Existence of God, pt 3, Exploring Natural Theology In this final lesson of three on arguments for the existence of God we considered briefly four more arguments. Do absolute or objective moral values and duties exist, and if so, how do these point to God’s existence? What is consciousness? Why is consciousness evidence that a necessary conscious being (God) exists? What is C. S. Lewis’ argument from Joy for God’s existence? How does the presence of beauty in the universe, and our awareness of it and our ability to create it give evidence the God, the grand artist, exists? We then briefly mentioned three other arguments. Finally, we reflected on the issue of what some call the hiddenness of God. Why does God not make Himself more conspicuous to us? (57 min)
Lesson 11: Review Questions
Lesson 11: Lesson Notes

Tags: Existence of God, Argument, Beauty, Consciousness, Morality, Joy, Hiddenness of God

Existence of God, pt 2, Exploring Natural Theology In this lesson we resume our study of various arguments for the existence of God. What were the arguments that led the 20th century’s leading atheist philosopher to conclude that God exists? What is the teleological argument? What role did the famous philosopher David Hume play in this argument? Did Hume’s critique of the argument settle the matter of disproving the argument? What are two aspects of the teleological argument? It seems that we intuitively normally know when something is designed, but what are the things that actually help us to detect design? What is the anthropic principle? What is irreducible complexity and how does it point to design? Why is the presence of information in biological life evidence of design? (52 min)
Lesson 10: Review Questions
Lesson 10: Lesson Notes
Handout: Fine Tuning
Handout: Hume's Critique of The Teleological Argument

Tags: Existence of God, Teleological, Argument

Existence of God, pt 1; Exploring Natural Theology In today's lesson we begin to examine some of the various arguments that point towards the existence of God. Why is it not necessary to know these arguments to believe that God exists? How are these arguments helpful? Given the inductive nature of many theistic arguments, why is it helpful to use more than one? What is the main point of the several ontological arguments? Who do we credit with first articulating the ontological argument? Why is the ontological argument so controversial? Why does the ontological argument still persist and is gaining new respectability? What are “possible worlds?” What is the difference between contingent and necessary existence? What do we mean by a “maximally great being.” What is the chief point of the various cosmological arguments? What is the Kalam cosmological argument? What are four reasons to believe the universe had a beginning? Given the conclusion of the cosmological argument, what can we then infer about the nature of the cause of the universe?
Lesson 9: Review Questions
Lesson 9: Lesson Notes
Lesson 9: Handout: Arguments for God's Existence

Tags: Existence of God, Cosmological, Ontological, Argument

Logic: Rules of the Road In today's lesson we considered the subject of logic. We considered how an argument and the laws of logic are like a road trip to a destination and the laws that apply to traveling that road. What happens if we violate the rules of the road (logic) in an argument? From where do the three fundamental laws of logic come? How do we know that there is not an “Eastern logic” and a “Western logic?” What are the three fundamental laws of logic? What are some important Christian truths on which the Law of Identity has bearing? What are formal and informal logical fallacies? What are some common informal logical fallacies that we and others can frequently make?
Lesson 8: Review Questions
Lesson 8: Lesson Notes

Tags: Logic, Fallacies, Laws of Logic, Argument

Argumentation and Reasoning A Christian who wishes to be skilled at apologetics needs to understand about how arguments are structured, and what makes a good or sound argument. This is necessary in order to both make the best arguments possible for the Christian faith, as well as to be able to know if someone else’s reasons for believing what they do are good or not. What do we mean by the word “argument” in this context? What are deductive, inductive, and abductive arguments? What is the difference between a valid argument and one in which the conclusion is true? Does a poor argument for a belief or position mean that the belief in question is false? What are the two primary ways in which an inductive argument can be assessed for its effectiveness? What is explanatory power? What is explanatory scope? What is Ockham’s Razor and how does it apply in our context? What are some ways we can work to improve our reasoning and arguments? (57 min)
Lesson 7: Review Questions
Lesson 7: Lesson Notes

Tags: Argument, Reasoning, Deductive, Inductive, Abductive