Transcript Slide 1

THREE
Does
God
Proofs
For the Existence of
God
The Arguments from Existence, Intelligence, and Morality
THREE
Proofs
For the Existence of
God
Two Rational Choices for Why We are Here
1. Natural Cause – there is nothing
outside of this impersonal universe,
which accidently brought forth
mankind.
2. Supernatural/Intelligent Cause –
‘something’ outside of this universe
acted with purpose to bring about the
universe and mankind.
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THREE
Proofs
For the Existence of
God
Why Believe that a Supernatural Cause Exists?
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THREE
Proofs
For the Existence of
God
Three reasons to consider the existence of God
1. The argument from existence – the cosmological argument
2. The argument from intelligence – the teleological argument
3. The argument from morality – the moral argument
These arguments not only prove God, but help tell us what He is like – all
from General revelation and not Special revelation
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THREE
Proofs
For the Existence of
God
The argument from Existence
There are three possible options:
1. Something came from nothing (not rational)
2. Something came from an impersonal eternality
3. Something came from a personal eternality
“Nothing can come into being from that which is not”
- Demokritos, Greek Philosopher
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THREE
Proofs
For the Existence of
God
The Kalam Cosmological Argument (originating cause)
• Everything that begins to exist must have a cause
• The universe began to exist
• Therefore, the universe had a cause
“I never asserted so absurd a proposition as that anything might arise
without a cause.” - David Hume, Scottish Skeptic
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THREE
Proofs
For the Existence of
God
Did the universe have a beginning? Scientific Proof:
S–U–R–G–E
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Second Law of Thermodynamics – the universe is running down
Expanding Universe – confirmed through Hubble telescope
Radiation Echo – discovered in the 1930’s by Bell Lab scientists
Galaxy Seeds – discovered in the 1990’s by COBE explorer
Einstein’s theory of relativity – proves universe had a beginning
“Many people do not like the idea that time has a beginning, probably
because it smacks of divine intervention.” – Stephen Hawking
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THREE
Proofs
For the Existence of
God
Did the universe have a beginning? Philosophic Proof:
• An infinite number of days has no end
• But today is the end day of history as we know it
• Therefore, there were not an infinite number of days before today –
time had a beginning
There is a difference between the abstract of infinite and the concrete /
real infinite (numbers vs. days)
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THREE
Proofs
For the Existence of
God
The Vertical Cosmological Argument (sustaining cause)
• Everything in the universe is dependent (contingent)
• If every part of the universe is dependent, then so is the whole
• Therefore, the universe is dependent right now on some independent
/ Necessary Being for its present existence
"He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together." Colossians 1:17
"And He ... upholds all things by the word of His power..." Hebrews 1:2-3
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THREE
Proofs
For the Existence of
God
Objections to the cosmological argument
• Who caused God? From Bertrand Russell – Category mistake – the
argument says that everything that begins to exist must have a cause;
God has no beginning so He doesn’t need a cause.
• An eternal creator makes no sense, but an eternal universe does?
• Collapsing universes? Not enough energy; disproven by COBE.
• String theory? Still demands a beginning to everything.
“Is it possible that suddenly, without intending to, we have stumbled upon
scientific proof of the existence of a Supreme Being?”
- George Greenstein, Astronomer
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THREE
Proofs
For the Existence of
God
The Teleological Argument (from Intelligence)
The teleological (telos, from the Greek word which means “design” )
argument says that the universe and mankind exhibit marks of
intelligence and design.
• Behind every complex design is a designer
• The universe has a complex design
• Therefore, the universe has a designer
"...as I became exposed to the law and order of the universe, I was literally humbled by its
unerring perfection. I became convinced that there must be a divine intent behind it all... My
experiences with science led me to God. They challenge science to prove the existence of
God. But must we really light a candle to see the sun?“ (Dr. Wernher von Braun, the father of
rocket science)
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THREE
Proofs
For the Existence of
God
The Teleological Argument (from Intelligence)
Two types of causes – natural and intelligent
VS.
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THREE
Proofs
For the Existence of
God
The Teleological Argument (from Intelligence)
Three primary factors speak to the argument from intelligence:
• Anthropic Principle – the “Goldilocks effect”
• Irreducible Complexity – argument against macroevolution
• Specified Complexity – the distinguishing mark of intelligence
“I think the origins of the laws of nature and of life and the Universe point
clearly to an intelligent Source. The burden of proof is on those who
argue to the contrary.” – Anthony Flew, former outspoken atheist
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THREE
Proofs
For the Existence of
God
Anthropic Principle – Anticipatory Design
The world is finely tuned to support life – in short, someone knew man
was coming. Some examples:
• Oxygen currently makes up 21 percent of the atmosphere. Were it 25 percent, fires would
erupt everywhere and if it were 15 percent, humans would suffocate.
• If gravity was altered by 0.00000000000000000000000000000000000000001 percent, the
sun would not exist and the moon would crash into earth. Further, if the centrifugal force of
planetary movements did not precisely balance the gravitational forces, nothing could be
held in orbit around the sun.
• If the universe was expanding at a rate one millionth more slowly than it is, the temperature
on earth would be 10,000 degrees.
• If Jupiter was not exactly where it is, earth would be bombarded by space material that
would threaten life on the planet.
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THREE
Proofs
For the Existence of
God
Anthropic Principle – Anticipatory Design
More examples:
• If the thickness of the earth’s crust was greater, too much oxygen would be transferred to the
crust to support life, and if it were thinner, volcanic and tectonic activity would make life
impossible.
• The axis of the earth is set so carefully that, if it were altered ever so slightly, surface
temperatures of the earth would be far too great.
• If water vapor levels in the atmosphere were greater than they are now, a runaway
greenhouse effect would cause temperatures to rise far too high on the planet – life would
die out. And if they were less, an insufficient greenhouse effect would make the earth too
cold to support life.
“The initial configuration of the universe” appears to have been “very
carefully chosen.” – Stephen Hawking, famed astronomer and atheist
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THREE
Proofs
For the Existence of
God
Anthropic Principle – Anticipatory Design
What are the odds of the anthropic principle occurring by chance?
Astrophysicist Hugh Ross has calculated that the odds of all anthropic
constants (122 at last count) to be in place for any planet in the universe by
luck alone to be one chance in ten with 138 zeros after it. This number
becomes even more incredible when one realizes there are only 1070 atoms
in the entire universe. Finally, mathematicians point out that anything which
exceeds 1050 power is the exact same thing as zero chance.
“In the absence of an absurdly-improbable accident, the observations of modern science
seem to suggest an underlying, one might say, supernatural plan.”
– Arno Penzias, Nobel Laureate scientist
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THREE
Proofs
For the Existence of
God
Irreducible Complexity – How low can you go?
Charles Darwin admitted that, “If it could be demonstrated that any complex
organ existed, which could not possibly have been formed by numerous,
successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down.”
Scientists now know that many such entities exist. In Darwin’s time, scientists
could not see into what biochemist Dr. Michael Behe calls “Darwin’s black box”,
which is the cell. Darwin thought the cell to be a simple structure, however time
and scientific advances have proven him wrong. Instead, there is advanced
complexity all the way down.
“. . . we must concede that there are presently no detailed Darwinian accounts of the
evolution of any biochemical system, only a variety of wishful speculations.”
– Frank Harold, Biochemist
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THREE
Proofs
For the Existence of
God
Specified Complexity – The mark of intelligence
Darwinist Richard Dawkins admits that the message found in just the cell
nucleus of an amoeba is more than all thirty volumes of the Encyclopedia
Britannica, with the entire amoeba itself having as much information in its DNA
as 1,000 complete sets of the Encyclopedia Britannica. The important thing to
understand is that the makeup of these entities is not random, but instead the
information is highly organized.
“It is important to understand that we are not reasoning by analogy. The
sequence hypothesis applies directly to the protein and the genetic text as well
as to written language and therefore the treatment is mathematically identical.”
Herbert P. Yockey, Biologist
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THREE
Proofs
For the Existence of
God
Specified Complexity
One Design
One by Chance?
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THREE
Proofs
For the Existence of
God
Imagine the following…
“You know there are folks who believe these cars were designed and built, but I know
differently. Let me tell you how they really got here. Long, long ago, iron and glass
and rubber and fabric and plastic and wire and leather came up out of the ground. All
these components fashioned themselves into just the right shapes in all the proper
places. Amazingly, holes evolved in just the right places and then bolts somehow
became threaded, and then there were nuts that matched the bolts and somehow
everything screwed itself into place very tightly. And amazingly, the upholstery wove
itself into place and over time, seats appeared in the front where they needed to be.
You see these tires? Over many centuries they became round and they found
themselves the right size metal wheels, filled themselves with air, attached
themselves to the car, and they began to roll. After many more years, these things
began to multiply and when people finally found one of these things under a tree,
someone looked at it, and said ‘Let’s call it an automobile.’”
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THREE
Proofs
For the Existence of
God
Intelligence and/or randomness one step removed
You may think that a car was built by humans but then discover it was
instead fully constructed via an automated robotic plant with no human
intervention whatsoever. Is it then reasonable to conclude that no
intelligence is behind the car and that the factory made itself? Of course
not – the intelligence is just one step removed.
Even seemingly random operations can be built by intelligence. For
example, you could create a software program that generates random
numbers, but there is still intelligence behind the apparent random end
result and operation.
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THREE
Proofs
For the Existence of
God
Objections to the Teleological Argument
• Evolution has buried God
• The world is not perfect and has natural evils
• We can’t recognize intelligence; we only know it by experience
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THREE
Proofs
For the Existence of
God
Evolution has buried God
Microevolution (changes within a type)? Sure. Survival of the fittest?
Sure, in animal life. But, macroevolution? No. Evolution may explain
survival of the fittest in cases, but not arrival of the fittest.
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Darwin acknowledged 4-5 ‘created’ forms
Reproductive capabilities were already present (14th chapter of Origins)
Still doesn’t answer why we have something rather than nothing at all.
Explain ‘how’ something works doesn’t always explain ‘why’ something is
there
“Often a cold shudder has run through me, and I have asked myself
whether I may have not devoted myself to a fantasy."
(Charles Darwin, Life and Letters, 1887, Vol. 2, p. 229)
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THREE
Proofs
For the Existence of
God
The world is not perfect; apparent flaws exist
Argued by Bertrand Russell and Stephen Jay Gould.
Two men are sitting under a large oak tree in a garden when one man says to the
other, “How silly of God to support tiny acorns with the strength of this large oak
tree, while the watermelons in this garden are held by flimsy and leafy plants low
to the ground.” Just then an acorn fell from the tree and hit the first man on the
head. After a brief pause, the second man said, “Aren’t you glad that wasn’t a
watermelon?”
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THREE
Proofs
For the Existence of
God
We can’t recognize design; only known by experience
Initially argued by J. S. Mill. And yet, are there some things we “can’t not
know?”
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THREE
Proofs
For the Existence of
God
The Moral Argument
The moral argument states that objective moral laws, which are laws
whether anyone believe them or not, exist and come only from an
unchanging moral source.
• Moral laws imply a Moral Law Giver
• There is an objective Moral Law
• Therefore, there is a Moral Law Giver
Without an unchanging moral standard, everything reverts to opinion and
becomes emotive (“I don’t like that”)
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THREE
Proofs
For the Existence of
God
The Moral Argument
The need for a standard
Is this line crooked or
straight?
The standard
“A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line.”
– C. S. Lewis
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THREE
Proofs
For the Existence of
God
The Moral Argument
Man cannot get rid of his sense of moral obligation, no matter how hard
he tries
Imagine you see someone in trouble; the situation requires risk on your part. A
first voice tells you to run and help them (preservation of species). A second voice
says, no, don’t help and protect yourself (self-preservation). But then a third voice
comes into play and tells you that you should help. Where does that third voice
come from? – Adapted from C. S. Lewis
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THREE
Proofs
For the Existence of
God
The Moral Argument
Can moral obligation come from an impersonal universe?
A man said to the Universe,
Sir, I exist!
Nevertheless, replied the Universe,
That fact has not created in me
The slightest feeling of obligation.
- Stephen Crane
Immanuel Kant said that Morality necessitates God. Huxley (an agnostic) stated
that man lives “better” when he posits there is a God.
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THREE
Proofs
For the Existence of
God
The Moral Argument
What intellectually honest atheists say about right and wrong:
“When Darwin deduced the theory of natural selection to explain the adaptations in which
he had previously seen the handiwork of God, he knew that he was committing cultural
murder. He understood immediately that if natural selection explained adaptations, and
evolution by descent were true, then the argument from design was dead and all that went
with it, namely the existence of a personal god, free will, life after death, immutable moral
laws, and ultimate meaning in life.” – William Provine, evolutionary biologist
“Humans have always wondered about the meaning of life...life has no higher purpose than
to perpetuate the survival of DNA...life has no design, no purpose, no evil and no good,
nothing but blind pitiless indifference.”- Richard Dawkins
“A society that flinches from the fact of evil will flinch from the act of punishment.
It should not wonder why it does not feel safe.” – George Will
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THREE
Proofs
For the Existence of
God
Objections to the Moral Argument
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Morality is cultural
Morality is relative
The presence of Evil disproves a moral God
Morality either is arbitrarily imposed by God or is outside of Him
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THREE
Proofs
For the Existence of
God
Morality is only cultural
• Is/was “Widow burning” in India morally OK?
• In some cultures they love their neighbors and in others they eat them; which
do you prefer?
• Does a land exist where murder is a virtue and thanksgiving a vice?
• Were the Nazi’s justified in their actions given the culture/power in Germany
OK’d their actions?
• If the majority rule that rape is OK, does that make it right?
• Is it OK for a culture to gratuitously torture innocent babies?
• If none of the above is true, then what/who is mankind morally obligated to?
Real moral obligation exists, but to whom?
• Perhaps the relativist’s view has been influenced by their culture…?
There is a difference in what a culture is doing and what it ought to do; a
difference in descriptive and prescriptive
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THREE
Proofs
For the Existence of
God
Morality is relative
• Is it ever OK to torture babies, abuse children, or rape someone?
• Just because we have a ‘twilight’ doesn’t mean we can’t recognize day and
night. What is we did the same thing with mathematics we do with morals?
• How does one gauge if the world is getting better or worse without absolutes?
• How does one settle moral disagreements without absolutes?
• “Ends” vs. “Means” are confused. For example, peace is desired, but how?
This doesn’t dismiss the absolute.
• How many spouses desire their spouse be relatively faithful to them, rather
than absolutely faithful to them? Relativists can’t live what they preach.
• The question is not “Must we believe in God in order to live moral lives?”, but
“Do objective moral values exist without God?”
“Why sir, if he really believes there is no distinction between virtue and vice, let us
count our spoons before he leaves.” – Dr. Samuel Johnson
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THREE
Proofs
For the Existence of
God
No moral God exists because Evil Exists
Recognizing Good and Evil
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To call something bad, you must know what ‘good’ is
But to call something good implies a moral framework/set of moral laws
to distinguish between good and evil
The moral framework must be absolute or your standard of good/evil
can change and you will never know good/evil
An absolute moral framework can only come from an absolute moral law
giver who is changeless
But an absolute moral law giver is who the atheist is trying to disprove
Rather than disproving God, the recognition of evil demands there be a God
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THREE
Proofs
For the Existence of
God
Morality is arbitrary or must exist outside of God
Faulty dilemma.
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God’s nature is what grounds absolute moral right/wrong
God has no obligations to anything outside of Himself; He simply acts
and what he naturally does is good because it comes from His nature
However marred, man has been made in the image of God and knows
right/wrong
The Mind of God, not man, is the source of moral goodness
“With me the horrid doubt always arises whether the convictions of man’s mind,
which has been developed from the mind of the lower animals, are of any value or
at all trustworthy. Would any one trust in the convictions of a monkey’s mind, if
there are any convictions in such a mind?” – Charles Darwin
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THREE
Proofs
For the Existence of
God
Two Worldviews, Two Choices
1. Natural Cause – “The cosmos is all
there is, or was, or ever shall be” – a
statement of faith.
2. Supernatural/Intelligent Cause – “In
the beginning God created the
Heavens and the Earth” – a statement
of faith.
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THREE
Proofs
For the Existence of
God
The more reasonable choice? God.
• Ockham’s Razor principle – the naturalist needs a billion little
miracles to bring about the universe/world we know whereas the
believer in God needs only one big miracle
• The conclusion is supported by both philosophy and science –
they arrive at the same conclusion
• A personal “Beginner” is a much more rationale conclusion than
a purposeless, meaningless, and impersonal universe accidently
creating beings who are obsessed with purpose, meaning, and
are full of personality.
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THREE
Proofs
For the Existence of
God
Do these conclusions tell us anything about God?
God may exist, but what kind of God are we dealing with?
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THREE
Proofs
For the Existence of
God
What does the cosmological argument tell us of God?
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He must be supernatural in nature.
He must be powerful (incredibly).
He must be eternal (self-existent; no infinite regress of causes).
He must be omnipresent (he created space and is not limited by it).
He must be timeless and changeless (He created time).
He must be immaterial because it transcends space/physical.
He must be personal (impersonal can’t create personality).
He must be necessary as everything else depends on it.
He must be infinite and singular as you cannot have two infinites
He must be diverse yet have unity
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THREE
Proofs
For the Existence of
God
What do the teleological and moral arguments tell us of
God?
• He must be intelligent (supremely). Only cognitive being can produce
cognitive being.
• He must be purposeful as He deliberately created everything.
• He must be moral (no moral law can be had without a giver).
• He must be caring (or no moral laws would have been given).
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THREE
Proofs
For the Existence of
God
So in summary, the God reached from these conclusions is:
Supernatural, omnipresent, immaterial (spirit), very powerful,
highly intelligent, immortal/eternal, immutable, infinite,
singular, personal, purposeful, good/moral, caring, and
possesses both unity and diversity.
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Proofs
For the Existence of
God
What worldviews/faiths are affected by these conclusions?
Agnosticism (Hard and Soft)
Atheism
Deism
Finite Godism
Pantheism (Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, etc.)
Pluralism
Polytheism
Theism
This leaves Christianity, Judaism, and Islam
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THREE
Proofs
For the Existence of
God
One piece of life’s puzzle is in place
• We know our origins – the
universe and mankind came from
the deliberate act of a supernatural
creator.
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THREE
Does
God
Proofs
For the Existence of
God
The Arguments from Existence, Design, and Morality