Are there good reasons to think that the Christian God exists and what good reasons are there to think that He does not? There are four main lines of evidence offered in favour of the Christian God proceed from basic thought about the origin of the universe through to a personal God revealed in the historical person of Jesus:

  1. The Cosmological Argument
  2. The Teleological Argument
  3. The Argument from Objective Morality
  4. The Resurrection of Jesus

In short: 1) from nothing comes nothing, the universe is finite, not eternal, and must have a cause outside of itself. This cause is personal and intelligent because of 2) the finely balanced order we see and 3) the objective moral values humans share. Specifically, Jesus is the Son of God whose life and death reconcile people to God by grace through faith. His teaching and the accounts we have of him are historically reliable and his miraculous resurrection 4) confirms his integrity and claims.

To the best of my knowledge there are no positive arguments for atheism and only weak refutations of these four points which generally take the following forms:

  1. In response to the origin of the universe (cosmological):
     a) The universe is eternal (contrary to science).
     b) The universe popped into being from nothing and by nothing (contrary to science).
  2. In response to the intelligent design and fine tuning (teleological):
     a) The order is a result of chance and natural law (assumption)
     b) The design is illusory (improbable naked assertion)
  3. In response to the argument from objective moral values
     a) No objective moral values exist (contrary to the way lives are led)
     b) Moral values exist but are a product of evolution (strong eats weak)
  4. In response to the resurrection accounts:
     a) Numerous unfounded and contradictory conspiracy theories (disciples stole the body and then mass hallucinated)
     b) Philosophical assumptions about the supernatural (miracle’s can’t happen)

Basically Christians affirm an eternal God, outside of space and time, who caused the universe to come into being and selected the finely balanced tuning required in order to produce a life-sustaining universe. He also planted in us a non-negotiable sense of right and wrong and sent his Son to die for our sins. He then raised him from the dead as a final vindication of Jesus’ claims and person.

Atheists, must affirm that the universe is eternal or else that it popped into being by and from nothing and by chance happened to have laws and forces so finely balanced and proportional that the universe could produce life and humans. They must argue that morality is a survival trait, the product of natural selection, and whatever works is right. Finally they must ignore primary historical evidence (eye-witness accounts) for the resurrection and instead believe improbable and contradictory theories with little or no historical credibility.