Theo 116: Existence of God Flashcards
Robert Jastrow on the world without a cause
“The universe, and everything that has ever happened in it since the beginning of time, are a grand effect without a known cause? An effect without a cause? That is not the world of science, it is a world of witchcraft . . . a medieval world that science has tried to banish.”ROBERT JASTROW
Hebrews 3:4
“For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.”
Hebrews 11:3
“By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.”
Genesis 1:1
“In the beginning God created the heavens
and the earth.”
Psalm 94:9 (Intelligent Designer)
“He who planted the ear, does He not hear? He who formed the eye, does He not see?”
Sir Isaac Newton on intelligent design
“The most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being.”—Sir Isaac Newton
Sir Fred Hoyle on intelligent design
“A common sense interpretation of the facts suggests
that a super intellect has monkeyed with physics, as well as chemistry and biology, and that there are no blind forces worth speaking about in nature. The numbers one calculates from facts seem to be so overwhelming as to put this conclusion almost beyond question.”
John 5:26
“For just as the Father has life in Himself”
Genesis 7:4
“every living thing which I have made.”
Why is it impossible that life arised by chance
“The number of trial assemblies of amino acids
needed to give rise to the enzymes required for life,
and their creation by random shuffling = less than 1
in 10 to the 40,000 power.”
It’s estimated that there are only 10 to the 80th
power electrons in the entire universe!
Mathematicians say that any event in which
the chances are greater than 10 to the 50th power
is impossible.
“But the chance formation of the simplest organism is 1 in 10 to the 340 millionth power.” Harold Morowitz, biophysicist
“The chance of life evolving on any single planet,
including Earth, is 1 in 10 to the 2 billionth power.”
Carl Sagan
“One has only to contemplate the magnitude of this task to concede that spontaneous generation of a living organism is impossible. Yet here we are as a result, I believe, of spontaneous generation.”
“We have seen that living beings are too improbable and too beautifully ‘designed’ to have come into existence by chance.”
According to Carl Sagan, what are the chances of life evolving on any single planet
“The chance of life evolving on any single planet,
including Earth, is 1 in 10 to the 2 billionth power.”
Carl Sagan
What is the mathematical definition of impossibility
Mathematicians say that any event in which
the chances are greater than 10 to the 50th power
is impossible.
What are the chances of a simple organism arising by chance
“But the chance formation of the simplest organism is 1 in 10 to the 340 millionth power.” Harold Morowitz, biophysicist
According to Darwin, what would be evidence that the theory of evolution is false?
“If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ
existed which could not possibly have been formed
by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down.” -
Charles Darwin
Evidence for irriducible complexity
“Systems of horrendous, irreducible complexity
inhabit the cell.”—Michael Behe, biochemist
The flagellum of a bacteria
What are 2 prerequisites to moral law:
Two prerequisites to moral law:
1. Consciousness
2. Freedom
Evidence for the existence of God
- The Cosmos
- Moral Law
- Free will
- Irreducible complexity
- Longing for transcendence and meaning
- Mathematical improbabillity
Genesis 1:27
“God created man in His own image,
in the image of God He created him;
male and female He created them.”
Stephen Hawkings on Free will
“Most contemporary philosophers and scientists do not believe that free will exists.” Leonid Perlovsky, Harvard mind science expert
“The molecular basis of biology shows that biological processes are governed by the laws of physics and chemistry and therefore are as determined as the orbits of the planets . . . so it seems that we are
no more than biological machines and that free will is just an illusion.” Stephen Hawking
How does free will disprove materialism
Because if materialism or physical determinism was true then we would not have free will
“The molecular basis of biology shows that biological processes are governed by the laws of physics and chemistry and therefore are as determined as the orbits of the planets . . . so it seems that we are
no more than biological machines and that free will is just an illusion.” Stephen Hawking
Genesis 2:16 -17 (Free will)
The Lord God commanded the man, saying,
“From any tree of the garden you may
eat freely; but from the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat,
for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”
ROMANS 2:14-15
For when Gentiles who do not have the Law
do instinctively the things of the Law,
these not having the Law, are a law to themselves,
in that they show the work of the Law written
in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness
and their thoughts alternately
accusing or else defending them.”
Millard Erickson on mans incurable religiosity
“Human beings are incurably religious.
For wherever we find humanity—in widely different
cultures geographically dispersed, and at all points
from the dimmest moments of recorded history
to the present—we also find religion.”
Millard Erickson
What explains man’s innate desire to worship
Acts 17:26-27
“and He made from one man every nation
of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find
Him”
