You can use reason to prove God exists, but it all comes down to faith.

Did you hear about the dyslexic atheist who didn't believe in Dog?

We can make jokes, but the real question behind such a joke-whether or not God exists-is a serious one. Philosophers throughout time have asked the question. And, to us as Christians, and as Lutherans, it is the cornerstone of our faith.

Anselm of Canturbury-"Something than which nothing greater can be thought!"

The arguments for the existence of God go way back. One of the earliest (1077-78 A.D.) and most famous is Anselm of Canterbury's argument.

Anselm proves God's existence with one phrase: "something than which nothing greater can be thought."

Huh? If this thought is understood, and by being understood it means exists in the mind, then that something, which nothing greater can be thought, exists. In other words, if we can conceive of it, it exists. "For once granted that it exists, if only in the understanding, it can be thought of as existing in reality, and this is greater." This is in essence Anselm's thought.

Thomas Aquinas and his Summa Theologiae

Another great thinker, Thomas Aquinas, sought to prove the existence of God. Aquinas, in his Summa Theologiae (1266-1273), proved the existence of God in five ways.

First, there must be a mover. Motion, which exists on earth, must be caused by something-a mover. Thus, if we trace back all motion to its initial cause, it must be that the original mover is God.

Second, there must be a first efficient cause. Aquinas writes that everything requires an efficient cause, that is, something to set it going (the bat that hit the ball, for example). However, there is nothing which is its own efficient cause, nor can this process go on forever, thus we must assert "some first efficient cause; and this everyone calls God."

Third, there must have been something, or else we would still have nothing. Again, if we trace back everything, there would have to be God to get things started. Nothing cannot suddenly become something. Fourth, since there are "gradations" of "good" and "true" there must be something which is the ultimate and "consequently greatest in being," and this is God.

Fifth, Aquinas calls on the telos, or final cause, saying that there must be something directing everything else towards a goal or end, and this is God.

The Weakness of Reason

But we're still left asking, "So what?" Rational argument will never prove there is a God, for all that a person needs to do is say she does not agree or he does not accept the conditions of the argument. While one may be able to come up with a technically valid argument, according to the rules of logic, one's argument will always fail when encountering articles of faith.

Belief in God is an article of faith. It is the foundation for all other articles of faith. Anselm said it well, "I do not seek to understand in order that I may believe, but I believe in order that I may understand. For this I also believe: unless I believe, I shall not understand."

Philosophers can ponder away, attempting to prove from nature that there is a God. Or they can argue from logic that there is a God. But that will never work. So many things in Scripture run contrary to our reason. Any argument based on logic and reason will fall apart sooner or later.

In his preface to Siegbert Becker's The Foolishness of God, Editor John Trapp said it well, "It is not Christianity that needs to be made reasonable, but reason which needs to be made Christian."

Benjamin Tomczak is a pastoral studies senior at Martin Luther College.