St.

Thomas Five Ways

to Prove the Existence of God
Known as the Angelic Doctor, Thomas of Aquino, more known now as
St. Thomas Aquinas, had a great contribution to the Church, so much so that the
Church declared that if we take the effort of studying St. Thomas well, our faith
and philosophy will stay in the right track and will not go astray.
This paper will focus on the teaching of St. Thomas on the five ways to prove
the existence of God. During his time, there was difficulty in reconciling faith and
reason together. Many advocate that faith and reason are two different spheres
that there are matters that are to be understood by faith alone, and other
matters are to be understood by reason alone.
There had been a contention as to whether man can know God with his
reason or not. St. Thomas provides us the answer, saying that there are two
kinds of knowledge of God, namely, the natural knowledge (light of reason), and
the supernatural knowledge (light of faith), in which the latter is higher than the
former. It is a fact that man can know God. Even beyond it, mans purpose of
being is to know and love God. He was created precisely for that. The natural
knowledge of God is the end of a reasoning process. Man would necessarily
reach the conclusion that there is God. This is evident looking at all nations
having a particular religion. St. Thomas said that it is of utmost importance for
philosophy to demonstrate that God exists, because without that proof, it rids
philosophy of its foundation.

What philosophy does to natural knowledge is to

process it in a scientific way. It makes it more precise and explicit.

The knowledge of God however, is not just an intellectual challenge. The
proper disposition of the will and the emotions makes it easier for the person to
see clearly the conclusion that God exists. Reason by itself can prove that God
exists by looking at its surroundings, that each created thing has a cause.