Name: Zamora, Cherry Lynn A.
Section: N8
PRE-FINAL PAPER

RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE 1. Feeling of Absolute dependence by Schleirmacher * What I understand in Schleirmacher’s feeling of Absolute dependence is it’s our God-consciousness that arises from self-consciousness for being piety. It is our “utang na loob”, in this case it is a consciousness of the one to whom we are dependent—God. We have always this feeling of dependency that we owe our life to God. It is when we recognize the presence of God in ourselves, it also that start for us feel and practice religious experience.

Like for example, whenever I achieve an accomplishment or a goal, I always make sure that I will go to church and thanked God for it. I have this feeling that I should thank Him for guiding me and helping me to achieve such success. It shows that i am self-conscious about the presence of God to me.

2. Mysterious Tremendum et Fascinans by Rudolf Otto * The Mysterious Tremendum et Fascinan by Otto is his concept of Numinous or numen or divine. It is composed of three parts, such as: Mysterious/Mysterium is the experience of wholly other, or the blank wonder. Next is the Tremendum which is the awefulness-it is the terror or unapproachability “wrath of God”, overpoweringness as the sense of one’s own nothingness in contrast to its power, the creature-feeling or the sense of dependence, and energy, the vitality and will which explain that the world is full of energy because of God. And the Fascinans, it is the potent charm, the attractiveness in spite of fear or terror.
For Otto, it is his Idea of Creature, that indeed our life is composed of the three elements of Numinous, where there are always wonder of what is to come, there is always terror and fear for something and there is always the joy after the fear because of overcoming such terror. 3. Sacred and Profane by Mircea Eliade * For Eliade, Sacred and Profane are more of the presence of the holy. He explains that the sacred is not the same as the profane, nor can be explained as the result of the profane. In his discussion of sacred space it is always considered that it is the “really” real part of the universe, while non-sacred space is vague and no structure. The sacred is the solid, fixed point, while the non-sacred is a formless expanse without essence. Profane space is characterized by chaos and homogeneity and relativity while sacred space is ordered and distinct and moral.

Best example that I read about the Sacred and profane by Eliade is the movie The Great Divorce by C.S Lewis. The movie really shows an exact description of what is heaven and hell looks and feels like. The hell was shown as dim and blurry and chaotic, while heaven is solid and fixed and has permanent distinction.

THEISTIC ARGUMENT 1. Cosmological Argument by St. Thomas Aquinas * The cosmologic argument by st. Thomas proved the existence of God through 5 ways: The argument from motion, the argument from Efficient Cause, the argument from Possibility and necessity, the argument from gradation of being, and the argument from Design.

The argument from motion says that our senses proved that some things are in motion. Things cannot be in motion simultaneously and anything that is in motion is moved by another (Hindi pwedeng may “kayo” kung ayaw niya naman sayo). Next is the argument from Efficient Cause, which is composed of Material Cause, Formal Cause, Efficient cause, and Final Cause, st. Thomas stated that there is nothing exist prior to itself (Walang “kayo” kasi wala ka lang sa kanya). The argument from possibility and Necessity, it is contingent or it comes and it goes (Walang Forever, lahat ng bagay ay lumilipas at nwawala) but not all things are contingent being and some are necessary being (Kailangan mo siya, kailangan ka niya). Argument in Gradation of being, there is a gradation to be found in things, I am better or worse than others (Akala mo may forever kayo, sila pala). Argument from Design, it is the telos argument-end (Ginagawa mo ang lahat para sa kanya para sa huli kayo ang may forever), that natural bodies work toward its goal and not by chance and some things do not have knowledge, therefore there is God who design it.

2. Teleological Argument by Paley * From the word "Teleological", it is the end or purpose exhibited by the universe. Telos means the goal or end or purpose of a thing while logos means the study of the very nature of a thing. To understand the logos of a thing means to understand the very why and how of that thing's nature. The teleological argument is an attempt to prove the existence of God that begins with the observation of the purposiveness of nature. The teleological argument concludes that there is a designer exists in order to have all these things.

God is proved through this argument, “The world exhibits an intelligent purpose based on experience from nature such as its order, unity, coherency, design and complexity”. In order for us to have intelligent purpose and order there must be an intelligent designer to account for.

This teleological argument by Paley is based on the analogy of Watchmaker, is to watch as God is to universe. “Just as a watch, with its intelligent design and complex function must have been created by an intelligent maker: a watchmaker, the universe, with all its complexity and greatness, must have been created by an intelligent and powerful creator. Therefore a watchmaker is to watch as God is to universe”.

3. Ontological Argument by St. Anselm or Descartes * Ontological Argument is considered as one of the fascinating arguments for the existence of God.

4. Pragmatic Argument by James Pascal * The pragmatic argument of James Pascal discusses our belief. The way we believ and the purpose of our belief. But in totality Pragmatic Argument does not say that we have to believe. Genuine option is categorize in three: The living vs. Dead, Force vs. Avoidable, and Momentous vs. Trivial.

When we say ‘living’ there is the importance and value of the thing, while
‘dead’ is not actually a choice to be taken but only something to back things up if the first option won’t work out. Next is the ‘force’, it is referred as something that won’t fade, while ‘Avoidable’ is a either or an or. Lastly is ‘momentous’, is a once and a lifetime situation, while ‘trivial’ is an option that don’t really make much difference in the world.

He added, the source of many of our beliefs is not our inquiries but on our upbringing. And many beliefs are a function of passion and not intellect. He concluded that, whether we choose to believe or not to believe, or wait to believe, we choose our own peril and our own fate.

5. Moral Argument by Kant * Immanuel Kant’s Moral Argument has three assumptions: Freedom, Immortality, of the soul, and God. Freedom talks about “free will”, or we are free to choose. Immortality of the soul, the justice that wasn’t given to the souls, and God, who will be the one who will serve justice to the poor people.
He added that “people do good things”, and we do good things because we want to achieve “Summum bonum” or the greatest happiness. Moral behavior is only rational if justice will be serve and in order for justice to be serve, therefore God must exist. *