"Truth and Proof for the Christian Worldview" A Comprehensive Summary of Christian Apologetics: The who and why behind the question, “Why is there something rather than nothing?”

By Kelly J. Walters

“Why is there something rather than nothing?” That’s the quintessential, philosophical question in mankind’s search not only for the existence of the universe, but also for the existence, meaning, and purpose of life. That question forms the essence for this informative and enlightening book in which author Dr. Kelly J. Walters reveals both the answer (Jesus Christ) and the abundant evidential proof.

Everyone longs to know the answers to universally profound questions like “Is God real?” or “What is the true creation story of the universe and of humankind?” or “Is there an afterlife?” These questions are vast, extreme, and complex. While there are many theories, the ultimate empirical and factual answers are impossible to definitively prove for both theist and naturalistic scientism alike. Both sides require faith.

In Truth and Proof for the Christian Worldview, Dr. Walters offers evidence and rational proof defending the one position that provides the best logical, experiential, and noncontradictory answer for all the above questions: Christianity. Atheist turned Christian, Dr. Walters delves into this convincing evidence, providing an organized and scholarly summary and presentation of the detailed research available for Christian apologetics. He teaches on a plethora of topics, including comparative religion worldviews, key logical arguments and formal proofs for God, the origins of the universe and life, evolution and creationism theories, who is Jesus Christ, what is true Christianity, and more. The evidence related to these theological and scientific topics rationally serve to defend, clarify, and prove the truth for the reality of the one true God of the Bible as creator of the universe and life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Nov 22, 2022
• ISBN: 9781664281172

Kelly J. Walters

Dr. Kelly J. Walters practiced cosmetic and family practice dentistry for thirty-one years after graduating with honors from the University of California at San Francisco School of Dentistry. His undergraduate major was biological sciences at the University of California at Davis, where he also played collegiate football. After dental school, Dr. Walters served three years as a dentist and officer in the US Air Force, followed by private practice. He and his wife, Carol, live in rural Northern California.

Book preview

"TRUTH AND PROOF FOR THE

CHRISTIAN WORLDVIEW"

A Comprehensive Summary

of Christian Apologetics

The who and why behind the question,

Why is there something rather than nothing?

KELLY J. WALTERS

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Copyright © 2022 Kelly J. Walters.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

WestBow Press

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

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ISBN: 978-1-6642-8118-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-8119-6 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-8117-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022919115

WestBow Press rev. date: 05/07/2024

CONTENTS

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter 1Worldviews

Chapter 2Key Philosophical Questions about God, Reality, and the Universe

Chapter 3Rational Arguments for the Existence of God

Chapter 4The Creation of the Universe—Cosmic Accident or God-Created?

Chapter 5How Did Life Originate?

Chapter 6Evolution

Chapter 7The Fossil Record

Chapter 8Many Flaws and Weaknesses in Naturalism’s Theory of Evolution

Chapter 9What Is Christianity?

Chapter 10Evidence That Jesus Lived and Was Who He Claimed to Be

Chapter 11Is the Bible True?

Chapter 12The Resurrection of Jesus Christ

Chapter 13The Conversion Experience for Proof of God

Chapter 14Comparative Theology and Religion – Who is the One True God?

Chapter 15A Quick Review

Chapter 16Atheism

Chapter 17Why Is There Evil and Suffering in the World?

Chapter 18Heaven, Satan, and Hell

Chapter 19Concluding Remarks

Bibliography

Notes

PREFACE

An extensive diversity of religions and a significant array of philosophical speculation and debate have existed for many thousands of years in an attempt to understand and explain the truth and reality of the universe and humankind’s place and purpose in it. From antiquity to the present, it is acutely evident that humankind has an innate, deeply spiritual desire that needs to be satisfied. This ancient and universally irresistible spiritual longing is not simply the result of a human fear of nature and the unknown. Instead, it convincingly denotes a profound spiritual awareness, buried deep within our souls—and possibly even our DNA—that testifies to the existence of a transcendent supernatural being/mind and Creator/Designer, which many call almighty God. In fact, God tells us in the Bible that He has revealed Himself as both the Creator of the universe and of humankind through the evidence He has given us in nature, which we now refer to as the discipline of science.

The purpose of this book is to provide convincing evidence, logical proof, and a strong rational defense that Christianity alone provides the best answer for both the existence of God and the existence/creation of our universe and all of our planet’s life-forms. Unfortunately, ignorance and misconception of the historical and theological truth of the Bible (God’s Word) and the Christian faith, as well as who Jesus really is and what He has done for humankind, proves to be a major stumbling block for many non-Christians. I hope to remedy that dilemma in this book.

Throughout human history, multitudes have asked, as I once did, if there truly is a God, who is this all-powerful and eternal being, Creator, judge, and sustainer of the universe? The purpose of this book, on the defense of the Christian worldview, is to make the logically sound and evidential case that Christianity and the one true living God of the Bible satisfy the unique position of being the ultimate and only truth concerning God and the creation of humankind and the universe. Only this one true God knows the true condition of a person’s heart and soul, and Jesus Christ, the eternal and only Son of God, is the exclusive Savior, Redeemer, judge, and determiner of the final destination of one’s soul. I can make this bold statement only because of the substantial, factual, logical, and intelligent evidence that supports this claim made by Christianity, as compared to other religious philosophies. This includes atheism, which is also a religious philosophy because it makes a theological statement on the existence of God.

Many prominent atheist authors have labeled Christians as ignorant, foolish, brainwashed, or even delusional for having faith in a supernatural God and Creator. Despite these mean-spirited, ignorantly unfounded, and false allegations, there are currently (and have been historically) a multitude of brilliant and acclaimed Christian scholars, philosophers, theologians, and scientists. Many have used their vast scientific expertise and wisdom to write and teach about the defense of and proof for God—in particular, the one true living God of the Bible. Most noteworthy, 65 percent of all Nobel Prize winners in the fields of science and technology in the twentieth century were Christians.

This book primarily serves as a review and summary of many of these scholars’, theologians’, and philosophers’ writings and teachings in their respective fields regarding the arguments and proof for the Christian worldview. I hope that this book will answer questions or even resolve misconceptions about Christianity, Jesus, and the Bible that you may have.

Early in my own life, I regrettably allowed pride, stubbornness, and intellectual ego, as well as my love of partying and doing my own thing, to keep me at arm’s length from investigating the God hypothesis for many years. I remained an atheist and religion sceptic until age twenty-nine, which was after I was married and was beginning my long professional career as a dentist. Fortunately, the love, truth, message, and extraordinary evidence for Jesus Christ finally penetrated my thick skull, my egocentric skeptical mind, and my hardened heart.

Thank you for taking this journey. I guarantee that your mind and soul will be challenged and enlightened, and that at the end of the book, you will make a decision for Jesus Christ, one way or the other. We all must!

Note: This book does not necessarily need to be read in sequential order. Each chapter can stand on its own. Consequently, you may encounter some redundancy, but I consider this a good thing—hearing or reading important information more than once helps one to learn, comprehend, and remember the intended message. Although there is a logical progression of chapter sequence, you are free to bounce around, according to your own personal needs and interests. Just go for it!

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This book would not have been possible without the unwavering support and selfless love from my lovely and godly wife, Carol.

Additionally, I would like to give special thanks to Dr. R. C. Sproul, who went home to be with the Lord in 2017. It was through R. C.’s prolific books, podcasts, and DVDs that I first learned about the intellectual and the practical life-changing importance of studying Christian apologetics and theology. R. C. was a gracious and brilliant professor with doctorates in philosophy and theology. He had a special gift for making difficult subjects easy to comprehend, which I much appreciated and needed.

I would also like to thank those who generously gave their time and knowledge to give me valuable feedback on and encouragement for this book. My sincere thanks to Christian book editor and friend Kathy Kunde, apologists Wally Keller and Dave Sidnam, and several of my wise and awesome pastors -- Sean Blount, Dan Hastings, Jim Davis, and Gary Moore.

INTRODUCTION

Have you ever pondered the following questions?

• Does God really exist?

• Do we truly have souls and spirits that will continue to exist after our deaths?

• How does anything exist at all; that is, why is there something rather than nothing?

• Can science provide us with honest, unbiased, definitive, empirically tested, verifiable, and nonspeculative evidence on how the universe and life began? (Spoiler alert! The answer to that question is an unequivocal no.)

• Is there any realistic and meaningful purpose to our human existence?

• Do absolute, objective moral values exist? If not, how do we establish and define evil and good, and who determines the difference?

• Can evil and suffering coexist in a universe created by a good, loving, and all-powerful God?

• What is truth?

• Does absolute, objective truth exist, or is all truth relative and subjective?

• What supernatural entity or being/mind, if one does exist, can possibly provide humanity with the hope of true peace, joy, truth, freedom, security, cosmic justice, and eternal life, for which all people seem to desire?

• If a one true God exists, which religious philosophy is true reality? Which religion best defines, understands, and provides God’s true nature and character?

• Is there any convincing evidence, proof, or defense for this one true God and Creator of the universe?

Such questions have proven extremely vexing for humankind, but this book will address them and provide evidence-based answers for these and many other pertinent questions about God and our universe. Over the past several millennia, there have been myriad theological and philosophical attempts to answer questions on the existence and nature of God, the universe, and humankind. Some explanations include the transcendent and supernatural, but others insist on pure naturalism and scientism as an explanation. Pure naturalistic explanations posit that the universe and all life are explained by an unknown, godless, and purely physical/materialistic phenomena, by way of a random spontaneous creation event—by chance alone. Consequently, it takes a significant amount of faith to accept any of the different philosophical factions, with regard to the many explanations and theories on the reality, truth, and existence of the universe and life. Faith plays a significant role because it’s currently impossible for any one exclusive perspective to unequivocally prove its views on these abstract philosophical issues concerning epistemology, theology, and cosmology. Indeed, it certainly requires as much faith to be an atheist as it does to believe in God (or arguably more).

It can be argued that if Christianity and the existence of God provide and satisfy all the answers for true reality, then there should be objective, reasonable proof for it—and there is! This book will present a review/summary for the reasonable and objective truth and evidence in defense of the reality of God, Jesus, and the Christian faith. That defense is termed Christian apologetics. It is important to note that although reason precedes faith—or at least it should—simply providing significant facts, reason, and logic does not always persuade people to accept a reasonable faith for Christianity. It is my hope, however, that in the wake of the abundant logical and compelling evidence of God and Christianity that is summarized in this book, rational and reasonable people will be persuaded toward taking a step, if not a leap, toward Jesus.

At the very least, current believers will gain apologetic information from this book to reinforce and intelligently defend their own faith and knowledge and to share it with other Christians and nonbelievers alike. Additionally, current nonbelievers will be educated in the many misconceptions and mistruths about Christianity, as well as the truth of and proof for God, Jesus Christ, and the Bible. Prayerfully, it will be a win/win situation for all parties.

Christian apologetics is the discipline of defending the Christian faith by providing intelligent, logical, and factual evidence and arguments for the truth of Christianity and the Bible (God’s Word). The word apologetics is derived from the Greek root word apologia, which means speaking in defense of. Christian apologist R. C. Sproul lists three main objectives for Christian apologetics:

1. Provide a reasonable answer to the critics of the Christian faith.

2. Tear down the intellectual idols of our culture by pointing out the inconsistencies and errors of other faiths and worldviews.

3. Encourage Christians to shore up the church and their faith. ¹

In fact, Jesus Christ and His early disciples demonstrated the extensive use of apologetics in their own original teachings for God and the deity of Jesus. These early apostles and disciples were eyewitnesses to Jesus Christ, His teachings, and His miracles, which they documented.

Our personal worldviews determine our particular perspective and assumptions regarding the answers to the questions stated above. Such theological worldviews include atheism, naturalism, theism, polytheism, pantheism, and pluralism and combinations of the above. We will delve into the meaning of all these isms later. Sound scientific, historical/archeological, philosophical, and theological evidence, coupled with stringent, logical principles and arguments, should be the key factors and motivators driving our worldview decisions on such critical topics as these, which determine our moral values and our eternal destination.

My goal is to provide abundant, rational, and convincing evidence—beyond a reasonable doubt—that Christianity provides the best intellectual, philosophical, logical, scientific, and theological answer to the above questions. This includes the truth for the existence of the one true living God of the Bible, the truth that Jesus is who He claims to be—the eternal Lord, the truth, our Savior, and the unique, sinless, and only Son of God—and the truth of His authenticity and of the Bible.

Be assured that God is not lost or hard to find. He is knocking at the door, and the Bible is His love letter, His self-revelation, and His offer of forgiveness, salvation, peace, and eternal life to all humankind. Just open that door and receive it!

Many skeptics have asked why God doesn’t reveal Himself to all humankind. Well, God did—and He still does. Although the one true God of the Bible is Spirit/mind, God did physically reveal Himself to humankind a little over two thousand years ago in the incarnate person (in the flesh) of His unique, sinless, and eternal Son, Jesus Christ. Just because God may not have yet revealed Himself to you personally (through the Holy Spirit), it doesn’t mean that He has not revealed Himself to multitudes of others. There is also the distinct possibility that God has reached out to you, but you have pridefully or stubbornly refused to listen, see, or receive His calling.

The Bible states that God revealed Himself to many who chose instead to be hard-hearted and thus rejected or suppressed God’s attempts to get their attention. For example, this was historically true for Pharaoh, when God, through Moses, performed many miracles to persuade Pharaoh of the truth and power of God and to convince him to let the Jews (God’s people) leave Egypt. Unfortunately, Pharaoh failed to accept or believe God and His mercy and truth. Consequently, Pharaoh and the Egyptians paid a very steep price for their stubbornness, hard-heartedness, and unbelief toward God’s presence and warnings.

Jesus Christ is God incarnate. Jesus said, Anyone that has seen me has seen the father (John 14:9 NIV), and I and the Father are one (John 10:30 NIV). Jesus is God, the second person of the Holy Trinity, and He unequivocally proved it.

Additionally, contrary to what some agnostic and atheist skeptics claim, there is no need to bury one’s intellect to believe in God. The existence of God is not only intellectually reasonable and logical, but God is a logical necessity for the rational and best explanation for the cause of the universe. Unfortunately, many are of the mistaken belief that Christians are anti-science, but that assertion is false and absurd. Science does not need to conflict with a belief in God; science and Christianity get along just fine! In reality, there can be no contradiction or separation between science and God if all truth leads to the one true God. With this in mind, we will review how God-centered creationism, or the God hypothesis, uses both science and logic as evidence for God.

There are paradoxes and mysteries in both science and Christianity, but they don’t invalidate either. Let’s be clear that the Bible is not a book of science; it is God’s special revelation to humankind about the nature and character of God Himself and of humanity’s redemption through the Lord Jesus Christ.

In this book, we will touch on Darwinian evolutionary theory and the fossil record and why it is not a true science, as well as why it increasingly continues to gather more chinks and tears in its armor as a valid theory. Science alone cannot answer the foremost cosmological question for the existence of the universe—Why is there something rather than nothing? In contrast, Christianity provides a cogent, rational, and evidence-based answer for this existential question. This book will present the evidence that conclusively points to the one true God of the Bible as that answer. It also will testify to the uniqueness and truth of Christianity in comparison to other religious faiths, atheism, and naturalism, as the answer for the existence of the universe and life.

This book’s primary purpose is to present a comprehensive but not overly technical overview of Christian apologetics. As such, my goal is to specifically present an extensive summary of the abundant historical and contemporary rational arguments and proofs for the truth and reality of the Bible, Jesus Christ, and the Christian faith—as set forth by many past and present Christian scholars of philosophy, theology, science, and Christian apologetics.

As a Christian, this book can serve to bolster your knowledge and confidence in defending your Christian faith with sound biblical, theological, philosophical, and scientific arguments for the one true God of the Bible. If a nonbeliever, this book can serve as the starting point in your investigation of the God/Christian worldview and evidence for it.

Also, this book is certainly not a personal attack on nonbelievers and people of other faiths. I have many close and loving friends and relatives on both sides of the aisle, and Jesus makes it clear that we are not to judge and that we are called to love our neighbor, which is everyone. My intention and motivation for this book on Christian apologetics is to objectively, not judgmentally, provide a comprehensive review of the unique, factual, and logical evidence for the Christian worldview, in contrast to other philosophical and theological worldviews. Since pluralism and universalism are logically impossible doctrines, only one theological reality about God can rationally exist.

Humanity consists of individuals, and each one’s personal theological worldview will determine what happens to them, not only in their earthly lives, but also for their eternal destination and salvation. My hope is that everyone will search deep for the truth, honestly and earnestly, about the existence of God and will weigh all the evidence when determining their theological worldviews.

In this book, I will make the logical case that if the Bible is true, then the one true God of the Bible is the only one true God and Creator of the universe and that there are only two possible eternal outcomes for every person: heaven or hell.

My Personal Path to Jesus

My personal testimony and journey to Christianity is the most transparent and personally meaningful apologetic argument I can make—from atheist to Christian as a postdoctorate twenty-nine-year-old. Miracles do happen!

Before age twenty-nine, I was skeptical of God and religion. I vacillated between being an atheist and an agnostic. I was not brought up in the church, and I was never pressured into believing in Christianity—or any religion, for that matter. Growing up, I didn’t have any close friends or relatives who were obviously true believing and practicing Christians.

As an atheist, I had what I thought were good arguments against the existence of God. I was a biological science major at UC Davis and arrogantly considered myself somewhat of an intellectual at that time, but I possessed little knowledge of Christianity. Growing up in the sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll culture of the late 1960s and early ’70s made it easy—even predictable—for me to be an atheist.

However, modern relativism—the philosophy that life has no absolute truth, meaning, purpose, or right and wrong—proved intellectually, philosophically, and logically unacceptable to me. I didn’t fully buy into postmodern relativism ideology, for I deeply and rationally believed that there must be certain absolute truths about our universe—I just didn’t know what they were! Although possibly unprovable, I believed there must be universal truths that were black and white, with no gray areas involved. For example, either there is a God, or there is not. If God does truly exist, then only one religious theology could logically provide the truth about God. Either pure naturalistic evolution by accidental, random chance created all life, or a god or some supreme entity or agency designed and created the universe and all living creatures. Either all space, matter, and energy were created by God, or all that exists is only an illusion, has always eternally existed, or somehow mysteriously popped into existence by chance. Rationally, only one of these options can be true because otherwise, they would be in contradiction to each other. So which one is the true reality? Over time, I gave it a lot of thought and study.

Although Darwinian evolution is only a scientific theory, my teachers and professors, throughout my long education experience, taught it as if it was fact. Ironically, my conversion from a true atheist to a searching agnostic happened as a result of college anthropology, genetics, and biology evolution classes. As the classes became more advanced, my eyes were opened to the incredible amount of bias, speculation, and even guesswork in evolutionary theory and that so-called facts were only educated guesses, postulates, and hypotheses. It then became apparent that there were many problems and inconsistencies with both evolution theory and the highly theoretical explanations for life and the physical universe. Since so much assumption and actual faith was involved in many of these so-called scientific theories, I decided it would be wise to examine other explanations.

Fortunately, in my junior year at UC Davis, I randomly dropped in on an advertised UC Davis sponsored seminar and debate about creation science and was intellectually blown away. I had never heard of such a science-based concept that also included God. All my previous education had centered around the restricted and hallowed doctrines of godless evolution. I walked away from that seminar with my eyes wide open, having learned a great truth—it’s important to open your mind and to critically explore all options from both sides, as well as not being rigidly biased against and skeptical of religion. I realized that all faith-based people aren’t feeble-minded Neanderthals, weak and brainwashed people, or delusional.

As the years passed, and I graduated from dental school and entered into real life, my wandering search for the truth showed me more rational evidence that God exists. I still resisted, however, because I was a little afraid of the truth. If there truly was a holy Creator God, then I would have to accommodate my lifestyle to that reality. I would have to radically change, but I did not want to change my selfish, very secular, and partying lifestyle. I also would have to swallow my pride. When my wife, Carol, and I eventually settled in Northern California in our late twenties, we met professional peers who were very confident and bold about their faith in Jesus, and they had a large spiritual and rational impact on us. We realized that smart, scientifically trained, fun-loving, active professional people could actually be Christians—that was mind-blowing! We had never experienced such people before. They had a joy and faith that was sincere, logical, and real, and we wanted what they had! They were still flawed people, like us all, but they had the truth. They had Jesus in their lives, and they not only talked it but lived it out. Remarkable!

Finally, I realized and admitted to myself that only fear, foolish pride, and the love of selfishness, immorality, and being my own god were holding me back from accepting the rational truth of the one true God. Both Carol and I took a leap of faith into Christianity, but it wasn’t a blind leap—God doesn’t expect us to be blind and irrational in our faith. Most people come to faith in God through their hearts (their innermost being, consciousness, and emotions), but because of my skeptical and analytical personality, I insisted first on rational and intellectual evidence in my mindful journey. Fortunately, my heart and soul soon followed with saving faith and God’s grace.

My wife, Carol’s, journey was different. She grew up Catholic, but although she still believed in God, her faith significantly diminished in her teens and early twenties. She felt she had no need or purpose for God in her life, especially the dogmatic dos and don’ts. Eventually, it was more through her loving and kind heart, finding out about who Jesus really was and what He did for us, personally experiencing God’s amazing grace and love, and seeing the dramatic changes and personal testimonies in people’s lives through Jesus that spurred her to true regenerated faith in Jesus. We both accepted Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior on the same day