GOD AND PHILOSOPHY; DO THEY COHERE (Col.2 vs 8)
by Azubuike chima Nathaniel
God is a supreme being, a necessary being, the creator of heaven and the earth, the beginning and the end (Rev1 vs 8), king of kings and the lord of lords (Rev.19 vs 16) Certainly yes, philosophy according to Pythagoras the ancient Greek philosopher is philo Sophia which means love of wisdom, the rational and critical enquiry into basic principles, it branches includes Metaphysics, Epistemology, Ethics whereas Logic a tool of Philosophizing. Philosophy is in continuous search for knowledge and the word of God is it limitless answer. it has been proven that the bible has a number of discovered and yet to be acclaimed inventions drawn from the word of God ST Thomas Aquinas in his cosmological argument referred to God as NECESSARY BEING, this was in a bid to explain contingent universe critics challenged the idea of necessary being saying it lacked essential properties attributable to God such as all good.
According to Makinde Professor of philosophy Obafemi Awolowo University clarifies philosophy as an attempt to arrive at reasoned answers to fundamental questions of life such as who is God, who is man and so on. Really it coheres in one of my interviews with my lecturer in course of my work as a member of National Association of Philosophy Students (NAPS) Press, Dr.(mrs) Kehinde a teacher of philosophy, she explained how philosophy has made her faith in God stronger because it encouraged her to study the scriptures more than before, my lecturers, Professors Azenabor and Ndubuisi were also of the view that God truly exists, for Azenabor he explained that it is not as if philosophers do not belief in God but their area of specialization such as science plays vital role in the belief of a philosopher, since science deals with empirical evidence this usually determines their line of thought, in another illuminating interview I had with a very popular senior lecturer in the department philosophy he claimed that he made up his mind about the existence of God even before he gained admission after reading a book written by Bertrand Russell, Now where is this coming from that as philosophy student you must profess atheism just to belong without proper evaluation and supposition .need I tell you that the necessary being created the contingent universe. It is laughable when students in their first few months in philosophy department are already professing lack of belief in God using unsubstantiated comments we are rational beings, we are dogmatic and as intellectuals we want to experiment, observe, verify and analyze issues just because he or she wants to be seen as really sinking in philosophy. An instance of this experience is where a professor who bears Ezekiel asked a final year student who shares the same name with him if he knew that Ezekiel existed in the bible the student’s comment was so they say, this is exactly why Jesus said if you deny me,I will also deny before my father in heaven a number of occasions I have explained to people that philosophy is not about the study of non existence of a necessary being but rather what it does is to ask fundamental and rational questions, since it is not dogmatic but critical in approach.
on many occasion I have being made to answer questions as regards to God and my chosenvcourse of study philosophy ‘so you don’t belief in God’ my answer has always being that philosophy is not about lack of belief in God rather it raises some fundamental questions that when it misconstrued may be the excuse of so many people ,just like my lecturer Dr Kehinde who maintains that if you have always known God,
philosophy will help you build a stronger faith and if you do not know God or you have a wavering one you may end up loosing the essence of God. I got to know God before my entry into university barring my study it will be out of place to loose focus about HIS existence, although there is no limit to knowing God and His essence. Apart from course of study the campus is full of distraction coming from different places, what is expected of us is to have a relationship with Jesus Christ the son of God, study of the scriptures and continuous meditation on the word of God Joshua 1 vs 8 . it comes with a promise of having good success, so far the book of the law will not depart from your mouth and you meditate therein day and night. Looking at my fellow students who are searching for academic success and after spending one semester, many of them now claim to be philosophers, Christians amongst them stop attending fellowship meeting and eventually they stop their prayer routine, forgetting they are mere philosophy students, They are searching for success neglecting God who has promised you no other but good success because if you are diligent in the affairs of God, it will affect other areas of your life especially your academics, when you are committed to heavenly principles with the mindset of knowing the will of God, doing His dictate, believing in His only begotten son . The almighty God is the creator and the giver of life to those who have chosen to be free thinkers or who have chosen to forsake the ways of God (Matt. 5 vs 45).