Is Anyone Up There? Looking for Clues - Part B

There is within human beings. Universally, a sense of right and wrong son always the same values and standards aren't always the same. It can shift from culture, depending on what kind of programming, etc. from their youth, but it seems to be universal. And here's the deal. This is something that goes on people engage in. Think about every single day, but totally unaware of it shows up when a wife criticizes her husband for doing something that's not right for a child is mad because his sister got more ice cream than he did and he says that's not fair. There are many experts and intellectuals today see the very notion of God's existence is. That's why it's crucial for you to be able to explain how you know there's a God and today on connect with skip-Skip looks at the cosmos within the country helping you examine the substantial pieces of evidence for God's existence before we begin.

Here's a great resource that will help you become the difference maker God created you to be. I've enjoyed watching the growth in the ministry of my friend Levi Lesko this month's connect with Skip resource.

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It's a 40 day interactive journey to thinking right so you can live right 1-800-922-1888, Chapter 119-the Christian walk you through the woods with an atheist. They came upon a large 8 foot in diameter glass ball. Christian said ha where that come from it is said, I don't know but someone must've put it there. They both agree so than the Christian thought, okay, what if the ball was a little bit larger, say 16 feet in diameter with that also need a cause that this it will sure smaller balls need causes and larger balls also need because so than the Christian smiled and said okay well what if the ball was 8000 miles in diameter and almost 25,000 miles in circumference of size of the earth. And so the if you saw the trap coming so sure you're right.

If smaller balls need causes and larger balls need causes that are really big ball needs across the Christian said okay now what if you make the ball the size of the universe doesn't need a cause and the atheist said of course not. The universe is just there.

That's just a little argument that is thrown out in some philosophy courses, but that's about as good as the explanation for the universe gets with some people you know it is used to laugh at us for saying someone made something out of nothing. Lisa Lapidus for the now we can laugh at them for saying nothing, made something out of nothing. I wonder Paul says from the time the world was created. The people of seen the earth and the sky and all that God has made. They can clearly see his invisible qualities, his eternal power and divine nature, so they have no excuse whatsoever for not knowing God.

We've learned a few things over the years we've learned that our universe is expanding there's debate as to the rate of expansion, but we know that it is expanding. Now if you put that process in reverse. What happens universe collapses into nothingness and you get back to where there isno time and no matter according to the theory of general relativity. You can never have space without time and you can never have space and time without matter, so if matter had a beginning and we know it does.

Or had been time must've had a beginning and the universe, therefore, is not eternal. So what is the first uncaused cause of it all is the question that must be answered to go all the way back to the beginning in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The Bible opens up at the first uncaused cause opens up with the cosmological argument.

Second clue is not looking for a cause, but looking at the world itself.

Looking at the cosmos as it is called Carl Sagan love the call that the world in which we live. The cosmos as we look around.

Boy it it looks as though it's what they'll say it looks as though it's been designed. It appears to be an ordered system. It even seems as if the universe anticipated us. Funny, I've heard this language from very astute scientific minds who do not believe in God as the first cause bill say it looks as though just so happens it looks as though the universe is finely tuned to anticipate advanced complex carbon-based life scars. This is the teleological argument. The argument from design. Even the ancient Greek philosophers were impressed by the order of the universe and Plato in refuting atheism successfully in his time said, quote the order and the motion of the stars shows on mind that ordered it course he was polytheistic, but the estate none the less, believing that it didn't come by random chance. So David writes in Psalm 19. We just looked at it day after day they pour forth their speech, and night after night they display knowledge recommend to you. We did about a year ago will do it again.

A great book now turned into a film called the privileged planet. It's excellent it's excellent and the researchers in the book and in the film show that the earth is uniquely situated within the Milky Way galaxy at a place that they call the galactic habitable zone.

There the very sin margin of space that could accommodate the advanced complex carbon-based life that we enjoy in earth it could happen anywhere in the galaxy just this very tiny little corner and we happen to be there. It's perfect for habitation is also perfect for observability for us to look at the universe around us and to enjoy. So think about it just so happened that the earth is 93 million miles away from the host.*The sun that has a surface temperature of 12,000°F the great that it just so happen to be that way, as if our orbit was just a little bit closer like Venus would all burn up just a little bit further away like Mars would all freeze to death. Life couldn't happen, it just so happens that the earth is spending 365 1/3 times on its axis, as it makes its yearly jaunt around the sun. Why, when a 30 times within the days and nights will be 10 times longer under the alternate periods of very very hot and very very cold freezing and life couldn't exist.

We can enjoy it just so happens that the Earth is tilted 23 1/2° on its axis stabilized by a large moon very important that enables the four seasons that bring us this kind of constant stable life on earth just so happens that the gravitational force and acceleration of gravity is 9.8 MS squared is what it is was a little heavier weed not be able to move. It was a little bit less. We fly off. It just so happens that our atmosphere on this privileged planet is combination of oxygen to nitrogen 79 to 20% with 1% of Aryan gases. This happens to be that way if were 50% and 50% first got a light a match for scatter light up a cigarette, boom would be blown off this planet just so happens that the oceans are the dimension that they are in that in that a fluke of nature that the ocean and landmass are the ratio that they are. It's estimated that if the oceans were half of the present size. We would only have one fourth of the rainfall annually that we get on the earth. You know, that would mean the New Mexico places like dry deserts don't get a whole lot of it be horrible if the oceans were just 1/8 larger than they are.

We have four times the amount of rainfall in the earth would be a swamp and what about all that space up there just so happens that all of that space and placement of the planets in our galaxy are there perfectly and needed for life on earth. How many of you saw movie some years back called contact see that movie contact film largely in New Mexico and are written by Carl Sagan. By the way, the book and so here's these big devices pointed out towards space reading radio waves to see if there's aliens communicating with earth intelligent life out there and there is a sentence, a sub theme that ran through the movie was mentioned to her three times said if there's lot. If there isn't life elsewhere. Then there's a lot of wasted space out there said that a few times in the movie if there isn't life elsewhere. There's a lot of wasted space out there that turns out to be very untrue is no wasted space in the position in space of the bodies and the planets are very necessary to buffer us on this earth from things like solar winds that could destroy us or debris coming through space. The placement of Jupiter, for instance, shields us from objects that would careen toward the earth and destroy life on earth did you know that there've been objects as large as the earth coming toward the earth if it would hit the earth would be total destruction but there shielded by Jupiter just so happens that the way they orbit the sun. Shields while we listen to that we didn't just so happen.

It was just so designed that way, exactly, exactly, the design element defies that it just so happened and it's a clue that God is left for us to observe and if you ever heard of the name Anthony flew Anthony flew was the most famous intellectual atheists for 50 years.

He provided the source material for the atheistic arguments of some of the smartest atheists in the world. The ones that are most famous use his material. Anthony flew presented a paper before CS Lewis's Socratic club defending the atheistic position very effectively until 2004 2004, Anthony flew made a shocking announcement this one time ardent atheists said God must exist. Shock the world. He said the universe must be the work of an intelligent designer. Why did he say this because he studied the DNA, and as he studied the DNA.

He said it shows that intelligence must've been involved in getting these extraordinarily diverse elements together the enormous complexity looks to me like the work of design that he found a clue he found the clue of design. He figured it out.

It's the same thing is if you walk along the road you find a watch is a Paley's argument William Paley the watchmaker in Mesilla. Very good argument by the way, if you find a watch, look at Eagle. I bet there's a watchmaker somewhere who made the watch that's more plausible than if I were to say none on the know actually what happens over billions of years, explosions and floods in gases of Earth's crust shifted in glass finally formed over a metal object little hands grew inside and gears. It took billions of years but it's a you're an idiot you be right because the design infers a designer dislike if you see a painting mistake, but there's a painter or if you find a book that that there was an author.

If you hear music that that there was a musician and a songwriter behind all the design speaks of the designer. So David wrote the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament or the starry expanse shows his handiwork offer for those of us were believers. It's it's better it's more than the clue the clues lead us to the relationship where we can talk about in the next several weeks, we have a relationship with God and we find out his attributes, but but when we look up at the expense we make the next step. If the art that's hanging in the skies. Is that cool. What must the artist be like himself. So when we drive along the side of the road and it's a beautiful sunset in New Mexico and we pull our car over and we look at it we don't know what a marvelous fortuitous occurrence of accidental circumstance we say. I know the designer of that Robert Jasso was NASA's Goddard Institute for space studies representative. He wrote a book called God and the astronomers and he writes for the scientist who is lived by faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He is scale the mounds of ignorance. He's about to conquer the highest peak as he pulls himself over the rock. He's greeted by a band of theologians who been sitting there for centuries.

I love that I love when these guys find the clues and it leads them to the existence of God and he designer God who made it.

Designer planet and we been waiting for them to come and many of them do. The third and final clue. I want to talk about today is in looking for clues are looking at the cosmos looking within the conscience.

This is called the moral law, and its alluded to as we read in Romans chapter 1. Here's a universal feature of human existence. There is within human beings universally, a sense of right and wrong is always the same. The values and standards aren't always the same. If it can shift from culture and depending on what kind of programming, etc. from their youth, but it seems to be universal. And here's the deal.

This is something that goes on people engage in a think about every single day, but they're totally unaware of it shows up when a wife criticizes her husband for doing something that's not right or child is mad because his sister got more ice cream and he did and he says that's not fair, or a nation defends a smaller nation against an aggressor nation on moral reasons.

That's called the moral law. Where does this sense of right and wrong come from and why is it so universally felt.

And here's the kicker, even agnostics and atheists enter into this. I've heard them say will look at this world. It's full of injustice there so much evil tsunamis in cancer. In other words, there's something morally wrong how you know unless you are appealing to something that's right so you can't say there's injustice unless you have or are appealing to a standard of justice. That's called the moral law. CS Lewis, by the way was won by this argument, he was converted and he writes the universe seemed so cruel and unjust.

But how would I got this idea of just and unjust. A man doesn't call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line.

He was a Oxford atheist who was converted by the moral law. So Paul in Romans chapter 1 verse 19 men reading this now in the new living translation for the truth of God is known to them in distinctively everybody makes moral comparisons by persons better or worse or this is right and that is wrong. Moral comparisons demand and objective moral standard of some kind so far to put a couple pictures up on the screen of Mother Teresa and out of Hitler you look at that and and I know you're chuckling because instinctively you know Mother Teresa is better than that of Hitler.

What she believes how she lived what she thought.

You don't have to go to college philosophy course to get that turned around and think anything different but you know that intuitively is the moral law. Where does that come from. It's a clue I was in the airport. Some time back, my wife actually found this book in thought I should get it and I agree.

I agree that love is called the language of God's got a DNA model on the front it says a scientist presents evidence for belief. While what catches my attention about the book as it was written by Francis Collins now and if that rings a bell. Francis Collins is one of the most eminent scientist living today. He is the head of the human genome project diverted that the decoding of the human DNA and unveiling on raveling that language breaking the code he's ahead of that project he was an agnostic, who became a very staunch atheist and now is not now.

He believes in God. Now he has faith and he admits in the book that he had drawn his conclusions about God without examining all of the data which is a no-no for scientists and so sick to my own shame here. I had a presupposition that God doesn't exist you can exist, but I had and examine all the data he started examining the data now.

He believes in God and what got to him was this thought of the moral law.

He read CS Lewis's book mere Christianity and this is what he writes in this book could there be a more important question in all of human existence then is there a God he read mere Christianity examine the argument of the moral law, and he he writes this I had started this journey of intellectual exploration to confirm my atheism that now lay in ruins as the argument from the moral law, and many others forced me to admit in the plausibility of the God hypothesis because faith in God now seems more rational than disbelief. I just want you to hear that his last week I made a statement that if you are an atheist you have way more faith than I do as a theist and as a Christian it takes more faith to hold your position as an atheist than it does for me to hold my position because of the evidence. Now here is the head of the human genome to one of the. The astute scientists of our time who says faith in God seems more rational than disbelief and there are so many of these testimonies of people who find the clues they look for a cause, and then they look at the world and they look within the conscience and eventually many of them look up to God so my plea and appeal to you is the body of Christ is that you engage in the conversation with unbelievers and when there at Starbucks in the ring up in notion of how God can exist to take these tools out you use them, and you engage in the process. Let's not become a fortress mentality kind of a church where know you want to learn anything about God, you come to church with Jesus didn't say, he eats it, go ye into all the world and so as we get emptied out in just a few minutes and go to our homes and our jobs and our places of influence engage them in conversation as you do three things I want to remember you will be challenged, you will be challenged if you state can't wait to share these with people you start engaging in your truck and have them immediately probably go okay, let's pray that right now I'm ready you want to think it true they have pre-dispositions toward not believing because they've been told wrongly that you can't be intellectually honest and believe in God.

At the same time and they bought that line so you're going to be challenged.

Number two, you can be confident enough to weasel around anymore with the stuff you can be confident that though they have good questions got great answers to meet any of those question of the greatest minds in history have come to know Jesus Christ personally and still retain all of their scientific involvement so you will be challenged. You can be confident or three. You should be careful should be respectful. Don't bulldoze them walking go you taken hell for you, you won't win many that way you want to be respectful. You want to let them wrestle and asked the questions and be kind to them. I leave you with this. A familiar passage, Peter said in first Peter chapter 3 verse 15 but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you with meekness and fear nets with respect with respect to engage get into the battle talk it out fascinated regarding that conclusion. Skip Heitzig six message today from the series the biography of God right now you Skip to tell you how your support. Keep these messages coming your way in connection people to God's love.

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