One of, if not the, greatest challenges against a person’s belief in God is the existence of evil. More than once in my life I have heard the following argument:
1. If God is all good, then he would get rid of evil.
2. If God is all powerful, then he could get rid of evil.
3. Evil does exist.
4. Therefore, God must not exist.
Initially it looks like a strong argument against the existence of God. However, it is actually an argument for the existence of God.
In order for someone to call something “evil” they must assume that there is a standard of “good” by which one can compare. God is the only fixed and unchanging standard by which evil is identified.
Anytime someone says there is a way things should not be, they are implying there is a way that things should be.
The question is: where does this sense of moral obligation come from? Why ought or should anyone do anything? You can say that there is a plan that is unchanging. This can only be explained through the existence of God.
Another problem with the existence of evil is trying to identify good in it. If you have evil apart from God’s existence then it would be pure evil and nothing can be gained from it.
Think about the good things that have come from pain and suffering. At the time of our suffering we only see the pain and evil but in hindsight we can see the good that came from it.
Through evil, pain and suffering we acquire an absolute appreciation for life and the good things that are given to us. We also see a person’s character develop through an experience of pain and suffering. Finally, pain and suffering will often lead people into a closer relationship with God.
These are only three examples but none of them are possible without the existence of God.
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Deciding Your Worldview
The best description that I’ve heard of a world view is that it is like a pair of glasses. If you have red lenses then you will see everything red. If you are using orange lenses then you will see everything orange, etc…
It is the same way with our beliefs. If someone is an atheist, they will view life through “atheist glasses”; if they are Buddhist, then they will see life through “Buddhist glasses”; and if someone is a Christian, then they will see life through “Christian glasses.”
Once you understand a person’s worldview it helps you understand their perspective and stance on life and religion. This is important when engaging in a conversation especially when it comes to discussing different views on religion.
There are three major worldviews that are prevalent today. Monism, Naturalism, and Theism are the most influential worldviews. Most of today’s religions funnel from one of these three perspectives. However, for a worldview to have any value it must answer four fundamental questions:
1. Where did the world and man come from?
2. Where do morals come from?
3. Is there any absolute meaning in life?
4. Where does man go after he dies?
If a worldview can’t adequately answer these four questions, it is really not worth believing in because it cannot help guide me through life. So, let’s look at these three worldviews in light of these four questions.
Monism is the belief that everything is ultimately “one.” There are absolutely no distinctions that can be made in life. Distinctions are actually just illusions that we must learn to overcome.
Where did the world and man come from? Monistic religions (Buddhism and Hinduism) generally believe that the world and the universe are eternal (has always been and will always be there.) They reject the consensus of modern science and do not mind believing in contradictory statements since logic is primarily a Western ‘invention.’
Monism provides no answer to question one.
Where do morals come from? Karma is the moral law that drives the universe forward within Monism. Within this moral system, you have both good karma and bad karma. However the big problem here is that if there are no distinctions in Monism, how can there be both good karma and bad karma? For that reason Monism fails to answer the question of morality.
Is there any absolute meaning in life? Again Monism has the same problem when it comes to finding meaning in life. If everything is ultimately one, then that means there are no true distinctions between things. If this were true, then there would be absolutely no meaning in life for individuals since individuals are a contradiction to oneness. Again no answer found.
Where does man go after he dies? The soul at death becomes part of the cosmos. The cosmos is one, eternal, and impersonal existence and your soul will become a part of the whole.
Here we find a possible answer but it doesn’t satisfy because of the unreliability of the first three answers. If your beliefs can’t provide a valid answer to questions 1-3 then it makes the answer to number 4 unreliable.
Naturalism is the belief that all that exists is the natural world. The only way we can ever know anything is through our five senses. There is no God, there are no souls, and heaven/hell does not exist.
Where did the world and man come from? Naturalists have to believe one of two things about the origin of the universe: 1) it has always been here (eternal) 2) it popped into existence out of literally nothing.
The problem here is that the consensus of science tells us that the universe is not eternal and that it did not pop into existence from nothing. No answer is found in either of these two options.
Where do morals come from? According to the naturalist morality is the product of evolutionary development. Since the world is purely the product of physical and biological evolution, then morals must have evolved as well.
According to the theory of natural selection only those characteristics that perpetuate a species survive. Therein lays the problem for naturalism and the evolutionary ethic because it cannot explain why we should be good. Just because something may have originated one way does not mean there is any obligation that we should have to do it.
Another point here is that evolution cannot explain such acts as the sacrificing of one’s own life for the lives of others. Evolution tells us to do whatever it takes to preserve our own life not sacrifice it for others. There is no answer for morality found here.
Is there any absolute meaning in life and where does man go after he dies? Meaning and destiny do not exist within naturalism because the physical body is all that truly exists. Once the body dies, the brain and consciousness die with it; therefore there is no ultimate purpose or end for living.
Theism believes that although the world exists and our senses can detect the world, there exists another dimension where God exists.
Where did the world and man come from? There is a definite beginning to the universe and God was the cause of it. Since the universe must have a cause and since it could not cause itself the only reasonable explanation is that something caused it. That is where Theist point to an all powerful God as the cause giving us an answer to the first question.
Where do morals come from? Because God exists and His character is unchanging, He has established certain morals that are absolute and unchanging.
If God did not exist the only reason stealing would be wrong is because society tells us so. But so what? Why is anyone obligated to listen to their societal laws?
God is the source of morality.
Is there any absolute meaning in life? Since man is made in the image of God everything he does matters to Him. Every act and every thought reflects our relationship to God and therefore every single act has meaning.
Where does man go after he dies? Heaven is described as a place where there is no sin, sickness, or death. Heaven is a reward for all of God’s children who have put their faith in Him and accepted Jesus Christ as their savior.
There is also an eternal destination for those who have rejected God and His love. It is described as a place of utter darkness and eternal torment where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Not only does Theism answer the question of eternity but it is the only world view that adequately answers all four questions that guide a person through life. That makes Theism the only logical choice for a worldview.
Written with the aid of Walter Nusbaum’s “A Defense of the Faith.”
It is the same way with our beliefs. If someone is an atheist, they will view life through “atheist glasses”; if they are Buddhist, then they will see life through “Buddhist glasses”; and if someone is a Christian, then they will see life through “Christian glasses.”
Once you understand a person’s worldview it helps you understand their perspective and stance on life and religion. This is important when engaging in a conversation especially when it comes to discussing different views on religion.
There are three major worldviews that are prevalent today. Monism, Naturalism, and Theism are the most influential worldviews. Most of today’s religions funnel from one of these three perspectives. However, for a worldview to have any value it must answer four fundamental questions:
1. Where did the world and man come from?
2. Where do morals come from?
3. Is there any absolute meaning in life?
4. Where does man go after he dies?
If a worldview can’t adequately answer these four questions, it is really not worth believing in because it cannot help guide me through life. So, let’s look at these three worldviews in light of these four questions.
Monism is the belief that everything is ultimately “one.” There are absolutely no distinctions that can be made in life. Distinctions are actually just illusions that we must learn to overcome.
Where did the world and man come from? Monistic religions (Buddhism and Hinduism) generally believe that the world and the universe are eternal (has always been and will always be there.) They reject the consensus of modern science and do not mind believing in contradictory statements since logic is primarily a Western ‘invention.’
Monism provides no answer to question one.
Where do morals come from? Karma is the moral law that drives the universe forward within Monism. Within this moral system, you have both good karma and bad karma. However the big problem here is that if there are no distinctions in Monism, how can there be both good karma and bad karma? For that reason Monism fails to answer the question of morality.
Is there any absolute meaning in life? Again Monism has the same problem when it comes to finding meaning in life. If everything is ultimately one, then that means there are no true distinctions between things. If this were true, then there would be absolutely no meaning in life for individuals since individuals are a contradiction to oneness. Again no answer found.
Where does man go after he dies? The soul at death becomes part of the cosmos. The cosmos is one, eternal, and impersonal existence and your soul will become a part of the whole.
Here we find a possible answer but it doesn’t satisfy because of the unreliability of the first three answers. If your beliefs can’t provide a valid answer to questions 1-3 then it makes the answer to number 4 unreliable.
Naturalism is the belief that all that exists is the natural world. The only way we can ever know anything is through our five senses. There is no God, there are no souls, and heaven/hell does not exist.
Where did the world and man come from? Naturalists have to believe one of two things about the origin of the universe: 1) it has always been here (eternal) 2) it popped into existence out of literally nothing.
The problem here is that the consensus of science tells us that the universe is not eternal and that it did not pop into existence from nothing. No answer is found in either of these two options.
Where do morals come from? According to the naturalist morality is the product of evolutionary development. Since the world is purely the product of physical and biological evolution, then morals must have evolved as well.
According to the theory of natural selection only those characteristics that perpetuate a species survive. Therein lays the problem for naturalism and the evolutionary ethic because it cannot explain why we should be good. Just because something may have originated one way does not mean there is any obligation that we should have to do it.
Another point here is that evolution cannot explain such acts as the sacrificing of one’s own life for the lives of others. Evolution tells us to do whatever it takes to preserve our own life not sacrifice it for others. There is no answer for morality found here.
Is there any absolute meaning in life and where does man go after he dies? Meaning and destiny do not exist within naturalism because the physical body is all that truly exists. Once the body dies, the brain and consciousness die with it; therefore there is no ultimate purpose or end for living.
Theism believes that although the world exists and our senses can detect the world, there exists another dimension where God exists.
Where did the world and man come from? There is a definite beginning to the universe and God was the cause of it. Since the universe must have a cause and since it could not cause itself the only reasonable explanation is that something caused it. That is where Theist point to an all powerful God as the cause giving us an answer to the first question.
Where do morals come from? Because God exists and His character is unchanging, He has established certain morals that are absolute and unchanging.
If God did not exist the only reason stealing would be wrong is because society tells us so. But so what? Why is anyone obligated to listen to their societal laws?
God is the source of morality.
Is there any absolute meaning in life? Since man is made in the image of God everything he does matters to Him. Every act and every thought reflects our relationship to God and therefore every single act has meaning.
Where does man go after he dies? Heaven is described as a place where there is no sin, sickness, or death. Heaven is a reward for all of God’s children who have put their faith in Him and accepted Jesus Christ as their savior.
There is also an eternal destination for those who have rejected God and His love. It is described as a place of utter darkness and eternal torment where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Not only does Theism answer the question of eternity but it is the only world view that adequately answers all four questions that guide a person through life. That makes Theism the only logical choice for a worldview.
Written with the aid of Walter Nusbaum’s “A Defense of the Faith.”
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Does God Exist?
“In a quiet revolution in thought and argument that hardly anybody could have foreseen only two decades ago, God is making a comeback. Most intriguingly, this is happening not among theologians or ordinary believers, but in the crisp intellectual circles of academic philosophers where the consensus had long banished the Almighty from fruitful discourse.”
-- Time, 1998
Cover of Newsweek: "Science Finds God”
“The achievements of modern science seem to contradict religion and undermine faith. But for a growing number of scientists, the same discoveries offer support for spirituality and hints of the very nature of God…Once, science and religion were viewed as two fundamentally different, even antagonistic ways of pursuing that quest, and science stood accused of smothering faith and killing God. Now, it may strengthen belief.”
-- Newsweek 1988
“For the scientist who has lived by faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries.
-- Dr. Robert Jastrow
Founder and Director of NASA’s Goddard Space Institute
Have you ever wondered why there is something rather than absolutely nothing? Why does the universe even exist? Has it always been there or did it come into existence? These are all questions in which the answers lead you to God or to absolutely nothing.
Until recently many scientists still believed that the universe was eternal, that it had always existed. The reason scientists liked this view was because if the universe has always been here, there would be no need for a God to create it.
However, the view that the universe is eternal has fallen under severe attack. There is a virtual consensus among contemporary astronomers and physicists that the universe did in fact have a beginning.
There are four options that explain the presence of the universe.
1. The universe is eternal.
2. The universe is an illusion
3. The universe came into being by nothing
4. The universe came into being by something.
Of each of these four options only one really seems to be reasonable. The first option contradicts the findings of science. The second one doesn’t make any sense. The third one accepts the fact that the universe came into being but contradicts itself in saying that something can come from nothing. The fourth one has to be the best option. The universe came into being by the power of something, God. This is called the First Cause Argument.
Walter Nusbaum brings up the following analogy. Think anbout everything that surrounds your life. Is there anything that ever happens without any sort of cause? In fact, everything we think of has some prior cause. If this is true, then it makes sense that the universe had a cause too!
A term you might want to familiarize yourself with is the Kalam Argument. It is a three part argument that says that everything that begins to exist has a cause, the universe began to exist, and therefore the universe has a cause.
There is another popular argument that is called the argument from design. It says that anything with order and complexity required a designer because nature does not produce complexity and information.
Again Nusbaum gives us the following thought. You wake up one morning and your wife had poured your alphabet cereal in your bowl. If you saw the words “Good morning, Honey” spelled out, would you think it was just a fluke chance that the cereal letters came out of the box like that or would you think your wife did that?
When you look at the complexity of our world, universe and even your own body are you going to say that it just randomly happened or that it was a designer who created it that way? Christians believe in God for many different reasons but one of the largest is because His creation screams out about his existence.
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