For Our
Atheist / Agnostic
Friends
The Biblical God is.
God is spirit, (Isaiah 31:3; 2 Corinthians 3:17; Romans 8:16;). Indeed Luke 24:39 states, "See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have." Here Jesus contrasts His resurrected body with the nature of a spirit, implying God's nature is not physical like humans.
When it comes to empirical evidence—which means evidence that can be observed, tested, or measured scientifically—God being spirit presents a challenge, because spirit is by nature non-material and invisible, and therefore not detectable through scientific means like matter or energy.
As such, proof of another sort is required; the proof for the existence of the supernatural (immaterial) God must be transcendental in nature. "Transcendental" refers to something that relates to the conditions or structures of human experience—things that go beyond (or "transcend") the physical world but are necessary for us to perceive or understand it.
And it is with this understanding that the following is offered for consideration...
The Biblical worldview is the only seriously considered or widely-held surviving worldview that makes sense of the reality in which we find ourselves.
And any worldview, philosophy, or religion not based on the revealed authoritative Holy Word of God, consisting solely of the 66 books of the Old and New Testament scriptures known as The Bible, results in logical absurdity and/or evil.
This is because the Biblical worldview is the only one that accounts for the existence of, and provides the foundation for, immaterial realities such as the laws of logic and morality both being universal, unchanging, and authoritative. And any other worldviews attempting to do so collapse in on themselves through internal contradiction.
Laws of logic:
The laws of logic are immaterial and presumed to be universal, unchanging, and authoritative. Only the biblical worldview provides an explanation and grounding for this in that the laws of logic are transcendental properties of the nature and character of God who is Himself universal, unchanging, and the Ultimate Authority.
And since people are created in the image of God (sharing His communicable attributes), we also have these principles built-in to us (even uncontacted people groups in jungles live their lives employing logic), but these principles are corrupted by sin which is why we don't always abide by them (we are, at times, logically inconsistent).
No other seriously considered or widely-held surviving worldview, philosophy, or religion offers a grounding for the immaterial, universal, unchanging, and authoritative laws of logic.
If there is no ultimate grounding to dictate that the laws of logic are universal, unchanging, and authoritative, then violating them might not be judged to be wrong in some circumstances.
And as such, for example, one could not legitimately judge all contradictions to be wrong in any real sense.
Not having this universal grounding leads to irrationality, self-contradiction, and ultimately, the collapse of meaningful thought and communication.
Morality:
The biblical worldview grounds objective and universal morality in God's unchanging nature, character, and divine commands. Since God is absolute, eternal, and just, His moral law transcends human opinion, culture, and time. Right and wrong are rooted in His character, making morality fixed, binding, and universal.
And since people are created in the image of God (sharing His communicable attributes), we also have His morality built-in to us (even uncontacted people groups in jungles live their lives employing morality of some sort), but these morals are corrupted by sin which is why we don't always abide by them (we are, at times, morally inconsistent).
No other seriously considered or widely-held surviving worldview, philosophy, or religion offers a grounding for immaterial, universal, unchanging, and authoritative morality.
Not having this universal grounding for morality means that what is considered morally right or wrong is based on personal preferences or social trends which constantly change. This destroys justification for any authoritative laws, as well as justice institutions (police forces, courts, prisons, etc.).
And ultimately this leads to subjectivity, which leads to moral chaos, which leads to evil.
Because the Biblical God is the ultimate standard of goodness, moral values and duties are objective, universal, and meaningful. Any attempt to ground morality apart from Him leads to either subjectivism/relativism or incoherence, and eventually evil.
Since God’s moral law is universal, everyone is held to the same standard, regardless of culture, upbringing, or belief. This implies a real sense of guilt, justice, and the need for redemption, which is fulfilled in the gospel.
Point:
No other seriously considered or widely-held surviving worldview, philosophy, or religion does, nor can, provide such a grounding for the laws of logic and morality. God of the Bible must be presupposed as the necessary foundation for all logic and morality.
The proof of God is the impossibility of the contrary of His not existing, which would destroy all logic and morality.
Ultimate Authority:
There are only two options for one to submit to as ultimate authority; either God or man.
Submitting to man as ultimate authority is wrong because man is not all-knowing nor all-wise, is fallible, and is constantly in flux as to what is logical or moral. Man is also corrupted by sin.
Submitting to God as ultimate authority, however, is right because He is omniscient (all-knowing), omnisapient (all-wise), infallible (incapable of making mistakes or being wrong), as well as his nature and character are unchanging. God is also holy (morally perfect).
The Gospel and how it relates:
The gospel is two-fold: bad news and good news.
The bad news is that humans have violated God’s moral law, a law that is built into us, which is evidenced by our impartial conscience (con = with; science = knowledge). It tells us when we're wrong even when we don't like it or want to admit it.
His moral law is seen in the 10 commandments: do not lie, do not steal, do not have sex outside of marriage (or look with lust for that matter), do not take God's name in vain, etc.
Who of us can say that we have never violated most, if not all, of these moral laws?
Since we have broken God's moral law, we deserve to pay the price which is eternal conscious torment in hell. Justice must be satisfied. The seriousness of the punishment demonstrates the seriousness of the crime.
The good news is that God has provided a way for guilty sinners to be forgiven in a just manner.
God became a human in Jesus Christ and lived a life of perfect sinless obedience. He later was crucified on the cross.
Here is the point: We have broken God's moral law, but Jesus, who is God in flesh, paid the fine for guilty sinners. This way God can legitimately legally declare us as innocent, and let sinners off the hook while, at the same time, assure that required justice is fulfilled.
Not only is the sinner's guilt transferred to Christ, but the perfect righteousness of Christ is transferred to the sinner. In other words, God now views the sinner as if they had lived the perfect sinless life that Christ did.
This is indeed good news.
But in order to receive this forgiveness and righteousness, we must come to God on His terms...
First, we must have a change of mind and heart about our sin; that we come under Godly conviction about the seriousness of our sin against Him and are willing to have a change in our life - a reversal of direction
Second, we must place our full trust in Jesus Christ and his finished work on the cross rather than trusting in our own failed self-righteousness.
When we do this, God promises to forgive us of our sins, change us for the better, and grant us the gift of eternal life with Him.
The Biblical gospel is logically consistent in that guilty sinners are set free, but at the same time required justice us fully paid. It is the perfect coupling of logic and morality.
Thank you for your consideration.
To learn why many atheists reject this explanation, click here.
For a printable PDf version of this tract, click here.
For a more comprehensive proclamation of the Biblical Gospel, click here.
If you have any questions or concerns related to this issue, please don't hesitate to email us; we'd be happy to talk with you: elderchuck@mail.com.
For a printable PDF version of this tract, click here.