Class Notes for Does God Exist
So where did God come from? human created? you had a beginning - why didn't he?
How can a God of love permit such things in His world as war, sickness,
pain and death, especially when their effects often are felt most keenly
by those who are apparently innocent?
September to November 1919 - 20M people died from
Spanish influenza, then it disappeared
God is always right - His ways are always right - we can profit from
sufferings as in blessings
People are sinners by nature
Religion been around forever - (waste of time on abstract resource like God)
Is God all powerful? If so, can He create a stone so large He can't lift it?
Does God exist?
Perhaps most important question you'll ever answer - far reaching implications
Across the board - cultures, religions - belief in a god - creator
Christian doesn't have to believe all other religions are totally wrong
- some truth - seeking God
What does an atheist believe? No god - beyond shadow of doubt - can they
KNOW this?
Atheists must believe that all religions are wrong in that God exists
Agnostic - unsure - maybe, don't know yet - or we'll never know (similar
to atheist)
Evidences
Flatland visited by a sphere (dimension) sees small - big - small circle - can't comprehend - but real
Bible - longevity and preciseness had to have an author
What assurances can we have about the Bible?
Prophecies, Progression, Protection, Proof, Power
Psalm 14:1 - Fool says there is no God
Acts 17:26-28 - made us that we should seek Him
Been there, done that Absurdity of life without or ignoring
God-
Solomon (Ecclesiastes)
wisdom, laughter, pleasure, drinking, building, wealth, music, women, popularity
- Eccl 2:17 - futile
His conclusion - Eccl 12:13-14 - seek God
Pascal (Christian thinker)
men pursue temporary pleasures to ignore important issues of life that are
feared
without God- life like chains -watching the other man die - meaningless existence
Romans 1:18-20 - higher standards we know of - no excuse
Romans 2:14-15 - conscience bears witness
Higher system of morals - everyone appeals to a certain
set of standards - fair play, rules
What do you surmise when you see a person in blue going to homes and leaving
packets?
what are the packets? letters? how do you know? are they
all? your experience generalized
We use our own experience to generalize about how God deals with humanity
What laws are inherent to all people and our world?
laws of nature - gravity, chemical laws
laws of human nature - not even need to be taught - decent behavior
Not simply instinct - i.e., see someone being hurt - instinct to help
AND protect you - you should help
dangerous to setup one instinct as what you ought always to follow
Not learned (side of road to drive on, clothes people wear) but
real truth (mathematics)
law of nature (gravity) is always obeyed (mathematics) 2+2 always is 4
law of decent behavior is not always obeyed - nobody has perfectly acted
out the right
Different civilizations - only slight different moralities treason, murder,
etc. -
What does it mean to say one countries morals are preferred over
another's?
can't be a wrong unless there's a right - dissenters cry "not fair" (fair
according to what?)
There is a perfect moral law - which is our aim - directed by a higher power
Psalm 19:1-2 - How can you be alive and see creation and not believe
in God?
Acts 14:17 - blessings of creation
Science - fallacy of science to prove existence of anyone
in past - has to see it happen - over and over
A Beginning? -
Table of elements (periodic) - What did you learn? what they are? - where
they came from?
Space moving further apart - starting at a point
Missing mass - only 3% accounted for - where did the rest come from?
The Cause? - Many hypothesis - which can't hold water
collision of stars, mass in space throwing chunks - where did the mass come
from?
different ages of different galaxies - planets in solar system spin different
ways
Continuous Generation - matter continuously being created
(highest power telescopes haven't seen it)
A Designer -
large - (universe) width of paper earth to sun - 71 ft to nearest star, 31M
miles to edge
orange - sun, grain of sand -earth (30 feet), Pluto-grain of sand, 10 city
blocks away
small - (atom) tip of ball point pen - atoms (army, 4 abreast - 20K years
for march past)
German physicist Otto Gail - single drop of gasoline - totally utilized in
car - 400 journeys around world
Einstein - energy in one ounce of water could lift 200Mtons of steel one
mile above the earth
Complexity of creation - it just happened?
Universe and Moral Law in our minds - what does it say about God?
Universe - is God good? beauty, but much potential danger
life force God view of evolution - switch on and switch
off (wrong)
bonus of belief, but perceived advantage
of not conforming to morals or mind of creator
Moral law - is God good? hard as nails to do the right thing no matter
what - ought to, but don't
if there is no give in the moral law,
the maker is the thing we need most and
the thing we most want to keep out of the way of
This is where Christianity steps in - uniquely
Christ - God reached down to man because man couldn't reach up
Modern man seems more concerned with feelings than he does with reason.
If the God of the Bible does not exist, there is no hope for mankind. Man cannot experience true peace and joy knowing that he will someday cease to exist. There can be no genuine meaning to life.
If God does not exist, objective moral values are nonexistent. Right is wrong and wrong is right. If there is no moral Lawgiver above man, there can be no moral law above man. Without life after death and a final judgment, it does not matter if one lives like Hitler or Mother Theresa. A million years from now, it will make no difference.
All men acknowledge the existence of evil (at least in their practice if not in their beliefs). But nothing less than the God of the Bible can guarantee the ultimate defeat of evil.
In short, if the God of the Bible does not exist, man is damned to a life of meaningless existence. To hide from this fact, a person can focus his attention on diversions, or maybe a leap into denial of absolutes will be one's choice. But for those with the courage to deal with reality head on, a choice must be made between despair and the God of the Bible. As Pascal has said, the wise man will wager on God.
Wager on God - His existence and role in your life
If He didn't exist and you still follow - you lose, but you lose nothing
- you're living towards the 'knowing' pull in your life
If He does exist and you don't acknowledge - you've lost it all
If He does exist and you seek Him - you win, in every respect