So what makes an argument for God really weird? Well, most normal arguments for God's existence

start from something we observe in the world that points to God. But one argument starts not with

what we observe, but with the very idea of God itself. This argument, as my friend Jimmy Aiken

once put it, claims that, quote, instead of being too good to be true, God turns out to be too

good not to be true.

The weirdest argument for God's existence is the one that says God has to exist because, well, God.

But this is one of those arguments that fits perfectly in the meme where the geniuses and the low IQ people

both agree with the profound truth that God must exist by definition, while everyone else

thinks that's a crazy idea. So in today's episode, I'm going to give an overview of the

ontological argument for God's existence and show how it can be a helpful argument for that

case. So let's get started. First, by ontological, we are talking about ontology, the study of being. The ontological argument

claims that God just is the kind of being, or God just is being, so God must exist. Therefore,

God does exist. The argument's origin can be found in the writings of the 11th century saint

and doctor of the church, Anselm of Canterbury. Onselm started with the

idea that God is, quote, that which nothing greater can be conceived. If you think God is just a

powerful creator of the universe who is made by some other God, then what you are thinking of

is not God, because there is something greater than what you're thinking of, the God that made

this God. So now that we understand God is that which nothing greater can be thought of or conceived,

what follows from this definition? Well, God must have all power, all knowledge, and all forms of

goodness to be that which nothing greater can be conceived.

Saint-Anselm then goes on to say the following,

if that than which nothing greater can be conceived exists in the understanding alone,

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