The question of God is as old as humanity. In a survey completed this year (2014), 23% of Americans say they are are not religious, and 33% do not believe in God. Yet 75% believed that Starbucks gave them superpowers (*not a real statistic). However scholars, philosophers, scientists, and theologians going back to the time of Aristotle have questioned the existence of God and posited theories drawing on logic and science to prove it highly likely that God does in fact exist. Yet part of what defines faith is being able to trust without absolute proof or knowledge.
Here is a short summary of a collection of arguments seeking to prove the existence of God...
Summa Theologica, one of the greatest works by Thomas Aquinas posed five proofs of God's existence called Five Ways. Aquinas, perhaps the most prolific Medieval Catholic theologian posited that God is- the Unmoved Mover, the First Cause, the Necessary Being, the Absolute Being, and the Grand Designer.
1. Unmoved Mover- relies on a theory developed by Aristotle that there must be a "mover" or creator of motion in universe. Everything that has motion must be moved by something...and that something is God.
2. First Cause- everything starts somewhere and that is with a cause. Something must have caused the world to exist. Hence the world is created, and is the cause and effect of God.
3. Necessary Being- there must be a being that exists that causes other beings to exist, but was not created by another being, and is therefore God.
4. Absolute Being- "I am that I am" a being that exists independently of all else. God is absolute.
5. Grand Designer- There is a design to universe that is intelligent and was not by chance, therefore God was the grand designer.
Philosophers have simplified the Five Ways into 3 arguments for the existence of God, focusing on Design, the First Cause, and God as the Necessary Being. The argument is moved along further by scholars who include morality, the proliferation of miraculous ideas, and even the laws of physics to prove that God exists. The physical world obeys the laws of mathematics giving weight to Aquinas' theories of the Unmoved Mover and Grand Designer.
Christian author C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity focused on morality being proof of God. With religion as a foundation for morality, it would therefore suggest God exists as a moral compass. The Bible teaches us virtue, the Ten Commandments, and relates tales of those who had fallen from grace by way of sin.
If we look back to the Axial Age- 800 to 200 B.C. we see an evolution of similar religious concepts across the world even though there was little to no interaction between these places. Philosophies from the Hebrew Old Testament, with similarities to the works of Plato and Aristotle, Buddhism, and Confucianism, were present in ancient Greece, India, China, and in the Middle East. For such spiritual ideas to be prolific across the world at the same time suggests the existence of God.
In Islamic tradition, God is said to have sent 124,000 prophets to guide the people of the world and spread His word. With comparisons being made between Jesus Christ, Muhammed, and even ancient Greek philosopher Socrates who is seen as a messenger of God. He is said to have rejected the Greek notion of polytheism in favor of a monotheistic God. Socrates is known as one of the greatest minds of all time, and was thought to possess divine wisdom. He concluded that God most certainly does exist.
Regardless of these "proofs", the existence of God is a personal question. Philosophy, science, and religion can make logical assumptions to prove His existence, but truth comes from within. Look deeply within yourself and that is where you will find Him...