Apologetics

Cheat Sheet

Roadmap

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KALAM COSMOLOGICAL

ARGUMENT

MORAL ARGUMENT

MINIMAL FACTS ARGUMENT

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KALAM COSMOLOGICAL

ARGUMENT

Kalam Cosmological Argument

• Purpose: Establishes the existence of a First Cause of the universe.

• Importance: If successful, makes atheism very difficult. Additionally, eliminates religions dependent on an eternal universe, e.g. some forms of Hinduism and Buddhism.

Kalam Cosmological Argument

1. Premise: Everything that begins to exist has a cause.

2. Premise: The universe began to exist.3. Conclusion: Therefore, the universe has a

cause.

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Defending the first premise

• Premise 1: “Everything that begins to exist has a cause.”

• Being comes from being; never from non-being.• Literally, worse than magic to say otherwise! • Science is dedicated to find explanations and

causes of effects. • Denying this premise would be rather anti-

intellectual 4

Defending the second premise

• Premise 2: “The universe began to exist”

• Philosophical Reasoning• Empirical Confirmation

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Philosophical Defense of Premise 2

• Premise 2: “The universe began to exist”

• Arguments against an actual infinite• Hilbert’s Hotel• Infinity Library

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Empirical Confirmation of Premise 2

• Premise 2: “The universe began to exist.”

• Second Law of Thermodynamics• The entropy of the universe would never decrease.

• An eternal universe would have already expended all usable energy

• This holds for oscillatory models of the universe as well.

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Empirical Confirmation of Premise 2

• Premise 2: “The universe began to exist”

• Standard Big Bang Model• Equations of general relativity predicted expanding universe.• Red Shift provides empirical evidence of expansion + single point

origin.• Alternative models have failed leaving the Standard Big Bang model.

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Empirical Confirmation of Premise 2

• Premise 2: “The universe began to exist.”

• BVG Theorem• Any universe which has been, on average, expanding

throughout its history cannot be eternal in the past• This holds for multiverse scenarios as well.• Any model of the universe must have an absolute beginning.

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Conclusion• Conclusion: “Therefore, the universe has

a cause.”

• Since the universe cannot cause itself, the cause of the universe must be beyond the universe which entails that the cause is• Spaceless• Timeless• Immaterial• Uncaused• Powerful

• These properties sound an awful lot like…

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God.

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the

earth.” Genesis 1:1

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MORAL ARGUMENT

Moral Argument

• Premise: If God does not exist, objective moral values and duties do not exist.

• Premise: Objective moral values and duties do exist.

• Conclusion: Therefore, God exists.

Definitions

• Moral values = principles.• Love and hate

• Moral duties = action.• Obligations

• Objectivity is independent of people.• True for all people, at all times, and all

places

Premise 1

• Can there be objective morality without God?

• Presence of God, not belief in God.

• Evolution and sociobiological pressures have created morality.

• This morality, however, is not objective.

“There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy.” –James 4:12a

If God does not exist, objective moral values and duties do not exist.

Premise 2

• Is there anything that’s objectively wrong?• Or is it just social construction?

Objective moral values and duties do exist.

Conclusion

•Thus, we can determine that a lawgiver, one that is beyond humans, exists.

“Indeed, when gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.”

Romans 2:14-15

Therefore, God exists.

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MINIMAL FACTS ARGUMENT

Minimal Facts Argument

• Purpose: Argument from historical data in favor of the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth

• Importance: Functions as the capstone of a cumulative case for specifically Christian theism.

Matthew 27:33-28:15; Mark 15:22-16:8; Luke 23:33-24:43; John 19:16-20:23

Background

• Four historical facts• Consensus among scholars (95%)• Resurrection is the best explanation

• The Resurrection is the basis for the Christian faith.• 1 Corinthians 15:14

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Fact #1

Jesus of Nazareth died by Roman crucifixion.

• Found in both Christian and secular sources

Fact #2

On the morning following the burial of Jesus, his tomb was found empty by a group of his female followers.• Only about 75% of scholars agree with this.

Fact #3

Disciples of Jesus had experiences they interpreted to be the risen Christ.

Fact #4

Several specific enemies of Jesus had experiences they also interpreted to be the risen Christ.

•Paul and James, for example.

Evaluating Theories

• Explanatory Scope• How many data does the theory explain?

• Explanatory Power• How well does the theory explain these data?

• Plausibility• Given prior information, does the theory make sense?

• Ad-hoc• Is the theory arbitrarily and meaninglessly contrived to fit the

data? 27

Hallucination Theory

• Fact 1: Crucifixion YES• Fact 2: Empty Tomb NO• Fact 3: Disciples YES/STRAIN• Fact 4: Enemies NO• This theory is unsuccessful• Narrow Scope - Facts 2&4 are untouched.• Low Power - The body could’ve easily been produced from

the tomb• Implausible - Hallucinations on this scale have never been

reported, ever. 28

Disciples Stole the Body and Lied

• Fact 1: Crucifixion YES

• Fact 2: Empty Tomb YES

• Fact 3: Disciples YES/STRAIN

• Fact 4: Enemies NO

• This theory is unsuccessful• Limited Scope: The conversion of enemies is left unexplained.

• Implausible: The martyrdom of the disciples makes no sense on this view. 29

Swoon Theory

• Fact 1: Crucifixion NO• Fact 2: Empty Tomb YES• Fact 3: Disciples YES/STRAIN• Fact 4: Enemies YES/STRAIN• This theory is unsuccessful• Low Power - Disciples thought Jesus conquered death.• Highly Implausible - Only 1 known crucifixion survivor,

distance traveled is too far.• Ad hoc - nothing like this ever happened and no reason to

think it would. 30

Probably Some Dude Named Jesus Theory

• Fact 1: Crucifixion NO• Fact 2: Empty Tomb NO• Fact 3: Disciples NO• Fact 4: Enemies NO• This theory is unsuccessful• No Scope - All facts are discounted• No Power - All facts are discounted• Implausible - The historical documentation makes no sense on

this view• Contrived - No honest examination of history would come to

this view31

Jesus is Just a Rehash of Horus Theory

• Fact 1: Crucifixion NO• Fact 2: Empty Tomb NO• Fact 3: Disciples NO• Fact 4: Enemies NO• This theory is unsuccessful• No Scope - All facts are discounted• No Power - All facts are discounted• Implausible - This is anachronistic

given the religio-historical backdrop.• Contrived - No honest examination

of history would come to this view

The Resurrection Hypothesis

• Fact 1: Crucifixion YES• Fact 2: Empty Tomb YES• Fact 3: Disciples YES• Fact 4: Enemies YES• This theory successfully accounts for all of the data• The only objection would be the implausibility of

theism. However, the purpose of the previous arguments is to uproot such an objection.

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Euthyphro Dilemma

• Are moral acts willed by God because they are good? Or are they good because they are willed by God?

• This is a false dichotomy since there is a third option: good is based on God’s nature.

• The Euthyphro Dilemma assumes that good is independent of God, but this is actually false.