How Do You Know God Exists?
May 1, 2011
INTRODUCTION
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVhcOb3fiJE&feature=fvwrel
Understanding we are called to be able to answer how do we respond to the question, "HOW CAN YOU KNOW THAT THERE IS A GOD?
I. Context for the entire Study
1 Peter 3:15 But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,
A. We will assume that there are answers.
B. We will seek to prepare ourselves to answer.
With grace
With Respect
C. We will keep the biggest issue always in mind.
Illustration: Story of a failed street witnessing to black muslim proselytizers in NYC 1979
II. Does God Exist
TS. One of the biggest questions people ask believers that make them cringe is this. How can you know that there is a God? He's not tangible, you can't weight him, touch him, measure him, see him with the naked eye.
A. Concession
It is true I can't prove to you that God is the same way I can prove to you that the chair you are sitting in exists, by touching it, by seeing it, etc.
B. Assertion
* But there can be cumulative evidence that is enough that for us to believe he is real.
* There are plenty of important things we believe in without seeing or hearing or touching. LOVE
* God is a spiritual reality and cannot be described in the same way as a physical reality.
John 4:24
24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth."
III. Personal Arguments
A. I know he's real because I sense him at work in my life.
There are personal response we can make. Those hard to explain inward awakenings touches.
Romans 8:16 moments
16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.
B. I know he is real because he changed my life
Testimony of God's change in our lives Acts 26:12-16
Paul shares his experience with king Agrippa.
12 "On one of these journeys I was going to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. 13 About noon, King Agrippa, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions. 14 We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic,[a] 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.'
15 "Then I asked, 'Who are you, Lord?'
" 'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,' the Lord replied. 16 'Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me.
T.S. Beyond that there exists the fingerprints, the clues pointing to his existence.
IV. Clue#1: The existence of the universe.
A. The universe always was
Secular science used to say the universe always existed. Now cosmology--the study of the origin, structure and development of the universe--argues for the existence of "God".
B. It began in a singularity event
As currently defined and explained he universe--defined as time, space, matter and physical energy -- had a starting point in history. They call that starting point a singularity event when it actually popped into being (Big Bang)
C. It needed a cause
If it had a starting point then it began to exist. If it began to exist it had a cause, an event for its existence. (science operates on the principle that all events need a cause.)
D. A cause outside it self
What causes the universe must be greater than it (exists out side of time, time space, matter, physical energy fo the universe.) That is how the bible describes god and how he created.
E. God fits the evidence
This is what the creation story says about how god created, ex nihilo, out of nothing he speaks and suddenly it is.
Genesis 1:1-3
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
3 And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.
V. The Big objection -- Well if God exists who caused God?
The scientific principle is that everything that has a beginning needs a cause.
God as defined has no beginning or end, exists outside of the time and space limits of the universe.
Only he had no beginning.
1. What begins needs a cause for it's existence
2. The universe began
3. Therefore it had to have a cause
4. What caused it (existed outside of time, space, all powerful) are the attributes of God
5. Therefore the cause of the universe must be God.
VI. Clue #2 The just so universe
Ps 19:1
1 The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
IS 40:25-26, 28
25 "To whom will you compare me?
Or who is my equal?" says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens:
Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one
and calls forth each of them by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,
not one of them is missing.
28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
Within microseconds after this singularity event, all the laws that hold this just so operating universe together were in place and make life possible are so finely tuned that it points to a creators hand.
TIPS FOR TALKING
James 1:19
Be quick to listen slow to anger.
* Atheists are often angry, someone of something let them down, agree with issues of hypocrisy, agree institutions and people are imperfect.
* Share the answers but realize how people think about somthing changes slowly.
* Remember it's a spiritual struggle
* Remember Love draws people disagreement, conflict drive them away. DON'T BE COMBATIVE
Questions for the evening discussions:
How does this argument impact the rest of Genesis 1&2?
What other arguments for his existence are there?
Your Questions. . .
