Professor John Lennox | God DOES exist — Transcript

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1. 0:05[Music]
2. 0:05[Applause]
3. 0:08thank you very much ladies and
4. 0:10gentlemen I believe in
5. 0:13God I believe in the Supernatural God
6. 0:17who created the heavens and the
7. 0:21earth I believe in a God who holds the
8. 0:25heavens and the Earth in
9. 0:28existence I believe that on the basis of
10. 0:31rational
11. 0:32evidence similar to the beliefs held by
12. 0:36the founders of this house who gave this
13. 0:39University The Motto Dominos illumino
14. 0:43may they saw no contradiction between
15. 0:47faith in God and the utmost excellence
16. 0:51in rational
17. 0:52inquiry and if I dare mention my alma
18. 0:55mat of Cambridge in this holy
19. 0:58place I would remind you that on the
20. 1:01door of the Cavendish laboratory in
21. 1:03Cambridge are written the words great
22. 1:06are the works of the Lord studied by all
23. 1:09who Delight in them and as we look at at
24. 1:12the rise of Science in the 16th and 17th
25. 1:15centuries Alfred North Whitehead and
26. 1:18many others commented that men became
27. 1:21scientific because they expected law in
28. 1:23nature and they expected law in nature
29. 1:26because they believed in a lawgiver so
30. 1:29ladies and Gent gentlemen I'm not
31. 1:30ashamed of being both a scientist and a
32. 1:33Christian because arguably Christianity
33. 1:36gave me my subject what I am amazed at
34. 1:40is that serious thinkers today continue
35. 1:42to ask us to choose between God and
36. 1:46science that's like asking people to
37. 1:49choose between Henry Ford and
38. 1:50Engineering as an explanation of the
39. 1:52motorc
40. 1:53car when Newton discovered his law of
41. 1:56gravity he didn't say I've got a law I
42. 1:59don't made God no he wrote the principia
43. 2:01Mathematica arguably the greatest work
44. 2:04in the whole history of science because
45. 2:07he saw that God is not the same kind of
46. 2:10explanation as a scientific explanation
47. 2:13God doesn't compete agency does not
48. 2:16compete with mechanism and
49. 2:18law why is there something rather than
50. 2:21nothing Alan Sandage the brilliant
51. 2:24cosmologist who became a Christian in
52. 2:25his 50s said God is the answer to that
53. 2:28question but people are now so desperate
54. 2:31to show that the universe created itself
55. 2:34from nothing which seems to me to be an
56. 2:36immediate oxymoron if I say x created y
57. 2:40I'm assuming the existence of x to
58. 2:41explain the existence of Y if I say x
59. 2:44created X I'm assuming the existence of
60. 2:46x to explain the existence of X which
61. 2:49simply shows that nonsense remains
62. 2:51nonsense even if high-powered scientists
63. 2:53utter it it reminds me a little bit of
64. 2:55GK Chester and who said it is absurd to
65. 2:59complain that it is Unthinkable for an
66. 3:01unthinkable God to make everything out
67. 3:03of nothing and then to pretend that it
68. 3:06is more thinkable that nothing should
69. 3:07turn itself into
70. 3:09everything the heavens declare the glory
71. 3:12of God says the ancient
72. 3:15Psalm and we've unraveled a bit of that
73. 3:17seeing the fine cheing of the
74. 3:19fundamental forces of nature it's
75. 3:22something that's so striking to
76. 3:23scientist that it demands
77. 3:27explanation and it seems to me that AR o
78. 3:30penus hit it right he is the Nobel Prize
79. 3:33winner who discovered the microwave
80. 3:35background on which a lot of the
81. 3:38evidence for the Big Bang is based he
82. 3:39said astronomy leads us to a unique
83. 3:42event a universe which was created out
84. 3:44of nothing one with the very delicate
85. 3:47balance needed to provide exactly the
86. 3:49right conditions required to permit life
87. 3:51and one which has an underlying one
88. 3:54might say Supernatural plan but I want
89. 3:58to come to what I think is one of the
90. 4:01fundamental Arguments for
91. 4:05theism I take it this house believes in
92. 4:07reason that's why we're all here and as
93. 4:11a scientist I believe that the universe
94. 4:14is rationally
95. 4:15intelligible that is something that has
96. 4:18struck some of the Geniuses of science
97. 4:20as demanding an explanation Einstein
98. 4:24said the only incomprehensible thing
99. 4:26about the universe is that it's
100. 4:27comprehensible and vigner talked about
101. 4:31the unreasonable effectiveness of
102. 4:33mathematics how is it that a
103. 4:35mathematician thinking in her head in
104. 4:36here can come up with equations that
105. 4:39seem to fit the universe out there well
106. 4:41how is it indeed because the irony of
107. 4:44the atheist position here is evident my
108. 4:46atheist friends and I have many of them
109. 4:49tell me that the driving force of
110. 4:51evolution which eventually produced our
111. 4:53human cognitive faculties reason
112. 4:55included was not primarily concerned
113. 4:57with truth at all but with surv
114. 5:00and we all know ladies and gentlemen
115. 5:02what has often happened and still
116. 5:04happens to truth when individuals or
117. 5:07commercial Enterprises or nations feel
118. 5:09themselves threatened and struggle for
119. 5:12survival a leading philosopher Alvin
120. 5:15plantinga of notra Dame says if atheists
121. 5:18are right that we are the product of
122. 5:19mindless unguided natural processes then
123. 5:22they have given us strong reason to
124. 5:24doubt the reliability of human cognitive
125. 5:26faculties and therefore inevitably to
126. 5:28doubt the validity of of any belief that
127. 5:30they produce including their atheism
128. 5:33their biology and their belief in
129. 5:35naturalism would therefore appear to be
130. 5:37at war with each other in a conflict
131. 5:40that is nothing at all to do with God
132. 5:43yet my atheist friends still insist that
133. 5:46it is rational for them to believe that
134. 5:49the evolution of human reason was not
135. 5:51directed for the purpose of discovering
136. 5:53truth and yet it is irrational for me to
137. 5:57believe that human reason was designed
138. 5:59and created ated by God to enable us to
139. 6:02understand and believe the truth curious
140. 6:06logic by contrast with that biblical
141. 6:09theism asserts that Ultimate Reality is
142. 6:13personal and intelligent and the reason
143. 6:15science works and this was the
144. 6:17motivating force that drove the great
145. 6:19pioneers of science is that the Universe
146. 6:21out there and the human mind in here
147. 6:23that does the science are ultimately the
148. 6:27product of the same intelligent Divine
149. 6:30mind human beings are made we are told
150. 6:34in God's image and that means that
151. 6:37science can be done that makes
152. 6:39infinitely more sense to me as a
153. 6:41scientist than atheism
154. 6:44does now let me come briefly to ethics
155. 6:47ethical Behavior like rational behavior
156. 6:49of course does not itself require
157. 6:51religious belief this is consistent with
158. 6:54the fact that humans are created in
159. 6:57God's image as rational moral persons
160. 7:00but just as I suggest that rationality
161. 7:03cannot be explained without the
162. 7:05existence of God so I dare to suggest
163. 7:08that the existence of morality cannot be
164. 7:11explained either as modern science
165. 7:14sprang from judeo Christian sources so
166. 7:17did the concept of humanid equality
167. 7:19listen to atheist Jurgen habas arguably
168. 7:22one of Germany's leading intellectuals
169. 7:25he said that universalistic
170. 7:26egalitarianism from which sprang the
171. 7:28ideals of freedom freedom and a
172. 7:30collective life and solidarity the
173. 7:32individual morality of conscience human
174. 7:35rights and democracy is the direct
175. 7:36Legacy of the judaic ethic of justice
176. 7:39and the Christian ethic of love this
177. 7:42Legacy substantially
178. 7:45unchanged has been the object of
179. 7:47continual critical appropriation and
180. 7:50reinterpretation to this day there's no
181. 7:52alternative to it everything else is
182. 7:54just idle postmodern talk and it seems
183. 7:58to me he's hitting the for of something
184. 8:00important because the value of a human
185. 8:03being on which sets egalitarian as a bre
186. 8:06is based not on what the human being can
187. 8:08do but what she's made of or how she's
188. 8:11made in God's
189. 8:13image I never forget speaking when on
190. 8:16one of my many visits to Russia to a
191. 8:20colleague in the Academy of Sciences and
192. 8:23he said you know John we thought we
193. 8:26could abolish God and retain a value for
194. 8:28human beings we found we couldn't and we
195. 8:31murdered millions of them and Alexander
196. 8:34saniton has said if I'm ask why is it
197. 8:37that 60 million of my fellow countrymen
198. 8:39were sacrificed he said the answer is we
199. 8:43have forgotten
200. 8:47God science of course marvelous that it
201. 8:50is is limited even a Nobel Prize winner
202. 8:53by analyzing a cake cannot tell why it
203. 8:56was made but aunt Matilda who made made
204. 8:59it can tell you she can reveal it to you
205. 9:02but if she doesn't reveal it to you
206. 9:04you'll never know and that brings me to
207. 9:07be my next evidence it's the same with
208. 9:09the universe we can analyze it
209. 9:12magnificently But ultimately if it has a
210. 9:14maker and I believe it has only he can
211. 9:17tell us what it's all about and he's
212. 9:19done so in the powerful Narrative of the
213. 9:22Bible in particular in its analysis of
214. 9:25the problem with Humanity not simply in
215. 9:27terms of Behavioral breakdown between
216. 9:30people but a vertical breakdown of trust
217. 9:34between us and the
218. 9:36Creator the unique solution to that
219. 9:39problem is not simply in terms of human
220. 9:42ethical development although that's very
221. 9:44important but in terms of something far
222. 9:46deeper altogether the restoration of the
223. 9:50fractured relationship with God through
224. 9:52the Salvation he has brought through
225. 9:54Jesus Christ a radical relationship that
226. 9:57empowers us to live ethically from God
227. 10:02and here we reach what for me is a chief
228. 10:04evidence not only for the Existence but
229. 10:07the nature of God it is Jesus Christ he
230. 10:10it was who not only taught the Golden
231. 10:12Rule but embodied it fed the hungry
232. 10:14healed the sick and suffering and
233. 10:16welcomed society's outcasts brought
234. 10:18honor and respect to the marginalized
235. 10:21and ashamed and he's brought forgiveness
236. 10:23and peace to
237. 10:25multi-millions uh around the world he's
238. 10:28able to to do this of course because
239. 10:31though he was a man he uniquely never
240. 10:34was only a man but God become
241. 10:39human the central evidence for this
242. 10:41startling
243. 10:43claim is of course his historical
244. 10:46Resurrection from the dead that launched
245. 10:48Christianity in the world this is of
246. 10:51course ladies and gentlemen a crunch
247. 10:53issue if Jesus rose from the dead death
248. 10:55is not the end and Atheism is false if
249. 10:58Jesus did rise did did not rise from the
250. 11:01dead Christianity is forth and I
251. 11:05remember at Cambridge as a student
252. 11:06listening to the brilliant sir Norman
253. 11:09Anderson a legal expert going through
254. 11:12forensically the evidence from his legal
255. 11:14perspective as a a brilliant lawyer and
256. 11:18he said at the end of it the empty tomb
257. 11:21then of Jesus forms a veritable rock on
258. 11:24which all rationalistic theories of the
259. 11:27Resurrection Dash themselves in vain
260. 11:30just finally now as I read the Bible I
261. 11:33do not only find intellectual
262. 11:35satisfaction but I find a great deal of
263. 11:36that I sense the voice of God speaking
264. 11:39to me you see that's intensely personal
265. 11:42but ladies and gentlemen we've been
266. 11:44asked tonight about belief in God and I
267. 11:47want to strongly emphasize that God is
268. 11:49not a theory he's a person and if the
269. 11:53origination of meqa person is a personal
270. 11:57God then the most exciting thing really
271. 12:00is is there a possibility of getting to
272. 12:03know
273. 12:04God and so I don't simply believe there
274. 12:06is a God I've come to know him and trust
275. 12:10him and I have strong reasons for doing
276. 12:13so because of Christ dying and Rising
277. 12:16again for me and that has generated in
278. 12:19me a sense of utterly unmar forgiveness
279. 12:22acceptance and peace that has enabled me
280. 12:25to face the ugly side of my own nature
281. 12:28and with God's helped to do something
282. 12:30about it but it's enabled me to face
283. 12:32something else the hardest problem I
284. 12:35face as a Christian is the problem of
285. 12:38evil and
286. 12:41pain my niece getting a tumor at 22 that
287. 12:45kills her what do I say to my sister and
288. 12:49this is the hardest problem we face but
289. 12:52it seems to me that atheism here has no
290. 12:55answer because by definition atheism
291. 12:58believes believes that human death is
292. 13:00the end so there is no ultimate
293. 13:04hope but you see ladies and gentlemen we
294. 13:08could stay here till midnight and Beyond
295. 13:10arguing as has been done in this
296. 13:12University for centuries what a good god
297. 13:15should might would could if not possibly
298. 13:18might just could he not have done and
299. 13:21we'll get nowhere so it seems to me
300. 13:24there's another question we can ask and
301. 13:26it's this granted that life is presents
302. 13:29us with a double picture we see some
303. 13:32beautiful things we see some ragged
304. 13:35edges we see hurt and pain and we see
305. 13:38Joy how can we come to terms with that
306. 13:42and it seems to me here is no simplistic
307. 13:45answer but a window into an answer and
308. 13:47it's this if it is actually true that
309. 13:51Jesus is as I believe him to be the Son
310. 13:53of God then we can ask the question what
311. 13:56is God doing on a
312. 13:57cross and the the answer comes back at
313. 14:00the very least God has not remained
314. 14:03distant from our human suffering but has
315. 14:05become part of it and the other side of
316. 14:08that is this because Jesus rose from the
317. 14:11dead he is going to be the ultimate
318. 14:14judge now here's an irony because
319. 14:18atheism has no ultimate hope of Justice
320. 14:21by definition the vast majority of
321. 14:24people in the history of the world have
322. 14:26died without Justice and will die
323. 14:28without Justice and if death is the end
324. 14:31then of course they have no hope of
325. 14:34ultimate justice but the promise in the
326. 14:36New Testament guaranteed by the
327. 14:38resurrection of Jesus is that he is to
328. 14:41be the judge in the coming day so ladies
329. 14:45and
330. 14:46gentlemen those are some of the reasons
331. 14:49why I believe that God is real and
332. 14:52worthy to be trusted thank you
333. 15:02ni
334. 15:14[Music]