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Dr. Robert Jeffress | Robert Jeffress - How Can I Know There Is A God? (Part 1) | January 4, 2025
- ♪ music ♪
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- [announcer] from the pulpit
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- Of the first baptist church of dallas, texas,
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- This is "pathway to victory" with dr. robert jeffress.
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- Hi, i'm robert jeffress.
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- And welcome again to "pathway to victory."
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- In the opening verses of the bible, we read,
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- "in the beginning, god created the heavens and the earth."
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- But outside of the bible, is there any tangible evidence
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- To prove that god exists?
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- It's an honest question that many people may not vocalize
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- But they harbor in their own hearts.
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- So today i'm going to address
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- Several of the greatest doubts people wrestle with
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- Regarding the existence of god.
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- We're answering the question, how can i know there is a god,
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- On today's edition of "pathway to victory."
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- ♪ music ♪
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- ♪ there is a day coming ♪
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- ♪ when the old will pass away ♪
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- ♪ and every wrong will be made right ♪
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- ♪ no darkness, no night ♪
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- ♪ the son will light the way ♪
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- ♪ there is a king coming ♪
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- ♪ the one who conquered death and grave ♪
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- ♪ no more pain and no more sorrow ♪
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- ♪ this hope for tomorrow ♪
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- ♪ is our hope for today ♪
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- ♪ he who was ♪
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- ♪ he who is ♪
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- ♪ he who was ♪
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- ♪ he who is ♪
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- ♪ he who is to come ♪
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- ♪ he's christ the son of man ♪
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- ♪ he's riding on the clouds ♪
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- ♪ with a crown upon his head ♪
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- ♪ and every eye will see him ♪
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- ♪ with the nail scars in his hands ♪
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- ♪ hallelujah ♪
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- -♪ we sing hallelujah ♪ -♪ hallelujah ♪
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- ♪ he who is to come ♪
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- ♪ he's to come ♪
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- ♪ he's christ the son of man ♪
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- ♪ he's riding on the clouds ♪
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- ♪ with a crown upon his head ♪
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- ♪ and every eye will see him ♪
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- ♪ with the nail scars in his hands ♪
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- ♪ hallelujah ♪
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- ♪ sing hallelujah ♪
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- ♪ hallelujah ♪
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- ♪ yes, hallelujah ♪
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- ♪ hallelujah ♪
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- (applause) ♪ hallelujah ♪
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- (applause)
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- [announcer] it's okay to have questions about your faith,
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- But you need answers you can trust.
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- In his book "how can i know?" dr. robert jeffress addresses
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- Seven of life's most important questions.
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- If you've ever wondered how you can know the bible is true
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- Or how you can know if you're going to heaven,
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- This book makes a compelling case
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- For answers you can embrace with confidence.
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- Request your copy of "how can i know?"
- 00:03:47.784 --> 00:03:49.952
- When you give a generous gift
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- To support the ministry of "pathway to victory."
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- ♪ music ♪
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- I was saved by god when i was five years old.
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- I was called to the ministry by god when i was 15.
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- I served god by pastoring a church.
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- I write books and preach sermons
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- To teach other people about god.
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- I can't go through a few hours a day without talking to god.
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- But occasionally, i have doubts that god exists.
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- And i imagine if you were truthful,
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- Most of you would say the same thing as well.
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- You know, polls show
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- That an overwhelming number of americans believe in god.
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- George gallup claims 9 out of 10 americans
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- Believe that god exists.
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- But i'm not sure people are really as confident
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- In their belief about god as they claim to be.
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- Daniel dennett is one of the so-called new atheist,
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- And he's written a book called "darwin's dangerous idea."
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- I disagree with everything in that book.
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- It's an attack against theism, about belief in god.
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- But i do agree with one thing,
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- And it says, "there's a difference between belief in god
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- And belief in your beliefs.
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- A lot of people confuse their beliefs in their beliefs
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- With a belief in god.
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- They believe in a god
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- That they've created in their own mind."
- 00:05:27.950 --> 00:05:30.186
- Then it says something very profound.
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- He said, "if as many people really believed in god
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- As they say they do,
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- Then certainly they would conduct their lives differently."
- 00:05:38.694 --> 00:05:42.598
- Whether we're willing to admit it or not,
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- Most of us have doubts about god.
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- In fact, i'm convinced that the only people who never doubt
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- Are those who never think.
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- Today we're beginning with that most basic question,
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- How do i know there is a god?
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- I want to speak for a moment about five reasons
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- People doubt the existence of god.
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- There are five major sources of doubt about god.
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- First of all, there's natural doubts.
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- By that, i mean it's very natural
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- To doubt what you can't see.
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- Every parent knows that.
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- It's hard not to doubt what you can't see.
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- You know, we spend, as parents, a lot of time
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- Teaching our children about the tooth fairy.
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- And we can teach them about the tooth fairy,
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- We can describe the kindness, the beauty,
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- The generosity of the tooth fairy,
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- We can even leave evidences
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- Of the tooth fairy's existence under our child's pillow
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- When they lose a tooth,
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- But sooner or later, our child comes to understand
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- There's no such thing as the tooth fairy.
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- And it's only a short journey from there
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- To doubts about the big man up there.
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- I'm talking about santa claus.
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- (congregants laughing)
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- Secondly, there are philosophical doubts
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- That lead some people to question the existence of god.
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- And the most sided philosophical argument against god
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- Is the reality of suffering and evil in the world.
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- The 18th century philosopher david hume
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- Attempted to discredit christianity
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- By his famous trilemma about suffering and evil.
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- Hume said, "is god willing to prevent evil but not able?
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- Then god is impotent.
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- Is god able but not willing?
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- Then he's malevolent, evil.
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- Is god both willing and able to prevent evil?
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- Then where's evil?"
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- In other words, what hume was saying was
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- When you look at evil in the world,
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- Is god willing to stop it,
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- But he just can't pull it off, he's not able?
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- Then he's an impotent god.
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- On the other hand, if god is able to stop suffering,
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- If he could have stopped the holocaust,
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- If he could have stopped the disaster
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- You're facing in your life but chose not to do so,
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- Then he must be evil.
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- If he's both willing and able to stop suffering,
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- Then where is evil?
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- In other words, there must not be a god.
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- Actually, there is a fourth explanation
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- That hume doesn't offer.
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- It's one that we're going to explore
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- In the message how can i know god is good
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- With all of the suffering in the world?
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- But many times, it's a philosophical argument
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- That keeps people from god.
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- Thirdly, there are experiential doubts.
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- You know we're all prisoners of our experience.
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- If you grew up in a home that didn't believe in god,
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- You're inclined perhaps not to believe in god.
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- Sometimes god intervenes miraculously in that situation.
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- I remember, in the first church i pastored,
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- I invited william murray to come share his testimony.
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- William murray was the son
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- Of famed atheist madalyn murray o'hair.
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- And he talked about in his testimony
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- How he observed the misery, the unhappiness,
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- The discontent of his mother about life.
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- She was so unhappy that he decided
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- To reject her belief system,
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- Which was an unbelief system in god.
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- And that's how he became a christian.
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- But the one thing that causes most people
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- To deny the existence of god is being disappointed by god.
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- That's the experience that causes people to question god.
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- The loss of a child, the betrayal of a mate,
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- The abuse of a parent, unanswered prayer
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- All cause people to be profoundly disappointed in god
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- And come to the conclusion there must not be a god.
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- You know, evolution is man's attempt
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- To create an alternate explanation for the origin of life,
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- The origin of the universe.
- 00:10:06.262 --> 00:10:08.030
- The atheist either rejects god
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- Or at least attempts to refashion god.
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- Many so-called people of faith do that.
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- I think about harold kushner, who years ago, the rabbi,
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- Wrote the book "when bad things happen to good people."
- 00:10:20.776 --> 00:10:23.879
- He wrote the book after experiencing
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- The death of his young son to a terrible disease.
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- Rabbi kushner claimed that, quote,
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- "even god has a hard time keeping chaos in check."
- 00:10:31.253 --> 00:10:36.092
- And then he came to the conclusion that, quote,
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- "god is a god of justice but not of power."
- 00:10:38.160 --> 00:10:42.765
- Another rabbi who read that said,
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- "if that's who god is, he needs to resign today
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- And let somebody more competent take over."
- 00:10:48.537 --> 00:10:51.640
- But that's what an unbeliever does.
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- They try to refashion god.
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- One wag said it this way,
- 00:10:56.345 --> 00:10:57.847
- "in the beginning, god created man in his own image.
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- And ever since that time,
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- Man has tried to return the favor."
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- This idea that you can't reconcile a belief in god
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- With a belief in science is based on circular reasoning.
- 00:11:09.191 --> 00:11:13.996
- Let me explain what i mean by that.
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- Everybody who's been to a basic science class in school
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- Knows about the scientific method.
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- We're taught that the only way
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- You can have a reasonable explanation for a hypothesis,
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- The only way you can prove a hypothesis statement
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- Of why something happened, it has to be based in observation
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- Of that which is visible over a long period of time.
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- If you're going to be scientific,
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- You have to be rooted in naturalism.
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- What is naturalism?
- 00:11:46.829 --> 00:11:48.197
- Naturalism says nature is all that there is.
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- Alvin plantinga is a philosopher, and he nails it perfectly
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- When he talks about the absurdity
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- Of such a circular argument.
- 00:11:58.374 --> 00:12:00.509
- He said, "it's like the drunk who insisted
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- On looking for his lost car keys only under the streetlight
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- On the grounds that the light was better there.
- 00:12:08.884 --> 00:12:12.021
- In fact, it goes the drunk one better.
- 00:12:12.021 --> 00:12:14.490
- It would insist that because the keys
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- Would be hard to find in the dark,
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- They must be under the light."
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- To limit our search for the origin of the universe
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- By only that which is under the light,
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- That which can be seen,
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- Is to limit an honest exploration for the truth.
- 00:12:30.339 --> 00:12:34.977
- Now that leads us to a question.
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- Can we prove the existence of god?
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- And the answer is no.
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- You can't prove the existence
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- Of a supernatural invisible being.
- 00:12:45.754 --> 00:12:48.924
- But there's a difference between proof and evidence.
- 00:12:48.924 --> 00:12:52.895
- We're going to look at four powerful arguments
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- For the existence of god.
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- Today, we're going to look at just the first one,
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- And it's the cosmological evidence.
- 00:13:01.070 --> 00:13:03.606
- I could summarize this argument this way.
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- Why is there something instead of nothing?
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- Why is there something instead of nothing?
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- Look around you right now.
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- Look up from your notes.
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- Look around.
- 00:13:17.953 --> 00:13:19.288
- Why is there a pulpit?
- 00:13:19.788 --> 00:13:24.059
- Why is there a pastor?
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- Why is there somebody sitting next to me?
- 00:13:26.996 --> 00:13:29.965
- If we could look above,
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- Why is there a sun, and moon, and stars?
- 00:13:31.233 --> 00:13:34.036
- Why is there something rather than nothing at all?
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- Second question you ought to ask yourself
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- Is why do i see anything at all?
- 00:13:41.243 --> 00:13:44.313
- Why is there something rather than nothing?
- 00:13:44.313 --> 00:13:46.815
- Why do i see anything at all?
- 00:13:46.815 --> 00:13:49.551
- And if you really want to blow your mind,
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- Ask yourself the question, why am i asking this question?
- 00:13:51.287 --> 00:13:55.291
- (congregants laughing)
- 00:13:55.291 --> 00:13:56.725
- How do you explain everything that we see or feel?
- 00:13:56.725 --> 00:14:00.629
- Now, here's the atheist explanation
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- For why we see something instead of nothing.
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- The atheist says the answer is no one times nothing
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- Equals everything.
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- No one times nothing equals everything.
- 00:14:14.310 --> 00:14:18.314
- Out of nothing, because of no one, comes everything we have.
- 00:14:18.314 --> 00:14:22.551
- Now think what a silly argument that is.
- 00:14:22.551 --> 00:14:25.988
- Look at the cosmos, the cosmos, the universe.
- 00:14:25.988 --> 00:14:30.326
- Think for just a moment about the immensity of the cosmos.
- 00:14:30.326 --> 00:14:34.363
- This is going to blow your mind.
- 00:14:34.363 --> 00:14:36.298
- We live in the milky way galaxy.
- 00:14:36.932 --> 00:14:39.768
- Everybody knows that.
- 00:14:39.768 --> 00:14:40.936
- We're in the milky way galaxy.
- 00:14:40.936 --> 00:14:43.005
- There are over 100 billion stars
- 00:14:43.005 --> 00:14:46.909
- In the milky way galaxy.
- 00:14:46.909 --> 00:14:49.178
- The average distance,
- 00:14:49.178 --> 00:14:50.879
- And i looked this up last night to be sure,
- 00:14:50.879 --> 00:14:52.915
- The average distance from one star to the next star
- 00:14:52.915 --> 00:14:56.018
- In our galaxy is 30 trillion miles.
- 00:14:56.018 --> 00:15:01.357
- Now, to give you an idea how far 30 trillion miles is,
- 00:15:02.458 --> 00:15:06.462
- Just imagine getting
- 00:15:06.929 --> 00:15:08.163
- One of the decommissioned space shuttles.
- 00:15:08.163 --> 00:15:10.632
- They're going to loan it to you for a little while
- 00:15:10.632 --> 00:15:12.401
- To take a journey by space.
- 00:15:12.401 --> 00:15:15.270
- The space shuttle travels at 17,000 miles an hour,
- 00:15:15.270 --> 00:15:19.842
- Five miles a second.
- 00:15:19.842 --> 00:15:21.844
- If you were to get in that space shuttle, and take off,
- 00:15:21.844 --> 00:15:24.980
- And go to the next star 30 trillion miles away,
- 00:15:24.980 --> 00:15:30.319
- It would take you 201,000 years to get there,
- 00:15:31.286 --> 00:15:35.090
- Traveling at 17,000 miles an hour.
- 00:15:35.090 --> 00:15:38.494
- To put it another way,
- 00:15:38.494 --> 00:15:40.162
- Let's say that you were to take off in the space shuttle
- 00:15:40.162 --> 00:15:44.400
- On the day christ was born in bethlehem.
- 00:15:44.400 --> 00:15:47.970
- From then until now, you've been traveling
- 00:15:47.970 --> 00:15:50.539
- At 17,000 miles an hour.
- 00:15:50.539 --> 00:15:53.542
- You would've only completed 1% of your trip
- 00:15:53.542 --> 00:15:57.579
- Toward that star by today.
- 00:15:57.579 --> 00:15:59.748
- You would still have 99% more of the trip to go.
- 00:15:59.748 --> 00:16:03.085
- That would be to get you to the next star.
- 00:16:03.085 --> 00:16:06.355
- How do you explain that?
- 00:16:06.355 --> 00:16:09.591
- Well, you know what the atheist says?
- 00:16:08.357 --> 00:16:11.226
- The atheist says there is no explanation.
- 00:16:11.226 --> 00:16:14.196
- There doesn't need to be an explanation
- 00:16:14.196 --> 00:16:16.298
- Because the universe is eternal,
- 00:16:16.298 --> 00:16:18.867
- And whatever is eternal doesn't need a beginning.
- 00:16:18.867 --> 00:16:23.539
- And that's true.
- 00:16:23.539 --> 00:16:24.907
- If it's eternal, it doesn't need a beginning.
- 00:16:24.907 --> 00:16:27.576
- But guess what scientists have discovered?
- 00:16:27.576 --> 00:16:30.312
- We have a beginning to our universe.
- 00:16:30.312 --> 00:16:34.049
- The second law of thermodynamics
- 00:16:34.049 --> 00:16:37.119
- Says that the universe is running out of energy.
- 00:16:37.119 --> 00:16:40.823
- It's winding down.
- 00:16:40.823 --> 00:16:42.524
- Now think about this.
- 00:16:42.524 --> 00:16:43.926
- If the universe is eternal, it has an eternal past.
- 00:16:43.926 --> 00:16:47.963
- And if it has an eternal past,
- 00:16:47.963 --> 00:16:49.364
- Then it would've already run out of energy by now.
- 00:16:49.364 --> 00:16:52.835
- And more and more scientists are coming to see that.
- 00:16:52.835 --> 00:16:55.671
- In the 1930s, there was a belgian priest
- 00:16:55.671 --> 00:16:59.007
- Who became an astronomer named georges lemaitre,
- 00:16:59.007 --> 00:17:02.411
- And he theorized that the entire universe
- 00:17:02.411 --> 00:17:05.614
- Had been packed in a dense collection of matter
- 00:17:05.614 --> 00:17:09.351
- That existed at temperatures of trillion of degrees.
- 00:17:09.351 --> 00:17:13.255
- And then about 13.7 billion years ago,
- 00:17:13.255 --> 00:17:16.792
- There was an explosion.
- 00:17:16.792 --> 00:17:18.460
- He called it the cosmic egg
- 00:17:18.460 --> 00:17:21.096
- That exploded the moment of creation.
- 00:17:21.096 --> 00:17:24.099
- Sir frederick hoyle later changed that to the big bang.
- 00:17:24.099 --> 00:17:28.237
- And it was the same theory,
- 00:17:28.237 --> 00:17:29.671
- That there was a massive matter that suddenly exploded
- 00:17:29.671 --> 00:17:33.675
- And became the universe.
- 00:17:33.675 --> 00:17:35.444
- Respected astronomers like edwin hubble,
- 00:17:35.444 --> 00:17:38.380
- For whom the hubble telescope was named,
- 00:17:38.380 --> 00:17:41.183
- Confirmed that there had been a myriad of galaxies
- 00:17:41.183 --> 00:17:44.486
- Beyond our galaxy, the universe is expanding,
- 00:17:44.486 --> 00:17:47.689
- Therefore it had a beginning as well.
- 00:17:47.689 --> 00:17:51.059
- Interestingly, on april the 23rd of 1992,
- 00:17:51.059 --> 00:17:54.963
- A team of scientists released the findings
- 00:17:54.963 --> 00:17:57.966
- From the cosmic background explorer satellite, cobe,
- 00:17:57.966 --> 00:18:01.970
- That confirmed what hubble and lemaitre said,
- 00:18:01.970 --> 00:18:04.806
- That there had to be a beginning of the universe.
- 00:18:04.806 --> 00:18:08.644
- Could i add something here?
- 00:18:08.644 --> 00:18:11.313
- Science is not the enemy of christianity,
- 00:18:11.313 --> 00:18:14.483
- As long as it's true science.
- 00:18:14.483 --> 00:18:17.319
- True science will always lead you to the truth.
- 00:18:17.319 --> 00:18:20.889
- Scientists have discovered
- 00:18:20.889 --> 00:18:22.558
- There had to be a beginning of our universe.
- 00:18:22.558 --> 00:18:26.895
- Interestingly, even atheists are willing to concede that.
- 00:18:26.895 --> 00:18:31.867
- David hume, the scottish philosopher that i told you about,
- 00:18:31.867 --> 00:18:35.504
- An atheist, said, quote, "but allow me to tell you
- 00:18:35.504 --> 00:18:39.241
- That i never asserted so absurd a proposition
- 00:18:39.241 --> 00:18:44.580
- As that anything might arise without a cause."
- 00:18:45.480 --> 00:18:49.151
- Ladies and gentlemen, it is a simple but profound truth.
- 00:18:49.151 --> 00:18:52.754
- Out of nothing comes nothing.
- 00:18:52.754 --> 00:18:56.925
- Anything that has a beginning has to have a cause.
- 00:18:57.960 --> 00:19:01.563
- Now i know what you're thinking.
- 00:19:01.563 --> 00:19:02.831
- You're looking at me.
- 00:19:02.831 --> 00:19:04.566
- I can read your mind.
- 00:19:04.566 --> 00:19:06.368
- You think, wait a minute, pastor,
- 00:19:06.368 --> 00:19:08.770
- You've just said that the universe
- 00:19:08.770 --> 00:19:13.041
- Had to have a first cause.
- 00:19:13.041 --> 00:19:15.611
- And you think it's god.
- 00:19:15.611 --> 00:19:17.879
- Who created god?
- 00:19:17.879 --> 00:19:19.681
- Where did god come from?
- 00:19:19.681 --> 00:19:21.750
- Now, don't miss this point.
- 00:19:21.750 --> 00:19:23.785
- Both atheist and creationist agree on this one point,
- 00:19:23.785 --> 00:19:28.223
- That if something is eternal,
- 00:19:28.223 --> 00:19:30.192
- It doesn't have to have a first cause.
- 00:19:30.192 --> 00:19:32.427
- Here's the difference.
- 00:19:32.427 --> 00:19:33.362
- The atheist used to believe
- 00:19:33.362 --> 00:19:35.030
- That the universe itself was eternal.
- 00:19:35.030 --> 00:19:37.499
- It didn't need a first cause.
- 00:19:37.499 --> 00:19:39.901
- The universe was eternal, not demanding a first cause.
- 00:19:39.901 --> 00:19:43.138
- But now science, true science, has led to the conclusion
- 00:19:43.138 --> 00:19:47.542
- That there was a beginning of the universe.
- 00:19:47.542 --> 00:19:49.945
- And because there was a beginning,
- 00:19:49.945 --> 00:19:51.580
- There now has to be a cause, a first cause for the universe,
- 00:19:51.580 --> 00:19:56.852
- For the matter and for the energy that caused the explosion.
- 00:19:58.120 --> 00:20:00.455
- Interestingly, that new atheist, richard dawkins,
- 00:20:00.455 --> 00:20:04.059
- Who wrote "the god delusion,"
- 00:20:04.059 --> 00:20:05.927
- Concedes very much there could be a first cause.
- 00:20:05.927 --> 00:20:10.599
- In an interview with time magazine, dawkins said, quote,
- 00:20:10.599 --> 00:20:14.369
- "there could be something incredibly grand,
- 00:20:14.369 --> 00:20:17.906
- And incomprehensible, and beyond our present understanding."
- 00:20:17.906 --> 00:20:22.711
- When the reporter asked him if that something could be god,
- 00:20:22.711 --> 00:20:28.083
- Dawkins replied, "yes.
- 00:20:28.583 --> 00:20:31.887
- But it also could be any of a billion gods.
- 00:20:31.887 --> 00:20:35.891
- It could be the god of the martians,
- 00:20:35.891 --> 00:20:38.427
- Or the inhabitants of alpha centauri.
- 00:20:38.427 --> 00:20:41.196
- The chance of it being a particular god, yahweh,
- 00:20:41.196 --> 00:20:45.267
- The god of jesus, is banishingly small."
- 00:20:45.267 --> 00:20:49.638
- I love author mark middleburg's rejoinder
- 00:20:50.505 --> 00:20:53.508
- To dawkins' statement.
- 00:20:53.508 --> 00:20:54.810
- He said, "you can call him what you want.
- 00:20:54.810 --> 00:20:57.946
- But the evidence from the origin of the universe
- 00:20:57.946 --> 00:21:00.315
- Tells us a lot about what he is like,
- 00:21:00.315 --> 00:21:03.352
- And the description sounds amazingly similar
- 00:21:03.352 --> 00:21:06.388
- To what the bible tells us about one particular god
- 00:21:06.388 --> 00:21:10.492
- Who actually is called yahweh, the god of jesus,
- 00:21:10.492 --> 00:21:13.995
- The creator of the world."
- 00:21:13.995 --> 00:21:16.665
- The often asked question, and if there's a god,
- 00:21:17.666 --> 00:21:19.134
- Why hasn't he revealed himself,
- 00:21:19.134 --> 00:21:21.870
- Fails to take into account all the ways
- 00:21:21.870 --> 00:21:23.972
- He has revealed himself,
- 00:21:23.972 --> 00:21:25.674
- Starting with the cosmos, with nature.
- 00:21:25.674 --> 00:21:28.510
- The psalmist declared in psalm 19:1,
- 00:21:28.510 --> 00:21:31.179
- "the heavens declare the glory of god,
- 00:21:31.179 --> 00:21:34.416
- And the skies proclaim the work of his hand."
- 00:21:34.416 --> 00:21:38.420
- When famed astronaut john glenn
- 00:21:38.420 --> 00:21:41.390
- Was given permission at age 77 to fly on the space shuttle,
- 00:21:41.390 --> 00:21:46.728
- On that flight, he looked out the window and remarked,
- 00:21:47.829 --> 00:21:51.066
- "to look out at this kind of creation
- 00:21:51.066 --> 00:21:54.503
- And not believe in god is, to me, impossible."
- 00:21:54.503 --> 00:21:59.641
- Now, let's concede one thing atheist richard dawkins said.
- 00:22:00.809 --> 00:22:05.080
- It's a giant leap from a first cause of creation
- 00:22:05.080 --> 00:22:10.018
- To the god of abraham, isaac, and jacob.
- 00:22:10.886 --> 00:22:13.588
- It's hard to get that out of the cosmological argument,
- 00:22:13.588 --> 00:22:17.726
- But fortunately, that's not the only evidence god has left.
- 00:22:17.726 --> 00:22:21.530
- There are three other sets of god's fingerprints
- 00:22:21.530 --> 00:22:25.934
- We're going to look at next time
- 00:22:26.568 --> 00:22:28.837
- That help us answer the question,
- 00:22:28.837 --> 00:22:31.072
- How can i know there is a god?
- 00:22:31.072 --> 00:22:34.142
- ♪ music ♪
- 00:22:34.142 --> 00:22:39.281
- The psalmist said,
- 00:22:39.281 --> 00:22:40.615
- "the heavens are declaring the glory of god.
- 00:22:40.615 --> 00:22:43.285
- The skies proclaim the work of his hands."
- 00:22:43.285 --> 00:22:46.588
- And i hope you'll make plans to join us again next time
- 00:22:46.588 --> 00:22:49.691
- Because we're going to continue addressing
- 00:22:49.691 --> 00:22:51.626
- This important question, how can i know there is a god?
- 00:22:51.626 --> 00:22:55.997
- Well, we're embarking on a brand new year together,
- 00:22:55.997 --> 00:22:59.434
- A fresh start.
- 00:22:59.434 --> 00:23:01.069
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- Would you be willing
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- To join this special group of supporters
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- Who are working together to pierce the darkness
- 00:23:27.829 --> 00:23:31.099
- With the light of god's word.
- 00:23:31.099 --> 00:23:33.101
- Now stay right there.
- 00:23:33.101 --> 00:23:34.402
- I'll be back with more "pathway to victory"
- 00:23:34.402 --> 00:23:36.872
- In just a moment.
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- [announcer] if a friend or one of your children
- 00:23:39.407 --> 00:23:41.376
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- 00:23:41.376 --> 00:23:42.811
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- It's titled "how can i know?"
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- If we're honest, every one of us
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- Has questions about our faith,
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- Questions like, how can i know the bible is true
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- Or how can i know god exists?
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- In my book "how can i know?"
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- I tackle seven important questions
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- You can embrace with confidence.
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- [announcer] seven straightforward answers
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- 00:25:02.824 --> 00:25:08.697
- Even the staunchest atheist must concede
- 00:25:09.564 --> 00:25:12.567
- There really could be a god.
- 00:25:12.567 --> 00:25:14.970
- The existence of the universe
- 00:25:14.970 --> 00:25:16.438
- Is too hard to explain otherwise.
- 00:25:16.438 --> 00:25:19.107
- But while the cosmological evidence
- 00:25:19.107 --> 00:25:21.076
- Is a powerful argument for the existence of god,
- 00:25:21.076 --> 00:25:24.379
- The atheist is right when he says it's a giant leap of faith
- 00:25:24.379 --> 00:25:28.516
- To go from a first cause to the personal god of the bible.
- 00:25:28.516 --> 00:25:32.988
- Gratefully, god has left
- 00:25:32.988 --> 00:25:34.322
- Some other fingerprints in the universe
- 00:25:34.322 --> 00:25:36.858
- That tell us even more about himself.
- 00:25:36.858 --> 00:25:39.494
- And next time, we're going to look
- 00:25:39.494 --> 00:25:40.996
- At three more powerful arguments for the existence of god.
- 00:25:40.996 --> 00:25:45.533
- Stay tuned for a preview of what's coming up next
- 00:25:45.533 --> 00:25:47.969
- In our series how can i know?
- 00:25:47.969 --> 00:25:50.872
- Where does the evidence lead you?
- 00:25:51.606 --> 00:25:54.142
- What decision are you going to make?
- 00:25:54.142 --> 00:25:57.412
- To ignore the evidence that we've looked at today
- 00:25:58.413 --> 00:26:01.116
- For the existence of god is to, like one person said,
- 00:26:01.116 --> 00:26:05.720
- "slide into eternity with your fingers crossed
- 00:26:05.720 --> 00:26:10.925
- Hoping you're right."
- 00:26:11.426 --> 00:26:13.728
- [announcer] set your dvr and join us next time
- 00:26:14.663 --> 00:26:16.564
- For part two of the message how can i know there is a god
- 00:26:16.564 --> 00:26:20.502
- Here on "pathway to victory."
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- If you could go back in time
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