Anslem’s Ontological Argument, by Eriq Gale-Anderson

Explaining Anslem’s Ontological Argument to an eight-year-old will be tough, but if I divide the various parts up and make the content simple, things will go well. I would have to explain who God is, then explain reality and imagination and finally, sum everything up. First, God. God is the creator of everything, I would say. And God is almighty. Nothing can hurt him and nothing can beat him, I would explain. I  would also add that God is real, just like he and his parents are, but you can’t see him. After that’s said, I would transition into God being a reality and an idea. But to do this, I need to further get the attention of the eight-year-old boy.

God is real, like you, and some people believe that he’s imaginary, like a friend. I would appeal to the young child, explaining more on imaginary friends. From that, I would have gained more attention and would say that God is in reality but is imaginary, just like your friend. The young boy may be confused, but I’ll reassure him that God is still real, despite being an idea. To end my explanation, I would sum up everything I would have said in even simpler ways. I’ll recap everything by telling the young boy that God is real because he created you and everything else, and that makes him great. And nothing is greater than him. Next, I’ll use another example to explain God as an idea. Like an imaginary friend, you don’t see them, but they do stuff, and you know it. Like God, according to Anslem, He’s real, but we don’t see him, and since we don’t see him, that makes him imaginary, but we know He’s real.

Finally, I would add that God is real in this world and in our minds and nothing is greater than him. Young boy, you may think of something that’s greater than God, like the Hulk, but it’s not because God is real and exists no matter what.