Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction: Who believes in God?

Gallup poll “Most Americans Still Believe in God?” [screenshot of https://news.gallup.com/poll/193271/americans-believe-god.aspx]

I was raised in a Christian home and as far back as I can remember I believed in God.

How about you?

Have you always believe in God? Do we have any atheists in the room?

Do we have any former atheists?

Transition: The story is told of a man who didn’t believe in God and determined to raise his kids that way.

One day his little boy said to him, “Dad, does God know we don’t believe in Him?”

Why is that the existence of God is such an issue?

No one can prove the existence of God!

The existence of God can neither be proved nor disproved.

We can only accept the existence of God by faith.

This verse tells us those who earnestly seek God by faith, will be rewarded.

Jesus said those who have believed without seeing Him or God, will be blessed!

There is evidence for the existence of God.

There are five types of evidence I want to give you.

1.

There is evidence around us that God exists.

This what is called natural revelation that God exists.

SLIDE: Beauty in the ocean

SLIDE: Beautiful flowers

SLIDE Beautiful heavens

Psalm 19:1-4

Glory is intrinsic to an item.

All around are things that make us pause, wonder, gasp in awe.

All this glory is a small part of God’s glory.

2. There is evidence within us that God exists.

BBC has an article on it’s website, “Are we wired to believe in a higher power?” http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/z3b6hyc

[website graphic]

“Religion – the belief in supernatural beings, including gods and ghosts, angels and demons, souls and spirits – can be found throughout history and in every culture.

Evidence for beliefs in an afterlife goes back at least 50,000 to 100,000 years.

Every known human culture has creation myths, with the possible exception of the Amazonian Pirahã people, who also lack number words, colour words and social hierarchy.

It's hard to get exact data about the number of believers today, but some polls suggest that up to 84% of the world’s population are members of religious groups or claim that religion is important in their lives.

We live in a time of unprecedented access to scientific knowledge, which some see as being at odds with religious belief.

So why is religion so pervasive and persistent?

Psychologists, philosophers, anthropologists and even neuroscientists have suggested explanations for our natural predisposition to believe, and for the powerful role religion seems to play in our emotional and social lives.”

SLIDE: Ancient temple.

Why is it we aren’t surprised to see something like this?

I found an earlier “article” written by King Solomon that sheds insight into this.

We know there is more than just us, this life and this world.

Some suggest that all there is for us is this life, that when we die we cease to exist.

That isn’t what most people think.

Solomon says that notion within you that there is more than just this life, which suggests God’s existence, is itself from God.

3.

There is evidence from logic that God exists.

We are going to consider three arguments from logic that God exists.

I think they are compelling.

They don’t prove God exists.

You can’t do that, they give evidence God exists.

A. The teleological argument.

This is from the “Introduction To Philosophy” an Online Textbook by Philip A Pecorino, Ph.D. Queensborough Community College, CUNY

Paley's Teleological Argument For The Existence Of God

SLIDE: Painting of John Paley

SLIDE: Book cover “Natural Theology or, evidences of the existence and attributes of the deity, collected from the appearances of nature.”

William Paley (July 1743 – 25 May 1805) was an English clergyman, Christian apologist, philosopher, and utilitarian.

He is best known for his natural theology exposition of the teleological argument for the existence of God in his work Natural Theology or Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity, which made use of the watchmaker analogy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Paley

"For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.

Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and diety, has been clearly percieved in the things that have been made.

So they are without excuse."

Romans1:19-20

I.) The Teleological Argument:

"Teleological" = from the end or purpose exhibited by the universe

The term teleological comes from the Greek words telos and logos.

Telos means the goal or end or purpose of a thing while logos means the study of the very nature of a thing.

The suffix ology or the study of is also from the noun logos.

To understand the logos of a thing means to understand the very why and how of that thing's nature - it is more than just a simple studying of a thing.

The teleological argument is an attempt to prove the existence of God that begins with the observation of the purposiveness of nature.

The teleological argument moves to the conclusion that there must exist a designer.

The inference from design to designer is why the teleological argument is also known as the design argument.

i.)

The basic premise, of all teleological arguments for the existence of God, is that the world exhibits an intelligent purpose based on experience from nature such as its order, unity, coherency, design and complexity.

Hence, there must be an intelligent designer to account for the observed intelligent purpose and order that we can observe.

ii.)

Paley's teleological argument is based on an analogy: Watchmaker is to watch as God is to universe.

Just as a watch, with its intelligent design and complex function must have been created by an intelligent maker: a watchmaker, the universe, with all its complexity and greatness, must have been created by an intelligent and powerful creator.

Therefore a watchmaker is to watch as God is to universe.

http://www.qcc.cuny.edu/SocialSciences/ppecorino/INTRO_TEXT/Chapter%203%20Religion/Teleological.htm

This is sometimes called the Design argument.

Here is a video by Ravi Zacharias Ministry that explains it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCGadbs4NcQ

B. The Cosmological Argument.

The Simple Cosmological Argument

Everything that exists has a cause of its existence.

The universe exists.

Therefore: The universe has a cause of its existence.

If the universe has a cause of its existence, then that cause is God.

Therefore: God exists.

C. The Design Argument

C. The Moral Argument

Moral facts have no place in a godless universe.

This is sometimes used as a moral argument for the existence of God, as follows:

If God did not exist, then there could not be any moral facts.

There are moral facts.

Therefore God exists.

Ravi Zacharias: How do you arrive at a moral law?

If you say there is such a thing as evil, aren’t you saying there is such a thing as good?

If you say there is such a thing as good, aren’t you saying there is a moral law?

If you say there is a moral law, you must believe there is a moral law giver.

The moral law giver is God.

If there is no moral law giver, there is no moral law.

If there is no moral law, there is no good.