Turek tells LCU crowd it takes a lot of faith to be unbeliever

 By Lexi Rachal and Victoria Watson, Wildcats Media

Frank Turek, a Christian apologist and co-author of “I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist,” was the featured speaker for Louisiana Christian University’s Christ, Church and Culture event Monday night.

Turek said in order to prove Christianity is true, only four questions need to be answered. Does truth exist? Does God exist? Are miracles possible? Is the New Testament true?

“This Christian worldview is a worldview you can investigate and see if its really true,” Turek said.

He began his presentation with the first question: ‘Does truth exist?’

He explained if there is no truth then Christianity, along with atheism, cannot be true. Turek said the phrase “there is no truth” is a self-defeating statement. “A self-defeating statement doesn’t meet its own standard.” Turek said. “A self-defeating statement violates the law of non-contradiction.”

He said the best way to handle people who use such statements is to turn the claim on itself. He used the example of responding to the phrase “all truth is relative” by asking if the phrase itself is a relative truth.

“I know this going to be not well received in our culture today, but there is no such thing as your truth,” said Turek. “There’s no such thing as my truth. There is just the truth.”

He said many people say they think Christianity is true because they have faith. Turek went on to say a person’s faith does not change whether or not God exists or if Jesus rose from the dead. He said people cannot just believe something in order for it to be true.

Turek used the example of gravity to explain this concept. He said even if a person said they do not believe in gravity, it is still going to exist.

He then transitioned to the second question: ‘Does God exist?’

Turek’sfirstsupportingargumentforthequestionwasacosmologicalargument.HesaidscientistviewthecosmicbeginningasaproblembecauseitleadstoasupernaturaLCUreator.

“If there is a cosmic beginning to nature, then what ever created nature can’t be made of nature,” said Turek. “It must be something beyond nature, something you would call super-nature.”

Turek’s second supporting argument was a teleological argument. He said everything is too fine-tuned to be created by chance, every intricate piece of the universe points to a designer.

“All of nature is going in a direction,” said Turek. “If its going in a direction, it must have a director.”

Turek’s third supporting argument was a moral argument. He said that all laws legislate morality, but the only question is whose morality is being legislated. He said if God is not real, there are no human rights, only preferences. Turek used the example of love and rape: if there is no higher morality, there is no difference between love and rape, just preference. Turek said something cannot be evil unless something is good.

“You cannot complain about problem of evil if there is no God,” said Turek. “If there is no God, then there is no such thing as good or evil.”

He said if evil exists, God exists.

Turek moved on to the final question of his presentation: ‘Are miracles possible?’

He said if the first verse of the Bible, the beginning of the creation story, is possible, then everything else in the Bible is possible. Turek said people believe in a lot of things they have never seen, such as their minds, justice, and love.

Turekusedtheexampleofgravityagaintoexplainthatpeopledonotbelieveingravityseeit,theybelieveinitbecausetheyseeitseffects.

“I know God by his effects,” said Turek as he listed things he considers effects of God such as creation and moral law. “We’re reasoning from effect back to law. That’s what scientists do.”

Students were very receptive to Turek’s message and were able to ask questions during the Q&A portion of the event.

Billi Barber, a junior vocal music education major at Louisiana Christian University, said the last question was one she needed to hear the most.

“The last question was ‘how do you respond to someone who’s gone through recent tragedy and blames God for it?’” she said. “It helped me prepare to answer those questions to other people who don’t believe because even on a Christian campus, there are people who don’t believe, and it’s a matter of us taking the first step and changing our hearts to actually do something about it.”

Turek also spoke in Chapel Tuesday morning, finishing his presentation by answering the last question, ‘Is the New Testament true?’

Turek broke down several reasons why the New Testament is true including ‘Embarrassing Stories’ and ‘Excruciating Deaths.’

Turek used these as proof as to why there was no reason for the New Testament to be made up. What would the writers get in exchange for making such stories up?

President Rick Brewer said having Turek visit LCU was monumental for the university.

“We planned Dr. Turek’s visit for a year,”Brewer said.“We hope to have him back and others like him because we need to be equipping our minds and our hearts. Dr. Turek made us think tonight, it was pretty intense, which was good. I’ve never seen students as engaged as I have tonight.”

 

 Media Advisory | March 31,2022 | Pineville, Louisiana
Contact: Dr. Elizabeth B. Clarke, Director of University Communications | Elizabeth.clarke@lcuniversity.edu