1. Week 2 Review

2. Questions for next week
1. Read Deuteronomy 30:15-19 and rewrite Moses’s statement as a logical argument.

3. Questions for next week
2. What logical fallacy does Jesus refer to in Matthew 11:19?

4. Questions for next week
3. Read Matthew 7:3, Mark 4:21, and Luke 5:23. What do we see about Jesus’s approach to teaching in these verses? Why would he take this approach?

5. I am
The Existence of God

6. Scope God’s existence is a fundamental truth
Authority of the Bible (2 Tim. 3:16-17)
Credibility of Jesus (John 5:19)
Purpose for mankind (Eccl. 12:13)
All apologetics point to God
Miracles
Origin of life
Creation of the universe
Claims of Jesus

7. Several Approaches Cosmological Argument Fine-Tuning Argument
First Cause
God as a personal creator
Fine-Tuning Argument
Evidence of design in the universe
God as an intelligent designer
Moral Argument
Evidence from objective morality
God as a moral standard

8. Before We Begin… These three arguments are… Burden of proof
Simple, yet deep
Minimalistic, yet all-encompassing
Different, yet complementary
Burden of proof
Atheism = “there is no God”
Us: “it is reasonable to believe in God”

9. Cosmological Argument
Κόσμος  “cosmos”
The world, universe (Acts 17:24)
Implies order, harmony
Formal argument
Whatever begins to exist has a cause.
The universe began to exist.
There, the universe has a cause.

10. Cosmological Argument
The necessity of a cause
Something cannot come from nothing
If so, why only universes?
The universe began
Infinite time?
Several other theories that do not hold up
Genesis 1:1

11. Fine-Tuning Argument AKA “Intelligent Design” Formal argument
Order of the universe begs an intelligent designer
Watch analogy
Formal argument
The fine-tuning of the universe is due to either physical necessity, chance, or design.
It is not due to physical necessity or chance.
Therefore, it is due to design.

12. Fine-Tuning Argument The alternatives
Chance—astronomically impossible
Necessity—logically inconsistent/circular
Many astronomers actually accept this
“Monkeying with the numbers”
“Almost a miracle”
Romans 1:20

13. Moral Argument Existence of objective morals Formal argument
God is the source of all morality
Otherwise, morals are an illusion
Formal argument
If God does not exist, objective moral values and duties do not exist.
Objective moral values and duties do exist.
Therefore, God exists.

14. Moral Argument Objective morals cannot exist without God
Objective—right or wrong regardless of opinion
Evolution cannot explain them
Almost everyone believes in objective morality
Ex: murder, stealing, rape
This does not follow from Darwinism
Romans 2:14-15

15. Question 1
In 1917, Albert Einstein realized that his General Theory of Relativity pointed to a universe with a beginning at some point in the past. Instead of accepting this, he included an extra number in his equations to keep the eternal universe model intact. Why would he do this?

16. Question 2
In response to the fine-tuning argument, one might say that our universe is just one of several universes, and ours just happens to support human life. What is a problem with this hypothesis?

17. Question 3
A common objection to the moral argument looks something like this: Either something is good because God commands it or God commands something because it is good. Either way, good becomes independent of God. How would you answer this?