Reason Using Reason to Find Answers to Big

Reason Using Reason to Find Answers to Big Questions

Some Conundrums 1. The sun rises everyday 2. The sun rose today 3. Therefore, the sun will rise tomorrow 1. Is this argument a good argument? Why/Why not? 2. Come up with your own example of this kind of logic

Can We Know Everything? It is possible to know everything. Do you agree or disagree with this argument?

Some Hard Questions • It is impossible to prove almost anything to 100% certainty. The real question is ‘what is most likely? ’ • We can only make an argument about the sun rising tomorrow that is likely or possible (i. e. we are pretty sure the sun will rise tomorrow). Does this mean it’s not true that the sun will rise tomorrow? • Any argument concerning the existence of God, like the argument about the sun, can only result in a conclusion that is likely or probable. Does this mean God is not true?

The Christian Faith and Reason What reasons do you think Christians have for believing in God? i. e. How does their logic connect with their faith? But for Anglicans, we also want to acknowledge that we cannot know everything, and we cannot know anything with 100% certainty. At some point we turn to mystery, and Anglicans see God here.

Arguments for the Existence of God The following arguments are some that have been used to present evidence for the existence of God. Most of these arguments from Philosophy.

Cosmological Argument • Based on the premise that everything we observe has a cause • The Big Bang is normally our answer to what caused the universe. We can then ask “What caused the Big Bang? ” • Theory of the multiverse: This kicks the can down the road. What caused the multiverse? We could keep going back forever. • We could argue that the universe came from nothing for no reason • We could argue that the universe is eternal and has always been • We could argue that there is a ‘uncaused cause’ e. g. God has always existed and has no beginning. As the eminent scientist Sir Arthur Eddington wrote ‘the beginning of the universe seems to present insuperable difficulties unless we agree to look on it as frankly supernatural. ’

Teleological Argument • The world exhibits an order and improbability that is so high that it is extremely unlikely that the universe came into being by itself (intelligent design). • The physicist P. C. W. Davies argues that the odds against the first conditions being suitable for stars to form (and planets and life) is 1 followed by at least a thousand billion zeros. If gravity were changed by 1/10+100 zeros life wouldn’t have developed. There about fifty constants and quantities (e. g. usable energy, mass difference between protons and neutrons, ration of forces of nature, proportion of matter to anti-matter) and all of these must be balanced to an infinitesimal degree for any life to be possible.

Moral Argument • Author of The Chronicles of Narnia, C. S Lewis is the most well-known proponent of this argument. He argues that everyone has a sense of things being morally right and others being morally wrong • If there is no God, how do we explain this?

Ontological Argument • God is a being than which none greater can be imagined (that is, the greatest possible being that can be imagined). • God exists as an idea in the mind. • A being that exists as an idea in the mind and in reality is greater than a being that exists only as an idea in the mind. • Thus, if God exists only as an idea in the mind, then we can imagine something that is greater than God (that is, a greatest possible being that does exist). • But we cannot imagine something that is greater than God (for it is a contradiction to suppose that we can imagine a being greater than the greatest possible being that can be imagined. ) • Therefore, God exists.

Historical Argument • The vast majority of historians will agree on the basic outline of Jesus’ life as recorded in the gospels and many non-Christian sources: He was a 1 st century Jew who lived in Nazareth. He travelled around teaching people about God and developed a reputation for performing miracles. He was crucified by the Roman Governor Pontius Pilate. Shortly after his death his followers claimed he rose from the dead and appeared to them. • The real heart of the matter when it comes to Jesus is his resurrection. If it can be shown that Jesus did in fact rise from the dead, then Christianity has a great deal of merit. If it can be shown that he didn’t then Christianity is entirely pointless. This is because all of the Christian hope of eternal life, forgiveness of sin, and the supernatural power of the God that Jesus called upon depend on the resurrection.

Personal Experience • People see a God in the ordering of their lives. They see events turn in ways that they can only perceive as ordered and deliberate. • While these ‘experience’ arguments prove nothing, they do give some weight to the idea that being religious seems to be something that is natural, healthy and normal for human beings to be. If there is no God, why would we be like this?

The Parable of the Sower

The Importance of Reason in Understanding the Words of God What do you think this story from the Bible means? How can you use reason and logic to help you understand the Bible?

Later in Matthew 13 Jesus explains the Parable of the Sower Matthew 13: 18 -23 (CEV) 18 Now listen to the meaning of the story about the farmer: 19 The seeds that fell along the road are the people who hear the message about the kingdom, but don’t understand it. Then the evil one comes and snatches the message from their hearts. 20 The seeds that fell on rocky ground are the people who gladly hear the message and accept it right away. 21 But they don’t have deep roots, and they don’t last very long. As soon as life gets hard or the message gets them in trouble, they give up. 22 The seeds that fell among the thornbushes are also people who hear the message. But they start worrying about the needs of this life and are fooled by the desire to get rich. So the message gets choked out, and they never produce anything. 23 The seeds that fell on good ground are the people who hear and understand the message. They produce as much as a hundred or sixty or thirty times what was planted.