1. The concept of God [The Ontological argument ].
Why do the vast majority of cultures have a concept of
God and morality? How do we account for the inherent knowledge of God? Some
have suggested that this vast knowledge of God is due to a "God-shaped
vacuum" in the human heart. The Apostle Paul would say that this is true
because God as revealed Himself to us [Romans 2:18-22]
2. The origin of Matter [The Cosmological argument].
One absolute scientific reality is that everything
comes from something. Charles Ryrie writes, “If something now exist [the
cosmos] then it either came from nothing or it came from something that
pre-existed.” [“Basic Theology,” Ryrie, 29] Maybe a picture can clarify this
argument.
Cause Effect
Option one:
Nothing the world
Option two: Something the world
Incidentally, which of those two options requires more
faith? If we use observable science as our standard of proof then we must
conclude that everything we see in the natural world indicates that everything
has an antecedent. And God is the ultimate something that precedes everything.
3. The evidence of design [The Teleological argument].
Our world is full of complexity. And within that
complexity we find incredible order. Logic tells us that order and design in
the universe point us to a designer. Ryrie adds, "Random action could
never have produced the highly integrated organization which we observe in the
world." [31]
Consider a pack of toothpicks. They lay in order
within the box. Suppose I place a firecracker in the box and set it off. What
is the probability that that explosion will create a toothpick bridge? ZERO!
Order does not result from chaos. Instead, design points to a designer.
4. The uniqueness of humans [The Anthropological
argument)
Humans differ from the whole of creation in that we
possess intellect, moral judgment, self-awareness and the knowledge of God. How
can we honestly explain the differences without acknowledging a God of like
being? Consider our moral conscience. Animals don't have a moral objection to
stealing or killing. We do. Consider our intellect. How can we possibly suggest
that our minds have evolved beyond all animal species when dolphins possess
echolocation?
Those are philosophical arguments, but is there any
concrete proof that: [1] God exists, [2] the God of the Bible is the real God,
and [3] Jesus is truly the Son of God? ABSOLUTELY.
C. One indisputable historical evidence: The
Resurrection of Christ
The resurrection validates and proves the existence of
God as revealed in the Holy Scriptures. Ultimately, Christianity rises or falls
on the reality of the resurrection.
In April 2002, the well-respected Oxford University
philosophy professor Richard Swinburne used a broadly accepted probability
theory to defend the truth of Christ's resurrection. He did this at a
high-profile gathering of philosophy professors at Yale University.
"For someone dead for 36 hours to come to life
again is, according to the laws of nature, extremely improbable."
Swinburne then used Bayes' Theorem to assign values to things like the
probability of God being real, Jesus' behavior during his lifetime, and the
quality of witness testimony after Jesus' death. Then he plugged the numbers
into a probability formula and added everything up. The result was a 97 percent
probability that the resurrection really happened. [Emily Eakin, "So God's
Really in the Details?" The New York Times, May 11, 2002]
When Charles Colson, onetime Watergate
criminal-turned-founder of Prison Fellowship, is challenged about the truth of
Christ's resurrection, he responds, "My answer is always that the
disciples and 500 others gave eyewitness accounts of seeing Jesus risen from
the tomb. But then I'm asked, ‘How do you know they were telling the truth?
Maybe they were perpetuating a hoax.' " Colson says, "My answer to
that comes from an unlikely source: Watergate."
He writes: "Watergate involved a conspiracy
perpetuated by the closest aides to the president of the United States - the
most powerful men in America, who were intensely loyal to their president. But
one of them, John Dean, turned state's evidence, that is, testified against
Nixon, as he put it, ‘to save his own skin' - and he did so only two weeks
after informing the president about what was really going on! The cover-up, the
lie, could only be held together for two weeks, and then everybody else jumped
ship to save themselves. Now, all those around the president were facing was
embarrassment, maybe prison. Nobody's life was at stake."
"But what about the disciples? Twelve powerless
men, peasants really, were facing not just embarrassment or political disgrace,
but beatings, stoning, execution. Every one of the disciples insisted, to their
dying breaths, that they had physically seen Jesus bodily raised from the dead.
Don't you think that one of those apostles would have cracked before being
beheaded or stoned? That one of them would have made a deal with the
authorities? None did. Men will give their lives for something they believe to
be true; they will never give their lives for something they know to be
false."
"The Watergate cover-up reveals the true nature
of humanity. Even political zealots at the pinnacle of power will, in the
crunch, save their own necks, even at the expense of the ones they profess to
serve so loyally. But the apostles could not deny Jesus, because they had seen
him face to face, and they knew he had risen from the dead."
"No, you can take it from an expert in cover-ups
- I've lived through Watergate - that nothing less than a resurrected Christ
could have caused those men to maintain to their dying whispers that Jesus is
alive and is Lord. Two thousand years later, nothing less than the power of the
risen Christ could inspire Christians around the world to remain faithful -
despite prison, torture, and death. Jesus is Lord: That's the thrilling message
of Easter. It's a historic fact, one convincingly established by the evidence -
and one you can bet your life upon." [Charles Colson, BreakPoint Online
Commentaries, April 29, 2002]
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