More Quotes - Existence of God and Revelation.docx

Quotation

What it is used for

“The living results of natural selection… impress us with the illusion of design.” (Richard Dawkins)

The Design Argument

“The only watchmaker in nature is the blind forces of physics…” (Richard Dawkins)

The Design Argument

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said. ‘Let there be light’, and there was light.” (Genesis 1:1-3)

The First Cause Argument

“The universe just is.” (Bertrand Russell)

The First Cause Argument

“Just because every human being has a mother, it does not follow that the human race as a whole has a mother.” (Bertrand Russell)

The First Cause Argument

“The true sate of the question is, whether every object, which begins to exist, must owe its existence to a cause: and this is I assert neither to be intuitively nor demonstratively certain…” (Philosopher David Hume)

The First Cause Argument

“Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the LORD drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.” (Exodus 14:21)

Miracles

“The work of Satan… cannot harm [believers] in the least, unless God permits it. Let the believers put their trust in God.” (Qur’an 58:10)

Evil and Suffering as an argument against God

“It is not granted to any mortal that God should speak to him except through revelation or from behind a veil, or by sending a messenger to reveal by His command what He will; he is exalted and wise.” (Qur’an)

Special Revelation

“Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” (Bible)

Special Revelation

“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech; they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.” (Psalm 19:1-4)

General Revelation through Nature

“It is He who spread out the earth, placed firm mountains and rivers on it, and made two of every kind of fruit; He draws the veil of night over the day. There truly are signs in this for people who reflect.” (Qur’an 13:3)

General Revelation through Nature

“Among his signs, too, are that He shows you the lightning that terrifies and inspires hope; that He sends water down from the sky to restore the earth to life after death.” (Qur’an 30:24)

General Revelation through Nature

“This is the Scripture in which there is no doubt, containing guidance for those who are mindful of God.” (Qur’an 2:2)

General Revelation through Scripture

“The Most Excellent Names belong to God: use them to call on Him, and keep away from those who abuse them – they will be requited for what they do.” (Qur’an 7:180)

Different Ideas about the Divine

“God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them” (Genesis 1:27)

The Design Argument

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1)

The Design Argument

“In the absence of any other proof, the thumb alone would convince me of God’s existence.” (Isaac Newton)

The Design Argument

“The big bang […] does not contradict the divine act of creation; rather, it requires it […] When we read the creation story in Genesis, we run the risk of imagining that God was a magician, with a magic wand which is able to do everything […] But it is not so. He created beings and let them develop according to internal laws which he gave every one, so they would develop, so they would reach maturity.” (Pope Francis speaking at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, 2014)

The Design Argument

“When there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, reveal myself to them in dreams.” (Numbers 12:6 [NIV])

Special Revelation

“’Why do you ask me about what is good?’ Jesus replied. ‘There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.’” (Matthew 19:17 [NIV])

Different ideas about the Divine

“For God so loved the world that he gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16 [NIV])

The Benevolence of God

“You have searched me, LORD, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.” (Psalm 139:1-2 [NIV])

The Omniscience of God

“Are the disbelievers not aware that the heavens and the earth used to be joined together and that We ripped them apart, that We made every living thing from water… it is He who created night and day, the sun and the moon, each floating in its orbit.” (Qur’an 21:30-33)

The Design Argument

“But when the guidance comes from Me, as it certainly will, there will be no fear for those who follow My guidance nor will they grieve.” (Qur’an 2:38)

Evil and Suffering as an argument against God

“He is God the One, God the eternal. He begot no one nor was he begotten. No one is comparable to Him.” (Qur’an 112)

The Divine

“He is with you wherever you are.” (Qur’an 57:4)

God as personal