CASE FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD

Introduction

If we are going to find God (or, allow Him to make Himself known to us), can reason alone give us the means to know God?

Last week we looked at many of the ways that men have looked into the case for and against belief in God (or gods). We learned that the philosopher uses logic and reason to find truth, and that if God exists, that this truth is capable of being comprehended by man in a reasonable way, and that we can use some of the tools of philosophy to discuss the existence of God with each other.

The Christian God we are claiming as the author of our Faith was necessarily capable of speaking all that we can know and perceive into existence. The Bible defines Him as all-knowing, all-powerful, all-good, all-just, everlasting, and ever-present.

Such extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence - is it enough to simply conclude through reason that God must be, or are there more ways to find the truth about Him?

As we continue our study this week, I will be presenting a closer look at the case for theism, and specifically for the existence of the Christian God of the Bible.

Goals
Goal 1: To understand the case for theism, and arguments that might reveal a Christian God
Goal 2: To find out if belief in God is reasonable

Our study will examine the case for theism in depth, although not because it is more difficult or problematic. As Christians, we may have come by our knowledge of God and faith in Him in different ways. When we tell others about the God we know, it is important to be able to communicate both the reasons for our own beliefs and to recognize the beliefs of others.

God has provided many paths to knowledge for those who have found Him and want to learn more about Him, but these paths always merge into a single road to salvation - belief in Jesus Christ.

Unfortunately, we cannot show the way to salvation to someone who does not believe that there is a God who could have a son named Jesus, who could be written about in a book called the Bible. For some people, belief in God has never seemed to be a reasonable thing.

Is belief in the God of the Bible reasonable? Perhaps the skeptic's doubt has not been addressed simply because no one has been able to present a cogent case for God's existence. This study indends to do just that.

"If it is to be established that there is a God, then we have to have good grounds for believing that this is indeed so. Until and unless some such grounds are produced we have literally no reason at all for believing; and in that situation the only reasonable posture must be that of either the negative atheist or the agnostic. So the onus of proof has to rest on the proposition [of theism]."

Antony Flew, "The Presumption of Atheism", God, Freedom, and Immortality, (Buffalo, N.Y., Prometheus Books, 1984), p. 22

Link to the source - http://home.houston.rr.com/apologia/sec4p1.htm