Hard Questions, Real Answers Gamma Apologetics Hard Questions, Real Answers

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How Can I be sure that god exists? Two senses of being sure: Incorrigible certainty: Cannot be improved, modified or added Epistemic certainty: Taking something to be true, but still open for improvement/change/proven wrong.

How Can I be sure that god exists? Epistemic certainty: Taking something to be true, but still open for improvement/change/proven wrong.

Leibniz’s Contingency Argument Everything that exists has an explanation of its existence, either in necessity of itself, or in an external cause. If the universe has an explanation of its existence, that explanation is God The Universe exists. The explanation of the universe’s existence is God

Leibniz’s Contingency Argument

Leibniz’s Contingency Argument

Leibniz’s Contingency Argument Everything that exists has an explanation of its existence, either in necessity of itself, or in an external cause. If the universe has an explanation of its existence, that explanation is God The Universe exists. The explanation of the universe’s existence is God

Doesn’t Science disprove God?

Fine Tuning of the universe Gravitational Constant: G=6.673 x 10-11 m3 kg-1 s-2 Fatal Variation = 1 x 10^60 = 1in10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000,000,

Fine Tuning of the universe Cosmological Constant: (2.3 x 10-3 eV) Fatal Variation = 1 x 10^10^123

Doesn’t Science disprove God?

How Can I believe in God when there’s so much evil? If God does not exist, then objective morals do not exist. Objective morals do exist. Therefore, God exists.

How Can I believe in God when there’s so much evil?

What makes you so sure that Jesus is God?

What makes you so sure that Jesus is God?

What makes you so sure that Jesus is God?

What makes you so sure that Jesus is God?

Why is Jesus god? Accurate narratives of His extraordinary ministry of miracles and exorcisms (casting demons out).

Gospels: eyewitness accounts Gospels written within the lifetime of the original eyewitnesses (30-50 years after the resurrection)

Gospels: eyewitness accounts Gospels written within the lifetime of the original eyewitnesses (30-50 years after the resurrection) Gospels point to eyewitnesses: Alexander Rufus (Mark 15) 21 A passerby named Simon, who was from Cyrene, was coming in from the countryside just then, and the soldiers forced him to carry Jesus’ cross. (Simon was the father of Alexander and Rufus.) Mark 15:21

CS Lewis Trilemma “I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

Why is Jesus god? Accurate narratives of and extraordinary ministry of miracles and exorcisms (casting demons out). Worshipped and Revered by His Initial Disciples from very early on.

Reverence of Jesus in New Testament Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours 2 Peter 1:1 (68 AD)

Reverence of Jesus in New Testament 4 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. Titus 3:4-7 (65AD)

Reverence of Jesus in New Testament 5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; Philippians 2:5-6 (63AD)

Why is Jesus god? Accurate narratives of His extraordinary ministry of miracles and exorcisms (casting demons out). Worshipped and Revered by His Initial Disciples from very early on. His Resurrection, Post-Mortem Appearances and the Growth of the Church

1 Corinthians 15:3-8 (57ad) 3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas (Peter),  and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

Four line formula 1 Corinthians 15:3-5 Christ Died (vs 3) He was buried (vs 4) He was raised (vs 4) He appeared (vs 5)

Four line formula 1 Corinthians 15:3-5 Mark 15:37-16:7 Christ Died (vs 3) He was buried (vs 4) He was raised (vs 4) He appeared (vs 5) With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. (15:37) So Joseph bought some linen cloth, took down the body, wrapped it in the linen, and placed it in a tomb (15:46) He has risen! (16:6) But go, tell his disciples and Peter (16:7)

“The Disciples stole the body” 12 When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, 13 telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ 14 If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” Matthew 28:12-14

Four line formula 1 Corinthians 15:3-5 Mark 15:37-16:7 Christ Died (vs 3) He was buried (vs 4) He was raised (vs 4) He appeared (vs 5) With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. (15:37) So Joseph bought some linen cloth, took down the body, wrapped it in the linen, and placed it in a tomb (15:46) He has risen! (16:6) But go, tell his disciples and Peter (16:7)

Four line formula 1 Corinthians 15:3-5 Mark 15:37-16:7 Christ Died (vs 3) He was buried (vs 4) He was raised (vs 4) He appeared (vs 5) With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. (15:37) So Joseph bought some linen cloth, took down the body, wrapped it in the linen, and placed it in a tomb (15:46) He has risen! (16:6) But go, tell his disciples and Peter (16:7)

32 God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it 32 God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. 33 Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. 36 “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.” Acts 2:32-33, 36

Conclusion I have so far endeavored to sketch a historical argument I have urged that the rise of early Christianity cannot be explained except on the basis upon which the early Christians themselves insist, namely, that Jesus of Nazareth, following his shameful execution, was raised bodily from the dead. N.T. Wright, Early Traditions and the Origins of Christianity