Notes:

1. www.gallup.com/poll/147887 – June 3, 2011 – Princeton N.J.

2. See objections raised and Mr. Behe’s response at behe.uncommondescent.com – Mr. Behe’s blog. Mr. Behe provides a complete defense for his positions which I believe the reader will find compelling.

3. See J. Barton Payne, Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy: The Complete Guide to Scriptural Predictions and Their Fulfillment – New York: Harper and Row, 1973Josh Mc Dowell – Evidence that Demands a Verdict – Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville: 1999 Peter Stoner – Science Speaks. Scientific Proof of the Accuracy of Prophecy and the Bible – Chicago: Moody Press. 1969

4. Phillip W. Comfort – The Qwest for the Original Text of the New Testament- Grand Rapids: Baker 1992F.F. Bruce – The Books and Parchments – Old Tappan, N.J. Revell – 1963.Norman Geisler and William Nix – A General Introduction to the Bible – Chicago: Moody Press 1980.

5. Edwin Yamauchi – The Stones and the Scriptures – New York: J.B. Lippencott , 1972.K.A. Kitchen – The Bible and It’s World: The Bible and Archeology Today – Downer Grove Ill. Intervarsity Press 1977

6. Henry Morris – The Bible and modern Science – Chicago: Moody Press , 1956 Henry Morris – Many Infallible Proofs – San Diego: C.L.P. 1974

This presentation has used as resources the following authors and references. Without these sources of information this presentation would not be possible. These books and authors greatly expand upon the material covered here and are highly recommended.

The Popular Encyclopedia of Apologetics – Ed Hindson, Ergun Caner. Harvest House Publishers, Eugene, Oregon 2008.

The Case for a Creator – Lee Strobel. Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan 2004

I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist – Norman l. Geisler, Frank Turek. Crossway Books: Wheaton Ill. 2004

Reasonable Faith – William Lane Craig. Crossway Books. Wheaton. Ill. 2008

A Reasonable Response: Answers to Tough Questions on God, Christianity and the Bible. – William Lane Craig and Joseph E. Gorra. Chicago Ill. Moody Press. 2013.

7. Struggling with doubt can be a very tricky issue and can have many causes – some that are unknown even to the one who is dealing with it. Some of the causes are as follows: a.) Rebellion b.) Family and personal issues c.) Genuine intellectual doubt d.) Not wanting the responsibility that faith brings e.) Misunderstanding of the object of faith (that which is doubted) f.) Disappointments with people or institutions that represent the object of faith g.) Holding of a worldview that seems to be in conflict with the object of faith h.) Not understanding what real faith really looks like. Many times we mix up our feelings and emotions with our faith and we suppose that real faith cannot co-exist with negative or low periods in our emotions. This is not the case.

When we read the Psalms, we see the Psalmist authors expressing sadness and experiencing times of deep despondency and yet they still hold to their confidence and faith in God in spite of the difficult times that they are going through. Faith and emotions (good or bad) are not related. We can have faith regardless of how we feel.We also can mistakenly believe that faith and doubt cannot both be a part of our journey with God and yet the truth is that all faith has a degree of doubt. We are finite creatures and do not have complete information. There is nothing in life in which we can know with 100% certainty.

This is beyond our capabilities. So faith really is a choice and with our will we must decide to believe. We look at the evidence and we take a step of faith that leads us in the direction that the evidence is pointing. When the evidence is leaning in favor of God’s existence (which I clearly believe it is) we need to make a rational decision to believe that He does indeed exist and then seek to learn about Him and know Him. This requires action on our part.

We just can’t spend all of our life contemplating about whether God exists or not and then wait until some magic moment when all doubt is gone and then move forward with absolute assurance. We need to take action upon what we do know and then let faith grow as we continue in our journey with Him.The old saying applies here “ Don’t trade the things that you do know for the things that you don’t know”. There are plenty of reasons for faith in God and we need to put ourselves in a position where we are learning to trust Him and then let our faith grow based on what we do know. The next step is to put ourselves in a place where our faith in God can grow. We need to seek out resources that help us in this faith journey with God.

I have attempted to make the case that the best resources for this are the Bible ( the Christian Scriptures) , the Christ-centered church, Christian friendships, the work of the Holy Spirit and sound Christian apologetic teaching. Of course, this is based on establishing a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ,

We might heed the instruction that “we should question our doubt more than we question our confidence in God”. The evidence is in God’s corner, “so doubt your doubt and trust the faith that you have placed in Him”. The bottom line is that we either have a will to believe or a will not to believe. Choose faith in God.