Best of 2017: The Problem of God

Topic Notes

The Problem of God is a book written by a skeptic who became a Christian and then a pastor, all while exploring answers to the most difficult questions raised against Christianity. Mark Clark grew up in an atheistic home, and after his father’s death, began a skeptical search for truth through exploring science, philosophy, and history, asking the big questions of life, and eventually finding answers in Christianity.

The Problem of Hypocrisy

• Do not judge the church on its past
• Mythology vs Truth
• The mythology created around the violence of church history has been greatly exaggerated
• Actual facts trump concocted conspiracy theories
• Understand that not everything done in the name of the church was done by people who were actually Christian
• The church is full of hypocrites because it’s a hospital, not a country club.

The Problem of Sex

• God is not anti-sex. He created sex, but in the context of marriage.
• God created sex to be pleasurable.
• The best sex is between married people.

The Problem of Hell

• This is absolutely a personal question for many people.
• It is less logical and more repulsion. But just because it doesn’t feel good to us, doesn’t make it illegitimate.
• The idea of a God of justice and wrath is not much a problem with most of the world. It’s particularly a problem for people in America.

The Problem of Science

• Has technology pushed God into the realm of
• The Universe began to exist… what caused it?
• How does modern biology compare to the biology of Darwin’s day?
• Information in DNA is not random… it’s intelligent.

The Problem of the Bible

• What is the Bible?
• Does God speak to us through scripture?
• The bias against the Bible compared to other literature vs actual manuscript evidence.
• Counter-productive literature in the Bible lends more credence to the Bible being true rather than not.

The Problem of God’s Existence

• The Moral Law: Why do we all agree on what is wrong and right?
• If you have a Moral Law – it begs the question: who is the Moral Law giver?

Bible Contradiction

Jesus taught resistance, or was it non-resistance?
John 2:15-16 vs. Matt 5:39-40

Resources

Get the Book: The Problem of God by Mark Clark at Amazon.com

Get to Know: Pastor Mark Clark

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