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In vandag se episode gesels ek saam met Patric Daniels oor die belangrkheid van objektiewe waarheid, die bewystukke vir God se bestaan, sowal as die redes hoekom daar net een opperwese/God kan wees.

Patric is 'n Christen vir 25 jaar en dien as a wyksraadslid in ons plaaslike munisipaliteit. Ek het vir Pat (soos almal hom ken) ontmoet toe ek 19 was en sedert dan het hy 'n geweldige belangrike rol in my en my vrou se lewe gespeel as 'n mentor, 'n broer en 'n vriend.

Ek het nogaltyd baat gevind by sy wyshied en leiding so ek hoop dat sy deelname aan hierdie episode vir jou 'n seën sal wees.

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MONOTHEISM

Why there can only be one God

INTRODUCTION:

In the previous episodes we looked at three arguments for the existence of God. They are:

The Cosmological Argument which goes like this:

1. Everything that begins to exist has a cause.

2. The universe began to exist.

3. Therefore, the universe has a cause.

The Teleological Argument which goes like this:

1. Every design had a designer

2. The universe has highly complex design

3. Therefore, the universe had a designer

The moral Argument which goes like this:

1. Every law has a lawgiver

2. There is a moral law

3. Therefore, there is a moral lawgiver

THE PRIME REALITY

The attributes of God:

1. God must be uncaused

2. God must be timeless, spaceless and Immaterial

3. God must be powerful

4. God must be intelligent:

5. God must be personal.

6. God must be moral.

WORLDVIEWS:

1. Atheism

2. Agnosticism

3. Pantheism

4. Panentheism

5. Deism

6. Polytheism

7. Monotheism

CONCLUSION:

Alright, that’s all from me today. Let’s recap. In today’s episode we learned that for any being to be God they must be timeless, spaceless, immaterial, personal, powerful, moral and infinite. We also consider the different world views and confirmed that monotheism is most compatible with these characteristics of God.

Now, we know that Judaism, Christianity and Islam are the major monotheistic religions, but they contradict each other in terms of their understanding if the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Christians believe that Jesus is God while Muslims and Jews deny this claim. Therefore, if Christianity is true then Judaism and Islam is false.

FORECAST:

In the next episode I will present the evidence for the reliability of the New Testament. Why? If the New Testament is reliable then we can consider Jesus’s claims to be God objectively. And if Jesus’ claims to be God is true then Christianity is true. And if Christianity is true then every other religion that contradicts Christianity is false.

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OUTLINE:

INTRODUCTION:

The Cosmological Argument:

The Teleological Argument

THE MORAL ARGUMENT:

The argument goes like this:

1. Every law has a law giver.

2. There is a Moral Law.

3. Therefore, there is a Moral Law Giver.

An Atheist Perspective on Morality

DISTINCTIONS:

Values and duties:

Objective vs Subjective moral values and duties.

BREAKDOWN OF ARGUMENT

Premise 1:

Every law has a law giver.

Premise 2:

There is a moral law.

Conclusion:

So, since we have established that the first and second premise holds true then the conclusion follows necessarily. Every law does have a law giver. There is a moral law. Therefore, there is a moral law giver.

FORCAST:

In the next episode we will draw up a profile or the kind of Cause that was responsible for the characteristics that we observe in our known universe. We will refer to the cosmological, teleological and moral arguments to compile a definition of a cause or creator that we will use as a reference point as we consider different world views going forward.

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In today's episode we consider womanhood from a biblical perspective.

We live in a day and age where people claim to have the ability to change their "gender" but the bible teaches us that God, when He created us, created us as male and female (Genesis 1:26-27).

In this teaching we look at passages in Genesis 1, 2 and 3, 1 Timothy 2, 1 Peter 3 and Ephesians 5 and Titus 2 to look at:

1) God's original purpose for women
2) How the fall has distorted and corrupted the value and purpose of women
3) How God, in Christ, has restored the value and purpose of women (and men) in the context of Christian communities.

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Does God exist? The Teleological Argument

INTRODUCTION:

In the previous episode we considered the Cosmological argument for the existence of God.

THE TELEOLOGICAL ARGUMENT:

In today’s episode we will consider the Teleological Argument, also known as the argument from design. The argument goes like this:

Premise 1:

Every design had a designer

Premise 2:

The universe has highly complex design

Conclusion:

Therefore, the universe had a designer

THE FINE-TUNING OF THE UNIVERSE:

Anthropic constants:

1. Oxygen level:

2. Atmospheric Transparency:

3. Moon-Earth Gravitational Interaction

4. Carbon Dioxide Level:

5. Gravity:

6. Expansion rate:

7. Jupiter:

8. Rotation of the earth:

THE FOUNDATION OF LIFE:

We not only see this kind of precise fine tuning in terms of the initial conditions at the big bang, but we also see this kind of fine tuning at the foundations of life. Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft says it like this:

“DNA is like a computer program but far, far more advanced than any software ever created”

Initial and new life forms:
Think about what that means. You need the code from DNA for life to have originated. You also need new DNA code in order for new life forms to exist. So, if you need the digital code from DNA for the initial life to exist then the code from DNA could not have resulted from evolutionary processes.

Where does the information come from?
This begs the question: Where does the information come from? Well as Dr Meyer pointed out, in our uniform and repeated experience (Which is the basis for all scientific reasoning), all specified information—that is to say, functional information that produces a specific result—comes from a mind or an intelligence.

Explanation for fine tuning:
What is the best explanation of these precise realities? There are only three options.

Physical necessity:

Chance:

Intelligence:

SUMMARIZE:

To summarize, we have looked at evidence from the anthropic constants as well as the information encoded in the DNA molecule that indicates that the universe is designed. Anytime we see design, like a watch or a car, we know there is a designer. And anytime we see specified information like “Roland loves Jo-Ann” we know that there is an intelligent source—a mind—behind it.

CONCLUSION:

So what have we learned from the first two arguments for the existence of God? From the cosmological argument we have learned that the universe has a cause, and that cause is extremely powerful. Form the Teleologic argument (The argument form design) we have learned that the universe has a cause, and that cause is extremely intelligent. It seems Isaac Newton was right.

FORECAST:

In the next episode we will consider the Moral argument for the existence of God. We will be considering whether morality (right and wrong) is subjective or objective and how that relates to the existence of God.

That’s it for today, and until the next time, remember, the truth matters and so do you!

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Arguments for the existence of God

INTRODUCTION:

Does God exist? This is the question that we will be considering in today’s podcast episode. Here’s the claim:

“God exists”

Objective or subjective?

If you remember, the first thing we do when we are confronted with a truth claim is to ask: is this a subjective or objective truth claim?

Category of truth:

In which category of truth does this claim belong? Is it a material, menta/conceptual, metaphysical or moral truth claim?

Method of inquiry:

Now which academic discipline or method of inquiry is best suited to answer this all-important question?

THREE ARGUMENTS:

The three arguments we will consider today are:

· The Cosmological Argument

· The Teleological Argument (Argument from design)

· Moral Argument

The Cosmological Argument:

CLIP: William Lane Craig

The argument is formulated as follows:

1) Whatever begins to exist has a cause

2) The universe began to exist

3) Therefore, the universe has a cause

Premise 1: Whatever begins to exist has a cause

Premise 1—also known as the Law of causality—is the fundamental principle of science. Without the Law of Causality science is impossible.

Premise 2: The universe began to exist

The second premise of the cosmological argument states that the universe began to exist.

Philosophical argument:

The philosophical argument goes like this:

1) An infinite number of days has no end.

2) But today is the end day of history (History being a collection of all days).

3) Therefore, there were not an infinite number of days before today (i.e., time had a beginning).

Scientific evidence:

S—The Second Law of Thermodynamics

The second law of thermodynamics (also known as the Law of Entropy) states that the universe is running out of usable energy.

U—The Universe Is Expanding

The second line of evidence is the fact that the universe is expanding.

No Time, No Space, No Matter

Let’s imagine we were watching a video of the history of expansion of the universe in reverse. We will see all matter in the universe collapse back to a point where the expansion started.

R—Radiation from the big bang

The phenomenon is technically known as cosmic background radiation and this afterglow is the light and heat from the initial explosion. The light has become invisible due to the expanding universe, but the heat can still be detected.

G—Great galaxy Seeds

If the Big Bang occurred, scientist expected to see slight variations or ripples in the temperature of the cosmic background that Penzias and Wilson had discovered.

E—Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity

The E in surge is for Einstein. His theory of general relativity is the fifth line of scientific evidence that the universe had a beginning. Einstein’s theory of general relativity demands an absolute beginning for time, space and matter.

Conclusion:

Anything that begins to exist has a cause and based on the arguments from SURGE, the universe began to exist. Therefore, the universe has a cause.

FORECAST TO NEXT EPISODE:

In the next episode we will consider the Teleological (Argument from design) as well as the Moral argument for the existence of God.

So, until then, remember:

The TRUTH MATTERS and so do YOU!