there is a particular format to this argument given in debates with atheists .. note the following use of the argument
William lane Craig states this .. does God exist with five lines of reasoning A) making sense of the origin of the universe B) making sense of the fine tuned universe, C) making sense of objective morality, D) making sense of the historicity of the reality of Christs life , death and resurrection. E) can God be immediately known and experienced
the above example is not bad in and of itself but can be radically altered in its manner to support another view of God .. just drop one particular point and enforce another aspect like "whether another person was a prophet like Muhammad ... therefore the form of the argumentation is not valid if anyone can simply adapt it to make the argument valid for their particular veiw of what truth is
and this is what has happen in the previous years a Muslim used the arguments of William lane craig to form the basis of his own talks with an atheist
so for a christian to use this format as an argument it does not lead to a truly biblical honored argument.. in particular points 4 and 5 must be the prime areas that our focus are in in order to give a presentation of the biblical truth
and then other argument must be founded upon this structure , and not the faith be founded upon universal point that do not lead anywhere
first start with the reality of God from scriptures alone
Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” 14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I am has sent me to you.’” 15 God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations. 16 Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “I have observed you and what has been done to you in Egypt,
Here we are told of moses' encounter with the almighty God of creation itself, and the God of the jews in a particular manner.. what we get from this is that Gods existence was not presumed, nor was it even simply a possibility.
The existence of God was a given no arguments were made to convince others but there were many sign as evidence
When an atheist says it is not enough, this is insufficient and we need more empirical evidence before believing in God
for a start the very objection in and of itself is the answer to the question as the bible clearly states "The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” This reveals that Gods existence is real and the very objections to his existence are words of the fool
paul states in Romans one the following information:
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world
The evidence of God is clear as day in all creation but due to "a darkened heart" they would not except the truth of God and instead turn to worship creation... and their answers and living became idolatrous and folly
and the very fact that atheist put all their faith in self delusional intererpretations of evidence from the science shows how far there hearts are darkened to the reality
so the issue at this point is not whether is evidence for God as there is but at what junction does a christian leave the basis he is supposed to be presenting "the gospel" and lean upon worldly understanding in trying to proclaim the gospel
again we find the answer given by the apostles in acts chapters 5 ... " answered.. we must obey God and not men"
now similar to this we have pauls words in 1 Corinthians 1 :18, 23-25 :
and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power-- but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
The above truth is seen in that we are meant to make our arguments scriptural focused and also an offence to the natural man for it to have it correct function on those called- but the above example from W . L. Craig does not do this it only asserts the possibility of there being a God .. a foreign concept to the biblical writer and one that has no place in theology
The second important point is to declare Christ atonement for sin
As i briefly laid out in the above part that the objection is evidence for existence of God .. as only a fool will claim there is no God, but now we must affirm the reality of sin which is seen in the basic idolatry of such men who love themselves more than God ... and are in turn far from God in rebellion
And this is a direct truth laid out in Romans 1 :18 -22
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world
This is rebellious nature is seen and plain exhibited in atheist like Richard Dawkin and the late Christopher Hitchens .. who were known for there venom driven attacks, often on a false picture of the truth ...
but things are not too late for all such people as the bible states in Romans 5
Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Just as Paul and the other apostles make the point of universal sinfulness, they provide us with Gods answer to this degradation of man in and through the work of Christ on the cross -- the atonement.
This is the only place that man come for true forgiveness as seen in peters words in acts 4 :8-12
Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Seen in the above citation is the fact that there is complete harmony on the issue of how a man can be saved from their sinfulness .. such is a biblical truth
and to argue as the atheist does against this by saying derogatory insults just gives us the proof of their sinful and perverted nature that they are happy to die with
the elect will always rejoice in the new lease of life that has been granted of them by the father through the spirits work of regeneration, and truth faith in the resurrected messiah .. who died for mans sins
As Christians, these two points alone are the most important issue to make a case out of when witnessing and we must do from the biblical evidence we have in our bible
making sense of the universe and morals will only become relevent when this side of the debate is firmly seen in light of the biblical evidence
questions on the universe .. how it came to be, its purpose, the fine tuning and others are answered by the bible in a biblical stand point
questions on morality are also answered by the bible ... and my article on this is a good thing to really consider .. it is called "biblical morality"
