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Tuesday, August 8, 2017

Four Reasons Why Christianity Is More Reasonable Than Atheism & Secular Humanism: Considering Three Remaining Reasons


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Acts 17:26-27 "and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, 27 that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us."

Introduction:

In the last post, we began exploring four reasons why Christian theism is more reasonable of a position than atheism or secular humanism. We first defined atheism, secular humanism and reasonability. We then observed that one can indeed be a rational person while "knowing God to be true". Other sorts of various arguments for God's existence can function as a second-type of ground for "showing Christianity to be true". In today's post, we will give three other reasons or arguments that "show" the God of Christianity, and belief in Him, as being far more reasonable of a worldview than atheism and secular humanism. 

Three more reasons why Christianity is more reasonable than Atheism and Secular Humanism

Reason #2: Biblical Christianity best explains the universe’s cause. Material causes cannot account for why there is something rather than nothing.

Evidences:

Most astronomers conclude the universe began to exist a finite time ago.

It is absurd to rely upon an infinite chain of material causes. Logical reasoning leads us to conclude that the cause of the universe was an immaterial, spaceless, timeless, unimaginably powerful, intelligent being – i.e God. A type of argument which uses observations from the universe to show that God exists is what we call a "cosmological argument". The one below is a simple and very effective type of cosmological argument called "The Kalaam Cosmological Argument" ("kalaam" is from a term meaning "learning").

Kalaam Cosmological Argument: 
A. Everything that begins to exist has a cause

B. The universe began to exist

C. Therefore, the universe has a cause

Biblical texts: Genesis 1:1; Isaiah 43:10-11; 1 Corinthians 8:6

Reason #3. Biblical Christianity best explains meaning, value and purpose in life. 

We not only live in a physical universe, but a moral one, containing universal moral values and duties. Human well-being is not a sufficient explanation for the reality of morality.

Evidences:
Answer this question: “Is it wrong to purposefully hurt little children?” “Is it right to fight injustice?” “Was the Holocaust wrong, even though the people doing it thought it was right?” You respond like you do because of there being universal right and wrong. Below is a sample of what we call "the moral argument for God's existence". 

Moral Argument:
A. If God does not exist, universal moral values and duties don’t exist

B. Universal moral values and duties exist

C. Therefore, God exists

Biblical texts: Ecclesiastes 12:13; Philippians 3:7-10

Reason # 4. The existence of the Biblical God best explains the facts surrounding the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. 

No other non-Christian explanation has sufficed to explain what took place on that first Easter morning. This particular argument gets us from a "generalized deity" to the specific God of Christianity (the only God there is). 

Evidence:
Naturalistic explanations (Jesus fainted in the tomb / Jesus faked His death / Disciples stole the body / His appearances were hallucinations / They got the wrong tomb) have consistently failed. Whenever there are no reasonable grounds for rejecting a superior explanation, that explanation is deemed: “beyond reasonable doubt”. The resurrection explanation alone reaches this gold standard. 

Argument:

A. There are four facts concerning Jesus resurrection agreed upon by most historians: His honorable burial / the discovery of the empty tomb / post-resurrection appearances to critics and followers / Disciples’ sudden switch from skepticism to faith 

B. The hypothesis that God raised Jesus from the dead best explains these facts

C. This hypothesis entails the Biblical God’s existence

D. Therefore, the Biblical God exists

Example Biblical Text: 1 Cor 15:1-6, 19-20

As can be seen in the above arguments, the case for showing that it is more reasonable to believe in the God of Christianity takes into consideration all the evidence (scientific evidence, moral intuitions and historical considerations). Such arguments are valuable in helping people to come to the point of saying there to be a high probability that Christianity is true. As we saw in the last post, there is an important distinction between "showing Christianity to be true" and "knowing Christianity to be true". Only the Person and work of the Holy Spirit in the explanation of the scriptures can take a person from "probably Christianity is true" to that of "Christianity is most certainly true". May these posts aid the reader in their quest for truth or helping others in their journey.


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