To download a copy of today

1
To download a copyof todays lesson go
toTheGoodTeacher.comand click on Gospel
Meetings
2
Defend Your Faith

• Lesson 2
• Is There A God?

Presented by Chris Reeves Warfield Blvd. church
of Christ Gospel Meeting October 21, 2011
3

• But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be
  ready always to give an answer to every man that
  asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you
  with meekness and fear 1 Peter 315

4
There Is A God

• We must be ready to give an answer (1 Peter 315)
• The importance of this question
• Why discuss this question (Psalm 104 141ff
  361ff 531ff Romans 121,28 Titus 116)?

5
Presenting Your Case For God
A Universe Exists
Beginning or No Beginning
Caused or Uncaused
Personal or Impersonal (Mind) (Matter)
6
Presenting Your Case For God( Two Classical
Arguments )

• The Cosmological Argument every effect has a
  cause (Hebrews 34)

7

• For every house is builded by some man but he
  that built all things is God Hebrews 34

8
Presenting Your Case For God( Two Classical
Arguments )

• The Cosmological Argument every effect has a
  cause (Hebrews 34)
• The Teleological Argument design demands a
  designer
• Design in the heavens (Psalm 191-4 Romans 120)

9

• The heavens declare the glory of God and the
  firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day
  uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth
  knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where
  their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out
  through all the earth, and their words to the end
  of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle
  for the sun Psalm 191-4

10

• Because that which may be known of God is
  manifest in them for God hath showed it unto
  them. For the invisible things of him from the
  creation of the world are clearly seen, being
  understood by the things that are made, even his
  eternal power and Godhead so that they are
  without excuse Romans 119-20

11
(No Transcript)
12
(No Transcript)
13
Presenting Your Case For God( Two Classical
Arguments )

• The Cosmological Argument every effect has a
  cause (Hebrews 34)
• The Teleological Argument design demands a
  designer
• Design in the heavens (Psalm 191-4 Romans 120)
• Design in the human body (Psa. 13913-14)

14

• For thou hast possessed my reins thou hast
  covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise
  thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made
  marvelous are thy works and that my soul knoweth
  right well Psalm
  13913-14

15
(No Transcript)
16
Muscular system
Skeletal system
Nervous system
Vascular system
Immune system
Respiratory system
Digestive system
Renal system
17
Complex Design of the Cell
18
Complex Packaging and Delivery System
how proteins are sent in and out of the cell
Energy
Tree
19
Complex Design of DNAThe Language of God by
Francis S. Collins
20
Complex Design of DNADNA Language in the Human
Body
21
Complex DesignDNA Language in the Human Body

• The human genome consists of all the DNA or our
  species, the hereditary code of life. The newly
  revealed text was 3 billion letters long, and
  written in a strange and cryptographic
  four-letter code. Such is the amazing complexity
  of the information carried within each cell of
  the human body, that live reading of that code at
  a rate of three letters per second would take
  thirty-one years, even if reading continued day
  and night. Printing these letters out in regular
  font size on normal bond paper and binding them
  all together would result in a tower the height
  of the Washington Monument Dr. Francis S.
  Collins

22
Irreducible Complex Design
23
Irreducible Complex Design
8
5
4
3
9
6
2
7
1
24
Irreducible Complex DesignDarwins Black Box by
Michael J. Behe
25
Irreducible Complex DesignMichael Behes
Bacterial Flagellum
26
Irreducible ComplexityDemonstrates Evolution to
Be False

• If it could be demonstrated that any complex
  organ existed which could not possibly have been
  formed by numerous successive slight
  modifications my theory would absolutely break
  down (Charles Darwin, Origin of the Species,
  Introduction)

27
Presenting Your Case For God( Two Classical
Arguments )

• The Cosmological Argument every effect has a
  cause (Hebrews 34)
• The Teleological Argument design demands a
  designer
• Design in the heavens (Psalm 191-4 Romans 120)
• Design in the human body (Psa. 13913-14)
• Design in the animals (Psa. 104 Job 38-39)

28

• Doth the hawk fly by thy wisdom, and stretch her
  wings toward the south? Doth the eagle mount up
  at thy command, and make her nest on high? She
  dwelleth and abideth on the rock, upon the crag
  of the rock, and the strong place. From thence
  she seeketh the prey, and her eyes behold afar
  off. Her young ones also suck up blood and where
  the slain are, there is she Job 3926-30

29
(No Transcript)
30
(No Transcript)
31
(No Transcript)
32
Presenting Your Case For God( Two Historical
Arguments )

• The Bible Argument if the Bible writers say God
  is and they are true, then God is (Luke 11-4
  2 Peter 116-21 1 John 11-4)

33
Presenting Your Case For God( Two Historical
Arguments )

• The Bible Argument if the Bible writers say God
  is and they are true, then God is (Luke 11-4
  2 Peter 116-21 1 John 11-4)
• The Jesus Argument if Jesus is God, then God is
  (John 11,14,18 Colossians 29 Hebrews 13)

34
Answering Objections to God

• Objection 1 I cannot believe in a God that I
  cannot see.
• The atheist bears the burden of proof that God
  does not exist. To do this, he must know
  everything in the universe that can be known.
  This he cannot do!
• What about thoughts or emotions (like love), can
  you see them or measure them? What about
  electricity, sound waves, magnetism, or gravity?
  Can you see them? No, and yet you believe in
  them.

35
Answering Objections to God

• Objection 2 If God exists, why doesnt he just
  show himself?
• First, God has already shown himself in nature
  (Romans 120) and Jesus Christ (John
  11,14,18).
• Second, God does not have to show himself in ways
  that man requires.
• Third, God showing himself will not guarantee
  that a person will believe in his existence
  (Exodus 41,8,9 Luke 2267).

36
Answering Objections to God

• Objection 3 If God created all things, who
  created God?
• At some point in time there must be a first
  cause. Thus, something (matter) or someone
  (spirit) has always existed to be the first cause
  of our own existence.
• It is more reasonable to believe that someone
  (God) has always existed (Genesis 11 Psalm
  902 Proverbs 822ff Hebrews 110). God is an
  eternal Spirit (Exodus 314 Deuteronomy 3327
  John 424 526 Revelation 410).

37
Answering Objections to God

• Objection 4 God is just a human invention like
  all of our fairy tale figures.
• Sigmund Freuds hypothesis was never tested on
  people who believed in God!
• This objection cuts both ways. If the believer
  wishes God into existence, does the atheist wish
  God out of existence?
• Desire come from needs that can actually be
  satisfied with something or someone that is real.
• Why would man invent a God who punishes sin?

38
Answering Objections to God

• Objection 5 Atheism does not rely upon a blind
  faith in God. It relies upon science and facts.
• The atheist is an unbeliever in God, but he is
  not a man without beliefs. He is a believer. He
  has faith. He believes that
• 1. God does not exist
• 2. Either matter is eternal, or something came
  from nothing
• 3. Life (mind) came from non-life (matter)
• 4. Design came from random chance and chaos
• 5. Conscience came from non-conscience

39
Defend Your Faith

• We Must Choose the Path to Travel Belief in God
  or Belief in No God.
• Either God Exists or He Does Not. If We Believe
  in a God That Does Not Exist, Then No Amount of
  Faith Will Create Him. If We Dont Believe in a
  God That Does Exist, Then No Amount of Unbelief
  Will Make Him Go Away.

40
Defend Your Faith

• Either Way There is Belief. Which Belief is More
  Reasonable? Which Belief Has the Evidence to
  Support It? Belief in God Rests Upon Reasonable
  Evidence. It Is Foolish To Say That There Is No
  God (Psalm 141).

41

• The fool hath said in his heart, There is no
  God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable
  works, there is none that doeth good Psalm
  141 531

42
Defend Your Faith

• There Are Three Kinds of People in the World
• Those who have sought God and found him they
  are reasonable and happy.
• Those who are seeking God and have not yet found
  him they are reasonable, but unhappy.
• Those who neither seek God nor find God they
  are unreasonable and unhappy.
• Seek God, Find Him, and Be Happy Today
  (Isaiah 556 Matthew 77-8 Acts 1727)!

43

• Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye
  upon him while he is near Isaiah 556

44

• Ask, and it shall be given you seek, and ye
  shall find knock, and it shall be opened unto
  you for every one that asketh receiveth and he
  that seeketh findeth and to him that knocketh it
  shall be opened Matthew 77-8

45

• And hath made of one blood all nations of men
  for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and
  hath determined the times before appointed, and
  the bounds of their habitation that they should
  seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after
  him, and find him, though he be not far from
  every
• one of us Acts 1726-27

46
Defend Your Faith

• Do you have the will to believe today (John
  716-17)!

47

• Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is
  not mine, but his that sent me. If any man will
  do his will, he shall know of the doctrine,
  whether it be of God, or whether I speak of
  myself John 716-17