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I don’t have enough faith to be an atheist

“Men stumble over thetruth from time to time,but most pickthemselves up andhurry off as if nothinghappened.” Winston Churchill

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“We love the truth when it enlightensus, but we hate it when it convicts us.”

St. Augustine

Life’s biggest questions:1. Origin: Where did we come from?2. Identity: Who are we?3. Meaning: Why are we here?4. Morality: How should we live?5. Destiny: Where are we going?

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1. Many Christians believe but they cannot justify their belief with evidence.

• Christians are commanded to know what theybelieve and why they believe it:

2 Tim 2:15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, aworker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing theword of truth.

• Commanded to give answers to those who ask: 1 Pet 3:15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, andalways be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you areason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;

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• Destroy arguments against the Christian faith:2 Cor 10:4-5 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnalbut mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting downarguments and every high thing that exalts itself against theknowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to theobedience of Christ,

• God is reasonable:Is 1:18 “Come now, and let us reason together,” says the Lord,“Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

Mt 22:37 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your Godwith all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’

2. If Christianity has so much evidence behind it, then why don’t more believe it?

• Why would anyone want Christianity to be wrong? Why wouldanyone claim to be an atheist?

• “God has provided enough evidence in this life to convinceanyone willing to believe, yet He has also left some ambiguityso as not to compel the unwilling.” Geisler & Turek

• “One who claims to be a septic of one set of beliefs is actuallya true believer in another set of beliefs.” Phillip E. Johnson

• “Even skeptics have faith – they have faith that skepticism istrue.” Geisler & Turek

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3. What are the major religious worldviews?

• Theism: a belief in a personal God who made theuniverse but is not a part of the universe. (Christianity,Judaism, & Islam)

• Pantheism: a belief in an impersonal God who is theuniverse. (Hinduism, Buddhism, New Age)

• Atheism: a belief that God does not exist.

“The cosmos is all that is, or was, or ever will be.” Carl Sagan

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Theism – God made allPantheism – God is allAtheism – no God at all

• Theists believe that the universe had a beginning whilePantheists & Atheists do not.

• All cannot be right.• Either the universe had a beginning or it did not.

“If one religion were really true, it would mean that billionsof religious people from every other religious faith arewrong today and have been wrong throughout thecenturies.” Geisler & Turek

You believe what you want and I’ll believe what Iwant –

You like chocolate and I like vanilla – you likeChristianity and I like Islam.

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4. Can all religions be true?

The religions of the world disagree on virtually every majorissue: the nature of God, the nature of man, sin, salvation,heaven, hell, and creation.

• Christianity teaches that all who aren’t Christians are going togo to hell.

• Islam teaches that all who aren’t Muslims are going to go tohell.

• Hinduism teaches that all are caught up in an endless cycle ofreincarnation based on works.

• Jews, Christians, & Muslims believe in different versions of atheistic God while Hindus, Buddhists, & New Agers believe inpantheism.

• Hindus believe that evil is an illusion while Jews, Christians, &Muslims believe that evil is real.

• Christians believe that people are saved by grace while allother religions, if they believe in salvation at all, believe in asalvation by works

“[I]f the Bible is true, then any specific claim that contradictsthe Bible must be false.” Geisler & Turek

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5. Why do people reject God?

• Intellectual: the problem with the existence of evil, thepresumed silence of God in the midst of the evil

• Emotional: Christian exclusivism, the doctrine of hell, thehypocrisy of Christians

• Volitional: Christian morality which restricts personalactions

“The irresistible and theindisputable are the twoweapons which the verynature of God’s schemeforbids Him to use. Merelyto override a human willwould be for Him useless.He cannot ravish. He canonly woo.” C.S. Lewis