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God's existence
Hello everyone,
I am taking a Public Speaking class which is also known as a speech class and our final speech has to be a persuasive speech and has to be 7 mins long. I chose the topic of proving that God does exist. I was wondering if you all could help me. This is a 7 min. speech so i would probably be able to talk about 1 point and what do you think it should be?
I am taking a Public Speaking class which is also known as a speech class and our final speech has to be a persuasive speech and has to be 7 mins long. I chose the topic of proving that God does exist. I was wondering if you all could help me. This is a 7 min. speech so i would probably be able to talk about 1 point and what do you think it should be?
Comments
Hello everyone,
I am taking a Public Speaking class which is also known as a speech class and our final speech has to be a persuasive speech and has to be 7 mins long. I chose the topic of proving that God does exist. I was wondering if you all could help me. This is a 7 min. speech so i would probably be able to talk about 1 point and what do you think it should be?
You can't prove God exists. It's by faith, now run along and do a presentation on faith.
And a few things came to mind..
1. Can anyone see what another person is thinking or can we see the desires of their heart? Does that mean because we can't see something, that it doesn't exist? Just like we can't see what a person is thinking, doesn't mean his thoughts do not exist. Noone can see into the depths of someone else unless it is revealed by the person through word and/or action. We can't experience the unlimited God in the limited boarders within ourselves but God reveals Himself to those who are willing and are seeking Him. He reveals Himself within a person.
To those who are unwilling, He is patient and merciful. I heard something once, that God allows everyone in the world to encounter Him because when judgement day comes, God isn't going to send someone to everlasting punishment if he didn't have a chance to know Him or to know He exists. God knows how to reveal Himself to each person.
2. When God reveals Himself to a person who is seeking Him, God's grace dwells in their heart and He does something to that heart that changes a person's life. We can't change our lives permanently unless God intervenes. God's power in changing lives reveals His existence.
Proving God's existence is like putting the ocean in a cup. He is unlimited and Almighty, while we are limited, weak and sinful - yet the work of His Hands.
how about a speech persuading people that knowing God is good for you?
anyone else got any good ideas about this?
i believe, i think you have a great idea, keep working on it.
There are good reasons for believing that God exists in philosophy, history and in science (to more limited extent). Here's a fairly common one; William Lane Craig's Kalam Cosmological Argument:
1. Everything that has a beginning has a cause (that is not itself)
2. The universe has a beginning.
3. Therefore, the universe has a cause (that is not itself).
Given that the universe has a cause external to itself, you can then add another argument which builds on the conclusion of the first.
4. The universe has a cause that is external to itself.
5. Time, space, matter and energy exist only within the universe.
6. Therefore, the cause of the universe is timeless, spaceless and not made of matter/energy.
So we've ended up, using only uncontroversial scientific facts like 'the universe has a beginning', and 'time, space and matter/energy began to exist with the universe' to deduce the existence of a timeless, spaceless, 'supernatural' creator of the universe. It takes further argument to arrive at the conclusion of a mind or purpose behind the universe. For that you can refer to the 'fine-tuning' of the universe: http://www.godandscience.org/apologetics/designun.html
God bless :)
They will just use the age-old counter argument that God needs to have his own origin too. It's their classic "Well if Got created us, who created God?" argument.
[quote author=+iloveJesus link=topic=11888.msg142230#msg142230 date=1312019179]
To those who are unwilling, He is patient and merciful. I heard something once, that God allows everyone in the world to encounter Him because when judgement day comes, God isn't going to send someone to everlasting punishment if he didn't have a chance to know Him or to know He exists. God knows how to reveal Himself to each person.
Is this really true? I was just thinking about this and I truly hope it's the case. But what about groups of people like Native Americans who evidently did not encounter God until very late in the 15th c.? And was the gospel preached in far east Asia?
Hello everyone,
I am taking a Public Speaking class which is also known as a speech class and our final speech has to be a persuasive speech and has to be 7 mins long. I chose the topic of proving that God does exist. I was wondering if you all could help me. This is a 7 min. speech so i would probably be able to talk about 1 point and what do you think it should be?
Actually if you want to still do a topic similar to this, I have a suggestion for something you should watch: The Case For The Creator http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=688111496234161611
epchois_nai_nan,
They will just use the age-old counter argument that God needs to have his own origin too. It's their classic "Well if Got created us, who created God?" argument.
[quote author=+iloveJesus link=topic=11888.msg142230#msg142230 date=1312019179]
To those who are unwilling, He is patient and merciful. I heard something once, that God allows everyone in the world to encounter Him because when judgement day comes, God isn't going to send someone to everlasting punishment if he didn't have a chance to know Him or to know He exists. God knows how to reveal Himself to each person.
Is this really true? I was just thinking about this and I truly hope it's the case. But what about groups of people like Native Americans who evidently did not encounter God until very late in the 15th c.? And was the gospel preached in far east Asia?
That's true, i always wonder about the isolated people in history who seem to have had no contact with the Old or new testament.. I'm sure there's things we dont know and God is fair.
I will give an example to illustrate; Let us say that archeologists were to find pottery, drawings, primitive tools, etc of some never-before seen people. Even if we couldn't explain where they came from or how they got there, it wouldnt make sense to say they didnt exist or that a cause for their being there never existed either.
In addition when one says God created mankind and the other replies 'well who created God?", you immediately have plunged yourself into a never-ending regression of something creating something else and so on and so forth.
Now about God, it is totally illogical for someone to ask what or who created God, because if something created the Almighty, He wouldnt be Almighty, the creator of Him would in fact be God. So not only do you run into an infinite regression of 'who created the next guy?' but also a created being, by definition, cannot be God, but is rather subject (much like Arius said Jesus was less than God the Father because he believed Jesus to be a created being).
Take a look at what is said In the Anaphora of the Liturgy of Saint Gregory;
Meet and right, meet and right, meet and right, meet, in truth,
and right, that we praise Thee, bless Thee, serve Thee, worship
Thee, and glorify Thee, the One, Only, True God, the Lover of
mankind; the Unutterable, the Invisible, the Infinite; without
beginning, Everlasting, Timeless, Limitless, Immeasurable,
Unchangeable, Creator of all, Saviour of everyone; Who forgives
our sins, Who redeems our life from corruption, Who crowns us
with mercies and compassions.
Sorry for the long post, i pray this helped ease your understanding.
Pray for the lowly servant
[quote author=The least of all link=topic=11888.msg142250#msg142250 date=1312047356]
I will give an example to illustrate; Let us say that archeologists were to find pottery, drawings, primitive tools, etc of some never-before seen people. Even if we couldn't explain where they came from or how they got there, it wouldnt make sense to say they didnt exist or that a cause for their being there never existed either.
Stonehenge is an example of this.
http://www.answersingenesis.org/media/video/ondemand/beginning-was-information/beginning-was-information
parts, 1 to 3
GBU
u find lots of interesting explanation in romans chapters 1-5 which explain that the existence of a creator is clear through the 'voice' of creation (also see psalm 18 (19)). also the assyrian church of the east preached in eastern china very early (this church was affected by the heresy of nestorianism so later withered).
there are plenty of accounts in the last 100 years from people who worshipped trees and stones and also from other religions that God revealed Himself to them and then Christian missionaries came and the people found the right name explanation for the things that were revealed to them directly by God.
also one of our saints (in the last few weeks in the synaxarium, i forget which one) came from a sun-worshiping family and asked the sun 'if you are God, tell me' and God replied to him that the sun was not God.
so God gives everyone a chance, and many times we are His representatives to the people he is giving a chance to.
I will give an example to illustrate; Let us say that archeologists were to find pottery, drawings, primitive tools, etc of some never-before seen people. Even if we couldn't explain where they came from or how they got there, it wouldnt make sense to say they didnt exist or that a cause for their being there never existed either.
In addition when one says God created mankind and the other replies 'well who created God?", you immediately have plunged yourself into a never-ending regression of something creating something else and so on and so forth.
Now about God, it is totally illogical for someone to ask what or who created God, because if something created the Almighty, He wouldnt be Almighty, the creator of Him would in fact be God. So not only do you run into an infinite regression of 'who created the next guy?' but also a created being, by definition, cannot be God, but is rather subject (much like Arius said Jesus was less than God the Father because he believed Jesus to be a created being).
Take a look at what is said In the Anaphora of the Liturgy of Saint Gregory;
Meet and right, meet and right, meet and right, meet, in truth,
and right, that we praise Thee, bless Thee, serve Thee, worship
Thee, and glorify Thee, the One, Only, True God, the Lover of
mankind; the Unutterable, the Invisible, the Infinite; without
beginning, Everlasting, Timeless, Limitless, Immeasurable,
Unchangeable, Creator of all, Saviour of everyone; Who forgives
our sins, Who redeems our life from corruption, Who crowns us
with mercies and compassions.
Sorry for the long post, i pray this helped ease your understanding.
Pray for the lowly servant
Great post, and you're absolutely right. What I've always said is this: God's existence in and of itself is (theoretically) impossible. Ours is too, but we know that we are here. Though it is impossible for us to exist in and of ourselves, we can exist through God as described in the Gregorian Liturgy which you quoted.
It's funny though. If you think to yourself how God could possibly be timeless and existent In the beginning, your mind will probably go crazy. But I wouldn't expect any less out of our awesome God.
mabsoota,
That's St. Moses the Black!! ;D He's my patron saint. I completely forgot about that story too. I don't even care to know how He reveals Himself to those other cultures/societies. I just want to take comfort in knowing He has a plan for them, too.