Wondering What to Believe?
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Does Nature Give Proof of God?8 Digging Deeper
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Can I Hear God's Voice?8 Digging Deeper
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Digging Deeper
- Does God Care About My Concerns?
- Best practices for a thriving relationship.
- God wants us to know Him
- Ways that God communicates to us today.
- God gives us scriptures through men.
- Life changing love letter from God.
- God provides us a way for a relationship with Him through Jesus.
- Are you too busy for God?
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Who is God?8 Digging Deeper
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Digging Deeper
- God reveals himself throughout time so that people can worship the one true God.
- Evidences of the Existence of God.
- A God that always keeps his word.
- God’s ways above our ways.
- The Truth of God’s Nature.
- God is a loving, caring, beneficent God.
- A God that is God is long-suffering and forgiving.
- Striving to become more like God.
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Who Wrote the Bible?8 Digging Deeper
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Digging Deeper
- The Truth in the Bible.
- The Origin of the Bible
- The single author behind the many writers in the Bible.
- God foreshadowing discoveries made in today’s world.
- Why people downplay the evidences in the Bible.
- Foreshadowing of Jesus in the Old Testament
- Using doubt as an excuse to not change.
- What it means to have faith in the Bible.
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Can I Trust the Bible?7 Digging Deeper
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Digging Deeper
- Is it possible for us to know if the Bible is true?
- The differences and similarities between faith and trust.
- The significance in the magnitude of New Testament manuscripts compared to other ancient manuscripts.
- How large numbers of discovered manuscripts support the authenticity of the Bible.
- Why do you think about the very small (.001) part of critical textual variations found in the New Testament?
- How has the Bible impacted your life?
- Do you trust the Bible?
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Is there a Right and Wrong?7 Digging Deeper
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Digging Deeper
- The different standards for determining what is right and what is wrong.
- Is it in our nature to know what is right and wrong?
- Is right and wrong discerned by each person for themselves or is it ultimately determined by a higher authority?
- What to do in a situation where two people have different beliefs on what is right and wrong?
- Is there a standard when determining what is right and wrong?
- Is the Bible is our absolute moral standard for topics such as honesty, sexuality, the value of human life?
- Do you believe you can determine with absolute certainly what is right and wrong?
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Why Does God Allow Evil?9 Digging Deeper
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Who Am I?7 Digging Deeper
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What is the Meaning of Life?7 Digging Deeper
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Digging Deeper
- What is the meaning of your life? What is your purpose?
- How Jesus brings meaning to our lives.
- How does knowing Jesus will judge both the good and the bad in our lives impact the way we live?
- What do you make of the reading from Ecclesiastes 5:15?
- What do you want to be said about your life when you’re gone?
- How our understanding of the meaning of our life impact the way we live.
- What would you say was the meaning of the life you’ve lived so far?
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Does God Love Me?5 Digging Deeper
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Group Progress
Group Progress
What Paul says in Romans.
Perhaps the reading of Romans 1:19-20 in the New Living Translation will make the meaning clearer:
“They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. 20 For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.”
This says that people everywhere have plenty of evidence in the created order of the universe to convince them that a superior higher power exists. God has made these things universally clear to everyone. That is why there has never been a group of people anywhere that did not believe in a Creator God.
Atheism is the philosophy that a transcendent, supernatural God does not exist. At its best, atheism affirms that God cannot be known, and at its worst, affirms that God does not exist at all. Its modern philosophical roots go back to philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) and to theologian Albrecht Ritschl (1822-1889). Empiricists like David Hume (1711-1776) restricted reality to what could be known by the five senses. Since God could not be empirically verified, they reasoned that he did not exist. Atheistic existential philosophers like Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) despaired of the search for God. Influential theologian Paul Tillich (1886-1965) was an anti-supernaturalist who wavered between pantheism and atheism. Communism advocated and enforced atheism. Carl Sagan (1934-1996) promoted atheism with his mantra: “The universe is all there is, all there ever was, and all there ever will be.” In 2007, atheists became evangelistic with the publishing of Richard Dawkins’ book, The God Delusion; Christopher Hitchens,’ God Is Not Great; Sam Harris,’ Letters to a Christian Nation; and David C. Dennett’s, Breaking the Spell.
Atheism is an arrogant philosophy that claims to know everything in the universe. For example, if a person says, “There is no gold in China,” that person must know absolutely everything about China and what’s in it. On the other hand, to say, “There is gold in China,” a person has only to know that somewhere or with someone in China, there is gold. Likewise, to say, “I know that God does not exist,” is a claim to know everything in the universe. If there is one thing that is unknown, then that one thing might be that God exists. To say, “I know that God exists,” a person does not need to know everything but only one thing: evidence convinces me that God exists.
God has provided plenty of evidence for his existence. It’s up to us to open our eyes and honestly examine the evidence without prejudice. Everything that exists gives evidence of God’s existence.
For those who have eyes to see and evaluate the evidence correctly, every leaf on every tree, every blade of grass, every star in the sky, and every other part of creation all cry out continuously, “God made me! God made me! God made me!” If our hearts and minds were not so blinded by sin, it would be impossible for us to look closely at a leaf from any tree and say, “No one created this: it just happened.” The beauty of a snowflake, the majestic power of a thunderstorm, the skill of a honeybee, the refreshing taste of cold water, the incredible abilities of the human hand—all these and thousands of other aspects of creation simply could not have come into existence apart from the activity of an all-powerful and all-wise Creator.
(Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994, pp.142-143).
Anthony Flew (1923-2010) was an atheist, a renowned philosopher, a university professor, and the author of more than thirty books. He openly challenged and debated theists. In debates he affirmed, “I know that God does not exist.” Late in life at the age of 87, after study and reflection on the complexity of DNA, he changed his mind and wrote a book affirming the existence of God. His fellow philosophers were stunned that he changed his mind after a lifetime of denying the existence of God. They asked, “Why have you changed your mind? What’s your ulterior motive? Have you lost your mind? Why change now so close to the end of your life?” “No,” he answered. “Nobody bribed me or forced me. And yes, I still have my mind and its faculties. I changed my mind for one reason: I went where the evidence led me.” (Antony Flew, There Is a God: How the World’s Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind. HarperOne, 2008).
The evidence leads us to believe that God exists. However, God does not overwhelm us and force us to believe in him. “We walk by faith and not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). But this faith is not blind faith like a shot in the dark. It is based on plenty of evidence that God has provided.