I think that Aquinas’s philosophy about God’s existence is somewhat related to one of my favorite shows, Supernatural. Supernatural is about two brothers, Sam and Dean Winchester who are responsible for starting the Apocalypse. Throughout the show the brothers have been fighting supernatural forces and creatures and now that the apocalypse has started they cannot fight it alone. They come to the conclusion that the only way to end the apocalypse is to find God and ask him for help. Aquinas, in Summa Contra Gentiles states that God exists and he provides arguments to back up his ideas. The Winchester brothers argue about God’s existence, Sam states that god exist but his brother Dean has no faith in God and decides it’s up to them to save the world from eternal destruction. In the show Sam is the more religious one and the one who believes God exist but his brother Dean is a rebel and doesn’t trust God. Dean has a hard time believing in God because every time he asked for help he was let down so his faith in God was destroyed but Sam on the other hand still believes in God. I think in this situation Sam is Aquinas and Dean represent the people who do not believe in God’s existence. Sam provides almost the similar arguments that Aquinas provides about God’s existence. He first states that there must be something that’s always looking out for the world, something that created them all, something that always must be there. Then Sam states that other things like humans in the world that come and go, and that are not permanent. Lastly, he states that there is no way they can fight the apocalypse on their own, they need someone’s help and the greatest force in the world is God’s force so therefore God is the greatest thing there is so he must exist. Thomas Aquinas provides the same arguments that not all things are permanent but there is one thing that is permanent which controls everything. Since God is the greatest thing there is and the permanent things are better than contingent things. So if God is the better option than God must exist for he is the permanent thing. Sam believes that God is the best thing there is and it’s the only thing that could help them save the world. After arguing with his brother Dean, Sam finally manages to convince Dean into asking God for his help. So now the brothers are on the quest to find God, but the problem is that they cannot find him. I think the reason they cannot find God because they are looking for him by demonstration which is also what Aquinas states about Demonstration versus Contemplation. Because they are physically looking for God they are unable to find him, but if they tried contemplation they might get an answer. Aquinas describes contemplation as the face to face contact with God that anyone can experience if they have to will to leave their body emotionally and forgot about all human things and just be there for God.
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