Transcript Challenges Answered

Challenges Answered
Class 6
Ultimate Proof of Creation
• What is the best argument for the existence of
God?
• Does evidence speak for itself?
Ultimate Proof of Creation
• Psalm 11:3 “If the foundations be destroyed,
what can the righteous do?”
• 1 Peter 3:15 “But sanctify the Lord God in your
hearts: and be ready always to give an answer
to every man that asketh you a reason of the
hope that is in you with meekness and fear:”
Ultimate Proof of Creation
Ultimate Proof of Creation
Ultimate Proof of Creation
• HOW DO WE RESPOND?
• When witnessing to someone that does not
believe in God and says the Bible is not true
and that the earth is billions of year old… etc.
Ultimate Proof of Creation
•HOW DO WE RESPOND?
–Ignore the problem?.... “Just have faith in
Jesus!”
–Try to deal with the Symptoms?.... “There is a
God and He saved me.”
–Attack the Root Issue?.... expose their
worldview and its inconsistencies.
Ultimate Proof of Creation
• THE ROOT ISSUE…
– Opposing Worldview/Philosophy/Foundation
– Evidence does not speak for itself!
– Evidence is interpreted based on presuppositions
THE BIBLICAL ARGUMENT
EXPOSE INCONSISTENCIES & IRRATIONALITIES
Ultimate Proof of Creation
• Proverbs 26:4-5
– 4 “Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest
thou also be like unto him.”
– 5 “Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be
wise in his own conceit.”
Ultimate Proof of Creation
• First you show the non-Christian [according to
verse 4] that you will not argue according to
someone else’s presuppositions. Rather, you use
the biblical foundation of history to interpret
evidence, confirming this with real science.
• Then you need to proceed by applying verse 5—
i.e., answering an opponent by showing the
logical consequences of his “folly” (non-biblical
presuppositions).
Ultimate Proof of Creation
• How can we answer if we don’t understand
the issues?
• 2 Timothy 2:15 “Study to shew thyself
approved unto God, a workman that needeth
not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word
of truth.”
• We MUST know the truth of what we believe!
Ultimate Proof of Creation
• We need to be able to logically refute all nonbiblical worldviews.
– Identify:
– Identify:
– Identify:
– Identify:
Arbitrariness
Inconsistency
Logical Fallacies
Proper Use of Evidences
Ultimate Proof of Creation
• Is “More Evidence” the Answer?
• Would critics of the Bible believe if they had more
evidence of the Biblical God?
• Romans 1:18-20
• “suppress the truth in unrighteousness.”
We need to expose their suppressed knowledge of God.
Of course, evidence can be used as part of the means by
which this is accomplished.
Ultimate Proof of Creation
• How Do We Know Anything Is True?
– Every philosophical system must start with
presuppositions—starting points or
assumptions— that cannot be proven from
anything more basic, but are accepted up–front as
the foundation for all subsequent reasoning.
– The Bible claims to be this ultimate standard of
truth, the “Word” given by the Almighty Creator
God.
Ultimate Proof of Creation
• How Do We Know Anything Is True?
– Most people point to one of three standards: their
own personal opinion, public consensus, or great
moral literature.
– But that is not an option if the Bible is true.
– An appeal to any other standard, such as the
opinions of people, automatically means you must
reject the Bible as your ultimate standard.
Ultimate Proof of Creation
• How do we know that our interpretation of
the evidence is true?
– The Bible is the ultimate standard.
– The Bible is the foundation of science.
– Scientific evidence, when properly interpreted,
will always confirm the Bible.
Ultimate Proof of Creation
• THE ROOT ISSUE…
– Opposing Worldview/Philosophy/Foundation
– Evidence does not speak for itself!
– Evidence is interpreted based on presuppositions
Ultimate Proof of Creation
Preconditions of Intelligibility – must be accepted as
true before we can know anything about the universe.
Biblical presuppositions: - laws of logic
- induction
- reliability of memory
- reliability of our senses
- morality
- uniformity of nature
• In order for a worldview to be rationally defensible it
must be internally consistent and it must provide the
preconditions of intelligibility.
Ultimate Proof of Creation
• Laws of Logic
– Immaterial, universal, invariant, abstract entities
– Laws of logic reflect God’s thinking
• Law of Non-contradiction
• Law of Identity
• Law of Excluded Middle
• Principle of Sufficient Reason
• Principle of Causality
Ultimate Proof of Creation
• Induction
– The future reflects the past
– Allows experimentation
– God (who is beyond time) upholds the universe in
a uniform way, and has told us that we can count
on certain things in the future (Genesis 8:22).
• Reliability of our Senses
• Reliability of Memory
Ultimate Proof of Creation
• Morality
– Universal concept of right and wrong
• Uniformity of Nature
– The preconditions of science
• In order to do science we take for granted that the universe
is understandable
– We assume that the universe is logical and orderly and
that it obeys mathematical laws that are consistent
over time and space.
Ultimate Proof of Creation
• The “AIP” Test
– Arbitrariness
• Simply asserting a claim that has no reason behind it
and expecting it to be accepted
– Inconsistency
• Having contrary beliefs… if two beliefs are contrary
then at least one of them has to be false
– Preconditions of intelligibility
• Laws of logic, uniformity of nature, morality, etc.
Ultimate Proof of Creation
First: Understand the Root Problem: Unbelief, Not Ignorance
Second: Rely on God’s Spirit and Word to Convince Hearers
Third: the Bible Is—and Must Be—Its Own Ultimate Proof
Fourth: Don’t Answer, Answer (Proverbs 26:4-5)
First you show the non-Christian [according to verse 4] that
you will not argue according to someone else’s
presuppositions. Rather, you use the biblical foundation of
history to interpret evidence, confirming this with real
science.
Then you need to proceed by applying verse 5—i.e.,
answering an opponent by showing the logical
consequences of his “folly” (non-biblical presuppositions).
Ultimate Proof of Creation
• “Only the Bible explains why there is
beauty and ugliness; why there is life and
death; why there is health and disease;
why there is love and hate. Only the
Bible gives the true and reliable account
of the origin of all basic entities of life
and the entire universe.”
Ultimate Proof of Creation
• Examples of the “Don’t Answer, Answer”
Method
– Jesus
• Matthew 12:24-29
• Matthew 21:23-27
• Matthew 22: 15-46
– Paul
• Acts 17:16-34
Ultimate Proof of Creation