Most agree the world is not as (we think) it should be. Something is broken. If God exists, was he powerless to keep it from being broken?

Greg uses a concise illustration.

“When the trains are running on schedule, it’s likely because the person at the switchboard is doing his job. But when things consistently go awry, it’s reasonable to ask if anyone is minding the controls at all.” P 35.

I like this analogy because I have seen the Fort Worth Train Yard.

Fort Worth Train Yard by Linda Ungar (http://fineartamerica.com/featured/fort-worth-trainyards-linda-unger.html )

But maybe trains are far from your experience. So let’s use another analogy.

“When the Texas Longhorn Football Team is undefeated and in the running for a National Championship, it’s likely because the Head Coach is doing his job. But when things consistently go awry with the typically excellent players recruited by The University, it’s reasonable to ask if anyone is minding the playbook, organizing the practices, or preparing the team at all.

In fact, this thought can be generalized:

When _something “good” happens_, it’s likely because _the person in charge_ is doing what I think should be done. But when _something “bad” happens_, it’s reasonable to ask _if anyone’s in charge, or if someone’s in charge, why they don’t care_?

This is one place where skeptics know some Christian doctrine. They know that the Bible teaches that God is good. They also know that the Bible teaches that God is omnipotent (all powerful). They often claim the existence of moral and natural evil (a broken world) exposes an inconsistency:

• A good God would not allow the world “to break”.
• A powerful God could stop the breaking of His world.

What is interesting in this objection is the fact that upon atheism, there is no objective definition of “good”, “evil”, “broken” or “unbroken” worlds. The world just “IS”.

“The total amount of suffering per year in the natural world is beyond all decent contemplation. During the minute that it takes me to compose this sentence, thousands of animals are being eaten alive, many others are running for their lives, whimpering with fear, others are slowly being devoured from within by rasping parasites, thousands of all kinds are dying of starvation, thirst, and disease. It must be so. If there ever is a time of plenty, this very fact will automatically lead to an increase in the population until the natural state of starvation and misery is restored. In a universe of electrons and selfish genes, blind physical forces and genetic replication, some people are going to get hurt, other people are going to get lucky, and you won’t find any rhyme or reason in it, nor any justice. The universe that we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but pitiless indifference.”― Richard Dawkins, River Out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life

If there is no suffering, no fear, no reason, no justice, no design, no purpose, no evil,  and no good, then there is absolutely nothing to complain about.

In atheism, these categories have no true meaning if we are just bags of bones and chemicals.

However, we know deep down that suffering exists, that things really ARE broken, and that things really SHOULD be different, better, and “fixed”. The Christian story of reality contains reasons for this state of affairs without eliminating God’s goodness or limiting His power.

The Christian story tells how WE rebelled. WE and our ancestors consistently rejected the proper order for our own selfish goals. What a mess it has made.

You see, God is not responsible for the evil in the world. We are.

We also complain about God not doing anything about it. But He has. We will learn about His solution as we proceed through the book.

For a short version of God’s solution watch this excellent video. Is God good?

To participate in this discussion, comment below.

Or if you are on the SHSU campus this spring (2017), come discuss this book with our Ratio Christi at SHSU chapter that meets Fridays at Noon in LSC 307. Bring your lunch and feed your soul.

<< Previous | Next >>

My sweet ride in 1984.

Regarding Stories – True or False – Fact or Fantasy

Out of school early with my own driver’s license and a car. Sure, I was headed to a doctor’s appointment for my sprained ankle, but the point was the sense of freedom I felt driving myself around. Two months of solo driving and the thrill had not worn off.

Safety was always a big deal with me. I thought of taking Long Ave, but the turn onto 199 was not a protected left. So I stayed on River Oaks Blvd. It was a big and safe intersection with two protected left turn lanes. I was in the leftmost one in the front of the line.

Green arrow, let’s go. I pulled out at a moderate pace and noticed an enormous cement truck crossing the white line in the oncoming lane. I slammed the brake pedal to the floor causing my car to quickly stop. Then, I realized that stopping wasn’t going to help. I was in his path, and he was still headed my way.

Notice, the beginning of this story.

I didn’t start it with “Once upon a time” or “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…”. No, I am writing this story in a deliberate manner to convey that it is a real life, true, and actual occurrence in my life. It is fact, not fantasy. It happened in November 1984. I can’t remember the exact day, but I bet my mom and dad can.

Stories can be true or false, fact or fantasy. This is an ongoing blog series on Greg Koukl’s book, “The Story of Reality”. Get the book. Begin at Part 1. And participate in the discussion by posting comments on the various posts.

When you first read Greg’s title, “The Story of Reality”, what did you think of it? Did you automatically put it in the category of fiction or fantasy? Answer below in the comments so we can discuss it. (Remember, this is asynchronous interaction, so don’t worry about being late to the party. These internet discussions do not have any preset time limit.)

Back to my 1973 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme.

I knew I was stopped. I knew the cement truck was not. I knew it was massive. I knew this was the end.

So I relaxed.

What? How could someone relax in a situation like that?

I simply thought, “Hey, I’m outta here. I’m dead, and now I’m free, headed heavenward. No more basketball practice with Coach John Doe*. Jesus, here I come.”

I didn’t feel anything. I’m sure I got bounced around violently. I had a rectangular knot on my forehead from the rearview mirror, and my hip bent the gearshift. But after the car stopped spinning around, I opened my eyes to smoke, steam, and a destroyed windshield. The cement truck had crushed my car from the right-front headlight to the driver’s side door.

Funny, my first thought was “Crud, I’m still here.” Even funnier was my second thought, “Hey I better get out of this wreck before it blows up.” I was imagining a Hollywood style conflagration.

The door opened and dragged against the pavement. I hobbled over to the curb to sit down. Sadness ensued as I looked at my car all destroyed and smoking. I was sparkling Edward-Cullen-style with pulverized glass from the windshield.

Hours and seventeen X-rays later it was determined that I did not have a single broken bone or laceration. To play it safe, the doctors told mom to wake me every two hours because of a possible concussion. It didn’t sink in how severe the wreck was until I overheard mom reading police reports from eyewitnesses.

The woman in a car immediately behind me said, “After the explosion, I got out of my car to pull the body from the wreckage.”

The body! She thought I was “a dead body”.

Strangely, it was then that I started crying. I sobbed. It was her perspective that alerted me to the severity of the wreck that I survived.

All because I relaxed.

What are my intentions in telling you this true story?

It is NOT to brag about strong faith. I didn’t have to exert any strength or psych up extra courage.

It is NOT to make a claim that my experience proves God is real, heaven is real, or fear of death makes one weak.

My intentions are:

1. To get you to consider how life-changing a TRUE story can be.
2. To illustrate how being convinced is actually effortless.

Being raised in the church (specifically Saint Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Fort Worth, TX), there were ample opportunities to “make my faith my own.” I did that in 5^th grade when I read the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), and thought to myself, “uh-oh. I don’t stack up too well. Jesus forgive me.” That conviction was a gift, and being convinced of my lack took no effort on my part. (John 16:8-11)

Life has ups and downs and so does behavior. I was not an angel. I am deeply sorry for the horrible ways I treated some of my classmates and teachers. (If you remember, please forgive me.)

Back to the cement truck story.

It is a FACT that I relaxed. It is a FACT that my first thought was one of relief when considering my eternal destiny. This TRUE story affects me even today.

I do still fear airplane crashes, head-on collisions, and other painful ways of leaving this material world behind. But I still remember the crash of 1984. It wasn’t painful. It wasn’t scary. It was in FACT a hopeful experience.

What kind of God gives REAL peace? A REAL God?

[John 14:27 HCSB] 27 “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Your heart must not be troubled or fearful.”

Could it be that a REAL God exists? Could it be that Jesus was unique in all of history, and that his claims were TRUE?

A REAL God requires a TRUE story.

Greg is telling that TRUE story in his book.

I hope you will read it, discuss it, and be transformed by its message.

-Darren

*I changed the name so as to not hurt the actual coach.

<<Previous Post | Next Post >>

This is an online blog of Greg Koukl’s book, The Story of Reality. It should be taken as an online book club discussion. So, get your copy, start at the beginning.  and contribute in the comments section. Subscribe for updates so you’ll know when the next post appears.

I’m trying today’s post from the phone app, so forgive any thumb-induced typos.

Puzzle

We just received a puzzle as a gift for Christmas from our neighbors. We enjoy them as a family but they take time and commitment. Especially a 1000 piece puzzle like this one.

You have to set aside a space for the puzzle. We use a card table.

You need good lighting.

We use puzzles as a social time where many eyes can look through the pieces and discuss where we think they fit best. (Protip: puzzles are one of the few remaining screen-free family activities. And often deep conversations ensue.)

Greg’s example of the worldview puzzle fits nicely into this scheme.

Space. When analyzing your own worldview, you must think about how you think. (This is meta cognition, and is one unique aspect of humanity.) Thinking about thinking requires mental space and space in your schedule. It is my hope that you will set aside some space every day or week to study your worldview. That is why I’m doing this blog series. I’m clearing some space in my calendar to encourage you to clear some space in yours. I trust Greg, so I figured his book would be a good place for you to start if you have never thought much about these things.

Lighting. In my puzzle scheme, what does good lighting look like? When thinking about thinking, good lighting is a commitment to the TRUTH. You don’t want to have to force pieces together, nor do you want a distorted view of reality. Take for example the many vocal and (partially) logically-consistent atheists who take atheism to its logical conclusion that consciousness is an illusion. They are very persuasive. I mean, they’ve given TED talks so they must be right. Right?

This is the opposite of light. They are telling you that you get to make up your own picture on the front of your own puzzle box. The Bible speaks about this most clearly in Paul’s letter to the Romans.

For though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became nonsense, and their senseless minds were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools.

I want to focus on the foolishness of claiming that consciousness is an illusion. Is Daniel Dennett conscious of his illusive consciousness? What light is illuminating his worldview puzzle? And without consciousness, it is foolish to talk of science or facts. The world is unknowable because there is no “knowing”. Foolish, indeed.

(Caveat. I’m not using ridicule as an argument against Dennett. I am pointing out that using consciousness to argue against consciousness is self-refuting folly.)

Social Time. Lastly, there is a social aspect to this puzzling about worldview puzzles. I’m attempting to create some social interaction on the topic through this blog for those who are geographically isolated like I am. But if you get a chance look for a Ratio Christi chapter if you are near a college campus, or a Reasonable Faith chapter, or a Reasons to Believe chapter in your town. These are awesome places with friendly puzzlers who would love to discuss the search for truth with you.

Let me know if you are plugged into one of these groups, and what you think of them in the comments section.

<<Previous Post | Next Post >>

This is an online book club discussion of Greg Koukl’s latest book “The Story of Reality: How the world began, how it ends, and everything important that happens in between.”

Start at the beginning to catch up.

Preface

“There are reasons for the way things are.”

We know this, which is why we ask “why”.

“As we get older, asking “Why?” goes deeper into the heart of things. We begin asking the question not of any individual think, but of the whole thing. What is the reason for everything? Why am I here? Why is anything here? Why is anything important or good or beautiful? Why?”, p. 17

Or as we have recently lost a dear family member, we ask “Why was his life cut short?”

The nihilist* says that there is no “real” purpose, and the answer to the “why question” is “why not?” A popular book by John Green The Fault in Our Stars gives a nihilist perspective throughout. The youth in his story are dying of cancer and try to reject nihilism by making up their own purpose for life, which consists of close friendships and cathartic emotional release. If you saw the movie, they are left with merely being “OK” with it all. If you’ve read Green’s book, you’ll enjoy this.

*Definition of nihilism: 1.a: a viewpoint that traditional values and beliefs are unfounded and that existence is senseless and useless – “Nihilism.” Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 21 Dec. 2016.

Chapter 1 – Confusion

Is Christianity any better? Is nihilism the truth and religion merely a very elaborate plan to deceive ourselves with a made-up purpose? Greg outlines this modern (but false) approach to religion on page 22.

“Find the club you like – the one that meets your personal needs, that gives you rules to live by that are respectable but not too demanding, that warms your heart with a feeling of spirituality. That’s the point of religion. Do not, however, confuse religious stories with reality. They don’t give you that kind of information about the world that, say, science does. Yes, believing in God is useful to a point, but religion taken too seriously is, in some ways, like believing in Santa Claus – quaint if you’re a child but unbecoming of an adult.” p. 22

This view is essentially Marx’s dictum that “religion is the opiate of the people”. It is very common even if not stated explicitly by neighbors and colleagues. And it is stated explicitly by many debaters and authors. For example, Philip Kitcher writes in Living with Darwin,

“There is truth in Marx’s dictum that religion, more precisely supernaturalist and providentialist religion, is the opium of the people, but the consumption should be seen as medical rather than recreational. The most ardent apostles of science and reason recommend immediate withdrawal of the drug – but they do not acknowledge the pain that would be left unpalliated, pain too intense for their stark atheism to be a viable solution.” (Kindle Location 1626 of 1862), OUP 2007.

Kitcher wants religion to flourish as a community-building useful fiction, but he wants to rid it of any claim to reality.

Greg disagrees, and in his book, makes the bold claim that,

“Christianity is a picture of reality.”, p. 23

Christianity is an all-encompassing worldview among many others. And in this book Greg is walking us through the process of evaluating how the “many puzzle pieces of life” fit together if Christianity is the “picture on the front of the puzzle box”. Likewise, fewer of life’s puzzle pieces fit together if a different worldview is used as the picture on the front of the box. That’s where we are headed in Chapter 2. Next time.

Give me your thoughts in the comments. Buy your copy of Greg’s book so we can have substantive discussions. (Again, I get nothing from his book sales.) And if I get behind, start your own blog post on the topic so we can get into dialog. It’s easy. – DLW

<<Previous Post | Next Post >>

I just received the much anticipated book by Greg Koukl – “The Story of Reality: How the world began, how it ends, and everything important that happens in between“.

Why would I be so excited?

1. His book “Tactics” actually taught me how to listen to others when they are speaking. Before Greg’s influence, I spent that precious time formulating my next point instead of hearing what the person is actually saying.
2. His podcasts have served a mentoring role for me for about 4 years.
3. His team at Stand to Reason has informed me with their articles, talks, videos, and other resources.

Therefore, I am eager to read through Greg’s magnum opus (to use his phrase). I caught a glimpse of his view of the big picture in his DVD series “The Bible Fast Forward“. The title implies a quick treatment, but not so. This was a comprehensive treatment with a huge pdf outline.

What is a “live blog” of a book?

Well, I have heard of people participating in book clubs where several readers of the same book get together to discuss a chapter at a time. Either, my town is too small, or we are all too busy to do such an enjoyable thing, or I simply have not located enough like-interested individuals in my vicinity to form such a group. So I’ll do my part on the Internet. And if you get your copy of Koukl’s book, you can chime in at your leisure in the comments section.

We can form our own book club.

Although I may put some quotes in my blog, I will not reproduce the whole thing here. That would be illegal and worse, would harm Greg by stealing his labor. You will not be able to skip reading it for yourself, so go ahead and buy your own copy. It will make our shared experience better and our discussion deeper. (BTW, I am not benefiting from the sale of his books.)

One last caveat on time. We are entering the Christmas season, and I have a huge vista of time ahead. But that does not mean that I will spend all of it reading a book or blogging. So cut me some slack if these posts are sporadic. If you get ahead of me in the reading, then open up your own WordPress page and blog the chapters on your site. I’ll check them out when I find time and then we will really be in DIALOG. That would be GREAT!

Lastly, I probably only have an hour to devote to this, and today’s hour is up. If this interests you at all, please say so in the comments and subscribe to this blog so you will receive a notification when I post my comments on the Preface and on Chapter 1 – Confusion. (Tomorrow, Lord willing…) For now, how about a teaser quote from the Preface:

“As we get older, asking “Why?” goes deeper into the heart of things. We begin asking the question not of any individual thing, but of the whole thing. What is the reason for everything? Why am I here? Why is anything here? Why is anything important or good or beautiful? Why?” – Greg Koukl, The Story of Reality, p17

Next Post >>