The one thing I can't help but think when I hear this explanation for the "reason for your faith" is that, if you're right, I am damned because of my nature. I don't have faith in anything. In everyday life, faith proves itself to be a terrible way to come to knowledge. Years of education and an entire Philosophy degree have pretty much sealed that I'm just not compatible with faith; and it is on this grounds that I am to burn? I've read the Bible, I was in church every week for 5 years, I've listened to a myriad different people, trying to understand and I've gotten nowhere; I just don't get it. I feel like there's just an uncrossable gulf between us and our mental states that I certainly didn't create with an act of the will; and yet I will be judged as though this is my fault? My failing? I want it known that I tried, and it was not hubris or evil that kept me from your apparently offered salvation. My girlfriend is Catholic, I love her very much and I want to marry her someday, and these days I hope you are right, despite that meaning my damnation, because she'll get tolive in peace and happiness forever after death, and that trade is a bargain.
@@renaissanceman419 I was exposed to Essentialism briefly in the first year and I have some minimal sympathies with the position (I found Quine's objections to be unpersuasive and bordering on semantic pedantry, for example), but I don't go in for the platonic forms or other such "Hard" essentialism ideas. My thoughts on the topic are probably not best explored through a RUclips comment 😂 Realism I've studied more in the contexts of Ethics and Aesthetics; but I'm pretty firmly an error-theorist about Ethics and subjectivist about Aesthetics. I don't think I have any problem with basic metaphysical realism, though certain parts of the Copenhagen Interpretation give me pause. My point was more that I have earnestly sought and found nothing but conflict and honest disagreement; nothing that I could plant my flag in, as it were. Hume's objections to substances or miracles or the is-ought distinction can't just be wished away or ignored, they're in my head now.
@@EspadaKing777 Have you heard of Edward Feser or Peter Kreeft? I can tell you for a fact I know of many people who profoundly benefitted from the former and I have personally benefitted from the latter. I think you'd really appreciate them.
@@renaissanceman419 Thank you kindly for the recommendation, I had not come across them and I'll check them out. Would Feser's "Five Proofs for the existance of God" and Kreeft's "Practical Theology" be fair places to start?
Book: I Do Not Have Enough Faith for Atheism It begins by discussing the question of the existence of truth, then proving that the universe had a beginning, then discussing the existence of God, whether Jesus was real, and whether the Bible is reliable. It is a good book that can help you.
A lot of these arguments seem to revolve around "there must be a God because there must be something" , without ever explaining why a sentient supernatural God is the only thing that can fulfill that role
How do you have a First Mover, outside of time and space, when the word "first" implies the existence of time? How can anything "exist" outside space anyway? For this to make any sense at all, you need to come up with a definition of the word "exist" that involves neither time nor space. I do get asked if I believe in God. My usual response is: give me a definition of God that is not self-contradictory and then I'll tell you what I think. I'm yet to get a coherent response.
If God does not reveal himself to us in an obvious way so that we can choose to love him freely, then why did he reveal himself in an obvious way to some in the Bible? They believed because they saw miracles with their own eyes, so why can't everyone have that kind of certainty? I'm not being contrary, I truly want to know, as a Christian forever struggling with doubts. You describe feeling God's presence and I've heard others say the same, but I've never felt anything so distinct. If I did, I would probably think I was fooling myself, because how would I know if the feeling was divine or selfish? How can I ever resolve this paradox? Over a decade of wrestling with these things and more, I still keep searching. Sometimes I think the fact that I haven't totally reverted to atheism is proof that God has called me, and other times I think the fact that I don't totally believe is proof that I am either a lost cause or that it's all just a fantasy that I can't abandon because a world without God and heaven is too frightening to face. Alternatively, maybe I seek because I'm too cautious to risk damnation. I'm just putting this out there, I don't know, RUclips is probably not the place to look for spiritual guidance.
I'm sorry, Father Casey. I love almost all of your videos, but as a former agnostic the way you've presented the idea that God exists would have instantly turned me off. The first impression seemed to be an example of bad faith, faith that surrenders the faculties of reason. Later on in the video, it got much better than that first impression of just "faith." I understood you didn't mean it that way, but as this video is meant to explain the essentials I think it is a poor easily misunderstood way to put it. Existence would be the reason I believe, but it's not something where I have uncertainty. I am certain God exists because of the philosophical arguments for Him, specifically the Argument from Contingency. That is not where faith comes in. Faith is not that God is; faith is in God. Faith is loving God and understanding that despite how it may subjectively appear to you, God is always working for the objective good of the world and every specific individual. I am more certain God exists, then I am of the people around me. God exists by logically necessity. Now, here's where it gets confusing and I sympathize with you: I am certain God exists because of the true premises and sound logic of the arguments for Him, but I am also not "certain" He exists. This is another sense of certain, which is what I hope you were using. The idea that I could be wrong because my faculty of logic could be inherently flawed in some way and ergo I cannot be certain about anything, even that I exist. I usually just disregard that though, because that sense of certainty is ridiculous and impossible for man to achieve on anything. As one Pope put it, (I believe Pope Benedict XVI) no man is exempt from being man. That to me is where faith also comes in. Because we can never understand anything fully off our own merit, we have a special relationship with God other creatures do not have. Not only are we completely reliant on Him in existence, but we are completely reliant on Him in our reasoning faculty to understand we are completely reliant on Him. Personal experience, although I never use it as the end all be all of my certainty, is also an area where I can sympathize. I do not think arriving to God and His Church emotionally is wrong. I understand it; I have experienced it after coming to God intellectually. (not without His aid of course.) I once had an expereibce after praying spiritual communion. As I lay on my back and as soon as I said "Amen." and the yearning forJesus was spiking, I felt an immense sense of something indescribable over my chest, unlike anything I've felt before. It was pleasurable in the most wholesome sense. It was fulfilling. It was like a Divine tickle. It was undoubtedly love. I also understand what you say of those simple comforts. After surrendering to God, a simple peace fills me. This happens often. That Divine tickle happened to me a few more times, but recently it has stopped. I first felt it beginning this year and now I haven't felt it in a few months. But regardless, my point is I understand how there can be a reality that gives assurance that is not able to be articulated. I just wish this video was clearer because I don't want to give atheists and agnostics the impression that belief that God is, is equal to belief in God. I always try to look at things from their position because I used to be an agnostic and I want them to come to the fullness of the truth. If you read this Father, thank you. I love and appreciate you so much. Not to mention almost all your videos are great for theology, catechesis, and evangelization. God Bless you, Father. I'm sorry if I came off as rude; it is hard to express love over text.
Any Catholic has no reason to say we cannot know God exists through reason. It's in the catechism, and it's in the catechism precisely because there's no shortage of evidence something bigger and of a different sort even than the entire natural universe keeps things existing, much less in order. You're absolutely right to sat we can know God exists through reason alone, and we must be square about that. You are also right to say giving your trust to this God is a choice. A choice to trust Him. It's sweet you've been given peace by Him in a special way; I hope you get to feel it again in this life. But I'm sure you know that joy He gave you was to spur to on to become more like Himself. Pray I keep making the choice for God. It ain't easy. I will offer you to Padre Pio, who visited our parish this Saturday.
In my experience: god believers always imagine a god that coincidentally aligns to the personal value system of that independent believer. Including ethnic identity, personal values, political affiliation, and sometimes national affiliation. Since you think experience = true knowledge, well there you go.
In the beginning, man created god. Storytellers made up the answers our ancient ancestors asked about lightning, fire, seasons, disease, and a host of other natural elements. They crafted deities, typically in familial organizations, to fill in the gaps our fears and ignorance requited. The fear of death demanded an afterlife, whether good or ill, the soul endured because the thought of oblivion scared them beyond reason. We must endure or why are we here at all? We are animals and no different than the rest of nature despite our intellect, curiosity, and hopes. We might as well ask if squirrels have a heaven or hell.
1:12 - 1:19 "A belief in God is not a matter of fact . . . it's the result of faith." 1:44 - 1:49 "If God were an observable fact, then there would be no choice to believe." That isn't true. I could still choose not to follow him. Why does following God have to be blind? Why is faith seen as a virtue? Basing your whole life on something for which you have no evidence regarding its veracity is foolish.
Here's some "evidence" for you. When a priest molests a child, the Church shows strong fear of the public finding out, so they cover it up. Do they show the same fear of God being upset about the cover up? No, that's not something they are concerned about, not even a little bit. If you fear the public but don't fear God, your actions prove you don't actually think God is a presence in this world. Actions speak louder than words. If the church doesn't really believe in God, why should I?
@@chasingcloudz but these tragedies are not God's fault. They are evil people's fault. We all have free will and we can decide how to live. If we do bad things and we don't repent we say no to God, so we're going to spend eternity without God. Hope this helps a bit
@@chasingcloudz Its not completely basic is never forget finaly D Day thats the way of our freedom way of life in free democracy rules and duty. The way what made peace of place for our Church to be free in duty with people of free will.
To a non believer, your statement about 9/11 gives no indication of whether you are for the bombing or against it. Depending on your faith, it could be either. And don't bother trying to say that Christianity would never advocate for the killing of unbelievers, since that is factually wrong.
In my case, its the same as yours. I felt his pressence. I also dreamt a lot; where I knelt before a cross, which eventual lead to be giving wine and bread by a priest (this all happend in a dream). This is one of the callings I experienced, which all lead to yesterday evening, going to church for the first time. For the first time in my life, I felt my soul was at home.
Jesus is a messenger, and Muhammad is the Messenger of God. He has no son, father, mother, or wife. This is the Muslim belief, how Jesus is a god while he sleeps and eats and does not know the unseen. We love Jesus and our Lord and your Lord is only one in heaven. Jesus is not the Lord of the Messenger, and Muhammad is the Messenger of Arabs and non-Arabs.
@@swazilandandbotswana8856 Our Lord, who is in heaven, does not have a father, son or wife. God has sent many messengers from the first of the messengers, Adam and Noah, even Moses and Jesus, to the last of them Muhammad is a messenger for Arabs and non-Arabs to a messenger after him. He is the one whom Jesus preached about his coming after him in the Bible and the Qur’an. Our Lord, who in heaven is all poor and needy people. To him, our Lord who is in the sky is the one who deserves worship and no other than him. Our Lord who is in the sky is not like anyone in behavior in the universe Jesus is like the rest of the messengers, not our Lord How Jesus is our Lord while he sleeps and eats food and urinates and does not know the unseen then hardens this belief of Muslims in Jesus is the Messenger of God our beloved and I God willing, we will see Jesus and all after death in Heaven. Our Lord and your Lord, the One God who is in Heaven is the one who deserves worship and no other
5:00 There are two words in a language called Esperanto. They're probably in common with Latin or something, but there is a difference there. Scii: To know (scientifically, logically) Koni: To know (someone, or something, like the "cognize" in "recognize") I think this distinction might be kinda relevant to what you're explaining here.
Science answers the question HOW ? (all things measurable). Faith, belief answers the question WHY ? Too any times those of science don't respect these two simple truths and try to answer WHY based on HOW. This can mislead many if we don't pick up the difference. Yes, I have had experiences of Christ's burning Love in my heart, but what keeps it all going is to listen to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit Who comes to remind me (and us all) of all what Jesus taught and what His Truth has shown us through many Christian lives lived before mine / ours. His Love pierces time and space for our salvation and God's Glory. Thank you Father Casey, yours in Christ, JC (OFS).
Someone once asked Father Lemaitre, the Catholic priest who is credited with the theory of an expanding universe which was confirm by Edwin Hubble, how he could rely on physics and math and at the same time believe in God. He said something akin to "Oh, that's easy, physics tells us 'how' and religion tells us ' why'".
As an atheist, I respectfully disagree with your view. I don't believe that HOW and WHY are different questions. Sure they might have 2 different words in the English language but they are fundamentally the same concept. If something can happen, it happens. Nothing else. There is no why because there cannot be a why. If something is able to happen then it simply happens.
I came to seek because I didn't have the faith needed to believe the Big Bang was the start of it all. I came to believe by the witnesses, biblical and contemporary. I came to know when I went through a very dark time where I hated God and split His head open in my mind as I split fire wood but He wouldn't go away and hugged me close until I passed through that darkness and saw the healing in my life that required that journey. Thank you..
Thank you for all what you have shared with us throughout the years. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord's Face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lifteth His Countenance upon you and give you His peace.
ah yes, plagues, gods only method of speaking to us, out od all the tools he has as a game, a plague is his only way of communicating to us, all while being loving, are you serious ?
"There must be a reason why there is something rather than nothing". Must there also be a reason that nothing must exist rather than something? (or to put it another way, is it necessarily the case that nothingness is the default state of reality?)
01:44 "If God were an observable fact then there would be no choice to believe". Did God give us free will? If so then it's NOT free will. We didn't have a choice on whether or not we have it so why the scruples over our choice to believe? Why do you get it both ways?
Yeah. According to the very Bible, God was an observable fact as far back as Genesis and the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve had no choice but to accept that God was real. Was that a problem for them? Nowhere is it Biblically said that their acceptance of God was bad.
Fr. Casey basically seems like a nice and sincere person. Though I don't share his faith I find it worthwhile to listen and consider some of his ideas. But it looks like I'll have to take some of this on directly. 0:34 "As atheism continues to grow people of faith are all the sudden having to defend their own existence." NO! We atheists are NOT an existential threat to theists. We have absolutely no intention of harming them personally. We simply disagree with their _ideas_ and _challenge_ those ideas. If anything is at an existential risk it is nothing more than their ideas. It is not them. And that is only the case if their ideas are too weak to be defended in the face of possibly better, more accurate ideas. If their ideas are more correct they should have no problem defending them. In the "marketplace of ideas" let the best ideas win. What Fr. Casey said casts atheists as literal killers and he should really issue an apology and clarification. I'm confident he did not mean what he said. But as a public communicator he needs to be more careful and do a better job.
It must be hard to have invested your life, and your career, into something based on "I just believe it's true" and have others point out how flawed that is. I feel for you. I'd feel for you more if you didn't try to suggest others use your flawed reasoning.
Father with all due respect, how can you reconcile God not being a fact with the following, from the Catechism (Paragraph 36)? ""Our holy mother, the Church, holds and teaches that God, the first principle and last end of all things, can be known with certainty from the created world by the natural light of human reason."11 Without this capacity, man would not be able to welcome God's revelation. Man has this capacity because he is created "in the image of God".12"
@Ian If something can be known, it is a fact. That's not to suggest we can know the fullness of God, such would be to fill a finite space with something infinite, but we can still infer his being. In fact, that's what converted me
@@renaissanceman419 "can be known" infers the probability that it might not be known. Even facts can be denied if one isn't open to their existence. Just look at anti vax groups and terraplanists.
Eckhart Tolle was once asked, what is the evidence for the existence and the power of God? his answer was simply, " allow yourself to experience HIM and YOU will become the evidence". indeed faith is different from knowing/certainty
Nicely done Padre, is the afterlife going to be as boring as some make it out to be? I can only sing praises for a little while, an eternity seems a bit too much, Grace and Peace
I agree 100% no one decides for theirself no matter how much you believe it can hurt you to infinity time is time not that it happens for a reason but it is hard.. not just ‘not easy’ but hard really hard. Be in peace ..
"Why believe in God?"... well, that is the relevant question that has yet to be answered. You should only "believe" things exist that have some valid reason to believe in their existence. The purpose for creating a 'god' in the minds of the people is pretty simple to work out, that notion can manipulate them, both for positive and negative reasons. Example, it's hard to deal with the death of a person close to you, so it's comforting to 'believe' they went to a 'better place'. There is no basis for this belief other than the claims of religion. But, many people take solace in those ideas. But is it true? No evidence to suggest it is. Same for God. The events in the bible and other stories that supposedly establish the creation stories or the other supernatural events have all been debunked, the miracles unraveled and explained. But, people still believe. Why? Because they choose to submit themselves to the religious leaders rather than face the reality that this life is all we have, and our 'purpose' is our own to determine. Following is always easier than leading.
As a God believing Non-Christian, I believe in God because the set of beliefs I was born with, and/or developed along the way, only make sense if there is a God and nothing has ever happened in my life that would indicate my beliefs are incorrect. In fact, things have happened that are better explained by the existence of a helpful spirit. Once you believe in a helpful spirit, and if you are already open to the existence of God, it's easy to believe the spirit is God. If I am wrong, then thank you helpful spirit.
No music, just your voice.. great impact! Focus on the word. Not the sounds of distraction.. how we encounter with God.. beyond the noise, within the singular sound of His voice
The demons all believe in God without any shadow of any doubt. And yet they do not love Him. This is clearly spelled out in James. Faith has more to do with fidelity and trust akin to being faithful to a spouse or trusting a parent. God is not asking us to blindly believe for no reason, and He has given us plenty of reasons to believe, never ceases to keep revealing Himself, and provides abundant grace to any willing to cooperate with it to enter into relationship and union with Him. Faith is more than mere belief, it is trust which leads to love.
Agree. If God revealed himself it wouldn't guarantee that we would trust him and love him. That is the tragedy of sin from the beginning, not trusting God and seeking to live apart from His will. So God becomes a babe, lives, suffers, is nailed to a Cross and dies to prove His love for us. God humbles himself even further by becoming food for us in the Holy Eucharist ..and yet many still don't believe, ignore, or mock Him.
@@SentinelPrime675, writes _"You masquerade with a cover of science and truth, and yet science has room to support the existence of god, the foundation is all there, you just have to fill in the gaps."_ You're literally arguing for the _god of the gaps!_
Completely agree. Faith is believing in something that cannot be proven. If you try to prove it scientifically, then you are claiming a lack of faith. Believing is not knowing for a fact, that's why its a BELIEF by definition.
God says that because the universe exists we are without excuse with regards to having proof of wether he exists or not. So it’s not a choice but just common sense. God absolutely exists and it’s not a matter of faith but just absolute truth.
Great video Father! Sharing the Faith with others is one of the hardest things a Christian could do, but it could lead to some amazing moments and even some saved souls. What’s the point of receiving God if we don’t share him with others?
I loved the video and your take on this question. Please do not put in that angle where u look into another camera. I love your videos because it feels u are speaking right to me.
Just as God has a direct encounter with some people, which leads to greater faith in Him, he also presents himself to all of us by His creation. Just look at the complexities of the human body, how DNA works, the changing of the seasons, how everything in the universe is ordered. An examination of scientific phenomena IS how He increases the faith of many, not only by a personal encounter with Him.
Father Casey this video came at a very good time for me. I've been struggling with my faith and being able to explain it to my atheist husband. I've been concerned I can't keep my faith if I can't defend it with the scientific method. It's been really hard wanted to believe and knowing I do and being scared that makes me a hypocrite. I've asked my family to pray for me and my husband to talk to me but nothing has help. This has. Thank you.
Remember that you must always be feeding your faith. Don't let your doubts just linger in your mind. I assure you every doubt that you have has been pondered by the vast amount of theologians all throughout the history of the Church. Read up on your Catholic faith. I recommend picking up a copy of Trent Horn's book Why were Catholic it is an excellent starter it played a major part in my conversion
A simple question to solve this issue. What is more important to you... a belief you could never have a good reason to think is true... or your significant other?
I'm sorry you feel that way. But I'm also sorry that you can't see through the many logical fallacies in this video. I was once a devout Muslim, and I would have said the same things as this father. But did that make islam true?
I am struggling with my faith. Can you help? I do not know why God didn't prevent 911. In the bible he came to people and warned them of crisis to come, so why didnt he warn us?
When English-speakers use the term "faith', I hear "Believe without justification". Even the justifications you gave were testification and the "First Cause", both of which I accept. But notice: You're appealing to evidence. Ultimately you're appealing to inner experiences, which I would argue is valid too. In Islamic tradition the unspoken assumption is that people, deep down inside, actually do believe in God even if they consciously deny it. Hence the whole "no atheists in foxholes" aphorism (I do not accept the counter-arguments). TheAmazingAtheist, a popular RUclipsr, prayed to God when his father was dying. Getting out of that outward atheism requires humility and search, but starts with submission on the lips and deeds (Islam) - which means its in your heart, but you don't consciously feel it yet. Later with time and experience do you gain Emaan (translated as Faith, but actually means "Security in your awareness of God") and ultimately Ihsan (The highest states of experience and deeper understanding)
I was a true agnostic. Without seeing I would never have believed. Been delivered from death at least three times now. Felt the real force that did it. Seen the darkside also. Those who would steal your soul. It's no easy task to get it back. 🙏🏻
so people who did the hard work of studying biology did their best to save you from dying 3 times ( yes you were not dead 3 times your vitals nearly failed 3 times ) and you thanked some oen that saved you some how but didnt save all the millions of people who had no access to advanced medical care for trivial stuff in 3rd world countries where people need them the most ha ? your god really sucks dude
"There must be a reason why there is something rather than nothing" Considering that God is something, he can't be the answer to the question. Why is there God instead of nothing? Why is God that exists for no reason more satisfying that a Universe that exists for no reason?
If you simply reword his statement thusly: "There must be a reason why there is god rather than nothing", the disingenuousness of his position is made clear.
I really would like to encounter God. Maybe I have and just haven’t realized it. If I have, I don’t really know anything I can point at and just say "God". i want to know god very much
But faith can be used to come to the wrong conclusion. YOU may use it as a force for good, but in reality, it's a tool. It's not "had". It's "wielded". And not everyone is good at using it because it's not always a terribly conscious process. It can make some people do really messed up stuff in ways that they can't be reasoned with. It's a tool with very little functional purpose at best and is a nuclear-tier weapon with utterly unpredictable results at worst. Things you could fight wars over. This means everyone using it needs to be extremely careful to make sure they're not the problem (that is, that they aren't interpreting doctrine in ways that negatively impacts wellbeing). OR... we can just not use faith in the first place. We could just... like... not roll those unnecessary, dangerous, pointless dice in the first place. I don't know why you guys believe in god but I was devastated by the loss of my faith. Something I should have never had in the first place. I had an eternity of purpose laid out for me for my whole life and then just lost it. Like imagine if I told you from birth you were gonna get 10 million dollars on your eighteenth birthday. I did NOT handle it well. I was very much an atheist before I was comfortable with the concept of atheism. Thanks for slowing down my development as a person, faith.
I like listening to sincere religious experiences. Unfortunately, mystical experiences are by their nature unverifiable and subject to the mystic's interpretation. Mystics and spiritualists across time and space vouch with ardent fervour that they have witnessed the divine or otherworldly and their accounts (polytheists vs monotheists for example) contradict. Since I have no such experiences or faith of my own, I have no criteria in privileging the experiences of one over the other. When two people with contradictory claims simply believe, conversation hits a dead end very quickly.
A timely video. We certainly need more along those lines. Like many others, I struggle now to maintain any semblance of a faith journey. Having watched many Carl Sagan and Neil deGrasse Tyson videos, I find it very difficult not to agree with their points of view. I like these two in particular because they do not dismiss religion entirely and are not bitter. Neil was actually brought up in a Catholic household and Carl had Jewish roots. I find that I am not inclined to believe in all the miracles, but still see Jesus as someone to follow. I tend to see the Eucharist as a memorial rather than a sacrifice. More like a Presbyterian than a Catholic, it would appear. The idea that there is a heavenly home waiting for some of us, or all of us, or most of us, doesn't seem likely. We can hope of course, but even if there's not, and we just go back where we came from, still part of the cosmos, that doesn't seem too bad. After all, the fact that we've had a chance to live at all is pretty amazing.
@Ian Miraculous interactions sounds amazing, but I don't feel as If I ever want to see one. The very idea of changing the physical laws somehow turns me off. It would be like watching water flow uphill. We had a science teacher who when questioned as to what happens after death ie was there an afterlife ? He would say, ''The simple answer is, I don't know. Why don't you ask Fr.Louis ?''
@@BreakingInTheHabit I have recently come back to the Church after years of being lost and I'm reading it right now. Thank you for your videos and a big hug from Spain!
Father, I tend to agree with you that God cannot be known with certainty (at least to the level of certainty with which I know the existence of my own mind), but why does the Catechism say that "man can arrive at certainty about the existence of God"?
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Why is there something instead of nothing? Good question, but if God exists then god is part of "something" (everything that exists) and can't be the answer to the question.
That is a false notion of God. God is not a “something” otherwise he wouldn’t be God. In order to be God he has to have pure actuality, meaning no potentiality, meaning no matter. God is being itself, existing without time or matter.
@@BreakingInTheHabit he is not nothing. So the question is still: why is there a god and the universe he created instead of nothing. Sure you can assign special attributes to god so he is not in the "something" set, but that does not change anything, as you could still have nothing
@@BreakingInTheHabit That is called special pleading. You made something up that you believe can't be disproven, but you have absolutely no proof, or reason to believe it.
@@BreakingInTheHabit If God is not something, then he is nothing. And so, you have the universe being made entirely from nothing, which I hear apologists consistently claiming is impossible. If he exists without time or matter, it means he doesn't exist.
It seems like Atheists are rampant even among the Protestant Christians, and that's scary, to me. Thanks to false prophets, we even have negativity in the Catholic Church. Where are we without Faith and reason? I was in a coma, and met Jesus Christ. I know He exists. Thank you, Father.
I don't like the term rampant in relation to atheism. As an atheist there is nothing wrong with me. In fact I am very open to religion. If I was against religion I wouldn't be watching fr. Casey yet he is one of only two youtubers i watch every video from. Christianity is awesome. I wish I believed it. I just don't.
Maya Lackman Christianity is not about “feeling”, though it can be synergized with the intuition that a transcendal being somewhere out there exists. Anyway, good luck on your journey. If you will join Christianity, make sure to do it in good conscience, don’t let anyone _force_ you to convert.
I tried to find the existence of God using logic and science.. and it worked! Yet with all that logic I had in my brain, there was no deep belief in my heart. You can find God through facts and logic. But you can only connect with God through faith. Although God can be proven by facts, reason, and logic, that means nothing. All of my real belief comes through how I have been able to connect to God through faith and humility. Even if the Tooth Fairy was more believable than God, I would still know He exists through how I have personally connected with God, and how I have heard and felt Him in my life.
Hello Fr . Casey, I think is worth it to listen to the Misericordia Maria TV- English Apparition of the Holy Family - Secred Week (August 14 / 15 / & 16 / 2020 ) is just like Bible teaches about God himself. If you continue to read it all his messages you will learn more about him. Thanks !
I would say philosophy is as much a science as the sciences where you measure things. Just because some people don't believe philosophy is science doesn't prove anything. Some people deny empirical science, too. Some people take the Flat Earth Society seriously. Some people deny psychology has any reality. Or just parts of it. And of course a lot of people deny human biology in practise; they hate exercise and eating healthy, and so they'd rather be sick than change their way of life. (I must say I am one such person.) You can accept or reject knowledge - whether it's philosophical, measurable, or personal experience. What you want matters as much as what you know.
//defend their existence// It's like the history of theological apologetics .. centuries of it.. don't exist for this guy. As if there haven't been countless centuries of blood and ink spilled over 'defending' or justifying' one's ethnic superstitions to other people with their own ethnic superstitions.. and.. theist never had to defend anything until the boogeyman of atheist appear out of thin air.. as if .. there have never been non-believers into the past? Bizarre and stupid.
It's interesting you don't mention history or psychology. In these disciplines' more expansive moments both think of themselves as science. But they are not, in the empirical way you mention. They inhabit somewhere between the certainty of observation, and the doubt of faith. And I find that both have answers to the points you raise. Witness accounts always have contexts that demystify them when known. And deeply felt feelings, say of being loved in a time of despair, or our feeling of voracious curiosity can be understood with the help of psychodynamics (not to mention neurobiology). Their answers, like a powerful car, overtake witness, unanswered curiosity and feeling. They take us closer to the edge. Only now, bereft of your aids, we peer out and the sight is more vastly terrifying. It is unknowable.
The Christian honors God by holding fast his integrity, and keeping his allegiance firm when he seems neglected and forsaken.
William Gurnall
Poor god, neglected and forsaken... You better stop eating for a day to make it feel better!
The one thing I can't help but think when I hear this explanation for the "reason for your faith" is that, if you're right, I am damned because of my nature.
I don't have faith in anything. In everyday life, faith proves itself to be a terrible way to come to knowledge. Years of education and an entire Philosophy degree have pretty much sealed that I'm just not compatible with faith; and it is on this grounds that I am to burn?
I've read the Bible, I was in church every week for 5 years, I've listened to a myriad different people, trying to understand and I've gotten nowhere; I just don't get it.
I feel like there's just an uncrossable gulf between us and our mental states that I certainly didn't create with an act of the will; and yet I will be judged as though this is my fault? My failing? I want it known that I tried, and it was not hubris or evil that kept me from your apparently offered salvation.
My girlfriend is Catholic, I love her very much and I want to marry her someday, and these days I hope you are right, despite that meaning my damnation, because she'll get tolive in peace and happiness forever after death, and that trade is a bargain.
Did you ever give much attention to Essentialism and Realism during your philosophy degree?
@@renaissanceman419 I was exposed to Essentialism briefly in the first year and I have some minimal sympathies with the position (I found Quine's objections to be unpersuasive and bordering on semantic pedantry, for example), but I don't go in for the platonic forms or other such "Hard" essentialism ideas. My thoughts on the topic are probably not best explored through a RUclips comment 😂
Realism I've studied more in the contexts of Ethics and Aesthetics; but I'm pretty firmly an error-theorist about Ethics and subjectivist about Aesthetics.
I don't think I have any problem with basic metaphysical realism, though certain parts of the Copenhagen Interpretation give me pause.
My point was more that I have earnestly sought and found nothing but conflict and honest disagreement; nothing that I could plant my flag in, as it were. Hume's objections to substances or miracles or the is-ought distinction can't just be wished away or ignored, they're in my head now.
@@EspadaKing777 Have you heard of Edward Feser or Peter Kreeft? I can tell you for a fact I know of many people who profoundly benefitted from the former and I have personally benefitted from the latter.
I think you'd really appreciate them.
@@renaissanceman419 Thank you kindly for the recommendation, I had not come across them and I'll check them out.
Would Feser's "Five Proofs for the existance of God" and Kreeft's "Practical Theology" be fair places to start?
Book: I Do Not Have Enough Faith for Atheism
It begins by discussing the question of the existence of truth, then proving that the universe had a beginning, then discussing the existence of God, whether Jesus was real, and whether the Bible is reliable. It is a good book that can help you.
A lot of these arguments seem to revolve around "there must be a God because there must be something" , without ever explaining why a sentient supernatural God is the only thing that can fulfill that role
How do you have a First Mover, outside of time and space, when the word "first" implies the existence of time? How can anything "exist" outside space anyway? For this to make any sense at all, you need to come up with a definition of the word "exist" that involves neither time nor space.
I do get asked if I believe in God. My usual response is: give me a definition of God that is not self-contradictory and then I'll tell you what I think. I'm yet to get a coherent response.
In the end "Faith is enough for me." Hmm. OK. Cool. I can't really do anything with that. I guess I don't have that gift.
If God does not reveal himself to us in an obvious way so that we can choose to love him freely, then why did he reveal himself in an obvious way to some in the Bible? They believed because they saw miracles with their own eyes, so why can't everyone have that kind of certainty? I'm not being contrary, I truly want to know, as a Christian forever struggling with doubts.
You describe feeling God's presence and I've heard others say the same, but I've never felt anything so distinct. If I did, I would probably think I was fooling myself, because how would I know if the feeling was divine or selfish? How can I ever resolve this paradox? Over a decade of wrestling with these things and more, I still keep searching. Sometimes I think the fact that I haven't totally reverted to atheism is proof that God has called me, and other times I think the fact that I don't totally believe is proof that I am either a lost cause or that it's all just a fantasy that I can't abandon because a world without God and heaven is too frightening to face. Alternatively, maybe I seek because I'm too cautious to risk damnation. I'm just putting this out there, I don't know, RUclips is probably not the place to look for spiritual guidance.
I'm sorry, Father Casey. I love almost all of your videos, but as a former agnostic the way you've presented the idea that God exists would have instantly turned me off. The first impression seemed to be an example of bad faith, faith that surrenders the faculties of reason. Later on in the video, it got much better than that first impression of just "faith." I understood you didn't mean it that way, but as this video is meant to explain the essentials I think it is a poor easily misunderstood way to put it. Existence would be the reason I believe, but it's not something where I have uncertainty. I am certain God exists because of the philosophical arguments for Him, specifically the Argument from Contingency. That is not where faith comes in. Faith is not that God is; faith is in God. Faith is loving God and understanding that despite how it may subjectively appear to you, God is always working for the objective good of the world and every specific individual. I am more certain God exists, then I am of the people around me. God exists by logically necessity. Now, here's where it gets confusing and I sympathize with you:
I am certain God exists because of the true premises and sound logic of the arguments for Him, but I am also not "certain" He exists. This is another sense of certain, which is what I hope you were using. The idea that I could be wrong because my faculty of logic could be inherently flawed in some way and ergo I cannot be certain about anything, even that I exist. I usually just disregard that though, because that sense of certainty is ridiculous and impossible for man to achieve on anything. As one Pope put it, (I believe Pope Benedict XVI) no man is exempt from being man. That to me is where faith also comes in. Because we can never understand anything fully off our own merit, we have a special relationship with God other creatures do not have. Not only are we completely reliant on Him in existence, but we are completely reliant on Him in our reasoning faculty to understand we are completely reliant on Him.
Personal experience, although I never use it as the end all be all of my certainty, is also an area where I can sympathize. I do not think arriving to God and His Church emotionally is wrong. I understand it; I have experienced it after coming to God intellectually. (not without His aid of course.) I once had an expereibce after praying spiritual communion. As I lay on my back and as soon as I said "Amen." and the yearning forJesus was spiking, I felt an immense sense of something indescribable over my chest, unlike anything I've felt before. It was pleasurable in the most wholesome sense. It was fulfilling. It was like a Divine tickle. It was undoubtedly love. I also understand what you say of those simple comforts. After surrendering to God, a simple peace fills me. This happens often. That Divine tickle happened to me a few more times, but recently it has stopped. I first felt it beginning this year and now I haven't felt it in a few months. But regardless, my point is I understand how there can be a reality that gives assurance that is not able to be articulated. I just wish this video was clearer because I don't want to give atheists and agnostics the impression that belief that God is, is equal to belief in God. I always try to look at things from their position because I used to be an agnostic and I want them to come to the fullness of the truth. If you read this Father, thank you. I love and appreciate you so much. Not to mention almost all your videos are great for theology, catechesis, and evangelization. God Bless you, Father. I'm sorry if I came off as rude; it is hard to express love over text.
Love this!
Any Catholic has no reason to say we cannot know God exists through reason. It's in the catechism, and it's in the catechism precisely because there's no shortage of evidence something bigger and of a different sort even than the entire natural universe keeps things existing, much less in order.
You're absolutely right to sat we can know God exists through reason alone, and we must be square about that. You are also right to say giving your trust to this God is a choice. A choice to trust Him. It's sweet you've been given peace by Him in a special way; I hope you get to feel it again in this life. But I'm sure you know that joy He gave you was to spur to on to become more like Himself. Pray I keep making the choice for God. It ain't easy. I will offer you to Padre Pio, who visited our parish this Saturday.
I think he said it best with the words "God is not a fact".
@@imaginaryfriend3827 God is a fact though. His Existence is either true or false. He's not an opinion. That's the problem.
Dude... Nice.
In my experience: god believers always imagine a god that coincidentally aligns to the personal value system of that independent believer. Including ethnic identity, personal values, political affiliation, and sometimes national affiliation. Since you think experience = true knowledge, well there you go.
In the beginning, man created god. Storytellers made up the answers our ancient ancestors asked about lightning, fire, seasons, disease, and a host of other natural elements. They crafted deities, typically in familial organizations, to fill in the gaps our fears and ignorance requited. The fear of death demanded an afterlife, whether good or ill, the soul endured because the thought of oblivion scared them beyond reason. We must endure or why are we here at all? We are animals and no different than the rest of nature despite our intellect, curiosity, and hopes. We might as well ask if squirrels have a heaven or hell.
If there is no Silicon Heaven, where do all the calculators go?
1:12 - 1:19 "A belief in God is not a matter of fact . . . it's the result of faith."
1:44 - 1:49 "If God were an observable fact, then there would be no choice to believe." That isn't true. I could still choose not to follow him.
Why does following God have to be blind? Why is faith seen as a virtue?
Basing your whole life on something for which you have no evidence regarding its veracity is foolish.
God is only interested in having gullible followers -- makes me wonder what heaven is _really_ like.
I keep loving God because he loves me first
Here's some "evidence" for you. When a priest molests a child, the Church shows strong fear of the public finding out, so they cover it up. Do they show the same fear of God being upset about the cover up? No, that's not something they are concerned about, not even a little bit. If you fear the public but don't fear God, your actions prove you don't actually think God is a presence in this world. Actions speak louder than words. If the church doesn't really believe in God, why should I?
Well put.
Never forget 9/11...may those that took that faithful step into the next world be comforted and remembered. Thanks Fr. Casey! God Bless you!
@@chasingcloudz what do you mean that it has shaken your faith? If you need some help we can try to talk. Greetings from italy
@@chasingcloudz but these tragedies are not God's fault. They are evil people's fault. We all have free will and we can decide how to live. If we do bad things and we don't repent we say no to God, so we're going to spend eternity without God. Hope this helps a bit
We choose both Good & Bad which God Rejected... Think of the Fall of Man in the Garden of Eden.....
@@chasingcloudz Its not completely basic is never forget finaly D Day thats the way of our freedom way of life in free democracy rules and duty. The way what made peace of place for our Church to be free in duty with people of free will.
To a non believer, your statement about 9/11 gives no indication of whether you are for the bombing or against it. Depending on your faith, it could be either. And don't bother trying to say that Christianity would never advocate for the killing of unbelievers, since that is factually wrong.
In my case, its the same as yours. I felt his pressence. I also dreamt a lot; where I knelt before a cross, which eventual lead to be giving wine and bread by a priest (this all happend in a dream). This is one of the callings I experienced, which all lead to yesterday evening, going to church for the first time. For the first time in my life, I felt my soul was at home.
Jesus is a messenger, and Muhammad is the Messenger of God. He has no son, father, mother, or wife. This is the Muslim belief, how Jesus is a god while he sleeps and eats and does not know the unseen. We love Jesus and our Lord and your Lord is only one in heaven. Jesus is not the Lord of the Messenger, and Muhammad is the Messenger of Arabs and non-Arabs.
I will pray for you! May God bless you and keep you. :)
قناة فتاوى علماء المدينة النبوية so you’re saying that Jesus message completely failed
@@swazilandandbotswana8856 Our Lord, who is in heaven, does not have a father, son or wife. God has sent many messengers from the first of the messengers, Adam and Noah, even Moses and Jesus, to the last of them Muhammad is a messenger for Arabs and non-Arabs to a messenger after him. He is the one whom Jesus preached about his coming after him in the Bible and the Qur’an. Our Lord, who in heaven is all poor and needy people. To him, our Lord who is in the sky is the one who deserves worship and no other than him. Our Lord who is in the sky is not like anyone in behavior in the universe Jesus is like the rest of the messengers, not our Lord How Jesus is our Lord while he sleeps and eats food and urinates and does not know the unseen then hardens this belief of Muslims in Jesus is the Messenger of God our beloved and I God willing, we will see Jesus and all after death in Heaven. Our Lord and your Lord, the One God who is in Heaven is the one who deserves worship and no other
Well thats convincing ! NOT
Who want God & who won't God , to me this my answer when I found weakness to prove it .
Blessings from 🇦🇪( UAE)
Blessings 🌷 🌷 🌷
5:00 There are two words in a language called Esperanto. They're probably in common with Latin or something, but there is a difference there.
Scii: To know (scientifically, logically)
Koni: To know (someone, or something, like the "cognize" in "recognize")
I think this distinction might be kinda relevant to what you're explaining here.
Science answers the question HOW ? (all things measurable). Faith, belief answers the question WHY ? Too any times those of science don't respect these two simple truths and try to answer WHY based on HOW. This can mislead many if we don't pick up the difference. Yes, I have had experiences of Christ's burning Love in my heart, but what keeps it all going is to listen to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit Who comes to remind me (and us all) of all what Jesus taught and what His Truth has shown us through many Christian lives lived before mine / ours. His Love pierces time and space for our salvation and God's Glory. Thank you Father Casey, yours in Christ, JC (OFS).
Too well said. Exactly my thoughts.
Someone once asked Father Lemaitre, the Catholic priest who is credited with the theory of an expanding universe which was confirm by Edwin Hubble, how he could rely on physics and math and at the same time believe in God. He said something akin to "Oh, that's easy, physics tells us 'how' and religion tells us ' why'".
This is exactly what I've held in my beliefs for a long while. When you use one to answer the other, it just doesn't work out very well. Awesome post!
I want to add something to this comment; Science is an answer to WHY? But faith is the answer to WHY is WHY?
As an atheist, I respectfully disagree with your view. I don't believe that HOW and WHY are different questions. Sure they might have 2 different words in the English language but they are fundamentally the same concept. If something can happen, it happens. Nothing else. There is no why because there cannot be a why. If something is able to happen then it simply happens.
I came to seek because I didn't have the faith needed to believe the Big Bang was the start of it all. I came to believe by the witnesses, biblical and contemporary. I came to know when I went through a very dark time where I hated God and split His head open in my mind as I split fire wood but He wouldn't go away and hugged me close until I passed through that darkness and saw the healing in my life that required that journey. Thank you..
Thank you for all what you have shared with us throughout the years. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord's Face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lifteth His Countenance upon you and give you His peace.
I pray everyone feels the love of God on a personal level 🙏
ah yes, plagues, gods only method of speaking to us, out od all the tools he has as a game, a plague is his only way of communicating to us, all while being loving, are you serious ?
I have the same feelings. Whenever I am broken and weak, God show me his prenence in a way or another. I really love those moments.
"There must be a reason why there is something rather than nothing". Must there also be a reason that nothing must exist rather than something? (or to put it another way, is it necessarily the case that nothingness is the default state of reality?)
01:44 "If God were an observable fact then there would be no choice to believe".
Did God give us free will? If so then it's NOT free will. We didn't have a choice on whether or not we have it so why the scruples over our choice to believe?
Why do you get it both ways?
Yeah. According to the very Bible, God was an observable fact as far back as Genesis and the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve had no choice but to accept that God was real. Was that a problem for them? Nowhere is it Biblically said that their acceptance of God was bad.
Fr. Casey basically seems like a nice and sincere person. Though I don't share his faith I find it worthwhile to listen and consider some of his ideas.
But it looks like I'll have to take some of this on directly. 0:34 "As atheism continues to grow people of faith are all the sudden having to defend their own existence." NO! We atheists are NOT an existential threat to theists. We have absolutely no intention of harming them personally. We simply disagree with their _ideas_ and _challenge_ those ideas. If anything is at an existential risk it is nothing more than their ideas. It is not them. And that is only the case if their ideas are too weak to be defended in the face of possibly better, more accurate ideas. If their ideas are more correct they should have no problem defending them. In the "marketplace of ideas" let the best ideas win. What Fr. Casey said casts atheists as literal killers and he should really issue an apology and clarification. I'm confident he did not mean what he said. But as a public communicator he needs to be more careful and do a better job.
I would say I am confident he meant _exactly_ what he said.
@@Diviance You may well be right. But I hope you're not.
+fepeerreview3150, writes _"Fr. Casey basically seems like a nice and sincere person."_
I still wouldn't leave him alone with a child.
People who think they saw bigfoot or aliens or dragons all make similar claims. You don't give them the time of day do you? Next.
I love how you can only give us God of the Gaps fallacies. "Where did the Big Bang come from? We don't know, but God had to do it!"
Nah man.
It is ok not know why we are here or why the universe came into existence. We will never know.
i can't agree more; if we know then we have no need of faith.
Word. Belief in God is no longer common but peculiar.
It must be hard to have invested your life, and your career, into something based on "I just believe it's true" and have others point out how flawed that is. I feel for you. I'd feel for you more if you didn't try to suggest others use your flawed reasoning.
The words of jesus is the science that is creating my heart that my brain may be free.
Father with all due respect, how can you reconcile God not being a fact with the following, from the Catechism (Paragraph 36)?
""Our holy mother, the Church, holds and teaches that God, the first principle and last end of all things, can be known with certainty from the created world by the natural light of human reason."11 Without this capacity, man would not be able to welcome God's revelation. Man has this capacity because he is created "in the image of God".12"
@Ian If something can be known, it is a fact. That's not to suggest we can know the fullness of God, such would be to fill a finite space with something infinite, but we can still infer his being.
In fact, that's what converted me
@Kevin Reyes Public Revelation did. Private revelations didn't.
@@renaissanceman419 "can be known" infers the probability that it might not be known. Even facts can be denied if one isn't open to their existence. Just look at anti vax groups and terraplanists.
Very good question, sir!
@@BT7M People denying something doesn't make it potentially not true.
Eckhart Tolle was once asked, what is the evidence for the existence and the power of God? his answer was simply, " allow yourself to experience HIM and YOU will become the evidence". indeed faith is different from knowing/certainty
Sounds like Eckhart Tolle was quite the numpty.
Nicely done Padre, is the afterlife going to be as boring as some make it out to be? I can only sing praises for a little while, an eternity seems a bit too much, Grace and Peace
I agree 100% no one decides for theirself no matter how much you believe it can hurt you to infinity time is time not that it happens for a reason but it is hard.. not just ‘not easy’ but hard really hard. Be in peace ..
"Why believe in God?"... well, that is the relevant question that has yet to be answered. You should only "believe" things exist that have some valid reason to believe in their existence. The purpose for creating a 'god' in the minds of the people is pretty simple to work out, that notion can manipulate them, both for positive and negative reasons. Example, it's hard to deal with the death of a person close to you, so it's comforting to 'believe' they went to a 'better place'. There is no basis for this belief other than the claims of religion. But, many people take solace in those ideas. But is it true? No evidence to suggest it is. Same for God. The events in the bible and other stories that supposedly establish the creation stories or the other supernatural events have all been debunked, the miracles unraveled and explained. But, people still believe. Why? Because they choose to submit themselves to the religious leaders rather than face the reality that this life is all we have, and our 'purpose' is our own to determine. Following is always easier than leading.
Hi from Ireland @breakinginthehabit any advice from someone wanting to do a vocation. How did you deal with disapproval from people
Pray for humility
Sooooo.... curiosity and faith.... got it.... that may work for some, and thats totally cool.... but thats simply not enough for me and many others.
Excellent, Father! Simple yet profound. Thought-provoking and yet pastoral.
God bless you Father,
Dcn. Paul
@@قناةفتاوىعلماءالمدينةالنبوية ?Okay so why do the gospels from very soon after his ascension contradict this
. . . it doesn't really matter if you believe in God at this moment . . . He believes in you . . .
As a God believing Non-Christian, I believe in God because the set of beliefs I was born with, and/or developed along the way, only make sense if there is a God and nothing has ever happened in my life that would indicate my beliefs are incorrect. In fact, things have happened that are better explained by the existence of a helpful spirit. Once you believe in a helpful spirit, and if you are already open to the existence of God, it's easy to believe the spirit is God. If I am wrong, then thank you helpful spirit.
Sharing this...my baby brother and I were just discussing this very topic. Thank you
Kerygma is a GREAT series. I'm glad you're taking it on to equip believers to proclaim boldly as we should. Pax
How can math prove anything other than math?
No music, just your voice.. great impact!
Focus on the word. Not the sounds of distraction.. how we encounter with God.. beyond the noise, within the singular sound of His voice
The demons all believe in God without any shadow of any doubt. And yet they do not love Him. This is clearly spelled out in James. Faith has more to do with fidelity and trust akin to being faithful to a spouse or trusting a parent. God is not asking us to blindly believe for no reason, and He has given us plenty of reasons to believe, never ceases to keep revealing Himself, and provides abundant grace to any willing to cooperate with it to enter into relationship and union with Him. Faith is more than mere belief, it is trust which leads to love.
Agree. If God revealed himself it wouldn't guarantee that we would trust him and love him. That is the tragedy of sin from the beginning, not trusting God and seeking to live apart from His will. So God becomes a babe, lives, suffers, is nailed to a Cross and dies to prove His love for us. God humbles himself even further by becoming food for us in the Holy Eucharist
..and yet many still don't believe, ignore, or mock Him.
Great and insightful video! Was wondering, it is you alone who make all those great cinematic effects or you have an editor who does them?
This video has actually really helped!! Thank you so much. Im still agnostic, but…. Im more accepting of my faith now.
@tandme2342I think they're being sarcastic?
For us with faith we know God both exists and acts in our lives daily
Really ! PROVE IT
I do appreciate your words,,,thank you, gor subtitles
Thanks for explaining why faith is dishonest and no rational person should accept your claim.
@@SentinelPrime675, writes _"You masquerade with a cover of science and truth, and yet science has room to support the existence of god, the foundation is all there, you just have to fill in the gaps."_
You're literally arguing for the _god of the gaps!_
@@SentinelPrime675 You are just cranky because you understand that you have no rational reason to believe as you do and it is frustrating you.
@ButtHole-il1yz humanity is sexually dimorphic with various exceptions.
@ButtHole-il1yz, asks _"How many sexes are there?"_
Why are you so obsessed with what other people have in their pants?
Completely agree. Faith is believing in something that cannot be proven. If you try to prove it scientifically, then you are claiming a lack of faith. Believing is not knowing for a fact, that's why its a BELIEF by definition.
my uncle was supposed to died we pray and pray and HE HEALD that the greatest proof
To bad no one prayed that your grammar and spelling would improve.
Hello Fr. Casey. Author Trent Horn wrote a very good book on the very topic you discuss called, "Answering Atheism"
Trent Horn Is awesome!
So this. So, so good! Thank you!
I'd love to believe, but I can't. I've just never been able to.
It is not enough that Fr. Casey believes in God. It is more than enough that God believes in Fr. Casey.
God says that because the universe exists we are without excuse with regards to having proof of wether he exists or not. So it’s not a choice but just common sense. God absolutely exists and it’s not a matter of faith but just absolute truth.
Great video Father! Sharing the Faith with others is one of the hardest things a Christian could do, but it could lead to some amazing moments and even some saved souls. What’s the point of receiving God if we don’t share him with others?
I loved the video and your take on this question.
Please do not put in that angle where u look into another camera. I love your videos because it feels u are speaking right to me.
Unless you believe, you will not understand.
Even science would require faith for you to understand it.
They are too sides of the same coin one needs The other in a sense
Just as God has a direct encounter with some people, which leads to greater faith in Him, he also presents himself to all of us by His creation. Just look at the complexities of the human body, how DNA works, the changing of the seasons, how everything in the universe is ordered. An examination of scientific phenomena IS how He increases the faith of many, not only by a personal encounter with Him.
Seeing is not believing, believing is seeing.
please pray for me to be freed from years of very deep confusion disaccosiation sinning gravely constantly and lacking deeply very important emotions
praying for you!
You all need stop using your emotions, to rule your lives.
Father Casey this video came at a very good time for me. I've been struggling with my faith and being able to explain it to my atheist husband. I've been concerned I can't keep my faith if I can't defend it with the scientific method. It's been really hard wanted to believe and knowing I do and being scared that makes me a hypocrite. I've asked my family to pray for me and my husband to talk to me but nothing has help. This has. Thank you.
Remember that you must always be feeding your faith. Don't let your doubts just linger in your mind. I assure you every doubt that you have has been pondered by the vast amount of theologians all throughout the history of the Church. Read up on your Catholic faith. I recommend picking up a copy of Trent Horn's book Why were Catholic it is an excellent starter it played a major part in my conversion
i hope your husband wasn't convinced by this garbage
A simple question to solve this issue.
What is more important to you... a belief you could never have a good reason to think is true... or your significant other?
I'm sorry you feel that way. But I'm also sorry that you can't see through the many logical fallacies in this video. I was once a devout Muslim, and I would have said the same things as this father. But did that make islam true?
You cannot explain your faith ! Its delusional but even worse for your iron age ignorance YOU should OBEY him !
I am struggling with my faith. Can you help? I do not know why God didn't prevent 911. In the bible he came to people and warned them of crisis to come, so why didnt he warn us?
When English-speakers use the term "faith', I hear "Believe without justification".
Even the justifications you gave were testification and the "First Cause", both of which I accept. But notice: You're appealing to evidence.
Ultimately you're appealing to inner experiences, which I would argue is valid too.
In Islamic tradition the unspoken assumption is that people, deep down inside, actually do believe in God even if they consciously deny it. Hence the whole "no atheists in foxholes" aphorism (I do not accept the counter-arguments). TheAmazingAtheist, a popular RUclipsr, prayed to God when his father was dying.
Getting out of that outward atheism requires humility and search, but starts with submission on the lips and deeds (Islam) - which means its in your heart, but you don't consciously feel it yet. Later with time and experience do you gain Emaan (translated as Faith, but actually means "Security in your awareness of God") and ultimately Ihsan (The highest states of experience and deeper understanding)
Even if there is a god how could we prove it's your god.
I was a true agnostic. Without seeing I would never have believed.
Been delivered from death at least three times now. Felt the real force that did it.
Seen the darkside also. Those who would steal your soul.
It's no easy task to get it back. 🙏🏻
You said you were "delivered from death 3 times"... Who did you thank for saving you? God or medical science? Bet you a buck it's the former
so people who did the hard work of studying biology did their best to save you from dying 3 times ( yes you were not dead 3 times your vitals nearly failed 3 times )
and you thanked some oen that saved you some how but didnt save all the millions of people who had no access to advanced medical care for trivial stuff in 3rd world countries where people need them the most ha ?
your god really sucks dude
Well said...God is to be knows through personal experience !!! Love your work.
"There must be a reason why there is something rather than nothing" Considering that God is something, he can't be the answer to the question. Why is there God instead of nothing? Why is God that exists for no reason more satisfying that a Universe that exists for no reason?
If you simply reword his statement thusly: "There must be a reason why there is god rather than nothing", the disingenuousness of his position is made clear.
I really would like to encounter God. Maybe I have and just haven’t realized it. If I have, I don’t really know anything I can point at and just say "God". i want to know god very much
But faith can be used to come to the wrong conclusion. YOU may use it as a force for good, but in reality, it's a tool. It's not "had". It's "wielded". And not everyone is good at using it because it's not always a terribly conscious process. It can make some people do really messed up stuff in ways that they can't be reasoned with. It's a tool with very little functional purpose at best and is a nuclear-tier weapon with utterly unpredictable results at worst. Things you could fight wars over. This means everyone using it needs to be extremely careful to make sure they're not the problem (that is, that they aren't interpreting doctrine in ways that negatively impacts wellbeing).
OR... we can just not use faith in the first place. We could just... like... not roll those unnecessary, dangerous, pointless dice in the first place. I don't know why you guys believe in god but I was devastated by the loss of my faith. Something I should have never had in the first place. I had an eternity of purpose laid out for me for my whole life and then just lost it. Like imagine if I told you from birth you were gonna get 10 million dollars on your eighteenth birthday. I did NOT handle it well. I was very much an atheist before I was comfortable with the concept of atheism.
Thanks for slowing down my development as a person, faith.
How do you know that it's God? If you never read the Bible and no one talked to you about it, how'd you know it's not Zeus or Poseidon?
I like listening to sincere religious experiences. Unfortunately, mystical experiences are by their nature unverifiable and subject to the mystic's interpretation. Mystics and spiritualists across time and space vouch with ardent fervour that they have witnessed the divine or otherworldly and their accounts (polytheists vs monotheists for example) contradict. Since I have no such experiences or faith of my own, I have no criteria in privileging the experiences of one over the other. When two people with contradictory claims simply believe, conversation hits a dead end very quickly.
A timely video. We certainly need more along those lines. Like many others, I struggle now to maintain any semblance of a faith journey. Having watched many Carl Sagan and Neil deGrasse Tyson videos, I find it very difficult not to agree with their points of view. I like these two in particular because they do not dismiss religion entirely and are not bitter. Neil was actually brought up in a Catholic household and Carl had Jewish roots. I find that I am not inclined to believe in all the miracles, but still see Jesus as someone to follow. I tend to see the Eucharist as a memorial rather than a sacrifice. More like a Presbyterian than a Catholic, it would appear. The idea that there is a heavenly home waiting for some of us, or all of us, or most of us, doesn't seem likely. We can hope of course, but even if there's not, and we just go back where we came from, still part of the cosmos, that doesn't seem too bad. After all, the fact that we've had a chance to live at all is pretty amazing.
@Ian Miraculous interactions sounds amazing, but I don't feel as If I ever want to see one. The very idea of changing the physical laws somehow turns me off. It would be like watching water flow uphill. We had a science teacher who when questioned as to what happens after death ie was there an afterlife ? He would say, ''The simple answer is, I don't know. Why don't you ask Fr.Louis ?''
I suggest reading the first part of the Summa Theologiae, of St. Thomas Aquinus, it is a very interesting book about this subject.
Yes. I’m a Catholic priest. I’ve read it. Aquinas is heavily taught in seminaries.
@@BreakingInTheHabit I have recently come back to the Church after years of being lost and I'm reading it right now. Thank you for your videos and a big hug from Spain!
Father, I tend to agree with you that God cannot be known with certainty (at least to the level of certainty with which I know the existence of my own mind), but why does the Catechism say that "man can arrive at certainty about the existence of God"?
He makes many intelligent points.
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Why is there something instead of nothing? Good question, but if God exists then god is part of "something" (everything that exists) and can't be the answer to the question.
That is a false notion of God. God is not a “something” otherwise he wouldn’t be God. In order to be God he has to have pure actuality, meaning no potentiality, meaning no matter. God is being itself, existing without time or matter.
@@BreakingInTheHabit he is not nothing. So the question is still: why is there a god and the universe he created instead of nothing.
Sure you can assign special attributes to god so he is not in the "something" set, but that does not change anything, as you could still have nothing
@@BreakingInTheHabit Why is there god instead of nothing?
@@BreakingInTheHabit That is called special pleading. You made something up that you believe can't be disproven, but you have absolutely no proof, or reason to believe it.
@@BreakingInTheHabit If God is not something, then he is nothing. And so, you have the universe being made entirely from nothing, which I hear apologists consistently claiming is impossible.
If he exists without time or matter, it means he doesn't exist.
My ears had heard of you
but now my eyes have seen you
(Job 42, 5)
Please make more videos so I can spread the message why You should belive in yourself and not some God that watches you all the time
It seems like Atheists are rampant even among the Protestant Christians, and that's scary, to me. Thanks to false prophets, we even have negativity in the Catholic Church. Where are we without Faith and reason? I was in a coma, and met Jesus Christ. I know He exists. Thank you, Father.
I don't like the term rampant in relation to atheism. As an atheist there is nothing wrong with me. In fact I am very open to religion. If I was against religion I wouldn't be watching fr. Casey yet he is one of only two youtubers i watch every video from.
Christianity is awesome. I wish I believed it. I just don't.
Maya Lackman Christianity is not about “feeling”, though it can be synergized with the intuition that a transcendal being somewhere out there exists. Anyway, good luck on your journey. If you will join Christianity, make sure to do it in good conscience, don’t let anyone _force_ you to convert.
But if god is more of a feeling/experience what Catholicism the one right way, why cant some believe in god but in a different way
Am blessed with your message...God bless you for that
I absolutely love your honesty about the elusive nature of God and faith.
Because He believes in me?
I tried to find the existence of God using logic and science.. and it worked! Yet with all that logic I had in my brain, there was no deep belief in my heart. You can find God through facts and logic. But you can only connect with God through faith. Although God can be proven by facts, reason, and logic, that means nothing. All of my real belief comes through how I have been able to connect to God through faith and humility. Even if the Tooth Fairy was more believable than God, I would still know He exists through how I have personally connected with God, and how I have heard and felt Him in my life.
Hello Fr . Casey, I think is worth it to listen to the Misericordia Maria TV- English Apparition of the Holy Family - Secred Week (August 14 / 15 / & 16 / 2020 ) is just like Bible teaches about God himself. If you continue to read it all his messages you will learn more about him. Thanks !
Anyone else have to watch this for an essay?
1:40 Einstein: "But gravity ain't a force..."
It is, though
@@abendregen5211 It's not. It's just a byproduct of the curvature of spacetime.
Can you please add english sub ?
Because you are trying to cope with reality
I would say philosophy is as much a science as the sciences where you measure things. Just because some people don't believe philosophy is science doesn't prove anything. Some people deny empirical science, too. Some people take the Flat Earth Society seriously. Some people deny psychology has any reality. Or just parts of it. And of course a lot of people deny human biology in practise; they hate exercise and eating healthy, and so they'd rather be sick than change their way of life. (I must say I am one such person.)
You can accept or reject knowledge - whether it's philosophical, measurable, or personal experience. What you want matters as much as what you know.
We just don’t know quite yet
//defend their existence// It's like the history of theological apologetics .. centuries of it.. don't exist for this guy. As if there haven't been countless centuries of blood and ink spilled over 'defending' or justifying' one's ethnic superstitions to other people with their own ethnic superstitions.. and.. theist never had to defend anything until the boogeyman of atheist appear out of thin air.. as if .. there have never been non-believers into the past? Bizarre and stupid.
Great video father Casey, it helped me so much, I try to help others to look for God. It's the greatest quest and is through faith in Jesus legacy.
It's interesting you don't mention history or psychology. In these disciplines' more expansive moments both think of themselves as science. But they are not, in the empirical way you mention. They inhabit somewhere between the certainty of observation, and the doubt of faith. And I find that both have answers to the points you raise. Witness accounts always have contexts that demystify them when known. And deeply felt feelings, say of being loved in a time of despair, or our feeling of voracious curiosity can be understood with the help of psychodynamics (not to mention neurobiology). Their answers, like a powerful car, overtake witness, unanswered curiosity and feeling. They take us closer to the edge. Only now, bereft of your aids, we peer out and the sight is more vastly terrifying. It is unknowable.