ASI 2011: Inspired to Finish Strong

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

ASI 2011 Seminar: Spiritual Growth

John Bradshaw

Effective Personal Evangelism

Pavel Goia

Total Commitment

Clifford Goldstein

Why I Belive in God: An Apologetic on the Christian Faith

Stephen Bohr

How to Experience Revival and Reformation

You know, I suppose in 1 sense I put this together as kind of A0I don't know, a defense against spiritual or maybe intellectual complacency.

We don't want to take our beliefs for granted, and we don't want to take our faith for granted, and we don't want to take our relationship with God for granted.

We need to think about what we believe, about why we believe it, if not only for our own good, then I think of the verse in scripture where Peter, where he says, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and be always ready to give an answer to every man that asks you for a reason, that the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear.

And that's what I want to do with this talk, is, you know, simply help, you know, if indeed does, anyone who would like to give some answers to somebody that asks about what we believe and why we believe it.

Now notice, the title is not, Why do I believe in Jesus?

Or why do I believe in the second coming?

I'm getting much more basic than that, much more foundational than that.

These are things that you really need faith for, and these are things that you need revelation for.

And although I'm not denying that you need faith to believe in God, I would argue that there are very powerful rational and logical reasons to believe in God.

And in fact, I would say the arguments in favor, the logical, rational arguments for God, the existence of God, I believe are much stronger than the arguments, the logic and reason that's used for atheism, or for disbelief in God.

I truly believe that the logic and reason is much more on our side than it is on the side of those who don't believe.

And maybe this will help you see it when we're done.

Anyway, I want to start out with a story told by C.S.

But Lewis has had some very good insights at times.

When he was told a story, when he was an agnostic about how he was sitting in the teacher's lounge at Oxford or something, sitting around with some other professors and probably smoking and having their morning coffee in the in the lounge, and he talked about somebody who he called the hard quote, the most hard-boiled of all atheists I ever knew.

And they were sitting there in the lounge just chatting, and then out of the blue, this hard-nosed atheist, as he said, the hard-boiled-est of all atheists I never knew, sat there and in the midst of the conversation he said, well, you know, something to the effect of, well, you know, C.S.

Old Chap, something like that, The evidence for the historicity of the Gospels is really surprisingly good.

And then he just stopped the conversation.

You know, it would have been like if somebody would have been sitting there saying to him, you know, C.S., I was sitting there and a flying saucer came down in my backyard and scooped up my dog and took him away.

And he thought about, well, the evidence for the historicity of the Gospels is good.

Because you know the Gospels, in fact the other day I was doing for my morning worship, I was reading through the book of Matthew.

And Matthew just starts out, this is the generation and so and so begat so and so begat so and so.

I mean about as earthly and a human and natural thing as you can do, begatting other people, 1 after another, and then all of a sudden out of the blue, it just drops in the virgin birth.

Okay, no attempt that I'm gonna really try to strain credulity here.

I'm really gonna try to, you know, ask you to really reach out in faith.

Drops in something incredibly miraculous.

And the point is, the Gospels are filled with miracles.

From beginning to end, they just assume a supernaturalist view of existence, and, you know, including especially the resurrection of Jesus.

I have a whole sermon I give on evidence for the resurrection of Jesus.

And when you really get into it, it's amazing.

Lewis was floored because if the Gospels were historically accurate, then miracles really happened.

And if miracles really happened, then his atheistic, materialistic view of the world which said miracles don't happen would have to be wrong.

I mean, if you have a worldview which says that divine miracles cannot occur, but then you're given some strong evidence that divine miracles or miracles have occurred, then what happens to your worldview?

Your worldview, and we're talking about a fundamental worldview here.

We're not talking like changing political parties or something.

We're talking about something fundamental, changes.

Lewis on a quest, and that wound up becoming a believer.

Now I use this account not as so much as an introduction into some kind of gospel apologetic, but as an introduction to what has represented from antiquity the 2 overarching views of the world.

There's 2 basic views that go back, back into antiquity.

First, there's the atheistic, materialistic view held by many in ancient Greece, right up through to today, You know, which is a view that's rallied, it's proclaimed a lot by, they call themselves the new atheists.

Maybe you've read, you know, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris, I've read them all.

I haven't read all their books, but I've read most of them.

And they're basically just promoting the same old view.

No God, no creator, were purely trance creations of what 1 ancient Greek, centuries before Christ once called atoms and the void.

So all that exists, atoms and the void, which is pretty amazing.

Think about it, about 2, 300, 2, 400 years, no, about 2, 500 years before Christ, they basically gave some of the atomic theory, you know, atoms in the void, okay?

Now in contrast to that view, there is the belief in some kind of supernatural being or beings from Zoaster's Ahura Mazda to Voltaire's deism, because Voltaire was not an atheist.

Voltaire once said, every watch needs a watchmaker.

You've got that to Calvinist predestination, and on and on and on, and everything else as well.

Now, either worldview or any version of them, Lewis knew negated the other.

Either there is a God or gods, or there isn't a God or gods.

Either knew he knew, He knew that either view negated the other.

And as my talk unsubtly suggests, I believe that God exists.

So I guess the question is, why do I believe in God?

What would be some of the reasons that I would believe?

I want to start out with a philosopher asked a question.

And in many ways, it's about the most basic question I think anybody could ask.

Why is there anything at all to believe in, or is there even a subjective consciousness, such as myself, that could believe it?

Or to get as basic, Philosopher asked 1 of the most basic questions that I think you could ask Why is there something?

I mean, that's pretty much, you know, how much further can you get?

Why is there something instead of nothing?

Now, I thought about this and I tried to argue.

I wonder if you could ask the question, why is there nothing instead of something?

But I guess that's self-refuting because you can't even ask the question.

There has to be something there to ask the question.

So why is there something instead of nothing, if you're going to get right down to the basics?

Well, I think the answer must be found in some version of 1 of those 2 world views that we just talked about.

It's either in the universe, either originated through natural or through supernatural origins.

If the latter, If it came through supernatural origins, then the universe was made by being or beings greater than or prior to it.

Otherwise, creation had to have occurred naturally, out of itself, which leads to the question, how did it first get there in order to arise out of itself?

That's kind of absurd if you think about it.

Series

ASI 2011 Seminar: Spiritual Growth

Why I Belive in God: An Apologetic on the Christian Faith

Transcript

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

Why the Adventists are Stuck with Me

45m

An Intelligent Faith: An Adventist Apologist's Adventure

Why Do I Believe in God?

1h

GYC 2011 Seminar: The World's Greatest Wireless Connection

The Call To Persistent Prayer, Part 1

57m

GYC SE 2013 Plenary Sessions

Perils of the Emerging Church

1h 8m

Adventism: The Answer to Modern Atheism

03 Evolving Evolution and Creation’s Case

53m

Relentless Prayer

4. Relentless Prayer

51m

Plenary

2. Can I Be Certain God Exists? Does It Matter?

1h 11m

The Mock Trial

1h

Ron du Preez: The 'Day' that Changed the World

From God to Godzilla: The Scholars vs. the Scriptures

46m

Preparing Your Church for Evangelism

05 Practical Solutions for Church Growth, Part 01

1h

OYC 2012 Seminars

In a Godless World: The Worldview of Atheism

1h

Magna Parks: Secular Psychology - Satan's Alluring Path

Secular Psychology - Satan’s Alluring Path, Part 2

1h

Sound Doctrine