Month: February 2007

I have been pondering this for some time. It seems that a lot of people of the skeptical persuasion like to rule out miracles from the onset of any investigation. Is it any shock if you approach a book like the Bible with the presupposition that miracles can’t happen, that you’re going to have to explain away a lot of the gospels or allegorize it as teaching “deeper truths” or just say it’s inaccurate?

Let us take a skeptic. This will be a man who has spent his whole life crusading against the supernatural. One day though, an angel appears to him. This man is skeptical at first, but the angel does not go away despite any attempts to think it a hallucination and this angel also tells him something about his life he’s never told anyone or ever wrote down before. He is told something no one else would have any way of knowing.

This man then goes to his skeptical friends. He wants to tell them that he’s convinced that some theistic belief must be true. After all, he’s seen an angel. Now we get to the problem. How is he going to convince his friends who are of the same mindset as he that he has seen an angel?

If he says “But I saw it!”, he will be told “Sure you did. You were just hallucinating.” “This angel told me something no one else would ever know!” That will get him “It was just a projection of your self-conscious.” If he says “I’ve always been reliable and honest in what I say to you!” He will get “Yes. But this time, you’re obviously mistaken.”

<> If the supernatural is ruled out a priori, then there is really nothing that could be said that could convince someone of the skeptical mindset. No matter who you are, as soon as you appeal to the supernatural existing, it will be “explained away.” G.K. Chesterton once said we accept the testimony of a little old lady on mundane events but as soon as she says she’s seen an angel, we refuse to accept it.

Now someone might say that I as a Christian will only accept miracles in my religion. That is not the case. I am open to miracles in any religion.  They could be done by powers or opposed to God or they could be ways of God revealing himself to people in those religions that will turn them to him.

So why do I accept biblical miracles? Because the accounts are close to the times, the miracles are absolutely essential to what is going on in the story, and the accounts are accurate in the ways that I can test them.

Compare this to the miracles of Islam. Mohammad is stated as saying he didn’t need any miracle as the Koran was the miracle. The accounts are written generations after he died and they are not seen as essential to his ministry. Could some have occurred? Maybe. I have reason to be skeptical though.

My only complaint here? That the skeptic is not being fair. If you want to be skeptical of miracle claims, go ahead. To rule them out a priori though is begging the question and it is no shock that if a man rejects miracles as impossible before studying the Scriptures, that he will reject them as nonsense.

I have a friend who has a terrible time with budgeting money. His problem is he can’t. We go to the mall and he walks out with about $80 worth of stuff and I’ll come out with maybe one item that’s inexpensive if even that. This friend doesn’t even have health insurance or a working automobile.

Now he’ll usually call me in the evenings and ask me what I’m doing. The answer is always the same. I’m on my computer. (There are a few exceptions to this such as if I’m at a friend’s or at a coffeeshop.) Before long, he’ll tell me he’s bored.

Now this amazes me. This guy buys new stuff every week and is incredibly bored. I hardly ever buy myself something new and I am rarely bored. I usually enjoy my life immensely.

This gets me to wondering where exactly wonder lies. I think one of the great errors of our time is that we suck the wonder out of stuff. Watch for this when someone says something is “nothing more.” I had a skeptic say to me that sex is nothing more than copulation recently. How can it be wonderful if it is lowered in such a way? It is purely biological function! Nothing else!

How many of us pause at what we see in our life though? I was driving some friends back to the church from getting pizza yesterday afternoon and just marveled for a moment. I’m a small guy and I’m controlling this vehicle to guide me across distances Saint Paul would have been thrilled at. My friends are actually trusting me with their lives and with simple pushes of my feet and movements of my hands, so much is happening.

When I see a movie like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, I’m glued. Why? Because the movie has never got boring. If you enjoy it the first time, you should enjoy it the 101st time. I think the same applies to jokes. Does humor just grow old over time instead?

How about beauty? We men need to realize with the ladies that the beauty does not lie in our perception. The beauty lies in them. Beauty is not in the eye of the beholder. It’s objective and lies in the beautiful. There is such a thing as the beautiful.

Is this why some marriages grow stale? We’ve lost the wonder. The wife decides she can stop working on being desirable as she’s already got the man she wanted? The husband decides he can stop chasing the lady he loves because he already has her?

And why does it seem that intercourse happens less? Take a couple on their honeymoon and all they want to do is be with each other? Does that moment ever lose its wonder? Yet as the years go on, it seems harder and harder and could it sadly be because the marriage has grown stale?

I am most concerned because when we adapt this kind of view, we make ourselves into little gods. We are the ones who determine if something is wonderful or beautiful or funny or whatever else we may wish. It is a sort of aesthetic relativism.

These things either are or they aren’t. Our perception won’t change the reality. It doesn’t in morality. It doesn’t in physics. I don’t see why it should in aesthetics. Did God make a wonderful universe? How do you answer that?

 If your answer is yes, then today is the time to wake up and start living accordingly. Love the significant other in your life. Enjoy that joke again. Watch that movie one more time. Be thrilled at driving.

Embrace the wonder!

A friend came to me last night to discuss a concern on her heart. She was worried about someone who had died and she was sure wasn’t a non-Christian and just wasn’t sure what to say to children who would ask “Is he in Heaven now?” This is never an easy question, but I said it would be best to tell the truth as far as it is known. It would also be best to remember that we don’t know a person’s heart so we cannot be definitive.

This got into the question then of why doesn’t God give us a second chance after death? She told me that she had talked to several pastors and she just hadn’t been able to get an answer and one asked if she was even being deliberately hostile. For the record, this really saddens me. Pastors. If you can’t answer a question, go on and admit it. I think the average skeptic would be pleased with “You know what? That’s a good question and I don’t know. Give me a few days to look into it and think on it and I’ll get back to you.” If you believe your faith is true, you should always welcome a question. It will allow you to grow deeper in it.

My answer to the question was based on who God is. What would happen if you were to stand before God after you died and you saw all of his holiness and awesomeness and knew you were standing before one who had the authority to judge you rightly. Would your love be genuine or would it be out of fear?

I have no doubt that God could convince everyone that he exists right now if he wanted. (I do believe also though that some people will come up with incredible ways to explain away what happens.) If God can do this though, then why isn’t he? This would depend on what God’s goal is.

I don’t believe his goal is to satisfy our intellectual knowledge. God is not a subject to be put in a test tube. This is simple for us to realize. Why does someone like me want a wife? Is it so I can study femininity? No. It is so I can have someone I can love and so I can have someone who will love me in a unique way no one else can.

God is looking for those who will love him and those who will love him freely. The Bible tells us that those who seek will find him. The time of seeking is now. Is the ones who are really committed to the search who will find him. Some might say “Well I haven’t found him yet.” First off, the story isn’t done yet. You might soon enough. Secondly, are you really seeking? You could be seeking a god you want and not the God who is really there.

I believe there is a fine line here. If God shows too little, then no one will come to him as no one will be able to find him. Have you ever considered how it would be though if he shows too much? Imagine this scenario my fellow men. A lady comes up to you who is quite exquisite in appearance. You are in a place where you are alone and chances are, no one will come by for awhile. She says “You look really hot. I’m looking for a man to love me. Do you think you love me?” As she is saying this, her hands are removing all clothing from her.

<> Honestly men, how many of us, even if we won’t do it, will at least be tempted to say “Oh yes! I’ll love you!” at that point? Why? Well, we have an incentive, but it certainly isn’t love at that point. There’s something else motivating that desire. (Geez. I can’t imagine what that could be.)

<> God’s the same way. He wants us to come to him not because of the benefits that he’ll give us, which there are some.  There are benefits to the lovely lady as well. However, if you go for just the benefits, then you are not really going for the person.  God is to be sought for who he is and not for what he does just as the lady is really to be loved for who she is and not what she does. (And it really breaks my heart ladies to see you so many of you lose yourself to a guy sexually because he wants you for what you do and not what you are.)

Today then, I urge you to seek God. Seek him while you are able to seek. Trust in the promise. If you seek him and I mean really seek him, you will find him.

I thought about this some last night in our struggle with sin and the goal being to reflect God. I ponder how many times God is a good surgeon who has to perform a spiritual amputation on us. What happens is that we get something in our character that does not belong in our nature. The only way God can deal with it is to remove it from us.

<> How many times may we resist this working in us? Could it be that the times that we resist God the most are simply because he is wanting to help us the most? How often does a child resist the doctor with the needle for fear that it will hurt when the parents and the doctor both know that yes, it will hurt, but the pain is only temporary. The long-term will be for the best of the child.

Are you like that at times? Am I like that? Do we not have internal struggles of the soul that seem so overwhelming that we just cry out for mercy and beg God to remove these thorns in our flesh? However, they still remain. Could it be that a quick removal is not what we need? Could it be that we need to learn to develop skills in resisting temptation that will enable us to not have to face amputation so often?

What do we do when these struggles come up then? What do we do when we know something is wrong and yet do it anyway? I think it’s best to not run from God. He is the only one who can help us as painful as that help may be at the time. When the struggle comes up and we have wars within, we should not deny it. Instead, we should go to God as the only one who can help us and beg him to help us recover from it. This should be done not expecting an instant cure. God can do that, but I don’t think that’s the way he prefers to work. We live in an instant society that wants everything now. I don’t see God acting that way.

Let it come. The screaming pain you feel might be the birth pains that will enable you to be the new person you will be. God has begun the new life within you. That new life will be completed, but it will not be a peaceful process. There will be much anguish. Do you think if they could that the pot, the gold, and the silver would all cry out in pain from what their shapers put them through? However, we know the end result is worth it.

<> Dear reader. Submit yourself to the hand of the surgeon. He knows how to operate.

Have you ever thought about sanctification? What all does it mean to be sanctified? What does it mean to be holy? I would like to put forward a suggestion based on the idea that we are made in the image of God. I believe this integral part of our design shows us how we are to be in relationship to him.

I do not believe the image of God is physical. God is not material in his essential being.  I do believe though that many of his attributes are put in us though to a far less degree. We have the attributes of power, knowledge, rationality, relationality, wisdom, and sexuality for instance. We are male and female in his image so masculinity and femininity would reside in God.

In saying that last part, I do believe there are some attributes more reflected in the males and some more in the females. I believe the males are the leaders and they reflect more attributes of strength and leading. Females though reflect the beauty of God and are the jewel of his creation.

What makes a female so beautiful? It’s life. All that she is shows her to be a picture of life. She is vibrant and shining. She has in her what is needed to develop a life and to sustain it. Of course though, that new life I think needs a father and it definitely needs a father to get started.

We must go on though to this idea of sanctification. I believe that God does not turn us into himself. This is not a Hindu Nirvana concept where you get absorbed into God and cease to exist. This isn’t the Buddhist Sunyata idea where your goal is to reach the void where you cease to exist altogether. In the end, you are to reflect God.

Yet in reflecting God, you will still be you. Your essential you will not cease to exist. Instead, in reflecting God, you will be more you than ever before. You will be you as you were meant to be. What you are is to be whole and good. Anything that does not reflect the image of God does not fit.

Thus, I look at my life and I see pieces that don’t fit. I see parts of me that are being cut away. I find them painful. I find there is much that I would prefer to keep with me. I find I have raised up in me issues I don’t understand and I ponder that maybe these are coming forth so God can deal with them and I can be allowed to live the life he meant for me to live.

Everything must go. I must reflect him as he is. In the end, I will be the one that he looks at and he sees himself reflected. In the end, you will be the same way if you willingly submit to him. It is painful indeed, but he means your good in the long run. No one likes sitting in the dentist chair, but in the end when we have a beautiful smile, we are indeed grateful.

So it is with this. Perchance you are complaining about it, but it might be the only way. The only way you can really recognize his sanctification in your life is for you to go through it. It will then be that you are more willing to trust him in the long-term. It is by his grace that you will be set free. It won’t be painful, but it will be beneficial.

The weaver is weaving his tapestry and the needles will hurt at times. The silversmith is purifying you in the fire that will burn, but you will reflect his image. The potter is shaping and molding you, but you will have rough handling. Slowly, you are being turned into a work of art reflecting the great artist.

<> Indeed, it will be worthwhile.

I’d like you to think about some things you LOVE to talk about. I always enjoy discussing philosophy and theology. I can enjoy discussing other things though like Smallville, Monk, House, Zelda, Final Fantasy, etc.

Some of you are extroverted. I’m an introvert through and through. If you’re a new person to me, I won’t be too friendly on our first convo as I have to “feel you” before I can really chat. However, if you came up to me and said “So did you see that latest Smallville that was on?” I think you’d find I come out of my shell much quicker.

It’s something we all have. There are some things we naturally like to talk about and it means so much to us that other people have such an interest in them as well. When those kinds of topics come up, we believe we have found kindred spirits and are more apt to move to other discussions as well.

What does that have to do with anything? Plenty. Last night at my workplace, I had a few minutes. I found one of my coworkers was studying microbiology which led to us conversing some on that topic. The next one I talked to was studying abnormal psychology. That led to some chatter as well.

Each of these are pathways. These are pathways to connect to people so they will be more open and willing to listen to you. You don’t have to be an expert in the field. You just have to show some interest and know basics. If you pick up some obscure bit of knowledge, try to remember it. It could help out.

<> If you don’t know something and people care about it, they will usually be more than happy to fill you in. If you came to me and asked “What’s this doctrine of the forms I keep hearing about from Plato?” I’ll be more than happy to spend some time with you to discuss it.

<> Once you’re in with that person, it makes them more receptive to the gospel. As another bonus, you learn to become a good listener and you learn some cool stuff as well which improves your intellectual skills.

Conclusion: Learn, Listen, and apply.

Tonight, I started reading a work in history. I’ve been into video games all my life, so as I read, I kept hearing in my own mind the opening of “Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past” where the story is told. After all, this was an epic battle that changed history.

Some people are wondering what battle it was. Was it the 300 that held off the Persian army? Was it one of the epic battles between the Spartans and the Athenians? Was it an account of the Jerusalem War? Was it the troops landing on the shores of Normandy?

When I say “epic battle”, I’m betting that’s what most people think of. However, the battle I was reading about and haven’t finished reading the intro to yet, is the battle of Saint Augustine against the Donatists.

These kinds of battles are just as epic, but they are not generally fought with physical weaponry. These are clashes of ideas. These are wars though that have shaped history. When the apologists stood up for the cause of right to pagans and others, they were fighting battles that would effect us forever. If you want evidence, consider how vastly different history would be if Acts 15 had turned out differently.

This is something exciting about history we can forget. It involves real people fighting real battles. Did Augustine know that we would be reading his writings 1600 years later? I doubt it. Yet here we are.

Now consider the battles you are fighting today for the cause of Christ. What you say may not seem to make much difference, but you too are writing history. You too are making a difference like Augustine did. You may not be as famous as Augustine, but consider some points.

Not as many people have heard of Ambrose in comparison to Augustine, but history would be different if Augustine had not encountered this man. Fewer still have probably heard of Augustine’s mother Monica, but those of us of the faith believe that it was this woman praying for her son to convert that led to his conversion. If you’re a female, would you not be just as honored to know that you’re the mother of a great hero in the church?

In more recent history, most people have heard of Dwight L. Moody, but how many people have heard of Edward Kimball. Kimball though was Moody’s Sunday School teacher and when he shared his testimony with Moody, Moody was weeping and converted. A line can be traced from Moody to Billy Graham. How is it Billy Graham has touched so many? Simple. One man named Edward Kimball spoke the truth.

Today, what you do is not insignificant. It is not forgotten. Christ promised that if you give a cup of cold water in his name, it will not be forgotten. Take joy in your work laborer. You labor not in vain.

As we continue the Lord’s prayer, the next part is about the Father who art in Heaven.

The first portion to look at is “Who Art”. This should all stop us in our tracks as we ponder it. When we make a statement like “God exists,” reality is totally altered. Imagine what it would mean to your worldview if there was no God?

How much would it mean? If your worldview has very little change in it, then you think very little of God? If your worldview is changed drastically, then you think very much of God. A question like that can get us to see how much we think of God.

Is your source of morality to be found in God? Is your source of truth God? Is your source of all that is good and just God? Is God the reason you get up everyday? Is God the reason you enjoy your life?

And let’s remember the who part of this. We are dealing with a person. (In Christianity, God is actually tri-personal.) This is not some it out there. This is not a pantheistic notion. This is a theistic notion. God has personality. He is even described as the father from whom all fatherhood comes.

What is meant is that it is not proper to say “I’m a father and have a son and that’s kind of like what the Father and Jesus are.” Instead, we should say the Father has the Son, and the way I am is meant to be like that. We mirror God. He does not mirror us. We reflect his image. He does not reflect ours.

And where is this God? In Heaven? Solomon said the very Heavens cannot contain us. God is not relative to Heaven though. Heaven is relative to God. We have a foretaste of Heaven on Earth because God is here, though he is not manifest here.

Why mention he’s in Heaven? Because God is with us, but God is also separate from us. God has watch over the whole cosmos. He is not a being limited by time and space. Time and space are subject to him as he is Lord of all.

However, this God who is out there is not wholly out there. He is the one who has revealed himself and fills the Earth as well. He has revealed himself in the Son most of all. Our lives should be changed entirely by the recognition that the deity chose to partake of the Earthly life. The incarnation is mind-blowing.

Again, if it isn’t to you, maybe you aren’t taking it seriously. Is today the time for you to take “Who art in Heaven” seriously?

In the midst of the Augustine I’m reading now, I got out of my library a copy of C.S. Lewis’s “A Grief Observed”, a book I had bought years ago but never started reading until last night and as I started it, one thought came to me.

 I wish I had read this sooner.

I was thinking back to a loss of mine last year. I remember going through a time of grief. I’m sure it can’t compare to that of Lewis who had lost his beloved wife to cancer, but I could tell that we both knew grief.

I believe people in grief want hope most of all. I thought about that last night and thinking about personal struggles of mine. I remember thinking, “God. If I could really know for one second that I will overcome, I believe I could truly be happy.”

Being in grief is like being in a prison cell. You almost wish the prison cell had no windows for if you couldn’t see normalcy outside your cell, you could convince yourself it didn’t exist.

Yet this cell does have a window and you can see outside of it and it seems quite unusual that someone will even try to see into your cell. You see normalcy going on and you grieve wondering if you will have that again.

What would make all the difference? If someone came over to you. Imagine what it would mean if someone saw you as normal as well. Even if they couldn’t help you out, to know that you are seen would be great enough.

Lewis once said, and it might be in this work, that it is more important that Heaven should exist than that any of us should make it there. Kreeft calls that a statement that will need years of unpacking.

Lewis’s point is simply that hope needs an object. Even if the object is not reached, there is an object that hope looks forward to. Bibilcally, hope isn’t wishful thinking. Certain events are called hopes. Hope in the Bible is that which is looked forward to in certainty but has not yet arrived.

Biblically also, we do have the promise of hope in all our circumstances. We are not really alone in the prison cell. The triune God of Scripture is there with us, even at times when we can’t feel his presence, a term I hesitate to use anyway.

Thus, to those in grief I say, look out the window. It will soon be yours and even better than this!

Yeah. I’m going off course from my thoughts on prayer here, but hey, it’s my blog so my choice. I decided to do this after listening to some debates today on creation/evolution. I was just amazed at what I was hearing on the side of the evolutionists. It seemed my main critique had been quite accurate.

The debates I heard had William Provine vs. Phil Johnson and Jonathan Wells vs. Michael Shermer. Keep in mind that I am not a scientist please. I do not deal with the scientific evidence that much. I deal with the philosophical underpinnings. The scientists can debate the other all they want.

It appeared that the only way to believe was to assume only naturalistic theories. They would repeatedly say “Well what method do you see God using?” It would be fiat creationism generally, but that doesn’t count since it’s not naturalistic. In other words, any counter theory on origins must be naturalistic before it can be accepted. That’s the point though. Naturalism can’t explain it.

I was particularly fascinated when the topic of morality came up and someone asked a question to Provine. Provine replied that whatever your background is, keep it up. The questioner said “My background is murder and rape, and it was that because I believed that life was meaningless and had no value.” Ouch. It’s very hard to refute an argument like that.

Someone came up though and asked what thiesm has contributed since methodological naturalism has put a man on the moon, cured diseases, etc., and that it seemed to him that the worst events in history had been done by those who were strong believers in religion.

Now I found this a very odd statement to make. First off, in naturalism, there is no objective basis for determining that an action is evil or good. You have to borrow from theism in order to do that. My point felt further established when Provine complained about the intolerance of Christianity. By what standard is this being condemned?

I would also say that naturalism has not given such things to us and Christianity has not done the worst evils in the world. People who have been naturalists and Christians have done such acts. I do believe though that one can lead to a conclusion more logically than another. Look at it this way.

In naturalism, man is a cosmic accident with no value bestowed on him from outside. In Christianity, man is a divine creation and bears the image of God and is someone whom Jesus Christ loves and died for. Which one of these best results in my seeing my neighbor as someone of value? Which one of these best results in living out the life of love?

However, I can think of the great benefits theism in that sense has brought us. I believe if we thought of the things that matter most to us, they wouldn’t be brought by science. Which do I enjoy more? Do I enjoy my computer, or do I enjoy more the people that I meet through it and the bond of friendship? Do I enjoy books more, or do I enjoy the knowledge I find within books?

The most valuable things in my life are the things that I do not detect with my senses. They are love and friendship and hope and joy. I would much rather have happiness in Christ than all the riches in the world. These are the things that science cannot bring me. Science is a good no doubt as the material world is good and science studies that, but my greatest happiness comes from theism.

I lastly recall hearing the line in the Shermer debate of “If things here need a designer, well doesn’t the designer?” This throws a naturalistic view on God though and makes God part of the creation in that he consists of “parts.” One doctrine of God is his simplicity. It does not mean he is easy to understand. It means that he is complete and has no parts. You could say he is “Simply holy” for instance, in that he is completely holy.

Material things are put together. Immaterial things are not. God is immaterial and thus, God is not designed. Now if they want to say that things need a designer, then we can say that we need a designer. If they want to say not all things need a designer, then we can say God does not need one.

Overall though, the most stunning aspect is the aspect of morality. It seems that these words of right and wrong and ought and good and evil keep popping up. Always watch for those friends. Always. I’d even say an intellectual virtue is given that implies that you ought to be honest with the evidence. Now I agree, but what is the basis in naturalism?

My conclusion? I can still rest easy tonight as a creationist.

<>