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Does God Exist?
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What Kind of God Exists?
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What If There Is No God?
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What If God Made the World and Then Left It Alone?
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What is Evil?
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Where Did Evil Come From?
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Why Can't Evil be Stopped?
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What is the Purpose of Evil?
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Couldn't God Make a World Without Evil?
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Who Was Jesus?
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What Claims Did the Disciples Make About Jesus?
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Did Jesus Actually Die on the Cross?
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Did Jesus Rise Bodily From the Grave?
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How Do We Know That the Bible Came From God?
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How Was the Bible Written?
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Can the Bible Be Wrong?
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How Reliable Are Our Modern Bibles?
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Does Archeology Confirm the Old Testament?
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Does Archeology Confirm the New Testament?
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What Is Reincarnation?
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What is Resurrection?
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How do I become SAVED?
The existence of a personal, moral God is fundamental to all
that Christian believe. There have traditionally been four basic
arguments used to prove God's existence. They are called the
cosmological (meaning creation), teleological (meaning purpose),
axiological (judgment) , and ontological (being) arguments.
Argument from Creation. The basic idea of this
argument is that, since there is a universe, it must have been
caused by something beyond itself. Simple stated; The universe
had a beginning. Anything that has a beginning must have been
caused by something else. Therefore, the universe was caused by
something else, and this cause was God.
Argument from Design or Purpose. This argument
reasons from a specific aspect of creation to a Creator who put
it there. It states: All designs imply a designer. There is great
design in the universe. Therefore, there must be a Great
Designer. That designer is God.
Argument from Moral Law. This argues that the cause
of the universe must be moral, in addition to being powerful and
intelligent. The rational provided is: All men are conscious of
an objective moral law. Moral laws imply a moral Lawgiver.
Therefore, there must be a supreme moral Lawgiver...God.
Argument from Being. The fourth argument attempts to
prove that God must exist by definition. It states that once we
get an idea of what God is, that idea necessarily involves
existence. There are several forms of this argument, but lets
just talk about the idea of God as a perfect Being. Whatever
perfection can be attributed to the most perfect Being possible
(conceivable) must be attributed to it (otherwise it would not be
the most perfect being possible). Necessary existence is a
perfection which can be attributed to the most perfect Being.
Therefore, necessary existence must be attributed to the most
perfect Being.
If we want to show that God exist and that He is the God of
the Bible, then we need to show that all of the things in the
pervious arguments are true. Each one contributes something to
our knowledge of God, and taken together, they form a picture
that can only fit the one true God.
God is Powerful. The argument from Creation proves
not only that God exists, but that He has power. Only a God with
incredible power could create and sustain the whole universe. His
energy would have to be greater than all the energy that was ever
available in the whole Creation, for he not only caused all
things, He holds them together and keeps them in existence and
still sustains His own existence. This is more power than we can
imagine.
God is Intelligent. Even Carl Sagan admits that the
design of the universe is far beyond anything that man could
devise. The argument from design shows us that whatever caused
the universe not only had great power, but also great
intelligence. God knows things -- things that we cannot
understand.
God is Moral. The existence of a moral law in the mind
of a moral Lawgiver shows us that God is a moral Being. He is
neither beyond morality nor beneath morality. He is by nature
moral. This means that part of what He knows is the difference
between right and wrong. He is not only moral; He is good
God is Unique. God is all-powerful, all-knowing,
all-good, infinite, uncreated, unchanging, eternal, and
omnipresent. But how many beings like that can there be? He is a
class of one by definition. If there were two unlimited beings,
how could you tell them apart? They have no limits to define
where one stops ant the other begins -- but neither one can
"stop" or "begin" anyway.
God is Lord over Creation. The argument from Creation
does more than prove that God exists; it also proves that He is
Creator. There is no way to distinguish two infinite creatures,
but God is distinct from the finite world that He has made. And
as the all-powerful, all-knowing Creator, He has control over the
creation.
A recent poll indicated that only about 5 percent of Americans
do not believe in God. However the influence of atheistic
thinkers in out time is certainly widespread. While a skeptic
doubts that God exists, an agnostic says that he doesn't
know if God is out there, the atheist claims to know
that there is no God. They believe that there is only the world
and the natural forces that operate it. If the universe is,
then what caused it to be. While atheists deny God's existence,
they affirm the reality of evil. They think the existence of evil
is one of the primary evidence that there is no God. God is not
the author of evil. God only created good. Man (with a free will)
chose evil.
Deists hold a view of God very much like the Christian view,
except they don't think God performs miracles -- ever. They agree
that God made the world, but He just lets it run on natural
principles. He oversees but doesn't intervene. Springing out of
the eighteenth-century enlightenment, deists put reason above
revelation (which is a miracle). Deism is inconsistent on its
most basic premise. Deists believe in the biggest miracle of all
(Creation) but reject what they consider to be all the little
miracles. If God was good enough and powerful enough to create
the world, isn't it reasonable to assume that He could and would
take care of it too? If he can make the sun, he certainly can
make wine out of water. If he can create life, he certainly can
bring the dead back to life.
Some have said that evil is a substance that
grabs hold of certain things and makes them bad (like a virus
infecting an animal)or that evil is a rival force to good in the
universe. But if God made all things, then that makes God
responsible for evil?? The argument looks like this: God is the
author of everything. Evil is something. Therefore, God is the
author of evil. The first premise is true. So it appears that in
order to deny the conclusion we have to deny the reality of evil
(as the pantheists do). However, their is another alternative. We
can deny that evil is a thing, or substance, without saying that
it isn't real. Evil is a lack in things. When the good that
should be there is missing from something, that is evil.
One of the things that makes men morally perfect is freedom.
We have a real choice about what we do. God made us that way so
we could be like Him and could love freely. But in making us that
way, He also allowed for the possibility of evil. To be free we
had to have not only the opportunity to choose good, but also the
ability to choose evil. That was the risk God knowingly took.
That doesn't make Him responsible for evil. He created the fact
of freedom, we perform the acts of freedom. He made evil
possible, men made evil real. Imperfection came through the abuse
of our moral perfection as free creatures.
The only way in which evil may be destroyed, is to take away
the freedom to make the choice of evil. Taking away that freedom,
results in taking away the freedom to choose to love, the
greatest good man has. In other words, to destroy evil, God would
also destroy love. Destroying love is obviously evil, thus to
destroy evil, would result in evil.If evil is to be overcome, we
need to talk about it being defeated, not destroyed.
We know of a few purposes for evil. God sometimes warns us
using a lesser evil. An example is a baby touching a hot stove.
We dread that moment, but that evil will give the baby an
awareness of the word "hot," and that she should not
touch the stove, or anything else that is hot, again. The first
small pain helps prevents a larger, second pain. Hard to believe,
but some evil helps defeat evil. The evil of Jesus being on the
Cross conquered all the evil that we would have to face if he did
not go to the Cross.
The argument goes like this: God knows everything. So God knew
evil would occur when He created the world. God had other nonevil
possibilities. God could have a.) not created anything, or b.)
created a world without free creatures, or c. created free
creatures that would not sin, or d.) created free creatures who
would sin but would all be saved in the end. Hence, God could
have created a world that did not include either evil or hell.
God choose to create a world in which man is free to choose. He
allowed man to sin. And in his infinite mercy provided the free
gift of salvation. This man not be the best of all possible
worlds, but it is the best way to
the best world. if God is
to both preserve freedom and defeat evil, then this is the best
way to do it. Freedom is preserved in that each person makes his
own free choice to determine his destiny. Evil is overcome in
that once those who reject God are separated from the others, the
decisions of all are made permanent. Those who reject God are in
eternal quarantine and cannot upset the perfect world that has
come about. The ultimate goal of a perfect would with free
creatures will have been achieved, but the way to get there
requires that those who abuse their freedom be cast out.
The Nicene Creed (A.D. 325) states the uniform belief of all
orthodox Christianity that Christ was fully God and fully Man.
All heresies regarding Christ deny one or the other of these.
Jesus was fully human, claimed to be God, and offered more that
adequate evidence to support that claim. Jesus went through all
the normal processes of human development. He was conceived in
his mother's womb by the Holy Spirit (Matt. 1:18, 20; Luke
1:34-35). He was born of a woman who had carried Him to full
term. He grew up as a normal Boy, developing physically,
mentally, and emotionally. He aged and he died. There is nothing
more opposed to the divine nature than death, yet Jesus died a
human death. It was witnessed by many people including John, a
small group of women followers, the soldiers, and the mocking
crowd (Luke 23:48-49; John 18:25-27). He was buried in accordance
with the customs of the time and set in a grave. You can't get
more human than that!
Jesus stated that "Before Abraham was born, I AM."
Jesus claimed to be equal with God. He not only assumed the
titles of Deity, but claimed for Himself the prerogative of God.
He said to a paralytic, "My son, your sins are
forgiven" (Mark 2:5). The scribes correctly responded, Who
can forgive sins but God alone?" So, to prove that His claim
was not an empty boast He healed the man, offering direct proof
that what He had said about forgiving sins was true also.
Along with Jesus' own claims to be God, we should consider
what His disciples believed about Him. It is one thing to claim
to be God; it is quite another to get other monotheistic Jews to
believe it. The Disciples attributed to Jesus the titles of
Deity. They considered him to be Messiah-God. They attributed the
powers of God to Jesus. They associated Jesus' name with God's.
They called him God Directly. They said he was superior to the
angels. The Disciples certified that Jesus was God as he had
claimed to be.
The death of Jesus on the cross is the most widely documented
event of ancient history. Many skeptics attack this point. The
Koran claims that Jesus only pretended to be dead (Surah IV:157).
It is no miracle for a live man to walk out of a tomb. For the
Resurrection to have any significance, Jesus had to be dead
first. Several points must be considered: 1. There is no evidence
to suggest that Jesus was drugged. He turned down the common
painkiller that was usually given to crucifixion victims (Mark
15:23). 2. His heavy loss of blood makes death highly probable.
He had been beaten and whipped repeatedly the night before the
crucifixion with a Roman scourge (a three-lash whip with pieces
of bone or metal on the ends) which tore the flesh of the
skeletal muscles and set the stage for circulatory shock. 3. When
His side was pierced with a spear, water and blood flowed out.
The spear entered through the rib cage and pierced His right
lung, the sack around the heart, and the heart itself, releasing
both blood and pleural fluids. Jesus was unquestionably dead
before they removed Him form the cross and probably before the
spear wound was inflicted.
Not only did Jesus really die, but He also rose in the same
physical body in which He died. There are many alternate
explanations for the resurrection of Christ, but none of them
satisfy the facts of the case. Many skeptics have become
Christians while trying to refute the Resurrection.
We know that the Bible came from God for one simple reason,
Jesus told us so. He assured us in His teaching an through His
disciples. The Son of God Himself assures us that the Bible is
the Word of God.
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The process by which the Bible was written is called
inspiration. The term comes for 2 Timothy 3:16, which says,
"All Scripture is inspired by God (literally, God-breathed)
and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for
training in righteousness." God is the source of all that is
said in the Bible. From Moses to John, a prophet is always a man
who delivers God's message to men. That message begins with a
revelation from God. That revelation might be a voice from a
burning bush (Ex3:2), a series of visions, an inner voice of the
prophet's communion with God, or derived from some earlier
prophecy. But to be Scripture, the message had to be written. 2
Peter 1:21 tells us that "No prophecy was ever made by an
act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from
God." The 66 books of the Bible took over 1500 years to be
written. It was written in three different languages by over 35
different authors.
The net result is that we have the Word of God written by men
of God, inspired not only in its concepts, but in the very words
used to express those concepts. The human writers are not mere
secretaries, but active agents who express their own experiences,
thoughts, and feelings in what they have written. It is God's
message in written form.
Just how trustworthy is the Bible? This has been one of the
great issues of this century. Is the Bible inerrant
(meaning no errors), or is it merely an infallible guide
in matters of faith and practice?
The neo-evangelical view of infallibility states that the
purpose of Scripture is to lead men to salvation, and that any
other subject that it might touch on is unimportant to that
purpose, so what is says about those things (science) may not be
correct. Neo-evangelicals are right in pointing our that the
Bible is not meant to be a science text. However, if their views
were accepted, the results would be illogical. Philosophically,
the infallibility position is unsatisfying.
Nowhere in the Bible is there a promise of purity of the text
of Scripture throughout history, but there is a great deal of
evidence that suggest that the Bibles we read are extremely close
to the original, inspired manuscripts that the prophets and
apostles wrote. For the New Testament, there are over 5,000
manuscripts that date back to the second or third centuries.
Comparisons between those texts and our modern Bibles have found
less than 1/2% differences. We are finding similar error rates
when we compare the Dead Sea scrolls to our modern versions of
the Old Testament.
Noted archeologists Nelson Glueck has boldly asserted, "
It may be clearly stated categorically that no archeological
discovery has ever controverted a single biblical reference.
Scores of archeological findings have been made which confirm in
clear outline or exact detail historical statements in the Bible.
In every period of Old Testament history, we find that there is
good evidence from archeology that the Scriptures are accurate.
While many have doubted the accuracy of the Bible, time and
continued research have consistently demonstrated that the Word
of God is better informed than its critics.
The evidence for its historical reliability is overwhelming.
One of the popular misconceptions about Jesus is that there is no
mention of Him in any ancient sources outside of the Bible. On
the contrary, there are numerous references to Him as a
historical figure who died at the hand of Pontius Pilate.
We often speak of Christ's incarnation because he came in the
flesh. Reincarnation is that happening over and over
again. The same spirit comes back into a different body. In other
words, after death the soul goes to another body, instead of
heaven or hell. According to a Gallup poll taken in the early
1980, 23% of Americans believe in reincarnation. Among college
age that number is 30%. The scary part is that 90% of Americans
claimed to be Christian. There are several rationales given for
the belief in reincarnation. Three of the most basic reasons are
the belief in an immortal soul, psychological evidence of past
liver, and the justice of reincarnation as a system. One of the
most attractive aspects of reincarnation is that it removes
entirely the possibility of damnation.
What is wrong with Reincarnation? It is contrary to what the
bible teaches. It does not solve the problem of evil.
Reincarnation is ultimately antihumanitarian. Reincarnation does
not guarantee spiritual progress. In the end, there are to many
fundamental problems with the logic of reincarnation.
Resurrection is the belief that after death the same physical
body is made incorruptible. Rather than a series of bodies that
die (as in Reincarnation), resurrection makes alive forever the
same body that died. Rather than seeing man as a soul in a body,
resurrection sees man as a soul-body unity. While reincarnation
is a process toward perfection, resurrection is a perfected
state. Resurrection is an ultimate state in which the whole
person, body and soul, enjoys the goodness of God.
If someone were to offer you a free gift, what would you have
to do to possess it? Take it, of course! The same is true of
salvation. God has offered you the free gift of eternal life. All
you have to do is accept it. Accept Jesus as your Lord and your
personal savior. Accept the fact that
he died on the cross for your sins. He paid the ultimate penalty
for your transgressions against God's Laws.
Perhaps a prayer will help you get started:
Lord Jesus, I need you. Thank you for dying
on the cross for me.
Forgive me and cleanse me. Right this moment I trust you as
Savior and Lord.
Make me the type of person you created me to be.
In Christ's name I ask all these things. Amen.
If you would like additional information on your
personal salvation, please send me an email at cestlavi@pacbell.net
and I would be very happy to send you more information.
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