Download The God of reason

What we can know about God even before opening up the Bible
THE GOD OF REASON
God: A Common Objection
 God
 A myth?
 A fairytale?
 A product of our wishful thinking???
God: A Common Objection
 God – a subject of ridicule
The New Atheist Movement
 Atheism increasingly fashionable since 9/11
 The rise of the anti-theist
 “I don’t believe in God and I hate him”
The New Atheist Movement
 Atheism increasingly fashionable since 9/11
 The rise of the anti-theist
 “I don’t believe in God and I hate him”
Christian Response?
 Bad Response
 “God is real because the Bible says so”
 “Faith is all we need to believe in God”
Christian Response?
 Good Response
 “Actually, reason -> God!”
 Also, we can know something about God through
reason alone
 3 reasons why God exists...
The Cosmological Argument
2. The Teleological Argument
3. The Moral Argument
1.
The Cosmological Argument
 An argument for the existence of God by our
observation of the universe (cosmos)
 Universe = space, time and matter
The Cosmological Argument
1. Whatever begins to exist has a cause
2. The universe began to exist
3. Therefore, the universe has a cause
 Implication: the cause is outside of the
universe (space, time and matter),
suggesting a Creator
The Cosmological Argument
 3 conceivable reasons for the universe’s
existence
It created itself out of nothing
2. It has always existed
3. It was created out of nothing by a Creator
outside of the universe (ie. outside of space,
time and matter)
1.
 Can you think of any other reasons?
The Cosmological Argument
 Objection #1: “Then who created God?”
 If the Creator of the universe transcends space,
time and matter, then God cannot be created
The Cosmological Argument
 Objection #2: “Couldn’t the universe be
eternal?”
 Infinite number of causes & effects is impossible
 The universe is losing usable energy – Second Law
of Thermodynamics
Describing the Creator
 Even with no Bible, we can say that the
Creator is:
 Spaceless
 Timeless (or eternal)
 Immaterial
 Powerful (created all things out of nothing)
 Personal (it made a choice to create something
out of nothing).... the creator is not an “it”!
The Teleological Argument
 An argument for the existence of God by the
observation of design in the world
 Greek word “Telos” means design
The Teleological Argument
1. All things designed have a designer
2. The universe shows evidence of design
3. Therefore, the universe has a designer
The Teleological Argument
 Common sense
 Complexity and order
 Science shows us that the world is very
complex, yet very orderly
 Complexity and order can be seen from the
microscope to the telescope
 Even atheists concede that the world
“appears” designed
The Teleological Argument
 Evidence for design: The Simple Cell
 All living things are made up of cells. Humans are
made up of billions
 The “simple cell” is not really that simple
The Teleological Argument
 Evidence for design: The Simple Cell
 All living things are made up of cells. Humans are
made up of billions
 The “simple cell” is not really that simple
 Every cell like a computer




Power supply
Information transfer (within and outside itself)
Code interpretation
Self-copying!
The Teleological Argument
 More evidence for design:
 www.creation.org
 www.intelligentdesign.org
Describing the Creator
 Even with no Bible, we can say that the
Creator is:
 Spaceless
 Timeless (or eternal)
 Immaterial
 Powerful (created all things out of nothing)
 Personal (it made a choice to create something
out of nothing).... the creator is not an “it”!
 Intelligent and Creative (shown by design)
The Moral Argument
1. If God did not exist, there would be no
objective moral standards
2. Objective moral standards exist
3. Therefore, God exists
The Moral Argument
 Objection #1: “Moral standards are
subjective”

“Don’t impose your moral values on me!”
True, only if there’s no God
Right/wrong is a matter of opinion



Hitler ‘s opinion against your opinion
The Moral Argument
 Objection #2: “God is not required for
objective morality”



But where is objective morality grounded on?
Only survival value, no truth value
Is dying to protect your family/country wrong?
Describing the Creator
 Even with no Bible, we can say that the
Creator is:





Spaceless
Timeless (or eternal)
Immaterial
Powerful (created all things out of nothing)
Personal (it made a choice to create something
out of nothing).... the creator is not an “it”!
 Intelligent and Creative (shown by design)
 Righteous (shown by the moral law)
Romans 1
18 The wrath of God
is being revealed from
heaven against all the godlessness and
wickedness of men who suppress the truth by
their wickedness,19 since what may be known
about God is plain to them, because God has
made it plain to them.
Romans 1
20 For since the creation of the world God’s
invisible qualities—his eternal power and
divine nature—have been clearly seen, being
understood from what has been made, so
that men are without excuse.