Terry Dashner……………..Faith Fellowship Church PO Box 1586 Broken Arrow, OK 74013

I’m going to lay it on line for you. I’m going to tell you what they say regarding existence of God. And then I’ll conclude my remarks by telling you what I say about arguments. So here I go.

I begin with ancient Greeks.

Aristotle gave us most systematic expression of reasons for believing in God. His philosophy, in turn, influenced doctrine of Roman Catholic Church and its greatest theologian—St. Thomas Aquinas. Aquinas, you might remember, gave us five proofs of God’s existence: Motion—things grow and develop by a hidden hand in nature (God); Causation—one thing causes another until you reach first cause of all things which is God; Possibility and necessity—things exist in a network of relationships. Everything is dependent on something, except God. Gradation of being—the universe is a pyramid of beings at different levels of perfection. From worms to man to angels to God there is a continuum of creatures. And number five is Governance of world—design in universe speaks of a rational, caring, and orderly God.

Thomas’ A Posteriori Proofs (proving God’s existence by external things) stood solid throughout Middle Ages and into Reformation, but 19th century turned things upside down. Philosophers like Hume and Kant tore into argument of design with a vengeance. Kant affirmed that most it could prove was that universe had an architect. To convert architect into God, a theologian would have to add ontological argument. Later on scientists began attacking it. Scientists claimed that design in universe is appearance but not reality and make their appeal to Darwin or evolution. They concede that hands and eyes of man are engineering marvels but emphatically claim that they are products of millions of years of evolution.

Terry Dashner…………….Faith Fellowship Church PO Box 1586 Broken Arrow, OK 74013

You’ll need more than just a good head on your shoulders to receive this. In fact, you’ll need a heart. And you will need something else.

Someone once said that human reason must follow faith, not reverse. What does that mean? It means that reason can carry you so far with God. Then you must take a leap of faith. Faith soars far above mind of man. Allow me to explain myself, please.

Our system of democracy is indebted to ancient Greeks. Our system of civil law is indebted to Romans who borrowed heavily from Greeks. In Greek history a witness testified in a court of law what he saw with his own eyes. His facts (facts of witness) became facts of court. Through eyes of witness court became observer. But word witness came to mean something in addition to observer. To witness meant to persuade court that facts were true facts. Not only were facts presented but witness worked to persuade court that what he saw was indeed true.

Here’s something else you need to help you receive things of God. You need Holy Spirit. Only Holy Spirit can witness to what Father and Son are doing in Redemption. The Holy Spirit also persuades us that it is true. The Holy Spirit is Divine Persuader, and He persuades only in context of truth. He witnesses to believer that Word of God (Bible) is true. I believe Gospel of Jesus Christ because I’ve had supernatural help believing it. I didn’t wake up one morning and determine to believe God’s Word. The Holy Spirit did a work in my life that brought me to truth, and then He persuaded me that it was true. That’s why I really believe that Jesus is Son of God because Holy Spirit persuades me.