Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Isaiah 13-14
Bible study with Terry Gray
Isaiah 13-14 are predictive prophecy.
When Isaiah wrote this prophecy, the world power was Assyria. Isaiah wrote predictive events about Babylon, a power that didn't rise until 85 years after his death. Isaiah also wrote about Media Persia, a power that also didn't even exist during his life time. The Medo-Persians were just a small group of nomads at the time! The Medes and the Persians would judge Babylon. Media Persia didn't overtake Babylon until 160 years after Isaiah's death.
In other words, Isaiah spoke about nations coming to power, situations, peoples, etc., that didn't exist during his time! Furthermore, these prophecies were accurately fulfilled to the letter! This astonishingly illustrates the awesomeness of God and that Isaiah wrote down these prophecies with the guidance of the Holy Spirit!
There are 2500+ prophecies in the Bible. About 2000 have been fulfilled to the letter. The remaining 500+ will be fulfilled as time goes on. Since the probability of each prophecy happening by chance is less than 1 in 10; and since each prophecy is an independent event, the probability of them all being fulfilled without error by chance is 1 in 10 to the 2000th power. There is no better proof that this is the Book that God wrote than the PERFECT fulfillment of prophecies!
Isaiah 13
God will raise an army against the great city of Babylon and defeat it.
Isaiah 13:17-18
The Medes will come in. The Medes were not even an entity when this prophecy was given. Yet, hundreds of years later, this was fulfilled (Daniel 5). Darius the Mede killed Belshazzar.
Isaiah 13:19-22
Babylon will be totally wiped. It will become a ghost town. Those 14 mile-walls that once stood is now completely destroyed.
The Persians didn't complete tear down Babylon, and Babylonians still had a few great moments under Persian rule. Alexander the Great of the Grecian empire then conquered Persia, and Babylon slowly declined to today, where it has indeed become a ghost town.
The above scenarios are short-term fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecies.
The long-term fulfillment (Babylon judged as Sodom and Gomorrah, moon and stars no longer giving their lights, the Earth being shaken out of place, etc.) have yet to be fulfilled. The revived Babylon will be judged in the end of Tribulation. This Babylon will be destroyed in one hour in one day. Now, this sounds like Babylon being judged as Sodom and Gomorrah.
2 Peter 3
The wicked empires of man will all be destroyed.
So, why would we be obsessed with anything of this world when it would all be destroyed?
Isaiah 14:1
Despite Israel's inadequacies, God will still chooses Israel.
Isaiah 14:4-23
A song taunting Babylon
Hell will be welcoming people of Babylon (Isaiah 14:9). The hardest fall into hell is probably for those who have the most in this world. Well, no one would be able to use his/her money to pay for the best room in Sheol...
Isaiah 14:12-15
This passage describes the fall of Satan and his pride. Satan is the power behind the king of Babylon.
God created angels (Nehemiah 9:6; Psalm 148:2, 5; Colossians 1:16-17).
Speculation: Satan found out humans are to rule over one day and didn't like the plan. He therefore took 1/3 of the angels with him and rebelled against God.
Take-home:
1. Everything of this world will be leveled. There is nothing from this world that would stand the righteous judgment of God. So, let us keep our eyes on things that will last--God and His promises.
2. Satan currently rules this world. However, he will ultimately be destroyed.
Isaiah 11-12
Bible study with Pastor Terry Gray
Bottom line:
Jesus is from the line of David and will judge as King with righteousness. When King Jesus rules, there will be peace on Earth. He will also restore Israel.
Isaiah 11:1
The Branch is Jesus, the Messiah (cf. Isaiah 4:2, Jeremiah, Zechariah, Revelation 5, Revelation 22).
The Messiah will come from a specific line of ancestry:
Genesis 3
The Messiah is human (seed of Eve).
Genesis 12
The Messiah is of Abraham's seed (Call of Abraham).
Genesis 49:10
"The scepter shall not depart from Judah."
The Messiah is from the tribe of Judah.
Ruth and Boaz had a son named Obed, who had a son named Jesse, who had a son named David.
2 Samuel 7
God promised David that his kingdom and throne shall be established forever.
The Messiah is a descendant of the kingly line of David.
The Gospels
Jesus fulfills all prophecies concerning his lineage.
Isaiah 11:2-4
This will be literally fulfilled during Jesus' second coming.
Isaiah 11:3-5
Jesus will righteously judge. This will be completely fulfilled in His second coming, where Jesus will set up His kingdom.
Isaiah 11:6-9
There will be great peace.
Isaiah 11:10-16
Israel will be restored.
Isaiah 12
People will rejoice and sing in praise of the Lord.
Bottom line:
Jesus is from the line of David and will judge as King with righteousness. When King Jesus rules, there will be peace on Earth. He will also restore Israel.
Isaiah 11:1
The Branch is Jesus, the Messiah (cf. Isaiah 4:2, Jeremiah, Zechariah, Revelation 5, Revelation 22).
The Messiah will come from a specific line of ancestry:
Genesis 3
The Messiah is human (seed of Eve).
Genesis 12
The Messiah is of Abraham's seed (Call of Abraham).
Genesis 49:10
"The scepter shall not depart from Judah."
The Messiah is from the tribe of Judah.
Ruth and Boaz had a son named Obed, who had a son named Jesse, who had a son named David.
2 Samuel 7
God promised David that his kingdom and throne shall be established forever.
The Messiah is a descendant of the kingly line of David.
The Gospels
Jesus fulfills all prophecies concerning his lineage.
Isaiah 11:2-4
This will be literally fulfilled during Jesus' second coming.
Isaiah 11:3-5
Jesus will righteously judge. This will be completely fulfilled in His second coming, where Jesus will set up His kingdom.
Isaiah 11:6-9
There will be great peace.
Isaiah 11:10-16
Israel will be restored.
Isaiah 12
People will rejoice and sing in praise of the Lord.
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Opening of the First 6 Seals of the Sealed Scroll
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aE85w-8L4M8
Bible study with Dr. Chuck Missler
Revelation 6
Revelation 6-19 details the 70th Week of Daniel (Daniel 9:27)
- This is a period where God pours out His Wrath
The Great Tribulation
- Defined by Jesus, quoting Daniel 12:1, in Matthew 24:21-22
Order of Events
- Harpazo (Rapture) occurs
- False peace between Israel and its surrounding nations is established by the Antichrist, marking the beginning of the 70th Week of Daniel
- The Abomination of Desolation occurs in the middle, marking the start of the Great Tribulation (the last 3 ½ years of the Tribulation)
- The Battle of Armageddon takes place, ended by Jesus 2nd return
During the Tribulation, the Raptured Church is in Heaven
- They first stand in front of the Bema Seat to have their works judged by Jesus
- They then partake in the Marriage Supper of the Lamb
- And finally, they return with Jesus to Earth to end the Battle of Armageddon
The Millennium starts, with Jesus reigning over us
- Satan is bound during the Millennium and released afterwards
- Final battle then takes place, where Satan is ultimately destroyed
The Tribulation doesn’t begin until the Lamb opens the seal
- The Lamb doesn’t receive the Scroll until after the 24 Elders place their crowns on the glassy sea
- The 24 Elders (and the seven lampstands, representing the Church) are in Heaven when the Tribulation begins, suggesting the Church is in Heaven PRIOR to the start of the Tribulation!
The Purpose of the Tribulation
I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me earnestly (Hosea 5:15).
In order to “return” to His place, God must have first left it! When did God first leave His place? When He came to Earth as man!
The Tribulation Begins
God’s Wrath is poured out starting in Revelation 6.
They called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” (Revelation 6:16-17)
But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets” (Revelation 10:7).
And your wrath has come (Revelation 11:18)
I saw in heaven another great and marvelous sign: seven angels with the seven last plagues—last, because with them God’s wrath is completed (Revelation 15:1).
Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, “Go, pour out the seven bowls of God’s wrath on the earth” (Revelation 16:1).
“It is done!” (Revelation 16:17)
Day of the Lord
- Used 20 times in 8 Old Testament prophetic books; used 3 times in the New Testament (Acts 2:20, Joel 2:31; 1 Thessalonians 5:2; 2 Peter 3:10)
- Also called, “day of God” (2 Peter 3:12)
- Also called, “day of wrath” (Zephaniah 1:15)
- Also called, “day of the Lord’s wrath” (Zephaniah 1:18)
- Also called, “day of darkness” (Joel 2:2; Zephaniah 1:15)
The Heptadic Structure of God’s Judgments
- There are 7 Seals (Revelation 6). Before the 7th Seal is opened, there is a break, called a parenthetical break (Revelation 7). The first 4 Seals have a special label: The 4 Horsemen.
- The 7th Seal breaks down to 7 Trumpet Judgments (Revelation 8-9). Before the 7th Trumpet is sounded, there is another parenthetical break (Revelation 10-14).
- The 7th Trumpet breaks down to 7 Bowls of Wrath (Revelation 15). Before the 7th Bowl of Wrath is poured out, there is another parenthetical break (Revelation 16).
For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: How much worse will it be when I send against Jerusalem my four dreadful judgments—sword and famine and wild beasts and plague—to kill its men and their animals! (Ezekiel 14:21)
1st Seal: The White Horseman, the Overcoming Conqueror (Revelation 6:2)
- He is wearing a victor’s crown (stephanos), not a ruling crown of a ruler (diademata, Revelation 19:12)
- Horses = judgments (2 Kings 6:15-18; Jeremiah 46:9-10; Joel 2:3-11; Nahum 3:1-7; Zechariah 1:8-11; 6:1-7)
- He carries a bow, not a sword (cf. Revelation 19:15; Ephesians 6:16; Matthew 10:34)
- Because he carries a bow, some believe he symbolizes Nimrod the Hunter
- The word “bow” used here is the same word that appeared only another time in the Bible, in Genesis 9:13, where God gave Noah a bow as a token of the covenant with Noah (toxon = weapon or rainbow). The Holy Spirit is using a pun here, telling us that the First Horseman comes bringing a new covenant, though the covenant is a form of weapon (i.e., False peace).
- By peace, he shall destroy man (Daniel 8:25). That is, he comes not as a military leader but as a peaceful leader.
- He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing [of the temple] he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him (Daniel 9:27).
- He has many names (33 in the Old Testament; 13 in the New Testament). Here is a sample list: the “Seed of the Serpent” (Genesis 3:15), the “Idol Shepherd” (Zechariah 11:16-17), the “Little Horn (Daniel 7:8-11, 21-26; 8:9-12, 23-25), the “prince that shall come” (Daniel 9:26), the Willful King (Daniel 11:36), the “Beast” (Revelation 11:7; 13), the “False Prophet” (Revelation 13), the “Antichrist (Pseudo-Christ)” (1 John 2:22), the “Lawless One” (2 Thessalonians 2:8), the “Man of Sin” (2 Thessalonians 2:3), the “One who comes in his own name” (John 5:43), the “Son of Perdition” (2 Thessalonians 2:3).
- He is an intellectual genius (Daniel 7:20; 8:23; Ezekiel 28:3), a persuasive orator (Daniel 7:20; Revelation 13:2), a shrewd politician (Daniel 11:21; Daniel 8:25), a financial genius (Revelation 13:17; Ezekiel 28:4-5; Psalm 52:7; Daniel 11:38, 43), forceful military leader (Daniel 8:24; Revelation 6:2; Revelation 13:4; Isaiah 4:16), a powerful organizer (Revelation 13:1-2; 17:17), a unifying religious guru (2 Thessalonians 2:4; Revelation 13:3, 14, 15; Psalm 10:52, 55; Isaiah 10:11, 13-14; Jeremiah 49-51; Zechariah 5; Revelation 18), etc. He is going to be one of the most attractive, charismatic guys the world has seen coming onto the stage.
Woe to the worthless shepherd, who deserts the flock! May the sword strike his arm and his right eye! May his arm be completely withered, his right eye totally blinded! (Zechariah 11:17). These physical characteristics may be the vestige of the head wound mentioned in Revelation 13:3.
2nd Seal: The Red Horseman of War (Revelation 6:3-4)
3rd Seal: The Black Horseman of Famine (Revelation 6:5-6)
- “Black” is often connected with famine (Lamentations 4:4-8; 5:10; Jeremiah 14:1-2)
- There will be great scarcity of food
- Amos 8:11 speaks of famine of the Word of God—Just as when people are so hungry, they’d eat anything, so will people readily believe anything when they are spiritually starved.
4th Seal: The Pale Horseman of Death (Revelation 6:7-8)
5th Seal: Death of Martyrs (Revelation 6:9-11)
- The souls are conscious; they are not sleeping (1 Thessalonians 4:14-16; 2 Corinthians 5:8; Philippians 1:23)
- The martyrs were told to wait a while until “the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed” (Revelation 6:11).
Avenging the Blood of the Saints
They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?” (Revelation 6:10)
For they have shed the blood of your saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink as they deserve (Revelation 16:6).
And I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus (Revelation 17:6).
Rejoice over her, O heaven! Rejoice, saints and apostles and prophets! God has judged her for the way she treated you (Revelation 18:20).
In her was found the blood of prophets and of the saints, and of all who have been killed on the earth (Revelation 18:24).
For true and just are his judgments. He has condemned the great prostitute who corrupted the earth by her adulteries. He has avenged on her the blood of his servants (Revelation 19:2).
6th Seal: Cosmic Upheavals (Revelation 6:12-14)
- There will be at least 3 major earthquakes during the Tribulation (Revelation 6:12; 11:13; 16:18-19)
- The Bible documents literal earthquakes (as opposed to allegorical): Exodus 19:18; 20:18-19; 1 Kings 19:11; Matthew 27:51-52
- Earthquakes have been associated with the sun turning dark (Joel 2:2, 10, 30-31; Matthew 24:39; Mark 13:24-25; Luke 21:25)
- Seismos is the Greek word for “shaking” and has been translated as earthquakes: Isaiah 24:1, 3, 4, 19, 23; 34:2-4; Psalm 148: 3-6; Hebrews 12:26-29; Haggai 2:6; Joel 2:1, 10-12, 30-31; 3:15; Zephaniah 1:15; Isaiah 13:9-10; 34:2-4; Ezekiel 32:7-8
- The sun “became black as sackcloth” was also mentioned in Isaiah 13:10; Joel 2:10
- The moon “became like blood” was also mentioned in Isaiah 13:10; 24:23; Joel 2:51; Matthew 24:29
- The stars “fell unot the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs” was also mentioned in Mathew 24:29 – Could this be a meteor shower?
- The sky “and the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together” was also mentioned in Isaiah 34:1-8
- “Every mountain and island were moved out of their places” was also mentioned in Jeremiah 4:23-24; Revelation 16:20
Space is fabric-like
- Who alone stretches out the heavens (Job 9:8)
- Stretching out heaven like a tent curtain (Psalm 104:2)
- Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in (Isaiah 40:22)
- The Lord who stretches out the heavens (Zechariah 12:1)
- Etc.
Space is not just an empty vacuum
It can be…
- Torn (Isaiah 64:1)
- Worn out like a garment (Psalm 102:25)
- Shaken (Hebrews 12:26; Haggai 2:6; Isaiah 13:13)
- Burnt up (2 Peter 3:12)
- Split apart like a scroll (Revelation 6:14)
- Rolled up like a mantle (Hebrews 1:12)
- Rolled up like a scroll (Isaiah 34:4)
The fact that space can be rolled up and bent implies that space has more than one dimension! That is, there are additional spatial dimensions than what we are aware of today!
The Wrath of the Lamb has come (Revelation 6:15-17)
The Reason for the Tribulation
The LORD Almighty planned it, to bring low the pride of all glory and to humble all who are renowned on the earth (Isaiah 23:9).
Parallels between Revelation and Joshua
- Joshua = Yeshua = Yehoshua
- Joshua was a military commander dispossessing the usurpers
- Joshua held a 7-year campaign against 7 (of an original 10) nations
- The Torah was ignored at Jericho (The Sabbath was ignored; Levites were not supposed to go to war, yet they led the procession at the battle of Jericho)
- Though Joshua was the commander at Jericho, it was really Jesus who fought the war! (Joshua 5:13-15)
- Prior to the battle at Jericho, Joshua sent in TWO WITNESSES (Cf. Revelation 11).
- There were SEVEN TRUMPET EVENTS during the battle of Jericho (Cf. Revelation 8).
- The troop was to march around in silence prior to the 7th day of marching (Cf. Revelation 8:1, where the opening of the 7th Seal was preceded by “silence in heaven for ½ hour)
- Enemies of Joshua confederated under a leader in Jerusalem, called “Adoni-Zedek,” or “Lord of Righteousness. This leader was ultimate defeated with hailstones and fire from heaven and signs in the sun, moon, etc. (Joshua 10:1-15). These are all preludes of what is going to occur to Earth in Revelation!
- The kings hid in caves and had rocks rolled upon them (Joshua 10:16-19, Cf. Revelation 6:16).
Parallels between Groups of Signs Mentioned in Revelation and the Olivet Discourse
- False Christs (Matthew 24:4-5; Luke 21:4; Revelation 6:1-2)
- Wars (Matthew 24:6; Luke 21:9,10; Revelation 6:3-4)
- Famines (Matthew 24:7; Luke 21:11; Revelation 6:5-6)
- Death (Matthew 24:7-8; Luke 21:12; Revelation 6:7-8)
- Martyrs (Matthew 24:9; Luke 21:24; Revelation 6:9-11)
- Global upheaval (Matthew 24:10-13; Luke 21:25; Revelation 6:12-17)
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Archaeological Discoveries Validates the Scripture
Excerpts from a Letter by Hal Lindsey
Several recent archaeological discoveries in Israel have confirmed the veracity of the Scriptures.
The journal, "International Geology Review," recently reported on an investigation of earthquake activity around the Dead Sea, just a few miles east of Jerusalem. Geophysicists studied three core samples taken from the shores of the Dead Sea that offered evidence of at least two sizable earthquakes. Their investigation narrowed the dates of those earthquakes to 31 B.C. and sometime between 26 and 36 A.D., during the time when Pontius Pilate was procurator of Judea.
Scientists from California-based Super Sonic Geophysical believe the second quake probably occurred around 33 A.D.
When considered with other data, both historical and astronomical, the best estimate is that it occurred sometime in April of 33 A.D. This would concur with the Jewish month of Nisan, which indicates it may confirm the earthquake described in Matthew 27:51. That scripture describes the quake that happened when Jesus, from the cross, cried out in a loud voice and gave up His Spirit.
Last year, archaeologists from Tel Aviv University announced the discovery of a limestone ossuary. An ossuary is a box used for the burial of human bones. This burial box bore an unusual and detailed inscription. In short, it was positively identified as the ossuary of Miriam, the granddaughter of Caiaphas, the High Priest who presided over the trial of Jesus.
This month, a professor from Hebrew University uncovered evidence confirming the existence of an Israelite kingdom centered in Jerusalem around the time of Kings David and Solomon. The same archaeologist also reported discovering the oldest Hebrew inscription ever found. On a shard of pottery, the inscription confirms the existence of a centralized, literate Hebrew kingdom more than 3,000 years ago. The professor announced that these discoveries prove that David was not a mythological figure or just the leader of a small tribe.
Christianity is different from other world religions. Most of them can survive their sacred texts being found to contain conflicting details. What's most important to them are the broad generalities they teach, not the particulars of their founders' lives. But Christianity holds itself to such a high standard -- 100% accuracy (a standard established by God Himself) -- that the details of the life and death of Jesus Christ are critical to the validity of Christianity's entire message.
In fact, if a single historical fact regarding the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is not true, the entire structure of Christianity collapses. But the sheer fact that the people who were eyewitnesses to the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ were happily willing to sacrifice their lives rather than deny even the tiniest detail, speaks volumes. And it still serves to encourage those of us who follow Him 2,000 years later. But we don't have to depend on the miracles of modern scientific discovery to affirm our faith in Jesus Christ. Perhaps the most powerful confirmation of all comes from the Scriptures themselves.
It is absolutely amazing to me how many ways the Bible confirms its own veracity. From the New Testament writers' indirect confirmations of each other, to the accuracy of the multiple, parallel accounts of events, to the eyewitness testimony, to the deathbed testimony, to the miraculous, exact fulfillment of centuries-old prophecies concerning Christ's crucifixion, to the lack of denials from leaders of the day, to the willingness of the witnesses to die for their testimony, the Bible is its own best witness. No body of literature in all history has been as thoroughly studied, vetted, picked apart, and argued and debated over as the Bible. Religions have sprung up to disprove it. Entire doctrines depend on there being a Bible to reject. Most atheists, rationalists, and humanists can find at least some common ground with most of the other world religions, but it's the Bible alone that raises their hackles and fires up their evangelistic fervor.
Given the weight of all the evidence pointing to both the historical accuracy and Divine inspiration of the Scriptures, it seems to me that it would be much more amazing if it WEREN'T all true. The Bible has been under constant attack by the smartest guys in every generation since it was compiled. If a single thing in the Scripture were conclusively disproved -- a named person who didn't live, a place that never existed, an event that didn't take place -- then the Word of God is broken. Of all the thinkers and philosophers who have lived during the last two thousand years, not one has been able to claim the title of the man who proved the Bible wrong. Because it isn't.
God Bless,
Hal Lindsey
Hebrews 4
Bible study with Pastor Terry Gray
BEST REST AVAILABLE (Hebrews 4:1-11)
When God rested on the seventh day, there was no distinction between day and night (Genesis 2:2). That is, this rest continues forever. This is the ultimate rest we should hope to enter, His sabbath rest.
Hebrews 4:1-2
The author warns us to be careful that we would enter His rest. What does that mean, "be careful?" Our heart needs to be vigilantly guarded. It is not enough to just know God. We must also trust God, place our faith in God. Why?
James 2:19
"You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that--and shudder."
In addition to knowing God, we must also trust that knowledge of God! And when we place our full trust in God, we enter God's rest.
Hebrews 4:10
Once we enter God's rest, we can stop being religious. We don't need to get to God based on our hard work! Even if we wanted to, we would never be able to, because we are not perfect, and we make mistakes.
James 2:10
"For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it."
Lucky for us, with Jesus fulfilling the Law, we are no longer under the Law today but under the Grace of God. When we place our faith in God, we can enter God's rest, because we no longer carry the burden to meet His standards. Jesus perfectly fulfilled the Law for all of us, and when we are cleansed by Jesus, God sees the righteousness of Jesus when He looks at us.
THE WORD OF GOD IS A DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD (Hebrews 4:12-13)
The Word of God is alive, because the Word was made flesh, and the Word is Jesus (John 1:1).
God wrote the Bible (2 Timothy 3:16) through human authors. These authors were inspired by the Holy Spirit to document events dictated by God (2 Peter 1:21).
The Word of God is alive also because it remains relevant even today. Comparatively, say, science fiction written 10 years ago is no longer novel. The Word of God is alive because it gives life. It is our spiritual food.
The Word of God is powerful. The Word saves. It speaks of salvation. It accomplishes God's tasks.
The Word of God is a double-edged sword. When Jesus was tempted by Satan, what does Jesus do? Jesus deterred Satan's tactics by quoting the Scripture.
The Word of God is a double-edged sword because it speaks of both God's judgment and grace. God gave us His Word as a weapon against Satan and demons. To effectively protect ourselves, we therefore need to know how to hack with both sides of the blade, as opposed to picking one or the other based on personal preferences. (For example, "I'll just read about the love of God, because I don't like to think about Satan and demons." Or, "I am armed and ready to defend the Bible. There is no room for love because we live in a hard, hard world.") There is a time for tender love, and there is time for tough love. We need to learn how to love and support Christians and non-Christians under any circumstance.
The Word of God pierces. It gets to the innermost core of a human being. It convicts like no other material. Importantly, the Word of God reveals the heart of a person--not to others but to him/herself. The Word of God sifts through our thoughts, intents, and purposes.
The heart is deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9). By reading the Bible often, we can keep our heart in check and remain close to God. The Word will shine deep into our heart and guide us. The Word of God is the great revealer. It shows us what we need to change in our lives.
The Bible is alive. It is powerful. It penetrates. And it discerns.
JESUS IS OUR GREAT HIGH PRIEST (Hebrews 4:14-16)
"For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."
Jesus has been through what we have been through--and worse. Yet, He suffered through it all WITHOUT sin.
Therefore...
1) He knows about our sufferings and exactly how we suffer. He isn't a ruler who sits in an ivory tower and knows nothing of the joys and struggles of His people. He's been where we have been, and He has suffered what we are suffering, and He has conquered it all. We can therefore look to Him for guidance and support, because He knows what He's talking about.
2) Because Jesus has conquered all without sin, He is the only one who can redeem us. He is our High Priest, ready to defend us in front of the Father. We just have to ask Jesus to be our Great Counselor.
BEST REST AVAILABLE (Hebrews 4:1-11)
When God rested on the seventh day, there was no distinction between day and night (Genesis 2:2). That is, this rest continues forever. This is the ultimate rest we should hope to enter, His sabbath rest.
Hebrews 4:1-2
The author warns us to be careful that we would enter His rest. What does that mean, "be careful?" Our heart needs to be vigilantly guarded. It is not enough to just know God. We must also trust God, place our faith in God. Why?
James 2:19
"You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that--and shudder."
In addition to knowing God, we must also trust that knowledge of God! And when we place our full trust in God, we enter God's rest.
Hebrews 4:10
Once we enter God's rest, we can stop being religious. We don't need to get to God based on our hard work! Even if we wanted to, we would never be able to, because we are not perfect, and we make mistakes.
James 2:10
"For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it."
Lucky for us, with Jesus fulfilling the Law, we are no longer under the Law today but under the Grace of God. When we place our faith in God, we can enter God's rest, because we no longer carry the burden to meet His standards. Jesus perfectly fulfilled the Law for all of us, and when we are cleansed by Jesus, God sees the righteousness of Jesus when He looks at us.
THE WORD OF GOD IS A DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD (Hebrews 4:12-13)
The Word of God is alive, because the Word was made flesh, and the Word is Jesus (John 1:1).
God wrote the Bible (2 Timothy 3:16) through human authors. These authors were inspired by the Holy Spirit to document events dictated by God (2 Peter 1:21).
The Word of God is alive also because it remains relevant even today. Comparatively, say, science fiction written 10 years ago is no longer novel. The Word of God is alive because it gives life. It is our spiritual food.
The Word of God is powerful. The Word saves. It speaks of salvation. It accomplishes God's tasks.
The Word of God is a double-edged sword. When Jesus was tempted by Satan, what does Jesus do? Jesus deterred Satan's tactics by quoting the Scripture.
The Word of God is a double-edged sword because it speaks of both God's judgment and grace. God gave us His Word as a weapon against Satan and demons. To effectively protect ourselves, we therefore need to know how to hack with both sides of the blade, as opposed to picking one or the other based on personal preferences. (For example, "I'll just read about the love of God, because I don't like to think about Satan and demons." Or, "I am armed and ready to defend the Bible. There is no room for love because we live in a hard, hard world.") There is a time for tender love, and there is time for tough love. We need to learn how to love and support Christians and non-Christians under any circumstance.
The Word of God pierces. It gets to the innermost core of a human being. It convicts like no other material. Importantly, the Word of God reveals the heart of a person--not to others but to him/herself. The Word of God sifts through our thoughts, intents, and purposes.
The heart is deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9). By reading the Bible often, we can keep our heart in check and remain close to God. The Word will shine deep into our heart and guide us. The Word of God is the great revealer. It shows us what we need to change in our lives.
The Bible is alive. It is powerful. It penetrates. And it discerns.
JESUS IS OUR GREAT HIGH PRIEST (Hebrews 4:14-16)
"For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."
Jesus has been through what we have been through--and worse. Yet, He suffered through it all WITHOUT sin.
Therefore...
1) He knows about our sufferings and exactly how we suffer. He isn't a ruler who sits in an ivory tower and knows nothing of the joys and struggles of His people. He's been where we have been, and He has suffered what we are suffering, and He has conquered it all. We can therefore look to Him for guidance and support, because He knows what He's talking about.
2) Because Jesus has conquered all without sin, He is the only one who can redeem us. He is our High Priest, ready to defend us in front of the Father. We just have to ask Jesus to be our Great Counselor.
A Logical Explanation for God
The following article was published in the May and June 2012 Personal Update News Journal from Koinonia House.
A LOGICAL EXPLANATION OF GOD
by Steve Elwart
Why is it so hard for some people to believe in God? The answers would probably be linked to personal, social, and possibly some intellectual reasons. Let’s explore this in more detail…
What is the reasoning that leads to belief in God? When talking to an atheist, trying to prove the existence of God using the Bible will not be considered a valid argument. Sometimes, the only way to convince a person of God’s existence is through pure logic. How would one respond to an atheist’s claim that there is no God?
A belief in God is a process based on three types of reasons.
1) Intellectual Reasons
This line of reasoning is based on a set of facts about God you believe to be true. If you investigate these facts and find the evidence compelling, you believe He exists. If the evidence is found wanting, you either disbelieve or take on an agnostic (1) worldview.
2) Personal Reasons
A person does not come to a belief in God by purely intellectual reasoning. Such belief is also a very personal one and these reasons vary. Some people have bad experiences and tragedies in their life as well as difficulties and disappointments. Some people will take these experiences and say, “I really need God in my life. I can’t get through this alone and I need help beyond my own understanding.” Others will take these same set of circumstances and say either “I don’t need a God who lets something like this happen,” or “If there really was a God, He wouldn’t have let this happen.” Belief in God is a very personal experience and that belief (or disbelief) is seen through the lens of one’s own experience.
3) Social Reasons
There is a field study called “The Sociology of Knowledge” popularized by Karl Mannheim (1893-1947), a professor of sociology and economics at the University of Frankfurt. Mannheim posited that one tends to believe in the same things as people whom you want to befriend. These are people that you need, are dependent on, or are in a group you want to be associated with. A simpler way to say it is “peer pressure.” The group’s beliefs seem to be more reasonable than those people with whom you do not want to be associated.
The most obvious example of this is the common problem of raising children in a Christian home. They read their Bible; they go to church and Sunday school. Then they are off on their own, either in their teen years at home or off to college. Many will fall in with the “wrong crowd.” If they do not have a strong Christian background and really know Christ and know why Christ is our Redeemer, they can become lost. They find that their “new friends” may not have the same value system they do and may lose their faith in God (2). Conversely, if these same people find friends with their same worldview, the same love of God, their faith can be reinforced. It is much easier to go along with the temper of one’s peer group than to set the tone for the group. As evangelist Ben Courson once put it, “It is harder to be a thermostat than a thermometer.” Belief or non-belief in God cannot be reduced to just one of these factors. All three factors are in play.
WHY BELIEVE IN GOD?
Bringing a person to a belief is a process. This process consists of three steps:
1. It takes as much faith to not believe in God as it does to believe in God.
2. It takes more of a leap of faith in the dark to disbelieve in God than to believe in God.
3. While one can reason to a point of probability that there is a God, it takes personal commitment to get to know that God exists as a certainty.
If one progresses through these three steps, they can come to know God.
1) IT TAKES AS MUCH FAITH TO NOT BELIEVE IN GOD AS IT DOES TO BELIEVE IN GOD.
The following are some of the arguments that are brought up to prove there is no God.
EVIL AND SUFFERING
The first one is the argument from evil and suffering. This is the argument: There is senseless evil in the world. Given that pointless evil, there may be a God who’s good but not powerful enough to stop it or there may be a God who’s all powerful enough but not good enough to want to stop it. But given evil and suffering in the world there can’t be an all-good and all-powerful God or he would stop it and therefore the God of the Bible cannot exist.
One of the leading philosophers of today is William Alston of Syracuse University who recently wrote that the effort to demonstrate that evil disproves the existence of God “is now acknowledged on (almost) all sides to be completely bankrupt.”
When you say there can’t be a God because of all the pointless evil in the world, here is the question, “How do you know it is pointless?”
The only answer is that the reason is not apparent. So the premise is, “If one cannot think of a good reason for God to allow suffering to continue, there can’t be any.” That means that if you have a God that is big enough to be mad at for evil and suffering, then you have a God that is powerful enough to allow evil and suffering to continue. You can’t have it both ways.
There are people that have had terrible things happen to them in their life and they turned from God. At the same time, there are many people who had every bit as much suffering and that suffering turned them toward God. Personal suffering, the experience of suffering, or the philosophical question of suffering do not disprove the existence of God.
THE QUESTION OF VIOLENCE AND OPPRESSION IN THE NAME OF GOD
This is also a concept called “The Hitchens Argument” against the reality of God. The argument is as follows: “If there really is a God, how could his believers have done so much evil in the history of the world?”
The answer to that lies not in the reality of God, but in the human heart. There must be something in Man that is so perverse, so prone to violence and oppression that it can actually twist any worldview, any philosophy, and any state of belief with regard to God into violence.
Japanese militarism of World War II had its roots in Buddhism and Shintoism. From Christianity came everything from the Crusades of the 11th and 12th century to people of today shooting abortion doctors. Out of Islam comes global terrorism.
However, out of atheism came Stalin, the ovens of Dachau, Mao’s “Great Leap Forward,” and the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia.
There is a Polish poet, Czesław Miłosz, who wrote “The Discreet Charms of Nihilism (3).” In it he writes that if you believe there is a God, it is fairly easy to twist that belief into violence because one can shape life and morals according to one’s own personal belief without any accountability. A person could say, “I have the truth; you don’t” and “I’m a better person; you are an inferior person” and thus impose the “superior” person’s values, even at the point of a gun.
Ultimately, what does this mean in terms of a belief in God? It means the argument ends in a tie. It does not disprove God nor does it disprove atheism. The theist could say, “Look at Stalin.” The atheist could say, “Look at Christianity; look at the Crusades.” This particular argument proves nothing except the natural depravity of the human heart.
Augustine of Hippo (354–430 a.d.) offered the following explanation: Evil is the absence of good, in the same way as darkness is the absence of light. It is possible for something created good to diminish in goodness, to become corrupted. Evil crept in when creatures endowed with free will—the angels, lesser spirits (which became demons) and human beings—turned away from higher or more complete goods, and chose lesser ones. It is arguable that Adam (and Satan) did not just choose merely “lesser goods” but fundamental evils (4).
Augustine argued that God allowed evil to come, so that in the end a greater good may prevail. He also wrote that evil was finite—limited and ultimately to be overcome, and that good was infinite (as God is to reign in heaven—the eternal city of God).
Therefore, God did not cause sin to happen, but when sin came into the world, He chose to allow it to occur so that a greater good could emerge. What appears to be evil at first may be seen as a path toward a greater good.
The death of Christ on the cross was an evil, but the ultimate good—the triumph of salvation—came out of it.
Atheists will admit the existence of good, altruism, philanthropy, etc. is a problem for their worldview, because it does not make evolutionary sense as it would if chance creation and natural selection were true. Atheists are left with the reality of evil.
2) IT TAKES MORE OF A LEAP OF FAITH IN THE DARK TO DISBELIEVE IN GOD THAN TO BELIEVE IN GOD.
The 18th century English poet William Cowper, wrote: “The absence of proof is not proof of absence.” It is a logical fallacy to say that because one cannot prove there is a God, it means there is no God.
There were those who sought to prove that the earth was flat with a similar argument. That line of reasoning was eventually disproved and is considered irrational.
Furthermore, good science can only offer hypothesis and theories based upon data currently available to explain phenomena. Therefore, by the very standards that science uses, the burden of disproof of the existence of God must be borne by the atheist (5).
The argument people will make is: “Until you prove there is a God; until you show rational empirical proof, I don’t have to believe in God. Therefore, until you prove there is a God, there is no God.”
The problem is that the stance requires a big leap of faith. (Even those people who believe that our reality isn’t “real” still look both ways before they cross the street.)
How can one prove that God who created the universe is not somewhere in the universe?
In the above argument, one could say they believe that Manhattan does not exist if they have not gone to Manhattan themselves. Why then does God have to be so inside the world that He can be provable?
The very argument also requires a leap of faith. One is actually assuming something about the nature of God in order to say He doesn’t exist.
C.S. Lewis wrote an article in 1961 that addresses this issue. The Russians were the first country to send somebody into space, Yuri Gagarin. After his flight, Gagarin came back and a few months later the Premier of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev, was giving a speech at the plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU (6).
In talking about atheism he said, “Gagarin flew into space, but didn’t see any god there (7).” [It is interesting to note that Gagarin himself was a member of the Russian Orthodox Church (8).] In response, C.S. Lewis wrote this: If there is a God who created the world and created us, I could no more “meet” Him, than Hamlet could meet Shakespeare. If Hamlet wants to prove there is a Shakespeare, he’s not going to be able to do it in a lab, nor is he going to be able to find Shakespeare by going up into the top of the stage. The only way he will know something about Shakespeare is if Shakespeare writes something about himself into the play (9).
What that means is if there is a Creator God, you can only prove His existence if He injects Himself into his own creation.
If one can’t prove that there is no God that also means there may be a God, just One whom we can’t prove exists. If one is living their life as if there is no God because His existence can’t be proven, then there is a risk.
Disbelief is an act of faith. Disbelief is as much an act of faith as a person who gives themselves to God and the one who does not believe is taking their destiny in their hands. Also, the existence of God makes more sense of the things in the observable universe then if there is no God. Two examples of this are the anthropic principle and human rights.
THE ANTHROPIC PRINCIPLE
One of the most compelling evidences supporting a theistic worldview involves the anthropic principle. The anthropic principle observes that the earth is fashioned so precisely that life could not exist if the earth were even minutely different. Atheists acknowledge this and then argue that, although the universe is incredibly complex and wonderfully ordered, one should not be surprised that life came into existence through random process, because the very fact that we exist demonstrates that evolution occurred.
The fundamental problem with this argument is that it is merely a philosophical statement that relies on circular reasoning. It assumes that chance accounts for the origin of life and then states, because life exists, there is proof that life came to be by chance.
The value of the anthropic principle, as a support for God, lies in its recognition that life can exist only within very narrow margins.
For example, if the earth was located closer or farther from the sun, life could not exist due to excessive heat or cold. If the chemical composition of the atmosphere varied only slightly, the air would be poisonous to life. If the sea-to-land mass ratio, depth of the oceans, and the earth’s cloud cover were different, the earth’s ability to store and release heat would change dramatically. All such events could result in the absence of life on earth.
Rather than all of these variables being the result of accidental processes (luck), it appears much more probable that the earth was specifically designed to sustain life. And if it was designed, there must be a Designer—God.
HUMAN RIGHTS
Alan Dershowitz in his book, Shouting Fire, has a chapter on the origin of human rights. Dershowitz says human rights is the belief that human beings are so worthwhile that regardless of age, regardless of ethnicity, regardless of gender, regardless of social status, or regardless of how much wealth you have, every human being is of great worth and has certain rights that can’t be exploited or trampled upon.
Now the question comes, “Why should we believe that?”
The first possibility, Dershowitz says, is that we believe that God created human beings and therefore they are sacred; they are made in the image of God.
The second possibility is, “Maybe we find this in nature.” If we look out at nature, do we see that human beings as individuals are valuable?
“No,” Dershowitz says, because all you see out there is the strong eating the weak. That’s how you got here; it’s called evolution.
To believe in human rights is to say everything else in nature is wrong, but why would it be wrong unless you believe in God or a supernatural standard by which to judge? How can you judge that nature is unnatural? Where did you get your idea?
The third possibility is that human beings form human rights ourselves. Legislative majorities create human rights. They’re not discovered, they’re legislated. Morality is something man creates, so we created it.
Society, through a legislative majority, decided human rights make society work better and therefore it is more practical to believe in human rights. So man creates human rights, but Dershowitz says that will never work.
What the argument is advocating is a belief, for example, that genocide is only wrong because man says it is. Therefore if 51% want to vote to take away the rights of 49% and destroy them, nobody can say, “How dare you!” because genocide is wrong only because man says its wrong and now a majority doesn’t say it’s wrong.
By this argument, the whole value of rights is to say to the majority “you have to honor the rights of others.”
Human rights are discovered. They can’t be created. They don’t come from nature, they aren’t created, they just exist. So if one doesn’t believe in God why does one believe in human rights? The answer would be, “They’re just there. We don’t know why they are there—they probably shouldn’t be there—but they’re there.”
So, do human rights prove there is a God? No. The point of the argument is that human rights make sense. If there is no God, human rights don’t make much sense, since one doesn’t know where they came from. If this is true, then a belief in God makes more sense than non-belief.
One can’t “prove” God, one can only show that in issue after issue, the existence of God makes more sense than the absence of one.
If there is a God, then the idea of justice and injustice and the idea of genocide being wrong make sense. If there is no God, it takes a leap of faith to say, “I don’t know why it’s wrong; I just feel it’s wrong.”
It’s a bigger leap of faith to believe in human rights if one doesn’t believe in God than if one does. It is a leap of faith to say somehow human beings are valuable if there is no God, than if there is.
So why would one say they do not believe in God? Why is it so hard to believe in God? The reasons would probably be linked to personal, social, and possibly some intellectual reasons. All of the above arguments only takes one through the realm of possibility. It only goes to prove that it is more likely that God does exist rather than not exist. It does not mean one can’t be certain.
3) IT TAKES PERSONAL COMMITMENT TO KNOW THAT GOD EXISTS AS A CERTAINTY
Ultimately, the issue becomes one of personal commitment. Weak faith in something strong is infinitely better than strong faith in something weak, because it is the object of one’s faith, not the strength of that faith, that saves him.
One can rationalize all they want, but until one makes a personal commitment, one can’t really know.
As was previously written, C.S. Lewis said that if there is a God the only way one would know about him is if he was like Shakespeare; he would have to write some information about himself into the play.
That is what the Bible attests to. Christianity says God wrote Himself into the play!
Therefore, if personal commitment is the key to certainty, Christianity has an advantage because one has a powerful argument; one has a powerful person, Jesus Christ, against whom, in the end, there can be no argument.
References
(1) In this sense, an agnostic worldview is one where a person says he cannot know that God even exists. The term, first coined by Thomas Huxley, covers varying degrees of skepticism. Agnostics are followers of pragmatism; their belief in something has to be scientifically verifiable, and because God is not scientifically verifiable, they leave Him out of their discussion. (Paul P. Enns, The Moody Handbook of Theology (Chicago, Ill.: Moody Press, 1997), 185.)
(2) On a personal note, it is hard for me to believe that any thinking person cannot believe in God, Supreme Being, or Higher Power. I believe that most people that say they do not believe in God are merely angry at Him.
(3) http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/1998/nov/19/discreet-charm-of-nihilism/
(4) Edgar C. Powell, On Giants’ Shoulders: Studies in Christian Apologetics (Epsom, UK: Day One Publications, 1999), 73.
(5) http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/the-absence-of-proof-is-not-proof-of-absence
(6) Communist Party of the Soviet Union
(7) http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Yuri_Gagarin
(8) http://www.oodegr.com/english/epistimi/gagarin1.htm
(9) Lewis, C.S., The Screwtape Letters, Time Inc. 1961.
A LOGICAL EXPLANATION OF GOD
by Steve Elwart
Why is it so hard for some people to believe in God? The answers would probably be linked to personal, social, and possibly some intellectual reasons. Let’s explore this in more detail…
What is the reasoning that leads to belief in God? When talking to an atheist, trying to prove the existence of God using the Bible will not be considered a valid argument. Sometimes, the only way to convince a person of God’s existence is through pure logic. How would one respond to an atheist’s claim that there is no God?
A belief in God is a process based on three types of reasons.
1) Intellectual Reasons
This line of reasoning is based on a set of facts about God you believe to be true. If you investigate these facts and find the evidence compelling, you believe He exists. If the evidence is found wanting, you either disbelieve or take on an agnostic (1) worldview.
2) Personal Reasons
A person does not come to a belief in God by purely intellectual reasoning. Such belief is also a very personal one and these reasons vary. Some people have bad experiences and tragedies in their life as well as difficulties and disappointments. Some people will take these experiences and say, “I really need God in my life. I can’t get through this alone and I need help beyond my own understanding.” Others will take these same set of circumstances and say either “I don’t need a God who lets something like this happen,” or “If there really was a God, He wouldn’t have let this happen.” Belief in God is a very personal experience and that belief (or disbelief) is seen through the lens of one’s own experience.
3) Social Reasons
There is a field study called “The Sociology of Knowledge” popularized by Karl Mannheim (1893-1947), a professor of sociology and economics at the University of Frankfurt. Mannheim posited that one tends to believe in the same things as people whom you want to befriend. These are people that you need, are dependent on, or are in a group you want to be associated with. A simpler way to say it is “peer pressure.” The group’s beliefs seem to be more reasonable than those people with whom you do not want to be associated.
The most obvious example of this is the common problem of raising children in a Christian home. They read their Bible; they go to church and Sunday school. Then they are off on their own, either in their teen years at home or off to college. Many will fall in with the “wrong crowd.” If they do not have a strong Christian background and really know Christ and know why Christ is our Redeemer, they can become lost. They find that their “new friends” may not have the same value system they do and may lose their faith in God (2). Conversely, if these same people find friends with their same worldview, the same love of God, their faith can be reinforced. It is much easier to go along with the temper of one’s peer group than to set the tone for the group. As evangelist Ben Courson once put it, “It is harder to be a thermostat than a thermometer.” Belief or non-belief in God cannot be reduced to just one of these factors. All three factors are in play.
WHY BELIEVE IN GOD?
Bringing a person to a belief is a process. This process consists of three steps:
1. It takes as much faith to not believe in God as it does to believe in God.
2. It takes more of a leap of faith in the dark to disbelieve in God than to believe in God.
3. While one can reason to a point of probability that there is a God, it takes personal commitment to get to know that God exists as a certainty.
If one progresses through these three steps, they can come to know God.
1) IT TAKES AS MUCH FAITH TO NOT BELIEVE IN GOD AS IT DOES TO BELIEVE IN GOD.
The following are some of the arguments that are brought up to prove there is no God.
EVIL AND SUFFERING
The first one is the argument from evil and suffering. This is the argument: There is senseless evil in the world. Given that pointless evil, there may be a God who’s good but not powerful enough to stop it or there may be a God who’s all powerful enough but not good enough to want to stop it. But given evil and suffering in the world there can’t be an all-good and all-powerful God or he would stop it and therefore the God of the Bible cannot exist.
One of the leading philosophers of today is William Alston of Syracuse University who recently wrote that the effort to demonstrate that evil disproves the existence of God “is now acknowledged on (almost) all sides to be completely bankrupt.”
When you say there can’t be a God because of all the pointless evil in the world, here is the question, “How do you know it is pointless?”
The only answer is that the reason is not apparent. So the premise is, “If one cannot think of a good reason for God to allow suffering to continue, there can’t be any.” That means that if you have a God that is big enough to be mad at for evil and suffering, then you have a God that is powerful enough to allow evil and suffering to continue. You can’t have it both ways.
There are people that have had terrible things happen to them in their life and they turned from God. At the same time, there are many people who had every bit as much suffering and that suffering turned them toward God. Personal suffering, the experience of suffering, or the philosophical question of suffering do not disprove the existence of God.
THE QUESTION OF VIOLENCE AND OPPRESSION IN THE NAME OF GOD
This is also a concept called “The Hitchens Argument” against the reality of God. The argument is as follows: “If there really is a God, how could his believers have done so much evil in the history of the world?”
The answer to that lies not in the reality of God, but in the human heart. There must be something in Man that is so perverse, so prone to violence and oppression that it can actually twist any worldview, any philosophy, and any state of belief with regard to God into violence.
Japanese militarism of World War II had its roots in Buddhism and Shintoism. From Christianity came everything from the Crusades of the 11th and 12th century to people of today shooting abortion doctors. Out of Islam comes global terrorism.
However, out of atheism came Stalin, the ovens of Dachau, Mao’s “Great Leap Forward,” and the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia.
There is a Polish poet, Czesław Miłosz, who wrote “The Discreet Charms of Nihilism (3).” In it he writes that if you believe there is a God, it is fairly easy to twist that belief into violence because one can shape life and morals according to one’s own personal belief without any accountability. A person could say, “I have the truth; you don’t” and “I’m a better person; you are an inferior person” and thus impose the “superior” person’s values, even at the point of a gun.
Ultimately, what does this mean in terms of a belief in God? It means the argument ends in a tie. It does not disprove God nor does it disprove atheism. The theist could say, “Look at Stalin.” The atheist could say, “Look at Christianity; look at the Crusades.” This particular argument proves nothing except the natural depravity of the human heart.
Augustine of Hippo (354–430 a.d.) offered the following explanation: Evil is the absence of good, in the same way as darkness is the absence of light. It is possible for something created good to diminish in goodness, to become corrupted. Evil crept in when creatures endowed with free will—the angels, lesser spirits (which became demons) and human beings—turned away from higher or more complete goods, and chose lesser ones. It is arguable that Adam (and Satan) did not just choose merely “lesser goods” but fundamental evils (4).
Augustine argued that God allowed evil to come, so that in the end a greater good may prevail. He also wrote that evil was finite—limited and ultimately to be overcome, and that good was infinite (as God is to reign in heaven—the eternal city of God).
Therefore, God did not cause sin to happen, but when sin came into the world, He chose to allow it to occur so that a greater good could emerge. What appears to be evil at first may be seen as a path toward a greater good.
The death of Christ on the cross was an evil, but the ultimate good—the triumph of salvation—came out of it.
Atheists will admit the existence of good, altruism, philanthropy, etc. is a problem for their worldview, because it does not make evolutionary sense as it would if chance creation and natural selection were true. Atheists are left with the reality of evil.
2) IT TAKES MORE OF A LEAP OF FAITH IN THE DARK TO DISBELIEVE IN GOD THAN TO BELIEVE IN GOD.
The 18th century English poet William Cowper, wrote: “The absence of proof is not proof of absence.” It is a logical fallacy to say that because one cannot prove there is a God, it means there is no God.
There were those who sought to prove that the earth was flat with a similar argument. That line of reasoning was eventually disproved and is considered irrational.
Furthermore, good science can only offer hypothesis and theories based upon data currently available to explain phenomena. Therefore, by the very standards that science uses, the burden of disproof of the existence of God must be borne by the atheist (5).
The argument people will make is: “Until you prove there is a God; until you show rational empirical proof, I don’t have to believe in God. Therefore, until you prove there is a God, there is no God.”
The problem is that the stance requires a big leap of faith. (Even those people who believe that our reality isn’t “real” still look both ways before they cross the street.)
How can one prove that God who created the universe is not somewhere in the universe?
In the above argument, one could say they believe that Manhattan does not exist if they have not gone to Manhattan themselves. Why then does God have to be so inside the world that He can be provable?
The very argument also requires a leap of faith. One is actually assuming something about the nature of God in order to say He doesn’t exist.
C.S. Lewis wrote an article in 1961 that addresses this issue. The Russians were the first country to send somebody into space, Yuri Gagarin. After his flight, Gagarin came back and a few months later the Premier of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev, was giving a speech at the plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU (6).
In talking about atheism he said, “Gagarin flew into space, but didn’t see any god there (7).” [It is interesting to note that Gagarin himself was a member of the Russian Orthodox Church (8).] In response, C.S. Lewis wrote this: If there is a God who created the world and created us, I could no more “meet” Him, than Hamlet could meet Shakespeare. If Hamlet wants to prove there is a Shakespeare, he’s not going to be able to do it in a lab, nor is he going to be able to find Shakespeare by going up into the top of the stage. The only way he will know something about Shakespeare is if Shakespeare writes something about himself into the play (9).
What that means is if there is a Creator God, you can only prove His existence if He injects Himself into his own creation.
If one can’t prove that there is no God that also means there may be a God, just One whom we can’t prove exists. If one is living their life as if there is no God because His existence can’t be proven, then there is a risk.
Disbelief is an act of faith. Disbelief is as much an act of faith as a person who gives themselves to God and the one who does not believe is taking their destiny in their hands. Also, the existence of God makes more sense of the things in the observable universe then if there is no God. Two examples of this are the anthropic principle and human rights.
THE ANTHROPIC PRINCIPLE
One of the most compelling evidences supporting a theistic worldview involves the anthropic principle. The anthropic principle observes that the earth is fashioned so precisely that life could not exist if the earth were even minutely different. Atheists acknowledge this and then argue that, although the universe is incredibly complex and wonderfully ordered, one should not be surprised that life came into existence through random process, because the very fact that we exist demonstrates that evolution occurred.
The fundamental problem with this argument is that it is merely a philosophical statement that relies on circular reasoning. It assumes that chance accounts for the origin of life and then states, because life exists, there is proof that life came to be by chance.
The value of the anthropic principle, as a support for God, lies in its recognition that life can exist only within very narrow margins.
For example, if the earth was located closer or farther from the sun, life could not exist due to excessive heat or cold. If the chemical composition of the atmosphere varied only slightly, the air would be poisonous to life. If the sea-to-land mass ratio, depth of the oceans, and the earth’s cloud cover were different, the earth’s ability to store and release heat would change dramatically. All such events could result in the absence of life on earth.
Rather than all of these variables being the result of accidental processes (luck), it appears much more probable that the earth was specifically designed to sustain life. And if it was designed, there must be a Designer—God.
HUMAN RIGHTS
Alan Dershowitz in his book, Shouting Fire, has a chapter on the origin of human rights. Dershowitz says human rights is the belief that human beings are so worthwhile that regardless of age, regardless of ethnicity, regardless of gender, regardless of social status, or regardless of how much wealth you have, every human being is of great worth and has certain rights that can’t be exploited or trampled upon.
Now the question comes, “Why should we believe that?”
The first possibility, Dershowitz says, is that we believe that God created human beings and therefore they are sacred; they are made in the image of God.
The second possibility is, “Maybe we find this in nature.” If we look out at nature, do we see that human beings as individuals are valuable?
“No,” Dershowitz says, because all you see out there is the strong eating the weak. That’s how you got here; it’s called evolution.
To believe in human rights is to say everything else in nature is wrong, but why would it be wrong unless you believe in God or a supernatural standard by which to judge? How can you judge that nature is unnatural? Where did you get your idea?
The third possibility is that human beings form human rights ourselves. Legislative majorities create human rights. They’re not discovered, they’re legislated. Morality is something man creates, so we created it.
Society, through a legislative majority, decided human rights make society work better and therefore it is more practical to believe in human rights. So man creates human rights, but Dershowitz says that will never work.
What the argument is advocating is a belief, for example, that genocide is only wrong because man says it is. Therefore if 51% want to vote to take away the rights of 49% and destroy them, nobody can say, “How dare you!” because genocide is wrong only because man says its wrong and now a majority doesn’t say it’s wrong.
By this argument, the whole value of rights is to say to the majority “you have to honor the rights of others.”
Human rights are discovered. They can’t be created. They don’t come from nature, they aren’t created, they just exist. So if one doesn’t believe in God why does one believe in human rights? The answer would be, “They’re just there. We don’t know why they are there—they probably shouldn’t be there—but they’re there.”
So, do human rights prove there is a God? No. The point of the argument is that human rights make sense. If there is no God, human rights don’t make much sense, since one doesn’t know where they came from. If this is true, then a belief in God makes more sense than non-belief.
One can’t “prove” God, one can only show that in issue after issue, the existence of God makes more sense than the absence of one.
If there is a God, then the idea of justice and injustice and the idea of genocide being wrong make sense. If there is no God, it takes a leap of faith to say, “I don’t know why it’s wrong; I just feel it’s wrong.”
It’s a bigger leap of faith to believe in human rights if one doesn’t believe in God than if one does. It is a leap of faith to say somehow human beings are valuable if there is no God, than if there is.
So why would one say they do not believe in God? Why is it so hard to believe in God? The reasons would probably be linked to personal, social, and possibly some intellectual reasons. All of the above arguments only takes one through the realm of possibility. It only goes to prove that it is more likely that God does exist rather than not exist. It does not mean one can’t be certain.
3) IT TAKES PERSONAL COMMITMENT TO KNOW THAT GOD EXISTS AS A CERTAINTY
Ultimately, the issue becomes one of personal commitment. Weak faith in something strong is infinitely better than strong faith in something weak, because it is the object of one’s faith, not the strength of that faith, that saves him.
One can rationalize all they want, but until one makes a personal commitment, one can’t really know.
As was previously written, C.S. Lewis said that if there is a God the only way one would know about him is if he was like Shakespeare; he would have to write some information about himself into the play.
That is what the Bible attests to. Christianity says God wrote Himself into the play!
Therefore, if personal commitment is the key to certainty, Christianity has an advantage because one has a powerful argument; one has a powerful person, Jesus Christ, against whom, in the end, there can be no argument.
References
(1) In this sense, an agnostic worldview is one where a person says he cannot know that God even exists. The term, first coined by Thomas Huxley, covers varying degrees of skepticism. Agnostics are followers of pragmatism; their belief in something has to be scientifically verifiable, and because God is not scientifically verifiable, they leave Him out of their discussion. (Paul P. Enns, The Moody Handbook of Theology (Chicago, Ill.: Moody Press, 1997), 185.)
(2) On a personal note, it is hard for me to believe that any thinking person cannot believe in God, Supreme Being, or Higher Power. I believe that most people that say they do not believe in God are merely angry at Him.
(3) http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/1998/nov/19/discreet-charm-of-nihilism/
(4) Edgar C. Powell, On Giants’ Shoulders: Studies in Christian Apologetics (Epsom, UK: Day One Publications, 1999), 73.
(5) http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/the-absence-of-proof-is-not-proof-of-absence
(6) Communist Party of the Soviet Union
(7) http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Yuri_Gagarin
(8) http://www.oodegr.com/english/epistimi/gagarin1.htm
(9) Lewis, C.S., The Screwtape Letters, Time Inc. 1961.
Friday, June 1, 2012
Hebrews 3
Bible study with Pastor Terry Gray
Jesus is greater than Moses (Hebrews 3:1-6)
Men and women of God are servants, for example, Moses.
Hebrews 3:2, 3:5
Numbers 12
Moses was faithful. He was faithful to God, faithful to Israel, faithful to his people.
It's important to read Hebrews as a Christian Jew back in the days. For them, the Temple was still standing! Can you imagine the dilemma they faced? The Jewish religious leaders condemned them and persecuted them on a daily basis. We also need to remember that Jesus didn't die at the hands of Romans. Jesus died because the Jewish religious leaders wanted Him dead. And if the Jewish leaders could murder Jesus, imagine what they would do to His followers! And so, many Christian Jews at the time considered going back to Judaism. They were under cruel persecution and often thought it might be wiser to go back to the way things were.
The author of Hebrews therefore encourages them to look at Jesus. The Jews placed a lot of emphasis on angels and great Jewish leaders like Moses. We saw in Hebrews 1, the author already hammered home that Jesus is greater than angels. Here, we see the author hammering home that Jesus is greater than Moses. Where is the author going with this? Well, the big idea here is, even when we face heavy persecution, we should remain hopeful, because Jesus beats EVERYTHING. When we are suffering and are ready to give up, we should remember that Jesus is our best safe house. Don't look back, because the past offers no eternal solution. Keep our eyes on Jesus, because He is our savior!
One additional inspiration from this passage is that despite how amazing people are at serving God (and there have been many great servants of God: Abraham, Moses,... Billy Graham, etc.), we need to still keep our eyes on Jesus. It's tempting to elevate these people, but they are just servants of God. If angels quickly told people to stop worshiping them, that should make it clear to us that no one deserves worship than God. Many early Christians also venerated Peter, but again, Peter also made it clear that he is another servant of God, just like the rest of us (1 Peter 5). The idea here is to worship God and only God. Be careful about elevating anyone or anything else.
Daily Precautions (Hebrews 3:7-19)
1. Listen even if we're scared (Hebrews 3:7-11)
2. Have a soft heart (Hebrews 3:12)
Have a heart that is always ready to listen, to learn
3. Deceit of sin hardens our heart (Hebrews 3:13)
4. Stay confident in the Lord (Hebrews 3:14)
5. Do not fall away from God (Hebrews 3:16-19)
Draw close to the God through prayers
Summary
In sum, we should keep our eyes on Jesus, who is our best everything. When Jesus told His disciples that He would send another like him (John), the Greek word used for "another" is the word for "another of the same kind." And who does Jesus send? The Holy Spirit, the 3rd person of God. Hence, even though Jesus is in Heaven right now, we still have His presence in us. With the Holy Spirit residing within us, we have someone who we can call up and just ask Him for comfort, for guidance, for support. Jesus is our future. Do not look back and seek the past just because it is more convenient or comfortable. Jesus is our only solution.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)