Team BetaTeam BetaDoes God Exist?Does God Exist?

Jessica Dicaterino

Mary Gonzales

Ashley Hughes

Davina Wilson

http://www.fotosearch.com/photos-images/god_13.html

Which God is Which?If God is the one true god and we are

not supposed to worship or follow any others, how do we know which god is the right one to follow?  Would it not be easier to just deny the existence of any god at all than choose to follow one that might be the wrong one?  In a way, ignorance is bliss (Crabtree, 1999).

There are hundreds of religions in this world. It’s not a fair choice to have to make as far as choosing the “right” god. Isn’t the one true God supposed to be fair and just?

Photos from:www.fotosearch.com/photos-images/god.htmlwww.theoi.com/pantheon.htmlwww.acclaimimages.com/search_terms/gods.htmlhttp://ancienthistory.about.com/od/norsegodspictures/tp/NorseGods/htmwww.sanatansociety.com/indian_art_galleries/hindu_gods.htm

Arguments against the existence of GodArguments against the existence of God

1. Evil:

Because evil exists, God cannot be all-powerful. all-knowing and loving and good at the same time.

The major philosophical criticisms of God according to Harrison, P. (1997) are as follows:

2. Pain:

Because God allows pain, disease and natural disasters to exist, he cannot be all-powerfuland also loving and good in the human sense of these words.

3. Injustice:

Destinies are not allocated on the basis of merit or equality. They are allocated either arbitrarily, or on the principle of "to him who has, shall be given, and from him who has not shall be taken even that which he has." It follows that God cannot be all-powerful and all-knowing and also just in the human sense of the word.

4. Multiplicity:

Since the Gods of various religions differ widely in their characteristics, only one of these religions, or none, can be right about God.

5. Simplicity:

Since God is invisible, and the universe is no different than if he did not exist, it is simpler to assume he does not exist.http://www.fotosearch.com/photos-images/god_13.html

Evil things happen in the world; this must mean that God either doesn't want to or isn't able to do any-

thing about it. If he doesn't want to do anything about it, he can't be good. If he isn't able to do anything about it,

he can't be almighty - or perhaps he doesn't exists at all (Tondering, n.d.).

There is sickness, disease, death, violence, and destruction.How can these things exist if god does?

Photos from:www.acclaimimages.com/search_terms/violence.htmlwww.todayspictures.slate.com

How Can We Know?

• If God wants us to believe in him, why doesn't he prove that he exists? (Tondering, n.d.).It’s only logical that if God existed, he would show

himself to us so that we would believe he exists.God is supposedly loving. If he loved us, why

doesn’t he want to let us know he exists if he wants us to believe?

Photo from www.crossdaily.com

www.pinker.wjh.harvard.edu

The most basic reason for not believing in any gods is the absence of good reasons for doing. The burden of support lies first and foremost with those making the positive claim – the theistic, believers who say their god exists – non believers do not need reasons not to believe.

WITHOUT GOOD REASONS, BELIEF IS IMPOSSIBLE…

Why is Atheism more reasonable than Theism?

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No Reason To Believe in Gods: Without Good Reasons, Belief is Impossible

Perhaps the most basic reason for not believing in gods in the absence of good reasons for doing so. Since the burden of support lies first and foremost with those making the positive claim-the theistic, religious believers who say their god exists- non believers do not need reasons not to believe. They may help, but they are not particularly necessary. Instead, what is required are reasons to believe. (Cline, A., 2008)

Recognizable Evidence:

God is all-good and all-powerful:

- Why is there evil in the world?

- Why do bad things happen to good people?

All photos on slide from http://www.google .com/images

God is the “divine healer”:

Why are people sick and dying?

God “desires that none should perish”:

Why are people allowed to sin and,

therefore, given over to the

possibility of “perishing”?

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1 New American Standard). Genesis 1 goes on to tell us how God created all living things, the stars, moon, sun, oceans and man in his own image. The life forms are too complex for us to believe they came into existence by natural laws or chance.

According to Adamson M. (2000) if the earth were any farther from the sun, we would all freeze and if it were any closer, we would burn up. If the earth were any smaller, an atmosphere would be impossible, like the planet Mercury. Earth is the only known planet equipped with an atmosphere of the right mixture of gases to sustain plant, animal, and human life. “You alone are the Lord. You made the heavens, even the highest and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.” Nehemiah 9:6

www.chandra.harvard.edu

solar_system_ill.jpg

www.samueljscott.wordpress.comwww.visartonline.com

Why is there only one planet that can sustain life?

According to Adamson, M. (2000)

•Even a fractional variance in the Earth's position to the sun would make life on

Earth impossible.

•The Earth remains the perfect distance from the sun

while it rotates around the sun at a speed of 67,000 mph.

•It is also rotating on its axis, allowing the entire surface of the Earth

to be properly warmed and cooled every day.

•The moon is the perfect size and distance from the Earth

for its gravitational pull.

•The moon creates important ocean tides and movement so ocean

waters do not stagnate, and yet it restrains the massive oceans from spilling over across the continents.

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Design Argument

• This argument relies on the assumption that everything which serves a useful purpose must be designed by a mind. Cline,A.(2008).

Design Argument Continued

• This assumption contains that everything which serves a useful purpose must be designed for the purpose of designing.

• If minds were not constructed in such a way that they were able to make plans, they could not develop, create and design useful things.

• Therefore, if all mental processes must be the result of the way minds are constituted, then it must be untrue that all things which serve a useful purpose have been designed by minds

• Otherwise, God’s mind (or any mind) would have to have been designed before it could possess its own capacity for planning. Cline,A.(2008).

According to Nash (1999) philosopher Gordon Clark equates truth with God’sexistence utilizing six steps:1) Truth exists.2) Truth is immutable.3) Truth is eternal.4) Truth is mental.5) Truth is superior to the human mind.6) Truth is God.

http://www.fotosearch.com/photos-images/god_13.html

Augustine said, “There is no better belief, even if you do not yet see the explanation

for why it is true. The truest beginning of piety is to think as highly of God as possible;

and doing so means that one must believe that he is omnipotent, and not changeable

in the smallest respect; that he is the creator of all good things, but is himself more

excellent than all of them. It follows that he created all things from nothing

(Cahn, 2006).

Proof That the Bible Is God’s Word

• The Proof of Prophecy

(Clarifying Christianity 2005) Strongest argument for the

accuracy of the Bible is its 100% accuracy in predicting the future. These future predictions are called “prophecies.”

The Old Testament was written between approximately 1450 BC and 430 BC.

During that time, many predictions of the future were recorded in the Bible by God’s prophets.

Of the events that were to have taken place by now, every one happened just the way they predicted it would.

No other “sacred writing” has such perfectly accurate predictions of the future.

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Evil Is…

Evil in the world--Evil is on the world because mankind allowed it to come into their hearts.  I know it's difficult for us to imagine, but the matriarch and patriarch of the human race were created perfectly and were perfect.  Until they disobeyed God.  The first sin was committed by Lucifer, also known as Satan, when pride entered his heart.  He was the most beautiful of all angels and he rebelled against God, thinking to raise himself above the Creator.                 www.fotosearch.com

"How you have fallen from heaven O morning star, son of the dawn!  You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!  You said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain.  I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.'  But you are brought down to the grave, to the depths of the pit."  --Isaiah 14:12-15

Why Does God Allow Suffering?

hugs and hope.org/suffering.htm  • We do things that cause us pain. We

don’t eat right so we have heart attacks, we smoke so we get lung cancer.

• We do not live in a perfect world. Evil destroyed our perfect world. When sin entered the picture it brought with it death, pain and suffering. (WHY DOES GOD ALLOW SUFFERING, “n.d.).

All About LoveOf course, God could

have created us so that we blindly obeyed him. But that would have made us into mindless robots. Instead he decided to give us the possibility of a choice. Our love for him (and thus our faith in him) thereby became a voluntary thing - he doesn't force us.

More than anything, God wants us to love him (and thus, of course, also love all our fellow human beings).

But love must be voluntary. You can't force another person to love you. If you are sufficiently powerful, you may force other people to behave as if they love you, but it wouldn't be love, for love must spring from a free choice (Tondering, n.d.).

Photo from www.crossdaily.com

With Love…Comes Sacrifice

God revealed himself to us through his son, Jesus. “For God so loved the world that he have his only begotten son, that whomever believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life” –John 3:16

Jesus died on the cross to save the world from its sins. With that price, we are offered forgiveness and eternal life.

We have a choice to accept that offer…

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Reasons to believe:1) If God doesn't exist. why am I here?

2) If God doesn't exist, why are you here?

3) If God doesn't exist, how did this world and universe as we know it get here?

If any of these are by random chance, then we take the complexity of ourselves for granted.  If so many of human kind seek to understand a purpose greater than they can even imagine, a life beyond the short ones we live, a reason to do the things we do on a daily basis, if so many seek something greater than themselves...how can we deny that the mere possibility of any God existing is very plausible...and much to some dismay...probable.

• Why do we long to be the best we can be?

• Why do we long to raise up families?

• Why do we long to do something great?

If you don't believe in God...any god for those who doubt the possibility of existence...what purpose do any of these questions serve?

Photo from www.crossdaily.com

The peculiar thing about Solomon’s journey is that it began undeniably with God. It was God who gave him the gift of wisdom, but wisdom didn’t remove the doubts and questions that haunt us

all.

Instead of running to God, he chose to run from God.

He searched for meaning everywhere except in God, and it nearly drove him out of his mind. Ecclesiastes is filled with cynicism, bitterness, and hedonism. It is also strangely empty of God,

except to question God.Solomon traveled far from where he began, only to return there in

the end.

Having searched the world for meaning, he concludes that life is meaningless without

GodAnd that only in God

will we ever find the meaning Our souls long for (McManus, 2006).

Photo from www.webshots.com

Harrison, P. April 3, 1997. Arguments for and against the Existence of God. Retrieved August 11, 2008, from http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/GODEXIST.html

Adamson, M. (2000). Does God Exist? Proof & Evidence for the Existence of God. Retrieved July 23, 2008 from http://www.iamnext.com/spirituality/godexist.html

Clarifying Christianity (2005). How Do You Know the Bible is True? Retrieved July 24, 2008 from http://www.clarifyingchristianity.com/b_proof.shtml

 

Nash, R. (1999). Life's ultimate question's. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

Cahn, Steven M. (2006). Classics of western philosophy (7th ed.). Indianapolis, IN: Hackett.

Crabtree, Vexen. (1999). There is no God. Retrieved August 11, 2008, from http://www.vexen.co.uk/religion/rm.html

References

Cline, A. (2008). Arguments against God: atheological arguments for atheism. Retrieved August 11, 2008, from

http://atheism.about.com/od/argumentsagainstgod/Arguments_Against_God_Atheological_ Arguments_Arguments_for_Atheism.htm

Schick, Jr., Theodore. (2004). Can science prove that God does not exist?

Retrieved August 11, 2008, fromhttp://www.secularhumanism.org/library/fi/schick_21_1.html

Cline, A.(2008).God as Designer: Does God’s Mind Evince Signs of Design? Retrieved August 13, 2008, from http://atheism.about.com/b/2006/03/10/god-as-designer-does-gods-mind-evince-signs-of-designs-book-notes-the-atheists-debater-handbook.htm

McManus, Erwin Raphael. (2006). Soul cravings. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Windmill Ministries (n.d.). Does God Exist? Retrieved July 22, 2008 from http://www.windmillministries.org/CH2.htm

Tondering, Claus. (n.d.). Common objections against faith in God.

Retrieved August 22, 2008, from http://www.tondering.dk/claus/eindvend.html

Why does God allow suffering. (n.d.). Retrieved July 23, 2008, from

http://www.hugsandhop.org/suffering.htm

Team Beta Members:Special Thanks goes to:• Jessica Dicaterino- Slides 3, 9,10, and 16.• Mary Gonzales- Slides 1, 5, 8, 11, and 12.• Davina Wilson- Slides 4, 6, and 7.• Ashley Hughes- Slides 2, 13, 14, 15, 17,

18, 19, and 20; presentation organizer.• And thanks to all for providing references!