THE EXISTENCE

AND KNOWABILITY
OF GOD
THE PROBLEM:
CHRISTIANITY
DEPENDS ON THE
EXISTENCE OF GOD
IF GOD DOES NOT
EXIST,
CHRISTIANITY IS
FALSE!
 Take a poll of people:

Yes No
No evidence:
Foolish to No
believe
 No
Jesus:
Not Son of God
Not Saviour
No Heaven
 No
Jesus:
Not Son of God
Not Saviour
No Heaven
 - Evidence
proves it
Yes - What is
this God
like?
 Does the
evidence
Yes show us
the God of
the Bible?
Yes
Is it enough to simply say “I
have faith, I believe in God”?
Even the devil believes God
exists!
APOLOGETICS
GREEK WORD:
“SPEAKING IN
DEFENCE”
REASONED
ARGUMENTS TO
PROVE THE
CHRISTIAN FAITH
1 Peter 3:15
“…Always be prepared to give
an answer to everyone who
asks you to give the reason for
the hope that you have. But do
this with gentleness and
respect,”
W H A T W O U L D YO U SA Y … ?
W H A T W O U L D YO U SA Y … ?

I am not a sinner / I
am a good person
W H A T W O U L D YO U SA Y … ?

I already believe in
God
W H A T W O U L D YO U SA Y … ?

I am an atheist. I
don't believe in God
W H A T W O U L D YO U SA Y … ?

Why did Jesus

have to die in
order for me to go
to heaven?
W H A T W O U L D YO U SA Y … ?

What makes you

think the Bible is
the word of God?
SOME POPULAR
VIEWS ABOUT GOD
AND THE WORLD
We all have a way of thinking
about life, meaning and even
God.
It’s called a worldview.
Where did we come from?
Did God create us?
Where did we come from?
Did God create us?
What happens when we die?
Does life have purpose or
meaning?
THE MOST IMPORTANT WORLDVIEW
QUESTION FOR US:
WHO IS JESUS?
1. ATHEISM
There is NO God.
The universe is eternal.
Humanity is the result of blind
natural forces.
1. ATHEISM
2. DEISM
2. DEISM
There is a God—who made the universe.
God made people.
God left humanity alone—no longer
directly involved in the world.
No miracles etc.
3. PANTHEISM

Greek, pan=all, theos=God.

Everything we see is filled with a divine
god force—all of creation.
“There is a god, and you are him.”
4. THEISM

There is only ONE eternal God.

He created the universe—and mankind.
We can pray to Him and receive help
(miracles) and guidance.
Each view is VERY
different.
Can they all be true?
What you think about God is the most
important thing in your life, it affects…
Truth, origin, purpose,
eternal destiny.
What you think about God is the most
important thing in your life, it affects…
Truth, origin, purpose,
eternal destiny.
What you think about God is the most
important thing in your life, it affects…
Truth, origin, purpose,
eternal destiny.
ARGUING FOR THE
EXISTENCE OF GOD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1z6oZH0vUmg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1z6oZH0vUmg
1. The Universe
had a Beginning -
A BEGINNER
2. The Fine-
Tuning of the
Universe - A FINE-
TUNER
3. DNA - An
AUTHOR
4. The Moral
Argument - A
MORAL LAW GIVER
5. The
Resurrection of
Jesus - God in
HUMAN HISTORY
DOES GOD EXIST?
THE
COSMOLOGICAL
ARGUMENT
EARTH IS
PERFECTLY
DESIGNED FOR
LIFE
EARTH IS
PERFECTLY
DESIGNED FOR
LIFE
✦ If Earth were smaller it
couldn’t support an
atmosphere, like on
Mercury.
✦ If Earth were smaller it
couldn’t support an
atmosphere, like on
Mercury.
✦ Larger, like Jupiter, the
atmosphere would contain
free hydrogen, which is
poison for us.
✦ Larger, like Jupiter, the
atmosphere would contain
free hydrogen, which is
poison for us.
24 Hour
Days…
Many environmental factors
are so precise in support
life that to change any one
of them, even the slightest,
would disallow conditions
for life here on Earth.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CulBuMCLg0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CulBuMCLg0
DOES GOD EXIST?
THE MORAL
ARGUMENT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxiAikEk2vU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxiAikEk2vU
Dostoyevsky,
“If there is no God, then
everything is
permissible.”
All human cultures say…
✦ Murdering people is wrong.
✦ Lying and cheating are
wrong.
✦ Stealing is wrong
✦...etc.
Does feeling guilty show
right and wrong?
Guilty = broken a moral
rule.
And that feeling hurts our
souls. Guilt is — moral pain.
All cultures have a way of
knowing right and wrong,
reflecting that we are
made in the image of God.
All cultures have a way of
knowing right and wrong,
reflecting that we are
made in the image of God.
When someone does us
wrong we feel bad because
a moral law has been
broken — a moral law
given by a moral law giver.
THE KNOWABILITY
OF GOD
JESUS SAID TO HIM, “I AM
THE WAY, AND THE TRUTH,
AND THE LIFE. NO ONE
COMES TO THE FATHER
EXCEPT THROUGH ME.”
THE
RESURRECTION OF
JESUS CHRIST
Every sermon
preached by
Christians in the NT
centres on the
resurrection.
The resurrection of
Jesus Christ, was
the greatest event
in human history.
Other religious leaders still lie
dead in the grave - only one,
Jesus, has ever risen from the
dead!
The resurrection can be proved
and believed with as much
historical credibility as any
other well documented event in
ancient history.
 Theories of the
resurrection

Jesus Jesus 1.
Died Rose Christianity
 Jesus Died

The
Jesus
apostles 2.
didn’t
were Hallucination
rise
deceived
 Jesus Died

The
Jesus
apostles
didn’t Hallucination
were
rise
deceived
 Jesus Died

The
Jesus
apostles
didn’t Hallucination
were
rise
deceived
 Jesus Died

The
Conspiracy -
Jesus apostles
a plot to
didn’t were
deceive
rise deceivers
people
/ Liars
 Jesus
Jesus didn’t
Fainted on
die
the cross
 Jesus
Jesus didn’t
Fainted on
die
the cross
THE FAINTING IDEA
1. Jesus could not have survived
crucifixion. Romans made sure
NO ONE survived.
1. Jesus could not have survived
crucifixion. Romans made sure
NO ONE survived.
2. The Roman soldier did not
break Jesus' legs, as he did to
the other two crucified
criminals (Jn 19:31-33)
This means the soldier was sure
Jesus was dead.
3. John, an eyewitness, certified
that he saw blood and water
come from Jesus' pierced heart
(Jn 19:34-35).
This shows that Jesus' lungs had
collapsed and he had died of
asphyxiation (suffocation).
4. The body was
totally covered in
bandages and in a
sealed tomb (Jn
19:38-42).
5. The Roman guards at the
tomb were overpowered by a
man who had been beaten and
crucified?
THE LYING IDEA
Did the disciples make up the
whole story?
- The apostles would have been
great liars!
- No of them ever confessed to
lying, even under intense
pressure
- No of them ever confessed to
lying, even under intense
pressure
- The disciples were changed
people - by what power?
- Many were martyred for a
“lie”
- These simple “uneducated”
men made up the greatest story
- the Gospel