God & Science
The antagonist asserts, “God is a myth.”
- Everything that begins to exist must have a cause. The universe began to exist. Therefore, universe must have a cause.
- Causality proves God. Every effect must have an equal or greater cause. Follow the effects to its logical origin.
- The fine-tuning of the universe is due to necessity, chance, or design. Fine-tuning is not due to necessity or chance. Therefore, fine-tuning is due to design.
- If the universe is fine-tuned to allow life that can observe it, then the universe is fine-tuned for this purpose.
- The most brilliant scientist, Isaac Newton, observed that an intelligent Agent started the nature’s order (Opticks). Add Pasteur, von Braun, etc.
- What is more complex than design is most probably designed. Biology is more complex than human design. Therefore, biology is most probably designed.
- Design in nature & moral conscience proves God (Ro 1:20–21; 2:13–16).
- Every code has a creator. DNA is the genetic code found in most cells of every life form.
- Molecular nanomachines show the complex design within cells, which the intelligent Creator must have designed.
- Science is observed. Abiogenesis & the evolution of genera are unobserved.
- Diodorus Siculus recorded the ancient myth of evolution that life emerged & evolved into animals, & then bestial men, hunted, gathered, discovered fire, & invented language via grunts.
- If the cause of the expansion of the universe existed before natural laws, then the cause must be supernatural by definition.
- Secularists exclude preexisting isotopes from radiometric dating & they ignore that the Creator created a mature universe. God created trees not seeds; man and not babies.
- Secularists assert the evolution of genera because of fossils in layers of earth laid down by water.
- If there was a worldwide flood, people would find fossils buried in rock layers laid down by water all over the earth.
- The Bible records scientific insight including thermodynamics (He 1:10–11), cosmology (Is 40:22), sea currents (Ps 8:8), biogenesis (Ge 1), lifeblood (Le 17:11), diagnosis (Le 13), & antibacterial soap (Nu 19).
The Reality of Christ
The mythicist asserts, “Jesus is a myth.”
- First-century communities delivered the four Gospels as eyewitness testimonies of Jesus Christ.
- The church exists & began in the 1st c. because various people experienced appearances of Jesus risen from the dead.
- Critical scholars affirm that the Gospel of Jesus’s death, burial, & resurrection is an ancient creed dating to Jesus’s death (1 Co 15:1–11; Ga 1:11–2:10).
- Opponents like Paul and James converted because of witnessing Jesus bodily risen from the dead (1 Co 15:5–11).
- Hostile sources attest that Jesus predicted His resurrection on the 3rd day & that guards sealed and protected the tomb that everyone found empty (Mt 28:11–15).
- The eyewitness testimonies of the Gospels agree with the Scriptures that predicted the Messiah & His resurrection (Ps 16:10; 22; Is 53; Ac 2:14–26).
- By character judgment, people believe the Bible, because they find that Jesus & His Apostles are honest, genuine, & sincere (Jn 7:17).
- Critical scholarship affirms that Jesus predicted the Temple’s destruction in AD 70 (Mk 13; Lk 21).
- Jesus Christ testified to the Genesis account of the Creation of the universe (Mt 19:4–9; Mk 10:5–9).
Moral Absolutes
The antagonist perceives, “Morality is subjective.”
- Humanity has a universal sense of fairness and justice. The Bible affirmed such innate morality (Rm 2:14–15).
- If God does not exist, then objective morality does not exist. However, objective morality does exist. Therefore, God exists.
- Virtue requires a personality to possess them. Moral virtues are objective, constant, and eternal. Therefore, an eternal person must consist of virtue.
- If God does not exist, then love is not objectively moral. However, love is objectively moral. Therefore, God exists.
- If there is no Creator, then there are no inalienable rights. There are inalienable rights. Therefore, there is a Creator.
- Secularists accept subjective morality that allows the morally corrupt to invent their own morality.
Evil & Suffering
The antagonist expresses, “A just God would not allow suffering and evil in the world.”
- Why does God allow evil?
- God allows evil for the complete & ultimate defeat of evil. God allows evil for the great acts of good such as compassion, mercy, & forgiveness. God allows evil as the only option for free will to exist.
- God made this world good, but man has sinned & caused this world to go wrong.
- The Bible teaches that suffering and death are in the world because of humankind’s sins (Ge 3; Ro 5:12; 8:20–22; Ep 2:3).
- God allows evil to exist for the greater good of love & free will. God is all-powerful & thus can & will make all things right.
- The world is an ideal environment for humanity to seek, find, and love God.
- Love requires free will, & free will allows people to hate & abuse others. God has a place where people can heal, & where there is no more suffering & pain (1 Co 15:50–56; Re 7:16; 21:4).
- God did not create evil just as light does not create darkness (Jn 8:12).
- God comforts & saves victims in this life & the next, & He uses suffering to make the faithful stronger (Ro 5:3–4; 8:28).
- Jesus suffered death and rose from the dead (1 Co 15:1–4).
- Jesus came bodily rose to live to conquer death (1 Co 15:25–28, 54–57). For this reason, those who believe will rise to eternal life (Jn 3:16; 6:39–40).
The Existence of Hell
The antagonist expresses, “A just God could not have created Hell.”
- Sinners kindle their own fire (Is 50:11). Each person condemns oneself to Hell (Jn 3:18–20; Ro 2:1–11; 5:12, 16, 18).
- Jesus proclaimed that Hell is just, & each person will receive their just stripes (Lk 12:47–48).
- Hell is “the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord” (2 Th 1:7–9).
- Jesus reported that “the everlasting fire [was] prepared for the devil and his angels” (Mt 25:41).
- Jesus confirmed Isaiah’s description of Hell, “For their worm does not die, And their fire is not quenched. They shall be an abhorrence to all flesh” (Is 66:24; cf. Da 12:2).
The Allowance of Slavery
The antagonist asserts, “The God of the Bible condones slavery.”
- Moses’s Law condemned enslaving others, & God commanded the execution of those who enslaved others (Ex 21:16; De 24:7).
- Biblical “slavery” was for war criminals & thieves who were civilly judged (Ex 22:2–3; De 20:10–15).
- U.S. 13th Amd: “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.”
- These bond-servants were regarded as an investment & property (Ex 21:21; Le 25:45).
- Some sold themselves as indentured servants to overcome poverty & debt (Le 25:39–40; Mt 18:21–35).
- God commanded the execution of those who murdered bond-servants (Ex 21:20–27; De 24:7).
- The Law commanded people not to return “slaves” who ran away from their master (De 23:15–16).
- If a bond-servant was struck & injured, then the servant received freedom (Ex 21:26–27).
- Sexual relationships with bond-servants was forbidden unless by free-will marriage & the spouse treated the other as a spouse and not as a servant (Le 19:20).
- God commanded masters to compensate substantially all servants (Ex 21:2; De 15:12–14).
- In Moses’s Law, Israelite bond-servants were released on the 7th year (Le 25:10).
- No one was to oppress anyone for race or nationality (Le 19:34; De 24:14).
- Moses’s Law is not the standard for Christian morality (Mt 19:7–8).
- The NT condemns enslaving others (1 Ti 1:9–10), warned masters to give fairly to servants (Ep 6:9; Cl 4:1), & instructed equality (Ga 3:26–27; Pm).
- The Apostles encouraged bond-servants to seek freedom, but otherwise to obey their masters (1 Co 7:21–24; Cl 3:22; 1 Ti 6:1–2; 1 Pe 2:18).
- Whether in bondage or free, all Christians are slaves in Jesus Christ (1 Co 7:20–24; 12:13; Ga 3:26–28).
The Consent for Execution
The antagonist perceives, “The God of the Bible condoned and commanded genocide.”
- God commanded Israel not to slay the innocent & the righteous (Ex 23:7; cf. Ge 18:25).
- God instructed Israel to offer peace to opposing nations requiring tribute & service (De 20:10–15).
- Regarding the Flood, the wickedness of humanity brought suffering & destruction upon their own including their children (Ge 6:5–9).
- God drove Adam & Eve out of the garden for which they died after long lives, & likewise God commanded Israel to put to death corrupt nations by driving them out.
- Adam & Eve’s death by removal from Eden consisted of the same words for slaying man, woman, & child of corrupt nations by driving them out of the land (Ge 2:17; 3:22–24; 1 Sa 15:2–3).
- At Baal Peor, Israel protected women & children, but Moses commanded the execution of the guilty women & males hiding among the children (Nu 31:10–11).
- Philo & Josephus made the same historical interpretation that children were not killed by Israel at Baal Peor.
- God’s instruction to destroy completely the Canaanites meant to drive them out (De 9:4–5; 20:16–17).
- God was patient for 4 centuries waiting for these nations to repent before declaring punishment for their atrocities & perversions (Ge 15:16).
The Value of Women
The antagonist expresses, “The God of the Bible hates women.”
- God made man & woman in the image of God (Ge 1:27), & more than man, woman is made in the glory of man from which comes her femininity (1 Co 11:7–12).
- God made man in God’s glory from which comes his masculinity (1 Co 11:7–12).
- Male and female are one in Christ (Ga 3:28).
- God made woman for man and from man and now man is born of woman (1 Co 11:7–12).
- God knows more about the natural role of men & women than anyone knows of oneself.
- God made woman because man needed help (Ge 2:18).
- God created man first to lead sacrificially & lovingly via service (1 Ti 2:11–13).
- God sent Christ in the flesh as a male whose 12 disciples were men (Mk 3:13–19).
- The New Testament reveals that man and woman are one in Christ having the same inheritance of salvation (Ga 3:28).
- Some worldly men resent the glory of women, & many women resent the leadership of men.
- God commanded Israel to execute rapists (De 22:25).
- No Israelite forced a Moabite virgin from Baal Peor to marry him (Nu 31). Ruth chose Boaz like all women who married in the Bible.
- In Moses’s Law, the man must pay 50 shekels of silver for persuading a young woman to sex & must marry by paternal consent without the ability to divorce (Ex 22:16–17; De 22:28–29).
Sure am glad that’s settled.
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