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: Thanks for the thoughful posting. : I think what you're getting at is this: Isn't the existence of God a belief only; that is, something that cannot be proven rationally? It is a common question. Strangely, both atheists and devout believers concur--they both say "One can only know there is a God through belief, not rational proofs." Of course, the former think this nullifies God whereas the former obviously think otherwise. Both are wrong, however. : The existence of God CAN be demonstrated rationally. However, some things about God CANNOT be so demonstrated. For example, the Doctrine of the Trinity CANNOT be understood rationally; it must be believed. : There are things called preambles to faith; that is, those things that can be proven rationally that lead one up to the act of the will that says "I believe something even though I can no longer it." Preambles to faith include the existence of God, that God is one, that humans have souls, that the soul is immaterial and incorruptable, and so on. : Now, it is useful here to distinguish between faith and reason, since that is really the heart of the problem you're facing, I think. Faith needs divine revelation; it believes that which cannot be proven rationally. Reason uses man's natural rationality alone. Faith and reason never conflict with each other, because they cannot really do so. Properly understood, if something can be proven rationally then it is not a matter of faith; and if something is a matter of faith, then it cannot be proven rationally. Some people go around trying to prove elements of faith false through reason; others try to prove matters of reason through appeal to revelation. Both methods are completely confused--faith can only deal with revelation, reason with the rational. Moreover, one cannot both believe something and know it at the same time, because once it is known it is no longer believed. For instance, right now I believe some one will read this; if I get a follow-up I know someone has, but I cannot go back to believing it. God is completely knowable in Himself, but not to us since our intellects are not capable of comprehending Him; however, someday, once we are saved, we will be able to fully comprehend God, at least I think that's the case. But as long as we're stuck here we have to believe some things. : The problem is, however, that articles of reason are sometimes revealed in sacred scripture. The Bible clearly tells us that God exists, which is what leads some people to say God's existence is only a belief. Why are elements of reason included in scripture? Because they are so necessary for man's salvation that although one can reason to them--that is, one can deduce that God exists using reason alone--it would take a long time, and man needs to know God exists as soon as possible if he wants to be saved. Therefore, faith and reason sometimes overlap. : St. Thomas, for instance, wrote: : "For the truth about God, such as reason can know it, would only be known by a few, and that after a long time, and with the admixture of many errors; whereas man’s whole salvation, which is in God, depends upon knowledge of this truth. Therefore, in order that the salvation of men might be brought about more fitly and more surely, it was necessary that they be taught divine truth by divine revelation." : Now, just because one man believes something and another one knows it rationally doesn't mean that it isn't an article of reason. For instance, some people know how the internet actually works, while most of us only have faith that it does. : Let's back-track a moment. You might be wondering if it's possible to prove God's existence like I said before. St. Thomas deals with this very question early in the Summa. In order to know something you must grasp its essence, but God's essence, although his knowable to Himself, is not knowable to us. Therefore, we substitute His effects for the essence. This is perfectly reasonable to do. In fact, we do it all the time. Gravity, for instance, is not known in its essence; only from its effects. There isn't a scientist in the world who will claim to completely understand gravity, but scientists do know how it works; or, at least, what happens when it does work. Likewise, we substitute the effects of God for the essence of God. : I won't go over St Thomas' 5 ways of demonstrating God's existence; that's another topic and there are numerous resources on the web. : As to your question about how the need for God implies his existence, 3 quick points: 1. you granted the existence of physical needs, but given that man has a spirit (which can be proven rationally, I might add), why can't there be spiritual needs? And just as everyone needs to eat, why can't everyone need spiritual sustinence as well? : 2. The part about the "Christ-shaped hole" was a quoted from a theologian that was offered not as a proof of anything, but mostly as a good way of expressing that spiritual hunger all people feel. : 3. Don't be so quick to dismiss the ability to make judgments concerning all people. It's pretty well established that there are things like human rights that all people share all over the world. But why do such rights exists? Because all humans share a common nature. It is through an appeal to that common nature that we can say things like "Racism is wrong"; likewise, we can say that all people long for God. While that in itself prove nothing, it does, I think, describe a real phenomenon. : Hope this helps.

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