The Existence of God

1. The Existence of God See Life’s Ultimate Questions, by Ronald Nash Chapters 12 & 13

2. Noetic Structure • Definition: A person’s beliefs plus the relationships among those beliefs • Some beliefs serve as the basis or foundation of other beliefs • The foundation beliefs are called basic beliefs • The beliefs based on them are called non-basic beliefs • Your noetic structure is different from mine • Beliefs about your past are different from beliefs about my past • Noetic structures are not wholly different • Properly basic beliefs can be the same for two persons

3. Some Properly Basic Beliefs Under the appropriate circumstances, the appropriate belief is formed in us “I see a tree” “I had eggs and bacon for breakfast” “I am now at the edge of the Grand Canyon” When you have a basic belief, it makes no sense for someone to say to you, “Prove it!”

4. Foundationalism’sStrengths • Believing that one’s noetic structure is based upon certain foundational beliefs (properly basic beliefs) provides answers to important questions • When should a belief be eliminated from a person’s noetic structure? • When that belief is neither a properly basic belief nor a belief properly grounded on a basic belief

5. Foundationalism’sStrengths • How should we judge the strength of a non-basic belief? • In terms of the degree of support it receives from basic beliefs • When should an argument end? • When it arrives at properly basic beliefs

6. Properly Basic Beliefs and God • Christian philosopher Alvin Plantinga teaches that • Believing in God is a properly basic belief • We have a tendency to form beliefs such as • “God is speaking to me” • “God has created all this” • “God disapproves of what I’ve done” • Christian philosopher Thomas Reid -- This tendency or belief disposition may be part of the image of God in every human

7. A Capacity to Apprehend God’s Existence 1. Begin by trusting the basic belief-forming dispositions with which you are endowed . . . • Until reasons for revising them arise 2. If being appeared to by a pink rose in the garden yields immediately the belief “There is a pink rose,” 3. Then an encounter with God will yield the belief “God is real,” without deliberation or inference

8. Does God’s Existence Need to be Proved? • No. • However, an argument for God’s existence can be one of the belief-triggering conditions that results in the belief that God exists.

9. The Leaky Buckets Analogy

10. Consider these three arguments All students have long hair. Therefore, Smith has long hair. Necessarily true? Probably true? Smith is a student. Therefore, Smith has long hair. Necessarily true? Probably true? All students have long hair. Smith is a student.Therefore, Smith has long hair. Necessarily true? Probably true? The Leaky Buckets Analogy

11. The Leaky Buckets Analogy • So, it’s possible to have a probably true argument formed from individually weak arguments • And it’s possible to derive a necessarily true argument from individually invalid arguments

12. Four Types of Arguments for God’s Existence • Cosmological • Causation • Necessity • Teleological • Prudential • Experiential • Moral

13. Everything’s moving. There must be a Prime Mover. Everything’s been caused by other things. There must be a First Cause. Every being is contingent. There must be a being that is necessary. Every thing can be graded. There must be a being that is perfect. Every thing appears to have been designed. There must be a designer. Cosmological “Look at the world (cosmos), and you will see that there is a God.”

14. Paley: The Watch Analogy • Walking in a field, you come across a stone • “Where did this come from?” is an absurd question to ask about the stone • Walking in a field, you come across a watch • “Where did this come from?” is a reasonable question to ask about the watch

15. The Anthropic Principle • The universe seems to be designed in such a way as to provide • A home for humans (Gr. Anthropos) • An observation post from which humans can appreciate the grandeur of the universe • The universe is strangely amenable to rational inquiry on multiple integrated levels • The universe seems to be designed tutorially • The deep intelligibility of nature upon which science depends is the result of intelligent design Guillermo Gonzalez

16. Prudential • Pascal’s Wager • Mathematician and philosopher • If you were a betting person, which belief has the best odds going for it? • A. “There is a God” • B. “There is no God” • A. If correct, payoff is unlimited • B. If correct, payoff is limited • “There is a God” has the best odds

17. Experiential • “There is a God, because I have had an experience of God.” • Highly convincing for the one having the experience. • Not as convincing for anyone else. • Leo Tolstoy • “Life is only bearable when I am believing that God exists” • William P. Alston • If it makes sense to believe a person exists when you have had shared experiences with that person, • Then it makes sense to believe that God exists if you have had shared experiences with God • Prayers answered • Guidance given • Comfort received

18. Moral • There is a moral law of human nature • We didn’t invent it • We don’t totally benefit from it • We can’t escape it • We don’t keep it • This law comes from Something Behind the Universe • It is trying to communicate with us, personally • It must be a person himself Mere Christianity -C.S. Lewis

19. Another Moral Argument • Unknown Source • We live in a world containing • Incredible good • Malevolent evil • Mere survival benefit is as inadequate an explanation for malevolent evil as it is for incredible good • There must be an incredibly good being against which a malevolently evil being is struggling

20. Three Types of Arguments Against the Existence of God • The Empirical Argument • The Linguistic Argument • Evidential Arguments

21. The Empirical Argument The Invisible Gardener Story - Antony Flew (1950) • “Just how does what you call an invisible, intangible, eternally elusive gardener differ from an imaginary gardener or even from no gardener at all?" • "What would have to occur to constitute for you a disproof of the existence of God?"

22. The Linguistic Argument • A.k.a. Theological Noncognitivism --Michael Martin (also early William Alston):, “What kind of definition can we agree on which makes sense of the claim ‘There is a God?’” • “How can an immaterial being ‘speak,’ or communicate messages in any way, or, indeed, act in any way?”

23. Evidential Arguments • Victor Stenger: God -- The Failed Hypothesis • “Science proves that the universe is just as one would expect it to be if there were no God.” • “The laws of physics and of nature do not suggest that a divine hand played a role in creating the universe.” • Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins offer similar arguments.

24. The Problem of Evil • Charles Templeton • Christopher Hitchens • George H. Smith • The Problem: How can these • three statements all be true? • God is all good. • God is all powerful. • Evil exists. • Why, then, does evil exist? • “Either God isn’t all good, or God isn’t all powerful.” • “So, why should I believe in a being who either isn’t strong enough or good enough to put an end to evil?”