Based on the book by Leroy Brownlow

1
God, the Bible and Common Sense-- An Appeal to
Reason

• Based on the book by Leroy Brownlow
• Isaiah 118 Let us reason together
• Acts 172 184,19 2425

2

• We live in a time that is skeptical of the Bible
  and of the very existence of God.
• Once, we could just refer to the Bible. Now we
  have to go even further, to prove the Bible is
  the Word of God, and in the very existence of
  God.
• We must be armed with the knowledge to show God
  exists.
• We must be armed with the knowledge to show that
  the Bible is Gods Truth, His Word, which can be
  backed by history.
• We must engage our gentile world like Paul did
  in Acts 1716-22
• We must be prepared to give an answer to our
  faith-1 Peter 315
• We must show that the Bible produces faith
  through facts-Hebrews 111
• This lesson is designed to arm us with the
  knowledge of Gods existence. Future lessons will
  help to arm us to defend the Bible as Gods
  Truth.
• For further research, I recommend getting God,
  the Bible and Common Sense An Appeal to
  Reason, which this lesson uses many of the
  common sense arguments to prove the case for God.

3
God, the Bible and Common Sense-- An Appeal to
Reason

• Basic breakdown of book
• Common sense requires God
• The common sense biblical account of creation
• That God created man makes sense
• Christs coming to earth makes sense
• Common sense demands the Bible
• Common sense requires right division of the Bible

• The church makes sense
• Gods plan of salvation is sensible
• The common sense of Christian growth
• Worship is sensible
• Common sense at Random in the scriptures
• Gods appointment of death is sensible
• The judgment makes sense

When reading this book, you will see how each
step builds on the others.
4
Common sense requires God

• We are going to take the first section and
  discuss how it makes sense to believe God exists,
  and that all good things come from him by looking
  at several things
• Evidence of him is everywhere in creation,
  physical laws
• Basic logic that requires he exists simply from a
  first cause analysis
• Then well take a look at some of the popular
  arguments against him, and how to de-bunk them
  with scripture and common sense.

5
Common sense requires God

• Hebrews 34 says For every house is built by
  some man but he that built all things is God.
• No house ever built itself. It makes sense that
  there is a builder for every house every thing
  we can observe.
• This same thought process extends to all of
  creation. All created things imply there is a
  creator. All effects must first have a cause.
  That is to say, everything that occurs is driven
  by something that came before it. God tells us
  this through His Word Ps 10225, Is 4021-22
  4424, John 11-3, Acts 1724
•  

6
Common sense requires God

• Gen. 11 In the beginning God created the heavens
  and the earth.
• Even atheists (those who believe there is no god)
  agree that something cannot come from nothing.
• The bible repeatedly says God created all that we
  know. Isaiah 425, Col. 116, Rom. 1136, Job
  384-11, 29-30, 31-33, Job 4111
• There is no explanation of creation apart from
  God as a first cause that stands the test of
  Common Sense.

7
Common sense requires God

• Consider this syllogism (major premise, minor
  premise, conclusion)
• Something cannot come from nothing (premise)
• But something is or does exist
• Therefore, something always was.
• In terms of creation or creating life, that
  something is either supernatural or lifeless
  matter. This is termed first cause. It
  existed before life as we know it. The atheists
  and scientists who attempt to prove creation
  apart from a first cause must assume lifeless
  matter.
• Despite many failures, Scientists are confident
  that something will happen, and MUST happen
  because believing in God creating life is
  unacceptable.
•  
• It makes more sense to believe there is a God as
  the first cause for creation rather than lifeless
  matter. For all of the experiments and research
  that has been performed in this area, there are
  no documented cases in which life has sprung from
  lifeless matter. None. Ever. Col.
  116-17 ..for by him all things were created.

8
Common sense requires God

• The atheist will push back the first cause from a
  primordial soup, to clouds around a bunched up
  ball of gases to the big bang to a
  super-compressed / extremely high density ball of
  lifeless matter. At some point they must stop
  and admit they do not know where this came from.
  This is the point of first cause that cannot be
  explained apart from God.
• What takes more faith? To believe what is
  written in scripture (always constant, always
  consistent, never changing), or to believe the
  amazing and at times absurd accounts presented to
  us by supposedly intelligent scientists. Note
  the scientific explanations have changed thru the
  years regarding where the first cause actually
  is, from the Steady State Theory to the Big Bang
  Theory. They dont really know

9
Common sense requires God

• We must ask ourselves, is it easier to believe
  the complex and changing theories presented by
  scientists, or believe Genesis 11? Common sense
  says that when investigating a cause for an
  unknown action, the theory that is the simplest
  is usually the correct one. This is also a well
  known scientific principle. Why would we not
  believe what God says?

10
Common sense requires God

• Consider this, if dead, lifeless matter somehow
  produced life how did it get moving? What was
  the catalyst that spurred it to action? There
  would have been nothing to make it get started.
  Again, we are forced to admit something else was
  there. Matter has never moved of its own accord.
  Newton observed this in his first law of motion.
• A body in motion remains in motion unless it is
  acted on by an external force. If the body is at
  rest it remains at rest unless acted upon by an
  external force.
• Note, we are back to having to explain where
  first cause is

11
Common sense requires God

• The book Evolution and Animal Life by Jordan
  and Kellogg, page 41 states All life comes from
  life. The biologist cannot admit spontaneous
  generation in the face of the scientific evidence
  he has. Lyman Kellog was a noted entomologist
  and biologist and wrote this in 1907 in his work
  to defend some of the weak points of Darwins
  theory of evolution. ---Sort of ironic that we
  use it today to help make the case for the
  existence of God. The writer is quoting the
  scientific Law of Biogenesis, which has been
  proven over and over again.
• There is no scientific way to account for life
  without a pre-existing or beginning life.

12
Common sense requires God

• Psalms 191 The heavens declare the glory of
  God and the firmament (expanse) shows his
  handiwork. Rom. 120 For since the creation of
  the world His invisible attributes are clearly
  seen, being understood by the things that are
  made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that
  they are without excuse.
• Consider the stars. With the aid of a high
  powered telescope there are roughly 100,000,000
  (one hundred million) stars visible on a clear
  night. The Hubble telescope has revealed
  billions upon billions more within over 100
  billion galaxies. Did this all spring from a
  super-compressed ball of very high density matter
  that just exploded?
• Does this even make sense to anyone? What if I
  told you that the Brenham phone book being
  published was the result of an explosion in a
  newspaper and ink factories?
• Doesnt it make more sense to say that God
  created this just as David stated in Psalms 19 or
  that Paul did in Romans 1? Doesnt it show the
  power of God to have created all this?

13
Common sense requires God

• Consider the grouping of the stars. Job
  3831-33. They are not just randomly scattered
  about. They hang in an ordered set of groups
  called galaxies, clusters and constellations.
  Was this just an accident? Did it just happen?
  The odds of this actually occurring by chance are
  astounding.
• Take the alphabet. A-Z, 26 letters all in a
  particular order. If I took 26 little plastic
  letters all the letters of the alphabet and
  threw them up in the air, what are the odds that
  they would land on the ground in the order we
  know them in (a,b,c,d,e,f,g.z)?

14
Common sense requires God

• This could occur once for every 500 million
  million million times I threw them in the air.
• For every 500,000,000,000,000,000,000 throws it
  would happen only once (1). The odds are then 1
  in 4E26 (400 million million million million).
  But at this point, who cares. The point is it
  is a really big number and it doesnt matter
  anymore. The number is an impossibility as
  defined by the Law of Probability.
• Now apply this logic to the ordered groupings of
  the one hundred million stars that we can see and
  more, and you begin to see an impossible picture.
  This was no accident. he that built all
  things is God. It makes sense to believe that
  God hung them there. It is simply easier to
  digest.

15
Common sense requires God

• Lets look at the law of gravity. Gravitation
  exits. We have lived with it all our lives. Not
  one scientist past or present can explain why it
  exits.
• If this is a constant known law throughout the
  entire universe, why can no one explain where it
  comes from, why it behaves the way that it does,
  what causes it?
• We can describe how it works by observation (32
  feet / second / second, moons gravity is 1/6th
  that of earths and so on), but no one can
  explain why it is there. Does it make sense that
  some being / creator put it there because it
  makes the rest of his design work better?

16
Common sense requires God

• Orbital mechanics are based on this. The earth
  orbits the sun. The moon orbits the earth, etc.
  This law is what made the Apollo moon shots
  possible, and what keeps the International Space
  Station from wandering off or crashing down. We
  use it all the time, but we cannot explain what
  causes it or why it exists.
• The scriptures attribute this to God II Pet 37
  But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by
  the same word are kept in store. There simply is
  no other explanation of why gravity exists.
• There are MANY more things we can use to explain
  that God must exist, including other Laws of
  Physics, the fine tuning of the forces of Nature,
  and very existence of life itself. What has been
  discussed should be enough.
• Now lets look at some common arguments for the
  case that God is not real.

17
Common sense requires God

• If God is real and religion came from him, why
  are there so many different religions?
• Eccl 729 God hath made man upright but they
  have sought out many inventions.
• Consider man is a free moral entity. He can
  make a choice. Gen. 36-7 In religion, that
  choice has been to consistently corrupt what was
  made perfect on the first Pentecost after the
  crucifixion of Christ.
• From then on, the religions have been splitting,
  and multiplying because of mans choices.
• This does not come from God, but from man.

18
Common sense requires God

• There are about 21 major world religions today.
  About 1 billion people do not profess belief in
  any religion.1. Christianity 2.1 billion2.
  Islam 1.3 billion3. Secular/Irreligious/Agnostic/
  Atheist 1.1 billion4. Hinduism 900 million5.
  Chinese traditional religion 394 million6.
  Buddhism 376 million (see also buddhism by
  country)7. Primal indigenous 300 million8.
  African traditional and diasporic 100 million9.
  Sikhism 23 million10. Juche 19 million

19
Common sense requires God

• 11. Spiritism 15 million12. Judaism 14
  million13. Bahá'í Faith 7 million14. Jainism
  4.2 million15. Shinto 4 million16. Cao Dai 4
  million17. Zoroastrianism 2.6 million18.
  Tenrikyo 2 million19. Neopaganism 1 million20.
  Unitarian Universalism 800,00021. Rastafari
  movement 600,000
• Source(s)
• wikipedia

20
Common sense requires God

• Just as an aside, lets do some numbers say
  theres around 4 million people in Houston.
• There are about 250 Christians at the Fry Road
  Church in Katy. Lets be generous and say there
  are 15 sound churches in the Houston and
  surrounding area for a total of 3750 people.
  Lets round the number to make the math easy and
  lets use 4000 Christians in a city of 4
  million.
• 1/10th of 1 percent of the population of Houston
  is Christian
• Thats a very small percentage. Matt. 7 21-24
  is demonstrated here.

21
Common sense requires God

• I dont believe in a God I cannot see.
• This is inconsistent from the outset.
• Do you see pain? Love? Hate?
• We can certainly see the results and effects of
  them, but we cannot actually see these things.
• Do we not believe in these? The atheist would be
  forced to say he does not based on this logic.
  How about an energized electrical wire?
• Do we believe in electricity? We cant see it,
  but the effects are amazing if we touch a hot
  wire.
• How about the wind? Can we see it? No, but we can
  see the effects the wind causes.

22
Common sense requires God

• I wont believe in a God whose existence cannot
  be proven by science.
• Based on the previous examples, we need God to
  prove the validity of science, not the other way
  around, but lets humor this position for a bit.
  
• The scientific method relies on proposing a
  premise, forming a theory and then gathering
  evidence to prove that theory based on
  OBSERVATIONS.

23
Common sense requires God

• Premise we and everything around us exist.
  (this is a little silly, but it serves the point
  here)
• Theory all things that exist were created by
  God.
• Observations stars, gravity, trees, sky, earth,
  living creatures, life itself, a baby being born.
  
• Do all of the observations fit the theory
  proposed? Are there any that do not? Can we
  come up with anything that was not created by
  God? --Even one will disprove our theory. Col.
  116 says no.

24
Common sense requires God

• Consider another competing theory All things
  that exist were random and brought into being by
  some non-living thing.
• Do observations support this theory? I think we
  have covered this pretty thoroughly. Common
  Sense in action here
• Another valid point is that NO ONE can be proven
  to be who they say they are using just Science,
  not even the atheist. The Historic/Evidence
  Method used by historians, lawyers, and
  archeologists can prove the existence of a
  historic figure. Abraham Lincolns body can only
  be described by science alone as a human body. To
  figure out the body is Abraham Lincoln, one needs
  the Historic Method. The Biblical record of
  witnesses prove the existence of God.

25
Common sense requires God

• If there is a God, why does he permit war and
  natural disasters?
• He does not permit them, but rather they are a
  result of mans actions and choices.
• Recall what he said about creation after each
  aspect was brought into being God said it was
  good. Gen. 131
• It went down hill after man began making choices
  to disobey Gods law. Wars and natural
  disasters are not caused by God, and to say that
  they are is inconsistent with the nature of God.
  He only wants what is best for his people. II
  Pet. 3 9, the whole chapter of Luke 15. They
  are a direct result of mans disregard of Gods
  law beginning with Adam and Eve in the garden so
  long ago.
• God uses these events man brought about to teach
  us valuable lessons.

26
Common sense requires God

• Conclusion why it makes sense to believe there
  is a God.
• 1. Facts are facts. Anyone can doubt them, but
  that doesnt make them untrue.
• Just like telling a lie over and over again
  doesnt make it the truth, and arguing louder
  doesnt make your point any clearer.
• What we do with the facts determines the
  conclusions we make. If we believe them and use
  common sense, we can only come to the conclusion
  that God exists. Consider the parable of the
  sower (Matt. 13 3-9) Same seed, the Word, 4
  different results.
• No other conclusion makes sense.
•  

27
Common sense requires God

• 2. The underlying reason for atheism (a belief
  that there is no God) is not a lack of evidence
  (for it is all around), but rather a self
  centered desire for pre-eminence.
• This position (atheism) is not supported by a
  common sense approach to facts that are obviously
  clear.
• 3. It makes more sense to believe the historical
  account of creation than to put your trust in a
  series of disjointed, contradictory, implausible
  theories for our existence apart from God. In
  fact it takes less faith to believe God exists
  than to believe he does not. Even scientists
  declare their faith in something-
• Common sense in action confirms Gods existence.

We do not know how exactly it happened. Yes, at
some point one must have faith.-Professor Holman
28
Conclusion and Invitation

• We can see how common sense proves that God is,
  and is a rewarder of those that seek Him-Hebrews
  116
• By what process do we seek Him? The Lord Jesus
  tells us.
• 1. Hear-Mt 1323 2. Believe-Mk 115 3.
  Repent-Lk 133 4. Confess-Mt. 1032 5. Be
  Baptized-Mk 1616
• Once we enter His service, The scriptures tell us
  what to do once we slip from the path Christ has
  set for us Repent Pray Acts 822, II Cor
  710, Js. 515,16