16. The Argument from Desire

Back to a more serious discussion here!

DOES GOD EXIST???


Is it reasonable to put all your faith in something you cannot prove and to live completely differently because of that belief?


This series on the twenty proofs of God, while not trying to actually prove God's existence, show how reasonable faith in God is.


As Pope John Paul II said in Fides et Ratio, "Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth- in a word, to know himself- so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves."

The following is the argument from desire, borrowed heavily from Peter Kreeft and Ronald Tacelli's Handbook of Catholic Apologetics.

1. "Every natural, innate desire in us corresponds to some real object that can satisfy that desire.
2. But there exists in us a desire that nothing in time, nothing on earth, no creature can satisfy.
3. Therefore there must exist something more than time, earth and creatures, which can satisfy this desire.
4. This something is what people call "God" and "life with God forever"." (Handbook of Catholic Apologetics, pgs. 83-84)

Number one implies that some desires are natural and innate, while others are artificial.   "We naturally desire things like food, drink, sex, sleep, knowledge, friendship, and beauty; and we naturally shun things like starvation, loneliness, ignorance, and ugliness."  (Handbook of Catholic Apologetics, pg. 84)  Other things such as sports or flying through the air, yet the natural desires come from within us and are shared by all of humanity.  The artificial come from without (such as society or fiction) and vary from person to person. 
 
If a person denies number two, we can only appeal to the person's honesty by asking, "Are you really completely and totally happy and satisfied?  Really?"  A person may deny number two by claiming, "I'm not happy now, but I will be if only ______."  However for thousands of years, billions of people have tried that formula and all have failed.  When you try to find satisfaction in the world, you will fail.  A second form of denial is in stating, "I am perfectly happy now."  But who can believe such a person who claims not to desire more? 
 
In conclusion, we know that we desire "more: more beauty, more desirability, more awesomeness, more joy...But the "more" is infinitely more, for we are not satisfied with the finite and partial" (Handbook of Catholic Apologetics, pg. 84).
 
C.S. Lewis discusses this topic in The Weight of Glory and in Mere Christianity states,

Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for these desires exist.  A baby feels hunger; well, there is such a thing as food.  A duckling wants to swim; well, there is such a thing as water.  Men feel sexual desire; well, there is such a thing as sex.  If I find in myself a desire which no experience of this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.  (Mere Christianity, pgs. 136-137).

**Look for tomorrow's post on this topic.**

**It's short, and a real treat!**