Is God Dead? Where to Begin?
Where to begin? Two weeks ago, we made the comment that for the Christian, everything needs to have warrant, or approval from Scripture. That includes how and what we study about God. In search of scriptural warrant last week, we looked in Scripture at Paul’s repeated use of classical philosophy in his speech and teaching as an example for us. And week before last we looked at God using observations from nature to present an apologetic (defense) of Himself to Job (Job 38-41). Thereby giving us approval from Scripture to use created things from nature, (science, philosophy, and history) in building a defense of the existence of God and the truthfulness of Christianity (1 Pet 3:15). And so, the question now is this; with scriptural warrant from God and Paul in hand, where do we begin to answer the question, “is God dead?”
Since we introduced the Bible skeptic “Michael” a few weeks ago, it would seem to make sense to begin to answer the question “is God dead?” by looking for some common ground that we both can agree upon. Christians, and rightly so, always want to begin with the Bible. But since Michael does not believe that the Bible is God’s Word but is rather “a creation of man,” the Christian needs to find some source of common ground that both can agree upon. How about this; what if we take the same approach that God took with Job (Job 38-41), and look to the world around us to see if it can serve as a witness to the existence of God. The universe is a vast and complex system of planets and moons, and suns, and stars. In turn each planet has its own unique complexity, especially planet Earth. Although the complexity of the universe is an apologetic defense for another day, the mere existence of the universe should speak to mankind. Now it seems to me that there are only two possible conclusions that the universe could speak to us about its existence, either it has been here all along, or, it had a beginning at some point in time past. That is it; either one or the other.
Now, we human beings are both creatures of habit, and creatures of observation. In fact, at a base level habits are simply the outworking of observations and experiences. If we think about our observations and life experiences, we know that nothing comes into being without something causing it. We often talk about cause and effect because we understand that all effects have a cause. We can think about how a tree comes into being and we all know that it is caused by a seed. The same is true of pigs and cows, cars and houses; even human beings. Everything that comes into being had a cause. Known in classical philosophy as the cosmological argument, some version of this idea of cause and effect concerning the universe has been summarized in a simple way going back to Aristotle and Plato.
1. Everything that begins to exist has a cause
2. The universe began to exist
3. Therefore the universe had a cause
The first statement; “everything that begins to exist has a cause,” is certainly true. Almost no one disputes this claim. Centuries ago, it was thought that life spontaneously came about from decaying meat. If a piece of meat was laid out, a few days later life had spontaneously appeared and could be observed in and on the meat. Later they discovered that this spontaneously generated “life” was simply the hatchlings of fly eggs. In modern times there have been a few who claim there are some subatomic particles (quarks, gluons, leptons, etc.) that do seem to begin to exist out of nothing, without a cause, but since these subatomic particles are observed by smashing two atoms together, they actually do have a cause, and they do not come from absolutely nothing. Even so, today, it is safe to say that everything that begins to exist has a cause.
The second claim is that the universe began to exist. Rather than having existed since an infinite time past, the universe, at some moment in time past, began to exist. This is a bold claim, and it is at the heart of the argument because depending upon how this particular claim is answered can lead directly to a capital “C” Cause. Remember, there are only two options, either the universe began to exist, or it has been here since all of eternity. This is where observations from the common ground of science have much to say about how Christians can engage with the Michael’s of the world to answer the question; “did the universe have a cause?” Answering that question is the first in a line of questions that ultimately lead us to answer the big question; “is God dead?” Join us next week as we pick up the story and continue to investigate the claim that the universe had a beginning.
Gloria in excelsis Deo!
Ty B. Kerley, DMin., is an ordained minister who teaches Christian apologetics, and relief preaches in Southern Oklahoma. Dr. Kerley and his wife Vicki are members of the Waurika church of Christ, and live in Ardmore, OK. You can contact him at: dr.kerley@isGoddead.com.
