I’m a Christian, and I have the Bible to

tell me what’s right and wrong, and I

was just wondering—well, I have two

questions, but one was: how you think

that we need to determine what’s right

and wrong in a society and if you think

we should base our moral choices on

our own intuition, and secondly, I live

QV�I�_WZTL�_Q\P�I�TW\�WN�[]ЄMZQVO�IVL�death, but I have hope in Jesus and in

Heaven, and you live in that world,

and I was just wondering what hope

you had? [applause]

My question is real simple. What I

don’t understand, and something that’s

always puzzled me about Christianity,

is how the Bible can say a person could

commit a hundred million crimes, they

could be Adolph Hitler, Josef Stalin,

murder a hundred million people, they

confess their crimes, they accept Jesus,

you know, they do the whole Christian

thing, and they get to go to Heaven. And

you could have the most perfect, godly,

wonderful man, who does wonderful

things for society and saves millions of

lives, but

just because

he’s of a

LQЄMZMV\�religion, or

he was nev-

er exposed

to Christian

doctrine,

therefore he

goes to Hell...

I don’t think Christianity says that.

It absolutely does! That’s the whole

basis of Christianity.

Well, I disagree. I think I know fairly well what it says, and

[laughter, applause] in Romans chapters 1 and 2 in the

New Testament Paul says that salvation is available to any

person who responds to the light of nature and conscience,

if he hasn’t heard the Good News about Jesus Christ, say,

a person living in North America during the Middle Ages,

before missionaries came. If this person will respond to

the witness of God in nature—he can see there’s a Creator

God, say—and he senses the moral law of God written on

his heart, and he responds, Paul says in Romans chapter 2

in verse 7, God will give that person eternal life. Now that

doesn’t mean he’s saved apart from Christ, but it would

mean that he may

not have a con-

scious knowledge

of Christ, which

is the basis of his

salvation. He would

be like a person in

the Old Testament

who was saved

through Christ,

even though he hadn’t yet heard of Christ; he responded to

\PM�TQOP\�\PI\�PM�PIL��;W�1�\PQVS�/WL�OQ^M[�[]ЅKQMV\�OZIKM�or salvation to every person. God is fair and He’s loving

and He wants everyone to come to know Him and be saved.

God doesn’t send people to Hell. People send themselves

by rejecting God’s grace, whether it’s through witness of

Scripture and the gospel, or it’s through the witness of na-

ture. So don’t blame God for the fact that people reject Him.

It’s not because salvation is unavailable.

I think that’s a great question. I think that’s a

really great question. I have lot of hope for this

world. There’s a lot of good in the world. There’s

I�TW\�WN�JIL��J]\�\PMZM¼[�LMÅVQ\MTa�I�TW\�WN�OWWL��too. A lot of good people doing many, many good

things. Many of these people doing many good

things are atheists. And you ask, where do they

get their moral values? I think it may vary, you

know. Ultimately in some sense it comes back

to them. But it may come from their communi-

ty. It may come from their friends when they

discuss things. It’s not easy, you know. The fact

that there’s no easy answer where your ethical

system comes from, doesn’t mean, you know,

that, that it’s wrong, not to be able to open up

a book. I think all of us struggle with ethical

issues everyday, and I think that’s part of what

it is to be human.

Okay, thank you. [applause]

D o e s

GODe x i s t ?

Q & A excerpt from debate between William Lane Craig and Corey G. Washington:

Dr. Washington:

Moderator:

Dr. Craig:

Questioner:

13

Questioner:

Questioner:

Dr. Craig:

14

i s u n a v a i l a b l e .”

Select responses to audience questions following the debate between Dr. Washington and Dr. Craig at

the University of Washington in February 1995. Dr. Washington, an atheist, responds to questioners

with a secular perspective, whereas Dr. Craig, a Christian, defends Christian faith in his answers.

“ D o n ’ t b l a m e G o d f o r t h e f a c t t h a t p e o p l e r e j e c t H i m .

It’s not because salvation

and He wants everyone to come to know Him and be

“ G o d i s fairloving

SAVED.”

a n d H e ’s

So because they disagree, they’re

condemned to Hell?

Wait, wait, wait,—

“So because they disagree,” what?

So because they disagree, they’re condemned

to Hell and eternal damnation? Basically,

Adolph Hitler.. I mean think about it! If

you disagree, then you’re punished and

sent to Hell.

No, no, no. It’s not a matter of disagreeing. The

idea is this: all human persons have broken

God’s moral law, this objective moral law that

we’ve talked about in tonight’s debate. And there-

NWZM�\PMa�ÅVL�\PMU[MT^M[�UWZITTa�O]QT\a�JMNWZM�God, in need of His forgiveness, under His condem-

VI\QWV�NWZ�_PI\�\PMa�PI^M�LWVM��IVL�/WL�WЄMZ[�this forgiveness to people if they will accept it.

It’s like someone on death row, and the governor

WЄMZ[�PQU�I�XIZLWV#�QN�\PI\�XMZ[WV�ZMN][M[�\PI\�person, if that person rejects that grace, then God

doesn’t force Himself on that person.

Yeah.

You say that if

no harm exists, no

responsibility exists,

therefore no rationality...

Now wait, wait, wait. I said that

it’s possible that in a world in which

God intervenes so that there would be

no harm this would result in moral

irresponsibility and immaturity.

Okay, but if you say that, if there, no harm existed,

responsibility wouldn’t necessarily have a nega-

tive or positive value, because if it was God’s will,

harmful consequences wouldn’t come from a lack of

responsibility. Happiness would exist regardless of

success or failure, concepts which are measured by

society’s values.

I’m going to have to hold it there. That’s

thirty seconds over time. A question for Dr.

Washington... I’ll give it to Dr. Washington.

[hubbub] My questions will come in the

form of comments. This microphone

stand will dissipate with the concept

that made this microphone stand will

outlive longer than this microphone

stand therefore the abstract concept

is more real than the physical object

involved and therefore by that, a, there

is an, the existence of God is there-

fore on the basis of a concept because

mere physicality cannot conceive of an

IK\]IT�QVÅVQ\M��KIVVW\�M^MV�KWVKMQ^M�of a, of that, so therefore there would

be one example as to a God. And to as

anyone being innocent, if there is no

God, there is no innocent, people on

this planet. And talking about innocent

Jesus Christ, innocent Son of God, was

slaughtered for all of us.

Your question?

Okay, my question is a two-part

question, in response to the argument

from harm, your response to the argu-

ment from harm.

Questioner:

Questioner:Questioner:

Questioner:

Dr. Craig:

Dr. Craig:

Moderator:

Let me make it clear that I don’t think God’s

purpose in life for us is to make us happy. So,

sure, He could just make us all happy like the

pigs wallowing in the mire, but I think that

God’s purpose for us as human beings is much

higher than mere happiness. It has to do with

things like maturity, responsibility, ...

But where does the value on maturity and

responsibility come from? Who’s to say

what’s responsible and mature?

Well, it comes from God ultimately. That’s the

source of all objective moral values. But the

point is that those kinds of things wouldn’t be

achieved in a world in which there were no

consequences for actions, in which it made no

LQЄMZMVKM�_PI\�aW]�KPWW[M��,WM[V¼\�\PI\�[MMU�plausible to you?

Dr. Craig:

Dr. Craig:

Moderator: Questioner:

Questioner:

Questioner:

15

Dr. Craig:

16

Dr. Craig:

THEN GOD DOESN’T FORCE HIMSELF ON THAT PERSON.”

if that person refuses that person, if that person rejects that grace,

and the governor offers him a pardon;

“It’s like someone on death row,

“ R E S P O N S I B I L I T Y M A T U R I T Y

come from GOD ultimately.That’s the source of

all objective moral values. But the point is that those kinds of things

wouldn’t be achieved in a world in which there were

no consequences for actions,in which it made

no dif ference what you choose.”

and

believe in God in order to live what we would normally characterize as

Well, it seems plausible that someone who

doesn’t believe in God can still be mature

and responsible even though they don’t go

by the values that you claim.

Oh, sure they can! Remember I said that you

don’t need to believe in God in order to live what

we would normally characterize as a good and

decent life. But what I said is that in that case

you don’t have any foundation in your world

^QM_�NWZ�\PW[M�^IT]M[�\PI\�aW]�IЅZU��<PW[M�values are just subjective and arbitrary. Why

choose those values rather than any others?

They’re just arbitrary if there’s no foundation

for them. [applause]

Okay, the second part is in response to the

earthquake statement you made. If God’s

Well, think about it. Think about what you’re say-

ing. Water would fall on the mountains, and they

wouldn’t erode. That would mean there wouldn’t

be any nutrients in the water that would be from

the soil. They wouldn’t irrigate the land. The plants

wouldn’t grow. It’s so easy, you see, to just say

these things. But then what adjustments...

But what about hydroponics?

Plants don’t always need water.

There’s nutrients in other ways.

Now wait a minute. Hydroponics

is growing plants in water.

... suspending it. You can grow it in sand.

And also you stated that God has the power to

control everything. If He can, then why can’t

He control that? He’s the almighty power.

will is the predominant and basically the only factor in world

events, including natural disasters, if God could will that no earth-

quakes occur, if He has that much power, couldn’t He also have the

XW_MZ�\W�KWV\ZWT�\PM�MЄMK\[�WN�MZW[QWV�\W�XZM[MZ^M�\PM�_WZTL�_M�TQ^M�in, to keep us from harm? [applause]

Imagine what you’re saying. It’s so easy to say these things. But try to

imagine what you’re saying. You’re saying now that we’re going to have

a world in which water falls on the mountains, but that they don’t erode.

Now what would that mean? I just...

You’re believing in all-mighty power, a God. If you can believe in

God, why can’t you believe that He can control these things?

Because it may be possible that it is

not within God’s power to create a

world operating according to natural

laws which results in this much good

_Q\PW]\�IT[W�PI^QVO�\PM[M�PIZUN]T�MЄMK\[��Now it seems to me that’s very plausible,

JMKI][M�_PMV�aW]�[\IZ\�UMV\ITTa�ÅLLTQVO�with this, it causes re-adjustments all

the way down the line, until really these

get beyond our scope of comprehension.

We simply don’t understand how these

adjustments could be made without cre-

ating a world in which moral and rational

behavior would be impossible. And I don’t

have to prove that. As long as that’s even

possible, it shows that there is no logical

incompatibility between God and the

harm that’s in the world.

These are very good questions. We are

pushing the possibilities of the question

and answer period. We’re engaging in

real dialogue.

1718

Questioner:

Dr. Craig:

Questioner:

Dr. Craig:

Questioner:

GOD

Dr. Craig:

Questioner:

Dr. Craig:

Questioner:

Dr. Craig:

Moderator:

[ e n d o f e x c e r p t . ]

“There isno logical incompatibility

betweenand the harm that

is in the world.”

real dialogue.”We’re engaging in

p u s h i n g t h e p o s s i b i l i t i e s

of the question and answer period.

“We are

subjective and arbitrary.”

a good and decent life...in that case you don’t have any

foundation in your world view for those values that you affirm.

Those values are just

“You don’t need to