1. D o e s God D o e s God Exist? Proof for God in 30 Seconds

2. © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org D o e s God

3. © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org D o e s God Exist? “Why do we have something rather than nothing at all?” - Martin Heidegger, “The Fundamental Question of Metaphysics” Comes back to – Does God exist?

4. © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org D o e s God Exist? Four theoretical answers: 1.Reality is an illusion 2.Reality is/was self-created 3.Reality is self-existent (eternal) 4.Reality was created by something that is self- existent

5. © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org D o e s God Exist? A simple proof for God - Jonathan Edwards (who massaged it from John Locke) 1.Something exists 2.Nothing cannot cause something 3.Therefore, a necessary and eternal Being exists

6. © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org D o e s God Exist? Can the existence of God be proven in 30 seconds or less?

7. © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org D o e s God Exist? Start the stopwatch…here we go. 1.I exist. 2.If I exist, then something must have always existed, because something doesn’t come from nothing. 3.So we have 2 choices: An impersonal eternality (the universe) or a personal eternality (God). 4.Science has disproven the concept of an eternal universe. 5.Therefore, God exists.

8. © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org D o e s God Exist? 1. I exist. Denying your existence is a self- defeating statement. You must exist to express doubt that you exist. “I think, therefore I am.” - Descartes

9. © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org D o e s God Exist? 2. If I exist, then something must have always existed because something doesn’t come from nothing. “I never asserted so absurd a proposition as that anything might arise without a cause.” - David Hume, Skeptic/Atheist “Nothing is what rocks dream about.” - Aristotle, Philosopher

10. © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org D o e s God Exist? How to think about true ‘nothingness’… particles energy matter motion space …everything

11. © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org D o e s God Exist? True ‘nothingness’…

12. © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org D o e s God Exist? 3.Two Options: 1.An Eternal Universe (impersonal eternality) “The Cosmos is all there will ever be” – Carl Sagan. 2.An Eternal Creator (personal eternality) “In the beginning, God…” – Genesis.

13. © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org D o e s God Exist? 4.Science has disproven the concept of an eternal universe. The fact is: The Universe had a beginning. Everything that has a beginning has a cause The universe had a beginning Therefore, the universe had a cause “Philosophically, the notion of a beginning of the present order of Nature is repugnant…I should like to find a genuine loophole.” – Sir Arthur Eddington

14. © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org D o e s God Exist? 4.Science has disproven the concept of an eternal universe. Proof Point 1: The universe is running down. Something that is running down must have started at some point The 2 nd law of thermodynamics states that the universe is running out of usable energy If you doubt this, look in the mirror (you’re aging and running down) First law of thermodynamics is philosophical in nature; can’t be empirically proven

15. © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org D o e s God Exist? 4.Science has disproven the concept of an eternal universe. Proof Point 2: The universe is expanding. Confirmed through the Hubble telescope It’s expanding from a single point Universe is not expanding into space, but space itself is expanding Commonly called the “Big Bang” – nothing, then BANG – something

16. © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org D o e s God Exist? 4.Science has disproven the concept of an eternal universe. Proof Point 3: Radiation echo. Discovered by Bell Labs scientists Penzias and Wilson in 1965 Afterglow from the Big Bang; won Penzias & Wilson Nobel Prize Death blow to any theory of the universe being in a steady state

17. © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org D o e s God Exist? 4.Science has disproven the concept of an eternal universe. Proof Point 4: Galaxy Seeds. If Big Bang was true, then temperature “ripples” should exist These ripples would enable matter to collect into galaxies Cosmic Background Explorer – COBE – launched in 1989 to find them Findings released in 1992 – perfect/precise ripples found to enable galaxies to form “If you’re religious, it’s like looking at God” - George Smoot, NASA, COBE Lead

18. © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org D o e s God Exist? 4.Science has disproven the concept of an eternal universe. Proof Point 5: Einstein’s theory of relativity. Einstein’s pantheistic bias originally influenced his original formula He was proven wrong by another mathematician (he actually divided by zero) Einstein called it the worst mistake he’d ever made Theory demands an absolute beginning for time, space, and matter “I want to know how God created the universe” - Albert Einstein

19. © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org D o e s God Exist? Still…some scientists try get around this fact by saying: Life on earth originated from a rocket sent from outer space (F.H. Crick, co-discoverer of DNA and Richard Dawkins, famed atheist) Collapsing universes (disproven from galaxy seeds; not enough energy) Imaginary time (Stephen Hawking) "If you study science deep enough and long enough, it will force you to believe in God." - Lord Kelvin, British Scientist “In real time, the universe has a beginning and an end at singularities that form a boundary to space-time and at which the laws of science break down.” – Stephen Hawking

20. © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org D o e s God Exist? Something else to consider on an impersonal eternality… Would it not be strange that an impersonal, amoral, and purposeless/meaningless universe accidentally created beings that are full of personality and so obsessed with right/wrong, meaning, and purpose? In addition, the question of unity and diversity arise. Unity may be explained by an impersonal eternality, but not diversity. An impersonal eternality means everything must come from impersonality plus time plus chance. No other factors are involved.

21. © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org D o e s God Exist? The Personal, Infinite, and Triune God Unity in Diversity Father SonSpirit Is not God

22. © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org D o e s God Exist? An important note on ‘proof’ There is an important difference between the operational scientific and legal/forensic science methods for determining truth. The legal method does not ignore testimony or facts because they are not reproducible or testable. By a process of elimination and corroboration, the legal method allows history and testimony to speak for itself until a verdict is reached beyond a reasonable doubt and the balance of probability is achieved. “Yes your honor, our position is that my client’s fingerprints ended up on the gun through a random series of chemical reactions that occurred over a long period of time from particles that always existed…”

23. © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org D o e s God Exist? The atheist’s response? When the atheist makes this statement, they do so by faith alone. Out the door go all the logic, science, reason, and touch-and-feel-it evidence atheists claim are so necessary to believe in God. Now it becomes a matter of the will. “The universe is just there…” – Carl Sagan “There doesn’t need to be a reason…” – Atheist on Christian Forum

24. © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org D o e s God Exist? The atheist’s response? Only two choices – matter before mind or mind before matter. “It is strange that some people claim that it is their intelligence that leads them to prefer the first to the second.” – John Lennox “Evolution disproves God.” How does evolution answer the question of existence?

25. © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org D o e s God Exist? OK, but…Who created God? The evidence points away from an impersonal eternal universe and toward a powerful, intelligent, moral personal Creator Category mistake (e.g. Where is the bachelor’s wife?) Irrelevant as you must go back to an eternal ‘something’

26. © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org D o e s God Exist? An eternal Creator exists. So…. If I exist, and… If something eternal exists (because something doesn’t come from nothing), and… If there are only two possible eternal entities (an eternal universe or an eternal creator), and… If an eternal universe has been disproven (and it has), then…

27. © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org D o e s God Plain “Open your eyes, there it is!” – Romans 1:19 The Message

28. © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org D o e s God Exist? He is the reason we have something instead of nothing He is the creator of the heavens and the earth He is the reason you can read this right now – that you exist at all Yes, God exists.

29. © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org D o e s God “In the beginning God created…”

30. © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org D o e s God D o e s God Exist? Yes, He Does!