Why Believe?

Ethics is about “oughts” or standards which should be universal and unchanging.
From where should those oughts come?
There are a host of ideas brought forth but none prove to be universal or unchanging save one set – those from the Bible.

But why believe the Bible?  Who says it is universal and unchanging?
For one, it says it is universal (Galatians 3:28) and unchanging (Matthew 5:18).
Two, it has proven universal and unchanging – worldwide applications for 2,000 years.
Three, because it is about God, from God, and reports on God’s doings.

Francis Schaeffer’s landmark book published in 1972 declared:
         He is there and He is not silent!
But, why agree with Schaeffer?

Why believe there is a God?

1. Nature screams God – Psalm 19:1, Romans 1:19-20, Isaiah 40:22 (planet orbs, the eye, DNA)
2. The Bible says so – John 17:17 (history/prophecies, archeology)
3. Changed lives – Acts 9:1, 4 (Paul); I Thessalonians 1:9 (your neighbor); I Peter 3:15 (peace in pain)
4. Jesus – John 14:6, Matthew 28:19, the year 2,023 from zero (What caused zero?)
5. Man’s conscience – Romans 2:15 (shame and guilt come from ??)
6. Eternity in heart – Ecclesiastes 3:11 (sense of good/justice, of God, a need to worship, a fear of death)
7. Science proves it – Psalm 8:8, Isaiah 40:22, (the periodic chart, clocks/calendars/seasons, design)
8. Flood evidence – fossils, rainbow – Genesis 9:13 (a unique and universal story)
9. A 7-day week –  who came up with that idea? Sunday, a day of rest idea?
10. Logic – it just makes sense, the ontological argument

Else we are left to say, “Nothing and nobody caused everything?”

Why believe God has spoken?

1. The Bible says it is from God – II Peter 1:21, 3:15
2. The Bible proves it – Daniel 2’s four world empires, Micah 5:2 born Bethlehem
3. Jesus quoted the Bible – Jonah in Matthew 12, Noah in Matthew 24
4. Jesus said He would rise after 3 days – and He did, Mark 8:31
5. Edom heard God’s decree and no longer exists – Obadiah 9
6. God talked and wrote the Ten – Exodus 20:1, 31:18
7. All precisely fulfilled – Daniel 5:5

Why believe that God is engaged?

1. Galatians 4:4, God sent forth His Son – Merry Christmas!
2. Exodus 3:7, God heard their cry, knew their sorrows – sent Moses
3. Daniel 3:25, I see four in the fire
4. Genesis 6:5-7, Noah’s ark and rainbow
5. Isaiah 3, A nation judged (Daniel 5:26, 30)