4 Step Perfect Proof for God of the Bible
Above all other claims on the uncreated Creator. Check out the short version of the 4 Step Proof for God.
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God said He proves Himself by observing nature. Let's see if He is right. 1) Something can't come from that which does not exist, so the universe requires a cause. 2) The universe can't always have existed because a) heat death would be far greater than it is; b) mankind would have approximated into that alleged past eternity and not still be sinning to the extent it still does along the exponential progression of conscience we are clearly on. What other option is there than the uncaused (uncreated) created? Prove me wrong or get off the pot. Atheism is utterly destroyed because it has no answer and never will. You would have to be God (having omniscience) to know if God exists when you hold out having to know all things to be sure. It's like you are saying you won't accept proof of God unless you are God. Wow!
Show me you are not wrong at Christian Chat. If you can't show it then recant of your faith in atheism and choose the one true faith-true reality-that comes out on top from the ones that are accessible: Christianity, Hinduism/Buddhism, Islam. Obviously Christianity is the most personal because God reveals Himself in Christ. And only Christianity is proven by the resurrection proof and multiple resurrection appearances in various group settings. If you want to be eternally separated from God that is your choice to send yourself to Hell. The work you are doing is leading many people to Christ and strengthening the faith of Christians because you are unable to disprove the perfect proof for God. God uses evil for good. Praise the Lord! Amen. |
"And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart" (Jer. 29.13). If you don't search God with all your heart, that explains why you haven't found Him yet. "For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, 'even' his everlasting power and divinity; that they may be without excuse" (Rom 1.20) -- i.e., observing the undeniable law of cause and effect in nature and what it reveals: (1) the exponential progression of conscience disallows an eternity of the past of cause and effects in nature; (2) the universe can't begin from nothing; (3) don't misrepresent God of the Bible; and (4) for the same reason as (1) there cannot be an eternity of the past outside of nature. There are many pseudo-scientists and wannabe's, so the Bible warns, "Avoid profane vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called" (1 Tim. 6.20).
According to pure logic, a non-believer (atheist) writes "that this calculation [Step 1] tells us that we are moving from more to less sin and concludes that since we have not reached the state of ultimate sinlessness then it must be the case that there was not an eternity of past causes and effects. The argument is deductively valid." (Arturo from think the secular playground)
These basic 4 steps have not changed since the beginning of man's existence. Certain clarifying words have been adopted out of courtesy to help the many who have tried desperately to disprove the singularly most awesome perfect proof for God. "The message God delivered through the angels has always proved true" (Heb. 2.2). But the problem is many people don't care about proof. "They shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables" (2 Tim. 4.4), e.g. atheism, polytheism, spiritism and new age. "Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator" (Rom. 1.25). "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils" (1 Tim. 4.1). "Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God" (James 4.4). "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you" (2 Cor. 6.17). "But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the LORD: and be sure your sin will find you out" (Num. 32.23). "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come" (2 Tim. 3.1). "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him [Jesus Christ] the iniquity of us all" (Is. 53.6). "Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts" (Rev. 9.21). Look how God places bearing false witness right up there with the worst of crimes: "For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies" (Matt. 15.19) -- do not misrepresent God (Step 3).
If you would like to make an attempt to disprove the proof for God, there is a forum where you can do so. $10,000 in U.S. dollars (getting cheaper by the day) has been reserved and offered to the first person who can disprove God's proof of Himself. Thousands have tried but failed. Since I am a child of God and thus, set before God with authority in His kingdom and bound for heaven, you can't ask for a better arbitrator. "Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Matt. 18.18). We are "without excuse" (Rom. 1.20).The proof has been let loose! Read here.
Be clear on this. The proof has always been known. Moses knew it. Abraham knew it. And Abel knew it. What did they know? They knew what Adam knew, Cain knew and what Judas knew, except these latter three didn't care and preferred to self-exalt themselves above God. I can almost guarantee you that you will misunderstand something (hence the need for Step 3 in the Proof). Inevitably the flesh rises up to usurp itself to rationalizes itself and bear false witness. Try not to do that. Put yourself in the shoes of the author as you read along. Remember, this is the best proof mankind has ever produced for God, and received from God, so it deserves some attention.
This Proof does not assume the Scriptures are true to begin Step 1, but uses the dictionary definition of sin: "any reprehensible or regrettable action, behavior, lapse, etc.; great fault or offense: It's a sin to waste time" (definition 3). Notice no mention of God is made or even assumed. And "to commit or perform sinfully: He sinned his crimes without compunction" (definition 6). Observe how crimes are crimes because the underlying cause is sinfulness. There is no point in reading further if you don't have a conscience to recognize sin exists. It requires you have at least a partially working conscience--otherwise you would be dead or comatose. Therefore, to not understand this basic point is not because of intelligence or lack of intelligence, but the choice to be obstinate and belligerent. It is your choice to shut your mind down and willfully possess a corrupted conscience and darkened mind to not even recognize sin exists. Just look upon history to know that it is so.
We don't need to analyze the cosmos till the cows come home with grand theories. What can be known today should not change our decision from what mankind knew centuries ago. We can understand God created in 4 easy steps logically and by what is intuitively revealed to all of us. There are other ways to prove God exists, but this Proof is based on pure logic. Demanding inordinate analysis and attempting mental gymnastics are vanity to make the case God created. The reason we study the sciences is not to find out if God exists but for the sake of understanding scientific phenomenon which gives glory to God. In our understanding of certain facts to fulfill His will for our lives and His greater purpose, He afford us this ability to understand further revelation by special grace in the word of God (66 books of the Bible) on top of common grace given to us all. His aim is to be with those who love Him for eternity and those who love Him receive these truths.
Analyzing the universe falsely by overassuming is inexcusable to not receive salvation because of preferring sin, self and independency to God. Do not be afraid to let go of your flesh on the cross at some point while reading the Proof. At any moment you may be convicted, convinced and instantly born-again. We are all made in God's image (Gen. 1.26,27) with a spirit of God-consciousness; we all intuitively know God of the Bible is our uncreated Creator, except many choose not to repentant and receive His sacrifice for our sins. The word of God can see through smokescreens and sugar-coating one's beliefs. All God is looking for from you is sincerity and an honest heart for the truth in the evidence, no matter how much it upsets your preconceived notions and feelings. We live by faith in the spirit, albeit proven faith. Those in the kingdom of heaven are not free of some of their mistaken assumptions either. Many in Christendom have said there is no proof of God and must be taken on blind faith. Faith in Christ is never blind but proven. Whereas atheism, agnosticism, all other religions and word-views are based on blind faith. There is more than one proof for God, but I find this proof to be the most provocative proof that goes unchallenged.
If there had been an eternity of the past of cause and effects, we would have had nearly an eternity to be perfected without sin along the exponential progression of conscience which we observe, but since we still sin more than would be the case, we know there was not an eternity of the past of cause and effects. And thus, we know we were created by the uncreated, God of the Bible, since none can compare to Christ. This takes further comparison (see below).
Psychological studies can be done to verify in just these past six thousand years observing the exponential progression of the conscience of mankind, it will not take a billion, let alone a million or even another six thousand years to reach a near state of sinlessness. God works in long transitions from the OT period of 4000 years to the dispensation of grace of 2000 years, then the kingdom of one thousand years. Each period exhibits a new grace and improvement in man's conscience on a per capita or per person basis. Don't get caught up in the short-term fluctuations.
For example, throwing children as sacrifices into the fiery mouth of the Molech-type god is virtually non-existent today as many nations once did in the past. Israel got rid of some of those evil nations or tribes like the Philistines. Other such evil societies include the Talismanics, Mayans, Incas, Aztecs, TaoTuoKongs, Egyptians, Romans, Persians and many others that performed human sacrifices to their gods. Human sacrifices were quite prevalent among the nations in antiquity. This alone proves the exponential progression of conscience. We are approaching sinlessness at an ever faster rate but never reaching it just as the universe is expanding at a faster rate but never reaching infinitely large.
The only place you really see these human sacrifices today is in Islam, teaching their kids to be suicide mass-murderers. Even though brainwashed it is voluntary. There are lots of data points to prove the exponential progression of conscience, e.g. women can vote now just this past century, more democracies than ever before, murder rate and crime rate per capita have continued to drop precipitously through the centuries. In previous centuries, wars would wipe out more than half the population of a region. Cannibalism, slavery and polygamy are against the law. A Hindu practice whereby a widow immolates herself on the funeral pyre of her husband is now abolished by law.
As to the matter of comparison with all other faiths or belief systems read through the rest of the proof. Only the Word of God shows and proves man can't save himself. Only in Christianity does God come down to save man to bring us up to Him. We can't do it ourselves. This takes humility to accept. Man was born into sin, proven by the fact that no man has never not sinned. All other views are works-based belief systems and therefore, utterly fail, especially the greater Christendom view of non-OSAS. The Bible teaches those who are born-again "they shall never perish" (John 10.28). If you don't have a relationship with Jesus Christ in which you know it is impossible to lose eternal life, then you are not a child of God. Other alleged deities don't take on the likeness of flesh as Jesus did whom we confirm proved to the exclusivity of the world that He alone is the fullness of the Godhead bodily by His resurrection proof with bits and pieces of proven facts in the 66 books of the Bible. Without depending on inerrancy, we especially focus on the Minimal Facts Approach--using only data that most skeptical scholars concede as certain.
It was the impact of ancient Israel and Christianity that put a stop to sacrifices, because Jesus came to earth, died on the cross and was resurrected which pricks our consciences. What will come in place of a Christian society? Man is dead (lost communication) in his spirit to God. The conscience of man's spirit to behave in this world does retain still some functioning because as soon as Adam ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, even though his intuition and communion died completely towards God, his power of distinguishing good and evil (which is the function of conscience) was increased. (If you have some good examples of exponential progression of conscience and scientific studies to back it up, submit them here.)
Why is eternally evolving in the past of cause and effects impossible in the natural physical realm of the material universe, whether biologically or non-biologically, organically or non-organically, matter or energy, dark matter or dark energy? Do not confuse this question with whether evolution is true or not, since we Christians are not denying the physical science of evolution that looks at physical changes since the amoeba, prokaryote first replicating organism, or simplest life form however you define it. The reason there cannot be an eternity of the past of cause and effects is because if for eternity things have been evolving, by this definition of evolving (cause and effects), you would have had an eternity to be nearly perfected (effectively sinless), irrespective of when you personally started in the evolving chain. According to calculus, the approximation to eternity is taken as eternity. The same holds true for "heat death" which would be far greater than it is now.
Evolution (the study of the physical developments of species from the simplest replicating life has its limits) is not towards perfection for evolution is just a limited way of man understanding natural selection. It does not encompass the spiritual and the soulical, nor does it address how life came about in the first place to begin replicating. These constituent parts of man are beyond evolution's scope of study; but, evolving (again, see the dictionary definition), a term relating to cause and effect, has a more encompassing and expansive meaning because it observes not only all cause and effects in evolution, but all quantum and cosmological cause and effects prior to the first simplest life. Let us not be so restrictive in our petty selves or vague with words by not understanding this difference between evolution and evolving applied here. Do not confuse the definitions employed here for evolving and evolution which have been differentiated and were provided for the sake of clarity and to remove confusion.
If such evolving (of causes and effects) was going on for an eternity of the past, we easily would have been essentially perfected by now, having ample time to do so along the pathway of an exponential progression of conscience. This is depicted in the first chart. The second chart shows the mistaken view of an eternity of past of cause and effects. Additionally, please note carefully there is a difference between the perfecting of the saints and the perfecting of the unsaved. Perfection of the unsaved? Even the unsaved exhibit an improvement in conscience, but since they reject Christ for their salvation which is an eternal choice, they are condemned to Hell for all eternity and permanently separated from God. They won't change their mind later after they are resurrected. This is how profound new birth is.
You may ask why not create man to live longer to have the choice (say 10,000 years)? The reason is because: a) it is unfair to the saved to have to put up with so much evil in the unregenerated for so long; b) man would be convinced he didn't need God because for so long he has been holding on quite well himself so he thinks. Man's life is numbered in the flesh because of sin. Therefore, man's days are numbered 120 years usually at most (Gen. 6.3). And during the millennial kingdom everyone is expected to live at least 100 years of age the Bible says (Is. 65.20-25). These ages apply prior to a person's resurrection. They, of course, still don't live as long as they did when sin first began to take hold, because its full damaging effect hadn't reached its full force yet. After Adam sinned he still lived a long time, but as the generations passed people tended to not live as long due to sin, though their individual consciences improved. Even in the saved the flesh is utterly corruptible. It's only verdict is death. Hence, the call to die on the cross with Christ, to give the flesh no power over you. Jesus did all He could do for you in bringing you with Him on the cross if you are willing. Our death on the cross with Christ doesn't mean the flesh can't rear its ugly head again, but it does give us the full measure of God's salvation for us while we are still in these bodies of flesh and blood.
We should consider longer time periods over more than a hundred years and perhaps several millennia to notice discernable changes in the backdrop of 13.7 billion years. Shorter time periods are much more choppy. The Bureau of Justice Statistics provides The National Crime Victimization Survey dating back to 1973 is too short a period. Even so, in this chart we see a slight decrease from the 70's to 80's in violent crimes per capita, and then a marked decrease since 1995. This is an exponential increase in conscience, but who is to say over the next 50 years a temporary spike might not show up in the overall trend due to the troubles surrounding unprecedented building up Debt/GDP among the nations and potential oil shortages? Hypothetically, if man with his conscience today were to go back and live within the infrastructure of 4000 years ago, would he reenact child sacrifices? I don't think so.
THE ASSUMPTION by many unsaved souls is that the universe has always been going on in the past for eternity. Many unsaved cosmologists and evolutionists believe this and have repeatedly told me so. What must follow is that you have also had an eternity to be perfected but since you are not, this proves that such evolving eternally in the past is incorrect. Obviously, you are still a sinner and make mistakes more than you would if mankind had existed even a faction (say, 1 billion years) of past eternity of cause and effects.
Clear evidence exists for the exponential progression of conscience over the past six thousand years since the first Adamic man (the first man with God-consciousness). We have changed and matured in leaps and bounds. Very likely we will not need another six thousand years to be perfected to the point God desires. We do not need to know all that is entailed to be perfected, only that our sin and selfishness will be less than it is now. Since we put people in jail for crimes, we know at least some sin has consequence.
In a very simple way we can say: we will not keep killing each other for millions of years. Sacrificing one's own child on an altar to his god has ceased except in Islam. In Islam is a remnant of the tribes of Canaan that practiced human sacrifices. By common grace to all, there is an exponential improvement in conscience though the unsaved still reject Christ. Hence, the need for Hell to eternally separate those from God because that is what they want. To deny God's existence or to want another is a choice so they send themselves to Hell.
Just these past two centuries we see outwardly blatant slavery is no longer permitted, but in ancient times it was deemed manageable due to economic challenges in organizing human affairs. Just this past century, women can vote. There are more democracies now. Since we can't find a regress in our human condition to counter these facts, let us consider this strong evidence for the uncreated Creator. Polygamy is not legal today. Whatever comparison you find, ensure that it is comparing apples to apples across all centuries.
Satan and his pawns will try to disprove the Proof with an increase per capita in the crime rate, murder rate, war, insensitivity towards women, slavery, even trying to bring back human sacrifices as through Mohammadistic followers of the Koran, teaching their children to blow themselves up as suicide mass murderers in the name of Allah to the glory of Islam. See Hadith Volume 9 Number 57 and my letter to Shabir Ally.
The pre-endemic or pre-Adamic period is considered the "dust" of the ground (Gen. 2.7). It will do nothing for your spirit and life in Christ. Man can not know all God's ways, nor does God need you to know anything about the "dust" that formed man's body. If you knew it all, then you would be God, would have no need for God and would not need to be saved, but God wonderfully saves without you needing to know all things. Only the smart people would be saved if you needed to know so much. It is not ironic the wise-ones are not saved, because in their self-sufficiency, they maintain independency to their Creator. They are proud of their endowments. They should be using those gifts and talents to give glory to God in all that they do. Self is exalted. What is it worth to gain your soul and the world if you are going to lose it?
Step 2: Everything in Nature Has a Cause so the Universe Can't Cause Itself
Scientists believe nothing in nature, space or time, happens all by itself. It always has a cause. We have trillions of things to substantiate this fact, but nothing conclusively shows otherwise. Therefore, since nature must always have a cause and time can't cause itself, the only possibility that exists we can fathom and fits, is the uncreated Creator created who is Jesus since none can compare to Christ (I encourage you to compare). You are welcome to compare Jesus to any figure in history. Many encyclopedias would be needed which we don't have space for here, but just know that 90-95% of beliefs including Christendom, Hinduism/Buddhism, Atheism/Agnosticism and Islam. An accessible God is better than an inaccessible one, so There Are Only 4 Choices.
Don't let the cunning and hucksters try to deceive you by saying what is true of Newtonian and Einsteinian physics is not true of Quantum physics just because of its complexity. You can catch a person in the act selling their snake oil and fuzzy logic when they desperately argue for their puff-the-magic-dragon assumption something happened all by itself. It really is quite disingenuous to pick the most complicated of subjects (Quantum mechanics) which humans know so very little about and rarely agree on to build your case against God. It is said there are as many quantum theories as there are quantum scientists who put forward a theory in peer journals and other scientific magazines. If God exists, then His proof is available not just to us today, but from all previous generations, because "God is no respecter of persons" (Acts 10.34). He is infinitely greater than us all no matter how great one of us becomes.
It would be mindlessly belligerent to profess something happens all by itself in radioactive decay, particle pairing, vacuums or Bell's Theorem, etc. For example, self-declaring nothing is the cause when we observe decay by natural processes in less complicated observable phenomena. Scientists don't close up shop just because they don't know the cause to something yet! They keep searching. Put in a jar any substance you want that does not have replicating life. Shake it all about. It never turns into life or even RNA. It is better to be humble, non-overassuming and just let the evidence lead us where it may. Don't be so arrogant to think something happens all by itself without a cause, for that goes contrary to everything we do observe in the natural world. The 1st law of thermodynamics is violated if "nothing" outside the universe can somehow transform into the universe. Nothing always derives from nothing. If you say the laws of nothing outside the universe work differently without causation to cause the universe to bringing it about, I don't think you can be reasoned with. There are some things that just can't happen: there are no square circles and no married bachelors. Something never comes from nothing! Nothing always begets nothing.
Realize you are just not smart enough to determine the cause. You might not ever be able to. God has not given you the ability to discern all things anyway. Accept it. Get use to it. If there was one last thing you didn't know and you held out for the possibility it could disprove the uncreated exists, you're essentially saying you have to be God to know if God exists. But are you God? Did you always exist? If you say "yes" like Oprah Winfrey does (and Eckhart Tolle or Mirriane Williamson), then you have really gone off the deep end, for you can't remember always having existed or created anything. You don't have infinite foreknowledge as the uncreated would have, being outside of time and space. You did not die for the sins of the world. You are nothing more special than any other human being on the planet.
Get over yourself. You have not returned in His second coming to reign on Earth for one thousand years which Jesus will do. "For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works" (Matt. 16.27; cf. Rev. 20.2-7). There are works unto rewards for believers to reign. Dead works stem from rejecting Christ as Lord and Savior and can also come from fleshly Christians who are not abiding in Christ. "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me" (John 14.6). "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4.12). Since there is only grounds for one uncreated Creator, you would have to ask where these others come from who allege to be God and competing amongst themselves. God has no competition going on in His Triune Being, but perfect unity and harmony. God alone is "from everlasting" (Ps. 41.13).
Only one claim on God is ultimately victorious. That is God of the Bible because a personal, revealed and accessible God is better than an impersonal, unrevealed and inaccessible one. Only in Christianity does God in Christ come down to us to bring us up to Him because we are sinners through and through. A sinner can't save himself, and sin leads to death and the second death which is Hell which is an eternal separation from God. Don't accuse God of torturing you for eternity. He is speaking in spiritual terminology to plead with you not to go there. How do you know what this punishment entails? The fire of judgment is unlike a natural fire which always burns out.
Agnosticism is really just thinly veiled atheism since a non-choice is still a refusal of God's existence and saving grace because it is non-accepting. Let's say an atheist comes to you and says the big bang, or other natural means, is the beginning as if that could be the answer. Simply respond by saying nature doesn't happen all by itself. There is always a cause to the effects in nature. Nothing in nature happens all by itself. Any material, even the smallest particle, only knows how to react to its surrounding environment (of particles, waves, quarks, strings). It does not make a choice. But God does choose and He chose for a reason.
When a person states the obvious: the universe can't come from nothing because nothing always proceeds from nothing, the atheist often makes this absurd comment: 'since outside the universe there is no time, then the law of cause and effect doesn't apply'. To which a person can respond, "If there is no cause and effect because there is no time then the universe can't come into existence because there is no time. Therefore the universe should not exist." The argument from atheists is self-refuting. Ergo, the uncreated Creator is allowed to bring the universe into existence out of Himself.
The universe requires a cause "on earth as it is in heaven" (Matt. 6.10). In the Matrix, the Merovingian made the statement all things have a cause and effect in nature. This is the profound truth. Time and matter can't exist from nothing. There is only one available possibility: the uncreated created. The uncreated is needed to bring nature into existence, because nature can't come into being from nothing or by itself.
The preponderance of evidence beyond a reasonable doubt of trillions of causes and effects is our overwhelming evidence to take the foundational position nature requires a cause. This would put the probability against the atheist and agnostic greater than a trillion to one, since there are more than a trillion things that have a cause, but not even one thing in nature is shown to be without a cause. I think atheists have a gambling problem! Even if you were so smart to know everything except for one last thing in the universe, would you be so arrogant to say this one last thing could still possibly disprove God's existence? That's absurd. The atheist in not so many words is saying he has to be God to know if God exists. Is the atheist God? Perhaps in his own deluded mind. Some cults teach with millions of followers, e.g. Oprah Winfrey.
Who is this uncreated Creator? He is God of the Bible shown forth in the life of Christ, which none can compare. "In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God and the Word is God" (John 1.1). Jesus is the Word. "He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not" (John 1.10).
God does not need time to exist to bring time into existence. God only needs Himself. "If all known possibilities are impossible, what we deemed impossible must be true" (Spock on Star Trek). "Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth" (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author of Sherlock Homes). How can the infinitely uncreated be limited by time and not be allowed to bring time into being? How can God not exist beyond time? Makes no sense, for He is infinitely is greater than all things. If time had to always exist, we would not still be sinning to the extent we still do, due to the exponential progression of conscience (Step 1).
The universe has no life, which is lesser than that which is self-replicating life. How can the lesser produce the greater? God keeps saying by observing nature we know He created. We keep observing man can't mix up the elements and atoms of nature to produce a conscious life let alone a self-replicating one . And even if we could, it required our intelligence, pointing back to God creating us to be able to do so. So you see, we theists have our bases well covered. Atheists have no outs--not very good poker players! They always keep striking out and getting traded to the other team, the refuse of Internet atheist forums and the like.
Let us just go with the evidence, letting it guide us where it may. Try to avoid fantasy. Once you start assuming things, you don't need evidence for other things. Sin begets sin. Next thing you know, you are locked into Islam saying Jesus didn't die on the cross; the Roman Church saying Mary is sinless; or naturalism saying something comes from nothing or the universe always existed, depending on how the Atheist like a rabid beast gets cornered. Satan is trying to get you to assume. As long as he can get you to assume, prodding you to sin later on is not difficult at all.
The Word of God is "sharper than any twoedged sword [by the Spirit of truth]" (Heb. 4.12).
Step 3: Don't Misrepresent God of the Bible
Is it intellectually honest to ask, Why can't God have a creator? The answer is given in Step 4. But for now realize the uncreated Creator mathematically would be greater or more powerful than a created creator. If the uncreated has a cause, then it is not uncreated. When you claim someone or something created God you are no longer talking about God of the Bible, but perhaps a god, idol or something in your imagination. Don't misunderstand Step 3. Step 3 is not saying you can't propose something caused a god who created, but please, leave that for Step 4 to address. Step 3 is simply pleading with you not to misrepresent God of the Bible because it happens so often.
Step 1 and Step 2 proved the uncreated exists. This is the same attribute God of the Bible has. Never does God of the Bible have a cause to His Tri-Unity. He has diversity in His unity and unity in His diversity. Whereas the god of Islam has unity but no diversity. Hinduism has diversity but no unity. Mormonism has no oneness in unity but lots of diversity. And Atheists have no oneness and no unity but lots of diversity. Jesus always claimed to be equal with the Father. God of the Bible claims to be "alone...from everlasting" (1 Tim. 6.16; Hab. 1.12) with perfect clarity, wisdom, righteousness and holiness. He is omnipotent, immutable (unchanging), transcendent, omniscience. He is incapable of sinning for that goes against His very nature. Not once has He ever sinned from all we know about Him in the 66 books of God's word. The Trinity is 3 Persons of God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit. It is not that God can't sin or choose to do evil, but He won't and never does because He is perfect in all He does always. That's the God you can trust even when you don't understand all His ways.
Many questions are put towards God of the Bible such as, why do bad things happen? Because man is fallen, sin came into the world and Adam was locked out of the Garden of Eden-the one sure and safe place for man to dwell. Sin has its consequences. God the Son came to redeem the world (Matt. 19.28) and men. When you accuse God of allowing murder and rape, these things happen anyway even if God did not exist, so aren't you blaming your own world-view nonetheless? Therefore, you have a double standard. You're actually accusing your own naturalism. But praise God He will not let atrocities go on forever even though to us it sure seems like it has been going on for a long time. But in the backdrop of 14 billion years, a couple thousand years is less than a grain of sand on the Earth. Surely you can give God some liberty in how He runs things? With naturalism evil can potentially go on for eternity or till heat death makes life unlivable. But with God, the eventual destination is either Heaven or Hell. God might not be able to prevent evil for a time because to do so would infringe on our free will. Just because God is benevolent and omnipotent is no reason to think He must disallow sin from happening, for that would not be a perfect world then. At best it would be an amoral world, even worse, a world of robots and automatons. God wants a real relationship with sovereign free-willed beings. Man must be allowed to sin and evil ensue for us to appreciate in the fullest sense our need and dependency on God.
If you want to try to disprove this proof, do not try to disprove some god, but keep your issues directed at God of the Bible. Stay on topic. "For many bare false witness against him, but their witness agreed not together" (Mark 14.56). The reason Step 3 is vitally part of the Proof is because this error of misrepresenting God of the Bible seems to never end, e.g. accusing the Israelites of annihilating the tribes in Canaan. Israel was defending themselves. Those tribes no longer exist today. They refused to stop generation after generation the practice of child sacrifices. I can't impress upon you enough how utterly evil this is, so what are you defending when you accuse Israel? Even the children would grow up to continue the practice after their parent's were killed by the Hebrews. Those tribes no longer exist, their practices have obviously been stopped, whereas Israel remains to show forth God's power and justice. They began with only 318 fighting men (Gen. 14.14), nothing short of a miracle. The reason God intended for His suffering people (enslaved for 430 years) to come into the land of milk and honey was because the inhabitants of Canaan were so utterly evil: "they shall come back here...for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full" (Gen. 15.16), to wipe out their practice of child sacrifices. God used the morality of the Hebrews to destroy the evil of the ten tribes of Canaan that no longer exist.
Don't make the mistake of accusing Israel of genocide. What would it be like for you and your family if your next door neighbors warred with you so you could not sleep at night? Let's say they sacrificed their own children and tried to get you to do the same. How would you respond? Treat others as you would like to be treated. Thankfully, no society is so evil today you have to wipe them all out which speaks to the improvement along the exponential progression of conscience (Step 1).
Israel was used by God to eradicate such evil where generation after generation even a small remnant would still continue to practice human sacrifices and other corruption. Interestingly, because Israel did not fulfill their mission many times, they incurred many heartaches by constant attacks from neighboring tribes. It is a fact that if Israel did not defend itself, it would no longer exist today. Canaan was a battle zone. The fruits of the land of milk and honey would go to a God fearing people only! Israel's land remains divided today still as prophesied till Christ returns. They still don't own the entire land to the Euphrates River, but the prophecy is fulfilled she would become a nation again before the return of Christ. Finally after 2500 years it happened in 1947.
When you talk about the Crusades or Inquisition, realize that is not Christian, but men of the world falsely using the word of God and name of Christ. The Bible warns about this in Matthew 13 (unsaved tares that try to look like the saved wheat) and Revelation 17 (religious Rome). Where did Jesus do such things? To simplify it for you, keep to the Minimal Facts Approach. Put aside discussion about the inerrancy of the Bible for the time being to focus just on what most skeptical scholars agree about Paul and the disciples, for Christianity all hinges on the resurrection. Most skeptical scholars concede at the very least, the disciples believed they saw Jesus resurrected, so if you are unable to find an naturalistic alternative explanation that fits the data, then unwittingly you are admitting Jesus is God.
Gary R. Habermas, a leading scholar on the resurrection, has compiled quotes from skeptical scholars from the past half century. They offer up 12 facts though unable to find a viable natural explanation for what they concede to be true. The resurrection appearances in various group settings are the best proof you can ask for. "He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God" (John 3.18). Prophecies fulfilled are mathematically impossible unless Jesus is God.
The perspective from the natural to prove the supernatural uncreated Creator was given in Step 1 and Step 2. Using the same data set for evidence of the exponential progression of conscience in the past six thousand years, we can apply the same principle to the supernatural realm outside the natural if it exists to conclude that if there had been an eternity of the past of cause and effects, mankind would not still be sinning to the extent it still does. This is not to say man always existed in the past, but if there was an eternity of the past of cause and effects, mankind would have approximated into that past, and that which is proximity to eternity for all tense and purposes is considered to have always been existing (long enough).
The finding is there could not have been an eternity of the past of cause and effects of gods creating gods (or supernatural phenomena causing supernatural) because you would have been derived from that past of eternity, thus approximating to it. You certainly would not even need 13.7 billion years to reach the state of near sinlessness. Therefore, know you were created by the Trinity since none can compare to Christ in what He did for you on the cross, though His resurrection and ascension.
Please don't put forward the argument: 'but man didn't always exist since the universe is only 13.7 billion years old'. Obviously! You're missing the point. If there was an eternity of the past of cause and effects, mankind would have been derived from that past and approximated into it so we would have existed for far longer than we actually have.
Recall I stated in Step 3, some atheists make this argument: 'Ok, a lesser god created, so why can't he have a creator, and a creator create that creator?' Because this presupposes an eternity of the past of creating gods and supernatural stuff. But mankind would not still be sinning to the extent it still does if that were the case for the same reason given in Step 1 (reread Step 1).
Three Heavens
BEFORE TIME BEGAN God decided His creation will have Three Heavens (2 Cor. 12.2)--a Paradise above (3rd Heaven), realm of fallen spirits (2nd Heaven), and our universe (1st Heaven). God also created timeless unawares called Hades or Sheol. Hades is not considered heaven nor hell. The good side of Hades is called Paradise below or Abraham's bosom. Christians will be resurrected together (1 Thess. 4.15-17) from the good side of Hades and come before the Judgment Seat unto rewards which is just for believers. The bad side of Hades is where the Rich Man went and where the unsaved go when they die. They will be resurrected-separated by a 1000 years-to the Great White Throne to be judged and cast into Hell.
Sin Problem Solved in Christ Alone
If God is Uncreated why can't something, else anything else, be uncreated? Make a comparison to this alleged "something else" with Jesus Christ. Make a list. There is no comparison. Christ wins hands down every time given His character, life and ability to resurrect. The worse thing you can do at this point is to shut your mind and say something like this: 'no one yet has made sense of the incarnation'. Christians understand it and can explain it. If you are not saved you should still be able to understand it and explain it even though you don't give into it.
We know sin needs payment and is not allowed to go unchecked. We see this every day in the world. There are consequences of falling into sin. If you murder someone, you go to jail. The only way to prevent your second death (Hell-eternal separation from God) is by receiving the perfect sacrifice of Jesus who broke into the world to be the propitiation or substitute for our sins. Sin leads to death rendering the flesh utterly corruptible. It cannot be fixed or refined though we try. We know the old man must die on the cross with Christ because sin entered, stirring the old man to sin through his body of sin. Sin not absolved and the spirit not regenerated (quickened) is without God's life in union with Christ which leads to perdition. New birth (spiritual birth), the second birth (born-again), makes us a new creation. Our old man dies to the old creation. We are in the world but not of the world. In the old creation, Adam never attained in the Garden what those who are born-again have since he never ate of the tree of life which typifies Christ. Jesus said eat of my flesh and drink of His blood. When many disciples heard this they walked away (John 6.47-66). They were never born-again, because they refuse to eat of His flesh and drink of His blood. Superficially they may have appeared to be following Christ only. When you eat something you take it all in. When you drink something you let it go down all the way. Salvation won't come unless you are in it for real and in it to stay.
The first God-conscious man was the first Adam. Jesus is the second Adam (1 Cor. 15.47), the last Adam (v.45), firstfruits of the new creation. Unto Him perfection is attainable. He is the firstfruits of many who will be pillars in the New City of the New Earth. We will be without sin. God and the Lamb will be the center of the New City an shall see His one face (Rev. 22.1,3,4), because if you see the Son you see the Father, for Jesus is the fullness of the Godhead bodily. To be included in God's new creation, first you will need to give up your self-centered directed life for the leading of God's will to guide you by the Holy Spirit. But first, you must be a willing recipient of the gift of repentance and faith for salvation to receive eternal life which is promised to all who would willingly receive Him (John 3.16,18). Only then can you begin to grow in spiritual life to be a spiritual man or woman.
Hell serves a vital purpose just like jails do in our society, to keep billions of unsaved souls away from the people of God. To annihilate the image of God is impossible. We are all made in the God's image. You can't cease to exist. You will be resurrected!
The perfect sacrifice could only be God Himself, the Son of God. Thus, before the foundations of the world, God set out His plan in His infinite foreknowledge for the way of the Lord to erect obedience on mankind by the perfect obedience Jesus showed to the Father. You will know no greater peace, love, joy, patience and comfort: "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self-control" (Gal. 5.22,23).
God's Prerogative
Some have tried the approach, God being uncreated would have ended up creating man at some point approximating into the eternity of the past. Man would have had nearly an eternity along the exponential progression of conscience to be perfected without sin, yet sin is still present, so there must not be a God. The answer to this contention is (1) since it is God's prerogative to create, our existence comes into being when He desires it. Nature doesn't have this prerogative, but only reacts. (2) There is no time with God since He operates outside of time, and as far as we know the best evidence we have is time began when the universe started 13.7 billion years ago.
Cycles Theory
Issues with cycles theory... (1) If we are derived from never ending past cycles, we would have run through our existing cycle already by now because it approximates into the eternity of the past. We would not exist in a universe for it would have burnt out already. (2) Cycles are meaningless and without purpose to deaden your conscience further. Nothing really matters in the end. Life is pointless. Do whatever you want. After about 80 or so years the same result occurs: death and annihilation! (3) Scientists agree the universe will not implode because all it has ever been doing is expanding at an exponential rate so this doesn't give credence to imploding and reloading universes. (4) It doesn't matter how dissipated any cycle may get, there is still energy which never becomes useless energy. Just because we don't know how to make use of it presently does not mean it is useless energy. We would not cease to exist in dissipated energy, we would just be transformed from one cycle to the next. The exponential progression of conscience remains intact so we would not still be sinning to the extent we still do (that was a sweet argument!). (5) Cycles lack explanatory scope. There is no reason for them. Just as their is no reason for multi-verses.
Multiverses
This theory has no evidence-complete speculation. If they were to exist, they would still be required to follow the law of cause and effects so since they are natural they must abide in Step 1.
Alien Theory
You might even want to say aliens brought us here or caused us even though there is no evidence. You have to ask what caused them since they did not create themselves? Would a loving Creator leave His creation unattended to fall into alien hands? Would God allow any created being to create sentient life and mishandle it? There are over 800 necessary variables for life to exist (Journeying Towards The Spiritual, Hugh Ross). Dividing into the number estimated planets in the universe, the probability life exists on another planet is less than 1 in a million (ref. in The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus, Gary R. Habermas & Mike Licona). Even if there was such a planet that could contain life, this doesn't suggest it would have life. You still need God's hand, since the unconscious universe can't create conscious beings. Can a bird house make a bird?
Animals are cursed (Rom. 8.19-22) today by man's sin in the world. They have had a hard time of it before man and during man's existence which is why God never gave them God-consciousness for that would hardly be fair. They are the brunt of abuse by the fallen angels and demons and now man mistreats them. Man was responsible to rule over the whole world and all the animals but Adam was disobedient and became fallen. God knew virtually the instant man was created he would fall he would fall so He took measures accordingly.
There are three groups of animals I'd like to address: 1) dinosaurs that existed before God made desolate and waste (Gen. 1.2); 2) pre-endemic animals of the restoration (after Gen. 1.2); and 3) animal species of the past 6000 years.
Demons corrupted the dinosaurs. Fallen Lucifer and his fallen angels fell from 3rd heaven to 2nd heaven then proceeded to negatively impact the development of the existing creatures on earth. There were bejeweled cities the Bible says in a first garden, but we have no fossil remains of intelligent beings or any such cities; therefore, these beautiful cities were in 2nd heaven. From such cities in 2nd heaven Satan and the fallen angels thought to manipulate earth's creatures, thus making dinosaurs vicious. The spirit beings the fallen angels ruled over are called demons which may have inhabited the dinosaurs. God responded by making the earth "desolate and waste" (Gen. 1.2) casting those demons into the deep (abyss) below even 1st heaven earth and the universe). Satan and his angels remained in 2nd heaven, but even more rights were taken away from them. They are irredeemable. The restoration of creation followed sometime later summed up in the literal six days.
Man was made in God's image (Gen. 1.26) whom God created with a spirit of God-consciousness and a soul of self-consciousness about six thousand years ago when He breathed the breath of life into man's body, directly creating man's spirit and when it made contact with the body, the soul life was formed. Man became a "living soul" with a "soulical body" (outerman) and a spirit (innerman). His body was formed from the "dust" (Gen 2.7) over 13.7 billion years. God will give man a resurrected body at the consummation of this age (the "last day" John 11.24) like Jesus received-a newly clothed spiritual-physical body.
Animals kill not just because of man's sin, but because of Satan's sin. A demon came into the serpent in the Garden showing death pervaded the animal kingdom already (including plant life) in the restoration of creation. When God split the firmament on day two, it was not considered a "good day" in Genesis 1 like the other days, because some of those demons that were cast into the deep unavoidably came up to inhabit the bodies of the animals on earth. That is their natural unrelenting propensity as disembodied spirits, they seek to inhabitant bodies, preferably humans than swine. When God restored creation in the six days (representative "summary days"), it was not possible for animals that developed to avoid those demons. And this is why animals can still be vicious though not as vicious as dinosaurs. Death existed before the Garden of Eden for this reason.
Consequently, the Garden of Eden was limited to a particular safe place, the boundaries of which were not to be breached by Adam and Eve to rule the world until the proper time. Outside the Garden of Eden is danger from Satan, the fallen angels, demons, weather, volcanoes and animals. The serpent came into the Garden, and man was immediately tempted nearly as soon as he has God-consciousness. God brought forth man to defeat the fallen angels and demons (He enjoys our participation in doing His will) so we are worthy to be with Him for eternity in the New City if we receive His redemptive design. Eventually Christ's finished work on the cross will lead us to the millennial kingdom where the lamb will crouch next to a lion and the lion will eat grass (Isaiah 11.6-9). There is no indication there will be any animals after the millennial kingdom though in the New City and the New Earth. Perhaps we will have outgrown them by then even cute little puppies.
God will never extinguish the soul of man, not even in Hell because once God creates man with the ability of God-consciousness, it is unrighteous to annihilate him having received awareness of our Creator. All men have this awareness without exception. He never treats us as instrumental value as a means to another end. We are intrinsic value to God because God wants to walk with us one day after we have been raised up. This is what God longs for and what His whole purpose is--the New City in the New Earth for eternity to commune with His sons and daughters.
He created us for His good pleasure and created out of His glory for those who would willingly receive His guiding care. This is revealed to us by His Holy Spirit, the Word and through the power of eternal life which is His uncreated life given to all who believe. He is worthy. The experience of Israel under the law was to show us we are utterly incapable of keeping the law which points us to Christ, the One who was able to keep the law perfectly; and even more, to fill it up (Matt. 5.17). He has entered into our regenerated spirits, made new creations, to lead us through to His truths and intuitive knowledge. No man has seen or can conceive the things He has planned for those who love Him. We have new life which is the same new life that those under the law received, except that the Holy Spirit did not reside in them, but came upon them and moved among them. The veil was not yet rent under the law. The indwelling Holy Spirit did not commence until Christ was raised to the right hand of the Father then gave the Holy Spirit to dwell each man who believed according to John 3.16. The veil was rent representing His flesh dying on the cross for our sins and entering into the Holy of Holies which is our spirit by the His Holy Spirit.
For we have become a royal priesthood and no longer bring our prayers to the intermediary priesthood of Levites. All Christians are saints and priests. The angels, millions of them, take our prayers up directly. The highest order of angels are given in Revelation 4 and 5: "four living beings [represented angels for the four elements and types of creatures on earth] and the twenty-four elders [eldest elders of the universe, the 24 archangels] fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp, and they held gold bowls filled with incense--the prayers of God's people!" (Rev. 5.8).
Many have tried to overturn the Proof in God's word. Eventually the sun and all stars will die out, but the universe will never collapse on itself for scientist today agree dark energy is a greater expansive than the gravitational force of dark matter and matter itself. Dark energy pushes outwardly, expanding the universe at an exponential rate in spite of the pervasive force of gravity pressing in. It turns out that the force of gravity which seems so all encompassing ironically is weak and tentatively the avenue through which we are raised "to the throne" (Rev. 7.9) because it is being released from out of the cosmos. Scientists say this great force of gravity is so weak, gravitrons escape from universe somewhere, which I believe to be 2nd and 3rd heaven above. Only God could create such vast complexity.
Conclusion
The reason why unregenerates outside the kingdom of heaven (those in the kingdom of heaven at least acknowledge God exists) can't sense or reason out these 4 Steps are true is because God has not given it to them to be able to understand. God will not come upon a man who continues to put up a wall between himself and God. The intuition, communion and conscience of their spirit is dead to God by their own choice, full of excuses and intellectual dishonesty such as accusing Christians of being afraid of death when most Christians never even come to Christ thinking of death. I know I never thought of death. All I remembered was "all things summed up in Christ" (Eph. 1.10). That was the revelation God gave me when I presented myself honestly to God. He responded in kind. I didn't even know about the 4 Step Proof for God and the Minimal Facts Approach proving Jesus is God by His resurrection. So I received much less grace than you do now by reading the 4 Step Proof for God.
An unregenerate is unable to know he has a sin nature because he is lost in his fallen nature. He prefers to remain there. It is too scary for him to let go of the control he has had on himself for so many decades. Even so through his life, God provides sufficient grace so he is without excuse. Neo said in the Matrix, "the problem is choice!" Those who take the red pill realize this after their choice is made; before, all they can do is take the red pill with humility and unsatisfactory feelings for this world. They don't realize it fully until they come out of the Matrix on the other side which is the true reality. Those who remain in the matrix of their sin nature and the world (Satan is the god of this world), have this "unspoken, subterranean motivation" (The Case for Faith by Lee Strobel, p. 244). Gary R. Habermas records 39 ancient source of Jesus Christ, citing 100 facts. 7 of those sources are secular. Read The Spiritual Man by Watchman Nee to experience the dividing of your spirit, soul and body. Read the Bible. What man cannot do (save Himself) God can! But you must fulfill the condition for Him to enter into your life.
Fallen man, still unregenerate and so arrogant, acts and thinks as though he created himself and is the center of the universe. This is the pride of life! What strange faith this is to believe in atheism or agnosticism with no basis for doing so. Isn't that called faith that is blind? If you can have blind faith in atheism, how much better would be the faith that is proven: accepting the way, the truth and the life in Christ Jesus in which we received forgiveness and the Holy Spirit indwelling. I'll take the Holy Spirit over the evil spirit any day. How about you?
I was once like you before going through the door of salvation. All you need to do is knock. Jesus said, "And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you" (Luke 11.9).
Troy Brooks