Auteur: Tertius

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The sun dipped low over the ancient hills of Canaan, casting shadows over a battlefield strewn with the remnants of another brutal conquest. Israel, God’s chosen people, stood weary yet resolute, wiping the blood and sweat from their brows. The cries of victory mingled with the silence of loss. They had fought not just for their survival but to purge the land of the idols that poisoned it—images of Baal, Asherah poles, and the high places where unholy sacrifices were made. To leave these untouched was to invite corruption, to risk their hearts being drawn away from the living God.

It was a harsh reality—bloody, unyielding, and often agonizing. Entire nations had to be wiped out, not merely for territorial conquest but to destroy the evil they represented. For Israel, it was clear: there could be no compromise. Evil tolerated was evil embraced, and the consequences were grave. Yet, the Israelites were not perfect. Time and again, they faltered, lured by the very idols they had once toppled. Their history became a cycle of conquest, failure, repentance, and renewal.

Centuries later, the battlefield has shifted. The wars are no longer waged with swords and shields but within the hearts and souls of men and women. Christians today are called to a battle just as real, though spiritual rather than physical. The idols are no longer carved from stone or wood; they are fashioned in the priorities and passions of the modern world. Money, power, fame, sex, and career loom as towering strongholds, demanding allegiance and promising satisfaction. They whisper lies, just as the idols of Canaan once did, offering fleeting pleasures that lead to eternal ruin.

To follow Christ is to engage in a daily war against these idols. It is to resist the seductive pull of wealth when it tempts one to trust in riches rather than God’s provision. It is to shun the pursuit of power when it demands the compromise of integrity. It is to reject the worship of self, choosing humility over the fleeting applause of fame. This spiritual war often comes with its own wounds—loss of friendships, the pain of denying one’s desires, and the loneliness of standing apart from a world rushing toward destruction.

Yet, just as the battles of Israel foreshadowed, there is hope in this struggle. For the Christian, the ultimate victory has already been won through Christ. His death and resurrection conquered the greatest enemy—sin—and his Spirit empowers believers to fight. The idols of the heart can be shattered, not through human strength but through the grace and truth found in Jesus.

This spiritual war demands vigilance. The Christian must daily take up their cross, armed with the Word of God, prayer, and the fellowship of believers. Like Israel, there can be no compromise. The battle is fierce, but the prize is eternal—a life lived in the fullness of God’s presence, free from the chains of idolatry.

And so, the narrative of the Old Testament becomes a living allegory. Israel’s fight against pagan nations mirrors the Christian’s fight against sin and the idols of this age. The stakes are just as high, the cost just as great, but the reward is infinitely worth it. To overcome is to inherit the promise—to dwell with the only true God, forever free from the idols that once enslaved the soul.

(God and me and AI)

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The Third (tertius) Volitional Argument for the Existence of God

Link to YouTube

How can the fact that we have a will—that is, our volition which is more like the act to exercise our will—point to the existence of God? And what does volition reveal about the basis and existence for both material and immaterial realities? That’s what we’ll explore in this talk, and the final conclusion might surprise you.

So, let’s explore The Volitional Argument for the Existence of God.

How does the concept of volition (or will) support the existence of God? We will explore the Role of Volition in both the existence of material and immaterial realities.

Volition is central to the argument. What then is the definition? Volition (or will) involves intention and commitment to action.

This is the thesis statement and foundation for the Third Volitional Argument: Volition is essential for bringing both material and immaterial entities into existence.

Every immaterial concept originates from nothing and becomes a reality through a thought process shaped in a mind. This thought must be followed by the will (volition) to actualize it. Stories, music, art, and business plans, creative thoughts are all creations of the mind. That is, immaterial creations from nothing – ex nihilo. These concepts exist, and therefore, minds exist. And without minds these would not exist.

Can we then infer that for material objects to come into existence from nothing, a thought or concept is required, followed by the will, or volition, to actualize it, that is, to create matter from nothing? Thoughts and volition exist only within minds. I think it is plausible that for  something to come from nothing you need a mind. Humans cannot create material objects from nothing; nothing in the material world can. The Kalam Cosmological Argument points to God as the only plausible cause for the beginning of the universe, when the material world was created from nothing.

Matter exists; therefore, God exists.

But let us not jump to conclusions as yet.

The Third Volitional Argument suggests that volition is essential for bringing both material and immaterial entities into existence. This process begins with an inspired moment of a creative concept, which is then shaped by thoughts within the mind. For this concept or thought to be realized, it must be followed by the will (volition) to bring it into actuality.

Let us pull this apart Volition, or will, is the cognitive, or thinking process by which an individual decides on and commits to a particular course of action. It would include affect (that feeling or emotion) and motivation (that is goals or expectations). Applying the concept of volition to the arguments for the existence of God there are at least two existing versions that we need to consider and have a quick look at before we can present the current or third argument, these two are: 1. The (First) Volitional Argument for God and 2. The Neo-Volitional Argument for God. These are both philosophical arguments that have been developed to argue the existence of God based on volition or will.

1. The original version of The Volitional Argument for God – from 1896. – also known as the ‘Will to Believe’ Argument. This argument suggests that belief in God is not solely based on evidence or rational argumentation, but also on personal choice and inclination. Inspired by William James, this argument emphasizes that humans naturally desire to believe in a higher power, and this inclination can be sufficient grounds for accepting God’s existence. Proponents argue that belief in God offers meaning, purpose, and moral guidance, making it rational to choose belief even without conclusive evidence. Critics, however, question the validity of basing belief on desire alone, citing potential biases and subjectivity. William James’ influential essay “The Will to Believe” introduced this argument, asserting that belief in God can be justified based on personal experience and needs, rather than strict evidence or logic, sparking ongoing debate in the philosophy of religion. However, I believe a quote from CS Lewis underscores this belief. In his book Mere Christianity, he discusses how human desires suggest the existence of what they long for. “Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby feels hunger: well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim: well, there is such a thing as water. Men feel sexual desire: well, there is such a thing as sex. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.” Lewis uses this argument to suggest that our longing for something beyond what we find in this life implies the existence of a transcendent reality, which he argues is God and Heaven.

2. A more recent version is The Neo-Volitional Argument for the existence of God stems from the early 21st century. This Alternate Version is credited to philosopher Edward Feser, and also focuses on volition as a key aspect of reality to demonstrate the existence of God. It begins by acknowledging the presence of volitional agents like humans, who exhibit will and intention. These agents prompt inquiries into the reasons behind their actions, leading to the concept of an ultimate volitional agent—identified as God—whose will is the source of all purposeful actions. The argument posits that every volitional agent requires a cause, leading to the necessity of a first cause, which is considered to be God, the uncaused, self-existent initiator of all intentional behavior in the universe.

Now for a somewhat different angle to this argument. What I propose as a volitional argument for the existence of God is based on two realities. The reality of material entities and immaterial entities. Material entities like chairs, trees, the universe. And immaterial entities like stories and music.

Developing the Third Volitional Argument for the Existence of God we will look at:

A. Material Entities. We consider two principles, two observable facts:

1.  Nothing material comes into existence without a cause. In philosophy and physics, the idea that something can come into existence without a core cause is often discussed in the context of quantum mechanics and certain cosmological models. However, whether these examples truly represent uncaused events is a matter of debate. In the realm of classical physics, and our experience of day-to-day living, everything that comes into existence is thought to have a cause.

2. Nothing material comes into existence from nothing – ex nihilo. The concept of something coming into existence from nothing is highly speculative and largely theoretical. In physics, there are hypotheses such as quantum fluctuations in a vacuum that suggest particles can spontaneously appear and disappear, seemingly from nothing, due to the inherent uncertainty at the quantum level. However, these particles typically arise within a framework of pre-existing physical laws and fields, so it’s not a true creation from absolute nothingness. The concept of true creation ex nihilo—where something arises from a complete absence of any pre-existing material, energy, or governing laws—remains largely a philosophical question, with no concrete scientific evidence or examples to substantiate it. Our current knowledge urges us to accept that there is nothing material that can or has come into existence ex-nihilo apart from, as our current understanding of science points to, the universe at the moment of the initial singularity – the Big Bang.

Summary: For material entities to come into existence it 1. needs a cause and 2. cannot come into existence ex-nihilo – out of nothing. Except for the moment of the initial singularity that needs an explanation i.e., creation

B. Immaterial Entities.

What about immaterial entities, like art, music, stories, or business plans?

1. Can come into existence from nothing. Can these come into existence ex nihilo? Certainly. Think about this, before the person who was going to write the story or the music, the person existed or had that moment of inspiration, the story or music did not exist – there was nothing. So it can come into existence from nothing, but can it come into existence without a cause?

2. Cannot come into existence without a cause. Nothing immaterial can come into existence without a cause. Even in situations where an idea or piece of art seems to appear spontaneously, it is still processed by the mind of a creator influenced by various factors. Thus, while these immaterial entities might feel “spontaneous,” they are generally not seen as uncaused. The act of creation involves the initial mental conception (creative spark if you will) of a story or melody ex nihilo. The creator’s thoughts and imagination serve as the cause, shaping and forming this initial creative concept into a reality in the mind. Creative people can testify to this process.

The story or melody did not exist prior to the creative moment, yet the building blocks and mental faculties required to conceive and process them did exist as the cause. This process begins with an inspired moment of a creative concept, which is then shaped by thoughts within the mind. For this concept or thought to be realized, it must be followed by the will (volition) to bring it into actuality. Human minds are entities that can create immaterial forms.

Summary: For immaterial entities to come into existence it 1. needs a cause and 2. But it can come into existence ex-nihilo – out of nothing i.e., being created

Humans cannot create material objects; therefore, for material objects, is a non-human mind necessary to form the idea, and will it? If it is postulated that a mind is necessary to create material objects, but a human mind cannot, what kind of mind then? Given the arguments presented, God is the only plausible explanation for a mind capable of creating material objects. Furthermore, this argument posits that both humans and God possess minds that can create, as evidenced by the ability of minds to create immaterial entities. Humans, created in the image of God, share some attributes with God, such as intelligence, creativity, volition, and the ability to create immaterial entities. However, God, being transcendent and existing outside the material world—just as humans exist outside the immaterial worlds they create—one could infer that God possesses the ability to create material entities ex nihilo. God as the uncaused cause of the universe is argued in the Kalam Cosmological.

Therefore, the argument will conclude that since both humans and God possess minds with the necessary attributes to bring something into existence from nothing, in other words, to create, and since the material world exists, and human minds cannot create material from nothing, it follows that God exists as the necessary cause for the existence of the material world.

In summary, the Third Volitional Argument for God asserts that the existence of God can be inferred from the human capacity of volition, coupled with the necessity of a volitional agent to bring about the existence of both immaterial and material entities from nothing. Since the human mind cannot create material entities ex nihilo and the material world exists, God exists.

Human Creative Thoughts

Before we look at the formal structure of the argument, we have to consider the concept of ‘human creative thoughts’ as it is central to the argument. Original creative thoughts often seem to emerge spontaneously, appearing as sudden flashes of inspiration or insight that feel distinct from ordinary thinking. These initial sparks arise seemingly from “nowhere,” arriving as a whole, surprising concepts rather than pieced-together ideas. Neuroscience links this phenomenon to the brain’s default mode network (DMN), which activates when we’re relaxed or not focused on a specific task. The DMN fosters free association across brain regions, allowing unusual connections to form—especially when the mind is at rest, like during a walk or just before sleep. This spontaneous creativity differs from the analytical thinking that follows. The brain’s executive control network, responsible for deliberate thought, becomes engaged once the initial spark occurs, helping us to explore, refine, and understand the new idea. The transition from the DMN’s unrestrained association to focused processing allows us to build upon the original spark and develop it fully. While the initial creative spark is marked by spontaneity and feels unique, it is often just the beginning. It serves as a guiding light that the conscious mind then shapes into a more coherent, developed form, blending inspiration with structured thought.

The sudden appearance of a fully formed symphony, story, or complex concept is a rare but intriguing phenomenon often described by highly creative individuals. Unlike smaller flashes of inspiration, these “complete” creative sparks seem to arrive all at once, as if a whole, intricate idea that manifests instantly. This phenomenon, sometimes called a “flash of inspiration,” suggests something beyond what the default mode network (DMN) alone can explain. It feels more profound than a fleeting thought and appears to bypass typical conscious planning. Although neuroscientific explanations remain speculative, it is recognized that these creative moments differ fundamentally from the analytical processes that follow. Ultimately, while we lack a full understanding of where these initial sparks arise, it’s evident that they represent a unique and powerful aspect of creativity, distinct from the thought processes used to develop them. I believe all human creative activity is inspired by the Creator.

The formal structure of the argument:

The Third Volitional Argument for the Existence of God

 A. Argument on the Existence of Immaterial Concepts and Minds:

1. Every immaterial concept originates from nothing, ex-nihilo, and becomes a reality by a thought process in a mind with the steps: creative concept/thought process/reality
2. But for an immaterial concept to be actualized, to become a reality, it must be followed by a will (volition). Thus, the steps actually are: creative concept/thought process/volition/reality

Stories, music, art, and business plans are all examples of immaterial concepts created by the mind. Without minds, these concepts would not exist.

3. The mind must be outside the created immaterial concept – someone in the story cannot create the story as the story is immaterial and the person in the story is not real.
4. Thus, these immaterial concepts exist because minds exist.

Conclusion 1: The creative idea or creative concept (creative spark) becomes a thought process and by will/volition becomes an actuality. Therefore, immaterial concepts exist because creative volitional minds exist.

The second part of the argument is

 B. The Argument on the Existence of Material Objects and God:

5.  For material objects to come into existence from nothing, ex-nihilo, a creative concept and thought are needed – this is a logical inference from A. The steps are: creative concept/thought process/reality

6. This thought or concept must be followed by a will (volition) to actualize it into material form. Or in full, the steps are: creative concept/thought process/volition/reality

7. Creative concepts, thoughts and volition exist only within minds.

8. Humans cannot create material objects from nothing.

9. Nothing within the material world can create itself from nothing. (the same as that someone in the story cannot create the story as the story is immaterial and the person in the story is not real)

Conclusion 2: Therefore, an external mind (a mind outside the material world similar to the human mind outside the immaterial world) with the capacity for creative concepts, thoughts and volition, must exist to account for the material world. The Kalam Cosmological Argument argues that the universe needed an external cause and supports this conclusion.

Final Conclusion:

1. Human minds can create immaterial entities ex nihilo. The material world’s existence, coupled with the inability of human minds to create material ex nihilo, suggests therefore an external divine mind, as the volitional creator.
2. Matter (the universe) exists; therefore, God exists as a plausible necessary external mind that brought the material world into existence by His will, His volition.

Implications for Belief:

The Third Volitional Argument presents a reasoned basis for the existence of God

There is no other plausible explanation for why there is something rather than nothing

This Third Volitional Argument adds to the body of arguments supporting the evidence for God’s existence.

One less reason not to believe.

One more reason to examine your heart.

 

  Wiliam Lane Graig argues three reasons that the cause of the universe is personal

He gives three reasons for stating that the first cause reached by the Kalam Cosmological Argument is personal. 1. It is the only way to explain an effect with a beginning in time from a permanent, timeless cause. If that cause has existed permanently and is truly sufficient for its effect, then the effect should exist permanently as well. The only way to have a cause that is timeless and permanent and yet for the effect to begin to exist just a few billion years ago is if that cause is a personal agent endowed with freedom of the will, who can therefore make a choice or execute an action without any prior determining condition, something that is altogether spontaneous and new. 2. The cause of the origin of the universe must be an immaterial object that transcends time and space. Now, the only things that we know of that could possibly fill that bill would be either an abstract object, like a number of mathematical objects, that are immaterial and typically transcend time and space, or else an unembodied mind or consciousness. But here’s the rub, abstract objects are causally a feat by definition. What makes them abstract is that they have no causal effects, and therefore the cause of the universe cannot be an abstract object. That makes it very plausible. 3. The causal explanations are of two types. One would be a scientific explanation in terms of initial conditions and natural laws, the other would be a personal explanation in terms of an agent and his volitions. Now, when you think about it, an absolutely first physical state of the universe cannot have a scientific explanation, because there are no prior initial conditions from which one could extrapolate the first physical state by the laws of nature. And therefore, it follows that the only category of causal explanation that would apply would be a personal explanation. There is a personal agent who, by His free will, brings the universe into being. All three of these arguments coalesce beautifully to make it very probable that the cause of the universe is a personal creator endowed with freedom of the will.

To summarize: William Lane Craig argues that the cause of the universe isn’t just any mind, it’s a personal mind, capable of making choices.

1. A Timeless Cause That Chose to Act: If the cause of the universe is outside of time and has always existed, why did the universe begin only a few billion years ago? Only a personal being with free will could make that choice—to decide when the universe should start. So, this cause must be a personal mind, not just a force.
2. An Immaterial Cause, Not Just an Idea: The cause of the universe has to be something beyond physical matter, outside of time and space. There are only two things like this: abstract objects, like numbers, and a mind or consciousness. But abstract things, like numbers, don’t cause anything—they just exist. So, the only option left is a mind that can actually do something, meaning a mind that can choose to create.
3. Only a Personal Explanation Fits: There are two types of explanations for causes: scientific and personal. Scientific explanations use natural laws and existing conditions, which didn’t exist before the universe. So, only a personal explanation—a decision made by a free agent—could explain the universe’s beginning.

This suggests that the cause of the universe must be a personal being with the will to choose, not a random or impersonal force. This leads to the idea that the universe was created by a personal God.

Wiliam Lane Graig: Is the Cause of the Universe Personal? @RFupdates 22 August 2024. Reasonable Faith Link

 

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Alice Cooper (Vincent Damon Furnier), American rock singer with a career span over five decades. His shows featured numerous props and stage illusions, including pyrotechnics, guillotines, electric chairs, fake blood, reptiles, baby dolls, and dueling swords.  Cooper is considered by many music journalists and peers to be “The Godfather of Shock Rock”.

He was recently asked by Greg Laurie of The Jesus Revolution, ‘Who is Jesus Christ to you?’ https://youtube.com/watch?v=x-O3qyM-7JI&feature=share

Well, you know, He’s everything. We would not be here without Him. I know many people have no idea who Jesus Christ is, they think it is a swear word. He is not preached enough. Jesus is the most written about character of all time in history and yet people go out of their way to not believe in Him. ‘Why do you think that is?’ I think it’s because they don’t want to give up their godship. They want to believe, ‘I’m a good enough’ They believe the Hollywood version, if I do more good than bad, then I’m ok. And he, Satan, has got you right where he wants you, to believe that.

Alice Cooper continues  ‘I (Jesus Christ) am the way the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father but by Me’ (John 14:6). Those are the truest words ever spoken. How can you deny that? So as far as I’m concerned, I mean, my life is based on that now. He allows me to rock and roll, but ‘follow Me’. So, it’s my lifestyle, my wife and I both, it’s our lifestyle with our kids. It’s a Christian lifestyle. There’s a lot of Christian rockers out there. I just happen to be the most vocal one.

Alice Cooper has been outspoken about his religious awakening. In a 2018 interview with New York Daily News, he said: “My wife and I are both Christian. I grew up in the church, went as far away as I could from it — almost died — and then came back to the church.”

A life changed by the reality of God, the truth of Jesus Christ.

Alice Cooper admitted that he contemplated changing his name after he came to faith in Christ, but his pastor advised him not to.

“I went to my pastor, and I said, ‘I think I’ve gotta quit being Alice Cooper now.’ He says, ‘Look where he put you. What if you’re Alice Cooper, but what if you’re now following Christ? And you’re a rock star, but you don’t live the rock-star life. Your lifestyle is now your testimony.'”

Interview with Alice Cooper: https://youtu.be/WbuQfvJhuA0

 

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Scientific knowledge is based on evidence and if not, we have to regard what we do in science and find good evidence, good reasons for what we do. God is the God of the universe, the creator of heaven and earth. He is the Creator of science, of mathematics, and the author of the Bible. We as human beings have to figure out this oneness. The question can be asked that if God is the God who created science (God created the Universe) and evidence is the basis for scientific knowledge, would He ever expect us to believe in Him blindly, to believe the Bible blindly, to believe that Christ died and was resurrected, blindly, or would He give us evidence for what we believe. What does it mean to believe God, to have faith in God.

What is the meaning of the word faith? In Hebrews 11:1 we read that ‘faith is the assurance of things hoped for, a conviction of things not seen’. Does that imply that our faith has to be blind, we just have to blindly believe?

I think it’s important for us to know that the Christian faith is the only religion in this world that is not based on blind faith. In Hebrews 11 God gives us the evidence for this faith that we cannot see, but the hope, knowing it will happen. We read about all the people of the Old Testament that believed Him and in the end, saw what God promised. Abraham, who believed God and was called the friend of God saw Isaac – the impossible promise fulfilled. God does not expect us to just believe blindly, but He gives us evidence to believe. If we meet someone new, we can’t just say to that person, “I believe in you, I trust you”. We need some time to spend and know that person to see if he’s worthy of our trust, and that is what God is doing to us. The more we know Him, the more we can trust Him. He gives us more and more evidence. Evidence in history and evidence in our lives as we trust Him.

What does the Oxford Dictionary say about the word faith? It is not just trust, but it is an absolute trust in something or someone.

Pistis, the word used for faith in the New Testament Greek (the original language the New Testament was written in) means ‘trust and trust alone in God and His promises’ Pistis in earlier Greek was the personification of good faith, of trust and reliability.

Fides – faith in Latin, into which the  New Testament was translated from the original Greek, means belief, confidence, loyalty, word of honor, trust, authenticity.

Faith thus means an absolute trust in the person of God and His character.

And throughout the Bible, God gives us good reason to believe Him.  We read in the Old Testament that God often referred to what He did with Israel in Egypt and how, through miracles, He brought them out of Egypt. And therefore, they could trust Him for the future. He promised the Messiah hundreds of years earlier (e.g., Isaiah 53 written 600 B.C.) and these promises were fulfilled.  Jesus did not say, ‘I’m the Messiah. Believe in Me’ but through His miracles, Jesus showed that He was of God, the Messiah. He had authority over the wind and the sea (Mark4:35-41) and even over death (John 11:38 – 44) to prove that He was who He claimed to be. When John the Baptist asked Him from prison if He was the Messiah, or should they expect someone else? What did He say? He gave evidence: the blind are seeing, the cripple walking. Good News is preached to the poor (John 11:1-6). He predicted His death and resurrection (Matthew 16:21-28). It all happened.

Christ’s resurrection is one of the best-attested events of ancient history. There are very few events, if any, as well attested as the facts of the resurrection of Christ as a historical event. If you reject the resurrection of Christ as factual, you have to reject all ancient historical events as factual: Alexander the Great, Socrates, Plato, Pythagoras, The Roman Empire, Nero, in fact, all ancient history. None as well attested as the resurrection. (Evidence for the Resurrection of Christ)

John said Christ will baptized with the Holy Spirit (Baptism with the Holy Spirit)   and we saw what happened in Acts 2, how the church exploded to the ends of the earth when people were filled with the Holy Spirit. In Matthew 28:19, He said that He will always be with us.  I, the writer, would not be here unless I see Christ in my life and experience Him every day. So, the evidence is also changed lives. (A Life Touched and Changed)

So, whenever we see the word faith, we can replace it with the words ‘absolute trust in the person of God’ because of the evidence He gave us and is giving us. We can trust Him, we can have full confidence in the character of God. The God we can know. The God that is alive, a living reality who will always do what He promises. Even so eternal life. John 17:3 ‘This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.

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04-01-23 Keurboomsrivier

I dreamed last night. I was on my way and arriving on the ship. Saw another ship about 200 meters away. They were throwing sheep into the water. They sort of had to swim toward the ship I was on. Some were struggling to keep their noses about the water, just to stay alive. When getting close to the ship they were picked up to be slaughtered. ‘This is exactly why I do not eat meat!’ I cried out. I was so upset and, filled with emotion and wanted to cry. No one cares about the life, pain, suffering, and death of the sheep. Just want to consume them for their own pleasure. And I woke up.

In my quiet time later this morning praying for all the many different people God has put on my heart, I  was suddenly filled with the same emotion. People were being pushed into the rough seas of this life by forces that want to destroy them. They struggle not to drown, just to be picked up for destruction and nobody cares. Just care about their own pleasures.

A Dream

A dream

a vision perhaps

from my heart

from God’s heart perhaps

A big white ship

moored in port

friends and people

flounder around in circles

 they find their place

 of peace

to serve

 

A ship

 not far away

sheep shoved

into the sea

rough winds and waves

raging white swirls

and struggles

despair

nostrils above wild waters

swim

fight

drift

our ship their destiny

 picked and pulled

from the sea

to be slaughtered

food for the crew

no one cares

 no one feels

 

Exactly –

my heart forbids

consumption

unceremoniously

the suffering and killing

to live off the misery

 of a sentient being

I cried out

nobody cares

tears dried on my cheek

I fell to the ground

 

God’s creation

In His image

He created us

pushed to the edge

we tumble and fall

rough seas

 – life –

the fight

 the struggle

overwhelmed

 water

air!

– a gasp

destiny

plucked from the sea

destruction awaits

the soul destined for death

nobody cares

 

Poor lost sheep

not a thought from my heart

nobody cares

my destiny secured

my neighbor can drown

helpless asleep

helpless sheep

not knowing

the slaughter awaits

What do I care?

I’m saved

Jesus spoke to them. ‘Go, and teach all nations’  the Good News that God saves and when we believe in Christ, in what He has done for us, He identifies us as His own. There is more joy in heaven over one lost (sheep) sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others.  From Matthew 28:18-20, Ephesians 1:13, Luke 15:7

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Why is Christian Apologetics important and Why would a Life without God be Untenable?

Tertius Venter

 “You believe in God? Tell me, what evidence do you have that God even exists?”

“Oh, I can give you at least 5 good reasons, evidence for His existence! And more if you have the time!”

In 1 Peter 3:15 we read ‘Always be ready to give a logical defense’ (be ready to explain it). This is what Christian Apologetics is about.

In Greek this term apologia means well-reasoned and thought-out reply (response)

Christianity is the only ‘religion’ with a history based on verifiable facts

For whom is Christian Apologetics?

◦ All Christians – the Great Commission Matthew 28:19 ‘  ‘ and to strengthen our own faith

◦ Parents with children

◦ The skeptic and the atheist – to put a pebble of truth in his/her shoe

and pray that the Holy Spirit will change the pebble into a seed that will grow

 

What does the Scripture say about apologetics? A few important verses from the Bible.

 

1. ‘Always be ready to give a logical defense (be ready to explain it) to anyone who asks you to account for the hope and confident assurance that is within you, yet with gentleness and respect’ 1 Peter 3:15 If we have the knowledge, we don’t have to be anxious about how to answer, we can calmly give a good answer and that will make people think more about what we’re saying and the responses. If we have the knowledge, there should not be any reason to feel apprehensive in any situation.
2. ‘Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.  Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone’.  Colossians 4:5-6 Seasoned with salt, meaning real meaning and truth in your response that people will remember what say.  Do it with grace. We as Christians must offer graceful truthful answers even as we might experience opposition like – ‘You’re not talking sense’-. Ask ‘Why do you say that? Which of the facts I presented are non-sensible and why?’
3. ‘We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ’. 2 Corinthians 10:55
4. ‘See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ’ Colossians 2:8 It is always important to bring people back to the point and point it out if they are attacking you as a person. ‘Let’s talk about the argument instead of me’ By the same token, we’ve got to be careful not attacking them. If we talk to people about Christ, even if they come with really confronting and difficult arguments, we should carefully listen to them and hear what they say. It is important to defend what we believe and why but also challenge them in what they say. ‘Why do you say that?’ ‘How did you come to that conclusion?’ ‘Or what are the sources of your knowledge for what you’re saying?’

 

We can be in a position to demolish every argument, every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God if we equip ourselves well. Christ, who created heavens and earth is the truth and we have the truth on our side. If we gain the necessary knowledge, no one can stand up against the truth of Christianity.

A large number of philosophers in the world are non-Christians, and some are outspoken atheists with very clever arguments. But if you carefully sit back and think about what they are saying, and listen to Christian philosophers’ arguments, one can always come to really good responses.

There 10 important questions one can ask the non-believer and help them to rethink their position. These questions form a strong basis for Christian apologetics and we as Christians should familiarize us with the answers.

1. How do you get something from nothing? The beginning of the universe.
2. How do you get life from non-life? What is life?
3. How do you get a mind, consciousness, from matter?
4. How do you get design without a designer? The fact that everything around us looks as if designed.
5. How do you solve the problem of evil? No God, no evil, but evil is real.
6. How can life be insignificant, have no value? If we are mere matter in a purposeless universe, what gives us value?
7. How can life be meaningless – if there is objectively/ultimately no meaning, no goal with the existence of the universe?
8. How can there be no free will if we are just a physical brain and nothing more?
9. How can there be no human identity? Your physical body is always changing. Why do you stay the same person?

 

Let’s look at a few of these questions

1. How do you get something from nothing?

The Bible teaches that in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Throughout history scientists for millennia, believed that the universe was eternal. There was no beginning which was in direct opposition to what the Bible teaches. Before God created there was nothing.

From the early 20th century Astro-physical evidence emerged that there was an actual beginning and in the mid-60s, this concept became the accepted model under the scientific population worldwide. It was accepted that there were a beginning and people could no longer deny it. The evidence is overwhelming, and we can ask the question, ‘if there was nothing and now there is something, what and how did that happen? If we don’t believe that there’s a God that created at some point in the past, there is just no answer. Theories like the multi-universe, or the oscillating universe, are mere theories. There is just like zero evidence for it. These are attempts, desperate efforts, to avoid the fact that the Bible can possibly be correct, a finite beginning from nothing.

2. How do you get life from non-life?

Early in the history of our planet, the earth, everything consisted of inorganic material. Rocks and dust, and all the elements of the earth. What happened that the inorganic material changed into organic material, and life emerged. How did life start? Scientists have no explanation; not even what life is. Science might possibly be able to explain this in the future but to exclude an intelligent Mind, one who guided, and designed the processes, would be difficult if not impossible to explain.

Nobody knows what life is. We can study life and many things about life but have no idea what it is. It is interesting that if you have a living cell, and a dead cell, and you put them side by side, e.g., two identical muscle cells, the one alive, the one dead (immediately after it died) and you study them under the microscope, and they will still look identically the same. One can see no difference though the one has life in it and the other not. When a cell dies, and life goes out of it, what happened, ‘where did the life go’? There is no answer to this question. We don’t know what life is.

3. How did we get a mind, consciousness, from matter and what is the mind, and what is consciousness?

There was nothing, then something, inorganic material turned into organic material and there was life. But even more astounding, organic material developed consciousness. And we do not know what consciousness is. Nobody knows what consciousness is. We can study and know a lot about inorganic material, about organic material, even so about life and consciousness yet we have no idea what life and consciousness are.

4. How do you get design without a Designer?

Observing the universe, the design, and the fact that it is so finely tuned, is totally amazing.

Stephen Meyer. What are the arguments for intelligent design? 1. The foundation of life and the DNA molecule. There is a four-character digital code that is responsible for producing the proteins and protein machines that cells need to stay alive. DNA encoding uses 4 bases (cytosine, guanine, adenine, and thymine). This appears very digital. DNA is a code carrier, just like the ROM (read only memory), RAM (random access memory) and the attached hardware stores (hard disks, flash drives memory sticks optic discs etc) are code carriers. The sequence of cytosine, guanine, adenine, and thymine in the DNA forms the genetic code the information (instructions) for producing proteins. It is comparable to the digital code of zeros and ones in computer ‘language’. The computer processor use this two-symbol system of 0’s and 1’s for instructions (information), We know from our experience, from uniform and repeated experience, which is the basis of all scientific reasoning, that information comes from an intelligence, whether we’re talking about the information in a computer program or information in a paragraph in a book or assembly instructions, or information embedded in a radio signal. Whenever we see information, we always come to a mind, that information always comes from a mind, not from a material process. So, the discovery of information at the foundation of life is decisive evidence for a designing mind in the origin of life. 2. The argument from Fine Tuning. Physicists have been discovering since the 1950s that the basic laws of physics and the initial conditions of the universe were set up just right to allow for the possibility of life within very fine tolerances. For example, the strength of the gravitational attraction, or the expansion rate of the universe. If any of these factors were off by a slightest of a fraction either way, life would not be possible in our universe. One great astrophysicist Sir Fred Hoyle FRS (24 June 1915 – 20 August 2001) was an English astronomer who formulated the theory of stellar nucleosynthesis and not a Christian. ‘A commonsense interpretation of the facts suggests that a super-intellect has monkeyed with physics, as well as with chemistry and biology, and that there are no blind forces worth speaking about in nature. The numbers one calculates from the facts seem to me so overwhelming as to put this conclusion almost beyond question.’ 3. Intelligence, a Transcendent Form of Intelligence in that the universe had a definite beginning. And this is something that’s come into our awareness through astrophysics and astronomy over the last 100 years. As scientists formulated what was first called The Big Bang Theory. And this is simply stunning that the material universe, if you go back far enough, reaches a singularity of point where matter space, time and energy themselves come into existence. And as a consequence, there’s really no material explanation that can be posited, because it’s matter itself that comes into existence at a finite time ago, even time and space apparently began. The first words of the Bible, ‘in the beginning’, and the modern astrophysics has discovered that there was in fact such a beginning.

So, we have evidence of design, but also evidence of design from the very beginning of the universe, of the fine-tuning and evidence of a beginning in this, these discoveries are from astronomy and astrophysics but point very clearly to a Designer.

It takes at least 26 fundamental constants to give life in our universe.

A major component of the cosmological evidence for the existence of God is the value of constants that govern the universe. Over the centuries scientists have determined the value of these constants, and all of our knowledge of the cosmos is based on these values. You either have to believe that these precise numerical values are a product of chance, or that they have been consciously designed by a Creator. It’s the precise values of these constants that allow the cosmos to exist and to remain stable.

A. Cosmic Constants

1. Gravitational force constant
2. Electromagnetic force constant
3. Strong nuclear force constant
4. Weak nuclear force constant
5. Cosmological constant

It’s important to distinguish cosmic fine-tuning from local “fine-tuning” – for life.

B. Fine-Tuning for Life in the Universe

For physical life to be possible in the universe, several characteristics must take on specific values, and some of the 109 listed below as examples.

1. Nuclear force constant
2. Gravitational force constant
3. Electromagnetic force constant
4. Ratio of proton to electron mass
5. Ratio of number of protons to number of electrons
6. Ratio of proton to electron charge
7. Expansion rate of the universe
8. Entropy level of the universe
9. Velocity of light
10. Age of the universe
11. Uniformity of radiation
12. Average distance between galaxies
13. Average distance between galaxy clusters
14. Average distance between stars
15. Decay rate of protons

C. “Local” Planetary Conditions

But even in a universe fineBut even in a universe fineBut even in a universe finet even in a universe fine-tuned at the cosmic level, local conditions can still vary dramatically. As it happens, even in this fine-tuned universe, the vast majority of locations in the universe are unsuited for life. Twelve broad, widely recognized fine-tuning factors required to build a single, habitable planet. All 12 factors can be found together in the Earth.

1. Steady plate tectonics with the right kind of geological interior
2. The right amount of water in the crust
3. Large moon with the right planetary rotation period
4. Proper concentration of sulfur (which is necessary for important biological processes).
5. Right planetary mass (which allows a planet to retain the right type and right thickness of atmosphere).
6. Near inner edge of circumstellar habitable zone (which allows a planet to maintain the right amount of liquid water on the surface).
7. Low-eccentricity orbit outside spin-orbit and giant planet resonances (which allows a planet to maintain a safe orbit over a long period of time).
8. A few, large Jupiter-mass planetary neighbors in large circular orbits (which protects the habitable zone from too many comet bombardments).
9. Outside spiral arm of the galaxy (which allows a planet to stay safely away from supernovae).
10. Near co-rotation circle of the galaxy, in a circular orbit around a galactic center (which enables a planet to avoid traversing dangerous parts of the galaxy).
11. Within the galactic habitable zone (which allows a planet to have access to heavy elements while being safely away from the dangerous galactic center).
12. During the cosmic habitable age (when heavy elements and active stars exist without too high a concentration of dangerous radiation events).

Francis Crick (1916-2004) was one of Britain’s great scientists. He is best known for his work with James Watson which led to the identification of the structure of DNA in 1953. Not a Christian.

‘An honest man, armed with all the knowledge available to us now, could only state that in some sense, the origin of life appears at the moment to be almost a miracle, so many are the conditions which would have had to have been satisfied to get it going.’

5. How do you solve the problem of evil?

What is evil if God does not exist? No God, no evil, but evil is real. How do we solve the problem of evil? If you are an atheist, then it’s just bad luck – just the way the dice falls. But in Christianity suffering has deep meaning and implications.

6. How can life be insignificant, and humans have no value? If we are but a highly developed animal? What gives human life value?

7. How can life be meaningless – objectively/ultimately have no meaning? Where does meaning come from in a universe that will ultimately burn up into nothing? What ultimate significance and meaning can one’s life possibly have if you evaporate into total nothingness at death. If that who is you, becomes less than a vapor. And your consciousness not even a memory.

8. How can there be no freedom? No free will?

If we are the ‘end’ product of a highly evolved animals and our brain development functions purely through neuro chemical reactions, how could one explain rationality and, free will? The materialist and atheists have to accept that we have no free will. Sam Harris, is one of the most famous ‘new atheists’ wrote that ‘free will is so convincing that we all believe we have it, but we don’t have it.’ And the same applies for rationality.

We as Christians believe that God is a rational God. He created a rational universe, and we are created in His image. We have a rational mind that can investigate the rational universe but for an atheist, there is no reason that the universe should be rational. There was a Big Bang, and now everything is rational, and it’s all based on rational immaterial mathematics. Mathematics is not something that you can hold in your hand. You can work with it. But it is an immaterial concept. And the whole basis of the universe is based on the principles of mathematics. So, you have to have a rational mind, separate from your materialistic physical brain, to understand it and work with it.

9. How can there be no human identity? Your physical body is always changing, and every molecule, atom in your body constantly replaced. Why do you stay the same person?

10. Where does rationality come from – discussed under free will.

In Christian Apologetics, all these subjects are well addressed and explained.

Why Would Life without God be Untenable, If Not Absurd?

Three things that are important.

1. Meaning and purpose in life. Without God why would human life have any ultimate value if everything is going to end up with the universe in a dark cold death without anyone to remember anything?
2. Where does the value of humans come from, what gives it it’s value? Just the individuals’ or societies’ opinion that humans have value? What is the basis for human value? We as Christians know God created us in His image which puts us apart from all other life on this planet and gives us immense value and, and equal value of all races and all sexes.

The atheist might fight for these same values. He believes that, but he has no objective basis for what he believes but just his opinion.

1. And the same with moral values. How do we know what is right and wrong? Is it because of a standard outside of us? A perfect transcended standard – objective morality? Or is it just the individual’s opinion – subjective morality? Subjective morality can only be an opinion, the community’s opinion or individual opinion, or cultures’ opinion, but which one is it? Which opinion are you going to accept? Or is there objective morality outside of us? Perfection that we measure everything against?

Man is the only creature in the whole of the universe who asked ‘why’ questions. Why am I here? Why have I been created? The logical conclusion of the materialism/atheist is that we are no more than a byproduct of the universe, the result of matter, time, and chance. That through billions of years the right kind of matter came together at the right time and here we are. A byproduct by chance, with life and consciousness and rational thinking. And that there is no reason for our existence. If that is the case, the ‘why’ question, why do we exist becomes a dark and terrible answer. The philosopher Lawrence Ansley said, ‘If God is left out of the equation, the only prospect is that all will end up, the whole universe will end up in a purposeless death’ Science tells us that the universe will eventually run out of useful energy. And so does the Bible tell us that there will be an end to the present order of the world and universe.

Modern man thought that he got rid of God, especially over the last 200 years. In the western world more and more people believe there is no God, want to believe there is no God. But the problem is in killing God, humans have orphaned themselves. Suddenly they had no hand to hold to guide them, to give value in life, neither meaning in life. Suddenly, there was nothing to hold on to. “God is dead” remains one of the most famous quotes from the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. Christopher Hamilton wrote that Nietzsche was haunted by God and talk of his murdering God. Talk of his attempt to exorcize God from his soul by thinking through in a way that perhaps no Christian thinker has ever done what it would be really to believe in God, and really not to believe in Him.

Humans need to have something to hold on to. The problem is, if you don’t worship God, hold on to Him, you will worship other things in life, put your hope in other things, which are all temporary and when these collapse, your life collapses, or you have to find the next thing to hold on to, to worship. But you are in reality an orphan in this world, if you reject God.

Without God, man, and the universe, are doomed to nothing more than a cold, dark, purposeless death. Science tells us the universe is running out of usable energy, and eventually everything in the entire universe will end up in death. We know that the world was created a specific total amount of energy. And usable energy is slowly getting less and less. Entropy is a measure of the amount of energy in a physical system not available to do work. As a physical system becomes more disordered, and its energy becomes more evenly distributed, that energy becomes less able to do work. And eventually the whole universe will run out of usable energy and collapse into a dark, cold, lifeless, nothingness. In the words of Sartre, a French philosopher, ‘the universe is marching irretrievably to its grave.’ There is no hope, no escape for humanity. And the Bible confirms that the heaven and earth will come to an end. For the Christian we have the hope of the ‘New heaven and earth’ that will be created. But in the atheist worldview each individual will pass out of existence when he dies, and what ultimate meaning could there be? Does it matter if you lived or not lived at all?

If you believe there is no God, and you were on the earth for a brief period and then disappear out of existence and become like before your birth, with no conscious mind and non-existence of any memory or recall, and zero significance exists for you as a person, what was the point of your life? Whether you were good or bad, and eventually nobody would remember you or that you even existed, who you were and what you did in a 100 years from now, 200 years from now?

Ultimate meaning is what it is about. One’s life might have meaning today, meaning you might create, but ultimately, at the end of it all, there will no meaning and because everybody and everything will die, disappear out of existence. Nobody will remember anything. So, does it matter how I live? I can actually live as I like to, as ultimately it is of no significance neither personal consequences once death had its last laugh. But we cannot live like this. The world will turn into utter chaos. But if God exists, what we do and how we live become greatly important today and with eternal consequences.

Science and the Bible tell us there was a beginning and tell us there’s going to be an end. Each of us will die and the human race will stop to exist. The universe is heading towards a cold lifeless, lightless chaotic conglomeration of stars swallowed up by black holes and nobody will remember anything that happened and it will be of no significance – this is the horror of modern man. Because he ends in nothing, he is ultimately nothing. He is doomed to purposelessness in a forgotten vacuum of nothing. Lest there is a God that will do what He promised, the creation of a new earth and a new heaven. William Lane Graig.

So even though living a life believing there is no God and therefore that there is no ultimate meaning, man cannot live like that. It’s in the fiber of our being to find meaning in life and live like it has. People live as if their lives have meaning. ‘We are like butterflies who flutter for a day and think it’s forever’ Karl Sagan. But ‘How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone’ James 4:14. To create your own meaning in the face of ultimate purposelessness all seem pointless, is in realty living a life of self-delusion.

Morality. What does morality even mean without God? If there is no God, there is no perfect standard to compare to. C.S. Lewis said that unless we know what a straight line is, we cannot know what a crooked line is. God is our perfect standard. We measure our lives and values, and judge, against this perfection. It guides our morality and is the source of knowledge to know right from wrong. This is objective morality. This notion means that morality is natural, and already in our nature, and should be universal, and is not up for interpretation. Objective morality conforms to the nature of God and is ‘written on our hearts’

If not, it becomes a mere matter of opinion. How can you criticize anyone for his personal opinion? What can the basis be for questioning someone? If we are just the product of unguided matter, time and chance, where do moral values come from? How did it show up in the universe?

Subjective morality, in contrast to objective morality, is just an expression of taste, whether individual or collective, a subjective feeling of relative judgments. The implications are that we cannot judge war because we can’t say someone is in the wrong. We may know what is wrong but cannot justify why it is wrong. It is just an opinion against some else’s opinion, and one cannot judge or criticizes the one who differs from you. And for the strict materialist/atheist the opinion is the mere product of neurochemical reactions in the brain and there is no standard outside of the brain to measure against. Just a neurochemical ‘opinion’ against the neurochemical ‘opinion’ of another brain and there’s no basis for telling someone that he/her is right or wrong.

If our final outcome in life is to disappear from existence, it means our existence is no more than from nothing to nothing. Humans seek meaning and purpose in our hearts, just as the Bible says ‘eternity is in our hearts’. Deep inside we know this is not the end. It is very hard, even for the atheist, to accept that there is nothing beyond life. We all either wish or hope that there will be something more than the final day.

If we are honest to ourselves, and we say there is no God, then we cannot be but in a in a situation of despair. If God is dead man is dead, man has orphaned himself. And there is no future hope. But what is the truth? What we believe is not of the essence but what is true.

Nietzsche stated that the implication of no God is nihilism. That it is impossible to know anything at all and all values are based on nothing, especially moral values as there are no basis for it. If one is a convinced atheist, this would be the necessary conclusion.

Without God there is no goal or purpose in the universe. Man is merely a bio-electrochemical machine controlled by altering genes, which implicates no freewill and no rational thoughts. Frank Turek often states that in the materialist/atheist’s view, we are just moist robots. That is all what we are. Material particles put together by an unguided process and purely by chance over millions of years. And therefore, no free will outside of us. However, the Bible tells us we have a soul, a spirit, a mind – which is all basically the same thing though with different capacities or dimensions. This is the immaterial facet of our being. And this is where freewill is realized and our rational thought originates. In the image of the immaterial God, we are created.

Consciousness and our minds are not the same as our bodies. The body is different, and the Bible talks about the carnal man, the flesh, that we have to fight against. Our material body, and our mind, the soul is in constant conflict, in a moral fight all the time and that is what puts us apart from animals. We were given a free will to fight the basic instincts, the carnal desires of the body – to choose between right and wrong. The less we fight these basic instincts, and the more one gives in to your fleshly body, the more animal like we become. We see in the actions of criminals, but also everyday people caring for themselves without regards to fellow humans, hard businesspeople walking over others for own gain. Acting animal-like to advance themselves, self-care their first priority.  But if one becomes focus on one’s spiritual being, one moves closer to God, towards what God created us to be and we will care more and more for our fellow man. But if you don’t believe in God, it’s very hard to travel on this road. God gives us, through the Holy Spirit, the strength, ability and the wisdom and the power to fight the carnal man within ourselves and become more Christ- like.

Three philosophers, not believing in the existence of God concluded:   Friedrich Nietzsche said there are ‘two possibilities: face the absurdity of life or live valiantly with courage and determination’. Atheist Bertrand Russell ‘build your life on unyielding despair’. Albert Camus’ solution was, ‘come to terms with the absurdity of life, then learn to live in love with one another’.  But if you talk about love, you’re actually stealing from God.  God is love is the only source of love in this world. Without God, we’re in desperate situation and have to try to make the best of reality.

Francis Schaeffer is an American Christian philosopher, describes a two-story universe that we live in. On the lower level is the finite world without God. In other words, the life where there is no ultimate meaning of purpose in life. And if you are a materialist that is where you live, you believe that everything came from nothing with no goal or purpose and will end in nothing. Even if I try to create purpose, eventually, it will also come to nothing. But the upper level is a life with meaning, purpose and value because of our belief in God, that He created the universe with a purpose. To live happily and consistently without God in the lower level is impossible because you live in despair. If you are honest and consistent with your beliefs. So, what people do is to jump up to the upper level, even though not believing in God. ‘I believe in love’ they would claim. And ‘I believe I have to care for other people (but where do one get the idea that people have value), and want to live a moral life’ (but if there is no objective morality, it is but a mere opinion which is totally unpredictable and can change from moment to moment), and these statements and views are jumps to the upper level. You have to be consistent and live on the lower level without God and be unhappy or be inconsistent, dishonest and jump to the second level in order to be happy. Modern man lives in the lower level because he believes no there is no God, and he cannot live here consistently and be happy. So, he takes leaps of faith into the upper level where there is meaning, value and purpose. But he has no right to do that. He would be inconsistent and dishonest with himself and a position of despair. People cannot live like this; nobody lives like this.

People often argue that one has to create one’s own meaning, but this is only possible from a free will, to freely choose, and a jump to the second level. one does not have free choice on the first level. If we are just material, we are moist robots, reacting to the chemical reactions in our brains and there is no free choice.

So, people are really trapped on this low level. And to create meaning is a leap of faith to the upper level.

Let us consider ethical values. Where does that come from? British philosopher and atheist Bertrand Russel said ‘I don’t know where it comes from. I just don’t understand it’. Obviously, he can’t because he believes we are matter only and how does matter produce ethical values? Dostoevsky wrote, ‘All things are permitted but man cannot live this way. Everything in him cries out to what is wrong but does not know why.’ Thus, the same as what Bertrand Russell said, we know things are right and wrong, but we can’t explain it.

Sartre admitted that the Holocaust was wrong and could not live consistent with his denial of absolute ethical values. He admitted that the Holocaust was wrong but could not understand why he felt it was wrong. We know that it is wrong to kill other people. But if it’s just your opinion against someone else’s opinion, why is it wrong? What makes it wrong? What is the thing that actually makes it wrong if God is left out of the equation?

Atheist might fight for woman’s rights which is obviously the right thing to do. But if God does not exist, then women have no equal value. In nature male is dominant. But nobody can live with such a dehumanizing view. But if God doesn’t exist, then woman doesn’t have equal value if we are just highly evolved animals. In 90% of the animal world, the male is dominant. So, what makes us different? Why should we treat women as our equals if we are just high highly evolved animals? But we are all created with image of God, and He has made us all equal. All races, all sexes are equal.

Francis Crick, the scientist who with Watson, first described the DNA molecule, also an atheist, said in observing and describing DNA that ‘man is no better than a laboratory specimen.’ – that’s what we are, just laboratory specimens. And Peter Singer, an Australian moral philosopher and atheist agrees and said that Down Syndrome babies, babies with spina bifida should just be killed.  They have less value than some animals. There’s no reason for them to live. By implication just laboratory specimen gone wrong.

The atheist who is true to himself, honest to his worldview, would come to this conclusion. But saying ‘No, all humans have equal value’ is dishonest to his belief system. The is no basis for believing that all humans have equal value in a materialistic worldview. In the animal kingdom, it’s survival of the fittest. So, if Putin wants to wipe out Ukraine to take it all for himself, why can’t he do that? If he’s just a highly evolved animal with his opinion against the opinion of another highly evolved animals? Animals wipe out other animals to gain territory for themselves.

 

To create purpose is a self-delusion as I have alluded to earlier. Ernest Bloch, German Marxist philosopher, said ‘the only way modern man lives in the face of death is by subconsciously borrowing the belief in immortality that his forefathers held to, even though he himself has lost and has no basis for believing it since he does not believe in God.’ He believes that life ends in nothing, and this is hardly sufficient to keep the head high, to work as if there is no end. Carl Sagan said ‘We are like butterflies who flutter for a day and think it is forever’ Bloch makes the leap of faith to ‘live as if immortal’ which is inconsistent to his belief system jumping to the second level to borrow from Christianity. No one can live without having any prospect of a future. One has to believe that although knowing it’s not true. Subconsciously you borrow from the second story to be able to find to find meaning in life.

The dilemma is that the postmodern man denies God’s existence with the consequence of absurdity of purpose, meaning, and objective moral values. Without God life is ultimately without meaning or purpose. If you are consistent in believing and living this, you will be profoundly unhappy. To live happily demands a lie. Man desperately try to escape this. L D Rue an American philosopher, offered the ‘Noble Lie Option.’ We deceive ourselves by means of some noble lie thinking that we exist in the universe that has meaning. You’ve got to believe the lie otherwise you will be consistently unhappy, and that’s what most people will do. They would believe that there is meaning in life and that there is purpose in life and that people has value but they have no basis to support what they believe.

Our quest for personal wholeness and self-fulfillment becomes only relative to the individual. In order to live, modern man must live in self-deception. But once you see this lie, it doesn’t work anymore like a placebo, not knowing it is a placebo, it might work. But the moment you know you are taking a placebo it will not work anymore. And so atheism fails.

Biblical Christianity offers meaning, value, and purpose. The existence of God makes sense of morality, the moral force behind the moral law, of shame and guilt, of equal rights, of human value. What is behind shame and guilt, why do shame and guilt exist if we mere highly evolved animals?

A life without the existence of God makes no sense and is simply incoherent with reality. God is the best explanation the meaning and purpose of the universe, for our existence. He is the best explanation for human value, for morality. We should not cling to our beliefs, right or wrong, but to what is true.

‘The unexamined life is not worth living’ – Aristotle

 

 

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Are miracles even possible? And what are the implications if miracles are a reality?

We will look at miracles under five topics:

1. What is a miracle, what is meant by the word ‘miracle’?
2. In a strict materialistic world, miracles are impossible.
3. But what if we are more than atoms, that there is more than the physical world, that God exists? And the evidence for a world more than the physical.
4. What is the evidence for miracles?
5. How do we approach miracles?

 

1. What is meant by the term ‘miracles’ and do miracles indeed happen? Can miracles be proved if they indeed occur? When would a ‘miracle’ be truly a miracle?

The meaning of the word is often misunderstood and loosely used for anything that might be unlikely or even just surprising. The specific definition however is that ‘a miracle is an event that seems inexplicable by natural or scientific laws and accordingly gets attributed to some supernatural cause.’

In general people, especially in religious settings, tend to distinguish between two main groups of miracles, one, the intervention by the supernatural, and two, the distinctive circumstantial occurrences related to a specific place, time, and setting of the moment – the timing coinciding with circumstances constitutes the miracle. In both groups, it is seen that the supernatural is involved. The controversy is really about  ‘intervention by the supernatural’ type of miracle and this will be the focus of this talk and fits the definition above for miracles. In the second group, it is not really possible to give satisfactory evidence that the supernatural was involved.

 

2. Science often tries to disprove the possibility of miracles, i.e., intervention by the supernatural. Science provides explanations that make sense of our world. We gain predictive power of our physical environment by way of these scientific explanations. So-called miracles events can neither be explained nor predicted and are, therefore, not scientific. Are scientific ideals then at cross-purposes with religious belief, with belief in miracles? Here we have to raise the question, is there perhaps more than just the material world? Something beyond or above the range of normal or physical human experience, a transcended reality perhaps, that makes miracles a possibility?

The skeptic materialist tends to use the term ‘miracles’ when one does not know how to explain something by science but hopes to explain it one day, and probably will. There is certainly a widespread anti-supernatural attitude in the materialistic world and miracles are usually written off without good reasons.

3. To argue the credibility of miracles one would need real good reasons to believe that miracles have happened, and/or that God exists, that miracles are reasonable to believe, and one can even base other beliefs on the reality of the truth of miracles. But can miracles be proved?

In 1979 astronomer Carl Sagan popularized the aphorism “extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence” (ECREE). But Sagan never defined the term “extraordinary.” Ambiguity and vagueness constituted this “extraordinary”

The meaning of the word “proof” depends on context. There are legal proofs, mathematical proofs, and logical proofs. The essence of these is that the concept of proof in various contexts is concerned with “evidence or argument establishing a fact or the truth of anything” (Oxford English Dictionary 2016).

The concept of proof in a legal context may require no more than a probability, a preponderance of the evidence. But when the word proof is invoked in a philosophical sense, it usually connotes absolute certainty. A “proof” in natural philosophy is what the ancient Greeks would have called a “demonstration,” a deductive conclusion derived by analogy from the technique employed in geometry (Deming 2010: 17). The word “proof” is usually not employed in a scientific context because there can be no certainty in an empirical system of knowledge. This was established by presocratic Greek philosophers as early as the fifth or sixth century BC.

For more than a thousand years in Christian Europe the reality of miracles was unquestioned. The miracles of Jesus Christ were taken as substantive proof of His divinity. Among other feats recorded in the Gospels, Jesus turned water into wine (John 2.1–2.11), walked on water (Mark 6.45–6.52), and raised the dead from the tomb (John 11.1–11.44).

The most influential of the Fathers of the Western Christian Church was St Augustine of Hippo (354–430). In ‘City of God’, St Augustine affirmed that miracles were not limited to the time of Jesus but were commonplace in his own time: “even now miracles are wrought in the name of Christ” (Augustine 1899: 485). Prodigies recorded by Augustine included miraculous cures of blindness, breast cancer, gout, paralysis, and demonic possession (1899: 485–487). Augustine even listed multiple instances of the dead being restored to life (1899: 488–489).

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6099700/

Atheist philosopher David Hume explained that there must be “a contest of two opposite experiences” (Hume 1748: 179). Miracles required extraordinary proof or evidence because, by definition, a miracle was “a violation of the laws of nature; and as a firm and inalterable experience has established these laws, the proof against a miracle, from the very nature of the fact, is as entire as any argument from experience can possibly be imagined” (Hume 1748: 180).

Thus, Hume defined precisely what is meant by “extraordinary” evidence or proof. “Extraordinary” means numerous. “Extraordinary” evidence is not a separate category or type of evidence, it is an extraordinarily large number of observations. “Extraordinary” evidence is only required when it must be balanced against a very large number of contrary observations.

 

4. Miracles are not “a violation of the laws of nature” as Hume saw it, but rather a unique event that God feeds into a specific situation, and most often a once-off event. A miracle is recognized as a miracle by the fact that we know the laws of nature, know what is normal and that the event of a miracle falls outside of the known, of what is expected. How do we prove a miracle? Through evidence. And evidence can be on many different levels, eyewitness evidence and circumstantial evidence. As mentioned, there are three types of proofs: legal proofs, mathematical proofs, and logical proofs. Miracle proofs are similar to legal proofs and as with legal proofs, the event cannot be repeated. Legal proof is the establishment of a fact by the use of evidence. Anything that can make a person believe that a fact or proposition is true or false. Circumstantial and witness evidence plays a major role in legal proof. Hard evidence could seal the case but is not essential e.g., in the absence of DNA or other hard physical evidence, circumstantial and witness evidence will in many cases suffice. Even so for the evidence of a miracle, circumstantial and witness evidence, and also at times, hard evidence can be put forward.

It is important to realize that God will not do miracles as a sign to unbelievers to prove Himself – never to please or to convince people who do not trust Him or sincerely seek Him.

Jesus responded to the people who asked Him for a sign:

Matthew 12:38-40 ‘38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign, an attesting miracle, from You proving that You are what You claim to be.” 39 But He replied and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation, that is morally unfaithful to God, craves and demands a miraculous sign; but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah; 40 for just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.’ The reality of the resurrection.

God will not do miracles at our demand for our purposes. You have to believe that He exists, and He will reveal Himself in His own time and purpose. Trust Him and you will get to know Him. (as in any relationship, the more you trust someone, the closer you will get to him/her and the more you will get to know the person)

Hebrews 11:6 ‘And it is impossible to please God without faith – trusting Him. Anyone who wants to come to Him must believe that God exists and that He rewards those who sincerely seek Him.’

We focus on miracles that have occurred, and not the ones that might or will happen. The focus is on events that have happened but are not explainable by natural means/laws.

For the strict materialist, miracles are impossible as the likelihood of a transcendent agent is not a possibility. Nevertheless, if miracles can be proved it should provoke the materialist to some serious thinking.

 

5. There are two approaches in support of the reality of miracles:                                                                                                                                                                        1. The argument from the occurrence of miracles to God’s existence. By providing evidence that miracles have happened, of which the most important would be the resurrection of Christ, it would be strong evidence for God’s existence. If the resurrection is true, then God exists, and other miracles are possible. There is strong evidence for the resurrection and God’s purpose with it. Historically the resurrection is well attested. The crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ are some of the best attested facts of ancient history, if not the best. Here’s why, see Facts about the Resurrection.

Are there religious beliefs that are supported by the evidence for miracles? The resurrection is directly associated with God’s alleged solution to the human predicament – the central narrative of the Bible, and the climax and fulfillment of the Gospel message.

If the evidence for the resurrection is strong enough, we have good reasons to believe in God’s existence since miracles are acts of God. The narrative of the resurrection of Christ is an incredibly strong anomaly. Anomaly: “nomos” means law in Greek, so a-nomos means “not law” In science, an anomaly is an event that does not conform to natural laws. Usually, in science, such events are treated as being provisionally anomalous (we lack understanding for now). Scientific theories might need revision. Science seeks to solve anomalies, so they welcome them as they expand scientific explanation. This indicates a strong anti-supernatural bias in modern science. Weak anomaly: reasonable to expect we can solve it by scientific explanation. Strong anomaly: so puzzling and recalcitrant to scientific explanation, we have serious doubts about ever having a scientific explanation. Most skeptics acknowledge that Jesus’ resurrection, if actual, would be a miracle (i.e., most would grant it would be a strong anomaly). In turn, most deny the strength of the historical evidence of His resurrection than try to explain it scientifically. Is the historical evidence strong enough to support the belief that it did happen? It would have to be very strong, and if used alone, it shoulders a lot of weight to argue for God’s existence. The evidence is so strong that people ought to believe, yet why rest so much of the case for God’s existence on historical evidence? Because Christianity stands or falls on the facts of the resurrection. As pointed out, the resurrection of Christ is one of the best attested facts of ancient history. If Christ was raised from the dead, Christianity is true, God exists, and other miracles are possible.

2. The argument is to demonstrate that God exists and therefore miracles are possible. In this approach, the argument starts with the independent reasons for God’s existence. What are the arguments for the existence of God? 1. Necessity of a First Cause (Cosmological Argument). Arguments for the Existence of God Designed Creation (Teleological Argument). 3. Objective Morality (Moral Argument). 4. Necessary Being (Ontological Argument). 5. Explanation for Data (Information Argument). 6. Science and Mathematics. See God and Mathematics 7. The historicity of Jesus’s Resurrection. Facts about the Resurrection. 8. Miracles and Spiritual Encounters. 9. Near-Death Experiences and Consciousness. 10. Purpose and Meaning. A Life without God.

Many of these arguments are very strong, some less. Yet overall, extremely strong for the existence of God.  And one can add Pain and Suffering, Personal Life-changing Experiences, and more.

So, when we encounter a strong anomaly, maybe God had something to do with it. If an event could be a miracle (since it seems it cannot be explained by natural law), it could have been caused by God. because if God exists, miracles are possible (which undercuts the prejudice against miracles). Thus, we can come to believe in the authority of the miracle worker (Jesus Christ), and thus that He is God – the creator of the universe for whom miracles would not be of any difficulty. This approach still needs historical evidence for the claimed miracles per se but does not need to be overturned by the naturalistic prejudice against miracles if the argument for God’s existence is strong enough.

Just as the resurrection of Christ is pivotal to Christianity, the stand or fall of the truth of Christianity, even so, is the resurrection of Christ the final evidence for the reality of miracles. No resurrection, then no divine Christ, no Christian God and no miracles.

And to conclude this discussion.

What are the specific purposes for miracles in the Bible i.e., in the Old Testament, the New Testament and today? One might notice that in most cases it is about God giving evidence to His people to trust Him, to have faith in Him, and not to believe in Him blindly but to have good reasons. Here are some examples.

1. Proof of God’s existence – in the present moment and referring to the past e.g., “Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him.” Genesis 21:2
2. To demonstrate the deity of Christ John 20:30,31 they give reasons to believe in Jesus ‘Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God and that by believing you may have life in His Name. Mark 2: 1-12, the paralyzed man; He heals to demonstrate His authority to forgive sins. Verse 9 Is it easier to say to the paralyzed man ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk’? 10 So I will prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins.” Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, 11 “Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!”
3. God shows compassion for the weak, needy, and oppressed through Jesus’ miracles. Matthew 4:23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people.
4. The authenticity of the disciples and the spread of the Gospel. Acts 3: 1-14 7 Then Peter took the lame man by the right hand and helped him up. And as he did, the man’s feet and ankles were instantly healed and strengthened. 8 He jumped up, stood on his feet, and began to walk! Then, walking, leaping, and praising God, he went into the Temple with them.
5. Care and concern for people. Acts 14:8-10 8 In Lystra there sat a man who was lame. He had been that way from birth and had never walked. 9 He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed 10 and called out, “Stand up on your feet!” At that, the man jumped up and began to walk.
6. All miracles serve to strengthen believers’ faith

Miracles are events inexplicable by natural or scientific laws and attributed to some supernatural cause. Miracles are not acknowledged as a possibility in a strict materialistic world. However, the proof that miracles do happen is based on evidential proof and on the evidence for the existence of God.

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