God or no God; Purpose or Meaningless

God or no God? – If God does exist (and he does) then it stands to reason he made us for some reason and wants contact with us.  The evidence for this comes from history, archeaology, & Nature itself - not to mention that Gods' laws are written on all men's hearts.  If God does not exist then we must immediately assume everything came from nothing because logic dictates you cannot have an infinite number of causal agents - something must have created all that is and if you exclude God then all that is left is nothing created everything.  You must begin with an uncaused first cause.  I personally don't have enough faith to be an athiest.  In the grand scheme of things anyone who is an athiest must also concede that whether you lived a life like Hitler or like Jesus it doesn’t matter if there is no eternal reward or punishment for the way you choose to live your life.   Everything is ultimately Meaningless.  Any civilized culture punishes bad behavior and rewards good –  Everyone  clings to life and longs for more.  I enjoy movies the next person likes to skydive.  Some things we enjoy all our lives others change and some fade away.  We are all fickle to some degree.  If I know anything I know God has a sense of humor, is endless in mercy and love, but at the same time he is just and must punish sin or he would cease to be God.  What earthly father doesn’t teach his son and correct and discipline him when necessary.  If you don’t you are actually saying you hate the child by your disinterest. If God does exist then our actions echo throughout eternity.  If God doesn't exist then eat drink and be merry for tomorrow we die. 

Jesus -- just a man or God in the flesh? Answer carefully because your eternal destiny rest upon your answer and how you respond to that answer.
(Why the resurrection and why the cross  why did He claim to be born of a virgin?)

Why did all His disciples continue to defy Rome and Pharasees about speaking in Jesus name. Why did they run away scared before the cross; then die martyrs deaths and speak boldly in His name after the resurrection?  Something changed them inside; Men may die for a loved one or even a friend, but not a lie.  These men knew Jesus was God in the flesh and that eternity waited for them and they had nothing to fear except disobeying God. 

Faith in Christ & Repentance & publicly (why is eternal life free?)

Abel or Cain ( we all must choose the way of cain or the way of Abel)  The entire Bible is an unfolding story of redemption through Jesus.  An greatest rescue mission of all time.  Man fell into sin in the Garden of Eden and throughout the ages God sent his messangers to foretell of the Savior to come.  All the old testament is types and shadows of He who would come JESUS CHRIST.  Jesus fulfilled the types and shadows of the old testament.  In this present age we look back almost 2000 yrs and continue to put our trust in Jesus as its has been from the beginning.  Our hope is in the 2nd coming the time of which no one knows.  When God will setup a new heaven and new earth werein dwells righteousness.  It will be a physical universe but perfect in every way. And no chance of man falling into sinful ways again.  All that will stay in the past.  Those who chose their own path in this life loved darkness for their deeds were evil.  Those whose gave up their lives for Jesus sake will find a new life eternally with God.  What that will be like no one knows for sure, but God has said "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us." Romans 8:18

I think God leaves some details vague on purpose so we can concentrate on main point and not get caught up in details and manusha that are unimportant.  Bottom line is Cain and Abel both knew what was required and Abel came thru and Cain did not.  God confronted him and said directly if you do what is required will you not be accepted as well.  But he would not and thus suffered the consequences.  God has rules that are to be followed in this physical universe or punishment will come as sure as night follows day. 

Here are some great names of old that believed God:
Job, Noah

Abraham

Isaac

Jacob

Joseph

Moses

Joshua

King David

Solomon

Daniel

12 Apostles; Andrew, James, John, Bartholomew; Judas, Simon, Thomas, Peter, Matthew, Philip, James the lessor; and Thaddeus.

Luthor

Pascal born 1623; French mathematician and physicist Blaise Pascal, though raised in the heyday of Enlightenment thought, found reason inadequate: "Reason's last step is the recognition that there are an infinite number of things which are beyond it." He concluded, "The heart has its reasons, which reason does not know at all"—a statement that soon became the chief critique of rationalism and the starting point for a defense of the Christian faith that still influences people today.

Catherine of Siena (1347)

She lived only 33 years, but her vibrant faith and writings were so influential she has been declared a Doctor of the Church.Following Christ’s instruction, Catherine believed it was her duty to reform the church, to evangelize, and to comfort the sick, poor, and condemned. She was an activist in an age when a woman’s religious vocation was supposed to be confined and apart from the world. Warmed by divine love from her intimate experience of God, Catherine proclaimed a personal faith in Jesus Christ that touches contemporary Christians with its conviction and immediacy.

Charles H. Spurgeon

D LMoody (1837)

Moody left home at age 17 and became a shoe salesman.

The first time he applied for church membership, it was denied him because he failed an oral examination on Christian doctrine. Moody ministered to soldiers in the American Civil War. Moody was personally acquainted with George Muller, the orphanage founder; Lord Shaftesbury, the great social reformer; and Charles H. Spurgeon, the prince of preachers. Most Americans today probably would fail even to identify Dwight Lyman Moody as a nineteenth-century evangelist. Yet during his day, he was internationally renowned. Moody often spoke to audiences of ten thousand to twenty thousand people. He presented the plan of Salvation, by voice or pen, to at least one hundred million people. D.L. Moody might well be considered the nineteenth century’s “Mr. Protestant.”

Candace queen of Etheopia She and her husband reigned c. 25–41 A.D.
Cecilia was a martyr of the 2nd century
Helena, a 4th-century Christian, is remembered for her influence in the life of her son Constantine, the first Christian ruler of the Roman Empire
Anthusa lived from c. 330 to 374 A.D. in Antioch. Widowed at the age of 20, she is remembered for her influence in the life of her son, John Chrysostom, one of the greatest preachers and leaders of the 4th-century church

Billy Sunday
William Ashley "Billy" Sunday (November 19, 1862 – November 6, 1935) was an American athlete who, after being a popular outfielder in baseball's National League during the 1880s, became the most celebrated and influential American evangelist during the first two decades of the 20th century.^[1]
Born into poverty in Iowa, Sunday spent some years at the Iowa Soldiers' Orphans' Home before working at odd jobs and playing for local running and baseball teams. His speed and agility provided him the opportunity to play baseball in the major leagues for eight years, where he was an average hitter and a good fielder known for his base-running.
Converted to evangelical Christianity in the 1880s, Sunday left baseball for the Christian ministry. He gradually developed his skills as a pulpit evangelist in the Midwest and then, during the early 20th century, he became the nation's most famous evangelist with his colloquial sermons and frenetic delivery. Sunday held widely reported campaigns in America's largest cities, and he attracted the largest crowds of any evangelist before the advent of electronic sound systems. He also made a great deal of money and was welcomed into the homes of the wealthy and influential. Sunday was a strong supporter of Prohibition, and his preaching almost certainly played a significant role in the adoption of the Eighteenth Amendment in 1919.

Billy Graham
CS Lewis
Paul Harvey radio broadcaster

George Washington quotes:
“It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible.”
“The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained”
“Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.”
 “Associate with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for it is better to be alone than in bad company.” (this by no means indicates you cannot have nonChristian friends and acqaintances if we are to witness to a lost world we must have contact with them on some level - we simply must not do what they do but we must communicate and care for them all the while)
“Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action.”
“Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses.”

 

Lincoln:
Quote -“If you look for the bad in people expecting to find it, you surely will.”
“I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live by the light that I have. I must stand with anybody that stands right, and stand with him while he is right, and part with him when he goes wrong.” (note he is not saying he would stop praying and loving a friend that went astray he is simply saying not to stay close friends with someone who does evil and preaches wrong doctrine. We must separate ourselves and stand for right or we are no different than the world yet we must at the same time minister to the needy and those who are seeking truth always forgiving and embracing those who reach out for help)
“If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend six hours sharpening my ax”
“The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly.” 

 There are great figures in history on both sides  - but one thing is clear everyone must choose for themselves.  The only exceptions are mentally ill and babies.  God will deal justly with them. But what about you?

How do you explain beauty if there is no God?

Why is there something rather than nothing?

Even if you have a big bang it doesn’t explain where the matter came from that exploded.

There must be a first cause that had no cause itself otherwise you end up with an infinite causal loop. Christians believe in supernatural God that transcends time and space and those who don’t believe in the supernatural have no answer or make up jibberish and try to sound smart but say nothing.

Three great questions of our time are Ressurection of Jesus; Origin of Cosmos;  & authenticity of Bible.

If God exists and he desired a relationship with us (he does) then he would reach out to us (prophets & Bible); If God exists and his word is true then its clear he made the universe things invisible and visible.  Archeology Nature and Ancient manuscripts all testify to the truth that the Bible is God's word to mankind and we dare not ignore its message.  Can the clay say to the potter why did you make me so?  We must respond to God as he reveals himself by his rules not our own.  How shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. Hebrews 2:3 And, "If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?" 1 Peter 4:18