0:05

We'll build some recent research

0:07

reveals the seven most googled

0:09

questions about God and

0:12

the Christian faith. These questions

0:14

are chronicled in a book by

0:16

a Texas pastor, Bruce Miller, The

0:18

Seven Big Questions. It's how I

0:21

became aware of these questions. Now,

0:23

Bill, you spent a lifetime addressing

0:25

these questions, but let's take a

0:27

look at them. The questions

0:29

are, one, why does God

0:31

allow suffering and evil? Two, does

0:34

life have a purpose? Three, does

0:36

God exist? Four, is

0:39

Christianity too narrow? Five,

0:42

is Jesus presented as God in

0:44

the Bible? Six, is

0:46

the Bible reliable? And

0:48

seven, can I know God

0:51

personally? Is there anything that

0:53

strikes you about this list, Bill? Well,

0:56

I am struck at how

0:58

traditional this list is. These

1:01

are the perennial questions. I

1:03

would have thought that there would

1:05

be more questions about LGBT or

1:09

gender issues or hot button

1:11

issues of that sort that

1:14

might be comprised under number

1:16

four, is Christianity too narrow?

1:20

Maybe there they're talking about

1:23

Christian attitudes towards sexuality

1:25

and gender and things of that

1:27

sort. It's hard to know what four means,

1:30

but at least those questions

1:33

don't overtly appear, which was

1:36

a little surprising. Yeah.

1:38

A few things I see, Bill. First,

1:40

I wonder if Jesus being God is

1:43

from Muslims googling, because this is from

1:45

all over the globe, by the way.

1:49

Other Muslim friends are intrigued by

1:51

that question, and that may account

1:53

for why it's in the top

1:55

seven. Secondly, the question

1:57

about life having a purpose is...

2:00

interesting. We did a

2:02

podcast recently on Sam Harris saying that

2:04

there's a crisis of meaning today. And

2:07

finally, people tend to think that

2:09

they can just Google something and

2:12

get an accurate answer about

2:15

a paragraph. Well, you

2:17

know, maybe it's a start, but

2:19

some questions don't have quick or

2:21

simple answers. Well, that's for sure.

2:23

I have found in my

2:25

experience that it's a lot easier

2:28

to ask a very difficult

2:30

question than it is to answer

2:33

it. And these are

2:35

profound questions that deserve frankly

2:37

more than sound bite-ish answers.

2:41

And yet that's about all one can do in a

2:43

Google search of this sort.

2:46

Sure. Well, since we're

2:48

doing a relatively short podcast, we'll

2:50

need you to give some relatively

2:52

short answers, Bill. Right. And by

2:54

the way, the value of short

2:56

answers is that they can grab

2:58

our short attention spans that

3:00

unfortunately we tend

3:03

to have these days and lead

3:06

us to further study. The first

3:08

question is, why does God allow

3:10

suffering and evil? It's also the

3:13

number one most Googled question

3:15

in the list, Bill. Well,

3:19

of course, it's impossible for

3:21

us to know why God

3:23

permits any single instance

3:25

of evil or suffering in

3:28

our lives. We're simply not in a position

3:30

to know that. But I

3:32

think that we can speculate

3:34

intelligently about why

3:36

an all-good and

3:39

all-powerful God would permit suffering

3:42

and evil in general

3:44

in the world. And

3:47

my conjecture, based upon what

3:50

the Bible teaches, is this. God

3:53

desires every person that he

3:55

creates to come freely to

3:58

a knowledge of God, and to

4:01

find salvation. And I

4:03

think that it's not at all

4:05

improbable that only in a world

4:08

which is suffused with

4:10

moral and natural evil that

4:12

the optimal number of persons

4:14

would freely come to know

4:17

God and find eternal

4:19

life. And so I

4:22

suspect that evil and

4:24

suffering in the world serve the

4:26

providential purposes of God to

4:29

bring as many people as he

4:32

can freely to eternal

4:35

salvation and incomparable happiness.

4:38

Sure. And Bill,

4:40

I believe as I understand that these

4:44

questions were compiled from

4:47

what people were generally asking.

4:49

In other words, does life

4:51

have purpose? That

4:54

comprises multiple ways that

4:56

people ask that question, but

4:59

they put it in too concise, you

5:02

know, bits like this. And so that is

5:04

the next question. Does life have a purpose?

5:07

My answer to that question would

5:10

be only if God exists. If

5:13

God does not exist, then I think life

5:15

has no purpose. Mankind as

5:18

a race and indeed

5:20

the entire universe is doomed

5:23

to extinction in the eventual

5:25

thermodynamic death of the universe.

5:27

As the universe expands, it

5:29

grows colder and colder as

5:31

its energy is used

5:34

up. Eventually all the stars will

5:36

burn out and all the matter

5:38

in the universe will collapse into dead

5:40

stars and black holes. Eventually

5:43

the universe will just be a

5:45

thin soup of elementary

5:48

particles expanding into

5:50

the infinite darkness of

5:52

outer space. And

5:55

there is no escape from that

5:57

on natural earth.

6:00

realistic view of the world. So

6:02

what that means is that the purposes

6:04

that we invent for our lives, the

6:08

things we do that we hope

6:10

to achieve are ultimately all effinescence.

6:14

In the end, they don't make one

6:16

bit of difference, not one

6:18

bit. Everything will simply

6:20

wind up the same no matter what we

6:22

do. So in the absence of God, there

6:25

really is no objective

6:29

purpose for living even if

6:31

we make, believe, and invent

6:34

subjective purposes for our lives.

6:38

The next question is, does God exist?

6:43

Wow, you know if Google had said yes,

6:46

well then there's a multitude of people

6:48

say, oh, okay. Well fine. Well,

6:51

I want to say

6:53

yes, but then I want to add

6:56

and there are good reasons to think

6:58

so. And in my philosophical work, I've

7:00

defended quite a number of reasons to

7:02

think that God exists. Let me just

7:05

enumerate them. Number

7:07

one, I think that God

7:09

is the best explanation for

7:11

why anything at all exists

7:14

rather than nothing. Secondly,

7:16

God is the best explanation

7:18

for the origin of the

7:20

universe at some point in

7:23

the finite past. Thirdly,

7:25

God is the best

7:27

explanation for the uncanny

7:29

applicability of mathematics

7:32

to the physical phenomena.

7:36

Fourth, God is the best

7:38

explanation for the fine-tuning

7:40

of the universe for

7:42

embodied conscious agents like

7:45

ourselves. Fifth,

7:47

God is the best

7:50

explanation of the objectivity

7:52

of moral

7:54

values and moral

7:56

duties in the world. Sixth,

7:59

the very possibility of

8:01

God's existence entails

8:08

finally God can be personally

8:10

known and Experienced

8:12

and on the basis of these reasons.

8:15

I think we have powerful cumulative

8:18

grounds for answering this question

8:20

in the affirmative the

8:23

next question is is Christianity

8:26

to narrow as

8:28

you pointed out that can mean several things bill.

8:30

What do you think is the gist? Well,

8:34

I assume that the gist of this question

8:36

has to do with the old problem of

8:38

how Christ can

8:40

be the only way of

8:43

salvation don't all roads Eventually

8:46

lead to God. How can

8:48

Christians say that? through

8:50

Christ alone we can find

8:54

salvation and eternal life

8:56

and what I want to say there

8:58

is that Salvation

9:01

I think is only available

9:03

through Christ's atoning death only

9:05

Christ died To

9:07

pay the penalty for our sin and

9:10

to satisfy divine justice So

9:13

apart from Christ there is no

9:16

salvation Having said

9:18

that however that doesn't imply

9:20

that a conscious knowledge of

9:22

Christ or belief in

9:24

Christ is Necessary

9:26

for salvation. It's

9:29

possible to be a beneficiary of

9:31

Christ's atoning death Without

9:33

being aware of it in the same way that

9:35

you might be heir

9:37

to a fortune from an uncle that

9:40

you never knew about who put you

9:42

in his will now Clearly

9:44

there are persons in the world who

9:46

are saved Through

9:48

their response to the light that God

9:51

has given them even though they've never

9:53

heard of Christ People in

9:55

the Old Testament were like that and

9:57

there are people in the Old

9:59

Testament who were not even Jews,

10:01

not even part of the covenant

10:04

family of Israel, who evidently had

10:06

a personal relationship with God. People

10:08

like Job, who was a

10:10

Gentile, not a Jew. And

10:12

what they did was they

10:15

responded in an affirmative and

10:17

appropriate way to the light

10:19

that God had given them.

10:21

And I think that if a person responds

10:23

to the light that God gives him, then

10:26

God will, according to him, the

10:29

benefits of Christ's atoning death,

10:31

even if he doesn't have

10:33

a conscious knowledge of Christ.

10:35

Moreover, I think that it's

10:38

possible that God has so

10:40

providentially ordered the world that

10:43

no one is

10:45

lost because of

10:48

the accidents of history and

10:50

geography, of just

10:53

not having heard about Christ. I

10:55

think that everyone who doesn't

10:59

respond to God's general revelation in

11:01

nature and conscience, but would have

11:03

responded to the gospel had

11:05

he heard it, does and

11:08

will hear it, so that no

11:10

one is lost because

11:12

of the accidents of

11:14

geography and history. Everyone

11:17

who wants to be saved will

11:19

be saved. So our destiny is

11:22

truly in our own hands. The

11:25

next most googled question is

11:28

Jesus presented as God in

11:30

the Bible. I've

11:33

studied this recently in working on

11:35

the doctrine of the Trinity, and

11:38

I think that it's striking that

11:40

in the New Testament, Jesus

11:43

is not only

11:45

accorded unique divine

11:47

titles, properties,

11:50

and honors, but

11:52

in at least seven places

11:55

various authors of the

11:57

New Testament explicitly referred

12:00

to Jesus as God in

12:02

the Greek that is ha-theos.

12:06

And so it is, I

12:08

think, indisputable that Jesus

12:10

is presented as God in

12:12

the Bible. And

12:15

the next question is the Bible

12:17

reliable? That

12:20

depends on what we mean by reliable.

12:23

It seems to me that as I

12:26

reflect on it, reliable

12:29

means dependable. This

12:31

is something you can depend

12:33

on. And reliability

12:35

is relative to the purpose

12:37

that you have in mind.

12:39

For example, my watch

12:41

is perfectly reliable

12:44

for my needs in

12:47

knowing the time during the day. It

12:49

keeps accurate time. That

12:51

my watch would not be

12:54

reliable when used in an

12:57

atomic accelerator to

12:59

measure quantum interactions.

13:01

There you would need

13:03

an atomic clock with

13:05

fantastic accuracy. So

13:08

reliability will vary from

13:11

purpose to purpose. And

13:13

when we talk about the reliability of

13:15

the Bible, the purpose of the Bible,

13:18

according to itself, is

13:21

to make us wise to

13:23

salvation, to communicate to

13:26

us those truths

13:28

that we must believe and

13:31

trust in in order to

13:34

find forgiveness of sins, a

13:36

personal relationship with God and

13:38

salvation. And so I

13:40

think the Bible is perfectly reliable

13:44

to do that. It communicates

13:46

to us accurately and clearly

13:48

and thoroughly all that we

13:50

need to know in order

13:52

to find salvation. And

13:56

the final question, can

13:58

I know God? Well

14:01

that was the seventh of my reasons

14:03

that I listed for how we know

14:06

that God exists, and this is the

14:08

most wonderful truth of all.

14:11

That this is not just a

14:14

philosophical conclusion that one reaches, but

14:16

that one can have a

14:19

relationship with God by

14:22

placing one's faith in Christ for

14:25

forgiveness of sins and

14:27

for pardon. The

14:30

obstacle between us and God

14:32

that is created by sin

14:35

is removed. Through Christ's

14:38

atoning death our

14:41

sins are forgiven and we

14:44

are cleansed morally of

14:47

that wrongdoing that has alienated us

14:49

and estranged us from God so

14:51

that God can become a living

14:54

reality in our lives. And

14:56

I hope that anyone who's listening to us

14:58

today who hasn't made

15:00

that personal decision to

15:02

trust Christ as his

15:05

personal Savior and to invite Christ

15:07

to come into his life through

15:09

the Holy Spirit to regenerate

15:12

him and renew him to new

15:15

spiritual life and forgiveness and moral

15:17

cleansing will do so as a

15:20

result of hearing our podcast today. You

15:23

know Bill as we wrap up and I'm

15:26

looking at this list of questions I can't

15:28

help but think that reasonable

15:30

faith is on

15:32

the right track even though we go

15:34

really deep in some

15:36

questions you go really deep

15:39

dive on some topics but you

15:41

also cover these basic

15:43

questions. If these are the questions

15:47

that people really are asking

15:49

today then reasonable faith

15:51

is as relevant as

15:54

ever because this is

15:56

the bread and butter of the... Kind

16:00

of questions that this ministry addresses, so

16:03

that is a tremendous encouragement that

16:05

we are on the right track. Hey,

16:08

just a quick reminder that your support

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Reasonable Faith with Dr. William Lane Craig.