Fear and Trembling

Question to R. C. Sproul: Some modern theologians believe that we can’t prove God’s existence. They say that devising proofs for God’s existence is a useless exercise; it’s just a matter of faith; we don’t need reasons. Is that approach consistent with the Bible? Part of R. C.’s Answer: No, I don’t think it’s consistent with the Bible at all. I believe, first of all, that we can prove the existence of God. I think we can do more than just give evidence. I think we can argue compellingly for the existence of God, at least in terms of a self-existent, eternal being. Further, I think Aquinas was absolutely right when he developed the concept of a “necessary being”. What do we mean by a “necessary being”? We mean that this particular being is one who is both ontologically necessary, that is, that he is a being who cannot not be, as well as being a being who is logically necessary. When I say that God is logically necessary what I mean is this: it is illogical and inconceivable that you can...

“…most Americans believe that their major problem is something that has happened to them, and their solution is to be found within. In other words, they believe that they have an alien problem that is to be resolved with an inner solution . What the gospel says, however, is that we have an inner problem that demands and alien solution – a righteousness that is not our own. Once we begin to understand how that dichotomy comes together, we can see better how we can think we are talking about the gospel, yet people in this culture will hear it as merely a new form of therapy.” – R. Albert Mohler (“Preaching with the Culture in View,” in Preaching the Cross , Dever, Mark, et. al. p. 81) Recent events in my personal life have brought me face to face with my biggest problem, and I stare at him in the mirror every morning when I shave. I am my own worst enemy. I can’t blame Satan, or the media, or the moviemakers, or the magazine publishers, or the boss, or my wife. I am the one whose desi...

How do we know what we know? How do we know what is true? How do we evaluate one idea against another? How do we interpret the information our senses provide us? What do we see? Hear? Touch? Smell? Taste? These questions fascinate me. I first began to ask questions like this as I studied Human Factors Engineering (HFE) in graduate school. HFE is a branch of engineering that studies how a human being interacts with their environment, usually with respect to how we obtain information and how we perform work. We looked at basic types of mistakes that people make, the way we obtain information from our senses, the way we process that information, the way we decide to act, and the way we activate machine controls to act on that processed information. The field includes ergonomics , but it included much more than that. One of the things we learned right off the bat was that the way we interact with our environment is a process. Think of a black box with arrows going into the lef...

“…What is unique about Christianity among all the world religions is its central doctrine of a once-for-all atonement that is offered to people to grant them salvation… most religions have no provision for an atonement … Why would a world religion not consider an atonement necessary for redemption unless, in their view, God is less than holy? If God is perfectly just and people are not perfectly just, yet those people are trying to be in a vital relationship with God, you have a basic, overwhelming problem. How would a God who is holy and just accept in his presence unjust creatures? … Human beings who are unjust must be justified somehow to enter the presence of a holy God. That’s why the whole focus of Judeo-Christianity is at the point of atonement, which brings about reconciliation. But if you don’t believe that God is all that holy, there’s no need for any concept of reconciliation. We can live however we want because this kind of god is a cosmic bellhop who will overlook all of o...

I started a new discussion on Lee Strobel on Amazon.com with some of the comments below. I had a chance to review his soon to be published book, The Case for the Real Jesus . This is the most useful book he has written yet. He addresses many of the concerns raised by those outside the Christian faith. As usual with Strobel, the book is a collection of interviews he held with noted authorities on various aspects of the historical Jesus. He especially addresses the particular issues I see raised on the internet. The sections on the influence of pagan religions on early Christianity, the early composition and distribution of the gospels, and the selection of the books included in the traditional New Testament are particularly helpful. His straight forward, journalistic style of writing powerfully brings home the knowledge and convictions of those scholars and experts he interviews. I highly recommend this book.

Desiring God Ministries is looking for ideas to spread a resource of theirs: “Light and Heat,” an audio mp3 on CD resource . This is a great series of sermons for an introduction to John Piper. I love my copy. You can share your ideas here and possibly qualify to distribute 5,000 of the CDs.

Reformation 21 has posted a wonderful short article on the atonement by J. I. Packer . He avoids the temptation to oversimplify. He also confronts the issues head on. Here’s a quote: But I do not see how it can be denied that each New Testament book, whatever other job it may be doing, has in view, one way or another, Luther’s primary question: ‘How may a weak, perverse and guilty sinner find a gracious God?’… to the extent that modern developments, by filling our horizon with the great meta-narrative, distract us from pursuing Luther’s question in personal terms, they hinder as well as help in our appreciation of the gospel.

I have set through many talks on the story of David and Goliath. I thought you might be interested to hear some facts from a talk I heard given by Edmund P. Clowney on the White Horse Inn radio broadcast a few months ago. I have “jazzed up” the presentation a bit to make it more interesting. Clowney was a seminary professor at Westminster Theological Seminary before he passed away and did not have a dramatic flair. The story is in 1 Samuel 17:1-58 . Do not stop reading the story at verse 50. Everybody does that. It keeps the story G-rated, but makes it dull. Go ahead and read at least verses 51-54. It won’t hurt; it’s in the R-rated Bible that we have been given. Here we see David stand over the dead body of Goliath of Gath, reach down, and remove Goliath’s sword from the scabbard at his belt. He grabs Goliath’s hair, lifts his head, and cuts his head off at the neck. Verse 54 says he took the severed head to Jerusalem. We suspect from 2 Samuel 5:6 that Jerusalem was in the...

A good short article on morals in an atheistic world resides here . The article, by Dr. Phil Fernandes, gives a good short summary of my anti-hero: Friedrich Nietzsche. By “anti-hero,” I mean someone who I disagree with who I can nonetheless respect for his or her intellectual stance. Nietzsche is a philosopher who wrestled with the meaning of ethics in an atheist worldview. His basic conclusion was there were no transcendent ethics, and that we must create our own. He at least acknowledges the reality of a world without God and takes that view of the world to its logical conclusion. I believe that ethics are consistent and universal . God so created the universe that we have a moral sense that is a reliable guide to actions in the world . Nietzsche is also an example of ethics “thrown out the window” in the historical movements that adopted his philosophy . I pray for the day when all men will acknowledge the moral law and the Moral Lawgiver. The scary part is that none of us fo...

Desiring God Ministries has announced the theme and speaker for their National Conference, September 28 – 30, 2007 at the Minneapolis Convention Center. “Stand: A Call for the Endurance of the Saints.” The theme verse is Revelation 14:12: “Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.” More information is here . Registration is here .