Getting Started

Does God Exist?

Session Map

In this session we will first consider some common myths and misconceptions about the question: Does God exist?
Next, we will look at two pieces of evidence from the telescope and microscope that provide evidence that something exists beyond the physical and that God is a reasonable explanation for the physical world and non-physical persons.
Lastly, we will consider some of the implications inherent in the discussion of God’s existence and why it’s not more obvious that God exists.

Key Points

Key Scriptures

Key Terms & People

Note: All links listed after the definition are optional readings.

Terms

Agnostic: One who does not know something. A soft agnostic merely claims not to know something, whereas a hard agnostic claims that one cannot know something.

Atheist: One who believes that God does not exist.
(Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) – Advanced reading. Note the definition of atheism.

Conflict Thesis: A historical assessment which posits an intrinsic intellectual conflict between science and religion. Proposed by John Draper (1811-1882) and Andrew White (1832-1918) in the 19th century but now widely discredited by professional historians.

Cumulative Case: A reasoning approach by which one brings together multiple lines of evidence in support of a conclusion.

Determinism: The belief that all events are ultimately “fixed” by prior events and causes external to the will.

Enlightenment: A European intellectual movement of the 17th and 18th centuries marked by general anti-supernatural attitude and emphasis on reason and individualism over tradition.
(Wikipedia)
(Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) – Advanced reading

Epistemic Distance: The intellectual or knowledge distance between people and God.

Epistemology: A theory of knowledge and its warrant.

Faith: Trusting in what one has good reason to believe is true. Not to be confused with “a blind leap in the dark.”

Free Thinker: One who forms his or her own opinions by using reason rather than simply accepting tradition or otherwise established truths.

Kalām Cosmological Argument: A deductive argument originally formulated by Persian Muslim al-Ghazali and later popularized by William Lane Craig. Craig formulates the argument thus: 1) Whatever begins to exist has a cause. 2) The universe began to exist. 3) Therefore, the universe has a cause.

Metaphysics: Is the branch of philosophical study devoted to exploring questions about the nature of ultimate reality. For example, nature of existence, the nature of time and space, the relation of mind and body, the reality of abstract objects (such as numbers) and the existence of God.

Multiverse: An infinite realm of universes. Some cosmologists believe the universe we observe is just one of many universes that exist in a greater multiverse.

Ontology: The study of existence and being. When one refers to “my ontology,” it includes a list of things that one thinks exist.

Physicalism: The belief that all that exists in the world is matter and energy. Also referred to as naturalism, scientific naturalism, and materialism.

Quantum Mechanics: That branch of physics which deals with physical phenomena on nanoscale. Originated by German theoretical physicist, Max Planck.

Reductio ad absurdum: A form of argument that seeks to show that a statement is false by examining the untenable or absurd consequences that are entailed in the acceptance or denial of the statement.

Science: From Latin scientia, lit. “knowledge.” Knowledge of any kind, of which modern science is a part. Today, this word is virtually synonymous to modern science or natural sciences, which is defined as the systematic study of the natural world through observation and experimentation.

Secularism: A worldview that does not allow for the supernatural, that is, anything beyond the natural world such as miracles or God.

Skeptic: One who assumes a general, skeptical attitude toward particular knowledge claims.

Special Pleading: A logical fallacy by which one makes an arbitrary exception to a generally accepted principle without justification.

Theism: The belief that a personal God exists.

Worldview: The overall perspective from which one sees and interprets the world based on one’s facts and experience.

Zombie Culture: A culture that embraces a worldview that dehumanizes people.

People

Aristotle: Greek philosopher and scientist (384-322 BC) whose metaphysics greatly influenced that of the Church in the Middle Ages and beyond. Also known for the earliest formal study of logic. Aristotle was one of the three great Greek philosophers along with Socrates and Plato. Plato was Aristotle’s teacher. Alexander the Great was one of Aristotle’s students.
(Wikipedia)
(Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) – Advanced reading

Georges Lemaître: Belgian Roman Catholic priest and astronomer and professor of physics at the Catholic University of Leuven (1894-1966) who proposed the theory of expanding universe. The implication of his theory was that the universe had a beginning, later to be termed pejoratively by Sir Fred Hoyle as the “Big Bang.”

Plato: Philosopher in Classical Greece (428/427-424-423 BC). One of the three great Greek philosophers along with his teacher, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle. Plato was known for his theory of the Forms, abstract objects that exist independently of the material world and constitute the highest reality. Author of Dialogues.
(Wikipedia)
(Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) – Advanced reading

René Descartes: French proto-rationalist philosopher (1596-1650) best known for the statement Cogito ergo sum or “I think therefore I am.”
(Wikipedia)
(Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) – Advanced reading

Søren Kierkegaard: Danish Christian philosopher and theologian (1813-1855) typically considered to be the first existentialist philosopher.

William Lane Craig: American Christian philosopher, New Testament scholar, and apologist (1949- ). Known for a debating career and for popularizing the Kalām Cosmological Argument.
(reasonablefaith.org)