Reasons to Believe EX45 Extract

b. Reasons to Believe.indd 1

Reasons to Believe

by Adrian Lickorish

All booklets are published thanks to the generous support of the members of the Catholic Truth Society

CATHOLIC TRUTH SOCIETY publishers to the holy see

27/07/2012 14:28

2

Table of Contents The Existence of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Twelve Reasons to Believe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Action in Uncertainty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Further Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

All rights reserved. First published 2012 by The Incorporated Catholic Truth Society, 40-46 Harleyford Road London SE11 5AY Tel: 020 7640 0042 Fax: 020 7640 0046. This edition Š 2012 Adrian Lickorish.

ISBN 978 1 86082 807 2 Front cover image: Climber watching valley from peak over Courmayeur Š Angelo Cavalli/Corbis.

b. Reasons to Believe.indd 2

27/07/2012 14:28

3

The Existence of God From one single principle he not only created the whole human race so that they could occupy the entire earth, but he decreed the times and limits of their habitation.

And he did this so that they might seek the deity and, by feeling their way towards him, succeed in finding him; and, indeed, he is not far from any of us, since it is in him we live and move and exist. (Ac 17:26-28) 1. Does God Exist?

1.1 The question of the existence of God has exercised mankind throughout recorded history. For most of the time, most people have professed some form of belief in a god or gods. Some, however, have expressed a conviction against any such existence; some have regarded the answer as unknowable, and others have been uncertain, deep in doubt and confusion.

1.2 The question deserves full consideration, because our response to it has a practical and radical impact on the way we live our lives.

2. The Approach 2.1 Today in Britain there appears to be a widespread lack of knowledge of the many established reasons for belief in

b. Reasons to Believe.indd 3

27/07/2012 14:28

4

God. This booklet summarises twelve reasons for the lay reader. It also includes comment on four common areas of difficulty, and on the “don’t know” position.

2.2 The author is a lay Roman Catholic with strong ecumenical leanings. The booklet has the benefit of input from clergy and laity of Catholic, Anglican and independent denominations. It does not claim to set forth original arguments; the reasons explained here are well known to theologians. Rather, the purpose is to make existing arguments immediately accessible to interested lay people, and to prompt a desire to know more.

2.3 Different reasons will speak more strongly to different readers, and at different times in their lives. The link between personal experience and personal faith is a powerful one.

2.4 Each reason reinforces the position of belief in God. The atheist is faced with the requirement to reject all of the reasons completely; finding even one of them to be persuasive brings one to the shore of belief. Time, then, to explore further.

2.5 The booklet is intended to be readily comprehensible, and with a core which is readily memorable. Most of us have experienced occasions when we are “put on the spot,” either being asked to explain our faith or seeking to comfort the doubting or anxious. It is hoped that this booklet will provide the basis for an immediate response.

b. Reasons to Believe.indd 4

27/07/2012 14:28

5

3. Summary of Reasons 3.1 The following summary of the twelve reasons to believe in God may be useful as an aide memoire: 3.2 Reasons 1 and 2: First and Independent Causes.

Reasons 3, 4 and 5: Design.

Reasons 6 and 7: Desire and Purpose.

Reason 8: Objective Morality.

Reasons 9 and 10: Belief and Experience.

Reason 11: Life after Death.

Reason 12: The New Testament.

b. Reasons to Believe.indd 5

27/07/2012 14:28

6

Twelve Reasons to Believe Reasons One and Two: First and Independent Causes In the beginning God created Heaven and Earth (Gn 1:1) The theme of the first and second reasons is consideration of the first cause and the independent cause of all things, based on the understanding that nothing comes from nothing.

1. Who Created the Big Bang?

1.1 Everything that we see, touch or hear - a tune, a plant, a river - has a beginning. That beginning is caused by something (or things) separate, different and outside the thing itself. For example, a musical tune is caused by a player and an instrument; a plant by a seed and the properties of the earth; a river by water filtering through the earth. In each case, there are many contributing factors. We can follow a chain of causes, back to atoms and beyond, including laws of physics and chemistry, but nothing creates itself. Each thing has a start, and that start is caused by something outside and apart from itself.

1.2 The universe - all things within space and time, from each galaxy, star and atom to the smallest particle - itself had a beginning. Before that beginning, there was nothing; no space, no time, no matter, no energy.

b. Reasons to Believe.indd 6

27/07/2012 14:28

7

1.3 The current Big Bang theory suggests that about 14 billion years ago, some extraordinarily small, extraordinarily dense, extraordinarily hot, “something” came into being, before which was nothing. That “something” cooled and expanded outwards at a huge rate, and formed our universe, which is still cooling and expanding. From the moment of its first existence, that “something” developed in accordance with laws of physics (gravity, for example).

1.4 The Big Bang theory does not (and does not seek to) explain the very start - how that very first state of something came to be. It does not address the issue of how something came into being when, immediately before, there was nothing.

1.5 The explanation is God. God is the first cause, who creates everything else without himself being created. It is God who creates the something at the start of Big Bang, and the laws of physics which apply from that moment, where there was nothing before. That something is not created out of nothing; it is created by God and nothing else.

1.6 God is the uncreated being who has existence by his own eternal nature, and is the ultimate creator of all else.

2. All but One is Dependent 2.1 This reason is related to, but differs slightly from, the first reason.

2.2 This reason focuses not on beginnings, but on dependency, and the fact that everything we experience is dependent on something else for its existence.

b. Reasons to Believe.indd 7

27/07/2012 14:28

8

2.3 If something exists, it must be dependent or independent.

Everything we see in the universe is dependent. A child exists because of his or her parents; a leaf because of sunlight, carbon and water; a cloud because of water. In every case, the dependent thing exists only by depending on other things outside itself.

2.4 But not everything can be dependent. There must be (at least) one independent thing.

2.5 To test this assertion, consider an illustration - an item dependent upon a chain of other items. Could every one be dependent? Suppose first that the chain is of dependent items. In that case, inevitably, the chain is incomplete and the item cannot exist. Suppose alternatively that the chain is infinite. In that case the item can only exist potentially.

Until the full chain is achieved, the item again cannot exist.

2.6 So one independent thing is required to start the chain of items. That independent thing does not require the existence of anything else. It has nothing which temporarily or logically caused it, contributed to it or came before it.

Everything else in the chain - in our case, the universe depends, directly or indirectly, on it.

2.7 That one independent thing is God. Reasons Three, Four and Five: Design ... Ever since the creation of the world, the invisible existence of God and his everlasting power have been clearly seen by the mind’s understanding of created things. (Rm 1:20)

b. Reasons to Believe.indd 8

27/07/2012 14:28