YOUCAT Question n. 5 - Why do people deny that God exists, if they can know him by reason?
(Youcat answer) 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.
A deepening through
CCC
(CCC 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: 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: DS 3875).
Reflecting and
meditating
(CCC Comment)
(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: DS 3876; cf. Dei Filius
2: DS 3005; DV 6; St. Thomas Aquinas, STh
I, 1, 1). (CCC 357) Being in the image of God the human individual possesses
the dignity of a person, who is not just something, but someone. He is capable
of self-knowledge, of self-possession and of freely giving himself and entering
into communion with other persons. And he is called by grace to a covenant with
his Creator, to offer him a response of faith and love that no other creature
can give in his stead.
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