Romans 1:18-23, “18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.”

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I. HOW PRESUPPOSITIONAL APOLOGISTS USE THEISTIC ARGUMENTS

  1. To Show All Truth is God’s Truth: We use them to show all truth is God’s truth, grounded and established in Scripture.
  2. To Reveal Man’s Rebellion: According to Romans 1:20, the sinner already has clearly seen and understood most, if not all, of these basic arguments.
  3. To Encourage the Sinner to Repent: When truth is given and the sinner’s rebellion is confronted they have the best chance to repent of their sins and put their faith in Jesus.

II. FIVE THEISTIC ARGUMENTS FOR GOD

(1) The Moral Argument: The argument for God from objective moral truths.

  1. Premise 1: If God does not exist, objective moral values and duties do not exist.
  2. Premise 2: Objective moral values and duties do exist.
  3. Conclusion: Therefore, God exists.

(2) The Epistemological Argument: The argument against naturalism.

  1. Premise 1: If naturalism is true, there is no warrant for knowing anything to be true.
  2. Premise 2: We do know things to be true.
  3. Conclusion 1: Therefore, naturalism is false.
  4. Conclusion 2: Therefore, God exists.

(3) The Teleological Argument: The argument from design in creation.

  1. Premise 1: Design comes from purpose and purpose comes from mind.
  2. Premise 2: The universe is designed.
  3. Conclusion: Therefore, God exists.

(4) The Cosmological Argument: The argument from the first cause.

  1. Premise 1: Whatever begins to exist has a cause.
  2. Premise 2: The universe began to exist.
  3. Conclusion 1: Therefore, the universe has a cause.
  4. Conclusion 2: Therefore, God exists.

(5) The Ontological Argument: The argument from God’s perfect being.

  1. Premise 1: God has all perfections.
  2. Premise 2: Existence is perfection.
  3. Conclusion: Therefore, God exists.

III. HELPFUL DEFENSES AGAINST TAG AND THEISTIC ARGUMENTS

  1. Appeal to Absurdity: If a person denies the claim they are absurd. For example: If someone denies they are a person with freewill, while they are freely arguing; they are absurd. Or if they deny anything that is self-attesting without anyone known defeaters. To reject the premise, “I am here.”
  2. Appeal to the Infinite Regress: If a person denies causality or intelligibility show them they cannot know or do anything. For example, if there is no first cause, how could you be here causing things in this discussion? And, if there is no first Mind which grounds all intelligibility how do you know what you know?
  3. Appeal to Self-Refuting Beliefs: If someone has to contradict themselves to make a point show them they cut the branch they’re sitting on. For example, my parents had no children that lived or I don’t know how to talk in English. The fact that they have made the claim refutes the claim itself. More examples, “there is no truth” (is that true?), “no one can really know” (do you know that? or how do you know?) and “I only believe in science” (is that statement proven in science?).
  4. Appeal to Their Rebellion Against Acknowledging God: For example, the tribe that refuses to believe germs cause viruses and sickness even after being shown textbook evidence with pictures.
  5. Appeal to Their Rebellion Against Acknowledging Their Sin: The cheating husband that refuses to come clean with all the details of the affair, even after being caught.

IV. REVIEW QUESTIONS

  1. Describe the three main ways a presuppositional apologists will use theistic arguments?
  2. List and describe the five main theistic arguments for God.
  3. List and describe the five main defenses against TAG and theistic arguments.