CHRISTIAN APOLOGETICS THE UNIVERSE

Christian Apologetics

• but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, 1 Peter 3:15 (ESV)

Christian Apologetics

• We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, 2 Cor 10:5 (ESV)

Types of Defense - Arguments

• Scriptural – God’s Word• Pragmatic – Your life• Experiential – Your testimony• Presuppositional – Transcendental• Evidential – Classical

• Always base your argument on Scripture• Anything else is used to confirm Scripture, not

replace it

6 Basic Worldview Components

• Prime Reality• Universe• People• History• Knowledge• Moral Values, Moral Duties & Aesthetics

Science

• Operational Science– Observe facts– Scientific method– Conclusions are testable & falsifiable

• Historical/Origins Science– Observe facts– Interpret facts based on your worldview– Different worldviews - different interpretations– Conclusions are not testable or falsifiable

Universe Origin Questions

• Cosmological Question:– Why is the universe here and how did it get here?

• Teleological – Design Questions:– Why is the universe so ordered and how did it get

so ordered?– Why are there living things and how did life begin?

Universe Origin Options

• Created – Christian Worldview• Self-existent – Naturalism Worldview• Self-created – Naturalism Worldview• Illusion – irrelevant

Naturalism Worldview

• Nothing supernatural• Matter• Energy• Time• Space• Random, non-purposive processes– Natural Selection: disasters, violence, disease, death– Mutations: adds new helpful information

Christian Worldview

• One Holy Triune God• Created the universe from nothing• Sustains the universe• Originally good: no disasters, violence, disease

or death• The Fall: disasters, violence, disease, death• One day will re-create the universe with no

disasters, violence, disease or death

Cosmological Facts

• First Law of Thermodynamics– Law of Conservation– Energy-Matter is neither created nor destroyed

• Law of Cause and Effect– Every effect has a cause– Every cause is greater than its effect

Cosmological Argument

• Whatever begins to exist has a cause.• The universe began to exist.• Therefore the universe has a cause.

Naturalism Cosmos Interpretation

• The universe caused itself. Stephen Hawking• The universe is self-existent. Richard Dawkins• The cosmos is all that is, or ever was, or ever

will be. Carl Sagan

Biblical Cosmos Truth

• God created the universe from nothing• In the beginning, God created the heavens

and the earth. Gen 1:1 (ESV)• For in six days the LORD made heaven and

earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. Ex 20:11 (ESV)

Universe Teleological – Design Facts

• Disorder does not produce order: 2nd Thermodynamics• Ratio of electrons to protons• Strong nuclear force• Gravity/electromagnetic force• Expansion rate of the universe• Size of the sun• Distance from the sun• Atmosphere of the earth• Tilt, rotation and orbit of the earth• The earth’s moon• Jupiter and Saturn: earth’s protectors

Naturalism Universe Design Interpretation

• The emergence of the complex structures capable of supporting intelligent observers seems to be very fragile. The laws of nature form a system that is extremely fine-tuned. As recent advances in cosmology suggest, the laws of gravity and quantum theory allow universes to appear spontaneously from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist. Stephen Hawking

Naturalism Universe Design Interpretation

• The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference. Richard Dawkins

• The only watchmaker is the blind forces of physics. Richard Dawkins

• The atom provides a natural terminator to the Crumboblios Cutlets type of regress. It is by no means clear that God provides a natural terminator to the regresses of Aquinas. Richard Dawkins

Biblical Universe Design Truth

• For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible…all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. Col 1:16-17 (ESV)

• By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. Heb 11:3 (ESV)

• While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.” Gen 8:22 (ESV)

Life Teleological-Design Facts

• Simplest life– Maintain itself: metabolism & growth– Repair itself– Reproduce itself

• One celled organism: irreducible complexity– DNA– RNA– Proteins– Lipids

• Life only comes from life• Matter does not generate information• Only a mental source can generate new information

Naturalism Life Design Interpretation

• Inorganic chemicals, organic chemicals, amino acids, nucleotides, proteins, DNA, RNA, a cell

• Mutations can produce new complex information• Time is in fact the hero of the plot..given so much

time the impossible becomes possible, the possible probable and the probable virtually certain. One only has to wait: time itself performs miracles. George Wald

• Life on earth from extraterrestrial life. Francis Crick

Biblical Life Design Truth

• And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. Gen 1:11 (ESV)

• So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. Gen 1:21 (ESV)

Biblical Life Design Truth

• And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. Gen 1:24 (ESV)

• So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. Gen 1:27 (ESV)

Importance

• The Christian Worldview is not in conflict with observable facts

• Only the Christian Worldview has a justification for “intelligent observers” to do science.

• And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. Heb 11:6 (ESV)