Among the series of the Coptic Orthodox Cultural Center Book issues
Recently issued: “Proving the Existence of God” book
By:
His Grace Bishop Bishoy of Damietta, Kafr al Sehikh and the Head of St. Demiana’s Monastery in Al Barari, the Director of the Institute of Coptic Studies in Anba Rewis, Abbasiya
A script of a lecture given by His Grace Bishop Bishoy in February 2006 at Pope Shenouda Theological College in Germany.
Foreword
In theological sciences, there are two types of evidence; reasonable and traditional; the reasonable evidence employs logic, while the traditional evidence uses the verses of the Holy Bible and interpretations of the father saints. Referring back to the Holy Bible regarding an issue, we then are using the traditional evidence; otherwise, we shall use reasonable evidence.
The reasonable evidence is beneficial when dealing with people who do not believe in the Holy Bible; whether the atheists or the non Christians.
For example, in the theoretical theology, if we want to prove the existence of a Creator for a believer, we can use the written verse: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1: 1). However, this may not bear fruits with a disbeliever, as he would ask for the evidence because he does not consider the Holy Bible dependable evidence.
We will speak a little about the theoretical theology, yet this does not mean that we would ignore the Holy Bible and its importance to us, Christians. Having discourse with atheists and non Christians does require theoretical evidence at the first place, then afterwards, we would expectedly talk with him according to what came in the Holy Bible, as it is undoubtedly the base of our Christian life.
In this booklet, you will read about the reasonable evidence proving the existence of God
The existence of material
The existence of a world order
The existence of life
The ethical law
The existence of movement, including the energia (which comes after the existence of material)
