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Showing posts from August, 2007

Nine Reasons Why Christianity is The Only True Religion, Part 6: Christianity Explains the Presence of Evil

A bridge in Minneapolis collapses. Nuclear weapons experimentation makes Kazakhstan home to people with awful disfigurement. A train wreck in Brazil kills eight and injures over 100. Civil war tears apart the hopes and dreams of children. Seemingly countless murders tear apart families. Evil, defined for this post as sin or injustice against another human being, is all around us. I am not about to try to give a comprehensive explanation for how evil came to be. I do not claim to be the kind of person who can mount a theodicy of any consequence. God created men with the ability to sin and the ability not to sin , but I cannot reason beyond that. I do not know the “how”; I just know the “is.” I know that evil exists. I know evil is present. I know evil is real. What must exist in order for evil and suffering to be truly wrong? Does not the existence of evil itself require a standard of good? Should I just accept evil as a part of the way the universe works? Should I accept a view o...

Nine Reasons Why Christianity is The Only True Religion, Part 5: Jesus is the Best Teacher and Example

There is no other religious leader like Jesus Christ. I do not have a respect for authority in and of itself. In general, I don’t care what a person’s position is, I will respect them only if they are worthy of respect. Just because his title is “boss” doesn’t mean that I will blindly follow his directives or do what he says. I do not care how many titles a person has, I will only listen to their teaching if I am convinced they are intelligent and trustworthy. That’s why Christ’s credentials as a teacher are so important to me. What makes a good teacher? I submit the following: His teachings are true, and he can prove it. He follows his own teaching. He cares for those he teaches. His teachings make a difference in the world. (Please note that I do not think a person must be male to be a good teacher. I use the masculine pronoun out of convention.) We have an accurate set of historical documents that describe the events of Christ’s life . Christ showed up on earth claiming to be God , ...

Nine Reasons Why Christianity is The Only True Religion, Part 4: God Makes Possible Logic, Rational Thought, and Science

Logic and Thought Have you ever spent an afternoon thinking about thinking? Most people I know would quickly answer with a resounding “no.” Some would throw in an expletive. I am afraid I am the type of person who thinks about thinking, and I am grateful to know I am not alone . One aspect of thinking is our ability to determine the internal consistency of ideas. We need to be able to know whether our thinking method itself is accurate. This is the realm of formal logic. Formal logic has always fascinated me. The laws of logic shape the way we think. They are an open window to the Christian God’s world. Take one for instance: the law of non-contradiction. It says that something can not be both A and Non-A at the same time, in the same relationship, and in the same sense. This law cannot be denied. To deny it is to affirm it. If you say, “The law of non-contradiction does not apply,” you could mean, “The law of non-contradiction does indeed apply.” The meanings would be the s...

Nine Reasons Why Christianity is The Only True Religion, Part 3: God Has Done What He Has Done

God is eternal. He has no beginning and no end. This is foundational for a popular argument for God’s existence. Reason demonstrates that something in the past must have always existed. It is not possible to count to the end of the series of real numbers. You can always count one more. It is, in one sense, an infinite series of discrete things. You can’t move to the end of a string like that. It has no end. It is similarly impossible to through an infinite series of moments of time, if time is in fact a discrete series of real moments. For example, if time extends forward out to infinity then it is obvious it will never end. Reversing the process, if time extends infinitely into the past, time would never have arrived at this moment. (See note below on time.) Similarly, we cannot expect that an infinite regress of finite causes exists either. That is, if we move backward from ourselves to the things that caused the things we perceive in our world now, then backward to the things that c...

Nine Reasons Why Christianity is The Only True Religion, Part 2: God is Who He Is

There are some problems that can be solved intuitively. As an engineering major I was often faced with complex problems in mathematics, chemistry, physics, and other engineering disciplines that required much thought to solve. I was often guided by my intuition, a kind of problem-solving method best describe by the phrase “AH-HA, now I see it.” I was often able to see the answer without consciously thinking through the problem. Of course, I had to go back to the beginning, reason through my answer and provide that line of reasoning to get credit for the problem on an exam. The “AH-HA method” guided me through many problems and exercises. It guides me through many decisions I make today as a manager and consultant. Of course, I have to go back to data and facts derived from observation to make my case. I must still justify my actions to others. Does this mean the “AH-HA method” is inferior? Yes, it does. Decisions should be made based on facts. We must explain the real world as we f...

Nine Reasons Why Christianity is The Only True Religion, Part 1

I had promised a series of posts on this subject earlier . I have modified the outline somewhat. This is the first of a series of posts outlining the reasons I have chosen to remain within the faith of my childhood. I was raised in a Christian home, by Christian parents. With the exception of several years in college, I have attended church my entire life. Does this mean I am biased? Yes, but that does not mean I am wrong . The strength or weakness of an argument should be evaluated independent of the circumstances of the person giving the argument. I am an intelligent, independent adult. I am not now a “product of my raising.” I am a Christian by choice, and my religion is my own. I have come to believe that God has changed my heart to allow me to believe in Him against my natural inclinations . I like the way Cornelius Van Till addresses those concerns here . Here is a revised outline: 1. God is who He is. 2. He has done what He has done. 3. He makes possible logic, rationa...

Christ The Hero

There are many pastors and teachers I could look up to as heros. I have benefited greatly from their ministries. To list a few: John Piper R. C. Sproul Al Mohler Norman Geisler Michael S. Horton and Rod Rosenbladt . This is good. I have learned a lot from these men, especially Dr. Sproul. (I’ve heard and read so much of his teaching that there is a certain sense that even when I am disagreeing with him it is him I am disagreeing with.) This is also bad. I could easily get to the point where I put them on a pedestal. I could begin to take what they say as authoritative in am inappropriate sense. (No man, no matter how smart or gifted, should get an implicit faith.) I could fail to check what they say against the Scriptures. I could fail to see their imperfections and shortcomings. Al of this could be dangerous to my Christian life. If carried to far, hero worship can even ship-wreck a person’s faith. The moral failure of a pastor I had idealized as a youth was almost the undo...

Intuition

I found an interesting article by Greg Koukl over at Stand to Reason . It’s an interesting discussion of intuition from a philosophical perspective. I’m a big fan of intuition, and I make many decisions based on it. Here’s an excerpt: I'm convinced that many of the things essential to a Christian world view are things all human beings already believe without being told: the idea that human beings are special, valuable, made in the image of God and have transcendent value; that there's purpose in life; that man is not only valuable, but twisted, sinful, and guilty and deserves to be punished; that God is real and has made an orderly universe and designed it for a purpose … Some of these things I mentioned are known through the faculty of intuition. When I say "intuition," I mean something very particular … I don't mean a hunch about something. I mean a way of knowing which is immediate and direct. It's knowledge you start with, knowledge that's already ...

Some Good Stuff

I’ve been reading some helpful resources from the folks at World Harvest Mission . I wanted to recommend them. It’s good to be brought back down to earth so God can raise me up.

Piper Sermon on Justification

I found a great sermon on justification by John Piper over at Desiring God . He takes a clear statement of Jesus on how a person is justified before God and expounds on it beautifully. It was great to be reminded that Jesus Himself taught on this subject in Luke 18:9-14 . I keep finding people on the web who want me to think that only Paul taught justification by faith (see those sites or references to these people here , here , here , here , here , here , and here ). The idea that Paul and Jesus contradict each other is wrong. Even if they were right, they have in a sense excluded Paul’s writings from consideration. These are among the earliest writings of the New Testament . Paul was a contemporary of, and even personally acquainted with, the other Apostles, and he would have shared their common theology and approach. It seems that many people, from many perspectives, want to showcase their own moral achievements instead of embracing a gospel that is outside of them .