Study Guide
Answering Hard Questions How can I know that God exists? Did Jesus really come back from the dead? What about all the suffering in the world?
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Study 1
How can I know that God exists?. 1. What arguments or proofs would you use, to prove God’s existence? Put another way, how would you convince an atheist that the existence of God was a possibility?
Over the centuries many thinkers have tried to ‘prove’ the existence of God from factors within the world. Appealing to the laws of logic, the reality of the world and certain philosophical ideas, they try to justify belief in the existence of God. The cosmological argument says that the existence of the world requires a Supreme Being to account for it. The teleological argument argues that the design and purpose evidenced in the universe is proof of God’s existence. The moral approach says mankind’s feelings of right and wrong must be based on Someone declaring certain things to be right and wrong. The ontological argument says that God (being defined as most great or perfect) must exist, since a God who exists is greater than a God who does not. However helpful or true these arguments may be, none is as convincing as saying that ‘we can be sure of the existence of God, because he has revealed himself to us, through Jesus Christ his Son.’ God made himself perfectly known to us 2000 years ago! He introduced himself to us. If anyone wants to disprove the existence of God, they will need to explain how Jesus could do what he did, without being God.
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2. What things did Jesus do to prove that he was God?
3. Read John 1:10-18. ●
What are we told has Jesus done? See v.10.
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What does v.14 tells us about who Jesus is?
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What was Jesus’ work according to v.18?
4. Having written his gospel, what does John say was his purpose in writing it? See John 20:30-31.
5. In what practical ways should the existence of God affect our lives? See John 1:10-13.
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Study 2
Did Jesus really come back from the dead?. Of all the works that Jesus did, that lead Christians to believe that he is divine, his resurrection is the most emphatic. Disprove this and the existence of God is brought into question! But not just that, Christian faith and practice is meaningless if there is no resurrection. 1. Read 1 Corinthians 15:12-19. What will the results be, of disproving Jesus’ resurrection?
When people endeavour to disprove the resurrection of Jesus, they do so on the grounds that the resurrection of a person from the dead is impossible. However, before anyone writes off the possibility of resurrection, they should endeavour to answer the following questions: ● ● ●
why was the tomb of Jesus empty? what do you make of the resurrected Jesus’ appearances? how do you explain the rise of the church, amidst great persecution?
2. How would you refute the answers sometimes given to these questions?
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3. Read 1 Corinthians 15:3-8. What does Paul link to Jesus’ resurrection, in these verses?
4. Why are these important?
5. Read 1 Corinthians 15:20-24. What does Jesus’ resurrection mean for the Christian?
6. How does mankind’s approach to death actually add weight to the resurrection of Jesus? Read v.29-32.
7. How should a Christian approach death? Read v.54-58.
8. Conversely, how should a non-Christian view death?
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Study 3
What about all the suffering in the world?. When especially bad things happen in the world at large or in our lives personally, this question is inescapable. The argument behind the question goes like this: (1) If God were all powerful he could prevent suffering and evil. (2) If he were all loving, he would want to prevent them. (3) Evil and suffering do exist. (4) God is therefore impotent, loveless or non-existent. The Christian philosopher Alvin Plantinga calls this ‘the only argument against God that deserves to be taken seriously’. Before we seek to answer this question, it is worth noting that this should really only be a question asked by those who believe in God. Those who don’t believe in God – (especially evolutionists) – who claim that we are nothing more than ‘just a bit of slime on the planet’ (Oxford Professor, Peter Atkins), or ‘a curious accident in a backwater’ (British Philosopher, Bertrand Russell), the result of countless chemical and biological factors, should not in any way be concerned whether lives are ended slowly or suddenly, peacefully or painfully. If there is no God, there is no universal moral law by which we should live; and nothing can then be either good or evil. The universally accepted ‘existence of evil’ therefore actually points towards the existence of God, rather than away from it. 1. In an article in The Times the question was asked, ‘What’s wrong with the world?’ to which the author G.K. Chesterton simply responded, “I am.” Can that response be substantiated from the Bible? Think through Genesis 1 – 5 (especially ch 3-5).
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2. What is the problem with asking God to weed out the worst offenders and sinners in the world?
3. Read Acts 17:31. What will God one day do with sinful people?
4. Read Acts 17:30. What should we do in the light of that day? Also read Luke 13:1-5.
5. What can be said about God and suffering from 1 Peter 2:21-25?
6. Read Romans 8:18-25. What important truths are taught to us in this passage, about suffering and the Christian life?
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ANSWERING HARD QUESTIONS Christ Church Umhlanga, 2014 57 Hambridge Avenue Umhlanga, 4021 South Africa 031 572 6542 admin@ccu.org.za www.ccu.org.za www.freeforall.co.za/answering-hard-questions/ No copyright - Free for All
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