“Evidence from Reason”

Faith and Reason must always work together.

Isaiah 1:18 ESV

A worldview offers answers to four necessary questions: origin, meaning, morality, and destiny. (Ravi Zacharias)

 The answers to life’s ultimate questions must be true and rational on particular questions and, as a whole, must be
coherent and consistent.

I. Origin- Where did I come from?

 Atheist- inexplicably the universe was born from a size smaller than an electron and expanded to nearly its current size
within a tiny fraction of a second. Life began from random interactions of chemicals and evolved through natural
selection and mutating genes.
 Rational Problems with that worldview- something has never come from nothing, unintelligence does not produce
intelligence, a cosmic explosion alone does not produce order and fine tuning…
 Christian- In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and created humankind in His image.
 Genesis 1:27

II. Meaning- Why am I here?

 Atheist- life is ultimately without meaning or purpose. For your brief existence it is whatever you make it to be.
 Alom Shaha, physics teacher and author of “The Young Atheist’s Handbook”-“Yes, of course I know that life is
ultimately without meaning or purpose, but the trick is not to wake up every morning and feel that way. Cognitive
dissonance? Embrace it.”
 Christian- we are made to live in loving community with God and His people in a world He created filled with wonder
and beauty. We are given meaningful work and service to do for His glory and the good of all people.
 Romans 8:38,39

III. Morality- How do understand what is right or wrong?

 Atheist- morality is a process of genetics and deterministic chemicals operating within the brain and making our
choices for us; and while the atheist may be willing to accept morality as a process of evolution and determinism there
is still something unsettling to a great many atheists about the notion of free will being illusory.” (Scott Gold. Dawkins
Foundation)
 “Dawkins concedes that if you take a deterministic or mechanistic view of the universe, it seems absurd to think we
have free will. And since there's likely no one alive who takes a more mechanistic view of human behavior than
Dawkins, he should stop going around affirming free will and blaming and praising people. But when asked why he
doesn't stop, he says first, that it seems to us that have free will and second, that life would be intolerable if we
believed otherwise…Dawkins concludes that "this is an inconsistency we have to live with". I see Dawkins on free will
the same way he sees people who couldn't bear it if there were no God or afterlife.” (Psychology Today, Dr. Tammler
Sommers)
 Christian morality is the law of God written on every conscience and placed in every heart that tells us how to relate to
Him and treat people with the dignity and value God has accorded every individual.
 Luke 10:27
 Richard Dawkins, the atheist writer, has claimed it is “immoral” to allow unborn babies with Down's syndrome to live.
The Oxford professor posted a message on Twitter saying would-be parents who learn their child has the condition
have an ethical responsibility to “abort it and try again.”.Aug 20, 2014
 “…my own moral philosophy which in turn is based on a desire to increase happiness and reduce suffering."
 PICTURE
IV. Destiny- What happens to me when I die?
 Atheists- when I die, I am dead and gone, my conscious life will end, my interactions with others will end, and I will be
simply GONE.(Atheist Australia Blog)
 Christian- living forever in loving community with God and His people in a new heaven and a new earth restored to
great beauty and glory.
 We are endowed with free will. God will not take it away. People can choose what God didn’t intend, to turn from Him
and live independently of His Lordship without a relationship with Him as their God. They choose life without God and
that is hell.
 Revelation 21:3-5