Editor’s note: This post originally appeared on Think Apologetics. Tabernacle of David considers this resource trustworthy and Biblically sound.
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Over the years I have heard hundreds of objections to the Christian faith on a major college campus. One of the most common objections I hear is that there is no way to ‘prove’ or ‘disprove’ God’s existence. Sadly, this can allow a person to punt to some form of lazy agnosticism. Thus, they are off the hook and and can ignore the God question. When this comes up, I now ask students what they mean by ‘prove’ and then I ask them if they know the difference between deductive, inductive or abductive proof. Unless they have taken an into to logic course, in most cases, they don’t know any of these terms. I don’t bring this up to be snarky. Nor do I do it to try to show them how smart I am. Nor am I trying to confuse people with confusing terminology. I am simply trying to get them to think through what they mean by the word ‘proof.’ See our chart here. Note: You can click on the chart, and it will not be as blurry.
I discuss some of the issues that are mentioned in the chart above. I also ask them what would convince them God exists. In most cases, they will generally respond three ways. They will say “I have never thought of that before?” In many cases, they also may say that they think God should show them some sort of sign that He is real.
Anyway, I hope this helps in your discussions with people.
