Reasoning for an Intelligent Designer: Discussion apologetics 1

So we have before us a worksheet. If you look

on the worksheet next to the picture there, there's

a front and a back. The front says a ready defense

on the upper left -hand corner, and it has the

picture on the right, and it has the word list.

So all the blanks, if you see all the blanks,

they're all filled in with words from that word

list. So some of the words, you have the first

letter. Some you do not have the first letter,

and some of them repeat, and some do not. So

that makes it a little bit more enjoyable as

far as a puzzle goes. So you won't get too bored

and fall asleep on me while I'm talking to you.

All the verses are listed on the page, or at

least the meat of the verse that we need, so

we don't have to go use the Bible because it's

quite a few verses. So first of all, before I...

go into it at all. Does anybody know what the

definition of the word apologetics is? Going

once. So apologetics is the science of presenting

a reasoned defense for what you believe. So apologia

is the Greek word that means a reasoned defense.

Welcome. Come on in. Pull up a chair. Oh, Alex,

you might be supposed to be with the kids. Yeah,

you are. He's in memorization. He's in memorization

with Kishan. Oh, he doesn't go in until then?

So you don't go until Kishan goes, so he'll cue

you when to go? Yeah. A couple of worksheets.

You can pull up another chair and I can scoot

over on the corner. Okay, that'll work. Okay.

Anyway, so apologia is the Greek word that means

a reasoned defense. Okay? So if you look at that

first line, it says a ready defense. Then what

do you think might go in that blank? Where's

my one that has the blanks filled in? Okay, here

we go. Frank. Frank? Frank is not one of the

options. A faith defense, a teacher's defense,

a preparation defense. Oh. A universe defense.

How about a biblical lesson? A biblical lesson

on apologetics. That's what goes in the blank.

So that's how it's done. You can't mark it off

because biblical will probably be reused. Did

you get it? A biblical lesson on apologetics.

But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts. To

sanctify is to set apart. So sanctify Christ

as Lord in your hearts. Always being ready to

make a defense to everyone who asks you to give

an account for the hope that is in you, yet with

gentleness and reverence. Okay, so the first

blank on that page is biblical, Dom. So this

is a biblical lesson on apologetics, and we've

just read the verse. And so the reference is

first what 315? Which one of those is a Bible

book? First Heavens 315? Yes, first Peter 315.

So apologetics is not about winning arguments,

right? It's a reason defense doesn't mean that

it's about winning arguments. Okay. And then

it says F, which is a blank, fully explaining.

So that's, yep, faithfully explaining. What's

the T, do you think? Truth. Faithfully explaining

truth. Defending the gospel. and honoring Christ

with our minds. Scripture never calls believers

to blind faith. Rather, it consistently calls

us to thoughtful, reasoned, and humble confidence

in what God has revealed. So, question. Does

following God make sense? By committee, I got

about one -third answering, and two -thirds not

answering at all. So does following God make

sense? Yes. How would you say that's true, that

following God makes sense? Because you've got

to believe in something. Okay, so you need to

believe in something. You're going to believe

in something. It may as well be something that

works. Okay, so that's a logical decision, right?

If God calls you to be crucified, does that make

sense? No, not all the time. I mean, if God calls

you to be crucified, Yes, you too. See how it's

kind of hard to say that that makes sense, right?

Because that's going to be the end of my natural

life. My body is going to die, right? But this

natural life is very short. So it makes sense

in view of eternity, in view of God's character,

in view of the truth about God. That's how it

makes sense. Otherwise, believing and following

God, like to somebody who doesn't know God, They

don't know the truth about God. Maybe they know

the Bible, but they don't believe it. They just

read it like it's a normal book. Or maybe they've

never even read it. Then following God doesn't

really make sense to them. So our job then as

Christians is to faithfully explain the truth

so that it can make sense. So that they can see

the sense that it makes to us as well. So scripture

never calls believers to blind faith. Rather,

it consistently calls us to thoughtful, reasoned,

and humble confidence in what God has revealed.

Then you have the Roman numeral one. You guys

need a pencil. Pencil? Fill in the blanks. You'll

retain it better if you write something. Apologetics

is something that we should be prepared to do.

If you're at a party, if you're on the job, if

you're at school and you run into somebody that

says that they do not believe that God exists,

you should be equipped with good reasons why

you believe that God exists. And I'm not trying

to pick on anybody, but you got to believe in

something isn't good enough because they're going

to believe in something else. Right? I agree

with that statement. You got to believe you're

going to believe in something. Maybe something

actually works. That makes logical sense to me,

but they're going to choose something else because

whatever that other thing is, it's going to apply

to their simple nature. It's going to meet their

desires. It's easier, right? Or whatever. So

they're going to choose something else most of

the time. So, the real thing that we're going

to gain before we're done with this page, both

sides, is to be able to make an argument that

God exists. But the apologetics is so much more

than that. Like, we should be able to explain

how we know that Jesus Christ died on the cross.

How we know that he came back to life three days

later. How we know that he believed he was God

in the flesh. And how we know that that's true.

We should be able to explain all of those things.

And if you can do those things, you're going

to be able to lead people to Jesus. Humbly, we're

not beating them up like, oh, you're so stupid,

you don't believe in God. Let me tell you all

the evidences and prove you wrong. We're not

going to do that. But for people who are actually

struggling with it, we should have the answers.

So this is a what kind of command? Say it again.

Somebody say it. Biblical command. It's a biblical

command. It's not an optional hobby. So it's

not a thing where you're going to go like, oh,

I think maybe one of these days I'll pick up

some arguments about how I know what I know.

It's not like that. It's a biblical command,

not an optional hobby. The apostle, who was the

apostle that we just quoted? Peter. The apostle

Peter assumes something important. Christians

will be questioned. If you live long enough and

live for Jesus, you will be questioned as to

why you're doing the stupid things that you're

doing. Why are you giving, serving, not getting

anything back for it? Why are you loving people

when they don't deserve it? Why are you being

kind? Why are you being patient? Etc. Okay? So

you will be questioned as to why that is. And

then we're told, always being ready, same reference

as above, to make a defense. 1 Peter 3 .15. The

word defense comes from the Greek word apologia.

A legal term meaning a reasoned answer given

in court. Apologetics is therefore not aggressive

or arrogant. It is prepared, thoughtful, and

respectful. Believe it or not, every time you

go to work, you're in court. Every time you go

to school, you're in court. Every time you sit

at the park and talk to a stranger, you're in

court. Whether or not your faith is real is being

tried, and whether or not you can show that it's

real is being tested. Every time you get into

a conversation. Okay? Other scriptures that reinforce

this same calling. Jude 1 .3, which says, contend

earnestly for the faith. Right. Contend earnestly

for the faith. Acts 17 .2 and 3, where Paul reasoned

from the scriptures. Everything he gave them

was biblical, logical, came right out of the

Bible, trying to convince people to believe.

2 Corinthians 10 .5, taking every thought captive

to Christ. Okay. So why something matters. What

do you think we're talking about with a P? Peter.

Nope. No Peter. Preparation. Why preparation

matters. So the world is asking real questions.

They don't want your dumbed down, super simplistic

answer. Like, why are you a Christian? Well,

because God saved my soul. I had a big day where

I gave my life to the Lord. I've never been the

same since. Those are truths. Don't get me wrong.

They're true, but they're not good enough for

a lost person to do anything with. They just

you saying, I believe because I believe that's

just cocky and arrogant to them. They want to

know what, what, why, when they ask you, why

do you believe what they're really asking is

why should they believe? Okay. So skepticism

is often starts with an S sincere, beautiful

skepticism is often sincere, not hostile. So

people are like, well, I don't know that I believe

in God. That's skepticism. They're debating whether

it's true or not. That's sincere to them. They

could say to you, oh yeah, I believe in God,

whatever. And just to try to get rid of you.

I've led a couple people to Christ over the years

who did that. The first thing that happened when

I talked to them was they said they believed

in God. And I'm like, well, that's great. And

you know what verse I'm thinking of is, well,

the angels believe in God. I'm sorry, the demons

believe in God. And they tremble. They tremble.

And they're not going to be saved. So believing

in God doesn't do you squat. In fact, the Bible

doesn't even say that. It says that. For a person

to have faith, you have to believe in God and

believe that he rewards those who seek him. It's

not just the believing in God that he exists.

Big deal, right? So this first argument that

we're helping them to believe, they're not being

stupid about it. They're being sincere, and you

could give them sincere answers that might actually

help them a lot. So believers are called to love

God with their minds. That's a reference from

Matthew 22, 37. Obviously, it's heart, mind,

and soul there, but minds are included. Prepared

believers strengthen the church. Very good. And

remove unnecessary stumbling blocks for seekers.

So we get stronger. If one of you gets everything

that I'm talking about tonight, then we'll have

at least two. And the whole church will be stronger.

If all of you get it, when we walk out of this

room, our church is going to be stronger. Does

that make sense? We're going to be able to answer

and have answers. And so I can't be with Jaden

when he's... you know, at home or in the neighborhood

or at the store or whatever. I'm not going to

be able to be with him all the time. God can,

but God's not going to give you every single

word you say. He's given it to you in the scripture.

You need to be able to do it. And so if you can

do it and I'm halfway across town and I can do

it, what if there are two people that actually

want to know at the same time? Jay can give you

one place and I can be in the other. What if

there's 10? Well, if we've all got it, we can

be in 10 places at once. That's what makes us

stronger. That and because we know we believe

in for good reason. Alright, Roman numeral two

there. Apologetics is a reasoned defense of what

we believe. Okay? The F is faith and reason are

not opposites. There are people that believe

you can't believe in God and also keep your brain

working. And that's not true. And reason are

not opposites. Alright? So then we got the next

one. Say it again. Sincere. Where? I got a B.

I got an F. A blank and an F. Oh, you're talking

about the first blank? Actually, it's biblical.

Yeah, biblical again. Remember, they repeat.

Biblical faith is trust grounded in... What's

the T? Truth, not belief without evidence. God

does not ask you to follow him blindly. If he

was going to do that, then he would just shut

your brain down at the moment that you get saved.

Or if he would have gave you one in the first

place, it would be so much easier to follow blindly

if you didn't have to think so much. Right? And

we think a lot. And so biblical faith is trust.

So we trust God grounded in truth, not belief

without evidence. So if somebody tells you, you've

got to believe God said this, and they tell you

to believe something that you know the scriptures

say the opposite, then you can say, oh, no, I

don't think so. Tim, we've got a seat right over

here for you if you want. I've got a paper for

you. I'm afraid you can cheat off my paper and

get caught up even if you want. Okay. Come now

and let us reason together, says the Lord, Isaiah

118. Jesus appealed to evidence. So regularly

throughout his ministry, Jesus used an argument

from evidence that people could see. One was

fulfilled prophecy. So in Luke 24, he talks about

the prophecies that he is fulfilling as he is

walking out following God. The next one is eyewitness

testimony in John 20. He appeals to miracles

as signs. He even says, if you won't believe

me, then believe the miracles that I do. So he's

given the evidences that are necessary. Biblical

faith. Biblical faith is trust grounded. And

then faith above it. Faith. Biblical faith. Okay?

Yep. So then we're down to, so you appeal to

evidence, fulfilled prophecy, eyewitness testimony,

miracles as signs. The apostles reasoned publicly.

They went around basically making these kinds

of arguments with people that they talked to.

You see it in Acts 18 .4, where Paul reasoned

in the synagogue, and Acts 26 .25, where words

of sober truth. So let's talk about what apologetics

is and what apologetics is not. So apologetics

is logical. So you can make an argument. You

can say, well, here's some evidence based on

this evidence. I expect you to believe this.

That's called logic, right? You base one thing

on another. It's scriptural. So it's allowed

by the Bible and promoted by the Bible, and you

can use the Bible to do it. All of those things

exist. It's honest, right? People ask you, why

do you believe what you believe? You can shut

them down or you can give them reasons. Make

sense? And it's humble. You admit, while giving

the reasons, that these are your reasons. These

are the reasons that I see. You can agree with

my reasons or not, but it's not going to change

what I believe. And you humbly accept that they

may or may not accept the same reasons that you're

giving them. And if they don't, okay, that's

fine. It's not really fine in eternity, but for

now, it's fine. Then apologetics is not hostile

debate. And hostile debate looks like this. I'll

be very clear about this. Somebody says, well,

that's like when my uncle and you're halfway

through the story and you cut them off because

you already know the answer to the question that

they're asking. That's hostile debate. You've

seen it in the presidential debates, right? They

won't let each other talk. So hostile debate,

you're cutting the other person off. You're answering

before they've really asked the question. You're

raising your voice to make your point, right?

It's hostile. We're not doing that. We don't

do that. Don't do that, okay? It's not intellectual

pride. See what I know? I know this. I've got

the right argument for that question. It's not

that. Don't do that. That's not godly. It's not

replacing the Holy Spirit. If the person you're

talking to is going to get saved, they're going

to get saved because God is saving them. You're

barely a part of the process. Now, you can be

a bad part of the process. So you're a small

cog, and you can be a bad small cog, which will

stop the whole machine. They're going to walk

away from you going, I'll guarantee you one thing.

Based on the way that guy is, I'll never be a

Christian. Or you can be a good cog that goes,

well, the Holy Spirit's already convicting you

to be a Christian and you could move in that

direction and you have some nagging questions

and I'll see if I can answer them. And that's

what we're called to do. So we're not replacing

the Holy Spirit. God's going to save them if

he's going to save them. And then it's not arguing

people into salvation. It is well said if you

can convince somebody to be saved. sometime later

someone will convince them to not be saved, which

means they were never saved in the first place.

So we're not trying to argue them to be saved,

okay? So our role then is to remove intellectual

obstacles. Only God changes hearts. So your arena

is the brain, the mind, which is not, they're

not the same thing. The mind and the brain are

not the same thing, right? The brain is kind

of part, it's the chemical piece, if you will,

of the mind. The mind is all the memories, processing,

logic. It's an emotional arena sometimes. It's

all those kinds of things. Okay? And so your

job is to influence or to open the way so that

their heart, convicted by God, can influence

their mind. Okay? We're in Roman numeral three.

Have fun listening to scripture. Oh, yeah. Okay.

So then it says in Roman numeral three, all creation

testifies. So we're going to talk about how we

know that God is real, and we start by realizing

that all creation testifies. So God's world,

the world around us, is an apologetic. It is

a reasoned defense for God's existence. And then

we have the H. The heavens are telling of the

glory of God, and their expanse is declaring

the work of his hands, Psalm 19 .1. For since

the creation of the world, his invisible attributes

have been clearly seen, Romans 1 .20. Creation

does two things simultaneously. Creation provides

an apologetic for God's existence. So it's always

arguing that God exists all the time, not meanly

or hurtfully or spitefully or overpowering, but

it's always arguing that God exists, giving us

a reason to believe that he exists. And we'll

talk about some of those things in a second.

And then it also testifies to God's attributes.

God's attributes beginning with the P. What's

the P? Power. Power. All right. And intelligence.

And the O. Did I give you the O? I didn't give

you the O. There is no O. Gosh, what's the O?

Okay, let's look over here. Order. It's order.

Yeah, I didn't give you an O, so you wouldn't

have got that one, would you? Power, intelligence,

order, and purpose. So these are the primary

attributes of God that creation testifies to.

God's not limited to those things. Obviously,

love, for example, is not on the list. But God

does have the trait of love. Pretty much is love.

But creation doesn't really testify to God's

love. But it does testify to his power, his intelligence.

If you start to believe in him, you could maybe

think of it testifying in love and like, well,

see how God gave us what we need and it's really

there and so on. But you would have to kind of

already be moving along the path some to get

there. So the design argument, evidence of a

personal, starts with an I, intelligent designer.

So realize that what we're about to look at now,

these things that we're going to look at, are

evidence that an intelligent designer exists.

They point to his power, his intelligence, his

order, and his purpose, but will they get a person

saved? Does a person get saved by God's intelligence?

No. Or order, or purpose, or power. What attribute

of God does save them? What is it about God that

gets people saved? Mercy, love. Say again? Kind

of. Yep. So the truth of God is that he loves

and he'll save you. by grace, by mercy, by forgiveness,

by love, right? But it's not his intelligence

or his order or his purpose. So if you manage

through creation to help a person believe that

there is a God, that doesn't mean they're going

to get saved. Now, sometimes it does happen.

There's a story about the Indian woman who was

running away from the tsunami, and she had heard

tales of the Christian God, and she knew Allah

because she was Muslim herself. And she cried

out to the Christian God. She didn't think Allah

would save her. She cried out to the Christian

God and said, if you'll save me, I'll live for

you forever. And God put in her heart, run to

the Christian church building. So she ran there.

And even though it was on lower ground, it never

flooded. And everybody that went there for safety

survived. And the higher ground mosque flooded

and everybody went there for safety died. And

she lived for God for the rest of her life. I

think she's still alive now actually preaching

for Jesus. But the point is. Sometimes it happens

because you really recognize God's power and

you're like, okay, now what do I do? Okay, God,

whatever you want is fine. Then God points you

to Jesus and you wind up saved. It does happen

sometimes, but these are not arguments that are

going to get people saved. They're arguments

that are going to help people believe in God.

Okay. All right. So the Bible teaches that creation

reflects intentional design. For example, in

Ecclesiastes 3 .11, he has made everything appropriate

in its time. So God set it all up and made it

work. Acts 17, God sets the boundaries, etc.,

etc. There's a bunch of them. So you're going

to the other side. Same missing words, however.

So I didn't put the list on the back. I was going

to, and then I forgot. So there you go. That's

what you get. Got what you got. Get what you

get. Don't throw a fit. Modern scientific observation

strongly supports this biblical truth. Beautiful.

Okay. And here we go. Number one, there's a thing

called the anthropic principle. Let me see if

I can actually do these well or not. I don't

know. Anyway, give it my best shot. The anthropic

principle argues that the universe is finely

tuned. That you is universe. A finely tuned universe.

I just saw a meme yesterday on Facebook. of a

guy who said he just found out that the sun is

exactly 400 times bigger than the moon and 400

times as far away. Exactly. That they're 400

and 400. And he was like, wow, that's awesome.

You know, that's a really incredible thing. And

there are lots of things like that, but actually

there's a really famous physicist whose name

I didn't put on here, but he says that the universe

operates with extraordinarily precise parameters

and that there are 32 parameters. that must exist

in exactly the right quantity, exactly the right

balance in order for life to exist? 32. Some

of them are gravity, electromagnetic force, nuclear

forces, the expansion rate of the universe. There

are 32 parameters that have to be perfect, and

they are perfect on Earth. And so far, they've

been found to be perfect nowhere else. So once

you get through that list of 32 things that have

to be exactly perfect in order for human beings

to be living on the Earth, A simple example of

this is if the Earth were six inches closer to

the sun, it would not support life. It would

be too hot, and the oxygen could not exchange

with the crust properly, and it would basically

burn up. It would burn to a cinder. And if we're

six inches further away, it would freeze to a

ball of ice in time. And so... We can find you

a seat over there by the house. We'll make a

way. We'll make a way. Did you get us an extra

one, Dom? Yeah. I had to go do Bible memorization.

We'll go this way. We'll all scoot this way.

He's coming to you. That'll work. We got you.

It's a team effort. Bottom line is if any of

those things are out of balance, life does not

exist, that argues for power, intelligence, order.

You see, that's a strong argument for that. If

any of these constants were altered even slightly,

life would be impossible. This leads to a powerful

conclusion that life is not an accident. The

universe appears intentionally structured for

life. So I'll go back to those blanks real quick.

I went kind of fast there. So it leads to a powerful

conclusion. Life is not an accident. And then

the universe appears intentionally structured

for life. Got them? And then I'll read the verse

here. The verse says, For by him all things were

created. And then there's that dot, dot, dot,

ellipses thing or whatever, because words are

missing in there. And it says, All things have

been created through him and for him. That's

talking about Jesus. It's Colossians 1 .16. So

fine -tuning points not merely to intelligence,

but also purpose. If you have a special feature

in your car, let's say seat warmers. So you know

what the purpose of seat warmers are. They're

not meant to just make you fall asleep while

you're driving, although they may help with that.

But they are meant to... deal with cold seats

in the winter. Someone thought, oh, wouldn't

it be nice if you'd have a seat warmer or maybe

a person had sore back, they could have warmth

in their back. Somebody intended that to be there.

If you got in your car and had seat warmers,

you wouldn't go, no one ever meant for seat warmers

to be in my car. You'd think someone meant for

them to be there. They didn't happen there by

accident. So whenever you see something finely

tuned, that means somebody intended it that way.

And that is an argument for knowing that an intelligent

designer created everything. Two, irreducible

complexity. Life requires simultaneous design.

So think just very simply for a minute. You have

predators and you have prey. So the animals,

they eat the animals, right? If one of those

does not exist, the other ceases to exist. If

predators don't exist, prey grows out of control.

Pretty soon there's not enough plants to support

them anymore. and then they begin to suffer pestilence

and disease and so on. And the whole environment

changes, and vice versa. Predators and prey have

to both exist at the same time. They have to

start existing at the same time and in some sort

of balance. They can be out of balance, but if

they're too far out of balance, they'll never

recover. That's one example, a simple one, but

there are a couple that are more. For example,

there's a thing called the bacterial flagellum.

Those are words you probably, it kind of sounds

like something you throw up. But anyway, bacterial

flagellum is the part of the bacteria that moves

it around. You would think it's like a tail.

But it's designed more like an outboard motor.

Now, mind you, these bacteria are single -celled

organisms. So these are not made of a bunch of

little Lego parts. They're a single -celled organism

with a very complex tail. This tail moves at

very high RPM rates, like higher than a speedboat

motor ever goes. And then on top of that, it

can go and... Forward and in reverse. What makes

it go forward or reverse? Considering it does

not have separate individual parts, how can this

be, right? There's nothing it could have evolved

up from. It's not other things that were put

together to make it. It had to be created in

that exact state in order to exist in that state.

That's the only way it could be because it's

not made of separate parts. If it had 17 parts

and they could be assembled, then you could say,

well, maybe, you know, By happenstance or whatever.

But because it doesn't have any separate parts.

It's just one thing. No parts. No separate cells.

It's one cell. The whole thing. The whole body

is one. Including the absorption of nutrients.

That's all one cell. And including the excretion

of nutrients that it doesn't use. All one cell.

And so how do you get that? There's only one

way you can get that. It has to come together

at the time of its creation. It's not assembled

from anything. So something had to make it that

way. That make sense? So it testifies to power

and order. Blood clotting mechanisms, cellular

machinery, and there's a whole bunch of science

that you could get into if you want. You want

to look up, just Google, you know, examples of

irreducible complexity. But basically, things

cannot be, they're things that could not be put

together unless they were put together in perfect

balance and already existing. Okay? All right.

Partial systems then provide no survival advantage.

If you had half of a single cell organism, you

know what you have? It's like yuck. It's like

a slime. It's a bit of nothing. It's worthless.

It has no value. It doesn't move forward. It

doesn't move backwards. It doesn't turn left

or right. It doesn't have a high RPM tail. It's

nothing. Theoretically. But that would be nothing

if the cell were ruptured and destroyed. It would

just be dead. Anyway, the point is... Partial

systems provide no survival advantage. So the

example that people use here is you take an old

-fashioned mousetrap. Have you ever seen one

of those? It's got a little wood block. It's

got the spring, and the bar goes back over, and

you've got the little tab that you hold it with,

and you put the cheese on the thing, and the

mouse steps on the thing, and it kills the mouse,

right, or breaks its leg. It's supposed to be

humane. It's supposed to kill it instantly, but

it depends on what happens. Anyway, what part

of that mousetrap can you take out and have it

still be a mousetrap? None. When it's loaded,

it's tense. It requires the arm. It requires

the latch. It requires the button that the mouse

is going to step on. It requires the wood. It

requires all of its parts. So if you take a part

out, you don't have a mousetrap anymore. So that's

what we're talking about. We're talking about

stuff that was created in such a way that there

are no parts that you can remove and still have

it work. And there are many, probably a thousand,

maybe infinite number if we could look far enough,

examples of that in creation. And so there's

only one way that happens. If it was created

that way. It didn't arrive that way after steps.

It had to be created that way. Okay? Random,

undirected processes cannot build systems that

require simultaneous interdependence. Now those

are big words, but basically it just means only

an intelligent designer can put something together

that depends on itself. That is whole. That is

not made up of independent parts. Okay? All right.

I will give thanks to you for I am fearfully

and wonderfully made. Psalm 139, 14. Three, the

nature of information. So mind produces meaning.

Okay. So I'm going to see who can I trick with

my question. Let's go with, I already picked

on Mike today. Haley, how much information would

you guess is saved on this page? Take a look

at it. Just what do you think? How much information

is on this page? Oh, what? That's what I thought

you'd say. The actual answer is none. There's

no information on the page. So where is the information?

If it's not on this page, where is it? So it

was in my mind. When I made the marks on the

page, I was thinking that if I arranged the letters

C, A, N, N, O, T, That forms the word cannot,

and it means cannot, and I know that people will

know what that word means, right? So this is

a transmission agent. The page, the dots, if

we were in Russia having the same Bible study,

it would not look the same. It would be in Russian,

right? Or wherever else in the world. So language

is a transmission agent, which is why when you

don't have the proper transmission agent, even

though you can think blue, the sky is blue, you

don't know how to say it in French. You're talking

to a French person. You say blue, and they think

you mean something slightly different, right?

Because blue in their language means something

different, right? So you need a transmission

agent to move the information from your mind

to somebody else's mind. For that, we use language,

okay? So if we have language moving information

from one source to another, then we must have

sources, right? We must have a sender and a recipient.

Or the sender is just talking to themselves in

a room all by themselves. No one else is getting

it. That also would be fine, but then the language

is not really serving any purpose. Maybe they're

talking to themselves. So they're sending it

out, they're receiving it, for example. Or they're

talking to God. They're sending it out, God is

receiving it. If Hannah and I are in a room and

we're talking, I'm sending, she's receiving.

Then when she talks, she's sending, I'm receiving.

That is the nature of communication. And the

language is the medium. So DNA is not merely

chemical. We have now mapped the human DNA, human

genome, they call it. It has language. It is

made up of individual parts. If you could write

in DNA, for example, you would know the parts

of DNA, and then you could write it on a page

and make it say what you wanted it to say. It

would be like learning. You could go in Duolingo

and learn DNA language, for example, which you

can't, but if you could, then you could write

things in DNA. You could tell cells how to act.

You could tell cells how to reproduce and things

like that. Okay, so DNA is not merely chemical.

It's information. It is a language -like structure.

It includes instructions. It has coding and error

correction. So when things are going wrong, it

knows how to fix itself. And when a cell is failing,

the DNA contains the code to fix the cell, to

activate the immune system response. If it has

one, not all of them do that kind of thing. Known

experience, information comes from a mind, not

from randomness. So if you take a carp and flop

it on a keyboard, you're never going to get the

word encyclopedia. It doesn't matter how many

times you flop the carp on the keyboard until

it dies, it's never going to form the word encyclopedia

because that's a random experiment and the odds

against that are too infinitely high for that

to ever happen. Now you might get the word I

or A, right? Because those are just one letter.

But it might also not have a space afterwards,

so it might be part of something else, that kind

of thing. But the point is, this information

that we're talking about comes from a mind, not

from randomness. Like a supercomputer. Yeah.

So in the beginning was the word John 1 -1. Did

I say something? You said something? Monkeys

and typewriters. Yeah. So they have often done

experiments with monkeys where they taught them

to bang the right keys even and make the right

words, or they just let them bang on a keyboard

long enough that they eventually did produce

words. But they're very limited, very limited

actual linguistic capabilities. People train

dogs to press the right color button on the floor

to get a bone. If they press the right, they

spell B -O -N -E. It's red, green, blue, whatever.

And they press those four, they get a bone. Do

you think that the dog has learned the word bone

because it learned to press the right thing to

get the bone? No, it hasn't learned the word

bone. It's just learned that those four letters

in a row results in a bone. But even that is

something. He's communicating at a very base

level. He wants a bone, right? As if there was

ever a time that a dog didn't want a bone. But

anyway, you get the point. Okay, so now we're

over in the last column, the last section. We've

got the U. The universe is not only ordered,

it is meaningful, pointing to a personal, intelligent

source. Okay, so we already have several arguments

for how we can conclude, come to that conclusion.

So if you get in a room and you're talking with

somebody and you're like, I don't really believe

that God exists. You say, well, why not? What's

your thought process? Well, there's not enough

evidence for God. Well, now you can, not in a

mean way, you can share some evidences for God.

You can say, well, this is how we know that there's

an intelligent designer. It's not going to result

in them getting saved. They might go, oh, yeah,

it does make sense there's an intelligent designer.

Then their next question might be, well, what

of it? And then you might need a little bit more

to be able to tell them how this intelligent

designer connects to Jesus, right? So we're in

four. So why randomness cannot account for life?

Random and undirected forces. So an undirected

force is something that someone is not controlling

which way it goes. Random and undirected forces

cannot produce specified complexity. So random

undirected forces can produce complexity. You

pile... straw in a corner when the wind is blowing.

And you look at it and you go, wow, the straw

is piled all over top of each other and some

of it's even kind of twisted together and something

put it there. So randomness can provide some

kind of complexity, but not a complexity that

is needed to be part of a larger system or depends

on other things. Does that make sense? So that

pile of straw is like if an animal needed that

pile of straw to survive, then the wind would

have to do that all the time, and it doesn't.

Or if it needed that straw to be a certain way

to survive, then the wind would have to do it

a certain way, and it doesn't. So specified complexity

is complexity that's needed by someone or something

else, and randomness cannot provide that. It

cannot generate meaningful information, like

the monkeys on a keyboard. You're not going to

get the word encyclopedia or a sentence or a

logical thought process or a book. It cannot

be presented by... just randomly pounding keys,

it's not going to happen. And then cannot explain

purpose driven systems. So even if randomness

could do something amazing, and I think it probably

has, right? Even if you could do that, it's not

going to explain how you have systems of things

that rely on each other that show purpose. Like

for example, predators that exist on prey and

only the predator and only the prey exist in

a certain part of the world and nowhere else

does that predator exist on any other prey. Nowhere

else does that prey exist except where it's as

part of the lunch, if you will, of the prey.

Things like that. That's a simple form, but there

are lots of other places that you can use that

same logic. Okay, so scripture affirms this intuition

saying he did not create it a waste place, but

for but formed it to be inhabited. Isaiah 45,

18. The evidence points beyond matter and energy

to a transcendent cause beyond the universe.

So why does it need to be a transcendent cause

beyond the universe? Based on what we've been

talking about, how does the evidence point to

something that is beyond the universe? Because

that's going to be the next question, right?

Somebody's going to ask, well, if God created

everything, then what? Who created God, right?

That's what everybody says. If God created everything,

well, then who created God? So no matter, let's

say, for example, you would say, well, God created

everything. Well, who created God? Well, Bob.

Bob created God. Well, who created Bob? Tom.

Who created Tom? Aliens. Who created aliens,

right? When you get to the end of the line, you

have to have somebody who started it. It's a

cause and effect thing. To have an effect, yeah.

To have an effect, you have to have a cause.

And you go effect, cause, effect, cause, back

to the beginning. And what's it going to be,

an effect or a cause? It's going to be a cause.

It can't be an effect because in order for it

to be an effect, it has to have a cause. That's

the definition of an effect. It was caused by

something. So you're going to go back to back

to back to back all the way to the beginning,

and you're going to come up with a cause. And

whatever that cause is, that's God. Make sense?

So they can argue who created God and say, well,

it doesn't even matter. Because if somebody created

God, whoever that is, that's actually God. By

asking me who created God, you're just accepting

that somebody had to have done the creating.

That's all you're doing. And that's the whole

argument. That's what we're trying to get them

to the point of saying is that somebody created

all this. So you need a transcendent cause that's

outside the universe because in order for it

to be inside the universe, limited by the universe,

it has to be an effect, not a cause. God is not

an effect. God is a cause. And so would be the

first thing. The first thing has to be a cause.

So that is a personal cause showing mind and

intention. Why does it need to be a personal

cause that shows mind and intention? Based on

what we've been studying, why does it need to

be a personal cause that shows mind and intention?

Can anybody answer that question? This would

be the equipping moment. Based on everything

we just went through, the intelligent designer

who created everything, evidence points that

they must be a personal cause, have mind and

intention. Why is that? Right. Because the evidences

that we just went through show intelligence.

Right? So a dog can be intelligent, not as intelligent

as, say, a horse. A horse can be intelligent,

not as intelligent as, say, a child. A child

can be intelligent, but not as intelligent as,

say, a man. Right? And so on. But the evidences

show intelligence. So we need that. Thank you.

Yep. Have a nice night. Yep. Have a good night,

man. So you need a personal cause, mind, and

intention. And then the next one says, and starts

with an I. An intelligent cause, design, and

order. And so if you look at everything that

we've been through, we talked about what part

of it did we talk about that it requires design

and order? Yes. But more specific. Pick one.

What part of everything we talked about requires

design and order? Say it again. Okay, so it's

a cause. Okay, I need something a little more

specific. I'm agreeing with both of you. I need

something a little more specific. Okay, how about

DNA as language? That requires design and order,

right? Someone created the language. Someone

is communicating to... The cells, right? How

about the irreducible complexity of design? Someone

had to put that cell together with that tail

motor thing that goes forward and backwards and

thousands of RPMs and the whole cell is just

one piece. There's no individual parts. Someone

had to do that. It had to be made in that state.

So that requires order and design, right? Okay.

That brings us to our conclusions. I would encourage

you to go back over these. So that if I or someone

would ask you that question, that you have answers.

That is the goal. So when you're in that conversation,

you have the answer to be able to say why you

believe that it's true. So apologetics leads

us to worship. Apologetics does not replace faith.

Beautiful. It strengthens it. Creation does not

save, but it points us to the Savior. So you

can worship a tree. Trees are awesome. but they

won't save your soul. You can worship a job.

You can have a great career and love it. You

can worship your family. You can have a beautiful

wife and children or a handsome husband, or as

the Spanish, guapo. You can do that, but that

won't save your soul. This is just a creation

leads us to worship the creator who then sent

his son, Jesus. For the foolishness of God is

wiser than man, 1 Corinthians 1 .25. So when

we engage in apologetics, we honor God with our

minds. We serve seekers with clarity. So people

who are looking for God, we give them the tools

they need to make the right decision, basically.

And we overcome barriers for them and that kind

of thing. And we proclaim a creator who has spoken

finally and fully in Jesus Christ. Understand

that for thousands of years before Jesus came,

creation was testifying of God. So what Bible

did... moses read that led him to jesus the new

testament did not exist the old testament and

it was actually moses wrote the first five books

right so he really wrote those five books so

the answer is he didn't have one he made one

he made one so he listened to the testimonies

of the people he heard the stories that were

handed down by generations he saw creation around

him A lot of people think that a lot of it came

from the stars. There are 12 major constellations

and they tell the story of the life, death, burial,

resurrection of Christ. The constellations do.

And so you can read the Bible in the stars if

you know how. And there's a lot more than that.

He could never see single cell organisms to know

about the flagellum. But he could see the way

ants struggle, the way clouds work, the way the

sun. hangs in the sky, and the moon rotates around

the earth. He could see the order and go, there

clearly is an intelligent designer. I don't know

how he wants me to be saved, but however he wants

to save me beyond this life, I submit myself

to him. That's all Abraham did. Abraham just

said, okay, God, however you want to do it. And

God already knew how he was going to do it. He

was going to do it through Jesus. And God said,

okay, you said however, so here's your however.

I'm going to save you through Jesus, who won't

be born for a thousand years, but that's how

I'm going to do it. And he did. And Abraham went

to heaven. And that's how it works. So we honor

God with our minds. We serve seekers with clarity.

We proclaim a creator who has spoken finally

and fully in Jesus Christ. And then notice that

our defense is not merely logical. It is Christ

-centered. So even though these things all are

based on reason, even though you're going to

give them some good reasons to believe that there

is an intelligent designer, fundamentally, our

relationship is with God through Jesus Christ,

his son. And so it could happen. We're going

to do more on other. And this is also the most

scientific, most laden with scientific terms

and things like that. The others won't be so

much that. But we're going to look at different

reasons why we know we believe different things

based on Scripture to keep giving you tools so

when you're in those conversations, you'll be

able to answer those questions. That's the plan.

Probably every other week, opposite faith for

us, we'll do that, and then we'll continue to

do the thing like we did this last week when

we had the kids in there. But ultimately, I'll

close with this illustration. Aaron and I went

to visit a guy who lived over on Old Curtis,

between Woodville and New Curtis, basically by

Myers. They had a pretty nice house. It was up

for sale, and he had come to one of our events,

and I prayed with him, and he filled out a visitor

card or whatever, so we went and visited him.

And he was a doctor. He was probably like 60,

and he was extremely intelligent. Like his vocabulary,

he was using regularly words that were hard for

me to understand, so I was parsing out some of

what he was saying. Aaron was kind of dazzled

by him because Aaron was a teenager at the time.

Young teen, like 13. And he asked me questions

I couldn't answer. like questions about the Bible,

questions about science, questions about literature.

And I answered what I could, you know, and I

was asking him to be saved. I shared the gospel

to ask him to be saved. He wasn't saved. And

ultimately, God led me to say, here's the bottom

line. I mean, I don't have an answer to every

one of your questions, but here's the bottom

line. Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay for

sins and then rose again on the third day. Based

on that, what are you going to do about it? based

on that truth, what are you going to do about

it? And he said, well, I'm not sure I believe

that. And I said, well, I believe it with all

my heart. I've been changed. I've experienced

the Holy Spirit, whatever. And I can give you

some reason to believe it or whatever. But you're

asking questions I don't know the answer to.

It all comes down to this one thing. What are

you going to do with Jesus? We went back one

time later and saw him about a month later. And

in the interim, he had accepted Jesus Christ

as Lord and Savior. We weren't there. But in

the interim, he had decided to follow Jesus.

And then he came to New Heights. We were meeting

in high school at that time. He came to New Heights

once, worshipped with us, made a public decision.

Let everybody know that this is a doctor for

60 years old, professional. Let everybody know

that he had made his decision to follow Christ.

And then he, and that was actually at the ICE

event, the day of the ICE event. I think it's

when he came, which was like an evangelism event

that we did, went around, talked to people about

Jesus. And then they sold their house and they

moved out of state. So I never saw him again

after that. But this is what I learned. The apologetics

will only go so far. Ultimately, it comes down

to what they're going to do with Jesus. But if

you can imagine somebody saying, well, I just

don't really know. Is there any evidence for

God? What is the evidence? You can't see God.

I can't taste him, can't touch him. I only believe

in things I see, taste, or touch, right? Then

you can use arguments like this to say, but there

is a good reason to believe. There is evidence.

If you deny all the evidence, then there's nothing

I can do for you, really. I can't really help

you. We'll talk some more when you're ready to

accept some evidence or whatever. But if you

would say you're willing to talk evidence, then

I'll try to give you some. Does that make sense?

Okay. So we'll be back. Questions? All right.

I'm going to ask a couple, and then we'll be

done. Okay. Without looking at the page. Don't

look at the page. Somebody give me one example

of irreducible complexity. I mentioned it at

least twice. What is something that is irreducibly

complex? I don't understand it. What is something

that has no smaller parts but is very complex?

Cell? Yep. Give me a little more. You got it,

Haley? Yep. Single cell organism. Bacterial legilum

is the actual words, but you don't have to remember

those words, but the tail of a single cell bacteria.

It's like an outboard motor, except it's part

of a single cell. Hundreds or thousands of RPMs.

Works in reverse, works forward, turns left and

right, but it's all part of a single cell. There

are no parts. All right. What is... Okay. Looking

at this page, Haley, how much information is

contained on this page? None. That's right. Very

good. So the information travels via the page

from my mind, if you will, through my keyboard

or whatever, through the page to your brain.

We could sit here and be like, you could go to

school and someone could teach you that the word

produce only has to do with fruits and vegetables.

And you might look at cannot produce specified

complexity and totally not be able to understand

that question. Like that doesn't make any sense

to me at all. How can that be produce? It's fruits

and vegetables. Cannot fruits and vegetables

specified complexity doesn't even make any sense

because you didn't learn the language the same

way I did. And that's the struggle that we have

as humans. And so we can all share in that struggle.

But the bottom line is DNA is the communication

of an intelligent being to the mitochondria,

to the center of cells. Interestingly enough,

by the way, when a cell replicates, the DNA in

the middle of the cell splits to make an exact

copy of itself. So it splits right down the middle,

reproduces the other side, and it becomes two

copies. So the new copy goes in the new cell,

and the old copy stays in the old cell. That

alone is... incredible evidence for an intelligent

designer to make that process. Why would that

ever happen? That doesn't make any sense. Okay?

I'll give you one more and then we'll be through.

All right. What is the relationship between faith

and reason? You don't have to get the exact words.

Just tell me. You can say it in your own words.

What's the relationship between faith and reason,

anybody? Perfect. They are not opposite. They're

not mutually exclusive. We believe. And once

you believe and start to see how it all fits

together, it makes perfect sense. Right? So the

truth is, if you're baffled, if you are a follower

of the Lord Jesus Christ and you're still a little

baffled, like people say all the time, God works

in mysterious ways. If the ways that God is working

are really, truly mysterious to you, then I would

probably dig in a little bit. Study your Bible,

listen to God, because it really isn't. It's

couched in God's love, his perfect design. Acts

17 says that God orchestrated where you live,

when you are, your challenges, everything you're

going through, all of it, so that you will grope

around for him. And having done so, you will

find him and realize that he was never far away

in the first place. That is a perfect design

for your life, not just for a moon and a sun

and stars, but for your personal existence. And

so it really isn't that baffling. 1 Corinthians

2 says that we are gifted with the mind of Christ.

So we know what we can think the thoughts of

Jesus, essentially. Now, it's growing. We grow

into it, right? You don't just all of a sudden,

boo, I get everything that Jesus has given me.

You've got to be renewing your mind, and that's

what Romans 12 says. And renewing your mind allows

you to know the good and perfect will of God.

And then when you know what God wants from you,

then you do what God wants, right? Because you

love him and want to be obedient. So there is

a process. We're growing into it. We can. And

it really isn't that baffling. He loves. He's

going the extra mile. He's doing miraculous things

to try to reach people for him. Okay. All right.

So let's close in prayer. And we'll be through.

And we've got to find some snackages before the

young ones come in here looking for a snack.

Chris, you want to lead us in prayer as we close?

Please and thank you. Sure. All right. Please

do. Lord, thank you for this time. Thank you

for everyone that's here. Thank you for the leaders

in the other room, the children, and the lessons

that they've learned. I hope that everybody in

here learned something and that we use this in

our daily life to bring people to you. In Jesus'

name, I pray.