Coptic Orthodox Church Malawi

We like to start our articles about faith by this first question.

This Article Is Quoted from Book

By George Bassilios

Timeless Truth in Truthless Times

First question Is there is God ?

– The existence or non-existence of God is the most important question we have to answer.

– For this reason it is imperative for each of us to ponder 🤔 this significant question and strive to genuinely seek an honest answer.

The answer:

– For this question we have only two answers so either God exists or He does not exist. There is no middle ground.

– One cannot affirm logically both the existence and non existence of God.

– We have an example of the following bottle in the photo either it exists or not exists no other possible answer

– One cannot affirm logically both the existence and non existence of God.

– But we have three groups of people with three different answers:

• Atheists : claim that God does not exist.

• Theists : affirm that God does exist.

• Agnostics : say there is not enough evidence to decide, hence they don’t know whether He exists or not.

• Skeptics : doubt that God exists.

– So to know who is correct ? We have to examine the evidence.

– We will discuss three arguments for existence of God :

• The First Cause Argument.

• The Design Argument.

• The Moral Argument

1. The First Cause Argument:

– The First Cause Argument — also known as the cosmological Argument —it addresses the fact that universe ( Cosmos) exists and therefore must be explained.

– The argument is simple , natural and intuitive. It is based on an instinct of mind that we all share: the instinct that says everything needs an explanation or a cause.

– Here the argument succinctly stated :

✦ Premise 1 : Whatever begins to exist has a cause

✦ Premise 2 : The Universe began to exist.

✦ Conclusion: The Universe has a cause.

– If the premises are true , then the conclusion must be true , so let’s examine the first premise.

Premise 1 :

• Whatever begins to exist has a cause:

– the law of cause and effect states that every material effect must have an adequate antecedent cause. Material effects without adequate causes do not exist.

– For example, if we saw a cat 🐈 that suddenly appears on table in front of us, we wouldn’t say, you came from nowhere didn’t you?

– Of course, no we would look for a cause ? Did the cat 🐈 jump onto the table, fall from the ceiling? Did a magician put make a trick and put it there when we weren’t looking?

– If there seems to be no physical cause, we look for a psychological cause: as hallucination .

– Last resort, we look for a supernatural cause, a miracle! But something caused us to see the cat suddenly appears. We know that things don’t just pop into existence for no reason at all.

– No we have to recognize that the entire Universe is a vast and complex chain of causes, which could not have just popped into existence on its own. It’s existence had to be caused by something else.

– Another scenario to discuss, you hear a small explosion 💥 in your house 🏠. Concerned, you shout to your child 👶 “What was that?!” Your child yells back“I don’t know! It just happened“

– Would you say to yourself; That’s strange! Oh well , if my child 👶 says , “ It just happened “ then I guess I’ll accept that and assume the small explosion did not have a cause?” Or would you run 🏃 upstairs and look for the cause ?

– If there is obviously a cause for a little bang ; doesn’t it also make sense that there would be a cause for a Big Bang? The Bang that scientists assumed it formed the Universe millions of years ago?

Premise 2 :

• The Universe began to exist:

– Dr. Robert Jastrow , agnostic astronomer and leading NASA scientist 👨‍🔬 said, “The creation of matter out of nothing is a violation of the principle of the conservation of matter and energy which states that matter and energy can be neither created nor destroyed.

– Matter can be converted into energy and vice versa, but the total amount of all matter and energy in the universe must remain unchanged forever. It is difficult to accept a theory that violates such a firmly established scientific fact.

– The persons who does not believe in God try to adopt an idea that the universe has always been here and will always be here.

– When they think this , they try to avoid explaining the problem of a beginning and of ending of the universe and also the need for any “First Cause” ( such as God ).

– But modern science recognizes the fact that the universe had a beginning and is not eternal so it will have an end.

– Conclusion: The universe has a cause, if the universe didn’t create itself out of nothing, nor was it eternal, then it must have been brought into existence by Someone ( Creator). This creator is referred to as the First Cause that brought everything else into existence.

– So let’s discuss what are the logical characteristics of the First Cause ?

1. Supernatural in nature ( He exists outside of His creation )

2. Incredibly powerful (He created all that is known)

3. Eternal (He exists outside of time and space )

4. Omnipresent ( He created space and is not limited by it )

5. Timeless and Changeless ( He created time )

6. Immaterial ( He transcends space )

7. Personal ( The impersonal can’t create personality)

8. Necessary ( Everything depends on Him )

9. Intelligent ( Non-Intelligent cannot create intelligence)

10. Purposeful (He deliberately created everything)

These attributes are very consistent with what believers refer to as God.

2. The Design Argument:

– The Design Argument, also known as the Teleological Argument ( from Greek word meaning purpose ) refers to the “fine-tuning” of many parameters in the universe for life to exist.

– The Design Argument states that a designer must exist because the universe and living things show evidence of intelligent designs.

– The more we learn about the universe’s inner workings, the more we realize that the life existing hangs on an incredible fine balance, Indicating intelligent design.

– An example to illustrate this design argument is explained by Willam Paley’s analogy of the watchmaker.

– He says if you were walking on a beach and found in the sand, we would not assume that it washed up on the shore having been formed through the natural processes of the sea. We would assume that it had been lost by its Owener and that somewhere there was a watchmaker who had designed it and built it with a specific purpose in mind.

– Likewise when we look at the universe and life, it is natural to conclude that there is a designer because they appear to be intentionally formed.

– According to astrophysicist Dr. Hugh Ross, at least 35 constants in the universe had to be set perfectly for life to even have a chance to begin and here are some examples of these factors:

✦ If our universe had not expanded at precisely the right speed at its origin, life on earth 🌍 would not have been possible. Stephen Hawking has calculated that if the rate of universe expansion one second after the Big Bang had been smaller by the minutest amount the universe would have collapsed into a fireball.

✦ If the electrical, gravitational, electromagnetic, or nuclear ☢️ forces in our world 🌎 were any stronger or weaker, life on earth would not be possible.

✦ If Earth 🌍 were not tilted exactly the way it is — the angle 📐 is ranging from 21.1 to 24.5 degrees on its axis of rotation— life on earth 🌍 wouldn’t be possible.

✦ If the earth were any closer to the sun, it would be too hot 🥵 for life to exist on Earth 🌍. If it were any farther, it would be too cold 🥶.

✦ Also the distance of our moon to Earth 🌍 if it were any closer to Earth 🌍 ocean tides would cover the highest mountains 🏔 on earth 🌍.

✦ If the moon were any bigger and in the same place , the tides would be too strong and life on Earth 🌍 would not be possible.

✦ The Earth 🌍 is just large enough so that it’s gravity retains the atmosphere and just small enough not to keep too many harmful gases.

✦ How can we rationally explain all these intricate coincidences? These very integrated elements of design have driven the famous scientist 👨‍🔬 Stephen Hawking to say “ it would be very difficult to explain why the universe should have begun just, except as an act of God who intended to create beings like us.

3. The Moral Argument:

– The moral argument recognizes humankind’s universal and inherent sense of right and wrong as prove it is given by Lawgiver.

– All cultures recognize honesty as a virtue, along with wisdom, courage, and justice.

– These are thought of as absolute principles but absolute standards cannot exist without an absolute authority!

– The immutable character of God ( Our absolute authority) is the only true source of universal moral principles; otherwise all morality would be relative to cultural preferences.

– We all have the moral intuition which immediately tells us certain things are wrong, regardless of opinion or preferences. No society approves torturing of friend for fun. No society approves of poisoning their neighbors.

– If there is an objective set of moral laws for communities , then where do these laws come from? Laws imply a Lawgiver. Therefore the existence of objective morality is best explained by the existence of law giving God.

– If there is no God, there is no universal moral law. Jean Paul Sartre the famous French atheistic philosopher wrote “Everything is indeed permitted if God does not exist, and man is in consequence forlorn, for he cannot find anything to depend upon either within or outside himself.

– Nor on the other hand if God does not exist, are we provided with any values or commands that could legitimize our behavior.

– If God does not exist as the foundation of morality, then everything goes. The morality will be according to the choice of the powerful.

– For example if God does not exist, then we lose the right to judge the Nazis or ISIS and anyone else with whom we disagree morally. The Nazis believed they were morally in the right and without a higher law above humanity the powerful will decide the morality like what the Nazis did and killed thousands of Jews and the handicapped.

Conclusion:

✤ Oftentimes we are unwilling to worship an invisible God, because we have been letting ourselves gravitate towards the gods we see and love as power, money, and sex. So we are held captive by our pursuit of these man-made gods ( “Will a man make gods for himself, Which are not gods?” Jeremiah 16:20 NKJV )

✤ To admit that there is a God who created us, would be to admit that there is a God to whom we should be accountable. That is the reason most people refuse to consider the salient evidence.

✤ The problem is not with the scarcity or unreliability of evidence. The real issue lies in the suppression of evidence in order to live with a dormant conscience.

✤ David the prophet says, “The fool has said in his heart, there is no God” (Ps 14:1) Off course these words are not intended to offend it’s readers. They were intended to describe that one would be foolish if after seeing the insurmountable evidence for the existence of God, they continue to deny His existence.

✤ No one will stand before God on judgment day and say, “I did not believe in you because there just wasn’t enough evidence to convince me that You existed. His fingerprints are all around us for He didn’t leave Himself without witness (Acts14:17)

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