Listen to this Class: 01092013WhoMadeTheEarthJustRightForLifeDonRuhl

Here are the notes from the previous week: 01092013TalkingWithAtheistsAndEvolutionistsDonRuhl

Talking With Atheists and Evolutionists

First Peter 3.15

Don Ruhl • Savage Street, Grants Pass, Oregon • December 5, In the year of our Lord 2009

 

Prelude:

  1. We need tools for knowing how to talk with atheists and evolutionists. 
  2. First Peter 3.15 – We Must Speak With All People

    15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear (1Pe 3.15).

    1. Speaking with people who do not think as we do
      1. is challenging and sometimes unpleasant.
      2. Yet, motivated by love for their souls,
        1. we should want to let them know
        2. why we believe what we believe.
    2. The Bible deals with atheism.
      1. Psa 10.1–13; 14.1–3; 53.1–3; 59.7; Rom 1.18–21
      2. Consider the passages about the God of Israel versus false gods.
    3. The Bible deals with creation.
      1. Gen 1; 2; Psa 33.6–9
      2. In how many other passages does the Bible address this issue?
  3. Learn to Use Filters 
    1. Is the news reporting something that is
      1. Illogical?
      2. Unscientific?
      3. Unbiblical?
  4. Atheism and Evolution Are Tied Together 
    1. Why is that?
    2. All the arguments for and against God’s existence deal with nature.
      1. The question is: How did we get here?
      2. The two possible answers are we got here by evolution or creation.
        1. One option excludes God.
        2. The other option requires God.
    3. Therefore, we have to deal with the manifestations of God:
      1. Nature
      2. The Bible
      3. Jesus Christ
        1. We believe each of these point to the existence of God.
        2. Secularists believe nature only demonstrates evolution and they either
          1. do not believe the Bible and Jesus came from a divine source or
          2. the Bible is a fraud and Jesus never existed.
            1. Secularists never used to deny the existence of Jesus, but
            2. I attended a debate in November 1980 between Thomas B. Warren and Joe Barnhart on the issue of ethics.
              1. It was during that debate that many of us heard for the first time someone deny that Jesus ever existed.
              2. Secularists have to deny He existed, because He is the strongest argument for God’s existence that there is.

Persuasion:

  1. Four Questions for Evolutionists 
    1. Is he saying that something came from nothing?
      1. Evolutionists will tell you that evolution does not deal with the Big Bang or things of that nature, but
        1. only the beginning of life and its transformation into the various species we see today.
        2. However, we want to know how the ingredients got here.
      2. They used to affirm that something came from nothing, whereas they have modified that saying that everything was once compacted to a tiny point, perhaps as small as a period at the end of a sentence.
        1. Practically speaking, that is still affirming that something came from nothing.
      3. How do you answer the argument of the Big Bang?
    2. Is he saying that order came from chaos?
      1. What do you see wrong with this idea?
      2. Is it true simply because some scientists say it is true?
    3. Is he saying that life came from non-life?
      1. Remember pasteurized milk and you can remember that life does not come from non-life.
      2. Louis Pasteur sought a way to preserve food, such as milk, and proved along the way that if no life is present, it will not spontaneously generate.
        1. Therefore, they do not use that terminology, but others.
        2. Listen carefully.
    4. Is he saying that one kind of life turned into another kind of life?
      1. A princess kissing a frog,
        1. turning him instantly into a handsome prince is a fairy tale.
        2. Yet, a frog turning into a handsome prince through millions of years of evolution is science!
      2. Do we affirm that life came from non-life?
        1. No, we affirm that God created life.
        2. He is life.
          1. What do you say to the evolutionist who then questions where God came from?
          2. Everyone says that something is eternal.
            1. Evolutionists = matter
            2. Creationists = mind
              1. However, evolutionists place a date on matter, but now they are saying Big Bangs keep reoccurring after Big Crunches.
              2. God is eternal mind.
  2. Which Came First: A Human Woman or a Human Baby? 
    1. If a human woman, then a non-human female turned into a human female.
      1. What caused this to happen?
      2. Was this evolution or devolution?
        1. In other words, evolution implies that non-humans are not as developed as humans, that the pre-human animal had more developing to do.
    2. If a human baby, then a non-human mother gave birth to a human baby.
      1. What caused this to happen?
      2. Was this an improvement or not?
  3. The Interpretation of Fossils 
    1. Fossils only show so much information.
      1. Yet, the news shows us is fully developed creatures, with hair, body posture, et al., that most of the time we cannot tell from the few bones collected.
      2. While “Lucy” was extraordinary because of the amount of bones we have of her, evolutionists and atheists still went too far in presenting a picture for us.
    2. Fossils do not show progress, one direction or the other.
  4. Refute Atheists and Evolutionists With Two Powerful Weapons 
    1. Argumentation
    2. Living