I BELIEVE in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth: And in Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into

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I BELIEVE in God the Father Almighty, Maker of
heaven and earth And in Jesus Christ his only
Son, our Lord who was conceived by the Holy
Ghost, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under
Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried
he descended into hell the third day he rose
again from the dead he ascended into heaven, and
sitteth on the right hand of God the Father
Almighty from thence he shall come to judge the
quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost
the holy catholic church the communion of
saints the forgiveness of sins the resurrection
of the body and the life everlasting. Amen
The Creed
I BELIEVE in GOD
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I BELIEVE in God the Father Almighty, Maker of
heaven and earth And in Jesus Christ his only
Son, our Lord who was conceived by the Holy
Ghost, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under
Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried
he descended into hell the third day he rose
again from the dead he ascended into heaven, and
sitteth on the right hand of God the Father
Almighty from thence he shall come to judge the
quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost
the holy catholic church the communion of
saints the forgiveness of sins the resurrection
of the body and the life everlasting. Amen
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The Creed I Believe in God
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• An affirmative existential proposition can be
  proved, but a negative existential proposition
  one that denies the existence of some thing
  cannot be proved.
• Dr. Mortimer Adler
• Truth in Religion

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Two explorers came upon a clearing in the
jungle. In the clearing were growing many flowers
and many weeds. One explorer says, Some gardener
must tend this plot. The other disagrees, There
is no gardener. So they pitch their tents and
set a watch. No gardener is ever seen Yet still
the believer is not convinced. But there is a
gardener, invisible, intangible, insensible to
electric shocks, who comes secretly to look after
the garden he loves. At last the Skeptic
despairs. But what remains of the original
assertion? Just how does what you call an
invisible, intangible, eternally elusive gardener
differ from an imaginary gardener or even from no
gardener at all? - Anthony Flew, Theology and
Falsification
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The God of the Old Testament is arguably the
most unpleasant character in all fiction jealous
and proud of it a petty, unjust, unforgiving
control-freak a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic
cleanser a misogynistic, homophobic, racist,
infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential,
megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously
malevolent bully. - Richard Dawkins
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• Key Question
• Why do we have something rather than nothing at
  all?
• Martin Heidegger
• The Fundamental Question of Metaphysics

Our argument is if anything exists, God exists.
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• In one sense man does not ask the question about
  God, his very existence raises the question about
  God.
• Wolfaart Panneberg
• Basic Questions in Theology

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Four Possible Explanations for Reality

1. Reality is an illusion
2. Reality is/was self-created
3. Reality is self-existent (eternal)
4. Reality was created by something that is
   self-existent

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Reality is an Illusion

• I think, therefore I am.
• Rene Descartes
• Descartes, a mathematician, argued that if he is
  thinking then he must be. In other words, I
  think, therefore I am not an illusion.
• Illusions require something experiencing the
  illusion. You cannot doubt the existence of
  yourself without proving your existence.

Reality as an Illusion is ruled out...
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Reality is/was Self-Created

• Nothing is what rocks dream about.
• Aristotle
• Spontaneous generation is an analytically false
  concept false by definition. Something cannot
  be ontologically prior to itself.
• I never asserted so absurd a proposition as that
  anything might arise without a cause.
• - David Hume, Skeptic/Atheist

Reality being Self-Created is ruled out...
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Only Logical Stance on Reality

• Something exists
• Nothing cannot create something
• Therefore, a necessary and eternal being exists
• Jonathan Edwards

Two possible options an eternal universe or an
eternal Creator
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Only Logical Stance on Reality
There are not many options essentially just
two. Either human intelligence ultimately owes
its origin to mindless matter or there is a
Creator. It is strange that some people claim
that it is their intelligence that leads them to
prefer the first to the second. - John Lennox
Matter before Mind or Mind before Matter
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An Eternal Universe

• All scientific discovery points to one fact The
  universe had a beginning.
• Everything that begins to exist must have a cause
• The universe began to exist
• Therefore, the universe had a cause
• And simply stated, what has a beginning cannot be
  eternal.

Reality being an Eternal Universe is ruled out...
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An Eternal Creator

• Something exists
• You dont get something from nothing
• Therefore a necessary and eternal being exists
• The only two options are an eternal universe and
  an eternal Creator
• Science has disproven the concept of an eternal
  universe
• Therefore, an eternal Creator exists

Reality being created by a Eternal Creator is our
answer
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Scientists Explanation for Life
According to Francis Crick, Richard Dawkins, and
other leading scientists, the answer is
Directed Panspermia
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Problem Infinite Regress

• The Unmoved Mover
• Aristotle
• An infinite regress of causes is impossible.
  There is a difference between theoretical and
  actual infinity you cant practically put an
  infinite number of things between two points.

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What Kind of Eternal Creator?

• Some limited, changing being(s) exist
• The present existence of these beings is caused
  by another
• There cannot be an infinite regress of causes of
  being
• Therefore, there is a first Cause of the present
  existence of these beings
• The first Cause must be infinite, necessary,
  eternal, simple, and unchangeable
• This first uncaused Cause is identical with the
  God of the Bible
• - Norman Geisler,
  The Philosophy of Religion

True or False?
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The Eternal Being as Revealed in Nature

• He must be supernatural in nature.
• He must be powerful (incredibly).
• He must be eternal (self-existent no infinite
  regress of causes).
• He must be omnipresent (He created space and is
  not limited by it).
• He must be timeless and changeless (He created
  time).
• He must be immaterial (because He transcends
  space/physical).
• He must be personal (impersonality cant create
  personality).
• He must be necessary (as everything else depends
  on it).

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The Eternal Being as Revealed in Nature

• He must be infinite and singular as you cannot
  have two infinites
• He must be diverse yet have unity
• He must be intelligent (supremely).
• He must be purposeful as He deliberately created
  everything.
• He must be moral (no moral law can be had without
  a giver).
• He must be caring (or no moral laws would have
  been given).

No finite point has any meaning unless it has an
infinite reference point - Jean Paul Sarte
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The Eternal Being Revealed in Scripture

• Supernatural In the beginning, God created the
  heavens and the earth.(Gen. 11)
• Powerful - "Ah Lord God! Behold, You have made
  the heavens and the earth by Your great power and
  by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too
  difficult for You,"(Jer. 3217)
• Eternal - "Before the mountains were born Or You
  gave birth to the earth and the world, Even from
  everlasting to everlasting, You are God."(Psalm
  902)
• Omnipresent - "Where can I go from Your Spirit?
  Or where can I flee from Your presence?"(Psalm
  1397)
• Timeless and Changeless I, the Lord, do not
  change.(Mal 36).

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The Eternal Being Revealed in Scripture

• Immaterial God is spirit, and those who
  worship Him must worship in spirit and
  truth.(John 424)
• Personal - "Then the Lord God called to the man,
  and said to him, Where are you?"(Gen. 39)
• Necessary - "He is before all things, and in Him
  all things hold together."(Col. 117)
• Infinite and Singular - Do I not fill the
  heavens and the earth? declares the Lord."(Jer.
  2324) . Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God,
  the Lord is one!"(Deuteronomy 64)
• Diverse yet have Unity "Go therefore and make
  disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in
  the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy
  Spirit,"(Matthew 2819)

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The Eternal Being Revealed in Scripture

• Intelligent - "He counts the number of the
  stars He gives names to all of them. Great is
  our Lord and abundant in strength His
  understanding is infinite."(Psalm 1474-5)
• Purposeful - "For I know the plans that I have
  for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare
  and not for calamity to give you a future and a
  hope."(Jer. 2911)
• Moral for the Lord our God is righteous with
  respect to all His deeds which He has
  done"(Daniel 914)
• Caring - Therefore humble yourselves under the
  mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the
  proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him,
  because He cares for you.(1 Peter 56-7)

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Which Best Explains the Evidence?
A Mindless, Purposeless, Meaninglessness, Amoral,
Impersonal universe accidently creating personal
beings equipped with minds who are obsessed with
purpose, meaning and morals? In other words,
impersonal matter time chance equals a cause
that possesses none of the characteristics of its
effect Or A Creator that embodies them all?
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Essentially, I realized that to stay an atheist,
I would have to believe that nothing produces
everything non-life produces life randomness
produces fine-tuning chaos produces information
unconsciousness produces consciousness and
non-reason produces reason. Those leaps of faith
were simply too big for me to take, especially in
light of the affirmative case for God's existence
and Jesus' resurrection (and, hence, his
divinity). In other words, in my assessment the
Christian worldview accounted for the totality of
the evidence much better than the atheistic
worldview. - Lee Strobel on accepting atheism
from a thinking standpoint
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Another Example The Moral Argument
Immanuel Kant didnt believe you could know God,
but taught that if God doesnt exist, then ethics
were meaningless. Without God all ethics are
emotive a matter of opinion. Kant asked the
question, What would it take for ethics to be
meaningful?
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For there to be meaning in ethics there must be
Justice. What is necessary for justice to be
real? This world shows that justice doesnt
always prevail. There must be life after death.
Is that enough? No. There must be a judgment.
And it must be perfect. And for there to be
perfect justice and a perfect judgment, there
must be a perfect judge. One that must know all
the facts of the case. He must have all
knowledge. Is that enough? No. the judge must
be righteous. A judge can know all the facts and
be corrupt. Is that enough? No. The judge
must have the power to implement and enforce the
justice. Nothing must be able to oppose him.
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Now you have an omnipotent, omniscient,
righteous, and holy Judge, who serves over a
world that is beyond this life. Doesnt this
sound like the God of the Bible?
Remember Kant came to this result without using
the Bible
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No Excuse
But the basic reality of God is plain enough.
Open your eyes and there it is! Romans 119,
The Message
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Some Old Testament Names of God

• YHWH Jehovah Self-existent One (Ex. 314, I
  AM WHO I AM).
• Elohim Strong one. Plural word plural of
  majesty.
• Adonai Lord. Indicative of master-servant
  relationship.
• El Elyon Most High, strongest strong one,
  possessor of heaven and earth (Isa. 1413-14)
• El Roi Strong One who sees (Gen. 1613)
• El Shaddai Almighty God (Gen. 171-20)
• El Olam Everlasting God (Isa. 4028 c.f. Micah
  52 for Jesus)
• Jehovah Jireh the Lord will provide (Gen.
  2213-14)
• Jehovah Raah The Lord is my Shepherd (Ps. 231)
• Jehovah Shammah The Lord who is present (Ezek.
  4835)

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God A Trinity
Father
Is not
Is not
God
Son
Spirit
Is not
Every once in a while in my discussions someone
asks how I can believe in the Trinity. My answer
is always the same. I would still be an agnostic
if there was no Trinity, because there would be
no answers. Without the high order of personal
unity and diversity as given in the Trinity,
there are no answers. - Francis Schaeffer, He is
There and He is Not Silent
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And the catholic faith is this That we worship
one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity, neither
confounding the persons, nor dividing the
substance. For there is one Person of the
Father, another of the Son, and another of the
Holy Spirit. But the godhead of the Father, of
the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, is all one, the
glory equal, the majesty co-eternal. Such as
the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the
Holy Spirit. The Father uncreated, the Son
uncreated, and the Holy Spirit uncreated. The
Father incomprehensible, the Son
incomprehensible, and the Holy Spirit
incomprehensible. The Father eternal, the Son
eternal, and the Holy Spirit eternal. And yet
they are not three eternals, but one Eternal. -
Excerpt from Athanasian Creed
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Hierarchy in the Trinity
No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent
Me draws him and I will raise him up on the last
day. (John 644) For I did not speak on My
own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent
Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say
and what to speak. (John 1249) When the
Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the
Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds
from the Father, He will testify about Me (John
1526)
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The Trinity in the New Testament
"After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately
from the water and behold, the heavens were
opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending
as a dove and lighting on Him, and behold, a
voice out of the heavens said, This is My
beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased. -
Matthew 316-17 Go therefore and make disciples
of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, -
Matthew 2819 "The grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship
of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. - 2
Corinthians 1314
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The Trinity in the New Testament
"Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who
reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus,
Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are
chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the
Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to
obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His
blood May grace and peace be yours in the
fullest measure. - 1 Peter 11-2
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God the Father
Therefore you are to be perfect, as your
heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 548) For
if you forgive others for their transgressions,
your heavenly Father will also forgive
you."(Matthew 614) "Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed
us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly
places in Christ,"(Ephesians 13)
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God the Father What is He Like?
But when he came to his senses, he said, How
many of my fathers hired men have more than
enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger! I
will get up and go to my father, and will say to
him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and
in your sight I am no longer worthy to be called
your son make me as one of your hired men.
So he got up and came to his father. But while
he was still a long way off, his father saw him
and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced
him and kissed him. And the son said to him,
Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your
sight I am no longer worthy to be called your
son. But the father said to his slaves,
Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on
him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on
his feet and bring the fattened calf, kill it,
and let us eat and celebrate for this son of
mine was dead and has come to life again he was
lost and has been found. And they began to
celebrate. - Luke 1517-24
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God the Father

• He predestined us to adoption as sons through
  Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind
  intention of His will
• Ephesians 15
• For you have not received a spirit of slavery
  leading to fear again, but you have received a
  spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out,
  Abba! Father!
• - Romans 815

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God the Father

• so that He might redeem those who were under the
  Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
  Because you are sons, God has sent forth the
  Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba!
  Father!
• Galatians 45-6
• "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the
  right to become children of God, even to those
  who believe in His name
• - John 112
• See how great a love the Father has bestowed on
  us, that we would be called children of God and
  sure we are.
• - 1 John 31

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A Change of Heart
I think the origins of the laws of nature and of
life and the Universe point clearly to an
intelligent Source.  The burden of proof is on
those who argue to the contrary. Anthony
Flew, former outspoken atheist
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More consequences for life and action follow
from the affirmation or denial of God than from
any other basic question Mortimer Adler,
Philosopher, Legal Scholar
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Why Belief in the True God is Critical
The history of mankind will probably show that
no people has ever risen above its religion, and
mans spiritual history will positively
demonstrate that no religion has ever been
greater than its idea of God What comes into
our minds when we think about God is the most
important thing about us. A. W. Tozer, The
Knowledge of the Holy
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The Creed I Believe in God
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I BELIEVE in God the Father Almighty, Maker of
heaven and earth And in Jesus Christ his only
Son, our Lord who was conceived by the Holy
Ghost, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under
Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried
he descended into hell the third day he rose
again from the dead he ascended into heaven, and
sitteth on the right hand of God the Father
Almighty from thence he shall come to judge the
quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost
the holy catholic church the communion of
saints the forgiveness of sins the resurrection
of the body and the life everlasting. Amen
The Creed
I BELIEVE in GOD