Isaiah 45:18 - Atheism

Scripture Isaiah 45:18

For thus says the LORD, The creator of the heavens, who is God, The designer and maker of the earth who established it, Not creating it to be a waste, but designing it to be lived in:

I am the LORD, and there is no other.



Comment

Many of us have seen various high profile atheists convincing others that God does not exist.

I have put together some responses from various sources that may provide you with some points to remember should you encounter such a position in your travels. Please excuse the length of these emails. I have arranged the emails so there is a quick summary below the scripture verse for the day but if you want to continue reading then the topic is expanded upon further on in the email.



Answering the big questions

*********

Where have we come from?
What is the point of our lives?
Where are we going?

You might ask, lets consult science and get some excellent answers to these questions.

Well, here is science’s official answers to those three questions.

Don’t have a clue
Don’t have a clue
Don’t have a clue


In other words, when it comes to the three core questions of existence

Why are we here?
Why do we have a universe?
What is our ultimate destiny and purpose?
Science is embarrassingly silent, we have to look elsewhere for an explanation.

Source: D’Souza vs Loftus Debate - Does The Christian God Exist.mp3



Since the dawn of time people have sought to answer the big questions like: Where did I come from? Why am I here? Where am I going?

Can any of these questions really be answered?

A classic example of these questions is expressed in Gauguin’s painting entitled, “Whence, What, and Whither?” No honest person can ignore these questions and still consider himself thoughtful.



In the area of life and existence, and how life came into being, there are only three known explanations of origins.

1. Everything sprang out of nothing.

RESPONSE: Out of nothing, nothing comes



2. Existence and life originated from an impersonal source.

RESPONSE: With the view of an impersonal beginning you must accept that you are a product of chance.

To be a product of chance one would have no meaning or purpose; you just happen to be here.



3. Existence originated from a personal source.

RESPONSE : To be “created” implies a reason or purpose for that creation.

Our life would have meaning and would also explain our complex personalities and aspirations.





These are the only known possible answers to life and the universe.



Source: Does God Exist? by Cindy Ray Brown





MORE DETAIL BELOW



The first possibility, that everything sprang out of nothing, cannot be sustained or proven because it is scientifically impossible that anything could come into existence out of utter nothing.

One of the most basic laws of physics is that, “Out of nothing, nothing comes.”

For example, zero times zero still equals zero.



As far as we can search back into history, and as played out in our daily experience, we have always seen the physical law of cause and effect.

Everything that we have, and have been able to discover, is a product or result of something else.



There is a source for everything.



If nothing was, then nothing it would remain.

It is a scientific fact that an effect cannot be greater than its cause.

Therefore, nothing could not cause something.



A beginning from nothing cannot be an adequate answer.

Nothing explains nothing.



So this leads us to the conclusion that something must have been forever. Something must be eternal. Therefore, if the universe was born from something that is eternal, then the cause for the universe must have existed outside of it because the universe is not known to be eternal. This eternal “something” could either be a variety of impersonal matter or a personal being. If nothing is eternal, then at one point something must have sprung out of nothing, but we have already established this theory to be unfeasible. Therefore, something must be eternal. Something has existed forever.



Somebody might ask, “Can’t we just believe that the universe always existed? We don’t have to explain its origin. It has always been here. Carl Sagan held this position in his best‑selling book entitled Cosmos. He wrote, “The cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be.”



While God may not be available for empirical investigation, the universe is. The vast majority of astrophysicists accept the theory that the universe began at a particular moment in space and time. As Robert Jastrow, founder of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, summarizes the overwhelming scientific consensus, “Now the three lines of evidence—the motions of the galaxies, the laws of thermodynamics, and the life story of the stars—pointed to one conclusion; all indicated that the universe had a distinct beginning.”



Thus far we have reasoned that something must be eternal, such as impersonal matter or a personal being. Also, current scientific discoveries have concluded that the universe had a distinct beginning, therefore, the cause for the universe must have been outside of itself.



The second possibility, that everything had an impersonal beginning, implies that: Time + Chance and Matter + Energy = Existence as we know it. Holding to this belief, everything would be a product of chance and impersonal forces.



The immediate dilemma with an impersonal beginning is twofold: first, it does not give an adequate explanation for an orderly universe, nor does it explain the human being with all the riches of personality, aspirations, and love.

With the view of an impersonal beginning you must accept that you are a product of chance.

To be a product of chance one would have no meaning or purpose; you just happen to be here.



If man has just been kicked up out of the “primordial soup,” that which is only impersonal chance, then those things which make him a man—hope of purpose and significance, love, notions of morality and rationality, beauty and verbal communication—are ultimately unfulfillable, and are thus meaningless. In such a situation, is man actually higher or lower as compared to impersonal nature? He would then be the lowest creature on the scale. The green moss on the rock is higher than he is, for it can be fulfilled in the universe which exists because moss is also impersonal. The purpose of moss can be found scientifically, while the purpose and meaning of man cannot. If the universe is a product of chance and impersonal matter, then man, being unfulfillable, is meaningless. In this situation man should not walk on the grass, but should respect it, for it is higher than he.



Accepting the theory of an impersonal beginning sounds very chancy.

The three big questions—where did I come from, why am I here, and where am I going?—are still not adequately answered. It must take an awful lot of faith to believe in this origin.



The third possibility, a personal beginning, is very different from the previous two.

The theory of a personal beginning is based on the existence of an eternal, Personal Being. (Remember, we’ve already concluded that something must be eternal.)



This Personal Being would have created the universe and mankind by an act of sheer will.

This position is most clearly stated in the Apocalypse where it reads, “For you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.”(Revelations 4:11b)



Starting from a personal beginning, all the big questions can be adequately answered.



To be “created” implies a reason or purpose for that creation.

Meaning for our life would then be a real possibility.

This theory would also explain our complex personalities and aspirations.

A personal beginning provides a philosophical position that a person can live out consistently.



Source: Does God Exist? by Cindy Ray Brown