Big Question One: Does God really exist?

New Series: The Big Questions

Resources

• Reason for God Timothy Keller
• Stand Firm: Apologetics and the brilliance of the gospel by Travis Dickenson, Paul Guild, and Keith Loften.
• Christian Apologetics: An anthology of primary sources by Chad Meister & khaldoun Sweis

Definitions

Theist
It is the belief that at least one God exists. Theism, in this specific sense, perceives God as personal, present, and active in governing and organizing the world and the universe.

Atheist
believe that there is insufficient evidence to prove the existence of a God.

Naturalism
The belief is that everything from natural properties, causes, and spiritual explanations are excluded or discounted.

Quote

“Although atheism might have been logically tenable before Darwin, Darwin made it possible to be an intellectually fulfilled atheist.”

Timothy Keller, Reason for God (p.84)

Quote

If there is a Creator God, there is nothing illogical at all about the possibility of miracles. After all, if he created everything out of nothing, it would hardly be a problem for him to rearrange parts of it as and when he wishes. To be sure that miracles cannot occur, you would have to be sure beyond a doubt that God didn’t exist, and that is an article of faith. The existence of God can be neither demonstrably proven nor disproven.

Timothy Keller, The Reason for God (pp. 86-87)

Point 1:

We have reasonable evidence to believe in God because of the evidence.

Psalms 19:1-4

¹ The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

² Day to day pours out speech,
and night to night reveals knowledge.

³ There is no speech, nor are there words,
whose voice is not heard.

⁴ Their voice goes out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.
In them he has set a tent for the sun,

Point 2:

We have reasonable evidence to believe in God because of the natural evidence.

Romans 2:14-15

¹⁴For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law.

¹⁵They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them

Big Problem with Moral Relativisms:

2.

Quote

The horrid doubt always arises about whether the convictions of man’s mind, which have been developed from the minds of the lower animals, are of any value or at all trustworthy.

Charles Darwin, Quoted in Timothy Keller’s book, The Reason For God (p. 138). Penguin Publishing Group

Quote

Evolutionists say that if God makes sense to us, it is not because he is really there, it’s only because that belief helped us survive and so we are hardwired for it. However, if we can’t trust our belief-forming faculties to tell us the truth about God, why should we trust them to tell us the truth about anything, including evolutionary science? If our cognitive faculties only tell us what we need to survive, not what is true, why trust them about anything at all?

Timothy Keller, The Reason for God (pp. 137-138). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Point 3:

We have reasonable evidence to believe in God because we have a that only God can

Ecclesiastes 3:11

¹¹He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.