Lecture 7: The Existence of God

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Lecture 7The Existence of God

• Major Arguments for Gods Existence Based upon
  Natural Theology

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What is our mindset on the subject of God?

• When Scottish theologian John Baillie taught at
  Edinburgh University, he made it a practice to
  open his course on the doctrine of God with these
  words We must remember, in discussing God, that
  we cannot talk about Him without His hearing
  every word we say. We may be able to talk about
  others behind their backs, but God is everywhere,
  yes, even in this classroom. Therefore, in all
  our discussions we must be aware of His infinite
  presence, and talk about Him, as it were, before
  His face.

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Definition of God

• An eternal, uncaused, independent, Necessary
  Being, that hath life, power, wisdom, goodness,
  and whatsoever other supposedly excellency, in
  the highest Perfection, in and of itself.
• John Howe, Bancroft, Systematic Theology, 60.

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Definition of God

• God is an invisible, personal, and living
  Spirit, distinguished from all other spirits by
  several kinds of attributes metaphysically God
  is self existent, eternal, and unchanging
  intellectually God is omniscient, faithful, and
  wise ethically God is just, merciful, and
  loving emotionally God detest evil, is long
  suffering, and is compassionate existentially
  God is free, authentic, and omnipotent
  relationally God is transcendent in being,
  immanent universally in providential activity,
  and immanent with his people in redemptive
  activity.
• Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, 492.

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Definition of God

• God is the infinite perfect Spirit in whom all
  things have their source, support, and end.
• A. Strong, Lectures in Systematic Theology, 55.

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Definition of God

• There is but one living and true God,
  everlasting, without body, parts or passions of
  infinite power, wisdom, and goodness the Maker
  and Preserver of all things both visible and
  invisible.
• Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of England.

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Definition of God

• The one to whom time and space do not apply, who
  provides and creates all, and is limited by
  nothing, yet personal to everyone-perfection!
• CBS Student Shannon Scacewater (7/16/2008)

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What is a SyllogismAnything logical may be
expressed in syllogistic form. A syllogism
involves three aspects

• A Major Premise
• All mortals things will die.
• A Minor Premise
• All men are mortal.
• A Conclusion
• All men will die.

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The Cosmological ArgumentA Cause at the
Beginning. The universe had a beginning caused
by something beyond the universe Something
cannot come from nothing.

1. The universe had a beginning.
2. Anything that had a beginning must have been
   caused by something (someone) else.
3. Therefore the universe was caused by something
   (someone) else.

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The Cosmological ArgumentA Cause to continue
existing. Something not only caused the world to
come into being (Gen. 11) but something causes
it to continue to be (cf. Col. 117). Diamond is
dependent on two triangles.

1. Every part of the universe is dependent.
2. If every part of universe is dependent, then the
   whole universe must also be dependent.
3. Therefore, the whole universe is dependent for
   existence right now on some Independent Being.

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The Teleological ArgumentSince the universe is
exceedingly more complex in its operation, there
must be a Maker of the universe.

1. All designs imply a designer.
2. There is a great design in the universe.
3. Therefore, there must be a Great Designer of the
   universe.

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The Ontological ArgumentThe perfect being.
The mere concept of God as an absolutely perfect
being demands that He exist. It argues from the
idea of God to the existence of God. If God did
not exist, then he would be lacking one
perfection, namely, existence. But if God lacked
any perfection, then he would not be absolutely
perfect. But God is by definition an absolutely
perfect being.

1. God is by definition an absolutely perfect being.
2. But existence is a perfection.
3. Therefore, God must exist.

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The Ontological ArgumentThe ontological
argument seeks to show that once we grasp the
concept of God as the greatest conceivable being,
then it becomes clear that God must exist. J.
P. Moreland William L. Craig

1. God is by definition an absolutely perfect being.
2. But existence is a perfection.
3. Therefore, God must exist.

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The Ontological ArgumentThe Necessary Being.
The Very concept of a Necessary Being demands its
existence. For the very idea of a Necessary
Being demands that it must exist. For if it did
not exist, then it would not be a necessary
existence.

1. If God exists, we must conceive of Him as a
   Necessary Being.
2. But by definition, a Necessary Being cannot
   exist.
3. Therefore, if a Necessary Being can, then it
   must, exist.

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The Moral Law ArgumentThe roots of moral
argument for God are found in Romans 212-15 in
which humanity is said to stand unexcused since
there is a law written on their hearts. Moral
laws dont describe what is, they prescribe what
ought to be.

1. Moral laws imply a Moral Law Giver.
2. There is an objective moral law.
3. Therefore, there is a Moral Law Giver.

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The Religious Need ArgumentIs the desire to
believe in God an illusion, human wishes, purely
psychological, or is it factual? The desire for
God does exist, not as a psychological wish, but
from real existential need.

1. Human beings really need God.
2. What humans really need, probably really exists.
3. Therefore, God really exists.

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The Argument from JoyCreatures are not born
with desires unless satisfaction for those
desires exists. A baby feels hunger food can
satisfy.

1. Every natural innate desire has a real object
   that can fulfill it.
2. Human beings have a natural, innate desire for
   immortality.
3. Therefore, there must be an immortal life after
   death.