5. The difficulty in knowing God by reason

The difficulty in knowing God by reason

YOUCAT Catechism + Catechism of the Catholic Church Lesson 5

AVE MARIA Series

5.  Why do people deny that God exists, if they can know him by reason?

To know the invisible God is a great challenge for the human mind.  Many are scared off by it.  Another reason why some do not want to know God is because they would then have to change their life.  Anyone who says that the question about God is meaningless because it cannot be answered is making things too easy for himself.  [37-38]  357

The baptism of Jesus, with the Holy Spirit descending from Heaven as a dove by Trevisani.   By the grace of God, John, the baptizer, was able to recognize his God in Jesus. (compare Matthew 3:13-17). …..5

“So it happens that men in such matters easily persuade themselves that what they would not like to be true is false, or at least doubtful.”  Pope Pius XII Encyclical, Humani generis.

[37-38] 

THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD ACCORDING TO THE CHURCH

37 In the historical conditions in which he finds himself, however, man experiences many difficulties in coming to know God by the light of reason alone: --Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

Though human reason is, strictly speaking, truly capable by its own natural power and light of attaining to a true and certain knowledge of the one personal God, who watches over and controls the world by his providence, and of the natural law written in our hearts by the Creator; yet there are many obstacles which prevent reason from the effective and fruitful use of this inborn faculty. For the truths that concern the relations between God and man wholly transcend the visible order of things, and, if they are translated into human action and influence it, they call for self-surrender and abnegation. The human mind, in its turn, is hampered in the attaining of such truths, not only by the impact of the senses and the imagination, but also by disordered appetites which are the consequences of original sin. So it happens that men in such matters easily persuade themselves that what they would not like to be true is false or at least doubtful (Pius XII, Humani Generis, 561:Denzinger-Schönmetzer 3875.) .¹³ –CCC

38 This is why man stands in need of being enlightened by God's revelation, not only about those things that exceed his understanding, but also "about those religious and moral truths which of themselves are not beyond the grasp of human reason, so that even in the present condition of the human race, they can be known by all men with ease, with firm certainty and with no admixture of error (Pius XII, Humani generis, 561:Denzinger-Schönmetzer 3876; compare Dei Filius 2:DS 3005; Dei Verbum 6; St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae I,1,1.)¹⁴ --CCC