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Question

If we were to discover something about God from looking around at the world, how might that happen? How would we know God in that way?

Natural,Material:

World,People,

Universe

Supernatural,Spiritual:

God,Being,Spirit

Ethics

science

Religion

Logic,Math Spiritual

Truth/ Reality

Knowledge of God

“For His (God’s) unseen, but His eternal abilities and ‘God-ness’ are clearly understood/perceived from the creation of the universe (world) in the things He made (earth, wisdom, humans, etc.) so that the created are without excuse (literally – without a proof or defense).”

Romans 1:20

“There is a place for the authority of reason: the grace of God does not replace nature but fulfills it, and reason serves faith in the same way that our natural inclination of will serves charity (love). So God’s teaching also quotes philosophers’ perceptions of truth, though only as extrinsic probable authorities. Its intrinsic authorities are the Scriptures (as certain authorities) and the teachers of the church (as probable, since our faith rests not on any revelations such teachers may have received, but on the revelation made to the apostles and prophets who wrote the canonical scriptures).”

Aquinas

Natural Theology: Knowledge of God from Nature

• Mediate – not a direct or immediate knowledge

• Incomplete – is not complete or comprehensive

• Analogically – similarity understood by a term applied to two different things

• True – accurate or in line with what is

Question

How would you argue for the existence of God with someone who does not believe?

Arguments for the Existence of God

Argument from Contingency(the one who started the ‘mommy’

and ‘daddy’ system into place)

• If things exist, then something has always existed.

• LOGIC: From nothing, comes nothing.

• There cannot be a time when nothing existed (contradiction – what created it?).

• That something necessarily had to have ultimate existence in itself (not created).

• So, who created God?

Argument from MotionUnmoved Mover Argument

(who hit the cue ball?)• If things are in motion, who started them?

• Physics: Newton’s First Law (Inertia) states that every body remains in a state of rest or uniform motion unless it is acted upon by an external unbalanced force.

• There had to be an ‘unmoved mover’.

• Can God create a rock so big that He cannot move it?

Argument from Efficient CauseThe Artist/Watchmaker Argument(who is the sculptor of the art?)

• If there are effects, there must be a cause.

• Science: Every effect has a cause.

• There is too much order/beauty and meaning to say there is not a cause.

• Effects must have a cause, God is the first cause.

Argument from Degrees(how do we know what is ‘good’?)

• Everyone, in general agrees on what is good – for example, it is never good to torture babies.

• In order for there to be ‘good’, there had to be someone who gave the standard of good.

• If it is human preference, we have some serious implications:– We cannot say anything is wrong (child

molestation)– What the Nazis did was fine, who are we to

judge?– Anyone who tries to exert their preference on

others is wrong (Jesus, MLK Jr., etc.)

Teleological Argument orArgument from Purpose/Goal

– Things seem to be designed for a goal/purpose

– These things don’t themselves know they are doing that, but still order that way

– Something had to personally order things that way

Moral Argument

Moral Law implies a law giver

There is a moral law

Therefore, there is a law giver

Religious Experience–If S experiences X, then it is likely

that X exists and is very much like what S experienced.

–At least some people are experiencing God. It does not make sense to discount all people as having invalid experiences.

Questions

• What are the strengths of these arguments?

• What do you think someone might still challenge?

In Pairs

1. Choose one argument and try to explain it to the other person

2. Other person, ask questions and offer feedback

3. Switch

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Question

• What do you think are some common sense criteria a human might use to “pick” a religion?

• Poor reasons:– Popular opinion– Wishes– hopes– desires– Sincerity– Feelings

We Believe Things for Reasons

• Good reasons:– Logic– Perception– Evidence– Sound argument– Reliable

testimony– Experience

How to Pick a Religion

Pick a religion who’s God could have created this

world

Pick a religion that seems to have the best diagnosis and

solution for the human condition

Pick a religion who’s origin and success is best explained by divine

activity

Pick a Religion where you get all of Jesus and not just

part

“It’s celebrated to say you’re on a spiritual journey, but

scandalous to say that you found something.” – Tim Keller

Question

Why should someone START with Christianity? What are the advantages/disadvantages?

Christianity is testable

Salvation in the system is free

Worldview fit

Non-Compartmentalized Life

Jesus at the center

Question

What happens if someone goes through this process and is still not convinced?

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“Cumulative Case” Argument:The Conclusion

God is the necessarily existing, uncaused, intelligent, morally good agent who is the creator and sustainer of all and God can be known.

From Theism to Christianity

The Problem: How may we know that God is the God of any specific religion?

The Approach: Three questions:– What is our human condition? – What would we expect such a God to

do about our condition?– Is there evidence that God has done

what we expect?

The Human Condition

Moments of Glory

I was made for this!

The Human Condition

Scarred by Tragedy

This is not the way it’s supposed to be!

“. . . the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties - but right through every human heart - and through all human hearts.”

Aleksander Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag

Archipelago II

The Human Condition

The Human Condition

“If I find within myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.”

C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

The Human Condition

What Would We Expect God To Do About The Human Condition?

Given that we have good evidence that a God of a certain kind exists, what would we expect from that God?– Communicate with Us about it– Offer a Remedy– Leave Significant Evidence– Maintain Personal Responsibility

The Christian “Story”

• Creation:– We were made for something better

• Fall– Tragedy is the result of sin

• Redemption– There is a remedy for sin

• Glorification– Our destiny is the world for which we were

made!

The Christian “Story”

• God took human nature and gave us His Spirit(The Incarnation - communication)

• Jesus died for sins(The Crucifixion - a Remedy)

• Jesus rose from the dead(The Resurrection - Significant Evidence)

• Salvation must be received by faith.(Individual Decision - Personal Responsibility)

LORD, LIAR, LUNATICLORD, LIAR, LUNATIC“A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus saidWould not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic – On a level with with a man who says he is a poached egg – or else heWould be the Devil of Hell (a liar). You must make your choice. EitherThis man was, and is, the Son of God (Lord): or else a mad man or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool (lunatic), you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon (liar); or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come up with any patronizing nonsenseAbout His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open To us. He did not intend to.” C. S. Lewis

The option of calling Jesus a moral teacher, or a prophet is not an option because He said He is God.

The Truth of the ResurrectionThrough His resurrection, Jesus demonstrated that He does not stand

in a line of peers with Buddha, Muhammed or any other founderOf a world religion. If the resurrection is true, He is the one true God.

Dr. Simon Greenleaf (professor of law at Harvard), the greatest authority on legal evidences In the 19th century, came to the conclusion (after examination of the historical record) that any unbiased jury openly examining the evidence would inevitably come to the conclusion That Christ had risen from the dead.

“Did you know that in His life, Christ fulfilled 332 distinct prophecies in the Old Testament? What are the mathematical possibilities of all these prophesies being fulfilled in the life of one man? The mathematical possibilities of all these prophesies being fulfilled in the life of one man:

1

_____________________________________________________

840,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,

000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,

000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

(that’s ninety-seven zeroes!)

The Truth of the BibleProphecy

The Truth of the BibleHasn’t the Bible been historically and scientifically discredited?

The manuscripts from which we get the Bible are divine ratherThan of human origin. We don’t have the original manuscripts (or the first original draft). So, the question is, how good are the Copies we have? “The answer is that the manuscript copies supporting Scripture are far better than those supporting suchClassical literature as Homer, Plato, Aristotle, Caesar, and Tacitus”

Hank HannegraffOf the works listed, not one is argued to be unreliable or evendisputable. But, Because of the claims of Jesus in the Bible, it is argued ad nausium.

The Truth of the BibleArchaeology

“Archaeology testifies to the reliability of the Bible as well. It is Telling that an archaeologist as noteworthy as Sir William RamseyWas converted to Christ as a direct result of his digs. And he is notAlone. Many skeptics have bowed before the majesty of ScriptureAfter an examination of archaeological evidence” Hank

God’s Testimony“We accept human testimony, but God’s testimony is

greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son. 

11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 

13 I write these things… so that you may know that you have eternal life. 14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.” 1 John 5

Your Testimony

13 I write these things… so that you may know that you have eternal life. 14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.” 1 John 5

 1 In the beginning was the LOGOS, and the LOGOS was with God, and the LOGOS was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning… 14 The LOGOS became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

 

John 1

1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the LOGOS of life.2 The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 

1 John 1

knowledge for your faith