1. Apologetics Cheat Sheet
Add a slide that gives an outline of whole presentation. Switch widescreen to standard size.

2. Roadmap KALAM COSMOLOGICAL ARGUMENT MORAL ARGUMENT
MINIMAL FACTS ARGUMENT 2

3. KALAM COSMOLOGICAL ARGUMENT3

4. Kalam Cosmological Argument
Purpose: Establishes the existence of a First Cause of the universe.
Importance: If successful, makes atheism very difficult. Additionally, eliminates religions dependent on an eternal universe, e.g. some forms of Hinduism and Buddhism.
Make slides more concise (gist at a glance). Split some of the slides up and have more descriptive titles. Make sure it’s clear how it all ties into the argument.

5. Kalam Cosmological Argument
Premise: Everything that begins to exist has a cause.
Premise: The universe began to exist.
Conclusion: Therefore, the universe has a cause.
Label premise, premise, premise 3

6. Defending the first premise
Premise 1: “Everything that begins to exist has a cause.”
Being comes from being; never from non-being.
Literally, worse than magic to say otherwise!
Science is dedicated to find explanations and causes of effects.
Denying this premise would be rather anti-intellectual 4

7. Defending the second premise
Premise 2: “The universe began to exist”
Philosophical Reasoning
Empirical Confirmation 5

8. Philosophical Defense of Premise 2
Premise 2: “The universe began to exist”
Arguments against an actual infinite
Hilbert’s Hotel
Infinity Library 5

9. Empirical Confirmation of Premise 2
Premise 2: “The universe began to exist.”
Second Law of Thermodynamics
The entropy of the universe would never decrease.
An eternal universe would have already expended all usable energy
This holds for oscillatory models of the universe as well. 6

10. Empirical Confirmation of Premise 2
Premise 2: “The universe began to exist”
Standard Big Bang Model
Equations of general relativity predicted expanding universe.
Red Shift provides empirical evidence of expansion + single point origin.
Alternative models have failed leaving the Standard Big Bang model. 6

11. Empirical Confirmation of Premise 2
Premise 2: “The universe began to exist.”
BVG Theorem
Any universe which has been, on average, expanding throughout its history cannot be eternal in the past
This holds for multiverse scenarios as well.
Any model of the universe must have an absolute beginning. 6

12. Conclusion Conclusion: “Therefore, the universe has a cause.”
Since the universe cannot cause itself, the cause of the universe must be beyond the universe which entails that the cause is
Spaceless
Timeless
Immaterial
Uncaused
Powerful
These properties sound an awful lot like… 7

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

14. Teleological Argument
The fine-tuning of the universe is due to either physical necessity, chance or design.
The fine-tuning of the universe is not due to physical necessity or chance.
Therefore, it is due to design.
Trim down the words. Start off with the definition of fine-tuning (this slide).

15. Fine-tuning Fine-tuning does not equal design.
It simply refers to the fact that many constants and initial conditions of the universe have an extremely narrow range to fall into.
Start with definition. “fine-tuning does not equal design.” three reasons on next (other) slide

16. Fine-tuning Only three possible reasons for this exist:
Physical necessity
Chance
Design

17. Physical Necessity
This means that the constants and conditions that we see are based on the laws of nature.
A higher natural law
Infinite regress.
Trim the text. Clear definition

18. Chance Highly impossible. What if there are multiple universes?
Lottery analogy
What if there are multiple universes?
Poker game
Without causes, how does science operate?
“Nothing comes from nothing. Nothing ever could.”
Infinite, therefore we don’t need an explanation for ours because any possible thing will happen in any one of the universes. Steer away from mechanisms.

19. Anthropic principle
This is the idea that we can detect only the constants and conditions of our own universe.
Basically, if the universe wasn’t life-permitting, we wouldn’t know about it so an explanation isn’t really needed (the Weak AP).
The Strong AP goes further and claims that only life-permitting universes are possible.
The firing squad analogy indicates that there must be some kind of explanation.
“If the universe wasn’t life-permitting, we wouldn’t be here to know it.”

20. Design Therefore, the only option left is design.
Psalm 19:1, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands.”
Define design (distinguish from evolution?).

21. MORAL ARGUMENT 21

22. Moral Argument
Premise: If God does not exist, objective moral values and duties do not exist.
Premise: Objective moral values and duties do exist.
Conclusion: Therefore, God exists.

23. Definitions Moral values = principles. Moral duties = action.
Love and hate
Moral duties = action.
Obligations
Objectivity is independent of people.
True for all people, at all times, and all places

24. Premise 1 Can there be objective morality without God?
If God does not exist, objective moral values and duties do not exist.
Can there be objective morality without God?
Presence of God, not belief in God.
Evolution and sociobiological pressures have created morality.
This morality, however, is not objective.
C.S. Lewis: is vs ought (mere Christianity)- put somewhere
“There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy.” –James 4:12a

25. Premise 2 Is there anything that’s objectively wrong?
Objective moral values and duties do exist.
Is there anything that’s objectively wrong?
Or is it just social construction?
Is there any actual things that are actually wrong that are wrong for all places all times all people (have example in notes). If I punch you in the face? Shy away from the word “absolute”

26. Conclusion Therefore, God exists.
Thus, we can determine that a lawgiver, one that is beyond humans, exists.
“Indeed, when gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.”
Romans 2:14-15

27. MINIMAL FACTS ARGUMENT27

28. Minimal Facts Argument
Purpose: Argument from historical data in favor of the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth
Importance: Functions as the capstone of a cumulative case for specifically Christian theism.
Now, the Minimal Facts argument. The main point of this argument is to demonstrate the resurrection of Jesus through a set of historical facts garnered by historical study of the New Testament. Up until now, we have been surveying arguments that, if successful, demonstrate the truth of theism, namely, there is some kind of God. What makes this argument special is that it provides an identification of this God. If the Resurrection is true, then, no other theistic religion has a chance. The previous arguments leave the door open for Judaism, Islam, etc. This argument serves as a razor that slices off all competitors to leave Christian theism as the last one standing.
Matthew 27:33-28:15; Mark 15:22-16:8; Luke 23:33-24:43; John 19:16-20:23

29. Background Four historical facts Consensus among scholars (95%)
Resurrection is the best explanation
The Resurrection is the basis for the Christian faith.
1 Corinthians 15:14
Need more background on what we’re doing. 22

30. Fact #1 Jesus of Nazareth died by Roman crucifixion.
Found in both Christian and secular sources

31. Fact #2
On the morning following the burial of Jesus, his tomb was found empty by a group of his female followers.
Only about 75% of scholars agree with this.
Most contested

32. Fact #3
Disciples of Jesus had experiences they interpreted to be the risen Christ.

33. Fact #4
Several specific enemies of Jesus had experiences they also interpreted to be the risen Christ.
Paul and James, for example.

34. Evaluating Theories
Explanatory Scope
How many data does the theory explain?
Explanatory Power
How well does the theory explain these data?
Plausibility
Given prior information, does the theory make sense?
Ad-hoc
Is the theory arbitrarily and meaninglessly contrived to fit the data?
TRANSITION! These are the methods by which a particular theory is evaluated. This argument will contend that the Resurrection hypothesis meets all of these criteria and the remaining theories do not. Let’s look at a few of the popular theories and test them against this rubric. 27

35. Hallucination Theory Make interactive (if time)
Fact 1: Crucifixion YES
Fact 2: Empty Tomb NO
Fact 3: Disciples YES/STRAIN
Fact 4: Enemies NO
This theory is unsuccessful
Narrow Scope - Facts 2&4 are untouched.
Low Power - The body could’ve easily been produced from the tomb
Implausible - Hallucinations on this scale have never been reported, ever.
Make interactive (if time) 28

36. Disciples Stole the Body and Lied
Fact 1: Crucifixion YES
Fact 2: Empty Tomb YES
Fact 3: Disciples YES/STRAIN
Fact 4: Enemies NO
This theory is unsuccessful
Limited Scope: The conversion of enemies is left unexplained.
Implausible: The martyrdom of the disciples makes no sense on this view. 29

37. Swoon Theory Fact 1: Crucifixion NO Fact 2: Empty Tomb YES
Fact 3: Disciples YES/STRAIN
Fact 4: Enemies YES/STRAIN
This theory is unsuccessful
Low Power - Disciples thought Jesus conquered death.
Highly Implausible - Only 1 known crucifixion survivor, distance traveled is too far.
Ad hoc - nothing like this ever happened and no reason to think it would. 30

38. Probably Some Dude Named Jesus Theory
Fact 1: Crucifixion NO
Fact 2: Empty Tomb NO
Fact 3: Disciples NO
Fact 4: Enemies NO
This theory is unsuccessful
No Scope - All facts are discounted
No Power - All facts are discounted
Implausible - The historical documentation makes no sense on this view
Contrived - No honest examination of history would come to this view
Jesus was most likely a man who led a small religious cult in first century Palestine, but legend about him developed over the years after his death in an effort to convert people to Christianity. 31

39. Jesus is Just a Rehash of Horus Theory
Fact 1: Crucifixion NO
Fact 2: Empty Tomb NO
Fact 3: Disciples NO
Fact 4: Enemies NO
This theory is unsuccessful
No Scope - All facts are discounted
No Power - All facts are discounted
Implausible - This is anachronistic given the religio-historical backdrop.
Contrived - No honest examination of history would come to this view
The story of Jesus Christ is a myth that developed much like the myths of other ancient near east religions

40. The Resurrection Hypothesis
Fact 1: Crucifixion YES
Fact 2: Empty Tomb YES
Fact 3: Disciples YES
Fact 4: Enemies YES
This theory successfully accounts for all of the data
The only objection would be the implausibility of theism. However, the purpose of the previous arguments is to uproot such an objection. 33

41. Euthyphro Dilemma
Are moral acts willed by God because they are good? Or are they good because they are willed by God?
This is a false dichotomy since there is a third option: good is based on God’s nature.
The Euthyphro Dilemma assumes that good is independent of God, but this is actually false.
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