1. Introduction
a. This week begin in earnest an adventure that will take us through the next 8 weeks.
b. Focus on some of the really Big Questions people are asking today as they try to determine the best ways to live their lives.
c. We believe that the Church should be helping people find answers to their Big Questions or we are not doing our job well.
i. So, scheduled Wednesday evenings at 6:30 for supper and a discussion.
ii. Asked our adult teachers to focus their classes on - again so that you can think about those questions.
iii. Offer each of you a book that you can use as a jumping off point to start your study and discussion - if you don’t have one, available in lobby as you leave.
iv. Sermons for the next several weeks about the same subjects”
(1) Today - Is there a God? How can you know? Just because your mother or father or teacher or pastor or some other wise person says it, does that make it so?
(2) Next week - The Bible is one book that talks a lot about God - but can you trust it in the information it provides? How can we know for certain?
(3) March 13 and 14 will be a special treat - to focus will be on the prophecies of the Bible and whether or not they have anything to say to our situation.
(4) March 21, Do all roads lead to heaven? Is it spiritual arrogance to believe that a particular point of view is the right one and that everyone else is wrong? Does it really matter what I believe as long as I am a good person? Is sincerity enough, or is there such a thing as rightr and wrong?
(5) March 28 - If God is so good, why are there so many bad things in the world?
(6) April 4 - What happens when you die?
(7) April 11 - Why am I here on this earth. Am I just an accident of nature, or is there a purpose for my existence? If there is, how can I know what it is?
v. Asked another way - Where did we come from? Who are we? Why are we here? How should we live? Where are we going?
d. The question we are examining today is the most important question of all - because your answer to this one question effects every other question in the universe!
2. As we begin, we need to define some terms as a basis for our discussion. When we use the term God, what are we talking about?
a. Theological terms, but I think will find them easy to understand.
b. A god is anything that has supreme authority in my life.
i. Anything can be a god - I can be a god, inanimate objects can be gods (wood and stone idols, cars, possessions, money, prestige, position - anything that is most important and rules our lives), animate objects can be gods (animism - animals, people), or a being outside of our sphere.
c. Basically three different kinds or types of views about god.
i. A theist is someone who believes in a personal God who created the universe but is not part of the universe. This would be roughly equivalent
to a painter and a painting. God is like the painter, and his creation is like the painting. God made the painting, and his attributes are expressed in it, but God is not the painting. Major theistic religions are Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.
ii. By contrast, a pantheist is someone who believes in an impersonal
God that literally is the universe. So, rather than making the painting, pantheists believe God is the painting. In fact, pantheists believe that God is everything that exists: God is the grass; God is the sky; God is the tree; God is this book; God is you; God is me; etc. Major pantheistic religions are of the Eastern variety such as Hinduism, some forms of Buddhism, and many forms of the New Age - western and eastern Unity, Scientology, Est, etc.
iii. An atheist is someone who does not believe in any type of God. To follow our analogy, atheists believe that the painting looks like it has always existed and no one painted it. Or, they believe that what is came into being by purely natural means. It appeared or it evolved.
(1) That is why evolutionists believe in an evolved beginning to all that exists in the universe would be an example.
(2) Religious humanists would fall into this general category - who ultimately believe that our god is really ourselves and what we think or affirm or believe.
(3) Rationalism of Revolutionary France is a good example.
iv. Here’s an easy way to remember these three religious world views:
(1) Theism — God made all;
(2) Pantheism — God is all;
(3) Atheism — no God at all other than us.
v. Another category that is related to these three -- Agnostic - that is the person who says I don’t know if there is a god or not - I’ve never received enough evidence to make a good, informed decision.
3. Socrates - 5th Century philosopher - “The unexamined life is not worth living!”
a. Why?
i. We are unable to grow as human beings unless we are willing to take the time to examine and reflect upon our lives and to think about the suppositions and presuppositions, the subconscious programing, the powerful mental software that runs our lives.
b. It is important that we take the time to examine what we believe about God and why?
c. In reality, there are no atheists in this world. Remember, a god is anything that has supreme authority in our life. We all have a god or gods in our life. The real question is not if or whether, but what or who is the god/gods in my life.
d. ☛ ☛ Jesus - Luke 11:9-10 - "And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will be given what you ask for. Keep on looking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And the door is opened to everyone who knocks.
e. ☛ ☛ Proverbs 2:1-6 - My child, listen to me and treasure my instructions. Tune your ears to wisdom, and concentrate on understanding. Cry out for insight and understanding. Search for them as you would for lost money or hidden treasure. Then you will understand what it means to fear the LORD, and you will gain knowledge of God. For the LORD grants wisdom! From his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
4. Good Questions get good answers.
a. Good questions look for answers based on good evidence.
b. Honest questions mean that I have an open mind.
i. Cannot say that you are really looking for answers if you already have your mind irrevocably made up.
ii. How can you as a Christian say that?
(1) If I ever find a better explanation for where we came from, why we are here and where we are going than Christianity, I will adopt it in a heartbeat!
(2) Ever run across a believer in some philosophical or theological position who snaps and growls, who won’t listen or even consider another idea?
(a) Simba - Dogs - those who snap and snarl and growl and bite are scared and trying to keep you at arms length so that you cannot hurt them.
(b) When you run across someone who snaps and snarls and growls and bites - can know that down deep they are scared that someone will be able to show them that they are wrong and are doing everything in their power to keep at arms length so won’t have to think about the issues.
(3) I am not afraid to consider another’s point of view because I have thought through the issues and am willing to continue to. It is just that, so far, I have never found a better answer than Christianity!
5. Let you in on a little secret.
a. You cannot prove any of the positions. They are all based on faith. We choose one or the other because we have faith in it.
b. ☛ Hebrews 11:1 - What is faith? It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see.
c. Whether you are a Christian or an atheist or a pantheist; an evolutionist or creationist - you are living a life of faith. You have chosen to place your faith in a particular point of view - either by volition or by default.
d. Everybody follows somebody - someone outside of ourselves or ourself.
e. Either we are god, or someone or something else is our god.
f. And, when it comes down to it, most views of god are mutually exclusive!
i. If you believe that one god is god, then you cannot believe that all roads lead to god.
ii. If you believe in one thing, then you cannot believe in another that is diametrically opposed.
iii. And to try to believe in everything is ultimately to believe in nothing!
6. Why have I chosen to place my faith in the God described in the Bible?
a. The Bible offers the best explanation I have found for how we got here.
i. I regularly read the best journals I can find that describe the macro-evolutionary point of view. Believe me when I say that believing that our universe and everything in happened from natural causes takes much more faith and a much more tightly closed mind than anything a creationist believes.
(1) There is no more closed minded bigot on earth than Richard Dawkins the most vociferous defender of this point of view.
ii. Tragically, many have taken the evolutionary position because of their faith in teachers who taught them they could only be thinking people if they believed in evolution.
iii. Others take the position because they know that they will be drummed out of their profession or lose funding if they talk about any other explanation for origins.
(1) Defenders of this position make any draconian measures employed by the church in the dark ages look tame in comparison.
(2) By the way, I say this with great for the people involved. I am not being critical of people - but of a point of view that just does not hold water and takes tremendous faith by those who work so hard to prop it up! Richard Dawkins, for instance is a very bright and articulate guy. He is just so blinded by his prejudices that he cannot see the absurdity of his arguments. That is too bad, but he is a guy who would be great fun to know and have conversation with.
iv. The view first articulated in Genesis 1 and echoed throughout the whole Bible, that God created the universe and populated it is the only one that answers most of the tough questions the universe itself poses to us.
b. The Bible offers the best explanation I have found for who are we.
i. The Bible contends that we were made to reflect the wonders of a God so incredible He defies explanation.
ii. ☛ Genesis 1:27 - God created people in his own image; God patterned them after himself; he made them creative beings, male and female, who could create like him.
iii. The Bible contends that we are not just another animal - maybe more highly developed or evolved - but just another animal nonetheless.
iv. We were created for something beyond the biological.
(1) Science as of yet has no good explanation for good and evil, for emotion, for love, for respect and graciousness and hope.
v. ☛ Bible says that when God lives in our hearts, the fruit of his presence in us is “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control.” Gal 5:22-23
vi. We were created as something beyond any other creature in order to enjoy and fellowship with God and each other.
vii. When what the Bible calls sin, rebellion, came to this world, it began to ruin that relationship - but it is what we were created for.
c. The Bible offers the best explanation I have found for why we are here in the mess we are in.
i. While science and philosophy can describe things like anger and jealousy and broken relationships and selfishness and bitterness, they cannot explain why they evolved. In fact, such things go contrary to both personal and the group’s ultimate best interests.
ii. The Bible, on the other hand, describes the most plausible explanation I have ever found what we all experience on this earth.
iii. The Second Law of Thermodynamics describes how everything in our world operates on the principle of “entropy” - moving from order to disorder.
iv. The Bible says that it was not always so. That God created a perfect world, with perfect people with the power to choose even to rebel, and that when they did and separated themselves from the source of all life, things began to devolve, not to evolve, and have been doing so ever since.
v. The Bible also shows that the only way to reverse the process is to reconnect with God, both now and for eternity.
d. The Bible offers the best explanation I have found for how we should live.
i. The atheistic and the pantheistic position declares that we are prisoners of our genetics and predispositions and urges and desires with, really, very little choice.
(1) We are like a clock or a computer which is programmed to do and be certain things, so we might as well do what we feel like doing because we are not ultimately responsible.
ii. When you think about it, the theory of the survival of the fittest is not a recipe for advancement, but for retrogression and loneliness and isolation.
iii. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth is a blueprint for a society of toothless, blind hermits not for harmony and growth.
iv. The Bible teaches, on the other hand that we should treat others, not just our friends, but even our enemies with love and respect and dignity and grace.
(1) ☛ ☛ Luke 6:27-31 - "But if you are willing to listen, I say, love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Pray for the happiness of those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn the other cheek. If someone demands your coat, offer your shirt also. Give what you have to anyone who asks you for it; and when things are taken away from you, don’t try to get them back. Do for others as you would like them to do for you.
v. I am a Christian because that seems like a much better way to live than the survival of the fittest.
e. The Bible offers the best explanation I have found for where we are going.
i. Given the choice of living my fourscore and ten years and then going into the ground to be sludge and food for worms and the glorious future God offers to those who choose accept the gift he offers us in Jesus and to have a personal relationship with him, I will choose the latter.
ii. I cannot honestly imagine wanting anything else.
iii. ☛ ☛ ☛ Revelation 21:1-4 - Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a beautiful bride prepared for her husband. I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, "Look, the home of God is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will remove all of their sorrows, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. For the old world and its evils are gone forever."
7. Conclusion
a. Blaise Pascal, was a French mathematician, physicist, and religious philosopher who lived in the middle 1600s. He is most famous for his essays on Christianity and belief in God.
i. “Belief is a wise wager. Granted that faith cannot be proved, what harm will come to you if you gamble on its truth and it proves false? If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation, that He exists.”
b. Given that everything in life is based on faith and given the options, I think that believing in the God of the Bible is a pretty good gamble.
c. How about you?
