Whitfield Parish Love God – Love each other – Love the lost 10 questions Christians will hope no one will ask What makes you sure God exists at all? (Especially when you can’t see, hear or touch him) Psalm 8 – 4 th May 2014

Whitfield Parish Love God – Love each other – Love the lost The Universe – God’s hand?

Whitfield Parish Love God – Love each other – Love the lost Theism v Naturalism Purpose v Accident

Whitfield Parish Love God – Love each other – Love the lost ‘Nothing matters, we are essentially all highly evolved monkeys clinging to a rock that is falling through space, and the rock itself is dying’

Whitfield Parish Love God – Love each other – Love the lost ‘Our science is God’s science. He holds the responsibility for the whole scientific story…The remarkable order, consistency, reliability and fascinating complexity found in the scientific description of the universe are reflections of the order, consistency, reliability and complexity of God’s activity’. Sir John Houghton - Honorary Scientist of the Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research at the Meteorological Office

Whitfield Parish Love God – Love each other – Love the lost 1. We can understand the universe ‘The only incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is comprehensible’ Albert Einstein

‘The very success of science in showing us how deeply ordered the natural world is provides strong grounds for believing that there is an even deeper cause for that order’ Richard Swinbourne – Philosopher and Scientist 2. Order in the universe Whitfield Parish Love God – Love each other – Love the lost

"The remarkable fact is that the constants of physics seem to have been very finely adjusted to make possible the development of life“ Stephen Hawking – A brief History of Time Whitfield Parish Love God – Love each other – Love the lost 3. The fine tuning of the universe

Man and woman – God’s hand? 10,000,000,000,000,000,000 (!) Whitfield Parish Love God – Love each other – Love the lost

HUMAN CHARACTER Our search for meaning and purpose ‘Unless you assume a God, the question of life’s purpose is meaningless’ Bertrand Russell (Atheist) Whitfield Parish Love God – Love each other – Love the lost

HUMAN CHARACTER Whitfield Parish Love God – Love each other – Love the lost

HUMAN CHARACTER Desire and longing – the God shaped hole? Whitfield Parish Love God – Love each other – Love the lost

HUMAN CHARACTER Who do we thank? Whitfield Parish Love God – Love each other – Love the lost

HUMAN CHARACTER Our awareness and desire for justice - a case for a universal moral order? ‘If God does not exist then everything is permissible’ Dostoyevsky Whitfield Parish Love God – Love each other – Love the lost

Whitfield Parish Love God – Love each other – Love the lost Don’t underestimate the power of YOUR STORY with GOD!

Whitfield Parish Love God – Love each other – Love the lost Tips for speaking and listening to others How did you reach your point of unbelief? LISTEN – quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to get angry – James 1:19 Past hurt? Be patient Deeper issues? Lifestyle? Hurts? Prejudices? Misunderstanding? Bible tells us people are in a spiritual battle. Pray! Love draws, disagreement separates