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