God Exists: The Moral Argument
This is part four of a four part series of articles on the ‘evidences’ of the existence of God. They aren’t intended to help you win an argument with an unbeliever about the existence of our God, rather they are intended to describe what is considered the ‘basic views’ which point to the existence of agod. Unless you start with the point of view of belief in the God of the Bible, you will never lead someone to an understanding that includes Him, you will simply lead them to deism.
The Moral Argument
Moral [1]
/ˈmôrəl,ˈmär-/
1. concerned with the principles of right and wrong behavior and the goodness or badness of human character.
2.holding or manifesting high principles for proper conduct.
Man has a problem. Well, actually, that’s not quite adequate. Man has a lot of problems, and the list is entirely too exhaustive to go over succinctly in two or so minutes. Here, right now, though, I’d like to discuss man’s problem with morality. You see, man is moral – we know the difference between right and wrong, what’s good and what’s bad, and it’s not just on a ‘this will make me alive and this will make me dead. I will choose alive” level.
It’s so much deeper than that.
We have, at our core being (well, most of us do, anyway) an understanding of what’s justified, and what isn’t. Few could honestly argue that a man luring women into alleyways and murdering them for sport would be morally right (except, perhaps, the man himself). Most would yell “Fiat justitia ruat caelum” (Let justice be done, though the heavens may fall)
And therein lies a question: How do we know what is right, and what is wrong? Should we simply have evolved from a primordial soup, what natural force drove us to a need to have a desire for justice, or rightness, or wrongness?
That’s the basis of the moral argument for the existence of God: that man’s sense of right and wrong is so ingrained, so strong, that it has to have originated from something so much greater than chance – there must be a ‘greater being’ who imparts these concepts and desires within us.
Do you take issue with this argument? We’d love to hear about it in the comments below! Next, we will be looking into the teleological argument for the existence of God.
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God Exists: The Ontological Argument
This is part three of a four part series of articles on the ‘evidences’ of the existence of God. They aren’t intended to help you win an argument with an unbeliever about the existence of our God, rather they are intended to describe what is considered the ‘basic views’ which point to the existence of agod. Unless you start with the point of view of belief in the God of the Bible, you will never lead someone to an understanding that includes Him, you will simply lead them to deism.
The Ontological Argument
/änˈtäləjē/
the branch of metaphysics dealing with the nature of being. [1]
That we are able to imagine anything at all requires that there be something greater than that which we can imagine.
I’ll let that sit there for a moment, it’s kind of heavy, and hard to process.
The argument above, similar to the others that come before it (the Cosmological and the Teleological) is somewhat based within the concept of causation, or the ‘relationship between cause and effect’ [Google, 1]; that in order to be, something must first have been designed, created, or caused in some manner.
Unfortunately, that’s just too easy, and by itself, doesn’t really ‘prove’ (or even argue for that matter) the point very well. The statement leaves too much relying on the supposition that one would have to accept anything other than an ‘undefined natural force’ as the origin of the species, which is an argument often dismissed as no solid proof can ever be argued for.
Rather, the ontological argument posits that God exists because He Himself is greater than anything than we ourselves could conceive. “How is it possible” you may be wondering, “that there would ever exist something that is greater than I could imagine? I can’t imagine anything greater than I can imagine!”
To which I would reply “Exactly.”
You see, the basis of this line of philosophy is that there are two states of ‘existence’ which can overlap: existence in the understanding ( the understanding of man, or in your mind) and existence in reality. If you have heard of something and comprehend what you have heard, then that which you have heard about exists within your mind, and it exists within your understanding. To deny it’s existence there would be illogical.
Moving further from that inherently true point, we take the statement that God Himself is a supreme being, or one who cannot be any greater than He is, and posit the following: If the being of which nothing greater can be conceived exists only in the understanding, than the one who is understanding the greater being, is the greater being. Since this is impossible – we cannot be greater than what we understand to be greater than ourselves, something greater than our understanding must exist in reality.
In other words: because we can imagine that there exists something greater than ourselves, something greater than ourselves must therefore exist.
If nothing else, with this argument, you can walk away from a particularly hostile conversation while the other party is trying to comprehend the mind-bomb that just went off in their head.
Do you take issue with this argument? We’d love to hear about it in the comments below! Next, we will be looking into the teleological argument for the existence of God.
Like what you see or have something to add? Feel free to leave a comment or join in the conversation with the author below. We want to hear your comments and questions!
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God Exists: The Teleological Argument
This is part two of a four part series of articles on the ‘evidences’ of the existence of God. They aren’t intended to help you win an argument with an unbeliever about the existence of our God, rather they are intended to describe what is considered the ‘basic views’ which point to the existence of a god. Unless you start with the point of view of belief in the God of the Bible, you will never lead someone to an understanding that includes Him, you will simply lead them to deism.
What is teleology?
Often times, when trying to explain more complex concepts, I find myself struggling to start the article. I’ll type a few lines, realize that they have the coherency of a two month old, delete everything, and start over – it’s taken me more than an hour before just to get a paragraph written with even a modicum of readability. In all of this starting and stopping, writing and rewriting, though, I’m shaping the thoughts in my mind, forming them toward their purpose – their end is to become an article that explains a concept, and they will eventually arrive at that point… and that’s almost a decent explanation of teleology.
Telos, the greek word that’s at the root of teleology, means “end, purpose.” In teleology, it is argued, since the universe seems to have some purpose, some design, then it must have been created, for to have a purpose, requires one to give it purpose; something can’t be designed without also having a designer. The argument as a whole is somewhat of an extension of the cosmological argument, in that it relies heavily on the observation of “existence, therefore God,” however, it extends it somewhat to include the idea that, due to the apparent evidence of intelligent design, it must have been designed. Without some form of design, we would be left with chaos, and since we do not live in an environment that is full of chaos, the universe, at the very least, must have been designed by someone.
Teleology forms much of the basis of certain aspects of deism; that God created the universe, stepped back, and watched, or that He simply set things in motion, and then left to move on to other things that interested Him more. In more evangelical and reformed circles, however, it’s seen as simply another aspect of the universe that points back to God.
Do you take issue with this argument? We’d love to hear about it in the comments below! Next, we will be looking into the ontological argument for the existence of God.
Like what you see or have something to add? Feel free to leave a comment or join in the conversation with the author below. We want to hear your comments and questions!
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God Exists: The Cosmological Argument
This is part one of a four part series of articles on the ‘evidences’ of the existence of God. They aren’t intended to help you win an argument with an unbeliever about the existence of our God, rather they are intended to describe what is considered the ‘basic views’ which point to the existence of a god. Unless you start with the point of view of belief in the God of the Bible, you will never lead someone to an understanding that includes Him, you will simply lead them to deism.
The Cosmological Argument
/ˌkäzməˈläjikəl/
1. an argument for the existence of God that claims that all things in nature depend on something else for their existence (i.e., are contingent), and that the whole cosmos must therefore itself depend on a being that exists independently or necessarily.
I have a exercise for you to try sometime, and it’s a bit of mind-breaking one.
Sit alone, in a quiet place, and clear your mind of thoughts and distractions. Imagine the earth, floating in space. Then, ‘zoom out’ in your mind, and try to hold the entire solar system in your thoughts – you can use the typical model that you learn about in school, or just create it yourself, either one works. Next, zoom out further, and imagine the whole of the Milky Way galaxy, and then do it again, with the entirety of the universe.
Now make it all disappear, into nothingness.
Pop. Gone in an instant.
Empty space – devoid of anything at all.
Imagine, then, how in the midst of that nothingness, anything even remotely resembling what you were imagining just moments before could come into being? Some force must have acted upon the emptiness to create matter and energy, right?
The “Cosmological Argument” posits that in order for there to be existence, any existence at all, that a force greater than the current environment must be present, if not currently, then at the very least, at the beginning of time. The fact that the universe exists requires the existence of a creator. Similarly, would a model of the Earth be able to exist should some individual not create it? Causality, the very idea that everything has an origin, requires that in order for there to be an effect, there also must exist a cause.
Do you take issue with this argument? We’d love to hear about it in the comments below! Next, we will be looking into the teleological argument for the existence of God.
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Do you abide in the Lord?
What does it mean to abide?
“ 23 In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you.” – , ESV
“ 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. “ – , ESV
What does it mean to abide in Christ? Perhaps we should start more simply… what does it mean to abide in anything? What is this word, abide? The Greek origin μένω, or menō, translates to “to stay, abide, remain,” so we know that it’s accurate to the origin, but it’s not helping with this question, so let’s look at a dictionary definition for a moment.
Full Definition of ABIDE (Taken from Merriam-Webster)|
transitive verb1: to wait for : await
2 a: to endure without yielding : withstand
b: to bear patiently : tolerate <cannot abide such bigots>3: to accept without objection <will abide your decision>
intransitive verb
1: to remain stable or fixed in a state
2: to continue in a place : sojourn
— abid·er noun
— abide by
1: to conform to <abide by the rules>
2: to acquiesce in <will abide by your decision>
Based on the form of the statement “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you,” it’s pretty safe to assume that the ideal english meaning of the word in this case is either “to remain stable or fixed in a state” or “to continue in a place,” which is curiously synonymous with “sojourn,” a word mentioned many, many times in Exodus, both about the Israelites in Egypt, and others that may take their leave amongst them (, , , , , , , , ), and then even more in Leviticus.
Ok, so that was curiously academic. No matter, onward! With abide meaning “to continue in a place,” it’s safe to assume that Jesus was saying, simply, “if you remain in me, and my words remain in you,” or, if you stay in me, and my words are close to your heart, then “ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you.”
Awesome. We have a blank check! Just remember what Jesus said, and I can get everything I’ve ever wanted! All I have to do is ask! Right?
Not so fast there, brother (or sister)! Think about that definition for a second… His words must stay in you too – it’s not just a matter of ‘remembering’ – it’s also a matter of doing, and living, those words. Just as you can’t stay in a place without being truly present there – nor can Christ’s words ‘stay in you’ without having some sort of effect.
So – if Christ’s words truly abide in you – then your actions, desires and wants will reflect that – and what you ask for, will be within the will of God.
Do you find yourself asking for things that are oft not answered?
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23 In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. (ESV)
7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. (ESV)
22 She gave birth to a son, and he called his name Gershom, for he said, “I have been a sojourner in a foreign land.” (ESV)
4 I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners. (ESV)
19 For seven days no leaven is to be found in your houses. If anyone eats what is leavened, that person will be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a sojourner or a native of the land. (ESV)
48 If a stranger shall sojourn with you and would keep the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised. Then he may come near and keep it; he shall be as a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person shall eat of it. (ESV)
49 There shall be one law for the native and for the stranger who sojourns among you.” (ESV)
3 along with her two sons. The name of the one was Gershom (for he said, “I have been a sojourner in a foreign land”), (ESV)
10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. (ESV)
21 “You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. (ESV)
9 “You shall not oppress a sojourner. You know the heart of a sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. (ESV)
Stored Up: Combatting Sin
What is sin?
There is an entire article on this site that deals with that, but, really, at a basic level, what is it?
“I have stored up your word in my heart,
At it’s most simple definition, it’s simply not being able to be God. It’s being imperfect, falling short, missing the mark.
It’s being human. Humans sin. It’s what we’re good at; we’re rock stars at doing the wrong thing. Truth is, though, God doesn’t want us to sin. We can’t ever come close to being perfect, of course, but he did provide for us a… manual of sorts, a set of instructions that indicate to us just how we’re supposed to live. (It’s the Bible. I’m talking about the Bible.)
We should be inspired by the Psalmist in 119:11, where he says that he has stored up [God’s] words in [his] heart! He’s aware that by his very nature he will want to depart from the commandments of God (), and because he’s so painfully aware of that he’s made a point to spend enough time in the Word that he is storing up passages and commandments in his heart – he’s memorizing them – that he would remember them when necessary, when temptation rears it’s head, and when his self becomes the driving force in his life.
So, the question is: Are you storing up the Word of the Lord in your heart? Do you spend time with Him in study and supplication?
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11 I have stored up your word in my heart,
that I might not sin against you. (ESV)
10 With my whole heart I seek you;
let me not wander from your commandments! (ESV)