More Keller

Reason for God

It takes as much faith to believe in God that it does to not believe in God

Arguments do not stand that say "there is no God."

Argument 1:Evil and suffering. Look at all the senseless evil in the world.

In light of that, there are options. 1. God is good, not able or powerful to stop it. 2. God is powerful able to stop it, but not good because He doesn't stop it.

How do you know it is senseless evil? How do you know there's no good reason?

If you have a God who is big and powerful enough to be mad at to allow it, then you have a God who is big and powerful enough to reasons that we can't think of for allowing it. 

Argument 2: If there is a God, how can his believers done so much evil in His name?

"The discreet charms of Nihilism."

If you have the claims of God, you have turn to violence. "I have the truth, you don't."

If you don't have the claims of God you can also turn to violence. "If I can get away with it, then I'll do it."

Argument 3:You can't know there is a God. Elephant example. 

He's not a being inside this universe. Why assume that God is something inside the world that is provable. You're assuming something about the nature of God. 

It isn't as if God is able to be related to as someone on the first floor relates to someone on the 2nd floor. 

C.S.  Lewis said that it is like Shakespeare relating to Hamlet. The only way Hamlet is going to know anything about Shakespeare is if Shakespeare writes himself into the play. If there is a Creator God there should be evidence. But to say that there is no God because you can't prove it assumes something about the nature of God. If you can't prove there is no God, you're taking a leap of faith. 

Fine tuning of the universe:

Human rights:  belief that humans are so worthwhile, regardless of age, gender, social status... every human being is valuable and worthy of rights. Image of God. 

"Peter Wimsey stories" are detective novels written by Dororthy Sayers 

Sayers writes herself into the story as the character Harriet Vane who also is a detective novel writer. She falls in love with the main character and marries him and they live happily ever after. She created him. His world. Saw that he was lonely, wanted to get into that world and save him. So she wrote herself in. 

Every other religion says that God is up here and you have to get to Him. Only in Christianity do we find that God wrote himself into the play.