Existence of God - Ravi Zacharias Lecture

It is definitely worth your time to watch the entire lecture. As a point of reference I have added some links to some of the material he speaks of during his lecture.

• The Parable of the Madman (1882)
• Below is a transcript of the discussion between a student at Nottingham and Ravi Zacharias about evil and morality.

Student: There is too much evil in this world; therefore, there cannot be a God!
Speaker: Would you mind if I asked you something? You said, “God cannot exist because there is too much evil.” If there is such a thing as evil, aren’t you assuming that there is such a thing as good?
Student: I guess so.
Speaker: If there is such a thing as good, you must affirm a moral law on the basis of which to differentiate between good and evil.
Speaker: In a debate between the philosopher Frederick Copleston and the atheist Bertrand Russell, Copleston said, “Mr. Russell, you do believe in good and bad, don’t you?” Russell answered, “Yes, I do.” “How do you differentiate between good and bad?” challenged Copleston. Russell shrugged his shoulders and said, “On the basis of feeling – what else?” I must confess, Mr. Copleston was a kindlier gentleman than many others. The appropriate “logical kill” for the moment would have been, “Mr. Russell, in some cultures they love their neighbors; in other cultures they eat them, both on the basis of feeling. Do you have any preference?”
Speaker: When you say there is evil, aren’t you admitting there is good? When you accept the existence of goodness, you must affirm a moral law on the basis of which to differentiate between good and evil. But when you admit to a moral law, you must posit a moral lawgiver. That, however, is
who you are trying to disprove and not prove. For if there is no moral lawgiver, there is no moral law. If there is no moral law, there is no good. If there is no good, there is no evil. What, then, is your question?
Student: What, then, am I asking you?

• Bertrand Russell
• King Crimson-Epitaph - "knowledge is a deadly friend, if no one sets the rules"
• John Wisdom - Parable of the Invisible Gardener
• Anthony Flew: 'Once upon a time two explorers came upon a clearing in the jungle. In the clearing were growing many flowers and many weeds. One explorer says, 'Some gardener must tend this plot'. The other disagrees, 'There is no gardener'. So they pitch their tents and set a watch. No gardener is ever seen. 'But perhaps he is an invisible gardener'. So they set up a barbed-wire fence. They electrify it. They patrol with bloodhounds. 1(For they remember how H. G. Wells's Tbe Invisible Man could be both smelt and touched though he could not be seen.) But no shrieks ever suggest that some intruder has received a shock. No movements of the wire ever betray an invisible climber. The bloodhounds never give cry. Yet still the Believer is not convinced. 'But there is a gardener, invisible, intangible, insensible to electric shocks, a gardener who has no scent and makes no sound, a gardener who comes secretly to look after the garden which he loves'. At last the Sceptic despairs, 'But what remains of your original assertion? just how does what you call an invisible, intangible, eternally elusive gardener differ from an imaginary gardener or even from no gardener at all? 2 "
• Francis Collins - director of the Human Genome Project. Below is an image of the Rose Window and DNA.

• The article in USA Today about a study on the existence of evil. Although I am not 100 percent sure this is the article he is speaking of, it does make for an interesting read.
• 10 million Indian girls eradicated.
• Article in the Houston Chronicle. "Boy, 11, fights for funeral for stillborn sister"
• "But purer, and higher, and greater will be, Our wonder, our transport, when Jesus we see" - lyrics of To God be the Glory. Note that this website also provides the sheet music for this song.
• "Search for four absolutes: evil, justice, love and forgiveness. Do you know of one event in the world where these four converged? they converged on the cross of Jesus Christ. Evil was seen for what it was. Justice was made out by a righteous and a holy God. Love was displayed unparalleled, to a point where he looks at a young man and says to him "take of her" she is now your mother. A cosmic drama was unfolding, and he cared for one woman who had so cared for him and nurtured him. Forgiveness, that He is willing to wipe your slate clean"