After firmly grounding us on
truth in the previous chapter, Sterrett offers up the teleological, kalam
cosmological and moral arguments to answer the question of this chapter. He gives
a high level view of each of the arguments as follows:
Teleological
Argument
Design can be inferred from what
we see around us. Sterrett points to the fine tuning of the universe and the
structure and order of DNA as examples. God has revealed Himself as the
Intelligent Designer.
Kalam
Cosmological Argument
1. Everything that had a
beginning had a cause.
2. The universe had a beginning.
3. Therefore, the universe had a
cause.
Premise one is the principle of causality.
Sterrett states that science would be impossible without this principle and
even David Hume did not deny it.
Premise two has been increasingly
supported by scientific discoveries within the last century. He gives Hubble’s
discovery of the red shift in 1927 as an example and discusses that discoveries
like this have led people like Stephen Hawking and Robert Jastrow to believe in
a universe that began.
The conclusion logically follows
and Sterrett points out that it takes much more faith to believe that no one
caused the universe than it does to believe that someone caused it. God has
revealed Himself as the First Cause.
Moral Argument
Sterret appeals to our undeniable experience of an objective moral law. Every law has a lawgiver thus this moral law must have a moral lawgiver. God has revealed Himself as the Moral Lawgiver.
He concludes the chapter with a reason
to trust Jesus. He asks the reader to examine themselves and see that they are unable
to keep the moral law. God has revealed himself in Jesus and through Him He
personally engaged our sinful human condition. He kept the moral law. Through His
death He paid for our failure to keep the moral law. And He reconciled us to Himself
through these two actions which culminated in His resurrection.
Stand firm in Christ,
Chase
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