Defending the Faith

Topic Notes

• Welcome!
• Atheists’ arguments for the non-existence of God?
• The Cosmological Disproof for God
  • 1. God is a self-caused being (see Sartre, 758, 762).
  • 2. But it is impossible to cause one’s own being, for a cause is prior to its effect, and one can’t be prior to oneself.
  • 3. Therefore, God cannot exist.
• God and Time
• God is outside time
• LISTENER QUESTION
  • Why doesn’t the bible talk about things like breaking the sound bearers and other things that were impossible back then?
• Ontological Disproof of God
  • 1. God is by definition a necessary existence.
  • 2. But necessity cannot apply to existence.
  • 3. Therefore, God cannot exist.
• Geisler Says:
  • In support of the crucial second premise he noted that necessity is a logical term, not an ontological one. That is, necessity applies to propositions, not to being or reality.
    Theists point out that the second premise is self-defeating. It is a necessary statement about existence that claims that no necessary statements can be made about existence. Who said necessity cannot apply to existence? This legislates meaning rather than listens to it. In fact, the very criterion by which one concludes that necessity cannot apply to existence is arbitrary. There is no necessity to accept it.
• A Teleological Disproof of God.
  • 1. The universe was either designed or else it happened by chance.
  • 2. But chance is an adequate cause of the universe.
  • 3. Therefore, the universe was not designed.
• Geisler Says:
  • In support of the second premise, two lines of argument have been offered. First, in an infinite amount of time every combination will occur, no matter what the odds against it. Second, no matter what the odds against something happening, it can still happen and sometimes does.
    Theists note that this falls short of a disproof, since it is not logically necessary. Second, even as an argument (but not a disproof) it has serious problems. The evidence is much stronger that the universe had a beginning, since it is running out of usable energy (see THERMODYNAMICS, LAWS OF; BIG BANG THEORY), and since an infinite number of moments before today could not have elapsed, no infinite series can be traversed (see KALAM COSMOLOGICAL ARGUMENT). Further, science is not based on chance but on observation and repetition. These principles inform us that anything as complex as life does not occur without an intelligent cause.
• The Existential Disproof of God.
  Existentialist philosopher, Jean-Paul Sartre, argued:
  • 1. If God exists, then all is determined..
  • 2. But if all is determined, then I am not free..
  • 3. But I am free.
  • 4. Therefore, God does not exist.
• BIBLE CONTRADICTION via “An Incredible Interactive Chart of Biblical Contradictions” from Patheos.com
  Where did Moses receive the Ten Commandments?
  • Exodus 31:18 vs. 1 Kings 8:9

Links

TruthRevolution: Arguments Against Christianity
TruthRevolution: The Existence of God
TruthRevolution: Responding to Atheism
TruthRevolution: God’s Big Rock

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