A Series of Lessons made for the Edification

for the Northside Church of Christ.July 6/2014

Eric C

Our ThemeFor this month:

DOES GOD EXIST

• Roughly 15-16% of world’s population is atheist or non-religious (humanist, agnostic, etc.)

• In United States and Canada, that number is 3-9% - 2nd largest religious group. And growing!

• Today we live in times where we need to be able to answer this question (1 Pet. 3:15)

• Both education institutions and media barrage our youth with questioning God.

• Society is trying to ban Him everywhere. God is not allowed in many places today!

• Our children are leaving home often without answers or resources to answer.

• We cannot sweep this under the carpet.

• Questions not answered well do not go away!

• Satan disguise himself in many characters, Mom, Dad, Friends, Attractions, Sin, etc. in order to put doubts in us about God.

• This month: The subject of God• Why I believe in God• Why the God of the Bible• Theistic evolution• The character of God

Why I Believein God!

• When you see design, you know there is designer behind it.

• When you see a snowman, do you think it just appeared?

• Just like a car or a painting has a designer, so does the universe.

Design Demands a Designer

• Consider DNA • – a complex system that stores code

and distributes information much like a super-computer with processes, error correction, data retrieval and

reassembly, and a filing system with multiple tiers of files and folders

Design Demands a Designer

• Do we have the same DNA?Design Demands a Designer

• Do we have the same DNA?Design Demands a Designer

• The placement of the earth – size of planet, distance from sun, right tilt, right rotation, etc.

• Man studies nature to learn how to CREATE things!

Design Demands a Designer

• Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”

• Psalm 139:14, “I am fearfully and wonderfully made…”

• Romans 1:20

Design Demands a Designer

• Many factors demonstrate the universe had a beginning:

• The Universe is expanding• Laws of Thermodynamics (energy)

– Entropy…

First Cause (Cosmological)

• According to these examples, if matter is eternal it would be used up by now!

• Gen. 1:1 – God “created” (Bara) – to make something that has not been in existence before.

First Cause (Cosmological)

• You cannot create life from inorganic (non-living) matter!

• Evolution teaches life began spontaneously.

• They CANNOT prove it!

Origin of Life

• Suppose that one day man does create a simple life form – would it require intelligence to create?

• Gen. 2:7– God formed man out of the dust and breathed life into him

Origin of Life

• Eternity requires something outside the natural realm.

• “The universe is not eternal and does require a maker.” Charlie Campbell

• Eccl. 3:11

The Concept of Eternity

• Nature cannot explain morality, our sense of “ought”

• Nor can it explain the conscience, beauty, concern, communication, etc.

The Concept of Morality

• The Bible addresses morality• Genesis 1:27, God created man in

His image• 1 Cor. 15:19, if in this life only we

have hope…

The Concept of Morality

• Heb. 11:3, 6, “By faith we understand the worlds were framed by the word of God.”

• Psalm 19:1-3, “The heavens declare the glory of God…”

The Bible declares God

• Psalm 33:6-9, “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth…”

The Bible declares God

• Psalm 14:1, “The fool has said in his heart there is no God”

• The atheist’s faith – • He denies there can be a God• Believes matter is eternal• Believe life came from inorganic matter• Believes man invented God• Lives with hope that there is nothing beyond this

life

The Bible declares God

Do we need faith to believe in God?

Yes!

But it is NOT a blind faith!