D o e s

1. God D o e s God D o e s Exist? An Argument for God in 30 Seconds

2. God D o e s

3. God D o e s Exist? “Why do we have something rather than nothing at all?” - Martin Heidegger, “The Fundamental Question of Metaphysics” Comes back to – Does God exist?

4. God D o e s Exist? Four theoretical answers: • Reality is an illusion • Reality is/was self-created • Reality is self-existent (eternal) • Reality was created by something that is self-existent

5. God D o e s Exist? A simple proof for God • Something exists • Nothing cannot cause something • Therefore, a necessary and eternal Being exists - Jonathan Edwards (who massaged it from John Locke)

6. God D o e s Exist? Can the existence of God be argued for in 30 seconds or less?

7. God D o e s Exist? Start the stopwatch…here we go. • I exist. • If I exist, then something must have always existed, because something doesn’t come from nothing. • So we have 2 choices: An impersonal eternality (the universe) or a personal eternality (God). • Science has disproven the concept of an eternal universe. • Therefore, God exists.

8. God D o e s Exist? • I exist. You must exist to express doubt that you exist. Denying your existence is a self-defeating statement. “I think, therefore I am.” - Descartes

9. God D o e s Exist? • If I exist, then something must have always existed because something doesn’t come from nothing. “Nothing is what rocks dream about.” - Aristotle, Philosopher “I never asserted so absurd a proposition as that anything might arise without a cause.” - David Hume, Skeptic/Atheist

10. God D o e s Exist? How to think about true ‘nothingness’… particles matter …everything energy motion space

11. God D o e s Exist? True ‘nothingness’…

12. God D o e s Exist? • Two Options: • An Eternal Universe (impersonal eternality) • “The Cosmos is all there will ever be” – Carl Sagan. • An Eternal Creator (personal eternality) • “In the beginning, God…” – Genesis.

13. God D o e s Exist? • Science has disproven the concept of an eternal universe. The fact is: The Universe had a beginning. • Everything that has a beginning has a cause • The universe had a beginning • Therefore, the universe had a cause “Philosophically, the notion of a beginning of the present order of Nature is repugnant…I should like to find a genuine loophole.” – Sir Arthur Eddington

14. God D o e s Exist? • Science has disproven the concept of an eternal universe. Proof Point 1: The universe is running down. • Something that is running down must have started at some point • The 2nd law of thermodynamics states that the universe is running out of usable energy • If you doubt this, look in the mirror (you’re aging and running down) • First law of thermodynamics is philosophical in nature; can’t be empirically proven

15. God D o e s Exist? • Science has disproven the concept of an eternal universe. Proof Point 2: The universe is expanding. • Confirmed through the Hubble telescope • It’s expanding from a single point • Universe is not expanding into space, but space itself is expanding • Commonly called the “Big Bang” – nothing, then BANG – something

16. God D o e s Exist? • Science has disproven the concept of an eternal universe. Proof Point 3: Radiation echo. • Discovered by Bell Labs scientists Penzias and Wilson in 1965 • Afterglow from the Big Bang; won Penzias & Wilson Nobel Prize • Death blow to any theory of the universe being in a steady state

17. God D o e s Exist? • Science has disproven the concept of an eternal universe. Proof Point 4: Galaxy Seeds. • If Big Bang was true, then temperature “ripples” should exist • These ripples would enable matter to collect into galaxies • Cosmic Background Explorer – COBE – launched in 1989 to find them • Findings released in 1992 – perfect/precise ripples found to enable galaxies to form “If you’re religious, it’s like looking at God” - George Smoot, NASA, COBE Lead

18. God D o e s Exist? • Science has disproven the concept of an eternal universe. Proof Point 5: Einstein’s theory of relativity. • Einstein’s pantheistic bias originally influenced his original formula • He was proven wrong by another mathematician (he actually divided by zero) • Einstein called it the worst mistake he’d ever made • Theory demands an absolute beginning for time, space, and matter “I want to know how God created the universe” - Albert Einstein

19. God D o e s Exist? Still…some scientists try get around this fact by saying: • Life on earth originated from a rocket sent from outer space (F.H. Crick, co-discoverer of DNA and Richard Dawkins, famed atheist) • Collapsing universes (disproven from galaxy seeds; not enough energy) • Imaginary time (Stephen Hawking) "If you study science deep enough and long enough, it will force you to believe in God." - Lord Kelvin, British Scientist “In real time, the universe has a beginning and an end at singularities that form a boundary to space-time and at which the laws of science break down.” – Stephen Hawking

20. God D o e s Exist? Something else to consider on an impersonal eternality… Would it not be strange that an impersonal, amoral, and purposeless/meaningless universe accidentally created personal beings that are obsessed with right/wrong, meaning, and purpose? In addition, the question of unity and diversity arise. Unity may be explained by an impersonal eternality, but not diversity. An impersonal eternality means everything must come from impersonality plus time plus chance. No other factors are involved.

21. God D o e s Exist? The Personal, Infinite, and Triune God Father Is not Is not God Spirit Son Is not Unity in Diversity

22. God D o e s Exist? The atheist’s response? “The universe is just there…” – Carl Sagan “There doesn’t need to be a reason…” – Atheist on Christian Forum When the atheist makes this statement, they do so by faith alone. Out the door go all the logic, science, reason, and touch-and-feel-it evidence atheists claim are so necessary to believe in God. Now it becomes a matter of the will.

23. God D o e s Exist? The atheist’s response? “Evolution disproves God.” How does evolution answer the question of existence? Only two choices – matter before mind or mind before matter. “It is strange that some people claim that it is their intelligence that leads them to prefer the first to the second.” – John Lennox

24. God D o e s Exist? OK, but…Who created God? Category mistake (e.g. Where is the bachelor’s wife?) Irrelevant as you must go back to an eternal ‘something’ The evidence points away from an impersonal eternal universe and toward a powerful, intelligent, moral personal Creator

25. God D o e s Exist? So…. • If I exist, and… • If something eternal exists (because something doesn’t come from nothing), and… • If there are only two possible eternal entities (an eternal universe or an eternal creator), and… • If an eternal universe has been disproven (and it has), then… An eternal Creator exists.

26. God D o e s Plain “Open your eyes, there it is!” – Romans 1:19 The Message

27. God D o e s Exist? Yes, God exists. • He is the reason we have something instead of nothing • He is the creator of the heavens and the earth • He is the reason you can read this right now – that you exist at all

28. God D o e s “In the beginning God created…”

29. God D o e s God D o e s Exist? Yes, He Does!