What is Ultimate Reality?

* What is "ultimate reality?" Many people believe that God is the "ultimate reality." However, there are different ideas about "god."

Different Concepts of "God"

Religions and Ultimate Reality

Does God Exist?

1. Why do many people believe God exists, while other people do not believe?

* Is it reasonable to believe in God? Yes! While the existence of God cannot be proved (or disproved) by human reason, belief in God is reasonable.

* Many rational and intelligent people believe that the biblical God is the best explanation for the existence and nature of the universe; abstract realities; objective ethical values; human sense of meaning, purpose, and significance; etc. (See page 4). The cumulative evidence points to God.

God in Relation to the Universe
* Read Genesis 1:1 (the very first verse of the Bible).

§ God is the ____________________________ of the universe.

* God is not only the Creator of the universe; he is the Sustainer of the universe. The continuing existence of the universe is dependent on his sustaining activity.

¶ "…all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together" (Colossians 1:16b-17, NIV).

What Does the Universe Reveal?
* Read Psalm 19:1-6. The heavens "declare," "proclaim," and "pour forth speech." They tell us about the greatness of God, because God made the universe. Cosmic nature proclaims God's "glory" - that is, the awesome and innate essence of God.

2. In what ways do the heavens speak?

¶ "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse" (Romans 1:20, NIV).

3. If nature clearly "speaks" about God, why do many people not "hear" it?

* Many scientists agree that nature provides strong evidence for the existence of God.

What About Creation vs. Evolution?
* A more fundamental question needs to be asked first. What about Theism vs. Naturalism? If naturalism is true, God does not exist, creation is ruled out, and naturalistic evolution is the only explanation. However, why must naturalism be true? If theism is true, God is creator, and theologians and theistic scientists can debate the details of his creative process.

God in Relation to Us
* God is not only Creator and Sustainer, he is a personal and relational God. The biblical God made us (as human beings) to have a relationship with him. Read Acts 17:24-28.

What Does it Matter?

4. What does it matter if "ultimate reality" is the biblical God? How does it affect our daily lives? How does it affect our attitudes, actions, values, relationships and goals?

Reflection/Application
† Do you believe God exists? If not, be willing to critically examine your worldview. Examine the reasons why so many people (including very intelligent people) do believe in God.

† Do you believe in God (or gods), but not the God revealed in the Bible? Identify the specific reasons why. Carefully compare your view of God with the God of the Bible.

† If you are a believer in the biblical God, answer this question in writing: How does my belief in God actually affect my daily life - my attitudes, actions, values, relationships and goals?

A List of Arguments for the Existence of God
The following is a list of arguments taken from Kreeft and Tacelli. Some of the arguments appear similar, and some of the arguments are certainly better than others. This list does not state the argument, but attempts to summarize the general idea. You need to read the entire argument to really understand it. The purpose of this list is to introduce you to the variety of arguments used for the existence of God.

1. Argument from Change - The universe (the sum total of matter, space and time) is always changing. Thus there must be an outside force to actualize change.

2. Argument from Efficient Causality - There must be an uncaused being who begins the chain of cause of effect.

3. Argument from Time and Contingency - There must be an absolutely necessary being from which contingent beings come.

4. Argument from Degrees of Perfection - There must be a "best," a source and real standard of all the perfections that we recognize belongs to us as beings.

5. The Design Argument - The intelligibility and irreducible complexity observed in nature is best explained as being caused by an intelligent agent, not mere chance and time.

6. The Kalam Argument - 1) Whatever begins to exist has a cause; 2) The universe began to exist; 3) Thus the universe has a cause. There must be a beginning because an actual infinite is not possible (It there was no beginning, the present moment would never arrive).

7. Argument from Contingency - Dependent or contingent being implies something else must exist outside, ultimately outside the universe that is bounded by space and time.

8. Argument from the World as an Interacting Whole - Since the parts make sense only within the whole, there must be a unifying efficient cause that is intelligent and transcendent.

9. Argument from Miracles - (offered as a clue or sign, not a proof).

10. Argument from Consciousness - The intelligible universe and the finite minds so well suited to grasp it are the products of intelligence (purely natural forces are nonrational forces).

11. Argument from Truth - Since our limited minds can discover eternal truths, and the human mind is not eternal, there must exist an eternal mind in which these truths reside.

12. Argument from the Origin of the Idea of God - The idea of an infinite, all-perfect being could not be caused by ourselves (as limited & imperfect beings), so it must come from God.

13. The Ontological Argument - Our thoughts of God imply his existence

14. The Moral Argument - Real moral obligation must be rooted in an objective standard of morality, that is, an ultimate lawgiver.

15. Argument from Conscience - The only source of absolute moral obligation is something superior to me - something like God.

16. Argument from Desire - Our natural, innate desire for something that neither time nor earth nor creatures can satisfy implies that something beyond time, earth, and creatures exists.

17. Argument from Aesthetic Experience

18. Argument from Religious Experience - The consistency, character, and effects of religious experience help validate the truth of divine reality.

19. The Common Consent Argument - The vast majority of human beings have believed in an ultimate being deserving of reverence and worship, so it is most plausible that God exists.

20. Pascal's Wager - Logical reasoning cannot by itself prove whether or not God exists, so we must wager (bet). If you bet against God, and you are wrong, you have everything to lose. If you bet for God, and you are correct, you have everything to gain.