God's Existence and Knowability

1. “I AM” Showing that God’s exists and is knowable RolanMonje, BD, DMin

2. Outline 1. “PROVING” GOD 2. KNOWING GOD Some slides following taken from Anne Jeffers (UOL) John Oakes (ARS)

3. Part I “PROVING” GOD

4. There will always be questions about God • We must meet people where they’re at and move from there. (That’s what Jesus did in the gospels.) • When people say, “Prove to me that God exists,” the first thing to say is “What kind of proof do you expect?”

5. Accepted approaches to ‘proof’ • Tautological proof – something is necessarily true, i.e. mathematical certainty (e.g. sum of the angles of a triangle = 180 deg) • Empirical proof – something is seen to be true by observation; involves scientific method • Inferential proof – something is inferred to be true because of the existence of other factors; relates to scientific theory (in contrast to scientific method); used to prove the existence of God

6. Bible passages? • The Bible presents no argument for the existence of God • His existence is assumed • Certain aspects of the Biblical text (e.g. prophecy, claims of Jesus) can be used to show the divine nature of the Bible.

7. Basic Arguments for the Existence of God • 1. The Cosmological Argument (also known as the argument from cause; touched upon in Gen 1) • 2. The Teleological Argument (more commonly known as the design argument; touched upon in Rom 1) • 3. The Ethical Argument (also known as the moral argument; touched upon in Rom1,2)

8. Sidenote: Influence of culture • Culture is inescapable • Men try to convey feelings and convictions • Expression in ‘God’ in art; e.g. Michelangelo • Male figure • Muscular • Long white beard

9. We have to filter out the influence of culture. • Most people will not buy into the idea of an old, bearded guy in the clouds!

10. #1 Cosmological Argument • Is there a universe? • Can it be empirically proven? • What are the origins of the cosmos? • Why does the universe “exist,” instead of “not exist?”

11. Facts - cosmology • Our galaxy, the Milky Way has about 400 billion stars • There are about 100 billion stars in the universe • Every star is separated by vast amounts of empty space

12. Some proponents of the cosmological argument • Ancient Greek philosophers (e.g. Aristotle and Plato) • Christian theologians (e.g. Thomas Aquinas, Frederick Copleston) • Jewish theologians (e.g. Maimonides) • Islamic theologians (e.g. the Kalam argument presented by, among others, al-Ghazali).

13. Aquinas’ Argument: Uncaused Cause The argument from the ‘Uncaused Cause’ • Everything has a cause. • Every cause has a cause. • This cannot go back forever. • Therefore there must be an uncaused cause that isn’t caused. • The uncaused cause is what people understand by ‘God’.

14. Pertinent discussions • David Hume • Frederick Copleston • Bertrand Russell • In the end, if given a choice between believing that a physical thing (the universe) has always existed, or believing that a spiritual thing (God) has always existed, many will go with God.

15. Cause theory: Statue of Liberty ‘causes’ • The material cause – Without the existence of marble we could never have a marble statue. • The efficient cause – The marble itself is obviously not the marble statue. For the statue to come into being it needs to have been carved out of a block of marble by a person using a hammer and chisel, and a substantial measure of skill and artistry. • The formal cause – Random hacking at a piece of marble will not make a statue; therefore we need a further cause. To be the thing that it is, the statue needs to take the shape that it does, that of a horse or a man or whatever. • The final cause – The only reason that all the other causes take place is because a sculptor has set out to make a statue in the first place. All three of the other causes have been called into operation in order to realize an intention: the overall reason for the statue’s existence is that it is the fulfillment of a sculptor’s purposes.

16. #2 Teleological argument • Teleios = end, fulfillment • Mankind tends to think of an end to everything • The world everywhere reveals intelligence, order, harmony, and purpose • This implies the existence of an intelligent and purposeful being, adequate to the design of such a world

17. William Paley (1700’s) Imagine that you are walking down a beach and that you stumble upon a wrist watch. Even if you had never seen a wrist watch before, it is likely that you would be struck by the fact that it differs from the other objects in the vicinity: a watch is obviously a collection of parts that have been cleverly combined in such a way as to fulfill a particular function, namely, to indicate the time. You would assume that the watch is not a natural object, but an artifact, i.e. something made on purpose by some intelligent agent. Indeed, you are likely to assume that the watch is the handiwork of a watchmaker who knew what he was doing when he made the watch. The assumption at work here is that the order found in the watch (and other artifacts) does not occur as a result of blind, accidental forces. On the contrary, it is assumed that order is always the result of an intelligent designer.

18. Paley said that if we all agree that a watch must have been designed by a watchmaker then surely an eye (that is complex beyond our imagination) must also have been designed.

19. An argument from analogy uses inductive logic. Based on what we observe we can induce a conclusion. This type of logic can only ever provide us with evidence that creates a high likelihood of the conclusion being true. Paley is really saying that given the complexity of the natural world it is highly likely that it came into being because of the intention of a designer (God).

20. Pertinent discussions • David Hume • Charles Darwin • Richard Dawkins • F.R. Tennant • David Hume also said that at best the argument shows that the universe must have been designed. It doesn’t, though, guarantee that the designer was God. • Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution appears to have shown that the complexity of life can be explained without the need of a designer.

21. #3 Ethical argument • One cannot deny the development of ethical thinking: Sumer, Egypt, China, Palestine, Greece, etc. • Mankind’s recognition of a highest good and the quest for a moral ideal, demand an necessitate the existence of a God to give reality to that ideal.

22. The problem of evil & suffering • If belief that God exists is based on our observations of the world, we must be willing to look at everything. We have seen clearly that the world is incredibly complex. If we keep looking we will also see without much effort that it is often incredibly cruel. • Some of history’s most influential philosophers, for example David Hume, John Stuart Mill and Bertrand Russell, challenged the traditional idea of an all-powerful,all-knowing and loving God because of the problem of evil.

23. A theodicy is an attempt to explain why the existence of evil and suffering doesn’t necessarily show that God doesn’t exist.

24. Two types of ‘evil’ or ‘misfortune’ • Philosophers of religion talk about two particular types of evil: • Moral evil – caused by human beings themselves • Natural evil – caused by the way things happen in our world.

25. Discussion points • Atheists often assume that the reality of moral and natural evil is one of the most important pieces of evidence against belief in God. • But then, how they can assume that there is no explanation for such a state of being in this world? Could the existence of God answer to those same questions?

26. Theodicy argument against God • If God is omnipotent (all-powerful) why doesn’t he crush evil and stop suffering? • If God is omniscient (all-knowing) why did he create a world which he knew would result in such pain and suffering? • If God is all-loving why does he allow innocent children to suffer? • Many people assume that if these questions can’t be answered adequately then the only reasonable view to hold is that God simply doesn’t exist.

27. Discussion points • Free-will concept in Genesis • Crucifixion in Gospels, Romans • After-life concept in Corinthians, Revelation • Sovereignty argument in Isaiah, Job

28. Focus of existence • Probably the central idea in Christianity is that humans find meaning and purpose in a ‘love’ relationship with God and each other: • ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.

29. ‘The faith position is an altogether more positive and optimistic one than the assertion of meaninglessness. It maintains that although evil is a terrible reality it can beovercome and one of our main tasks as human individuals is to fight against it.’ -- P Vardy • ‘Were there no other evidence at all, the thumb alone would convince me of God’s existence.’ --Sir Isaac Newton

30. PART II KNOWING GOD

31. God is knowable • This is something very distinct (and encouraging) about the Christian Worldview • The ‘God’ of Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam are very nebulous or distant gods • The God of the Bible is not only knowable, but also wants to be known

32. God is about relationships • Gen 1:26-27 shows from the beginning that God is about community • He is a God of fellowship; this nature of God is intimately connected with the fact that he is knowable • God wants to be known  He makes himself knowable

33. We can come to know God • Realizing human frailty and weakness, God, in his compassion, reaches out to us as humans • He reaches out to us in many ways, mainly through: • Creation • The Bible • His Son

34. Jesus is the supreme revelation of the father (1 John 5:20). • Although it is not possible to know God completely, the Bible affords us a practical knowledge of Him that is sufficient for fallen humanity to have a relationship with Him.

35. God revealed in Scripture • The Bible reveals God’s essential qualities through… • Appellations • Activities • Attributes

36. 1. Appellations (names) • In certain cultures, names carried special importance. In many Asian societies, a name is considered to reveal the character of the bearer, his true nature and identity. • This concept is well understood in the Ancient Near East.

37. Note how God’s name is to be hallowed in the Ten Commandments (third commandment, Ex 20:7). • David sang praise “to the name of the Lord” (Ps 7:17). • For further study: Ps 111:9, Ps 148:13.

38. Important Divine Names used in the Old Testament • Ex 3:14 (interlinear) YHWH • Original Hebrew text reads right to left; all consonants • ויאמsaid אלהיםAnd God אל unto משׁהMoses,אהיהI AM אשׁרTHAT אהיהI AM

39. , אהיה אשׁר אהיה • Transliteration: xhyhxsrxhyh • With vowels: ehyehasherehyeh • Translation: “I am who I am” or “I will be what I will be,” indicating God’s steadfast nature in relationships

40. Yhwh appears more than 6,000 times in the Old Testament. Jesus alluded to this name of God in John 8:58. • Note: The true pronunciation of the tetragrammaton (yhwh) is unknown. The vocalized “Yahweh” is conjectural. The Masoretic Jews simply added the vowels of adonai (Heb meaning “Lord) to the four consonants. • Some translations use “Jehovah,” but this is simply an Americanized rendition.

41. Gen 1:1, Ex 20:2 EL/ELOHIM • These highlight God’s power • These depict God as the strong and mighty One (see also Dan 9:4). • Other Near Eastern Cultures also called their local gods “El.”

42. Ps 148:14, 150:6 YAH • An abbreviated form of YHWH • Contained in the word hallelujah, which means “Praise the Lord.”

43. 2. Activities • One can learn a lot about a person by looking at his/her schedule • What you do tells a lot about who you are • Bible writers spent considerable amounts of ink on God’s activities

44. God creates (Gen 1, Ps 24) • God saves and redeems (Deut 5, 2 Cor 5) • God plans (Isa 46) • God promises (Dt 15, 2 Pet 3) • God forgives (Ex 34)

45. 3. Attributes • The Bible writers use a number of devices to present God’s attributes • These attributes are basically personal traits that God allows us to appreciate • Examples: omniscient (Job 37:16, Ps 139:1-18), living (Jn 5:26), independent in will (Eph 1:5), eternal (Ps 90:2, Rev 1:8)

46. God’s attributes are not isolated traits. They stem for his relational nature. E.g. love (Rom 5:8), compassion (Deut 33:27), holiness (Ps 99:9).

47. Closing • Let us take time to study the arguments involved • Let us keep in mind that there is a purpose for our existence • Let us praise God for his uniqueness and his character! • Let us be excited that we can know our great and awesome God!