IN CHRISTIAN DEFENSE
Argument against Atheism













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   To know absolutely that there is no God one must have infinite knowledge. But to have infinite knowledge one would have to be God himself. It is impossible to be God himself and an atheist at the same time.

   Atheists cannot prove that God doesn't exist, so they simply deny His existence. I can deny the existence of aliens but that doesn't mean that they don't exist somewhere in the universe. There is always a possibility that God exists. As long as the existence of God is a possibility, atheists have no firm foundation for denying His existence.

   Even if the omniscient, omnipotent, omnibenevolent God of Christianity does not exist, that does not mean that there is no God at all. We cannot fully comprehend God, therefore we cannot be sure which qualities He possesses and which qualities He does not possess. Thus arguments that try to disprove the existence of God by attacking His qualities or His nature are ultimately irrelevant, since we do not know the exact qualities or nature of God. However, I believe in the Christian God, so my arguments will defend the existence of the omniscient, omnipotent, omnibenevolent God of Christianity.

   Some atheists have maintained that the existence of evil makes the existence of God improbable. But the existence of evil does not negate the existence of God. If God is evil then the existence of evil makes the existence of God even more probable. However, I do not believe that God is evil; I believe that God is good. If God is good, then why is there evil in the world? God allows human beings to have the freedom to choose between good and evil, and the choices a person makes can affect others as well as himself. Wars can be caused by the evil actions of a few individuals, but many will suffer the consequences. God even gives people the choice of obeying Him or not. God has revealed His will to mankind, and when people follow it great good is the ultimate result. But when people act in ways outside the will of God great evil and suffering is the ultimate result.

   For God to create beings in His own image, that are capable of sustaining a personal relationship with Him, they must be beings that are capable of freely loving Him and following His will without coercion. Love or obedience on any other basis would not be love or obedience at all, but mere compliance. But creatures that are free to love God must also be free to hate or ignore Him. Creatures that are free to follow His will must also be free to reject it. Thus we conclude that God is capable of destroying evil, but not without destroying human freedom, or a world in which free creatures can function.

   If the existence of evil makes the existence of God improbable, then wouldn't the existence of good make the existence of God probable? The existence of evil makes the existence of Satan probable, not the existence of God improbable. There is evil in the world because there is a completely evil being that constantly causes suffering and pain. Satan influences people to do evil, thus people commit evil acts and many suffer as a consequence of those evil acts.

   Not a great deal is known about animal evil, but it is obvious that some animals suffer because of evil acts committed against them. Man has the ability to choose between good and evil, and he has the choice of helping or harming other species as well as his own. Thus some animal suffering is caused by humans. God gives animals free will also, and many times they use it to afflict pain on other creatures. The evil actions of one animal may affect many, such as a bobcat killing a mother duck may lead to the death of her newborn ducklings. Satan influences human beings to commit evil acts and afflict pain on others, thus Satan may have also corrupted the animal creation.

   Can God create a being that is more powerful than Him? The answer is 'no'. If God is infinitely powerful then nothing can be more powerful than Him. The only way something could be more powerful than God is if God's power had a limit. But God's power does not have a limit, thus nothing can be more powerful than Him.

   Can God create a rock too heavy for Him to lift? Again, the answer is 'no'. If God is infinitely powerful then He is able to lift anything. Thus there can be nothing too heavy for Him to lift. The only way for there to be a rock too heavy for God to lift is if God's strength had a limit. God's strength and power do not have a limit, thus nothing can be too heavy for Him to lift.

   Some might say that since God cannot create a being more powerful than Him or make a rock too heavy for Him to lift, then He is not all-powerful. They would say that He has a limit since He cannot create these things. But the whole reason why these things cannot exist is because God IS all-powerful. God has no limits, thus things that would surpass His limits cannot exist. Nothing can be more powerful than God since He is infinitely powerful. Nothing can be too heavy for God to lift since He is able to lift anything.

   Some people state that not everything is possible for God. They say "Not even God can 'undo the past'." I will propose that they are wrong. God created all time: past, present, and future. Since He created it, He can do with it as He chooses. If He wanted to He could turn back time, stop time, repeat time, or even undo time. In the Bible, Joshua prayed to God and God made the Sun stand still for about an entire day. God stopped the night from coming and allowed the day to remain. Thus, in a way, God stopped time.

   Some people state that not even God could make a triangular square or a spherical cube. I would suggest that He can. God created both the triangle and the square, and if He chooses to, He could make an object containing qualities of both. Indeed, He could make an object that is both a triangle and a square. Just because we cannot comprehend how this is possible, does not mean that it is impossible. In Matthew 19: 25-26, Jesus said "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

   The Bible states that God cannot lie (Titus 1:2). Some people say that since God cannot lie then He cannot do everything, thus He is not all-powerful. God, as a being, has a particular nature. Just as a man as a being, or an eagle as a being, possess a nature of their own. For God to lie is for Him to go against His very nature. God can indeed lie, but not without ceasing to be God. If God lies then He goes against everything He is, and He then ceases to be God. For example, as a human being I cannot produce wings and fly among the clouds. That is against my human nature. If I were all-powerful I would be able to produce wings and fly, but not without ceasing to be a human being. An eagle, by its very nature, cannot dive into the water and begin to breathe with gills. If it were all-powerful it would be able to do so, but not without ceasing to be an eagle. Thus, God cannot lie: if He does then He ceases to be God.

   What I mean by saying that God ceases to be God is that He ceases to be the same God. God is truth: and if God lies then He ceases to be truth. He would still be the Creator of man and the universe, but He would cease to be the truthful, omni-benevolent God that He is. In other words, God cannot lie without ceasing to be the same: He cannot lie without ceasing to be the God that He is. If God lies then His entire nature changes, and if His nature changes then He is no longer the same being. As was noted above, if I produce wings and fly then my nature is changed, and if my nature is changed then I would no longer be a human being.

   Atheists try to prove everything by using logic. Well, what is the logical reason for the existence of Earth and mankind? According to atheists, there is none. So why do the Earth and mankind exist? They have no answer for this question. The Bible states that God made mankind to have a relationship with Him, and He made the Earth as a dwelling place for mankind. The Bible gives an explanation for the existence of Earth, and it states the reason why mankind was created.

   The earth is in such a precise order that it is highly unlikely that everything just "appeared" and just "happened" to be in perfect harmony. The earth is positioned at just the right distance from the Sun so that all living things could tolerate the temperatures, it has the perfect combination of gases, a form of oxygen in the ozone layer protects the earth from the Sun's harmful ultraviolet rays, and by the process of photosynthesis carbon dioxide is transformed into oxygen, which we need to breathe. These are only some of the thousands of things that have to be exactly the way they are or else no living thing could survive on Earth. The earth has a bountiful supply of water, so there is enough for every living organism. The earth rotates on an axis, providing sunlight to every location on the planet. Thanks to this, vegetation is able to grow, thus providing food and oxygen to animals and people. It is hard to believe that Earth's perfect harmony is a product of chance.

   All plant and animal life relies on the Sun's presence. Earth would not have any life on it without the Sun's energy, which reaches Earth in vast amounts in the form of heat and light. The oceans and seas store this energy and help keep the temperature of Earth at a level that allows a wide variety of life to exist. Green plants absorb sunlight and convert it to food, which these plants then use to live and grow. In this process, the plants give off the oxygen that animals breathe. Animals eat these plants for nourishment. The Sun's energy also creates wind in Earth's atmosphere. This wind can be harnessed and used to produce power. The Sun's energy also produces the movements of water, which people harness to produce electricity.

   The Sun's gravitational pull holds the solar system together. The planets, asteroids, comets, and dust that make up our solar system are strongly attracted to the Sun's huge mass. If it were not for the Sun's gravitational pull, Earth would float off into space. After some time of floating off into space, Earth's temperatures would become too cold to support life, and every living thing on Earth would perish. If the gravitational pull of the Sun was stronger than it currently is, Earth would be drawn closer to the Sun and the temperatures would be too hot for living organisms to survive. Thus the Sun is designed perfectly to conserve life on Earth. This perfect design hardly seems to be the product of chance.

   The second law of thermodynamics states that the amount of energy in a system that is available to do work is decreasing. Entropy increases as available energy decreases. In other words, the purely natural tendency of things is to move toward chaos, not order, and available energy necessary for work is lost in this process. Eventually, the universe will run down and all life and motion will cease. This is the natural tendency of all things. Batteries run down, machines break, buildings crumble, roads decay, living things die, etc. Left to the natural state, all things would eventually cease to function.

   If the universe were infinitely old, it would have reached a state of entropy long ago. But we are not in a state of entropy, therefore the universe is not infinitely old and must have had a beginning. The universe would require an infinite amount of time to become infinite in size. Since the universe had a beginning, it has not had an infinite amount of time to expand, therefore it is finite in size.

   All events have causes. There cannot be an infinite regress of events because that would mean the universe were infinitely old. If it were infinitely old, the universe would be in a state of entropy, which it is not. Since the universe is finite and had a beginning, and there cannot be an infinite number of regressions of causes to bring it into existence, there must be a single uncaused cause of the universe. A single uncaused cause of the universe must be greater in size and duration than the universe it has brought into existence, otherwise we have the uncaused cause bringing into existence something greater than or equal to itself.

   Any cause that is natural to the universe is part of the universe. An event that is part of the universe cannot cause itself to exit. Therefore, there must be an uncaused cause outside the universe. An uncaused cause cannot be a natural part of the universe which is finite. An uncaused cause would be infinite in both space and time since it is greater than which it has caused to exist. This uncaused cause must be supernatural. Supernatural meaning that it is completely 'other' than the universe, it is not natural to it. This would make the uncaused cause supernatural. There is only one option for this supernatural uncaused cause: God.

















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