OceanSide church of Christ

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EVIDENCES FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD (1)

Victor M. Eskew

 

INTRODUCTION

 

A.    There is a growing number of people in our world who do not believe in God.

1.      A group called American Atheists boasts of 392,000 members and supporters on its website.

2.      We refer to the individuals as atheists, humanists, and evolutionists.  Infidels in another term used to describe these individuals.

 

B.      A few quotes from atheists:

1.      “We are often weak and stupid, but we must try, for there is no god to save us” (Facing the Intellectual Explosion, “No God to Save Us,” https://intelligenceexplosion.com/2012/no-god-to-save-us/).

2.      “But we can discover no divine purpose or providence for the human species. While there is much that we do not know, humans are responsible for what we are or will become. No deity will save us; we must save ourselves” (Humanist Manifesto II).

3.      “Billions of people attend millions of churches around the world to worship God.  Yet the God they worship is completely imaginary.  Their belief represents a delusion” (Marshall Brain, http://godisimaginary.com/).

 

C.     Many of these people occupy influential positions in our society. 

1.      They are writers, educators, actors, scientists, researchers, and politicians. 

2.      Thus, they can influence our minds and the minds of our children and grandchildren.

 

D.    It is imperative that we know what we believe and why we believe it. 

 

E.      We believe in the existence of God.  In this lesson, we want to look at the evidences for this belief.

 

I.                   THE EVIDENCE OF LIFE

 

A.    The definition of life is “that which enables one to have an animated existence.”

 

B.      Man is able to move, stir, to live vigorously and with zest.

 

C.     Where did “life” come from?

1.      The Creationist believes that life came from a living God (Gen. 2:7).

 

And the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

 

2.      The evolutionist believes that life somehow evolved from non-living elements which came together in just the right way over a long period of time.

a.      Question:  Can life really come from that which is non-living?  No.  Science has proven life can only come from life.

b.      Counter:  Some believe that man will eventually create life in the laboratory.

c.       Answers: 

1)      First, this has not happened.  Man has NOT created life in the lab.

2)      Second, if they do, they will only prove that it takes intelligence, not random processes, to put elements in the proper sequence to form life.

II.                THE EVIDENCE OF THE CONSCIOUSNESS

 

A.    Consciousness:  the awareness of one’s existence, sensations, thoughts, surroundings and the ability to appreciate and act upon these things (Ex., the prodigal son, Luke 15:17).

 

And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger?

 

B.      I wake up in December fully aware that I live in the state of Florida. 

1.      I feel the sunshine.  I experience the warm temperatures.  My body does not ache from the cold that they experience in Michigan. 

2.      Dogs and cats and rats and cows and gorillas do not have this consciousness.  They do not appreciate living in Florida over living in Tennessee or Maine.

 

C.     Question: 

1.      Where did man get his consciousness?

2.      If evolution is true, at what point in the evolutionary process did consciousness develop? 

a.      How did it develop?

b.      Why did it develop?

c.       What caused its development?

 

III.             THE EVIDENCE OF INTELLGENT DESIGN

 

A.    Many things in our world exhibit design.

1.      They are organized, structured, and work in ways to accomplish definite purposes.

2.      The design in the Universe indicates that there is an intelligence behind them.”

3.      Hebrews 3:4

 

For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God.

 

B.      Evidences of design.

1.      The human body (Ps. 139:14)

 

I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made:  marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

 

a.      11 Systems:  exocrine, digestion, reproductive, respiratory, immune, circulatory, skeletal, muscular, nervous, renal, endocrine

b.      74 major organs that form what some call “the organ system.”

c.       Bones:  270 at birth and reduced to 208 in adulthood

d.      Muscles:  650 muscles

e.       Complexity of the body:  brain, eyes, ears, heart

f.        DNA

1)      Each cell contains four chemicals:  A (adenine), T (thymine), G (guanine),  and C (cytosine)

2)      These chemicals are arranged in a certain sequence within the cell

3)      There are 3 billion in every cell.

4)      Definition:  a three billion-lettered program telling a cell to act in a certain way

2.      The cosmos (Ps. 19:1-3)

3.      The animal kingdom

a.      The great numbers of animals

b.      Chart: 

 

Total Number of Species Worldwide

 

VERTEBRATES

 

Amphibians               Birds                           Fish                             Mammals                   Reptiles

6,199                           9,956                           30,000                         5,416                           8,240

 

INVERTIBRATES

 

Insects                                    Crustaceans               Corals                         Others

950,000                                   40,000                         2,175                           130,200

 

PLANTS

 

Mosses                                   Ferns/Allies               Gymnosperms                       Dicotyledons            

15,000                                     13,025                         980                              199,350

 

Monocotyledons        Green Algae              Red Algae

59,300                         3,715                           5,956

 

OTHERS

 

Lichens                       Mushrooms                Brown Algae

10,000                         16,000                         2,849

 

Total:  1,589,361

 

* Source: The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) 2007 Red List.

 

c.       Diversity

 

What Animals Live In Africa?    #10 Giraffe      #7 Lemur

 

1)      All of these animals live in Africa (same environment).

2)      All of them are very different one from another.  Why?  If evolution is true, since they are all in the name environment, they should have all evolved in just the same way.

 

4.      The rules (laws) of nature

a.      Producing after their own kind (Gen. 1:11, 21, 24)

 

And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind:  and it was so.

 

b.      Water cycle of the earth (Eccl. 1:7)

 

All rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.

 

c.       Sowing the reaping (II Cor. 9:6)

 

But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly:  and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.

 

d.      Gravity (Num. 11:9)

 

And when the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell upon it.

 

CONCLUSION

 

A.    The atheists would have us to believe that all of these things and more are here by chance.

1.      They are wrong.

2.      They are fools (Ps. 14:1).

 

B.      The evidence is here.  No man is without excuse when it comes to the existence of God (Rom. 1:20).