Intro: Last week, we discussed how we, as Christians, can explain our faith without fear. That is, as long as we walk in a godly manner by actively showing care not just for fellow Christians but also for the lost. And when we respond to questions about our faith, we do so with gentleness, respect, and a clear conscience.
This week, we are moving to addressing some of the big questions that people may ask. I want to remind you that the purpose of this is NOT to build you up to a place where you think you can and should go argue with people about faith. Doing that can often violate what we discussed last week about gentleness and respect. Rather, this is to build your confidence in what you believe. It’s much easier to answer the questions, “why,” when the answer comes from a place of true conviction.
Before we get into questions about Jesus, the Bible, or the actions of a Christian. It’s often best to start with the most basic question about faith. It’s a question that people have asked forever: “Is God real?” If a person isn’t first convinced that God Himself is real, then discussions about the Bible, Jesus, and other things will be mute.
There are many great answers to this question, and honestly, the best answer is the one that leads someone to faith in God. For the purposes of this discussion, we are going to look at what many believe is the best argument for the existence of God. That is the Cosmological argument. This is really a series of proofs by observing the world around us. This isn’t a new way of looking for proof of God, infact Paul even uses this kind of argumentation in Romans 1:19-20 (NLT)
They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. For, ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.
So, where do we begin? Let’s look at a very old argument used to prove that God as an entity is real. It’s called the Kalam Argument. This argument is based on the following 3 statements:
- Whatever begins to exist has a cause (or a creator)
- The universe began to exist.
- Therefore, the universe has a cause (or a creator).
The first part of this argument seems easy, but many have argued against it. Whatever exists has to have something that made it exist or created it.
Example: You walk into a room, and there’s a chair. The chair didn’t just appear. Someone had to put it together.
Some have argued against this using what is called “Quantum Physics.” Suggesting that there are particles that just suddenly come into being. These are called “Virtual Particles.” The problem is that this is completely theory-based, with no evidence. The cases of some point to suggesting that “virtual particles” are real, however, aren’t doing what they make it sound like they are doing. What you see is a series of very specific conditions in place for their virtual particles to be formed, meaning there’s a cause.
Let’s take our chair analogy. This is VERY oversimplified, but let’s say a chair suddenly appears. However, the conditions for that chair only happen under certain conditions. Those conditions being that the precise materials needed (the wood, the screws, the cushion fabric) and a very specific force (such as a craftsman) be present and actively engaged together. If those conditions are met, then yes, a Chair suddenly appears.
The Second portion of this is the idea that the universe began to exist. This key portion of the argument is one that, until recently, the scientific world actually argued against Christian belief. Used to, the majority of the non-Christian scientific community believed that the universe had existed forever and had no beginning.
In 1915, famed scientist Albert Einstein developed a theory that, when thought through correctly, shows that the universe is either exploding or imploding. 5 years later, a Russian mathematician and a Belgian astronomer took that theory and did more work on it, and came to the idea that the universe is actually expanding. 9 years later, an astronomer named Edwin Hubble, while looking at the stars, proved that the universe is expanding rapidly!
So what does that mean? If I were to take a rubber band and stretch it out as far as I could go, or in other words, expand it, and you walked into the room having never seen it beforehand nor having seen a rubber band before, you wouldn’t realize that this was not its original state. But if I slowly bring it back in, working backwards to its original state, you see that things are different. If we could get into a spaceship and rewind time, we’d see the universe slowly return to the middle as it shrank to the point before it became the universe.
Science now affirms this idea that there’s a moment of creation. Some have wild theories about it. One common theory is what many call “the big bang theory.” This is a theory that a large explosion occurred at some point in time, and that the universe began. But this theory does not explain how.
Now we are to the third portion, “Therefore, the universe has a cause (or creator).” This is the conclusion of the argument as it’s the logical final stage. If something exists, it must have been created, but if it was created, something had to create it.
But what causes something from nothing?
The cause must exhibit certain things:
- Outside of Space and Time – Because something cannot exists with in time and space if it creates time and space
- Not made of matter
- Powerful enough to bring everything into existence
This is because something cannot exist within time and space if it creates time and space, and because science teaches us that matter cannot be created or destroyed, it only changes. Something greater than natural matter has to create it. What could possibly do that? A Dr who specialises in this is quoted as saying, “It would have to be something uncaused, beginningless, timeless, spaceless, immaterial, personal being endowed with freedom of will and enormous power, and that is a core concept of who God is.”
This aspect of who or what created the universe is a key portion of our discussion. As we pointed out, the Kalam argument effectively shows that the universe must have a cause. The question becomes: what is that cause?
As the quote before said, all roads seem to lead to the idea of a very personal god rather than mere random happenstance.
As Christians, we see the solution through Genesis 1:1
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
After looking at the Kalam argument, we see how this verse of scripture really does line up well with what we see in reality. We see all of creation being given an origin by a being that must exist outside of time and space. In fact, scriptures are peppered with these ideas.
Hebrews 11:3 tells us that the universe was created from something greater than what exists naturally. – 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.
1 Kings 8:27 tells us, albeit in a poetic prayer, that God seems to exist outside of our understanding of space – But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built!
John 4:24 tells us that God is not composed of the same materials as the universe, but rather he’s something greater – God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.
TRANSITION: Today was a lot as we looked at the logical answer behind the question: Is God Real? There’s a lot more to this discussion, and next week we will talk about the way the universe shows us that the creator, the cause of the universe, is one of order and design. But for today, we will end with this.
The Kalam argument and the scriptures both point to the fact that all of creation has a cause. If the universe has a cause, then your life has a purpose. In Jeremiah chapter 1, we see God calling Jeremiah. While His words are specifically over Jeremiah, their common belief is that God has done the same for each and everyone of us.
Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, and before you were born, I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.
Tonight, If you do not know the Lord and you feel like you’re a cosmic accident, know that you were created by a very personal God. You are no accident, and there’s a loving God who wants a relationship with you. If you’re one who may have already started a relationship with Jesus, and you have been struggling with your confidence in whom you’ve put your faith in. Let tonight encourage you. Let it help you understand that your faith is not blind. But also know that the personal God who created the world, created you with a purpose too.
Adventures in Student Ministry 