Pre-evangelization Inquiry Topics. Is there a God? Why is there evil/suffering in the world? Is the Bible reliable? Is faith opposed to reason?

Transcription

1 Pre-evangelization Inquiry Topics Is there a God? Why is there evil/suffering in the world? Is the Bible reliable? Is faith opposed to reason?

2 A NOTE ON THE DISCUSSION TOPICS: As you read through these topics and prepare to lead your discussions, keep in mind that there is more information here than you need. Each key proposal is meant to be an aid in guiding the discussion with additional examples provided. The goal is to guide a discussion, not teach a class. These topics were tested in small groups with participants from a wide variety of backgrounds. You are welcome and encouraged to bring your own ideas, examples, analogies, and experience with you to the discussion and make changes, according to the needs and interests of your group. We welcome your feedback on using these discussion guides in your small groups, and expect to revise and expand them over time. 58 SEEKER SMALL GROUPS ST. PAUL EVANGELIZATION MINISTRIES

3 TOPIC 1: IS THERE A GOD? Team Background & Preparation KEY THOUGHT 45% of atheists, agnostics, and religious unaffiliated in the United States agree with the statement that Christianity is extremist. Only 14% strongly disagree % of those surveyed believed that evangelization activities, such as praying for another person in a public place, is to be considered an extreme religious activity. (Barna Research year?) There will be people in your audience that consider what you have to say to be an extreme religious activity, and who do not believe in God. Your goal is to answer the deeper questions that are on their heart, questions that they have set aside as unanswerable or irrational, such as, Is there a god? At this moment they might say No more so than there is a flying spaghetti monster in the sky. Yet, why is there this longing in every heart to confront this question? Something brought them here tonight. Let the Holy Spirit use this opportunity. SCRIPTURAL BACKGROUND God acts in human history. Exodus 3:1-15 God reveals his divine name. Exodus 34:5-7 God is merciful, steadfast, faithful, and generous. Psalm 19:1-4 The natural order reflects God s existence. Jeremiah 32:17 God created everything out of nothing. John 1:1-4 All things came into existence through God. Hebrews 1:12 God is eternal. Romans 1:18-32 God can be known without divine revelation. Denying his existence leads to a darkened mind and life. CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH #27-30 Something internal in our being causes us to seek the supernatural. #31-43 We can use reason alone to conclude that God does exist. # We owe a response to God; we have to make a decision about Him. # God acts in accordance with a divine will; He has a plan for our life. GROUP LEADER HANDBOOK PRE-EVANGELIZATION INQUIRY TOPICS 59

4 TOPIC 1: IS THERE A GOD? Talk Outline PREPARATION Read over the background information, look up the resources, and bring them to prayer. Read through the topic and decide what additional examples and stories you will use. Discuss with your team. 5 minutes Pleasantries and welcome. Opening considerations: Helen Keller was the first deaf-blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree in the world. She graduated from Radcliffe College in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1904 and would go on to become a world famous author, political activist, and lecturer. She once said that, Without faith there would be little meaning in my life. I should be a mere pillar of darkness in the dark. Observers in the full enjoyment of their bodily senses pity me, but it is because they do not see the golden chamber in my life where I dwell delighted; for, dark as my path may seem to them, I carry a magic light in my heart. Faith, the spiritual strong searchlight, illumines the way, and although sinister doubts lurk in the shadow, I walk unafraid toward the Enchanted Wood where the foliage is always green, where joy abides, where nightingales nest and sing, and where life and death are one in the Presence of the Lord. (reference?) Helen Keller, in the face of great suffering and lifelong disabilities, believed in the existence of God. Faith in God gave her peace, joy, and happiness. My goal is to keep the presentation tonight simple and my hope is to reflect on just a few ideas about whether or not a god exists. I ll end by asking what God might be like if he does exist. I will keep my proposal short so that we can discuss these ideas at our tables. Ultimately it doesn t matter if I think God exists or doesn t exist. We are not here for me. We are here for you. It matters a great deal if you think God exists. I will propose through 5 simple observations that God must exist. 60 SEEKER SMALL GROUPS ST. PAUL EVANGELIZATION MINISTRIES

5 Then, in the next 3 weeks we will answer 3 objections to this observation: 1. The reality of evil and suffering in the world. 2. Whether or not the Bible is reliable. 3. And finally, is faith unreasonable? As your neighbor, as a member of your community, that is what I am asking from you, 90 minutes, for 4 weeks, to explore some of the most daunting ideas that mankind has ever thought about. Then, you can decide if you want to continue to explore these ideas with us. Because, together, with your help, we can accomplish a lot of good in our community and in our world. You matter. Your life matters. As I will now propose, your life matters a great deal more than you imagine, because God exists. PROCLAMATION We can know that God exists without the assistance of divine revelation. EXPLANATION 30 Minutes First Proposal: Our human drives and desires are not ultimately fulfilled in the tangible and material world. (We are restless for something beyond our human experience.) If we look for fulfillment only in the pleasures of the physical world, happiness will elude the human spirit. We will always want something more. Life is about more than working for a paycheck, power, fame, sex, or relationships. When I finish playing Call of Duty, I m only satisfied at my accomplishment for a short period. Then I need a new game. When I finish first in the triathlon, I m proud of what I have done, but my heart remains restless for the next adventure. Use the story of St. Augustine and his conversion as an example. He knew there was something outside of himself that would satisfy his longings, yet for a long time, he tried every worldly pleasure. Second Proposal: Our human experience teaches us that we are happiest when we focus on the good of others. (We can love because God loved us.) The story of the $100 experiment One group spent it on themselves, one group spent it on others. The group that spent it on others was measurably happier at the end of the day. GROUP LEADER HANDBOOK PRE-EVANGELIZATION INQUIRY TOPICS 61

6 If love is just an instinct, a biological urge, and we are merely irrational animals, why don t we eat our young, leave them in the cold to die, kill anyone who steps in our yard, or throw poop at anyone who annoys us? Love. Really. As humans, we experience a kind of love that compels us to sacrifice for the good of others, to endure hardship, and go beyond what is comfortable and easy. This love is more than human/ instinctual. It points to a reward and a meaning to our lives that transcends this earthly existence. Things that really make us happy, like feeding the poor, rescuing the abused, giving to charity, being a peace maker, all point to something deeper within ourselves love that is directed to something outside ourselves. We know from our experience of life that love is more than a biological instinct to survive; rather it is rooted in the supernatural. 1 John 4:8, Romans 5:8 If there is a god, he must be benevolent. This longing in us to do good for others must come from somewhere. Third Proposal: Most societies developed some kind of worship of a god. (The search for God is universal and throughout all of history.) Mankind went searching for God. In the history of human development most societies were built on the idea of divine worship. From ancient Egypt, to Rome, to Judaism, to the Greeks, all throughout history we see mankind in search for God. God revealed Himself by interrupting human history. He spoke, he sent messengers, He revealed Himself through miracles of nature. Finally, He walked on earth as a man, healed the sick, raised the dead, and then in the ultimate act of defiance, raised Himself from the dead. I m not asking you to believe that Jesus is God yet. I m only asking you to consider this as a possibility. Fourth Proposal: The universe itself reflects a designer. The universe displays order, not chaos. There is a type of intelligence in what we can observe about the world. There is intelligence because of either chance or design. It is not reasonable to believe there is intelligence by chance. Our movies reflect how science tries to prove intelligibility without God. Indiana Jones & the Crystal Skull, Prometheus, and others look to alien life as the source of design and intelligence on earth, because it can t be random chance. Design only comes from the mind of a designer. (watch in the sand analogy) 62 SEEKER SMALL GROUPS ST. PAUL EVANGELIZATION MINISTRIES

7 Fifth Proposal: Mankind finds within himself the attributes of God, our designer. The greatest of these is love. There are truths that cannot be denied. (Man found God.) If God does exist, we can see His attributes reflected and shared in ourselves. We all have a basic, interior sense of right and wrong. For example, genocide is a moral evil. It is always wrong, and if it is always wrong, something made it that way. What are other examples of moral evils that few people would ever try to justify? If God exists, God is love, and created us for love. Clearly, we all desire to love and be loved. It is a basic desire within everyone. Doesn t it make sense that God who made us also is full of love? If God exists, our intellects are due to him, and there is a restlessness we experience until we find God. We want to know the truth and are not satisfied with lies, distortions, or deception. We all want the answers to life s deepest questions. We fear death because it appears to be unnatural and the end of everything good. Life is natural and desirable. It is good that we are alive. Life has meaning. We do our best to sanitize death, to make it less scary and traumatic. God is life, and our desire for eternal life reflects our desire for God. If God exists, God is perfect and that perfection reflects our desire for goodness. We don t want to live in chaos and we are uncomfortable with evil. If we have to put up with it, we find a way to explain or justify it. Why? Because we are made to reach for what is perfect, harmonious, good, and uplifting. If God exists, God is beautiful and that reflects our desire for beauty. We may all have different tastes when it comes to what we think is beautiful, but even this shows how real God is; He made everything in the world with such a variety of colors, forms, and styles of beauty. There is enough variety in God, which He put into the world He made, to satisfy every taste. APPLICATION Small Group Discussion: 30 Minutes 1. Do you believe in God? Why or why not? 2. Have you ever experienced a miracle? 3. Does it matter if a person believes in God? How does it affect how we choose to live? Do societies built on atheism reflect atheism? 4. Have you ever experienced a desire for God? GROUP LEADER HANDBOOK PRE-EVANGELIZATION INQUIRY TOPICS 63

8 5. In what ways does your heart respond to the knowledge that God exists? 6. If you don t believe in God, what questions or doubts would you need to overcome in order to consider Him. CALL TO ACTION 5 Minutes Sixth Proposal: We owe a response to God. I mentioned at the beginning of the evening that we will spend the next 3 weeks exploring objections to religion. Not Christianity, but religion in general. These objections are: The reality of evil and suffering in the world. Whether or not the Bible is reliable. And finally, is faith unreasonable? I have told you that God exists. If I had told you that people who work third shift generally have poorer health than those that work third shift, you would have to decide what to do with that knowledge. You might avoid working third shift. If I told you that if you consistently eat sugar, drink sugary drinks, and don t brush your teeth, they will decay very quickly, you would have to decide what to do with that knowledge. Knowledge affects how you will live and what consequences you face. I have now proposed that God exists. We have not yet talked about the consequences of believing in God because we aren t ready yet. Therefore, I m not asking you to make a decision now. I m just asking you to come back next week to keep learning and considering these issues. A final thought. Helen Keller said The million little things that drop into our hands, the small opportunities each day brings, he leaves us free to use or abuse and goes unchanging along His silent way. (reference?) HANDOUT This week, look for the little ways God might be trying to speak his presence to you. Further objections & answers to the existence of God. 64 SEEKER SMALL GROUPS ST. PAUL EVANGELIZATION MINISTRIES