This sermon will consider the two strongest arguments for God's Existence, The Argument from Design (Teleological Argument) and the Moral Argument. We will consider the fine tuning of the universe and complexity of biological systems as evidence of Intelligent Design. We will also consider the Moral Argument, rejecting notions that morality is somehow expressed genetically or through sheer reason and demonstrating that Christian morality is not capriciously prescriptivist, but flows from God's character organically.

1. The new challenges we face in
sharing the good news

2. Making the Case for God:
Hey Brother!
-There’s a life after birth. Do
you believe in Mom?
-Nah, I doubt these things,
I’m agnostic… I mean, have
you ever seen Mom?

3. Making the Case for God:

4. Making the Case for God:
Making the Case for God:
The Argument of Design
Explaining the “Origin” of the
Universe
The Argument from Design

5. Making the Case for God:
"Before we understand
science, it is natural to believe
that God created the universe.
But now science offers a more
convincing explanation.“
– Stephen Hawking

6. Making the Case for God:
Atheist
Explanations:
The Chaotic
Inflation Theory
The Multiverse Super-universe
Regions
The Argument from Design

7. Making the Case for God:
Atheist Explanations:
The Cosmological
Natural Selection
TheoryLee Smolin
The Argument from Design

8. Making the Case for God:
Atheist Explanations:
The “Pancake”
Theory
(Cosmological Stack
Theory)
The Argument from Design

9. Making the Case for God:
Genesis 1:1
In the beginning God
created the heavens and
the earth.
The Argument from Design

10. Making the Case for God:
“Hubble’s Redshift”
The Argument from Design

11. Making the Case for God:
“The fanatical atheists are like slaves
who are still feeling the weight of
their chains which they have thrown
off after hard struggle. They are
creatures who – in their grudge
against traditional religion as the
‘opium of the masses’ – cannot hear
the music of the spheres.”
Albert
Einstein
The Argument from Design

12. Making the Case for God:
“As we conquer peak after peak we see in
front of us regions full of interest and
beauty, but we do not see our goal, we do
not see the horizon; in the distance tower
still higher peaks, which will yield to those
who ascend them still wider prospects, and
deepen the feeling, the truth of which is
emphasized by every advance in science,
that ‘Great are the Works of the Lord’.”
Sir Joseph
Thomson
The Argument from Design

13. Making the Case for God:
Psalm 8:1,3-4
1 O LORD , our Lord, how majestic is your name in
all the earth! You have set your glory above the
heavens. 3 When I consider your heavens, the
work of your fingers, the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place, 4 what is man that
you are mindful of him, the son of man that you
care for him?
The Argument from Design

14. Making the Case for God:
Making the Case for God:
The Argument of Design
Explaining the “Fine-tuning” of
the Universe
The Argument from Design

15. Spiral Galaxy

17. The Goldilocks’ Zone
Life
Zone

18. Larger Star:
Rapid, unstable
burning
Smaller Star:
Planet’s rotation
period is too
long

19. The Importance of our
“Gas Giants”
The Earth is protected from
comets by the large outer planets

20. The
Presence
of the
Moon

21. The Design of the
Earth
The Earth’s current axial tilt of
23.5º, is ideal for maintaining
optimal temperatures on the
Earth

22. The Proximity
of the Moon
Slows the Earth’s rotation
rate from 8 hours to 24 hours
An 8 hour rotational period would
lead to winds of 500+ mph

23. If God Doesn’t Exist,
Why Is Biological Life
Highly Structured and
Complex?

24. The Human Eye and Vision
The light sensitive
retina of the eye
contains over 10
million
photoreceptor
cells.

25. The Human Ear
A normal ear
can
discriminate
among some
400,000
sounds.

26. The Nose and the Sense of Smell

27. Darwin’s Microscope
The microscope’s of
Darwin’s day were
extremely primitive.
Animal and plant cells
appeared to be simple
structures consisting of
a cell wall and liquid
center.

28. Electron Microscope
Today’s Scanning
Electron
Microscopes can
magnify an object
200,000 times its
actual size.

29. This degree of
complex design
is not
explainable in
terms of random
causation, nor
natural selection.
Animal Cell

30. Mitochondria
The “Generating Plants” of the Cell:
involved in cellular respiration

31. Endoplasmic
Reticulum

32. Golgi Bodies
The Cell’s Post
Offices involved in
delivering proteins
to where they are
needed in the
body.
cisternae
lumen
Incoming transport vesicle
outgoing transport vesicles
cis face

33. Lysosomes
The
“Police Force”
of the Cell

34. The Nucleus
The greatest miracle
lies within the
simple blotch
Darwin observed,
the cell nucleus.

35. Chromosomes

36. The DNA Molecule
The Double-
Helical
Structure of the
DNA Molecule
contains the
full blue-print
for our heredity

37. Making the Case for God:
“For me the experience of
sequencing the human genome,
and uncovering this most
remarkable of all texts, was both a
stunning scientific achievement
and an occasion of worship.”
The Language of God: A Scientist Presents
Evidence for Belief
Dr. Francis S.
Collins
The Argument from Design

38. Making the Case for God:
Job 10:9-12
Remember that you have made me like clay; and
will you return me to the dust? Did you not pour
me out like milk and curdle me like cheese? You
clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me
together with bones and sinews. You have granted
me life and steadfast love, and your care has
preserved my spirit.
The Argument from Design

39. Making the Case for God:
Psalm 139:14
I praise you, for I am fearfully and
wonderfully made. Wonderful are
your works; my soul knows it very
well.
The Argument from Design

40. Making the Case for God:
Some Questions for Atheists
1. Where do the raw materials come from?
Explain the origin of all universes, not just
this one.
2. How does intricate structure come about
randomly?
The Argument from Design

41. Making the Case for God:
Is this the
one who
set up this
display?
The Argument from Design

42. Making the Case for God:
Making the Case for God:
The Moral Argument
Explaining the “Origin” of
Conscience and Morality.
The Moral Argument

43. Making the Case for God:
The Moral Argument
If there is a moral law, there
must be a moral law-giver who
is the basis of that moral code.
The Moral Argument

44. Making the Case for God:
“Morality must relate, at some level, to
the well-being of conscious creatures. If
there are more and less effective ways
for us to seek happiness and to avoid
misery in this world - and there clearly
are - then there are right and wrong
answers to questions of morality.”
Sam
Harris
The Moral Argument

45. Making the Case for God:
“If I could wave a magic wand
and get rid of either rape or
religion… I would not
hesitate to get rid of
religion.”Sam
Harris
The Moral Argument

46. Making the Case for God:
“There’s nothing more natural
than rape. Human beings rape,
chimpanzees rape, orangutans
rape, rape clearly is part of an
evolutionary strategy to get your
genes into the next generation.”
Sam
Harris
The Moral Argument

47. Making the Case for God:
Atheists explain “morality” without God
Natural Selection
selects altruistic
people.
The Moral Argument

48. Making the Case for God:
“Without God, morality is reduced to
whatever mode of behavior human
beings agree on. There is no action
that is objectively right or wrong.
Rape, hate, murder and other such
acts are only wrong because they
have been deemed to be so in the
course of human evolution.John M.
Njoroge
The Moral Argument

49. Making the Case for God:
Had human evolution taken a
different course, these acts might
well have been the valued
elements of our moral code. Even
Nazi morality would be right had
the Nazis succeeded in their quest
for world dominance.”John M.
Njoroge
The Moral Argument

50. Making the Case for God:
The Moral Argument

51. Making the Case for God:
Psalm 19
7 The law of the LORD is perfect,reviving the soul;
the testimony of the LORD is sure, making
wise the simple; 8 the precepts of the LORD are
right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of
the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes; 9 the fear
of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the rulesof
the LORD are true, and righteous altogether.
The Moral Argument

52. Making the Case for God:
This week, take some
time reflecting on
these scriptures that
show how God’s Law
is a Mirror of his
character.
The Moral Argument

53. The new challenges we face in
sharing the good news