0:00

When we look at the

0:02

idea of self-creation, it's

0:04

manifestly absurd because for

0:06

something to create itself,

0:09

to be an effect that is its

0:11

own cause, to create itself, it would

0:14

have to exist before

0:16

it existed. Where

0:24

do we come from? Where did

0:26

the universe come from? I

0:28

grew up believing in the Big

0:30

Bang, that one day nothing became

0:32

something all by itself. And

0:35

as you just heard from

0:37

R.C. Sproul, believing in the

0:39

self-creation of the universe is

0:41

manifestly absurd. But why?

0:43

And could you explain why to

0:45

your unbelieving neighbor? This

0:48

is the Tuesday edition of Renewing Your

0:50

Mind, a daily outreach of

0:52

Ligonier Ministries, and I'm your host,

0:55

Nathan W. Bingham. As

0:57

Dr. Sproul continues to help us this

0:59

week become better apologists, those who can

1:01

give a defense of the Christian faith,

1:04

he's talking through and responding to

1:07

some of the ways philosophers and

1:09

others have sought to explain reality.

1:12

And today's explanation, which is still

1:14

held by people, is the idea

1:17

of self-creation. And it's much easier

1:19

to refute than you might think.

1:22

Here's Dr. Sproul. We're

1:26

going to continue now with our

1:28

study of defending the faith, and

1:31

we've been looking at the

1:33

possible alternatives to account for

1:35

reality as we encounter it.

1:38

And you will recall we listed the

1:40

four principal arguments

1:43

to account for the universe as

1:45

we know it, the first one

1:47

being illusion, the

1:51

second one being

1:54

self-creation, the third

1:56

was self-existence,

8:01

That may sound fun, but

8:03

it is not sound. That is,

8:06

even God could not

8:08

make Himself. Then

8:10

even God would have to be and

8:13

not be at the same

8:16

time and in the same relationship,

8:18

and manifestly even He does not

8:20

have that ability to be and

8:22

not be at the same time

8:24

in the same relationship. Hamlet

8:27

understood the options to be or

8:29

not to be. I mean, he

8:31

cannot have it both ways at

8:34

the same time and in the

8:36

same relationship. Well, again, let us

8:38

look then at how different theories

8:40

of self-creation have been

8:43

articulated in the past.

8:47

One of the most widespread

8:49

attempts to use the

8:52

concept of self-creation as

8:55

a substitute for the notion of

8:57

creation of the universe by a

8:59

self-existent eternal being took

9:02

place during the Enlightenment,

9:05

where even though the Enlightenment

9:07

movement was not monolithic in

9:09

its premises, some of

9:11

the Enlightenment thinkers were theists,

9:14

some were not. But

9:17

in the French encyclopedist movement,

9:20

people like Diderot, for example,

9:22

and de Holbach, argued

9:25

vociferously against the existence

9:27

of God. And for

9:29

them, the chief principle

9:32

of aufclarung, or of enlightenment

9:34

that swept through Europe, was

9:36

the idea that now

9:38

with the advent of modern science

9:41

of the 18th century, the

9:43

God hypothesis was

9:46

deemed no longer necessary

9:50

in order to explain

9:52

or to account for or to

9:54

provide a sufficient cause for the

9:57

universe. That

24:01

was R.C. Sproul on this Tuesday

24:04

edition of Renewing Your Mind. Did

24:07

you follow today's argument and take good

24:09

notes? Well, you can go

24:11

back and re-review today's message and work

24:13

through this lesson in the study guide

24:16

when you give a donation of any

24:18

amount at renewingyourmind.org or when you call

24:20

us at 800-435-4343. And

24:25

thank you for fueling this

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and study guide. So

24:38

click the link in the podcast show

24:40

notes or visit renewingyourmind.org. I've

24:44

mentioned this before, but all of

24:46

Ligonier's ministry partners have access to

24:49

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24:51

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click Give Monthly when you

25:07

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25:09

renewingyourmind.org and learn about this

25:11

program and the wonderful people

25:13

who are a part of it. Here's

25:18

a preview of tomorrow's episode. Chance

25:22

has no being. Chance

25:25

is not a thing that

25:28

operates and works upon

25:30

other things. It is

25:32

simply a mental concept

25:34

that refers to mathematical possibilities,

25:37

but it in and of

25:39

itself has no ontology.

25:41

It has no being.

25:46

So how do you respond to someone who says

25:48

the universe came into existence by

25:50

chance? Join us tomorrow

25:52

here on Renewing Your Mind.