On the Hot Seat Discussing the Existence of
God
Recently Come Reason was invited to address several hundred
college students at the University of Northern Colorado. It was a
great time. I had invited Dr. Paul Copan to join me and the two of
us were able to meet with the Christian clubs on campus first and
give them instruction on how to argue convincingly for the Christian
faith.
The main event was held in the evening, where Paul first gave an
address to the student body as a whole, comparing the Christian
worldview to the naturalist's worldview and demonstrating how
Christianity is the more coherent belief system. I then joined Paul
for about an hour of Q & A with the students.
The questions were powerful and interesting. Many students were
very intrigued with the idea of Jesus providing an atoning sacrifice
for us. The concept that there were moral absolutes and individuals
would be held accountable for violating those moral standards seemed
to spur on a lot of activity.
One student who we talked with classified herself as an "agnostic
humanist". She had several objections to the Christian concept of
eternal punishment from a God who hasn’t given us enough proof to
believe in Him. This is a classic objection – one that Bertrand
Russell used. However, Paul and I repeatedly discussed the real
evidence that’s available to demonstrate the existence of God. If
one chooses to ignore that evidence, you cannot blame God for not
providing it.
One point we talked on repeatedly was the creation of the
universe and the creation of life. We discussed the English
scientist Sir Fred Hoyle's calculations about the improbability of
life being formed spontaneously. In his 1981 book Evolution from
Space (co-authored with Chandra Wickramasinghe), he calculated
that the chance of forming the required set of enzymesin sequence
for even the simplest living cell was one in 10 to the
40,000th power. Since mathematicians generally agree that
anything above one in 10 to the 50th power is classified
as impossible, that's a pretty powerful number. However, she kept
holding onto her doubt, saying "but there's still that one
chance".
I found such a statement silly. It’s like saying you won’t get a
job but buy lottery tickets instead since there’s still a chance you
may win the lottery and never have to work again. That’s not
thinking rationally, that’s just being childish. It’s saying "I'm
not going to believe this no matter what you say!" Now, you can hold
that position. However, you cannot still maintain that there isn’t
enough evidence to believe in God or that God would be cruel for
punishing you for your false beliefs.
I will say that everyone there was very polite and appreciative
that we didn’t talk down to them or preach at them, but we were
treating them as thinking individuals who could be reasoned with.
They enjoyed the exchange and as we answered questions; we had the
opportunity to lay out the Christian plan of salvation clearly for
all to hear. The most exciting time came when one questioner asked,
"O.K., so suppose I believe what you said, that the resurrection is
true. What do I do next?"
Once the Q & A time ended, Paul and I spent the next two
hours answering questions with a group of about fifteen kids who
followed us down to the Starbucks cafe that was set up downstairs
from the meeting hall. It just reinforced to me how hungry these
kids are for real interaction, for being treated as adults and for
real answers to be provided for their questions.
I have been very blessed to be a part of this opportunity and I
pray God will continue to open the doors for Come Reason to reach
these kids for Christ. I ask that you can help us as well, by
praying for outreaches such as these and by supporting our ministry
financially. You can do so online by giving a gift at http://www.comereason.org/about/donate.asp.
You can also help by purchasing any of the CDs or materials
we offer in our Resources area.
Please help us continue to share the gospel with kids such as
these across our country. We rely on your support to fund our
effort.
What are those objections against Christianity you hear from your
friends and co-workers? Do you hear the same types of objections
raised over and over? Let me know by writing me at newsletters@comereason.org.
Until next time, God bless.
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