God, Is or Is not?

Know What Matters

Evidential Apologetics or Core Thing : Evidence that deals with things in reality of Christian Faith: God, Bible, Jesus

1) Existence of God as a core thing because without existence of God the rest of the conversation becomes either theory or pointless

2) Is the person open or closed to this idea ?

3) Convincing a person of the existence of God does not save. A theist (person who believes in God) and atheist (person who denies existence of God) are still missing salvation in Jesus.

3) Nobody can know God, without God making himself known by Holy Spirit(John 16:13)

4) There is no perfect answer to God’s existence but we can give reason why we believe in God’s existence based upon Tools.

Know Your Tools

Tools: They do not prove or create something but help to build proof.

Philosophy and Science are useful tools in existence of God

Steve Lee Video: Examining the Evidence for Christianity

Three Arguments G.O.D

G. Good and Evil or Moral Argument

Premise 1: If God doesn’t exist...Objective Moral Values Don’t Exist

Premise 2: Objective Moral Values Do Exists…God does exist.

Moral Values are both

Objective: True whether you believe or behave by it or not

Subjective: Changes by time or place.

Society and people can’t make it wrong since they are subjective

Objective morals do exist, subjective can’t be source because grounded in person, only person left over is God.

O. Origins of the Universe or Cosmological Argument

Premise 1: Whatever Begins to Exist must have a cause

Premise 2: The universe has a beginning so the universe must have a cause.

No examples of something coming out of nothing

Universe has a beginning.

Two Reasons we can believe universe has a beginning:

Impossibility of infinite past moments, infinite = you can’t complete

If universe was infinite you have to cross all infinity, universe to be crossed means it is finite

Scientific Evidence: Universe has a beginning, it is accepted not debated.

Everything that has a Beginning has a cause. Universe does have a beginning.

The Cause of the Universe is beyond Space, Time, Matter, and Energy.

All of these came into existence at the Beginning so the cause of universe is beyond space, time, matter, and energy.

God’s attributes are all beyond space, time, matter, and energy.

D. Design of the Universe or Fine Tuning Argument

Premise 1: Fine tuning for life in the universe is either due to chance or design

Premise 2: Highly improbable it’s due to chance it’s due to design

Pocket watches have watch makers, is universe more or less complex then that watch?

Universe needs over 100 conditions to sustain life, some are so detailed that if it was off by a fraction it would be unable to sustain life.

Chance doesn’t create detail but design does.

Three Arguments that Bible makes about God

God as the Cause of everything: Exodus 3:14 and Revelation 1:8

God as Incomprehensible: Job 11:7 and Is 40:18

God as Knowable: John 14:7 and John 17:3

Know Your Self

Your job is not to convince people, but offer reasons you believe.

Where is your story grounded?

If it’s found in your parents, in your friends, in going to church, or just because none of these are good arguments or reasons.

It’s alright to realize you need to learn and grow more:

What kind of evidence is sufficient?

For example: If you claim to love your parents or friends, do they have to prove their love to you every moment of every day before you will believe they love you? Is that really love?

Do we do the same to God? Demand he fit our every box before we give him permission to exist. If you are successfully able to control God’s existence, did you actually find God or your version of ‘god’?

Let’s look more:

J. Warner Wallace - Quick Shots on youtube: “Is there Really No Evidence for God’s Existence?” (short video)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxTUVKjcfgw&ab_channel=CrashCourse

Book: Cold Case Christianity by J. Warner Wallace

Nabeel Qureshi - Can We Know if God is real? (long video)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qq_I8ZcUgio&ab_channel=RZIMHQ

Dr William Lane Craig: Reasonable Faith

https://www.reasonablefaith.org/

https://www.gotquestions.org/Does-God-exist.html

Read the Bible verses in Handout.