The Necessity of God’s Existence: Creation or Chaos with R.C. Sproul

The universe in which we live logically requires a cause that is necessary, independent, and without beginning. In this message, R.C. Sproul gives a sound defense for the necessity of God’s existence.
This message is from Dr. Sproul’s 6-part teaching series Creation or Chaos. Learn more: www.ligonier.org/learn/series...

[@gevimargate884]

I continually marvel at how R.C. can take complex philosophical arguments and teach them with such simplicity and clarity. Praise God for this man!

[@conanlabiche]

he can do it by the power of the Holy Spirit. holy God willed that rc was saved, and used him to further his kingdom and share the gospel. holy God also ordained that russell would be among the billions who reject God. ..... all that comes to pass by the council of His will. for His glory. He will have mercy upon whom He will have mercy, and He will have compassion upon whom He will have compassion. thank you LORD for the unbelievably amazing news of salvation. for thine is the kingdom and the glory and the power forever and forever AMEN !!

[@afrobian1]

I agree. I’m not Christian but keep coming to him when I need something explained

[@ThegoldkingAu]

Genius. God didn’t hold back his wisdom when he caused RC Sproul to exist. What an effect.

[@robbmayo]

The The first Time The nThe The The 😊😊😊😊 The The 😊😊f

[@samniumspyder]

Hes still a person He is excellent person

[@blessedrthosesermount99]

​@@samniumspyderhe's dead

[@lloydstrappini6167]

Thank you for making this teaching available online. Such a blessing to hear such a robust defence of Christian belief.

[@nv8409]

I love RC's teaching ... this episode all comes home for me in John 1:3 "All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made."

[@pilgrim5355]

WOW. God is the only necessary being. We need Him. Thank you R.C

[@Theo_Skeptomai]

Why is this 'God' necessary? Ķ

[@samniumspyder]

​@@Theo_Skeptomai how are you asking the question 😅😅😅😅 Hahahahhaha What a dope 😂

[@christiandelorde5887]

A pleasure as always. R.C. Sproul is a wonderful teacher. I'm just a 9th grade dropout, but I understand when he teaches. Maybe not all the big words but the main point.

[@scottdotjazzman]

So thankful these talks were preserved!

[@commonclayofthenewwest6045]

One of the most formidable mathematical philosophers, within the pantheon of the greatest atheistic thinkers. Then Sproul casually comes on out with a piece of chalk, respectfully dismantling the argument and shedding light on what they were missing, making complete sense of it in twenty minutes. God is a beast

[@Theo_Skeptomai]

And what were the atheists missing?

[@commonclayofthenewwest6045]

@@Theo_Skeptomai you tell me, Mr. Sentient

[@Theo_Skeptomai]

@@commonclayofthenewwest6045 Well then, the atheists weren't missing _anything_ and your assertion is dismissed. Peace.

[@samniumspyder]

​@@Theo_Skeptomai 😅😅😅😅 Common sense morality and life on the inside. 😅😅😅 Keep worshipping satan by a guy who marries his 1st cousin 😂😂😂😂

[@samniumspyder]

​@@Theo_Skeptomai brainlless propaganda regurgitator 😅😅😅😅

[@TubeOwly]

Wow! Another tour de force from Dr Sproul. We need more Bible teachers of logic and sound doctrine and fewer Bible teachers of feelings (who fear offending their congregation and audiences beyond).

[@rhwinner]

God bless you all in your walk with God. ❤️🙏♥️

[@carmenforsyth1313]

..👼Thank you Jesus 👼 Amen!.👼...

[@creationconnectionministri5066]

Dr. Sproul at his best!

[@blchamblisscscp8476]

My first exposure to RC was when he came to my church doing a tour of his Cosmos or Chaos program, which I bought on casset tape. This was way before podcasts, KZbin, or pretty much any electronic media existed. IIRC, RC was a personal friend of our pastor at the time, Frank Barker, Jr. I was enthralled by RC's teaching and style. It happens that he was also one of the professors of our current pastor, Harry Reeder, who presented at the recent Ligonier conference.

[@elcioel.]

Amen.

[@jessyjonas4988]

God is pleased we think Him necessary to exist

[@denonjoka8848]

Hawayu Ligonier Ministries *& I Appreciate This Powerful, Blessful, Deep Sermon of The Late R. C. Sproul on "The Necessity of God's Existence: Creation or Chaos With The Late R. C. Sproul!"Where I Have Learnt That We're The Causality of God's Creation Where God Created Us & The 🌎 4 In The Beginning God Created The Heaven & The Earth & In The Beginning Was The Word & The Word Was With God & The Word Was God & The Earth Is The Lords & The Fullness Thereof Written In Genesis 1:1, John 1:1 & 1st Corinthians 10:26 4 I Have Been Blessed By The Late R. C. Sproul* & God Bless Yu Ligonier Ministries & The Family of The Late R. C. Sproul So Veryyyyyy, Veryyyyyy Much.🙏🙏🕊️🕊️

[@raulcaraba9664]

Taking the complex and explaining it in simple terms is what makes a good teacher; not to mention using logic to arrive at the truth.

[@JesusAlleineRettet]

Deep Stuff! Yes he is missed, but we have to keep going, and serve God as well, not looking back but towards to God’s throne.

[@andrewballard2783]

This was interesting. I learned nothing but it was fun.

[@samniumspyder]

What we need is the Necessity of Gods Favor

[@cheryladams9261]

❤

[@kengreene5212]

👍👍👍

[@huddertoofs]

Once came across a poster put up by an atheist that says, "If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him." A blasphemous statement if you look at it from a purely Christian perspective, but it underscores the message that looking at the state of this world today, we truly need God and His holy and divine intervention (interpret it the way you want it)

[@samniumspyder]

They have a god, they just dont admit it. Narcissists want it to be them but it is satan who duped into thinking its possible or true. As he did to eve.

[@LindeeLove]

If god exists because of a necessity that he must exist, what created the necessity. Does god know why he exists? Does god know why the 'necessity that he exist' exists?

[@larryvincent1083]

Which book(s) of RCSproul deal with this subject?

[@morganreid285]

I know that he has a chapter on David Hume in his book “The Consequence of Ideas”!

[@SolaScriptura94]

The book he mentioned in the beginning is a great one "Classical Apologetics". Another great book is Sproul's "Now That's A Good Question".

[@toughbiblepassages9082]

@@SolaScriptura94 “Classical Apologetics” is his magnum opus. “Not a chance” is a great intro work as well

[@Jondoe_04]

Did R.C say God doesn't exist because of what the word exist means? So what do we say Sproul taught about the existence of God? Wouldn't we say he teach the necessity of God's being?

[@blchamblisscscp8476]

I did not hear R C say that God doesn't exist. If he said that, I feel pretty certain he is not denying the aseity of God, but saying God does not exist the way the physical world exists, if to exist means to be mutable. There's another lesson on what it means to be. God is the only person or entity to be. Every other thing is in a process of change. God "is," everything is either "was" or "will be." In that lesson, R C talks about the discussion that had been going on for some time in Greek philosophy about the nature of being, with credit to Greek and Persian philosplophers. So, when in Acts 17:28 Paul says to the Athenians, in Him we live and move and have our being, the Athenians would have been familiar with what Paul was saying. As Christians, we assume that is true, but when a preacher of a new sect came around the Aerogopagus, Paul had to explain the relationship of the One God to the pagans who did not have a concept of a personal 1:1 Savior and God. Thoughts?

[@Jondoe_04]

@@blchamblisscscp8476 so according to R.C Sproul to exist means to come out of that's all I was saying not that God has being in and of Himself.

[@donnylastella9441]

I like teachers who use chalkboards. I've never been one who writes, even as I've entered the last third of my existence maybe last half if I live til 120 , but the holy spirit is nudging me to start journaling. Who knows maybe something I write might 1 st help bring glory to the Lord and bring people to the Way and 2nd it might be printed in readers digest, LoL shalom shalom my brothers and sisters ✝️🙏🔥🤟🎯🎁💪🏼

[@michaelrudolph7003]

Why does the ultimate cause have to be a "being"? And based on what we know of "beings" they are not eternal, and I also see no reason why the uncaused cause must be eternal, but it would be far more likely that an eternal uncaused cause was not a being for that reason. If it were you would be first positing a supernatural being which there is no other known example in human understanding as well as it being eternal, which doesn't exist anywhere else in human understanding either (I guess except atoms, but even those can be split and thus destroyed forever). That is a lot to posit with absolutely no way to prove any of it in the realm of reality is true.

[@downenout8705]

All Sproul concluded was that for the universe to exist there has to be a "necessary" "itself" or "himself". He offers no explanation or evidence as to why anyone should conclude the "himself" god option over an "itself" fluctuation in a vacuum quantum field option.

[@AMessengerofTruth]

Because He made a choice to bring other things into existence. An "it" would just sit there and do nothing.

[@downenout8705]

@@AMessengerofTruth Random fluctuations in the quantum vacuum field, within our universe, is a thing that can be observed and measured, it's called the Casimir Effect. It's definitely not doing "nothing". I don't however profess to understand the insanely complex math that underpins the hypothesis that such fluctuations could bring about our universe, but I'm calling bs on your assertion that dismisses this math and proposes that a pre existing quantum vacuum field would do "nothing". I would normally ask my interlocutor to cite the peer reviewed and published scientific paper that they got their conclusion from, but I won't because you can't, because there is none.

[@AMessengerofTruth]

@@downenout8705 God is good. All the time!

[@downenout8705]

@@AMessengerofTruth Well that's a non sequitur. Also if you are going to call Yahweh's slaughtering of babies and the unborn by burning alive; drowning and putting to the sword "good", then I have nothing more to say to you. If having to kowtow and sacrifice my humanity on the alter of your deity by calling this slaughter "good" is what it takes to avoid extreme eternal violence, then you can keep it. No empathic neurotypical person would ever call such slaughter "good". I am a secular humanist I base my morality on wellbeing and human flourishing and by that standard I say such slaughter is objectively immoral, not "good".

[@AMessengerofTruth]

@@downenout8705 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” 1 Corinthians 1:18‭-‬19

[@jimedward8908]

doesn't even use notes 🕶

[@BKNeifert]

Wow, Hume is full of dumb ideas. I can't even get into the basics of why this is dumb, but it's just taking a man who I thought was supposed to be this giant, and reducing him to a speck. Hume is talking about miracles---and while they do happen---the demon itself would be a cause, or God's interaction with the Cue Ball. At the basic, though, we have a pretty strong grasp of physics to know why the ball moves. Because we observe the ball moving according to those laws of physics. A lot like Geometry, it's explanatory. Hume, like modernity, is trying to square the circle. They're trying to do miraculous things, within the scope of science. And if we do such a thing, we're no longer appealing to science, but magic. And that's not good. Not to mention, the cause of the man playing pool is perfectly psychological. He has a motive for playing pool, and a motive for being in that location, and a motive for being in the location beforehand. I'd say Cause and Effect is immediately perceived. In the realm of psychology, people can choose to not follow down the path you've set for them---that's the beautiful part of humanity, is that we're free to choose our own path---but the whole notion of temptation hinges on both choice and causality. The temptation acts upon the reason faculty, to make a choice, and the conscience decides which choice to make. Though, in a sense, God created the Laws of Physics, and as Euclid said, "The laws of nature are but the mathematical thoughts of God." So, in a sense, everything is held together by God's Word, and so with it the presiding nature of physical being and all causes in the universe. So, in a sense Hume gets somewhere, but it's silly talk.

[@toughbiblepassages9082]

Sproul demolished Hume in his Classical Apologetics book… it should be in college level philosophy courses

[@BKNeifert]

@@toughbiblepassages9082 Yeah, Hume is kind of strange. He's pretty easy to demolish.

[@samniumspyder]

The most obvious foregone conclusion. 😂

[@velkyn1]

no evidence a god is needed at all. This is a baseless presupposition for theists who need to find a job for their imaginary character.

[@HearGodsWord]

Did he say that in the video, or is that just a baseless presupposition for you?

[@FirstNameLastName_1]

*tips fedora* Heh.... another Christian utterly annihilated by the legendary velkyn1. They will soon understand what it means to know the way of the blade

[@velkyn1]

@@FirstNameLastName_1 thank you :)

[@velkyn1]

@@HearGodsWord did he say what I commented in the video? No, dear. That's what I said. It is a very common claim that this god that christians all make up in their image is "necessary", but not one apologist can show that this is the case. All that is offered is the usual first cause claim, which never gets any poor theist to their god. A force can be just as much the cause, and at this time, there may be no cause needed, we simply don't know *yet*. theists do love their "I don't know, so goddidit" god of the gaps arguments. Special pleading also doesn't work well, since you can't explain why your god should be given an exception to something you insist *must* happen to everything else. Baseless claims of "He's eternal", are just that baseless. You can't even show this god exists, much less does anything at all. "Did he say that in the video, or is that just a baseless presupposition for you?"

[@sidwhiting665]

The atheist who claims there is no God has a daunting task... at least as daunting as the theist if not more so. You must explain your alternate theory, the evidence do you have to support it, and why it's better. I saw in the response to Hear God's Word you say, "A force can be just as much the cause." . Okay.... what is that force? From whence does it come? What evidence do you have for it? Why is this thing you call "a force" not God?