The primary purpose of The Reason for God is to prove that God and reason coexist. Tim Keller wrote the book to address objections to Christianity and discuss its credibility. It also demonstrates that it is beneficial to explore complex questions about faith. Tim Keller argues that Christianity stands upon sound reasoning and will continue to stand even when faced with difficult questions, so its claims of truth are valid. My application thesis aligns with Tim Keller’s thesis on The Reason for God. Firstly, the book explained and countered many popular doubts that people have about Christianity, which strengthened my faith because I have considered some of them. Secondly, I can use the supplemental information about the veracity of Christianity …show more content…
If he had a perfect understanding of God, he would not be God. Next, Keller provided information for skeptics about why the Biblical account can be trusted. Many non-believers are content to believe an alternate account of the beginning of the Church. People at that time, it is said, did not have scientific and supernatural happenings. They could easily have fallen prey to reports of a risen Jesus, because they believed that resurrections from the dead were possible. Jesus’s followers were heartbroken when he was killed. Since they believed he was the Messiah, they may have begun to sense that he was still with them, guiding them, living on in their hearts in spirit (211). Many people believe this complicated story, in order to deny the truth of the resurrection. However, Keller references 1 Corinthians 15:3-6, where Paul “not only speaks of the empty tomb and resurrection on the ‘third day’ (showing he is talking of a historical event, not a symbol or metaphor) but he also lists the eyewitnesses” (212). This proves that Jesus’s resurrection was not only remembered through the four gospel
The controversial topic involving the existence of God has been the pinnacle of endless discourse surrounding the concept of religion in the field of philosophy. However, two arguments proclaim themselves to be the “better” way of justifying the existence of God: The Cosmological Argument and the Mystical Argument. While both arguments attempt to enforce strict modus operandi of solidified reasoning, neither prove to be a better way of explaining the existence of God. The downfall of both these arguments rests on commitment of fallacies and lack of sufficient evidence, as a result sabotaging their validity in the field of philosophy and faith.
The Question of God is divided into two parts. The first part, titled: “What Should We Believe” seeks to answer the first half of the questio...
The problem of evil is a difficult objection to contend with for theists. Indeed, major crises of faith can occur after observing or experiencing the wide variety and depths of suffering in the world. It also stands that these “evils” of suffering call into question the existence of an omnibenevolent and omnipotent God of the Judeo-Christian tradition. The “greater good defense” tries to account for some of the issues presented, but still has flaws of its own.
A Christian apologetic method is a verbal defense of the biblical worldview. A proof is giving a reason for why we believe. This paper will address the philosophical question of God’s existence from the moral argument. The presuppositional apologetic method of Reformed thinkers Cornelius Van Til and John Frame will be the framework. Topics covered here could undoubtedly be developed in more depth, but that would be getting ahead, here is the big picture.
Theology is an intentionally reflective endeavor. Every day we reflect upon the real, vital, and true experience of the benevolent God that exists. We as humans tend to be social beings, and being so we communicate our beliefs with one another in order to validate ourselves. Furthermore atheism has many forms, three of the most popular atheistic beliefs include: scientific atheism, humanistic atheism and the most popular one being protest atheism. Scientific atheism is the idea that science is the answer for everything and god is not existent. The humanistic approach states that society is self-sufficient; therefore God is not needed for survival. Therefore how could he exist? The position that I will argue in this paper is the pessimistic idea of protest atheism.
There are several aspects to consider when exploring the Christian worldview. There are many facets or denominations and they each have their own distinct beliefs and practices, but they all share the same fundamental beliefs. In this Paper we will explore the character of God, His creation, humanity and its nature, Jesus’ significance to the world, and the restoration of humanity, as well as my beliefs and the way that I interact with Christianity and my personal worldview.
Reason can be defined as trying to understand God and the explanation behind his decisions. We can understand God, and reason gives us hope at understanding God through scripture. Reason is a tool that we can use to discern and interpret God’s word and to gain insight into God’s character and personality. The nature of God is eternal, omniscient, omnipresent, and supernatural, and reason provides a lens to look at the behavior of God through his nature. “God is not irrational,” and there is a reason behind everything that he does (WQL 5). Reason is a valuable tool for the Wesleyan Quadrilateral but reason does not stand
Westerholm’s central thesis is that for Paul, the greatest problem that humans face is their sin, therefore, the greatest need humans have is divine grace and the only solution is the substitutionary work of Christ on the cross. In this discussion of Justification, Westerholm
In today’s modern western society, it has become increasingly popular to not identify with any religion, namely Christianity. The outlook that people have today on the existence of God and the role that He plays in our world has changed drastically since the Enlightenment Period. Many look solely to the concept of reason, or the phenomenon that allows human beings to use their senses to draw conclusions about the world around them, to try and understand the environment that they live in. However, there are some that look to faith, or the concept of believing in a higher power as the reason for our existence. Being that this is a fundamental issue for humanity, there have been many attempts to explain what role each concept plays. It is my belief that faith and reason are both needed to gain knowledge for three reasons: first, both concepts coexist with one another; second, each deals with separate realms of reality, and third, one without the other can lead to cases of extremism.
The mystery of God's existence has been a crucial element of many religious studies and traditions. Who is God? What is God? Where is God? To effectively discuss the existence of God, it is necessary to illustrate the notion of faith. People of faith believe that God does exist, and that relationship with God gives meaning to their lives. Others who are skeptical point to God as an obsolete hope of an ignorant human race. People today live in a world distinguished by sophisticated technology in which modern science has been a strong agent in questioning the existence of God.
There are strong arguments from a multitude of viewpoints on this issue which has played an integral role in both the justification for religious faith and the understanding of human character. Although often presented as a downfall of religious belief his essay has shown that a rational belief in God, a being who is omniscient, omnipotent and omnibenevolent, is sustainable, despite the evil that exists in the world. This conclusion is possible through three distinct theodicies including the free will defence and soul-making defence and the inconsistencies in the Mackie and Rowe’s arguments. The problem of evil will likely never be able to finally conclude whether an atheist or theist interpretation of the role of evil in the existence of God is more logically sounds, but it is important that all view-points are considered to form an informed opinion for
But when it comes to Christianity, if Jesus resurrection did not happen, there’s nothing, forget about Christianity. Jesus in His time made many claims that shock every people heart
Firstly, let us discuss the argument of faith vs. reason. Faith and reason will always be in conflict with one another, especially between the non-believers and the believers of the Christian faith. According to French mathematician Blaise Pascal, there is no rational proof for God’s existence. Pascal, however, argued that it is justifiable to believe in God if you assume he does exist. Let us imagine that God does exist but you get external punishment all because you did not believe i...
Nevertheless, the author gives the readers a comprehensive feedback on the theological discussions on justification with regards to Christ. Also, in this article is the proposes practices which modern evangelism might adopt to enhance the process of justification among believers. This way, the journal tends to integrate both modern and past understanding of justification. Kärkkäinen, V. M. (2004).
Many arguments to prove the existence of God involve philosophical, logical, arguments. However, not all arguments to prove the existence of God relate to such abstract arguments, and one such argument involves religious experiences which many people around the world experience. This paper will critically evaluate the philosophical understanding of the essence and variations of religious experiences and its consequences for the argument from religious experience for the existence of God. The first part of the essay examines the definitions, characteristics and types of religious experience, provides a critical evaluation of these characteristics and types of religious experience, and explores two alternative explanations for such experiences.