Session # 4 – Sunday May 3rd

Does Absolute Truth Exist? A Basic Guide to Christian

Apologetics

Session # 4 – Sunday May 3rd

Does Absolute Truth Exist? A Basic Guide to Christian Apologetics

Hey All: We had a great time on Sunday morning. For those who attended, thanks and here is the PowerPoint we used on Sunday.

For all of you who were not able attend class, please remember that the PowerPoint does not include my lecture, and comments or the discussion that took place in class. However, the PowerPoint should be a good outline for you.

See you all next Sunday for “ In the Beginning There Was a Great SURGE”

Skeptic or Seeker?

Understanding / Good Teaching

A Personal Story

Understanding / Good Teaching

A Personal Story

Understanding / Good Teaching

This small open star cluster lies in the core of the large emission nebula in Sagittarius, about 8,000 light-years away from Earth.

LogicScience

French mathematician, physicist,

inventor, writer and Christian

philosopher People almost invariably arrive at their beliefs not on the basis of proof but on the basis of what they find attractive.

Blaise Pascal

REVIEW SESSION Can We Handle the Truth?

Truth is absolute, exclusive and knowable.

To deny absolute truth and its know-ability is self-defeating. Any statement that is un-affirmable (contradicts itself) must be false.

Truth is not dependent on our feelings or preferences. Something is true whether we like it or not.

Major religions do not “all teach the same things.”

REVIEW SESSION Can We Handle the Truth?

People often get their beliefs from their parents, friends, childhood religion, feelings, or culture. While such beliefs could be true, it’s possible they may not be.

We can use philosophical principles, including those found in logic and science, to test the truth of beliefs.

How Is Truth Known?

By what process do we discover truths about our world?

How do we investigate how truth itself can be known?

How Is Truth Known?

Is there such a thing as knowable evidence for an unseen God?

Self-Evident Laws of Logic

“First Principles”First Principles are not proved by other principles.

First Principles are inherent in the nature of reality, thus they are self-evident.

Self-Evident Laws of Logic

“First Principles”First Principles allow us to learn about reality.

First Principles help us discover truth.

Two First Principles of Logic

Law of Non-Contradiction: Contradictory claims cannot both be true at the same time in the same sense.

Law of the Excluded Middle: Something either is or is not.

Two First Principles of Logic

1. Law of Non-Contradiction

Two First Principles of Logic

2. Law of the Excluded Middle

ExamplesSelf-Evident Laws of

Logic“First Principles”

Examples

“God exists or God does not exist”

“Jesus rose from the dead or he did not.”

Law of the Excluded Middle: Something either is or is not.

ExamplesSelf-Evident Laws of

Logic“First Principles”

“First Principles” help us discover truth; they alone cannot tell us whether or not a particular proposition is true.

Logical Argument1. All men are mortal.

2. Spencer is a man.

3. Therefore Spencer is mortal.

Only works if all the premises are true.

Are all men mortal? Can we prove this with 100% certainty.

Maybe Spencer is not a man.

Logical Argument1. All men are mortal.

2. Spencer is a man.

3. Therefore Spencer is mortal.Logic tells us this a valid conclusion if all

the premises are true.

Logic alone cannot tell us one way or the other if these premises are 100% true.

Valid Argument. NOT TRUE

1. All men are four-legged reptiles.

2. Zachary is a man.

3. Therefore Zachary is a four-legged reptile.

Argument is valid (logically).

Conclusion follows from the premises.

Conclusion is false because the first premise is false.

Logic Can Only Get Us So FarArgument can be logically

sound but still be false because the premises are false and don’t correspond to reality.

Logic can tell us that an argument is false, but it cannot tell us by itself which premises are true.

Logic Can Only Get Us So Far

Deduction & Observations

Scientific Method: is the process by which scientists, collectively and over time, endeavor to construct an accurate (that is, reliable, consistent and non-arbitrary) representation of the world.

Induction / Deduction

Induction: drawing general conclusions from specific observations.(Scientific Method).

Deduction: process of lining up premises in an argument and arriving at a valid conclusion. (Logic)

100% or Beyond Reasonable DoubtMost conclusions based on

induction cannot be considered absolutely (100%) certain but only highly probable.

Examples: Gravity is based on induction. No one has observed all objects in creation falling to the ground.

100% or Beyond Reasonable DoubtAre all humans mortal? Highly

probable but not 100% certain. You haven’t observe all men die or know if this will be the case in the future.

Atheists want Christianity to explain everything about God down to the last detail, and they want 100% proof of these details. However, they don’t expect this in any other aspects of life.

100% or Beyond Reasonable Doubt

In most cases we will not have complete or perfect information, but we often have enough to make reasonably certain conclusions on most questions in life.

We can be sure beyond a reasonable doubt, but not beyond all doubts.

Examples: gravity and death.

Why do we assume that a book is an effect of a human mind?

Observation: Experience tells you a book is an effect from some pre-existing intelligence (author).

We have never seen wind, rain or another natural force produce a book. You have only observed people do so.

Did not witness the book being written, you conclude it has at least one author.

Observation, Induction, and Deduction

Case Study. “A Book”

1. All books have at least one author (premise based on inductive investigation).

2. I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist is a book. (premise based on observation).

3. Therefore, I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist has at least one author (conclusion).

Argument: Valid – Deduction.

Argument: True – Premises are true.

Premises are true because they have been verified through observation and induction.

Observation, Induction and Deduction

Deductive Argument

A book requires pre-existing human intelligence. Are there observable effects that seem to require some kind of pre-existing supernatural intelligence?

Are there effects that we can observe that point to God?

Two Big Questions

Question

So how do we use induction and observation to investigate an un-observable being called God?

Answer

We use induction to investigate God the same way we use it to investigate other things we can’t see –by observing their effects.

How Are Truths About God Known?

Does God Exist?

Are there effects we can observe that point to God?

Yes. First effect is the Universe itself.

Truths about God can be known by His effects, which we can observe.

Observations (induction) we draw reasonable conclusions (deductions) about the existence and nature of God.

The Twelve Points That Show Christianity Is True

1. Truth about reality is knowable.

2. The opposite of true is false.

3. It is true that the theistic God exists. This is evidenced by the :a. Beginning of the universe

(Cosmological Argument)b. Design of the universe

(Teleological Argument / Anthropic Principlec. Design of Life (Teleological Argument)d. Moral Law (Moral Argument

Does Science Argue for or Against God?

Does-God-Exist-4-New-Arguments

Next Week – May 10th

Session 5 It is true that the theistic God exists. This is evidenced by the :a. Beginning of the universe

(Cosmological Argument)

S.U.R.G.E.Second Law of ThermodynamicsUniverse is Expanding

In the Beginning There Was a Great SURGEScience without religion is lame; religion without science is blind.”

Albert Einstein

Cosmological Argument Second Law of Thermodynamics Universe is ExpandingRadiation from the Big BangGreat Galaxy SeedsEinstein’s Theory of Relativity

S.U.R.G.E.