A Letter To My Friend
Dear Lloyd,
How
are you my friend? Hoping this letter finds you in peace today. I am so happy
that you reached out to me with your concern. This is significant. Actually,
this is major – a big deal! For your concern deals with life and death. Still,
you’ve come a long way and I hope to encourage you on this Faith journey.
I see you have concerns about the existence of God – that you
see no evidence to support your Faith. I am sorry to hear that. I pray by the
end of this letter to have given you just a bit of information that may help
you with the answers you seek. I know you are a reasonable person, so let’s see
where the evidence leads. I know you have read the Bible before and in it you’ll
find proof of God’s existence, but I’d like to address your concerns from a different
angle.
Without a doubt, one of the best-known arguments for the
existence of God is that of the “Moral Argument”. Over your many years of life,
I am sure you realize that something inside of you differentiates between good
and evil, right and wrong. This is called Objective Morals. These are “values
we hold dear that guide our lives” (Craig, 172). If we start here, whether or not
you agree, there are some things that are just wrong, and it is so “independent
of what people think or perceive” (Craig, 173). Take robbing a store – If you
decide to do this, already you know that such an act is wrong. While there are
written laws on the books that punish such an act (confirming that robbing a
store is wrong), your conscience will tell you “Lloyd, this is wrong”. Tied up
in this Moral Argument are moral duties and moral values. Moral duties are
concerned with that which is right or wrong, while moral values concern that
which is good and bad (Craig, 172). During the time in which you had Faith, you
surely can remember an internal compass guiding your behavior. You relied on
that which was greater than you for discernment. That internal compass is God.
Here’s what philosophers call an ontological foundation in
support of the existence of God through the existence of moral values:
Premise 1: If God does not exist, then objective moral values and
duties do not exist.Premise 2: Objective moral values and duties do exist.
Conclusion: Therefore, God exists.
(Craig,
172; allaboutphilosophy)
Surely Lloyd, you must agree that there is such a thing as
an objective set of moral duties and values. They had to come from somewhere. A
lawgiver perhaps? These same set of values and duties are universal and have
not changed throughout history. If it was up to me and you, many of the
objective values and laws would have been either changed, discarded or
outlawed. Then I could keep on robbing the store every month with no one and
nothing to keep me in check. By the way, the foundation of moral laws was given
by God in the Book of Exodus 20. In the very first verse of that chapter it is
written “And God spoke all these words, saying…”. If there is no God, then
objective morals do not exist, and society will denigrate into a free for all.
Even in the most primitive of societies, people know full well, right and
wrong, good and bad.
I can’t seem to get away from the Bible in my encouragement
to you. I may as well tie it in. In the book of Romans chapter 2, the biblical
writer (Paul) is dealing with the awareness of God in pagan Rome. They did not
worship God. In it he says:
14 For
when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law
requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They
show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their
conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even
excuse them 16 on that day when, according to
my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.
So you see my friend, even the unbeliever is governed by a set of
laws that is internal (“written on their hearts” [vs. 15]). Who else can do
that but God? Objective morals exist whether we agree or disagree with them,
and they prove the existence of God. My Christian duties require me to live righteously.
I make every effort to follow God’s laws. When I slip, there is such a pain and
guilt associated with committing wrong. Tell me there’s no God? Why would it
even matter then if I feel so bad about doing the wrong thing when there is no
one else around? Who is watching? Why do I feel that way? It is my “conscience
bearing witness to a God who is the judge” (vs. 15-16). Look again at the last
verse above – Paul says, “God judges”. Another proof for you.
I must tell you Lloyd, this Moral Argument
suggests to me a few things:
1.
“The source of moral law cannot be merely part
of the universe” (you cannot believe the naturalists)
2.
There just has to be “an absolutely perfect
power outside of us”
3.
This perfect being “gives us moral commands
and is very much interested in our behavior”
4.
“This source of all right must be absolutely
good, because the standard cannot be less than completely good”
(Professor
Richard Koffarnus, Lectures)
William Craig made a great statement regarding this issue – “Since objective morals exist, there must
exist an ultimate standard of moral values who is a personal, necessarily
existent being who is the source of all moral goodness – God”. This
statement brings together Professor Koffarnus’ points above.
Hopefully, you can agree with me that if we consider what guides
us from the inside, then we must consider an external invisible influence, who
can only be God!
Lastly Lloyd, look no further than nature and you will see
evidence for God. The psalmist in the Book of Psalms chapter 1, verse 1 states “The
heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork”. The
skies, the sun, the moon, the heavens, the mountains, flowers, the seas. Look
around you. Look at you and me, men are still trying to figure us out, what
makes us who we are. It was God that said “Let us make man” (Genesis 1: 26-28).
The world and philosophers deny that there is a God and that He is the Creator
of all that we enjoy and experience, but the teleological argument suggests
that this world must have been created by an intelligent designer. While
science has become the god of men and continually tries to disprove the
existence of God, “Even if we never meet a designer, there are things that
fulfill function to support the idea of a design” (Professor Koffarnus). This
designer is God, Lloyd. William Craig, who is an authority on the Design
argument summed it up this way – “We may infer that a personal Creator of the
universe exists, who is uncaused, beginningless, changeless, immaterial,
timeless, spaceless and unimaginably powerful” (Craig, 154). God exists my
friend.
Hoping this helps as a start in your search for evidence. It is ok
to search, and I know you will come to the right conclusions. Feel free to ask
me questions. I am here for you.
Your Friend,
Kevin.
References:
1.
Allaboutphilosophy. The Moral Argument.
Retrieved from: https://www.allaboutphilosophy.org/moral-argument.htm
2.
Craig, W. Reasonable Faith. Wheaton, Il:
Crossway (2008)
3.
Koffarnus, R. The Teleological & Design
Arguments. Retrieved from: https://cccb.instructure.com/courses/285/files/67924?module_item_id=20752
4.
The Macarthur Study Bible. United States of
America: Thomas Nelson (1997)
5.
Googleimage
Written by Kevin A. Hall
12.16.2017
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