The Existence of God What if God does not exist? What do Australians believe about the

existence of God? Arguments for God’s existence Arguments against God’s existence What does the Bible say? What if God does exist?

What if God does not exist?

Reasons people may want God not to exist: Desire to control our own destiny Construct our own ethics Not be accountable to a higher

authority Sexual freedom Live to please ourselves Apathy

What if God does not exist?

For Everyone: When we die everything comes to nothing Ultimately no meaning, no goals, no values

For the Christian: Wasting our time here Prayer is speaking to ourselves At best a harmless delusion We of all people are most to be pitied

Eat drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die

What do Australians believe?

World Values Survey - Belief in God

Atheist 5.3%Agnostic 15.0%Theist 79.7%

What do Australians believe?

Belief in a “God” is surprisingly high Atheism is quite rare Could be a “God” of any sort Other statistics:

About 50% identify themselves as religious 10% to 20% attend church regularly

Only a minority are specifically Christian

Arguments for the existence of God

(Natural Theology)

Cosmological argument Teleological argument Moral argument Ontological argument

Cosmological Argument

Cosmos means the universe or the world

Who made the universe? Also called the “first cause” argument Many forms

Kalam Cosmological Argument

1. Everything that begins to exist has a cause

2. The universe began to exist 3. Therefore the universe has a

cause

Kalam Cosmological Argument

“Kalam” is Arabic for “speech” Muslim thinkers : Al-Ghazali

(1058-1111) Premise 1 considered intuitively

obvious (Everything that begins to exist has a cause)

Most effort went into justifying premise 2 (The universe began to exist)

Historically atheists have claimed that the universe is eternal and uncaused

Al-Ghazali argued that actual infinites cannot exist – universe must have a beginning

Cosmological Argument

Today, premise 2 is generally accepted for scientific reasons:

Second law of thermodynamics Big Bang theory

Premise 1 (Everything that begins to exist has a cause) is challenged today

Some atheists claim the universe popped into existence uncaused out of nothing

Common Objection

If God made the universe, then who made God?

Answer: No one. God is eternal and has no

beginning. God was not made or created and is uncaused.

The argument can be stated crudely in another way:

There must be something that is eternal and uncaused

That something must be either the universe or God

It is not the universe Therefore it must be God

Teleological Argument

Telos means purpose or goal Also called the argument from design

Teleological Argument

In 1802 William Paley published “Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity”

Watchmaker analogy: Imagine you found a watch in

a field. Would you conclude that the watch was due to chance or design?

Paley provided many examples of design in nature, such as the human eye.

Teleological Argument

Charles Darwin (1809-1882) published “On the Origin of Species” in 1859

Many believed that this provided an explanation of how the appearance of design was due to chance

Fine Tuning

“Goldilocks Effect” - The universe is just right to permit life.

About 12 physical constants and 12 initial conditions are finely tuned to enable the universe to be life permitting

Probability that a random set of physical laws could be life permitting is vanishingly small

1 in N where N is 1 followed by 10123 zeroes

Compare approximately 1080 atoms in universe

Fine Tuning Argument

1. The fine tuning of the constants in the laws of physics and the Big Bang initial conditions are due to Law, Chance or Design.

2. The fine tuning is not due to Law or Chance.

3. Therefore it is due to design.

Fine Tuning Argument

Current state of play: The universe was designed by a Designer,

or There are an infinite number of universes

with random physical laws and we happen to live in a lucky one

Multiple universes cannot be observed or tested

Multi-verse must be finely tuned We can only observe and test 1 universe Which option is more plausible?

Moral Argument

The cosmological and teleological arguments claim that there is a Creator and Designer of the universe

Is He interested in us? Deism: God is not interested in us Theism: God is interested in us

Moral argument does not claim that atheists are immoral

We are all moral, but why?

Moral Argument

Moral argument:1. If God does not exist then objective moral

values do not exist2. Objective moral values do exist3. Therefore God exists

Objective moral values: moral values are valid and binding whether people believe them or not

Relative moral values: matter of personal taste

Atheism implies that there is no basis for objective moral values.

Moral Argument People only maintain that moral values are

relative until faced with examples Was the holocaust evil regardless of who

won the war? Is paedophilia Ok? Paedophiles think it is

Ok. Is raping babies Ok?

Most people will recoil in horror. As soon as we admit that raping babies is

objectively bad then we affirm that objective moral values do exist

Moral argument also affirms that God is interested in our values and what we do

We now affirm belief in a God who is interested in us

Ontological Argument A completely logic argument with no

reference to the external world If it is possible that God exists, then

God must exist. Many believe it is valid, but not

convincing Craig uses this argument in debates

but not covered in On Guard Two forms:

Anselm (1033 – 1099) Alvin Plantinga (1932 - )

Anselm’s Version

God is the greatest conceivable being

To exist is greater than to not exist.

If God does not exist then it is possible to conceive a greater being

Therefore God exists

Plantinga’s Version (simplified)

Argument:1. It is possible that a

Maximally Great Perfect Being (MGPB) exists.

2. If it is possible that a MGPB exists then he must exist in some possible world.

3. If he exists in some possible world then he must exist in all possible worlds

4. Therefore a MGPB exists Only premise 1 is

controversial

Other Arguments

Cosmological, teleological and moral arguments affirm that there exists a God who is:

Creator Designer Basis for objective moral values

Applicable to all of the monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity Islam

Two additional Christian arguments: Historical evidence for Jesus’ resurrection Witness of the Spirit (Christian experience)

Arguments against God’s Existence

Arguments against God’s Existence The Problem of Evil The Hiddenness of God

Problem of Evil The problem of evil can be stated :

1. If God exists then He would not allow pointless evil2. There is pointless evil in the world3. Therefore God does not exist

Impossible to prove that God does not have a purpose in allowing evil

Argument can be rearranged as follows:1. If God exists then He would not allow pointless evil2. God exists (see previous arguments)3. Therefore there is no evil in the world that is

pointless Proverbs 16:4 “The LORD works out

everything for his own purposes; even the wicked for a day of disaster.”

Hiddenness of God If God exists, why doesn’t He show

himself? Maybe God doesn’t show Himself

because He doesn’t exist Answer: He has shown Himself:

In nature (eg Psalm 19) Through Israel in His word In Jesus of Nazareth In our Christian experience

Biblical Perspective Psalm 19 – The heavens declare the glory of God Romans 1:

God’s qualities revealed in what He has made We are without excuse We suppress the knowledge of God

The Biblical perspective is consistent with the Cosmological and Design arguments

Two views

Two men looked out of prison bars;

one saw mud and the other saw stars.

View 1: Steven Weinberg

“The more the universe seems comprehensible, the more it also seems pointless.”

View 2: Paul Davies “Science is based on the

assumption that the universe is thoroughly rational and logical at all levels. Atheists claim that the laws of nature exist reasonlessly and the universe is ultimately absurd. As a scientist, I find this hard to accept. There must be an unchanging rational ground in which the logical, orderly nature of the universe is rooted.”

What if God does Exist?

What are the implications if God does exist? The world is not meaningless Everything has a purpose God has revealed His will through His word.

What if God has indeed spoken to us through His Son?

There is a purpose in our existence God hears our prayers God indwells His people By faith we receive eternal life

John 11:25-26: "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.”