I
just can't imagine why anyone would reject Thomas Aquinas's fifth
way, a fairly benign teleological argument.
"Contrary
and discordant things cannot, always or for the most part, be parts
of one order except under someone’s government, which enables all
and each to tend to a definite end. But in the world we find that
things of diverse natures come together under one order, and this not
rarely or by chance, but always or for the most part. There must
therefore be some being by whose providence the world is governed.
This we call God." (Summa
Contra Gentiles: Book One,
ch. 13)
In
summary:
1.
Everything that exhibits regularity is the result of providence.
(Premise)
2.
Nature exhibits regularity. (Premise)
3.
Therefore, the regularity of nature is the result of providence.
(From 1 and 2)
4.
Providence is what we call God. (Definition)
5.
Therefore, God exists. (From 3 and 4)
There
are laws of nature, after all, e.g. gravity, electromagnetism, and
the strong and weak atomic forces. Since whatever happens over
and over again (regularity) is not the result of chance alone, it
follows that nature is the result of someone's or something's
providence, e.g. God.
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