How do we know there is a God?

[Apologetics Evangelism Guy]

Here's the main reasons we can know there is a God. 

Cosmological argument:

1) Everything that had a beginning was caused to exist by something else.

2) The universe had a beginning (Creation).

3) Therefore, the universe was caused to exist by something (or someone - God) else. 

Paul used this argument in Romans chapter one. Paul's point was that no one has an excuse. If you look at creation, you can know there's a God. You can't deny it. 

I also like the watch maker argument to prove that there's a Creator, and that the universe shows divine design. 

Apologists call this the Teleological Argument.

The story of the watch maker is well know and goes like this:

 

Imagine you are traveling in the dessert. For days and days you see nothing but sand in every direction. Then one day you notice something shiny in the sand. You walk over to it and uncover a pocket watch. You brush the sand off and examine the golden case. You gaze at the beauty of the intricate details in every little gear and mechanism. Then you can ask yourself this question -  was this watch the result of random processes over millions of years? Or, even though you can't see his foot prints in the sand, is there a watch maker somewhere? In the some way when you look at the fine tuning of the earth, the human body, and all of creation, do you assume it all happened by chance? Or could there be a divine watch maker somewhere? 

Here's a great video on this argument, and it shows how the fine tuning of the universe points to God. 

 

I love these two arguments. The first one because it's logically valid, even to a skeptic. The second one because it shows in story form the argument for God's existence.

[siegi91]

On 8/19/2016 at 3:41 PM, Apologetics Evangelism Guy said:

Here's the main reasons we can know there is a God. 

Cosmological argument:

1) Everything that had a beginning was caused to exist by something else.

2) The universe had a beginning (Creation).

3) Therefore, the universe was caused to exist by something (or someone - God) else. 

Paul used this argument in Romans chapter one. Paul's point was that no one has an excuse. If you look at creation, you can know there's a God. You can't deny it. 

I also like the watch maker argument to prove that there's a Creator, and that the universe shows divine design. 

Apologists call this the Teleological Argument.

The story of the watch maker is well know and goes like this:

 

Imagine you are traveling in the dessert. For days and days you see nothing but sand in every direction. Then one day you notice something shiny in the sand. You walk over to it and uncover a pocket watch. You brush the sand off and examine the golden case. You gaze at the beauty of the intricate details in every little gear and mechanism. Then you can ask yourself this question -  was this watch the result of random processes over millions of years? Or, even though you can't see his foot prints in the sand, is there a watch maker somewhere? In the some way when you look at the fine tuning of the earth, the human body, and all of creation, do you assume it all happened by chance? Or could there be a divine watch maker somewhere? 

Here's a great video on this argument, and it shows how the fine tuning of the universe points to God. 

 

I love these two arguments. The first one because it's logically valid, even to a skeptic. The second one because it shows in story form the argument for God's existence.

May ask a question? Please excuse my ignorance about Christian philosophy.

Is God the only uncaused cause? I ask because I wonder what causes the products of our "free" will.

To make an example: suppose I decide today, out of me free agency, that I study Chinese. For sure, this decision began to exist, since yesterdays I did not even think of studying Chinese.

 So, what caused it? Suppose it has been caused by X. What caused X? Did it also begin to exist or was it an uncaused cause? And if God is the only uncaused cause, then we can logically deduce that my decision to study Chinese is ultimately reducible to God. Which would raise serious doubts about the "free"  qualifier we usually attribute to our will.

Or did it follows an infinite chain of causes that have no bottom.  Is it possible to have an infinite chain of causes that led me to that decision? 

Or maybe, there is more than one uncaused cause. But what are they?

What do you think?

 

 siegi

 

 

 

Edited August 28, 2016 by siegi91

[1to3]

Your question:

how can we know there is a God?

My answer:*** how can we know there is no God?***

 

For me as I have seeked God, God has answered me, God has changed, transformed me, refined me and shown me more and more of Himself as I have kept and keep  on seeking Him to have a daily personal relationship with Him and a strong desire to have a faith-ful- relationship with Him.

If you seek you will find, if you knock the door will be opened. Matthew 7:7-8 ,Luke 11:9

Having a relationship with God is symbiotic, it goes both ways, not one way. If you sincerely keep seeking, God will sincerely respond back to you.

 

That is what Abraham did, he seeked a relationship with God by speaking to Him and God was faith-ful- back and answered Abraham back and with His blessing.

 

 

[RustyAngeL]

On 8/14/2016 at 6:19 PM, PatrolMan said:

I just have to look around and what I see tells me there is a God.

Right.  Creation itself tells us this cannot happen by accident.  

[Apologetics Evangelism Guy]

3 hours ago, siegi91 said:

May ask a question? Please excuse my ignorance about Christian philosophy.

Is God the only uncaused cause? I ask because I wonder what causes the products of our "free" will.

To make an example: suppose I decide today, out of me free agency, that I study Chinese. For sure, this decision began to exist, since yesterdays I did not even think of studying Chinese.

 So, what caused it? Suppose it has been caused by X. What caused X? Did it also begin to exist or was it an uncaused cause? And if God is the only uncaused cause, then we can logically deduce that my decision to study Chinese is ultimately reducible to God. Which would raise serious doubts about the "free"  qualifier we usually attribute to our will.

Or did it follows an infinite chain of causes that have no bottom.  Is it possible to have an infinite chain of causes that led me to that decision? 

Or maybe, there is more than one uncaused cause. But what are they?

What do you think?

 

 siegi

 

 

 

Hi Siegi,

Good questions on the uncaused cause. 

Logically, your thought can't be uncaused because it flowed from your mind.

The only way to have an uncaused cause is to have something (or someone) who is outside of every cause and effect relationship. Something (or someone) who has no beginning or end. Someone who never came to be. Someone outside of the entire created or caused world. That thing (or God) would have to be everlasting, with no beginning or end. They would also need to have incredible power to cause everything else. They would also need amazing wisdom and intellect. This all points to a theistic God. Maybe not necessarily the Christian God but a theistic God. If you then think about that God being personal and benevolent, then you have either the christian, Jewish, or Muslim God. And if that God is personal enough to introduce Himself in our historical experience, then you have Jesus Christ. He claimed to be the visible form of the invisible God. 

[Ezra]

1 hour ago, Apologetics Evangelism Guy said:

Is God the only uncaused cause? I ask because I wonder what causes the products of our "free" will.

Yes, God has always been and will always be, and He is the un-created God. When He created man, He gave him the ability to make choices, including moral choices.  So that is free will. He also gave man a mind with which to reason, and thoughts are the product of your mind. He also gave man a spirit, but that spirit is dead until made alive by the Holy Spirit at the New Birth.

If you have not believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, you will not understand many things that are revealed in Scripture.  But everyone can understand (1) that they are sinners, (2) that Christ died for their sins and rose again to give them eternal life, and (3) that they can receive the gift of eternal life by believing on Him.

[siegi91]

2 hours ago, Apologetics Evangelism Guy said:

Hi Siegi,

Good questions on the uncaused cause. 

Logically, your thought can't be uncaused because it flowed from your mind.

 

Yes, but where does it stop?

if it is caused, is that cause uncaused? If not, what caused it? And so on.

I think eitheir it stops, or it doesn't. If it doesn't, then my decision of learning Chinese is the product of an infinite chain of causes. If it does stop, THEN there must be an uncaused cause that started the chain of events that led me to decide to study Chinese.

In case it is the latter: what is this uncaused cause?

 

 siegi