Sermon notes 6-19-16 - Science verse Religion

6-19-16

Always Prepared - Week 2

Tool # 2 - Science.

The Existence of God

1. Introduction:
1. We started a series called Always Prepared last week. 
2. I can already tell this is going to be a tough series for some. You will be required to actually think about things. 
3. You see there is a problem in today’s Christian faith. 
1. Christians are not prepared to answer the tough questions.
2. Christians remain silent and there is no longer a voice crying out for good anymore.
4. We need to prepare ourselves to share the Gospel of Christ with others, to defend the faith, to persuade others to come to the faith, and probably most important we need to understand what we believe and why we believe it. 
5. Like this tool belt. Many of us have tool belt that looks good, but it has no tools. We need to add the right tools to our belt so that we are prepared for all this world will throw at us. 

1. We started a series called Always Prepared last week. This series is based on 1 Peter 3:15 - “but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;”
2. This verse commands believers to prepare themselves to make a defense.
3. What kind of things do we need to prepare ourselves for?
4. Well first, we need to know there is truth.  Last week we saw there was Truth and that truth is discoverable, knowable, transcultural, unchanging and absolute. 
5. Once we determine those things, we believe that we need to discover what the Truth is - especially when it comes to God. 
6. Jesus told us He is the way, the TRUTH, and the life. If Jesus is truth then anything that teaches different is False. 
7. Now that doesn’t mean that we hate anyone who disagrees with Jesus. In fact, we are to do the opposite. This verse tells us to share the Truth with gentleness and respect. In other words, we love others who disagree with us, but we don’t agree with them. 
8. We also never admit that we can prove Christianity to be true. We must admit that there are many things in this life we accept by faith because we have not seen everything with our own two eyes. Instead there is a standard of proof that amounts to a moral certainty that allows us to see Christianity is true beyond a REASONABLE doubt. 
9. We make decisions all the time based on probability, not certainty. For example, crossing the road we look both direction, collect the evidence and then decide the probability of making the crossing the street safely.
10. When it comes to religion, we apply the same standards of probability looking at the evidence of logic and reason and determine what is most logical and scientific. 
11. Now today, we are going to apply that same logic to the second question that we need to be able to answer and add more tools to our tool belt. The second question is Does God exist
2. Science verses Religion
1. When it comes to the question of God we are led to study what the world calls science.
2. Those who believe there is no God often make it a question of Science verses Religion.
3. Maybe you have heard the argument before that science disproves there is a God.
4. In his book “The God Delusion” renowned atheist Richard Dawkins argues that you cannot be an intelligent scientific thinker and still hold religious beliefs.
5. In fact, Dawkins even list a statistic that says that only 7% of American scientist believe in a personal God. 
6. And so today we have a culture that believes that there is a war between faith and science. The media enhances this problem by making every story have a good side and a bad side, a protagonists and antagonists. 
7. In the process, it gives wide publicity to battles between secular and religious people.
8. For example, the teaching of evolution in schools, stem-cell research, in vitro fertilization, medicine and science, homosexuality verses heterosexuality, animal rights verses people, pro-life and pro-choice, etc… the list goes on and on.
9. Christians often find themselves caught in this battle to speak truth and know what they believe and at the same time trying to love people in a society where the media portrays them as the bad guys who impose their dogmatic beliefs on everyone or the ones who practice hate speech.
10. In the process of all this balancing we still have the question - Does science really disprove God?
11. I would argue that science actually is one of the greatest tools Christians have when it comes to explaining our faith. Science and the bible actually go hand and hand. In fact, as you study the Bible we begin to understand science and the world we live in.
12. In fact, it’s not really science verse religion or faith verse reason. It is reasonable faith verses unreasonable faith. It’s good science verse bad science. 
13. I hope to show you why today by giving you the second tool for your tool belt.

1. Does God exists?
1. You see using logic we know that we must come to one of three conclusions when it comes to God.
1. There is No God.
2. There are many God.
3. There is one God
2. Let me begin by saying, no of these can be proven to be true beyond doubt, so we must now look at the evidence and science that we know to draw to a reasonable conclusion.
3. Science teaches us that everything that has a beginning had a cause. That nothing can just pop out of the air. You can’t just pull a rabbit out of a hat - the rabbit had to come from somewhere else. You can’t just ask a genie for a million dollars - because everything that has a beginning has a cause. 
4. this is called the Law of Causality. 
5. Now Science proves that the universe had a beginning. Without going to deep into this let me just explain a few discoveries that have helped understand this. 
6. The second law of thermodynamics which explains that the universe is slowly running out of energy. Since we are not out of energy this is scientific proof that the universe had a beginning.
7. Or how about the fact that the universe is expanding from one spot called General Relativity. 
8. This picture is a picture seem from the Hubble Space telescope. In 1929 Albert Einstein looked through this telescope and came the conclusion that the earth is not eternal. He actually called this discovery irritating because it meant that the universe was a not self-existent or reliant on anything outside cause. 
9. But now he had General Relativity and the hubble space telescope that proves to the fifth decimal point that the universe had a beginning. 
10. But just because the universe has a beginning doesn’t prove there is a God or a theistic God. We must do some more research. 
11. As we continue to look at science we see two other factors that point to the beginning. These are radiation and galaxy seeds. Not to become so scientific that I lose you - but in 1989 a discovery of galaxy seeds was made. Basically, scientist found precise ripples that point to a beginning in that the universe was created at one point in History. Scientist all agree that this is called the Big Bang. 
12. Again, this doesn’t prove God - it just proves a beginning that started with a Big Bang that sent radiation cells throughout our universe. 
13. At the Big Bang Time, Space and matter came into existence. But How and When did the Big Bang happen?
14. That is the question that every person has to struggle with. You can’t just say it came from nothing because we have already learned that nothing comes from nothing - everything comes from something. You take away that law and you no longer have science.
15. Some scientist said that the universe has been expanding and contracting forever and therefore it didn’t need a beginning. But that still doesn't answer how the first bang happened and answer all the questions about all the evidence we have found.
16. So what do we decide - we must figure out what it is that caused the first cause that existed or exist outside of time, space and matter. 
17. Let’s review - We know the universe had a beginning. 
1. Everything that had a beginning had a cause.
2. The universe had a beginning
3. Therefore the universe had a cause
18. We also come to the conclusion that the first cause that started this world had to be self-existent, timeless, and immaterial. In order to create this entire universe out of nothing it had to be powerful and creative. 
19. What we can’t deny is that all science and evidence points to a beginning and a supreme being that was there before time, space and matter.
20. So now we have to decide what that supreme being that existed outside of time, space and matter is.
21. It seems to me that we have one choice left. 
22. To believe in a God.
23. Now the next question atheist are quick to assert is well then where did God come from.  But the answer to this question is easy. Man is subject to time and space but God is not. God exists outside of time and space. Colossians 1:17 states, “He is before all things.”
24. This is where faith comes in - You either believe that the universe always existed or that something caused the universe. Both are possible but one seems more actual. 
25. That is where we have to look at the second argument for the existence of God.

1. Design
1. Every that has design has a designer.
2. The universe has a highly complex design.
3. Therefore, the universe has an designer.
4. You see everything that has design has a designer. The universe has a highly complex design - Therefore the universe has an intelligent designer.
5. Let’s say you go for a walk on the beach and you find a iPhone on the beach. You pick up the iPhone and say what a nice iPhone. I’m so glad the wind and rain and erosion with a combination of natural forces made this for me. You put it in your pocket. 
6. You then see a heart in the sand that says Sean loves Anna. You come to conclusion that this just appeared after 100 years of corrosion and beach erosion. Of course not. 
7. You conclude that there’s absolutely no question in your mind that some intelligent being made the iPhone and someone drew that marking in the sand. 
8. Now what is incredible is that earth is far more complex than an iPhone or anything man has created yet we some how come to the conclusion that the earth happened to come together from many natural things and evolution - and fail to take into account the complexity of the world in which we live. 
9. Let me explain how complex the world we live in is….
10. Oxygen compromises 21% or the atmosphere. If oxygen were more than that the earth would erupt spontaneously, if it were less there would not be enough oxygen for humans to survive. We would all suffocate. But our earth is just right for man to live. 
11. Gravity and gravitational pull is just right. If it were any greater than it would cause tidal effects on the oceans and atmosphere that would be too severe for us to survive. If it were less, orbital changes would cause climatic instabilities and make life on earth impossible. It also would mean our sun would not exists. And if we didn’t have sun we all die as well. 
12. The carbon dioxide level is perfect. If it were any higher than it is now we all burn up. If the level were lower than plants would not be able to maintain efficient photosynthesis and we all suffocate. 
13. Finally, let me give you just one more. Atheist and evolutionists believe that all life came together by spontaneous generation without any intelligent intervention. That some one-cell amoeba floating in some little pond in the world turned into a living creature, which became a reptile, then to a animal of some sort and finally into the human race that we are today. It’s called macro-evolution - not to be mistaken with micro-evolution. Micro-evolution is commonly believed by all because it is the changing and adapting of creatures. Macro-evolution… let me just say there is absolutely no evidence of one creature being transformed to a new creature. For example, from fish to mammal - from monkey to human. 
14. In order for macro-evolution to be true the fist life must have been generated spontaneously from nonliving chemicals. 
15. But in 1953 two meanly the name of James Watson and Francis Crick made a huge discovery that showed us spontaneous generation is a huge leap of faith to believe in. 
16. They discovered what we know as DNA. In each DNA strand contains thousands of cells. In each cell there is such complexity that just one cell, a DNA full of millions of cells, there is enough information to fill the 30 volumes of Encyclopedias. 
17. A full DNA link it will fill 1000’s of Encyclopedias of information. 
18. Now think about this - no human being has created anything close to a strand of DNA. So why should we expect non-intelligent natural laws to be able to create life forms, when intelligent humans can’t even create a DNA strand.
19. There is so much design in just one strand of DNA that it takes a huge amount of faith to NOT believe in a Designer. 
20. How can we look at something at the complexity of world and think anything different. 
21. In fact, “science is the only source of objective truth claims to be objective truth, but it’s not a scientific truth.”
22. In order to deny an intelligent designer who existed before and outside of time atheists must take extreme measures to deny the obvious that the world is full of design.
23. Some claim that there are multiple universes in the galaxy and we just happen to live on the one that sustains life. But there is no proof to that. It allows you to deny that there is a God, but your putting your faith in something that evidence doesn’t support. 
24. Other atheist claim that aliens deposited the first life here. I guess that’s all possible… Again, no proof 
25. There is another option…

1. Romans 1:21 
1. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible attributes, His eternal power, and divine nature, have been clearly been, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
2. Psalm 19:1-2 - The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. 
3. There is faith in whatever you believe. It just makes more reasonable sense to believe in an almighty God who created the world.
4. So now we must research the Gods of each religion to see what they teach
5. Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning (that means the beginning of time, space and matter) God created the heavens and the earth.” 
2. 
   
1. More Objections:
2. Now I have not proven there is a God. I have only used science, evidence and logic to determine that the belief is completely logical. 
3. Before we move on today… Let’s handle a couple more objections.
4. Evolution and science still contradict the Bible. The Bible says the world is young and science says it is old. Now as we already mentioned, atheist have a major problem of answering where the first life came from. But once there is life - Atheist love to point to evolution as more scientific.
5. I have already answered that many Christians hold to the fact the life adapts and things change. There is no denying that. But to change from one life form to another is something that the Bible doesn’t teach and that science has very little proof in. Let me explain. Evolution is the ideal that more complex life-forms evolved from less complex forms through a process of natural selection.
6. An example would be bacteria when it is attacked by anti-biotic. If the bacteria survives the attack from the anti-biotic then the surviving bacteria now becomes resistant to the anti-biotic. The bacteria has now evolved to multiply and dominate. Atheist love to point out that this is an example of evolution. But the problem is the bacteria is still bacteria. It didn’t mutate into a frog or a monkey. Again, there is absolutely no evidence to support macro-evolution. 
7. Atheist then love to point out that the Bible says the earth is 6000 to 8000 years old when science points to the earth being much older - billions of years old. 
8. Now I would love to get into this debate, but here is something that everyone needs to hear. There are Bible believing Christians that believe the earth is old.  For some of you traditional Christians I will be labeled a heretic and a liberal for not teaching the inerrancy of the Bible. But the Bible has different ways in which we interpret it. We always start with the literal translation, but that doesn’t mean that at times the literal translation is symbolic.
9. There are some who interpret Genesis 1 where it talks about God creating the world in six days as literal six days (24 hours) - but others say it was a time lapse. Because the Bible speaks of God days being like a thousand years. It can be looked at as a poem or song and Genesis 2 is more the historical way it all happened. 
10. The point is… this is something that should not divide us as believers. We can debate it and work through it, but in the end we can still agree that God created and that the Bible does not contradict science. 
11. David Atkinson said it this way, “If evolution is elevated to the status of a world-view of the way things are, then there is direct conflict with biblical faith. But if evolution remains at the level of scientific biological hypothesis, it would seem that there is literal reason for conflict between the scientific explorations of the way which - at the level of biology - God has gone about his creating process.
12. Objection 2 - Earlier we mentioned how Dawkins said only 7% of scientist believe in a personal God. Does that mean we are the unreasonable ones to accept the Bible over science. Absolutely Not! For one, Dawkins quote is inaccurate - much like polls in the political process. You interview the right people in the right place you can come up with anything. 
13. More recent research has shown that 40% of scientist believe in a Creator God, 40% believe there is no God, and 20% aren’t sure. 
14. also, keep in mind this - science doesn’t really say anything - scientist do. They interpret their findings many times based on personal preferences and unproven philosophical assumptions. They do exactly what they accuse religious people of doing. Within the scientific or academia there is immense pressure to conform to the what others think and say. To say you believe in God might get you outcast from the group. There have been several professors who have lost their job for just claiming that there could be a god. 
15. Truth is we don’t have to accept scientist findings when they let their ideology dictate their conclusions for reasons we have already looked at today. 
16. Final objection: Since miracles go against science we don’t accept any miracles. This is tough one that needs more time than i have today to break down, so let’s just give you the cliff note version.
17. First, a miracle is an act of God. We don’t define miracles as a baby being born (although it is beautiful - it can be described by science). Now a virgin birth is a miracle because it does not follow the normal laws of science. 
18. Many people reject Bible stories and call them myths or fables because they hear about a man being swallowed by a whale and living, water parting, the sun stopping for a day, and blind man being healed, etc… 
19. My quick answer is this - If there is an all powerful Creator of the universe who made this complex world in which we live - why couldn’t He reach down into His creation and change the natural laws for a time period? In weeks to come we will go into greater detail with this, but for now we will stop there.
20. Finally, let me end with this Atheist are quick to say that - Religion is just a crutch that helps people cope with the problems of life.
21. Truth be told, it is possible that Christianity could have started b/c people needed something to lean on and that everything happened through a process of a billion years of natural selection and chance. But there we must also recognize something.
22. First, life is hard and the fact of the matter is all of us need a crutch to get by in this world. Some people choose drugs and alcohol, others turn to religion, and others turn to other things that let them down.
23. The question then is “Is the crutch we call Christianity true, or is it something on the same level as drugs or alcohol, invented to meet an admitted need?”
24. Evidence and logic point to the former that Christianity could be true and that there is a God. 
25. At the same time, I would also argue this that atheists and agnostics may be using their beliefs as a crutch to avoid the responsibility of God’s demand.

1. Conclusion
1. James Tour a nanoscientist - “Only a rookie who knows nothing about science, would say science takes away from faith. if you really study science, it will bring you closer to God.”
2. I encourage you to study the Bible and study science. We shouldn’t be scared of it. In fact, as Psalm 19 tells us the heavens declare His glory. As we study the living creatures and the stars and the planet in which we live - we see the fingerprints of God everywhere.
3. Let’s pray!

Sermon notes from 6/12/16 - Is there on true Religion

1. 1 Peter 3:15 says, “But sanctify Christ as Lord in you hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and respect.” 
2. The theme of this series is to be prepared not just for the trials of this life, but also to defend the Christian faith in which we believe.
3. As disciples of Christ we are called to defend our faith, persuade people to come to the faith and believe in Jesus, and to be ready to answer the tough questions. 
4. We are commanded to know and defend our faith, and unfortunately I know too many Christians that believe Christianity is a moral code by which to live and are not prepared to answer these type of questions.
5. In fact, statistics show that 70-75% of teenagers leave the Christian faith once they get away from home. Could this be because we have taught our children the moral code of Christianity and fail to answer the tough questions. And so when confronted by a professor with a PHD they walk away from the faith.
6. I would argue that Christianity is by far the most reasonable faith in which to believe. A quick study of world religions and examining the evidence of science and logic will only increase our faith.
7. In fact, the Bible tells us to study our faith. Acts 17:11 talks about the Berea's who were more noble believers than the Thessalonians, because they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul was saying was true.
8. 2 Timothy 2:15 says, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.”
9. Let me illustrate this concept with this tool belt/box.
10. The Bible says that we are to put on the full armor of God and then explains what that looks like. The belt is called the belt of truth. Now I can put on the belt, put this belt will not help me until I have some tools. I look good, but I’m not going to do anything. Kind of like a government worker on the side of the road - or your pastor at the church work day. 
11. We stand here in do nothing. But I got the belt. This is like many Christians we have the belt, but we don’t have the tools to minister to people and help them.
12. In this series, I hope to give you some tools so that you will be able to minister to others. That you will be able to answer the tough questions. That you would be able to defend your faith - with gentleness and respect. 
13. Today, I want to start with the very first tool that we need to for our tool belt. The question we need to answer is - Is there really only one truth?
1. Objections: Is there one true religion?
1. Our culture preaches that there are many ways to heaven. And to say that there is only way to heaven… That is judgmental, close-minded and bigoted.
2. But there is something wrong here. We demand truth in every aspect of our life except when it comes to religion. For example…
1. We want our spouse and children to tell us the truth.
2. We want doctors to diagnose us correctly and prescribe the right medicines. 
3. We want our politicians to tell the truth
4. employers and businesses, etc…
3. Why is that? Why do we expect truth in every aspect of our life, yet then when it comes to God make it a matter of preference?
4. We are told that we need to be tolerant of all other people, yet tolerance is no longer means I put up with something you believe to be false. Tolerance today is you must accept every belief as true. 
5. That is not tolerance, instead that is pluralism. The belief that all religions are true is in itself a religious belief - that quite honestly is far from the truth. 
6. Pluralism is best illustrated with an illustration told on many college campuses today.
7. It goes like this - there are six blind man and an elephant. Each blind man feels a different part of the elephant and comes to a different conclusion. For example, blind man one feels the tusk and says this is a spear, the second blind man feels the trunk and says this is a snake. The 3rd blind man feels the leg and say this is the trunk of a tree. The 4th blind man feels the ear and says this is a fan. The 5th blind man feels the tail and says this is a rope. The 6th blind man feels the body and swears it is a wall. These blind man represent the world religions and the point is that no religion has the ultimate truth. The ultimate conclusion is that all Religions are simply different paths up the same mountain. 
8. And since we live in America where everyone has an equal opinion, this illustration appeals to the tolerant society we live in. You choose your religion based on where you are born, based on your parents upbringing, or what best appeals to your personality. 
9. Religion is just a matter of taste. You like Pepsi, and I like Coke. You like chinese food, I prefer Italian. You like Christianity and I like Islam. If Hinduism works for you, then it is true for you. And the worst thing we could possibly is tell someone they are wrong.
10. I believe the first tool we need is to determine there is truth.
2. Determine there is Truth
1. A quick study of world religions reveals that there is no possible way all religions can be true. 
2.  Every religion teaches the Golden Rule and have a similar moral code. But when it comes salvation, god, and dealing with evil - religions disagree on most accounts. 
3. The notion that all religions teach basically the same thing and that we all ought to love one another, demonstrates a serious misunderstanding of world religions. In fact, world religions have more contradictory beliefs than complementary ones. And that means not all of them can be true. 
4. The Christian belief is that anyone who has not accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior have instead chosen to spend eternity in Hell. In the same regard, the Islamic faith teaches that if you’re not a Muslim then you’re headed to hell as well. and Hindu’s believe that everyone, regardless of beliefs, is caught in an indefinite cycle of reincarnation based on how they live their life. This contradictory beliefs can’t all be true. 
5.  Jews, Christians and Muslims all believe in different versions of a theistic God. While most Hindus, Buddhist and New age religions believe that everything that exists is part of an impersonal pantheistic force they call God. 
6. Hindus believe that evil and suffering are an illusion, while Muslims, jews and Christians believe that evil is real. 
7. Christians believe salvation is by grace through faith, while other religions teach that salvation is a result of good works. 
8. So how do we deal with this. Well, we must determine is there is one that is right and one that is wrong. What many have done is come to the conclusion that there is no truth. And they come up with their own truth. 
9. Think about that statement for a minute. To say there is no truth is a self defeating statement in itself. That statement claims truth, but if there is no truth what do we say.
10. So what do we do - we must determine there is truth!! In other words, We must come to the conclusion that Truth about reality is knowable.
11. There are six statements about truth that we must believe!
12. First, truth is discovered, not invented. Long before Isaac Newton discovered gravity it was there. The fact of the matter is gravity was always there - but we didn’t accept that truth until Newton discovered it. 
13. Second, truth is transcultural. If something true, it is true for all people, in all places, at all times. 2+2 = 4 is true in America and in China. If I’m visiting KZ and get hit by a bus I will feel pain just like I would if I got hit by a bus in America. 
14. Third, truth is unchanging. Our beliefs about truth may change, but the truth never did. At one point in history we believed the world was flat. We were wrong. the truth never changed, but our beliefs did.
15. Fourth, beliefs cannot change a fact, no matter how sincerely they are held. I can believe all day that the color of my shirt is orange, but that doesn’t change the truth that the evidence says my shirt is blue.
16. Fifth, truth is not affected by the feelings of the one professing it. Just because I’m arrogant, rude and obnoxious that does not make my statements more true. And likewise, just because I am a humble person does not make the error I profess to be true.
17. Finally, truth is absolute. This is where pluralism gets it wrong. Pluralism says that truth is relative. But that makes no sense. Truth is absolute. For example, if I say, “I think steamed crabs are the best food ever” that may appear as a relative truth. But it is still absolute to everyone here that Pastor Sean thinks that steamed crabs are the best food ever. 
18. As I already mentioned… to say that truth is relative is a self-defeating statement in itself. Let me explain…
1. when someone says truth is relative the proper response to him is - “Is that a relative truth.” 
2. If they say there are no absolute truths. The proper response is - are you absolutely sure.” 
3. And if they say - that is true for you, but not for me - the proper response is - Is THAT STATEMENT true for you, or is it true for everyone?”
19. Do you see where we are going? To say there is no truth is a truth statement that can’t be accepted b/c it just claimed there is no truth. 
20. What society wants to do is kill the concept of truth. If you can kill the concept of any true religion or any true morality then what is left is a bunch of close minded thinking people who have no clue what to believe anymore.
21. Not to drag this point into the dirt, but If you think about it, this is the education system we have in America and several other cultures today. Our educators teach us that truth is whatever you want it to be, except when you claim something different than what they believe. 
22. In the process, are kids are confused and have no morality. It’s not just taking God and prayer out of school, it’s educated them to a mindset that is devoid of truth. 
23. Adolf Hitler said, “He alone, who owns the youth, gains the future.” 
24. Well our society is now full of post modern thinkers who want everyone to believe there is no truth and literally want to hurt people who disagree with them. When their belief themselves falls to the ground with one question - Is that true for you or for everyone?
25. So… we must determine there is truth, and then our job is to Discover the truth.
3. Discover the truth
1. We now know that truth is absolute and can be known. In order to discover the truth we must know what is wrong, in order to find what is right. Or better said, once we know what to find what is right, we can discover what is wrong. 
2. The question though is - Can there really be just one truth? And if there is how do we discover that one truth?
3. I believe there is a process that we must use - it’s called common sense. Just kidding - It is the idea that we are willing to give up subjective preferences in favor of objective facts. We discover these objective facts through logic, evidence and science. 
4. As we look at nature and how things work we begin to discover simple laws or principles that help us discover truth. 
5. For example, let’s explore the Law of Non-contradiction.
6. The Law of Non-contradiction says contradictory claims cannot both be true at the same time. For example, the opposite of true is false.
7. So when investigating something you take into account this law and come to a logical conclusion. For example, If you sit down and talk to Chris and say is your wife pregnant and he says no. Then you go up to Dora and ask are you pregnant and she says yes. You would logically conclude that Dora probably hasn’t told Chris yet that she is pregnant and that Chris is blind - because Dora is about to pop. But there is one thing for sure is that they both can’t be right. 
8. The same is true with God. Either there is one true god (Jews, Muslims, Christians claim), many gods (Hindus and Buddhist claim), or no god (atheist claim). But all three of these groups can’t be right. 
9. Most reasonable people have no problem agreeing with this law of non-contradiction. There are a few exceptions though.
10. Immanuel Kant is one of those who has tried to deny the Law of Non-contradiction. He states that we can never truly know any reliable knowledge about what the world is really like, much less what god is really like because our mind is forming sense data. So in other words, we don’t know the tree in itself, we only uno the phenomena your mind categorizes about the tree. 
11. I like what C.S. Lewis said about this type of philosophy. He said, “good philosophy must exist, if for no other reason, b/c bad philosophy needs to be answered.”
12. The problem with Kant is he claims that no one can know there real world or anything about God, but yet in His own mind claims to know more than the rest of us. Kant says the data that gets into our brain is nothing but phenomena, but in order to know this, he would have to be able to see more than just the phenomena. 
13. In essence, his own philosophy falls to the ground based on his own philosophy and violates the Law of Non-contradiction.
14. The second law that we must understand is the Law of the Excluded Middle. This law tells us that something is either is or is not. For example, either God exists or He doesn’t. Either Jesus rose from dead or He didn’t. 
15. Logic can tell us that an argument is false, but it cannot tell us by itself which premises are true. 
16. We need more information to discover the truth. WE get that information by observing the world around us and then drawing general conclusions from the observations. 
17. As you observe something over and over again, you come to the conclusion that some general principle is true. You may remember this principle is science class is called induction. 
18. But there is still a problem, that is most conclusions based on induction cannot be considered absolutely certain only by high probability. For example, are you absolutely sure that gravity makes objects fall to the ground. NO, because you haven’t observed all objects dropping. 
19. So can we trust our inductive reasoning? Yes to varying degrees of certainty. We usually have enough information to make a reasonable conclusion to most questions in life. 
20. Since most people have died, we can reasonably conclude that all men are mortal. 
21. The same inductive reasoning can be used to discover if God exists, who God is, and which religion is truth.
22. In the weeks to come, we are going to add more tools to this belt. We are going to be able to answer if God exists, and how the world was created. We will look at the reliability of the Bible and if Jesus really is the Son of God or just a prophet. 
23. But today, we start with the hammer. And the hammer is determining there is truth, discovering the truth and finally declaring the truth. 
4. Declare the truth
1. I Peter 3:15 says we must learn to defend our faith and speak with gentleness and respect. We must speak out and share the truth!
2. 2 Timothy 2:24-25 says, “The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth.”
3. As Christians, we are taught to be tolerant. We love people where they are without imposing our beliefs on them, but we must learn to speak out when their belief is not in the truth. In other words, we are not trying to force everyone who lives in America to be Christian.  As Christians we know the dangers or religious intolerance. We strive to accept and respect people who have different religious beliefs than we do. 
4. But… And that is a big but, that doesn’t mean we embrace the idea that all religions are true or there is no truth. We must learn to speak up when truth is compromised.
5. As Christians we believe that anyone who doesn’t believe in Jesus will spend eternity in Hell when they die. That they only way our souls go to heaven is to believe in Jesus. 
6. Therefore, it is important that we say something. If we don’t question someone’s religious belief than we are literally allowing them to believe in a false god or false religion. In our attempt to be accepting and tolerant and not offend someone we are literally Air conditioning our neighbors, co-workers, family and friends to an eternity in Hell. 
7. Don’t forget that these friends who don’t believe in Jesus, think you are wrong. They are as dogmatic and close-minded as anyone else making truth claims. In fact, I guarantee they want everyone disagrees with them to see things their way… Sooooo, why not speak up to share the truth of what the Bible says. 
8. The Bible is the truth document for Christians. Now in weeks ahead we will look at the questions can we trust the Bible. But for now, we must speak the truth in love - with gentleness and respect. 
9. So, how do we speak up in this situation. Quite simply we have to question someone else’s belief if it contradicts the Bible.  We need to ask people what they believe and why? And they can’t give a good reason as to why they believe what they believe, then first and foremost we have to oppose that moral position they put on us. 
10. Finally, the Bible commands us to question others beliefs. 1 John 4:1 says, “Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; b/c many false prophets have gone out into the world.” 
11. By a pluralist own definition they uought to accept the Christian belief to speak what they believe. But ironically, they don’t. They only tolerate beliefs that agree with them. Are they willing to accept a child sacrifice of one religion as being true. Are they willing to accept that a muslim terrorist belief to kill anyone who disagrees with them. 
12. You see we respect the right of others to believe what they want, even when they are foolish, and sometimes unloving. But it is unloving of us to not suggest that their religious belief is wrong. So we must declare the truth we know. 
13. We must not remain silent, but speak up to say there ins one truth. That means if the Bible is true then anything that contradicts the Bible is false. And likewise, If the Koran is true than anything that contradicts the Koran is false.
14. Now i’m not advocating us to go onto the boardwalk and start a street preaching ministry. I’m advocating you to love people so much that you are preparing yourself to answer the tough questions when they ask you. 
15. That when your neighbor, co-worker, or relative comes to you and ask you about why are a Christian you will share with them what you believe to be truth. When your friend goes through a hard time, you can be there to answer their questions about God. You are ready to speak the truth in love with gentleness and respect. 
5. Conclusion
1. So what???
2. I want to leave you with this question for you to ask yourself and also to ask a friend who is not a believer in Jesus.
3. If I could prove to you without a shadow of a doubt that Jesus is God and that Christianity were true, would you become a Christian???
4. Now think about that for a minute. 
5. There are three main reasons why someone might reject Christianity and Jesus Christ.
1. Intellectual reason - many atheist give scientific evidence for why they don’t believe in Jesus. I actually believe that the Bible and science as well as history with archaeological evidence proves makes Christianity seem very reasonable. But there are objections that some intellects will never accept.
2. Norman Geisler said it this way, “It’s virtually impossible to know everything about a particular topic, and it’s certainly impossible when that topic is an infinite God. So there has to come a point where you realize you have enough information to come to a logical conclusion, even if unanswered questions remain.”
3. That is what we deal with when it comes to intellectuals seeking God. but that is not the only reason people reject Jesus and Christianity. 
4. Emotional reasons - some will not accept Christianity to be true because they have emotional roadblocks. For example, I like Jesus, but I don’t those Christians. Some don’t like the doctrine of Hell that the Bible teaches or the problem of evil - etc… 
5. Finally, there is volitional reasons why propel reject Christianity. They don’t want to worship God b/c there are to many rules that would restrict them from living the life they want to live. 

1. So the question to ask is - If I could prove that christianity was true would you become a Christian. The fact of the matter is some people will say no. Then you know that you are dealing with an intellectual problem - your dealing with an emotional or volitional problem 
2. The Bible says that most people have emotional and volitional problems with God. 
3. It says no one seeks God.
4. Romans 3:10-11 -  As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away,
5. That is why we must ask that one question if I could provide enough reasonable evidence to the most significant questions and objections you have would you become a Christian. 
6. If the answer is no then you’re not open-minded at all and the great thing about God of Christianity is you’re fee to reject it. 
7. But if you are an honest intellectual, or a Christian wanting to grow in order to defend your faith - then make it a goal to come every week this summer as we explore Christianity and all the questions. 
8. In the meantime, feel free to study on your own.
1. C.S. Lewis, Norman Geisler, Lee Strobel, Josh McDowell, and Frank Turek.  Check out 
2. www.crossexamined.org or www.reasonablefaith.org
9. John 8:32 says, You will know the truth and the truth will set you free. 
10. Seek Truth it is discoverable. And once you find it - declare it with gentleness and respect.

Evidence # 3 for the Resurrection: The Transformed Lives of the Disciples

John Stott said, "Perhaps the transformation of the disciples of Jesus is the greatest evidence of all for the resurrection."

I would have to agree. Before Christ rose from the dead the Bible tells us that the disciples were running away scared. After the resurrection they preached with such fervor and boldness that they too would be killed for their belief. These disciples would die gruesome and horrific deaths. Historical documents tell us that these disciples were sawed in half, crucified upside down, beheaded, burned at the stake, fed to the lions, and put in prison for long periods of time. They were told their life would be spared if they would only stop preaching Jesus resurrection. Logic would say if this was a lie, or if they had stolen the body, that one would crack under the immense pressure. But none of them did. Let me give you just a few examples.

First, there was Thomas. Thomas refused to believe Jesus was alive until he saw Jesus. He did not believe in the resurrection. Yet, in the gospel of John chapter 20 we read that Jesus appeared to Thomas and challenged him to feel his wounds. When Thomas sees and feels Jesus wounds he cries out, "My Lord, My God". Jesus didn't correct his proclamation and Thomas went onto die a martyr's death preaching Jesus was crucified and rose from the dead.

Second, there was Peter. Peter was a courageous man who vowed to follow Jesus to death. The night Jesus was arrested, Peter was the one who took up the sword to fight with Jesus. But Jesus corrected him and would not let him fight. He later would deny Jesus three times and run and hide scared for his own life. But after seeing Jesus resurrected body Peter became a bold witness for the resurrection. He was the disciple who preached at Pentecost when 2000 people converted to Christianity. He was arrested several times and eventually crucified upside down for proclaiming Jesus had risen from the dead.

Third, there was James the brother of Jesus. Although not a disciple, he was a skeptic. He despised his brother and that Jesus stood for. But after Jesus rose from the dead, James became a bold witness for Christ. He was convinced his half-brother Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God, the second in the Trinity. IN James 1:1 he described himself as a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. He would become the first pastor at the church in Jerusalem.

All these are great examples, and there are plenty more. Even the historian Josephus (not in the Bible, and not a Christian) pointed out that the disciples of Jesus were transformed by preaching Jesus resurrection. The evidence is there. Some will argue that these men were misled because they desperately wanted to believe that Jesus was raised from the dead. Now that we are in modern times we can look back and see these people were just uneducated and wanting something to believe in. With all the technology and advances in science that we have today, it is inconceivable to believe a man would rise from the dead.

CS Lewis calls this chronological snobbery. He points out that Jews and Greeks were wise enough to question the validity of a man rising from the dead. Thomas would not believe until he saw Jesus, which is proof that the disciples and people in biblical times were not as naive as we like to make them out to be.

N.T. Wright wrote in his book "Who Was Jesus" that there were many messianic movements or would be Messiahs in the time of Jesus. However he quotes, "in not one single case do we hear the slightest mention of the disappointed followers claiming that their hero had been raised from the dead. They knew better. Resurrection was a private event. Jewish revolutionaries whose leader had been executed by the authorities, and who managed to escape arrest themselves, had two options: give up the revolution, or find another leader. Claiming that the original leader was alive again was simply not an option. Unless, of course, he was."

The reason the disciples claimed that Jesus rose from the dead is because they had seen his risen body!

Tomorrow we will look at the establishment of the Christian church as the fourth evidence of the resurrection.

Evidence # 2: The Enemies of Jesus did not refute the Resurrection

Now that we have determined that the tomb was empty we can look at the second piece of evidence for the resurrection of Jesus. Evidence #2 is: The enemies of Jesus did not refute the resurrection.

When someone tells a lie, people are quick to point out they are wrong. But that never happens in the the historical books we read. In fact, the book of Acts in the N.T. shares how the apostles preached the resurrection and started the Christian church. The apostles were mocked and beaten. They were called names and arrested, some were even killed for preaching the resurrection. But what we never read is that the Jews or anyone in Jerusalem or in any other cities where the gospels were preached stood up to challenge the resurrection. They attacked the apostles character, but not their message. When Peter preached his sermon in Acts 2 at Pentecost, there was no refutation given against Christ resurrection. Why? Because the evidence was clear, the tomb was empty.

The great theologian John Stott said it this way, "The silence of the enemies of Christ is as eloquent a proof of the resurrection as the apostles' witness."

Not one person rebuttal or came against the disciples to say the tomb is not empty, Jesus never was died on the cross, it was someone who looked like Jesus that was actually killed on the cross, etc... Why? Because there were no facts to help disprove that Jesus was alive! Tomorrow we will look more at the disciples willingness to be killed for the message.

Evidence # 1: The Empty Tomb

The first reason I believe in the resurrection is because the evidence of the Empty Tomb. Usually the Roman Soldiers would leave a prisoner on the cross for a few days and allow the birds and beasts to prey on the body. But the Biblical account tells us that a rich man named Joseph of Arimathea asked for the body of Jesus to bury in his tomb. The tomb itself was most likely a cave cut out of rock and according to Scripture, no one had ever been lain in before (Luke 23:53).

Our best account of the empty tomb comes from the witnesses who wrote the Bible. One can disregard this evidence if they choose to believe the Bible is a bunch of fables and made up stories. But that would be too easy. You see, there outside Biblical accounts from other historians like Jospehus (a Jew), Pliny the Younger, and more that help us piece together the entire story. These other historians testimony only confirm the Biblical account. So for one to deny to the Biblical account simply because they think the Bible is untrustworthy... well they still need to explain why the tomb was empty.

Here is what we know. Because of who Jesus was all the Jews and Romans living in Jerusalem knew where the body of Jesus was laid. We also know that there was a large stone rolled in front of the tomb and sealed shut. (Matthew 27:64-66) This seal would keep man and beast out of the tomb. This sealing would take place in the presence of Roman guards who would then guard the tomb. It would take many strong men to move that stone.

Jesus had predicted that he would rise from the dead and they wanted to prevent His disciples from stealing His body and claiming that Jesus was alive, so they placed guards around the tomb. Unfortunately, this plan backfired on the Jews as they provided additional witnesses to Christ resurrection.

The first witnesses to find the empty tomb were women who were not strong enough to move the stone away on their own. Also, the point needs to be made that in a Jewish court a woman's testimony was not allowed. It would make no sense the authors of Scripture to say it was the women who first found the empty tomb unless it was a true. It would only undermine the credibility of their testimony.

Finally, it is vitally important that we understand that the Christian church began in the very city where Jesus was crucified and buried. All one had to do to stop the Christian church was go to the tomb where Jesus was laid and point out that he was still there.

J.N.D Anderson, a lawyer and professor of oriental law at the University of London, made a very important point. He said, "Have you noticed that the references to the empty tomb all come in the Gospels (first four books of the N.T.), which were written to give the Christian community the facts they wanted to know? In the public preaching to those who were not believers, as recorded in the book of Acts of the Apostles, there is an enormous emphasis on the fact of the resurrection but not a single reference to the empty tomb. Now, why? To me there is only one answer There was no point in arguing about the empty tomb. Everyone, friend and opponent, knew that it was empty."

But it wasn't the empty tomb that made the disciples believe in the resurrection of Jesus. If there was only an empty tomb, but no sightings of Jesus, no one would have concluded that Jesus rose from the dead. Also, if there were only sightings of Jesus but no empty tomb, then we would conclude that the people were having hallucinations. But because there was an empty tomb and sightings the church started and the disciples concluded the Jesus rose from the dead. We will look more at the testimony of the disciples later, but the fact of the matter is - no reliable historian argues that the tomb of Jesus is empty. The Christian church would have never come about if the skeptics would have just went and produced the body. But that never happened because the tomb was empty!

Evidence for the Resurrection of Christ

It is Passion week! This is the week Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is the most important event to a Christians faith and really to all religions. You see, if Christianity is real and true it all rest on the fact that Jesus rose from the dead. If Jesus rose from the dead then He is definitely from God, but it also means His claims to be the Son of God are all true.

Wilber Smith said, "Only a foolish man would go around talking about rising from the dead on the third day, only a foolish man, unless he knew that this was going to take place, and no one in the world has ever known that about himself except One Christ, the Son of God". Therefore, if this is all true then all the claims of Jesus must be true.

If He never rose from the dead then he is like every other religious leader/teacher. He is dead and we don't have to worship Him, we just need to learn how to live from Him. The Resurrection also gives us hope in what will happen to us when we die. Therefore, this week I want to write a couple of blogs on why I believe the Resurrection to be true.

Some will say I am a Christian because I grew up in a Christian nation and a Christian home. While that did provide the foundation for my faith, that is not why I am a Christian. For one, if my faith were based on the fact that I grew up in a Christian home my faith would be very weak. It would eventually succomb to the pressures of this life. My faith needs a greater foundation. That foundation is in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. I believe He is God and that He conquered death, hell, and sin we died on the cross and rose from the dead on the third day. He is the way to God! And I am grateful for His life and death for me.

As Peter Kreft said, "The resurrection is of crucial practical importance b/c it completes our salvation."

The question now is how do I know the resurrection really happened. Well that takes a careful and precise investigation. We can't prove this, much like we can't prove the George Washington crossed the Delaware River during the Revolutionary War. We weren't there and so we take into account the testimony of those who were there. As we investigate the Resurrection of Jesus we see that there is a logical reason to trust the Bible and what it says about the resurrection.

"Christianity is an historical religion. It claims that God has taken the risk of involving Himself in human history, and the facts are there for you to examine with the utmost rigor. They will stand any amount of critical investigation." - (Michael Green)

And so I want to show you the five reasons why I believe in the resurrection to be true in the next couple of days. I will give greater detail to these reasons each day this week. But for now let me just give the five major reasons why I believe in the resurrection and therefore have placed my faith in trust in Jesus Christ.

1. The Empty Tomb.
2. The enemies of Christ did not refute the resurrection.
3. The disciples of Christ were transformed and preached the resurrection even to their death.
4. The Christian church came as a result of the resurrection and continues to grow and thrive despite numerous threats on it's existence.
5.  The lack of evidences to the refutes against the resurrection.

When life is out of control, you can pray to the one in control.

Someone once said, “The reason many people in our society are miserable, sick, and highly stressed is because of an unhealthy attachment to things they have no control over.” 

This past week was one where I felt life was out of my control. I felt stressed, sick and miserable because of all that was happening. It started Monday night when our 11 month old daughter got sick. Any parent can attest, when your kids are sick you feel helpless. On Tuesday we watched as violence broke out in Kiev, Ukraine. For the previous six months me and eight others had been planning to go to Ukraine to teach English to university students. It was heart wrenching watching everything go down, not knowing if we would still be able to go to Ukraine, and knowing we have friends over there who were close to the violence. On Thursday night we received the call that English Club would be cancelled and that we shouldn't come to Ukraine anymore. 

My mind started thinking what can I do, what should I do. "Would we be able to get our money back for the plane tickets we bought? Would we be able to return gifts and supplies for the trip? How are my friends in Ukraine? Can we help them by taking a special offering - because we all know money is what they need….

That night, my four year old and 2 year old daughters both got sick. Everything was spiraling out of control. That is when God brought a verse to my mind that I memorized as a teenager. Jeremiah 29:11, "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." (NIV) 

We may feel out of control, but God is in control. His plans are perfect and even though we may not understand them or like them we can trust them because God is good. God loves Ukraine and the people there more than I do - He died for them. He can reach them with the Gospel with or without me. And that is when it hit me: The best thing I can do is pray. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says, "Pray without ceasing" - I can do that. I can pray. I can pray for the people of Ukraine to come to Christ and for the country to be united and peaceful again. I can pray that God will give guidance to the 7 missionaries that work with college students. I can pray that God would reach the 230 students that signed up for the English Club. I can pray for Ukraine. I can pray for my girls to feel better. As I prayed my girls started getting better and the stress started going away. Don't forget to pray!