and fear, among others.

• Man is self-related and others-related. • Man is capable of transcendence; man can go beyond what is actually given. • Man’s existence is a “thrown” existence; man is thrown to exist in himself and into

the world. • Man exists in a body; thus, man can only assert himself through body – his own

body. • Man is intrinsically free• Man has to admit the fact of death – his own death. • Man is an open-ended entity; he is bundle of complexities; he is a box of surprises

Existential Philosophers and their views

The meaning of human existence is found in man’s exercise of freedom and responsibility under the scope of man’s individual and social undertakings according to Sartre.

For Heidegger, the meaning of human existence can only be attained when man lives his life authentically. Authentic can be achieved by undertaking this process:

•As man owns his existence, he has to project his possibilities; man has to make himself. •Man has to free himself from his inauthentic existence with the “they” so that man can own his existence. •As man makes himself, he has to experience dread, care, concern, and guilt. Besides, man has to listen to the voice of conscience so that he can resolve to live authentically; and•With man’s resolute decision to live authentically, man has to accept death as his ownmost inevitable possibility.

For Kiekegaard, man can achieve a meaningful existence when he liberates himself for his “crowd-existence.” This liberation is possible if man lives not only in his aesthetic mode of existence but also in the ethical and religious modes.

For Jaspers, the attainment of the meaning of human existence is possible when man is seen as a whole or as the “encompassing.” Seen this way, man can be the encompassing when he sees himself as an existent being, as a conscious being, as a spirit, and as existence.

For Frankl, man can find meaning in his existence in a threefold manner, namely;

•By doing a life-project; •By experiencing value, particularly in the context of love; and •By finding meaning in suffering

MAN: A BEING-IN-THE-WORLD

Man is being-in-the-World; he is not a being-in-an-environment. An environment is only true to animals, not to man. Man has a world, not an environment. Man is not bound to an environment; he is open to the world.

What is the meaning of the term “world”?

World is derived from the Anglo-Saxon words: weor and old. The former means “man” while the latter means “age.”

The world, as such is as old as man; earth is older than man. Which concept is true? Is there a world without man and vice-versa?

The Views of Natural Scientists

To the natural scientists (i.e., physicist, biologists, etc.), it is always possible to talk of a manless world. For the rationalists, the world is an object to be known, it is governed by a system of laws; it is a place where man lives. For the materialists, the world is the totality of all material entities which are the results of processes and forces. Both rationalists’ and materialists’ views of the world clearly show that there is world apart from man and it is only a mere place where man lives.

The Views of Existential Phenomenologists

To the existential phenomenologists, there is no world apart from man and vice-versa. For them, there is a world because there is a man and there is a man because there is world. According to Marcel, the world and man are related to each other in the sense of exchange, involvement, and participation. Heidegger treats the world “neither as the sum total of all the things of nature nor a fundamental character of the community of men….but it means the “how” on which things is “in the whole” as implicitly related to Dasein…” Thus, for the existential phenomenologists, there can be no world without man since man takes the world as a necessary datum of his existence in the context of meaning.

Are there kinds of worlds?

Since man presents himself only in relation to the world because he is a being-in-the-world, so man arranges the world around him. Man arranges or organizes a world around him by virtue of the fact that things around him are not mere objects since they constitute a network of meanings. Thus, there exist many kinds of world.

What are the implications of the meaning of the world in relation to man?• •The man is a subject. •That as a subject, man exists, and therefore, is conscious of his existence that it is an existence-in-the-world. •That man as a subject means that man considers the things which surround him not as a mere object but as a networks of meanings. •That man establishes meanings to things which surround him by way of his being “at-home” in the world which he arranges for himself; and •That as man arranges a world for himself, he actively takes his task as the “builder,” “gardener,” and “guardian” of the world.

MAN: A PERSON-WHO-ALWAYS-EXISTS-WITH-OTHERS-IN-THE-WORLD

Historical Data of Personalism

Personalism, as a philosophical movement, was founded by Borden Parker Browne and was developed later by Max Scheler, Emmanuel Mounier, Henri Bergson, and Martin Buber. As a philosophical movement, personalism is a study of man as a person.

• The Meaning of Man as a Person

Since personalism takes man as its main concern, it rejects the legalistic connotation of the term “person”, as that which refers to anything or any reality which is endowed with rights since this definition treats of person both in the context of things, establishments, or institutions, and human beings. Thus, in personalism the term “person” is solely attributed to man inasmuch as it requires freedom and rationality as defined by Beothius.

Man as a person, then means that man is unique; that man is a who; that man is a subject; and that man is a self.

• Man as a Person-Who-Always-Exists-with-Others-in-the-World

By virtue of the fact that man as a person is unique, a who, a subject, and a self, man is never alone in his existence in the world; man has that indelible trademark of his “being-with: existence in the world.

Since man is a person, his “being-with” existence should not be confused with a “being-for” kind of existence. “Being-for” is the opposite of “being-with” in the sense that the latter is heading to a direction of treating man a person. Thus, in man’s intersubjectivity, man is called to treat his fellowman as a person; this is made possible only in the context of man’s “being-with” existence.

• Man’s “being-with-others” can be viewed from to standpoints, viz.:

• General Standpoint – Man’s being-with-others as a person is man’s intrinsic “being-with” to both things and man’s fellow human persons.

• Specific Standpoint – Man’s being-with-others as a person is man’s irrefutable “being-with” his fellowman only because in the specific sphere, man’s “being-with” is treated in the existential perspective. Because things do not exist, man alone has the capacity to co-exist with his fellow human persons.

Man’s co-existence or intersubjectivity, in the one hand, does not require a learning process or experience since man’s “being-with” is a priori and intrinsic in his being a person. On the other hand, man’s being-with-others requires a learning process in the context of the quality or mode of man’s being-with since human relatedness is not immediately given but needs to be established.

Three Levels of Human Relations or Intersubjectivity

• I-It level of Relationship – human relatedness capsulizes, more or less, the “being-for” existence of man and not man’s being-with existence. “I” does not treat the other as a person.

• I-He/She Level of Relationship – Is not an impersonal relationship but a personal one inasmuch as the “I” considers and recognizes the other as a person.

• I-Thou Level of Relationship – This relationship happens when the “I” and the “Thou” are bound together in the context of love.

MAN: A HISTORICAL BEING • History and Man

“History” is derived from the Greek word historia which means “learning by inquiry.”

Man’s relatedness to the world is the bearer of man’s historicality; it is man’s relatedness to the world that gives birth to history. Therefore, there is no history apart from both man and man’s relatedness to the world.

History can only be measured in terms of man’s existence in time; history is temporal since time is constituted of ecstasies which are past, present, and future. History, then, means not only the past but also the present and the future.

• Historicity and Man

What makes history not only the past but also the present and the future is the historicity of man; historicity is not the noun form of history since it is historicality; historicity means the intrinsic transcendental capability of man to exist in the ecstasies of time; thus, man is historicity first before man becomes historical. History is present only when man exists in the ecstasies of time by way of transcendence.

An associate of Heidegger, however, named Rudolf Bultmann claimed that there are two ways through which happenings or occurrences of facts or events in history can be assessed, namely:

•Geshichte – attempts of historians to really capture how facts or events did occur.

•Historie – attempts or efforts of the historians to account only those facts or events that have meaning to us.

MAN: A BODY, HIS BODY

It is impossible to talk of human existence apart from the human body

The human body is man’s expression of his presence in himself, in the world, and his fellow human person.

The Human Body as Finitude

The human body refers to the finitude of man in the sense that human bodily existence is limited by space, time, and death. Besides, the human body is also limited in terms of its accidental constituents.

The Human Body as Subjectivity

The human body refers to man’s embodied subjectivity; man’s body is infused in his subjectivity. Thus, the human body is not a thing to be used or exploited because it is a subject-body. As a subject-body, it cannot be the object of “having”, since the human body cannot and never be disposed of, unless when it is treated as an object. The embodied subjectivity of man refers to the whole man as rational, affective, and emotional.

The Human Bod as a Gesture of Encounter

The human body is not an instrument of man’s encounter of things and persons in the world; it is man’s expression with himself as an embodied subjectivity.

MAN: THE ACTOR• Man and Action

Action is proper only to man; animals do not act but only move.

Action entails intellect, knowledge, freedom, voluntariness, and responsibility

The nature of man makes man the only being of action. As rational, man possesses intellect so that he can know the nature of the act, whether it is good or bad. As a being who is endowed with freedom, man knows that he has the choice whether to perform or not to perform a particular action. Man acts according to his intellect and will (an expression of freedom) and is responsible for the consequences of his actions.

• Moral AssumptionsThe following assumptions are drawn in order to elucidate the inherent capacity of man in the context of reason and freedom:

• As rational and free, man knows that there are actions that are right or wrong, and good or bad.

• As rational and free, man knows that there are actions that he is not obliged to do;

• As rational and free, man knows that he is responsible for his actions; and

• As rational and free, man knows that wrong actions are punishable and right actions are rewardable

INTELLECT WILL

To know Purpose To choose

To Think Function To do

Truth Goal Good

Wisdom Ultimate Goal Virtue

•Intellect Compared with Will

• Values and Action

Man cannot perform actions which are value-free; actions presuppose values; actions are expressions of values

Values are objects of human desires; values re good; good implies satisfaction and suitability; values are synonyms with good. If man’s actions are expressions of values and since values are good, man then, is singled out to perform right and good actions.

Man: A Sexual Being

• Sex and Morality

The term “sex” is derived from the Latin word secare which means “to divide” or “to cut”. Accordingly the word secare originates from the Latin word seco which means “division” or “half of the race”.

Before we approach the depth of man’s being a sexual animal, it is good to ask preliminary questions like- is sex dirty? Do you approve of premarital sex or fornication? Is virginity, both to the ladies and to the gentlemen, still of value today? Is the purpose of sex procreation? Is sex a value in itself? If one of the purposes of sex is procreation, why are fornication, adultery, concubinage, and the like deemed morally evil? If a spouse is sterile or impotent, would not the purpose of sex be made futile? If there exists an issue of triennial cohabitation (the wife remains a virgin after three years of marriage) or relative impotency (the husband is impotent only when he wants to have conjugal act with his wife, but not with other women), can these not validate sexual promiscuity to any of them? True enough these issues treat of the subject of sex in the context of morality so that it is commonly believed that whenever the term sex is mentioned, an immediate interpretation could easily ensue, (i.e. that the topic is moral and ethical). In addition there are some who would, without proper evaluation, localize morality in the sphere of sexuality. All these presuppositions are misleading. The fact of sex does not categorically belong to morality and the truth and validity of morality cannot be found only in terms of sex or sexuality.

• Sexuality Compared with Sex

Both sex and sexuality can be contained in the word “sexual”. As a sexual being, man has sexuality and is capable of expressing his sexuality through sex. This thesis appears so simple but when it is critically analyzed and evaluated, it entails a lot of intricacies. What we would like to do is to understand the differences between sex and sexuality. Through this, we can hopefully have a comprehensive understanding of man as a sexual being.

Sexuality is broader than sex in as much as the latter is contained in the former and functions as its expression. This means that sex cannot be detached from sexuality; however, it is possible to keep sexuality from sex.

Sex is basically a human activity. Only human beings can engage in sex; animals do not, although they have sexuality. Animals mate; they do not engage in sex. Since sex is a human activity, it is, therefore, fundamentally oriented towards procreation. In its empirical reality, sex is a form of pleasure. Furthermore, psychologists qualify sex as a tension-releasing activity. As an empirically pleasurable human activity, sex is a means to an end and not an end in itself, for it is fundamentally geared towards the generation of a new life. In other words, the sense of responsibility is embedded in this activity. Thus, it is not just a mere activity since it has its divine implication which can be translated into a responsible sexual engagement. In this light, sex can only be justified and should be empirically exercised in the context of marriage because, in itself, marriage guarantees the embedded responsibility in sex.

Whereas sex is an expression, sexuality is the one being expressed. Sexuality is the foundation of man’s personhood. It is the specific manifestation of man’s being-in-the-world. Because man is a being-in-the-world-with-others, sexuality manifests man’s inherent need to relate to others. In this regard, sexuality can be interpreted as the fundamental factor of man’s intersubjectivity or man’s interpersonal relatedness. Thus sexuality presents the uniqueness of a person in his emotions, feelings, actions, attitudes, and thoughts, among others.

Since sex, which is the expression of sexuality, but of course, not the only expression, is oriented towards procreation, it follows that sexuality signifies the incompleteness of the individual human person. It is through sexuality that human incompleteness can be complemented by others who are just like the “I” who is incomplete.

• Sex and Society

Our society today is saturated with sex. Sex exists everywhere. It is projected in clothing designs; it is in the magazines, music and movies; it is in the advertisements of whatever sort; it is in the stickers, shirts, etc. As a whole, the contemporary man needs a reorientation towards the real meaning of sex and even of sexuality since there are some who want to change and even have changed their sex.

One of the devastating blows which the authentic meaning of sex suffers is its being disassociated from love. Love, instead of being prior to sex, becomes reversed; sex instead, is made prior to love. The truth of the matter is that sex is just the effect of love, not vice-versa.

There are manifold misconceptions and malpractices regarding sex. Although it is true that there can be love even without sex, sex without love must not be accepted and tolerated despite the fact that it is done. It is commonplace to hear of people in mainstream society to have affairs. People who have affairs are those who prefer to engage in love and sex in the absence of commitment to marry. Many of these people are young. Hence, it is good for teachers in human sexuality to deal with topics like teenage relationship, reproductive system, childbirth, marriage, abortion, sexually transmitted diseases, reproductive health problems, birth control and the like. •

• Sex and Love

“Women give sex to get love. Men give love to get sex.” This is equivalent to harassment and degradation of the sanctity of feminine sexuality. This kind of behavior requires the serious concern specifically of parents and sex education teachers. Sex should not be divorced from love. Sex should be used only in accordance with the plan and will of God. Within God’s plan, man’s sexual instinct is good since it is a powerful source of life, and of unity between two human beings. If contrary to God’s plan, sex becomes a means of division, a source of perversion, cruelty and even death. Hence, sexual union is justified only when it is an expression of love. And since true love demands permanence and faithfulness, true love then seeks the happiness of one’s partner, not of one’s self

• Sex and Marriage

In as much as sex should only be engaged upon in the context of marriage, then it should, in the context of modesty, be called marital act or conjugal act that inevitably results in the formation of a domestic society we call family. As a marital act, sex becomes the greatest expression and consummation of love that binds the spouse to partake in the sacredness of their commitment to each other and to their off springs.

Marriage is the only means towards the exercise of sex. Outside marriage, sexual practices are perversions, distortions and are, therefore, against God’s plan. Through marriage each human person’s uniqueness in the dimension of sex is being complemented. Sexuality, which is always more than genital sexuality, expresses the fundamental fact that human beings live as male and female, relating to each other as two incomplete beings that only become complete when they unite, by complementing each other.

• Sexual Revolution (Transformation of Man’s Consciousness and Conduct Towards Sex)

One of the alarming revolutions in this century, particularly in the last several decades, is called the sexual revolution. The Filipinos have learned to alter their conscious and conduct relative to sex. This is evident both in high and low societies in the Philippines. Today, swapping of marital partners is done by some members of the upper class. What is unacceptable before is now tolerated, although this tolerance is not absolute. Concrete examples are homosexuality, lesbianism, premarital sex, fornication, live-in or common-law marriage, concubinage, adultery and prostitution. Before, homosexuals and lesbians were considered deviants. Today, they are accepted as normal members of the society. All these are evident manifestations of modern and contemporary sexual trends; they are irrefutable proofs that sexual revolution is continuing.

Man: The LoverLove is a strong force within man that drives him to make

things that seem to be impossible. The concrete examples of love’s power which drive man to break the walls that of what is preconceived as extraordinary are- the Hanging Garden of Babylon, the TajMahal in Agra, India, the San Juanico Bridge (that connects Samar and Leyte symbolizing therein Ferdinand Marcos’ love to the Leytena Imelda Romualdez). Nevertheless, madness in love does not always drive man to do positive or constructive things. It also drives man to destroy what he loves. This contention is precisely affirmed by Oscar Wilde when he said that “every man kills the thing he loves; the coward does it with a kiss, the brave with a sword.’’ Thus,love also means pain and even death.

Love is dynamic principle of action. It serves as the fundamental characteristic of the human person’s being-with-others. As a passion or as an emotion, it can be purely subjective, hence irrational, or objective, hence rational. It is purely subjective and irrational when its beholder is enjoying himself in his being with his beloved who is just a tool in keeping him pleased with himself. On the contrary, love is objective and rational when it is really the other person that the lover loves and enjoys specifically as a person whose being and uniqueness are important in themselves. “The capacity of love, objectively, is what makes us persons…Love then is at… the core of our rational consciousness.”

A human person is guided by love to discover others as values. Through love, man learns how to consider others as persons, as other “Is” and not as means but ends in themselves. Through love, man is guided to act properly as a loving person.

Man: The WorkerOn account of man as the shepherd of being, the

builder of the world, and the gardener of the world, man, in the Christian perspective, is also called God’s co-creator of the world. It is in view of man as the worker that all these are realized.

Work is one of the basic aspects of the human person’s being-with-others-in-the-world. Through work, the network of human relatedness is well expressed. Thus, man works to supply his needs and those of mankind. We cannot deny the social implications of work inasmuch as everything which man does always bears an inherent social character.

Through work, man establishes his dignity. Through work man produces his own food and thereby makes himself superior over other creatures which cannot, on their own accord, produce their own food.

Work is not a curse from God because human sinfulness since, even if man did not sin, man is still inclined to work. This is emphasized by both St. Thomas Aquinas and Pope Leo XIII.•

For the Christian, the worker is more important than work. Work is man’s service to God; it is man’s grateful response to God, his Creator and Sustainer. The Christian is not ashamed of the nature of his work because he finds God in his work. Work is man’s way of glorifying God; it is his gesture of service to both God and his fellowman.

Man: The Thinker

Like all animals, man also possesses a brain. But man’s brain is intrinsically loaded with a mind or an intellect; and man is intrinsically equipped with capability to think. This contention is based on the irrefutable premise that man is an animal rationale. From man’s being inherently animal rationalecomes the flux of thinking. Where else can we charge man’s proven agility for inventions? If man is not a thinking being, then first of all, there couldn’t have been any science and technology that both spawn the ever-increasing complication of human interests and concerns.

Man has senses which enable him to acquire knowledge through his body. Through his body, man possesses nine senses. Five of these which are known as vision, taste,smell, hearing and touch are considered as the external senses. And four of these which are known as memory, imagination, consciousness and instinct are considered as the internal senses.

Man: The Believer

“There is but one freedom. To put oneself right with death. After that everything is possible. I cannot force you to believe in God. Believing in God amounts to coming to terms with death. When you have accepted death, the problem of God will be solved-and not the reverse.”-Albert Camus

• Faith and Man

Bertrand Russell, a philosopher, argue that religion or faith is a result of fear of the unknown or fear of what is next to happen after death. True enough, it is undeniably horrible to imagine what is going to happen after we die. But in the epigraph, Albert Camus provides a sound antithetical argument that as long as man accepts God, death ceases to be problem. He gave emphasis of freedom i.e., belief in God is a choice; and when one has embraced the choice to believe in God, then the depth of one’s fear of the unknown will vanish.

Man’s search for the meaning of his existence will become superficial, inauthentic and unwholesome, and the will eventually collapse when it is disassociated from God. It is true that not all men believe in God. However, man’s disbelief in God can never affect the truth of God’s existence. God is neither conditioned nor determined by man’s belief. Whether man acknowledges God or not, God, remains as He is.

The existence of evil, atheism, suffering, pain and all sorts of human tribulations are not deterrents for man from believing God. But belief in God is not all that matters. Man’s love of God is also on the same footing in terms of importance. However it is true, there are many men who walk astray. Instead of loving God, they hate God. But even if man hates God, God remains a loving God to his creatures, primarily man.

If man has to be taught to love God, how can man do it if, first of all, he does not know WHO GOD IS? If love has always its object, then, it is impossible for a person to love somebody if he does not know him. It is, therefore, clear that man should know God. It is an indispensable criterion that man should question why he believes in God so as to make his faith not just a mere faith or a blind faith but a reasoned faith. When faith is reasoned, it becomes truer, firmer, and more substantial.

The most spectacular and comprehensive question about God’s existence is the one which is raised by Feodor Dostoevski when he said that if God does not exist, it follows that everything is permitted. The wisdom of this contention lies in the fact that in the concrete human experience, not everything is permitted. Therefore, there is God because if there is no God, we certainly will live in a world of utter confusion, chaos, and moral disorder.•

There were no atheists in the medieval period. The people who contradicted the Christian belief during this time were only a handful of heretics and infidels. Atheism rose only during the modern and contemporary periods. With the advancements in science and technology, the modern and contemporary man has started denying that God is his Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer. He doesn’t want to accept God as the most powerful or Omnipotent Being. Armed with his sophisticated discoveries, man wants to compete with God.

The present society has lost its faith in God. The contemporary man claims he does not need God anymore. Through his inventions, he believes that he is more powerful than God. The present-day atheists are convinced that their robots and computers are more powerful and mysterious than man created by God. But we know they miss a very important point. They forgot that they-who are the inventors of these highly sophisticated machines-, come from God. Moreover, these atheists should wrestle with the fact that they can never make life, since life can never be made, but created. And only God can do it. The inescapable fact is that these atheists can never create a single blade of living grass or single strand of living hair.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT to DR. EDDIE E. BABOR, Ph.D, Ll.B as my main reference for this

presentation

Thank You!