Wretched: Proof that God exists.

10 Arguments for God’s Existence

C Michael Patton @ http://www.reclaimingthemind.org reviews 10 arguments for God's existence. They include:

1. Cosmological Argument:

2. Teleological Argument: (Gr. telos, “end” or “purpose”)

3. Moral Argument:

4. sensus divinitatus (”sense of the divine”):

5. The Argument from Aesthetic Experience:

6. Argument from the Existence of Arguments:

7. Argument from the Existence of Free-will Arguments:

8. Argument from the Existence of Evil:

9. Argument from Miracles:

10. Pascal’s Wager:

God's there!

By Sam Storms @ http://www.enjoyinggodministries.com

In an Associated Press release today, Friday, August 24, 2007, astronomers are reporting the discovery of what is being called a "massive blank spot in the universe." What's got them scratching their heads is "what's just not there. The cosmic blank spot has no stray stars, no galaxies, no sucking black holes, not even mysterious dark matter."

We're not talking here about a small patch of sky but 1 billion light years across of "nothing". According to the article, "that's an expanse of nearly 6 billion trillion miles of emptiness." "It looks like something to be taken seriously," said Brent Tully, a University of Hawaii astronomer. Tully said "astronomers may eventually find a few cosmic structures in the void, but it would still be nearly empty."

Tully goes on to explain that "holes in the universe probably occur when the gravity from areas with bigger mass pull matter from less dense areas." Retired NASA astronomer Steve Maran said of the discovery: "This is incredibly important for something where there is nothing to it."

Well, I've got some even greater and more exhilarating news for these astronomers and scientists. They're wrong! God's there! This "place in space" may lack for stars and black holes and galaxies and all other forms of matter but the only thing that ultimately matters is wholly and powerfully and personally present in all his glory: God! He not only fills the universe he made, but transcends it. He is everywhere in it, through it, and beyond it. The most sophisticated scientific tools may not detect his presence, but he's there. Simply put: space is God!

"Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord" (Jer. 23:24).

I'm no astronomer, but I'd like to bring a word of correction to these learned men. There's no such thing as a "void" or "blank spot" or an "empty" place in space. Our great and glorious Triune God, Father, Son, and Spirit, fills the universe. Though bereft of meteors and moons and matter, our majestic and all-powerful God is there, and everywhere!

"How terrible should the thoughts of this attribute be to sinners," wrote Stephen Charnock. "How foolish is it to imagine any hiding-place from the incomprehensible God, who fills and contains all things, and is present in every point of the world. When men have shut the door, and made all darkness within, to meditate or commit a crime, they cannot in the most intricate recesses be sheltered from the presence of God. If they could separate themselves from their own shadows, they could not avoid his company, or be obscured from his sight. . . . Hypocrites cannot disguise their sentiments from him; he is in the most secret nook of their hearts. No thought is hid, no lust is secret, but the eye of God beholds this, and that, and the other. He is present with our heart when we imagine, with our hands when we act. We may exclude the sun from peeping into our solitudes, but not the eyes of God from beholding our actions" (174).

Charles Spurgeon also reminds us that "this (truth) makes it dreadful work to sin; for we offend the Almighty to His face, and commit acts of treason at the very foot of His throne. Go from Him, or flee from Him we cannot; neither by patient travel nor by hasty flight can we withdraw from the all-surrounding Deity. His mind is in our mind; Himself within ourselves. His spirit is over our spirit; our presence is ever in His presence" (3:260).

Astronomers of the world, by all means scratch your heads in bewilderment and marvel at the greatness of your discovery. Applaud the achievements of science and write your scholarly accounts. But before, while, and after you do, fall prostrate before the God who fills the universe and worship, for "the heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork" (Ps. 19:1).

"Science of the Gaps"?

by Melinda @ http://str.typepad.com

I was discussing the ABC news debate with someone and noticed something I'd missed. Some of you probably already noticed it. Kelly, one of the atheists, responded to Ray's design argument by posing what she clearly thought was the unanswerable question: If everything needs a cause, then who created God?

Ray didn't get the chance to answer, but this is well-tread territory in philosophy and apologetics (not everything is a scientific question). Briefly, God is a "first cause," which is sufficient in an of itself to stop the infinite regress of "well who created that" and provide a sufficient answer. "First causes" belong in a category of philosophy that stretch back to ancient times. It's not an ad hoc, desperate move. It's a very rational answer. (For much more information on this, see William Lane Craig's work on The Kalam Cosmological Argument.)

It isn't only the Christian who has to answer this question of the first cause, so does the evolutionist. We know the universe isn't eternal, otherwise the finite energy would have run out. We know that all event have a cause. But for the atheist and evolutionist, all causes and events are natural so the "first cause" has to be a natural one, and so far no natural cause can stop the infinite regress since none is sufficient to be the ultimate first cause. This universe clearly had a beginning so evolutionists point to something prior to that beyond this universe and time. There are several theories about what this could be, but since that is also a natural state then something had to cause that and the infinite regress starts up again. So far there's no sufficient answer in science for the first cause.

There's a gap in the explanatory power of evolution and atheism. Who's punting to faith and who's inserting a "god" into the gap?

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Ken Samples offers five reasons God exists on YouTube.

What If There Were No God?

Posted by Jeff Voegtlin @http://www.jackhammr.org/

The fool hath said in his heart there is no God. Psalm 14:1; Psalm 53:1

What if the fool were right? What if there were no God?

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. James 1:17

Consider the idea that every thing that is good in our lives is from God. Every thing that is good in anyone’s life is from God. You may have met someone that said they just wanted God to leave them alone. Some people do not want God in their lives, they think. They say things like, “If there really is a God, why do these terrible things happen to me?” The truth is that any good thing that has happened in any one person’s life is because there is a God, and all those good things came from God.

And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist. Colossians 1:17

The world itself was first, created by him but also is sustained by Him. The physical universe we live in would be destroyed, would destroy us if not sustained by God. God, in His goodness sends rain on the just and the unjust (Matthew 5:45). Everyone–Christian, Jew, Muslim, heathen, or pagan–enjoys the goodness of God They do so regardless of whether they admit His existence or not.

We can appreciate material blessings, spiritual blessings, emotional blessings, physical blessings, social blessings, and we do so because there is a God. Someone may be reading this and thinking, “I still don’t think there is a God.” The Bible says that He is the God of all comfort (2 Corinthians 1:3). If you are comfortable in any way, it is because there is a God in heaven that allows your comfort and gives you that comfort. If you have a comfortable lifestyle, it is because there is a God in heaven. If you have physical comfort, it is because there is a God in heaven. If you have spiritual comfort, it is because there is a God in heaven. Lamentations 3:22-23 says,

It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is Thy faithfulness.

If it were not for God, we would all be consumed–destroyed! If there were no God, Every where would be HELL.

Or despisest thou the riches of His goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? Romans 2:4

And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent. Acts 17:30