Mature Moral Thinkers

01 Tuesday Aug 2017

Posted by D. L. Williams in Campus Apologetics, Philosophy, Ratio Christi

Perusing the books in the Visiting Scholar Office at Reasons to Believe, I came across a nice text, Thinking Well – An Introduction to Critical Thinking by Steward E. Kelly (2001, McGraw Hill ISBN 0-7674-1848-4). So I took it home to browse at the pool this evening.

I enjoyed Chapter 8 especially where Dr. Kelly expounds upon the characteristics of mature moral thinkers. In reading this section, I was struck by our current situation in the US and elsewhere. Reasoning and rational discourse appears to be completely absent from our media.

Yet, I still have hope. In my personal conversations, people are still interested in meaningful dialog. In fact, they light up when I am gracious and careful in my speech.

So to further promote good moral reasoning and gracious dialog, I quote Dr. Kelly’s list. (with very few mods)

Characteristics of Mature Moral Thinkers

Given the controversy surrounding the domain of ethics, we should say a few words about the characteristics of people who think well about moral matters. These people could be described as being morally responsible and having good moral character. And they would possess many or all of the following characteristics. (He cites, “The following list is adapted from William Hughes, Critical Thinking“)

Independence of judgement

We believe what we believe on the basis of (hopefully good) reasons, and not because it is fashionable, convenient, or the like. In this sense, the individual should be morally autonomous.

Justification by appeals to principles

All moral judgments are ultimately answerable to appropriate moral principles. If no particular moral principle supports our moral judgement, then we need to rethink our moral reasoning behind that judgement.

Generalization of moral judgments

We believe that, whenever it is morally wrong for someone to do something under a particular set of circumstances, then it is morally wrong for everyone else to do that action under those same circumstances. (Pojman’s Test of Universalizability)

Consistency

First we need to live according to the principles we have adopted. People who consistently fail to live up to their own standards are guilty of hypocrisy and will lose the respect of mature members of the moral community. Second, we should apply our principles consistently across the board. (If we believe that it is morally wrong to break the law with respect to murder, but morally OK with respect to speeding laws, we need either to show that the two cases are relevantly different or to change our thinking about one of the two matters.) Finally, the principles we adopt should be consistent among themselves. (For example, suppose Lou adopts two moral principles 1) it is morally wrong to eat meat, and 2) it is morally right to do as we wish as long as it gives us physical pleasure. The problem here is that many people get physical pleasure from eating meat, so it would be impossible for them to obey these two conflicting principles.)

Awareness of complexity

We recognize that life/reality is complicated and that applying the relevant moral principle and gathering all the relevant facts can be complicated and even perplexing. Reality is often not as simple as we make it out to be.

Knowledge of the relevant facts

We do not make moral judgments until we have all the relevant facts in hand. (For example, for emotionally volatile issues, much arguing takes place even though the facts are either lacking or distorted.)

Recognition of our fallibility

Humans are finite and limited creatures. There is much we do not know. We tend to believe what we want to believe, and many thoughtful and morally informed people will disagree with us on any moral judgment we might make. To think that a moral judgment is correct simply because it is our own is to display a form of arrogance that is not justified. (The Greeks called this hubris.)

Tolerance

We should always respect the moral judgments of individuals who have made the effort to gather the facts and carefully apply the proper moral principle. We can significantly disagree with others yet treat them with the respect and dignity they deserve as fellow human beings.

Note that the morally mature individual may not have full possession of all eight characteristics; rather, moral maturity, like many good things, is a mater of degree. The fact that few will ever attain high moral maturity does not mean that these are not worthy ideals for which we should strive.

I hope you will benefit from this little post on the characteristics of mature moral reasoning. Let’s become examples of mature dialog and calm conversation in high contrast to the shrill shout fests on the nightly news and commentary shows.

“Come now, let us reason together”, says the LORD
-Isaiah 1:18

Some commentary

It is easy to point to someone (or several someones) in a group to discredit that group or to complain about that group. I confess that I fall into this very often. You will catch me complaining about “the media” all the time. My complaints are that “they” do not appeal to moral principles, or if they do then these principles are not universally applied to all sides of the issue. But I am personally inconsistent because I am painting a whole industry with a single broad brush.

People do this all the time with whoever is on the “other” side. Christians do this to atheists, etc. People do this to Christians as well, so I have been on both sides of the assuming game. It’s a subtle trap.

So, let’s not paint our opinions of an individual onto the group, nor the group onto the individual. But let’s also not throw out our moral convictions. Use this short list to check yourself. Present your views graciously, consistently, and with all the facts you have gathered. And then listen to your conversation partner as they do the same.

-Darren

Your First Philosophy Book

25 Tuesday Jul 2017

Posted by D. L. Williams in Campus Apologetics, Philosophy, Ratio Christi

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For my fellow Ratio Christi Chapter Directors who have not studied philosophy, formally, yet…

This is a reblog of RTB Scholar Ken Samples recommendation of an introductory philosophy text. He makes a compelling case. I think I’ll buy it.

Here is an excerpt, but you should read the whole article and should subscribe to Ken’s blog.

“For several years I struggled to find a textbook that would buttress my diligent efforts to teach philosophy to young men and women in a challenging and stimulating fashion. By far, the best introduction to philosophy textbook I have ever seen or used is Ed Miller’s outstanding book Questions That Matter (hereafter QTM). Allow me to explore this work by mentioning five reasons why this book is a truly exceptional textbook in philosophy.
[continue to Ken’s blog to read the whole thing…]
-Darren

Reflections

My favorite way to spend the day

This current blog series on Reflections is intended to encourage Christians to read more vigorously by providing a beginner’s guide to some of the Christian classics in such fields as theology, philosophy, and apologetics. Hopefully a very brief introduction to these important Christian texts will motivate today’s believers, as St. Augustine was called to in his dramatic conversion to Christianity, to “take up and read” (Latin: Tolle lege) these classic books.

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This week’s book, Questions That Matter, originally written by Ed Miller and later revised with coauthor Jon Jensen, is not a Christian classic but rather an introductory textbook to philosophy. However, this is not just any textbook. This is, in my view, the very best introduction to philosophy text available today. Anyone interested in philosophy, especially Christians, should start their study of philosophy with this book.

Why Is This Author Notable?

Ed Miller holds dual doctorates in…

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Bedrock Facts About the Resurrection

30 Thursday Mar 2017

Posted by D. L. Williams in Campus Apologetics, Historiography, Ratio Christi, Reality Blog

≈ 1 Comment

The Resurrection of Jesus is discussed in Chapters 22-23 of Greg Koukl’s book (The Story of Reality). (If you are new to this series, check out the first post and the intervening posts to put this in context.)

Bedrock Facts of the Resurrection

If you consider only those facts that are granted by virtually 100% of all scholars who have studied the subject, a very strong historical case for Jesus’ resurrection can be made’. Those kind of facts are called ‘bedrock’ because any responsible reconstruction [hypothesis] of the historical Jesus must use these facts as the foundation upon which that reconstruction is built. Otherwise, it’s almost certainly mistaken.

These bedrock facts are:

Jesus was crucified on a Roman cross, died, and was buried in a tomb.
The tomb was empty on the third day afterwards.
Numerous witnesses testified that they had seen Jesus risen from the dead.
James (Jesus’ skeptical brother) and Saul of Tarsus (a mortal enemy of these early witnesses) both claimed to see Jesus, converted, and were martyred.

Challenges

There are many alternate hypotheses that avoid the supernatural resurrection of Jesus.

Stolen body / Conspiracy
Hallucination
Apparent Death
Wrong Tomb

Inference to the Best Explanation

The supernatural resurrection of Jesus from the dead satisfies all the bedrock facts (explanatory scope) and the bedrock facts are exactly what we would expect to follow from this event (explanatory power). Although resurrections are not plausible by natural means, the additional reputation that Jesus worked miracles of healing, his frequent references to his impending death on the cross, and his prediction that his body (the temple) would be destroyed and raised in three days stand in tension without the resurrection and are confirmed and expected with his resurrection. Jesus’ prediction of his resurrection removes the ad hoc-ness from the use of a resurrection to explain the bedrock facts. In fact, the Jews worried about the resurrection (or a claim of resurrection) so they asked Pilate to post guards at the tomb. Finally, the resurrection offers great illumination to many of the sayings of Jesus as outlined in the following section.

It is very clear (to me) that the resurrection of Jesus has great support as the inference to the best explanation of the bedrock facts.

Read more about the other theories here…

Purpose found in the Scriptures

The resurrection was not just a magic trick. It has a purpose, just as Jesus’ death had a purpose. Jesus referred to resurrection often, and the disciples and Paul explained the meaning of the resurrection in their writings. Here are several examples:

13 But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.” [Luke 14:13-14 ESV]

26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. 28 Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 29 and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment. [John 5:26-29 ESV]

23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” [John 11:23-26 ESV]

14 But this I confess to you, that according to the Way, which they call a sect, I worship the God of our fathers, believing everything laid down by the Law and written in the Prophets, 15 having a hope in God, which these men themselves accept, that there will be a resurrection of both the just and the unjust. [Paul in Acts 24:14-15 ESV]

3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, … 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. … 12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. [1 Corinthians 15:3, 5-8, 12-15 ESV]

8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith– 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. [Philippians 3:8-11 ESV]

The above verses imply that we will also experience a resurrection, either to life or to judgement. The implications are that we are everlasting beings who will either spend eternity with or without God.

The next several verses discuss that the resurrection was an ACTUAL EVENT, not merely a spiritual experience or enlightenment. Paul and the others actually believed Jesus bodily rose from the dead, and they were persecuted for their stubborn insistence.

21 So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22 beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us–one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.” 23 And they put forward two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Justus, and Matthias. [Acts 1:21-23 ESV]

31 [David] foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. [Acts 2:31 ESV]

1 And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, 2 greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. 3 And they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. 4 But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand. [Acts 4:1-4 ESV]

33 And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. [Acts 4:33 ESV]

18 Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, “What does this babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities”–because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. 19 And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20 For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.” [Acts 17:18-20 ESV]

31 [The Father] has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” 32 Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.” [Acts 17:31-32 ESV]

6 Now when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. It is with respect to the hope and the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial.” 7 And when he had said this, a dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. 8 For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all. 9 Then a great clamor arose, and some of the scribes of the Pharisees’ party stood up and contended sharply, “We find nothing wrong in this man. What if a spirit or an angel spoke to him?” 10 And when the dissension became violent, the tribune, afraid that Paul would be torn to pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him away from among them by force and bring him into the barracks. 11 The following night the Lord stood by him and said, “Take courage, for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome.” 12 When it was day, the Jews made a plot and bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. 13 There were more than forty who made this conspiracy. [Acts 23:6-13 ESV]

1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, 2 which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, 3 concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh 4 and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, [Romans 1:1-4 ESV]

Now we finish with an interesting connection of the death and resurrection of Christ to the practice of baptism in the church. This sheds new light on Christ’s teaching that we should take up our cross daily and follow him. We follow him into death in baptism, and we rise to newness of life.

3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. [Romans 6:3-5 ESV]

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. [1 Peter 1:3-5 ESV]

21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him. [1 Peter 3:21-22 ESV]

Lastly, as this next verse reveals, the teaching of the resurrection was seen as an elementary doctrine from the earliest history of the Church. It was not something new invented years later.

1 Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2 and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. [Hebrews 6:1-2 ESV]

So let us rejoice with Paul that “as we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.” [Romans 6:3-5 ESV]

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The Cross

23 Thursday Mar 2017

Posted by D. L. Williams in Campus Apologetics, Grief, Death, and Dying, Ratio Christi, Reality Blog

≈ 1 Comment

The Cross of Jesus is discussed in Chapters 19-21 of Greg Koukl’s book (The Story of Reality). (If you are new to this series, check out the first post and the intervening posts to put this in context.)

Read Chapter 19 before going further. It walks through the footsteps of Jesus’ life and sets the stage for the following Bible passages.

During his life Jesus mentioned the cross often. His death on the cross was not unexpected by him. In fact, he made it obvious that self-sacrifice is expected by all of his followers.

But put yourself in the disciples’ sandals for a moment. If your spiritual leader kept referring to the electric chair wouldn’t it make you uneasy? Being in Huntsville, we are very familiar with “Old Sparky” – the electric chair that was used in the Huntsville (Walls) Unit from 1924 to 1964 to execute 361 individuals. If the electric chair makes you queasy, then the cross should make you faint.

Jesus points his disciples to the cross

34 And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. [Mark 8:34 ESV]

23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. [Luke 9:23 ESV]

24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. [Matthew 16:24 ESV]

38 And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. [Matthew 10:38 ESV]

27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. [Luke 14:27 ESV]

After three years in ministry tension grows in Jerusalem. Ignoring his disciples’ pleas to avoid Jerusalem, Jesus “set his face” toward what was in front of him. (Luke 9:51)

Jesus dies on the cross

17 and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. … 19 Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” [John 19:17, 19 ESV]

39 And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads 40 and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” … 42 “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. [Matthew 27:39-40, 42 ESV]

30 save yourself, and come down from the cross!” … 32 Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also reviled him. [Mark 15:30, 32 ESV]

31 Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. 32 So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him. 33 But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. … 36 For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken.” 37 And again another Scripture says, “They will look on him whom they have pierced.” [John 19:31-34, 36-37 ESV]

Read more here about the gruesome torture of crucifixion. Even Cicero recoiled at the thought.

But the executioner, the veiling of heads, and the very word ‘cross,’ let them all be far removed from not only the bodies of Roman citizens but even from their thoughts, their eyes, and their ears. [Cicero, 106-43BC, Pro Rabirio Postump]

And today, the cross is a piece of jewelry. Amazing.

What would you think of a bunch of people who wore silver and gold electric chair charms on necklaces, or had electric chairs emblazoned on t-shirts and hats with catchy Bible verses? That would be so strange and weird. Right? Yet we seem to rejoice in the disgusting, horrific, and agonizing cross.

Why?

The work of the cross

The cross is offensive to the Jewish leaders who demanded obedience to rules and ordinances.

“But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed.” [Galatians 5:11 ESV]

Christ sent Paul:

“to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” [1 Corinthians 1:17-18 ESV]

Paul boasted exclusively in the cross of Jesus! What?!

But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. [Galatians 6:14 ESV]

He himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. [Ephesians 2:14-16 ESV]

5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. [Philippians 2:5-8 ESV]

19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. 21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, … [Colossians 1:19-22 ESV]

13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses …, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. [Colossians 2:13-14 ESV]

1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. [Hebrews 12:1-2 ESV]

The Scripture suggests that something significant happened on the cross.

Reconciliation
Cancelling of debt
Restoration of peace
New way for us to become holy, blameless, and beyond reproach

Nowhere else in history do Evil, Justice, Love, and Forgiveness converge but on the cross of Jesus Christ. [Ravi Zacharias]

The Evil we have done and the Evil done to innocent Jesus;

The perfect Justice pronounced by the Father;

The unparalleled Love Jesus displayed by drinking that cup willingly;

The unbelievable Forgiveness that is offered to us;

These converge on the cross – the horrific and beautiful cross.

Love to you all,

Darren

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Jesus

10 Friday Mar 2017

Posted by D. L. Williams in Campus Apologetics, Ratio Christi, Reality Blog

≈ 3 Comments

We are now covering a description of the person and work of Jesus of Nazareth which is in Chapters 16-18 of Greg Koukl’s book (The Story of Reality). (If you are new to this series, check out the first post and the intervening posts to put this in context.)

Did Jesus Actually Exist?

Pretend for a second that you had never heard of Jesus. For some reason you were drawn to the ancient history of Rome. Pulling the thread through your redistilled and repackaged college or high school history books you stumble upon the idea that it would be cool to look at original sources. These letters and ancient accounts of events in the first century are readily available in today’s Internet-connected society. No doubt you would come across the following influential Romans: Thallus (52 AD), Tacitus (56-120 AD), Mara Bar-Serapion (70 AD), Phlegon (80-140 AD), Pliny the Younger (61-113 AD), Suetonius (69-140 AD), Lucian of Samosata (115-200 AD), and Celsus (175 AD). You would also find some Jewish historians and writings that cover the history of the first century: Josephus (37-101 AD), the Jewish Talmud (400-700 AD), and the Toledot Yeshu (1000 AD).

All these authors and documents have two important things in common:

They all mention Jesus of Nazareth or his followers.
They all are NOT a part of Jesus’s following. They would be what forensic investigators call Hostile Witnesses. They have no reason to embellish the historical record to make Jesus “look good”.

This material comes from J. Warner Wallace’s blog ColdCaseChristianity.com. Read this and this for more depth on what these ancient sources say. (Read his book Cold Case Christianity for a forensic analysis of the Christian Faith. He was an atheistic cold case investigator when he turned his investigation skills on the Bible to specifically prove it wrong. Following the evidence, he became a Christian.)

Here is his summary from Wallace’s blog of what these non-Christian sources have to say about Jesus.

Jesus was born and lived in Palestine. He was born, supposedly, to a virgin and had an earthly father who was a carpenter. He was a teacher who taught that through repentance and belief, all followers would become brothers and sisters. He led the Jews away from their beliefs. He was a wise man who claimed to be God and the Messiah. He had unusual magical powers and performed miraculous deeds. He healed the lame. He accurately predicted the future. He was persecuted by the Jews for what He said, betrayed by Judah Iskarioto. He was beaten with rods, forced to drink vinegar and wear a crown of thorns. He was crucified on the eve of the Passover and this crucifixion occurred under the direction of Pontius Pilate, during the time of Tiberius. On the day of His crucifixion, the sky grew dark and there was an earthquake. Afterward, He was buried in a tomb and the tomb was later found to be empty. He appeared to His disciples resurrected from the grave and showed them His wounds. These disciples then told others Jesus was resurrected and ascended into heaven. Jesus’ disciples and followers upheld a high moral code. One of them was named Matthai. The disciples were also persecuted for their faith but were martyred without changing their claims. They met regularly to worship Jesus, even after His death.

Amazing.

In Greg Koukl’s book the Story of Reality, he takes on the so-called Jesus mythers – people who claim that Jesus was a recycled version of ancient polytheistic myths with virgin births and resurrections. This claim needs to be addressed because it is implied in nearly every social studies class in high school (confirmed by my son – a high school freshman). This tale was also promulgated in the internet film Zeitgeist. It was also completely and clearly debunked by Chris White.

What is sad is the lack of historical knowledge behind this claim. The hostile sources above are describing near term events in the first century that confirm Biblical claims about Jesus.

It is also sad to think of the tortured logic behind the Jesus-is-a-myth claim. How would devout Jews like Peter and Paul be enticed away from the Jewish religion and all-encompassing Jewish culture to follow some cobbled-together collection of Zoroastrian and other myths?

Finally, if the virgin birth and resurrection claims were made up in the late 3^rd century, why do the hostile sources near the first century already have the so-called made up facts as part of their reports? Why do we have records of early Christians going to their deaths over the truth of these claims?

Greg summarizes,

“The recycled-redeemer crowd asks why we should consider the stories of Mithras, Horus, Attis, and other pagan mystery saviors as fables, yet treat as factual (what they think is) a similar story told of a Jewish carpenter. The answer is simple: There is no good historical evidence for any of the ancient mythological characters and their deeds, but there is an abundance of reliable historical evidence for Jesus. … Jesus of Nazareth was a man of history, who made a profound impact on history.”

Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, and Peter did not write about Jesus as if they were making up “once upon a time” stories. They claimed that what they observed was observable by anyone present at the events they describe.

1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life– 2 the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you … [1 John 1:1-2]

3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared

to Cephas, then

to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared

to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared

to James, then

to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also

to me.

9 For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. [1 Corinthians 15:3-9 ESV]

OK, so if we stipulate that Christ was an actual person in the first century who was a miracle worker and who is claimed to have risen from the dead. So what? Why is that significant?

The Person of Christ

This is so important to discuss and so timely with the recent opening of the movie The Shack – a fictional story that is full of distorted views on God and Christianity. The book was a New York Times Bestseller, and the movie is sure to attract many. And even though it is fiction, it will have a negative impact on those who do not know what the Bible actually teaches on the nature of God – the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

(For a two part series on the Trinity see Greg Koukl’s Solid Ground Articles Part 1 and Part 2.)

The power of entertainment to shape a people’s thinking was eloquently captured by a Scottish writer in 1703. Andrew Fletcher said,

“if a man were permitted to make all the ballads he need not care who should make the laws”

I’m not an isolationist. See movies. Read books. But realize that fiction is not fact. Don’t let Dan Brown’s fiction in the Da Vinci Code, or William Young’s The Shack be your source for knowledge about the teachings of Christianity or for knowledge about REALITY.

Jesus was truly a human, a man. He was born like us (although the Bible tells us his conception was special). He grew up like us. He had a job like us (a carpenter). He hungered, thirsted, and wept like us. He fretted about death just like us. We see that he even suffered, bled, and died like us. He was one of us.

But Jesus also made divine claims. He predicted that his death and resurrection would be a sign that his claims were true. Jesus was truly God, according to his own claims.

Saying these outrageous things often prompted the Jews to pick up stones to put him to death for claiming to be God.

30 I and the Father are one.”

31 The Jews picked up stones again to stone him.

32 Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?”

33 The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.” [John 10:30-33 ESV]

Greg summarizes,

And now we begin to see why the “Who is Jesus?” question is so important. If Jesus is not who he claimed to be, ignore him as a mad man or (if he knew his claims were false) an imbecile, since he played his charade right to its gruesome end. If his claim is true, however, that changes everything. “Aut Deus, aut malus homo,” the ancients wrote. “Either God, or a bad man.” There is no middle ground.

The Work of Christ

I cannot say it any better than Paul in his letter to the Romans:

6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person–though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die– 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. [Romans 5:6-8 ESV]

19 For as by the one man’s disobedience [Adam] the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience [Jesus] the many will be made righteous. [Romans 5:19 ESV]

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. [Romans 6:23 ESV]

5 For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. … 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! [Romans 7:5, 24-25a ESV]

1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. … 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. [Romans 8:1, 11 ESV]

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. [Romans 8:35-39 ESV]

Therefore, in line with Andrew Fletcher’s comment that ballads have an outsized impact, let’s end with a hymn from Martin Luther about the Person and Work of Christ:

1 Now praise we Christ, the Holy One,
The blessed virgin Mary’s Son.
From east to west, from shore to shore
Let earth its Lord and King adore.

2 He who himself all things did make
A servant’s form agreed to take,
That he as man mankind might win
And save his creatures from their sin.

3 The grace and pow’r of God the Lord
Upon the mother was outpoured;
A virgin pure and undefiled
In wondrous way conceived a child.

4 The noble mother bore a Son —
For so did Gabriel’s promise run —
Whom John confessed and leaped with joy
Before the mother knew her boy.

5 Upon a manger filled with hay
In poverty content he lay;
With milk was fed the Lord of all,
Who feeds the ravens when they call.

6 The heav’nly choirs rejoice and raise
Their voice to God in songs of praise.
To humble shepherds is proclaimed
The Shepherd who the world has framed.

7 All honor unto Christ the Lord,
Eternal and incarnate Word,
With Father and with Holy Ghost,
Till time in endless time be lost.

Mind AND Matter

16 Thursday Feb 2017

Posted by D. L. Williams in Campus Apologetics, Ratio Christi, Reality Blog

≈ 2 Comments

Chapters 8-10 in Greg Koukl’s The Story of Reality cover some broad territory as he discusses the nature of Nature and God. Greg has some unique names for these concepts:

Chapter 8: Matter-ism
Chapter 9: Mind-ism
Chapter 10: Options

(If you are new to this series, check out the first post and the intervening posts to put this in context.)

Brief Road Map

Look at the Venn diagram of overlapping circles representing Mind and Matter.
Matter-ism ignores non-physical realities of the mind, objective moral duties, love, evil.
Mind-ism ignores physical realities of the body. The material world is Maya (illusion).
Christianity acknowledges the reality of BOTH mind and matter.

Matterism

Some call it materialism or physicalism. It is the view that space time matter and energy are all that exist. Koukl points out that this is the story that most atheists, most “skeptics”, most humanists, and most Marxists believe is true.

On this view, we are ONLY co-located atoms, bags of meat and bones. Humanists might allow that we are special creatures due to our high level of function. But even this is increasingly seen as “speciesism”.

Talking about human rights and animal rights sounds very nice, but on Matterism, THERE ARE NO RIGHTS. There are only atoms. Any scheme of rights is merely one social system’s opinion of the way they want things to be.

(I was very careful to avoid using the phrase “the way things ought to be” because on Matterism, there are no OBJECTIVE oughts.)

There is also no overarching Purpose if we are merely a collection of atoms.

Our own frustration that the “world is not how it SHOULD be” is evidence that Matterism is leaving something REAL out of its vision of reality. There must be more to reality than just matter in motion.

Mindism

In Mindism, an all-encompassing mind is the ultimate reality. This is not the personal God of Christianity but rather some unknowable Divine Mind. It is in everything and everything is in it. You are somewhat familiar with this view as The Force in Star Wars.

Ben Obi-Wan Kenobi: The Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It’s an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together.

This view is present in Hinduism and Buddhism. A common phrase is:

“All is One; Brahman [God] is Atman [self], and Atman is Brahman.”

According to many schools of Hinduism, the world is an illusion, a play of the supreme consciousness of God. It is a projection of things and forms that are temporarily phenomenal and sustain the illusion of oneness and permanence. The illusion of phenomenal world is created and sustained by standalone objects thrown together either by an act of randomness or through the deliberate choice of conscious will.

Our scriptures declare that creation is the play of consciousness. It differentiates itself into diverse things and in the end withdraws everything into itself for no apparent and specific reason because God does nothing with any particular aim or desire. – Says the Yoga Vashista

Notice how in Mindism, either we become the mind and are god, or we are completely lost as we are absorbed into the mind of god. Either way, this is a distorted picture of the way we intuitively see the world, see ourselves, and see our moral obligations to each other in the present and in the future.

Mind AND Matter

Christianity operates in the overlap – the way things actually are. God is non-material, but he created a real material world with knowable and useable physics and mathematics.

We being made in His image are rational thinkers in physical bodies. God is a personal being, and we are personal beings.

[Genesis 2:7 ESV] 7 then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground [material] and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life [spiritual], and the man became a living creature.

[1 Corinthians 6:19 ESV] 19 … do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,

As you come across the claims of your friends, Internet celebrities, TED Talk lecturers, even your professors, listen carefully to what they say about reality. If they are telling you things like “There’s no such thing as free will”, “Life is an illusion or Maya”, or even “God is in all. All is in God, and You are in fact God.” Then you know they are not describing reality.

This deep knowledge of right and wrong, this bedrock intuition that there is a purpose to life, and this wonder at the interplay between mind and matter makes it clear that reality is greater than the reductionists claim.

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.

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God and Miracles – Chapters 6 – 7

07 Tuesday Feb 2017

Posted by D. L. Williams in Campus Apologetics, Ratio Christi, Reality Blog

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

arguments for god, miracles

“In the beginning God…” – Genesis 1:1

The Story of Reality begins with God. God is the main character, not us. We come later.

In fact, the flow of the actual events (and of Greg’s book) follow a simple five-point outline: God, Man, Jesus, Cross, and Resurrection. We begin Part 1: God, today.

(If you are new to this series, check out the first post and the intervening posts to put this in context.)

God is the “unmoved mover (of Aristotle)”, the “greatest conceivable being (of Anselm)”, the uncreated creator, the original originator, etc.

“For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.” Romans 11:36

Objections and Misunderstandings

We can learn a lot by looking at common objections because most objections stem from a misunderstanding of the true nature of things.

Who Created God?

Many have smugly asked, “If God created everything, then who or what created God?”. It is shocking that this would stump a Christian. (Sadly, it does because we don’t teach our youth any apologetics. RC College Prep is trying to change that.)

Can you see the silliness in the question? Neither Christians, Jews, Muslims, nor ancient Greek polytheists like Aristotle conceive of God as a created being. The seemingly infinite regress of created things has an end, and that prior originator is what is meant philosophically and theologically by the word God. Watch these short videos of Leibniz’ Contingency Argument and Anselm’s Ontological Argument to understand what is meant by Christians when they speak of God.

The ramifications of this are HUGE. One can intuitively grasp the observation that “If you make it, it’s yours.”

This is the basis of our Intellectual Property laws. It is also what makes people uneasy about God’s existence. If God made us we are not our own.

“16 And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone’s opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances. 17 Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”

18 But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? 19 Show me the coin for the tax.”

And they brought him a denarius. 20 And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?”

21 They said, “Caesar’s.”

Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” – Matthew 22:16-21, ESV

Here we see the ramifications of the teaching that we are made in the image of God.

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” – Genesis 1:27, ESV

If God made you, then YOU are God’s. You are not your own. Your body and your mind are not yours to abuse or destroy or fill with drugs.

The best way to know the purpose and meaning of some invention is to ask the inventor. God has something to say about life’s purpose, meaning, and function.

The ramifications of this are immense, and they are not lost on thinking atheists.

“I had motives for not wanting the world to have a meaning; and consequently assumed that it had none, and was able without any difficulty to find satisfying reasons for this assumption. The philosopher who finds no meaning in the world is not concerned exclusively with a problem in pure metaphysics. He is also concerned to prove that there is no valid reason why he personally should not do as he wants to do. For myself, as no doubt for most of my friends, the philosophy of meaninglessness was essentially an instrument of liberation from a certain system of morality. We objected to the morality because it interfered with our sexual freedom. The supporters of this system claimed that it embodied the meaning – the Christian meaning, they insisted – of the world. There was one admirably simple method of confuting these people and justifying ourselves in our erotic revolt: we would deny that the world had any meaning whatever.” ― Aldous Huxley, Ends and Means, 1937

The problem with reality is that it catches up to you, eventually. You can jump off a building and experience a thrill, but the reality of gravity will bring the thrill to an end. Denying any meaning to life will work exactly the same way.

The next objection discussed in Greg’s book relates to miracles.

Miracles

Haven’t science and philosophy proven that miracles are impossible?

“no testimony is sufficient to establish a miracle” – David Hume, Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, 1748

“When we run over libraries, persuaded of these principles, what havoc must we make? If we take in our hand any volume; of divinity or school metaphysics, for instance; let us ask, Does it contain any abstract reasoning concerning quantity or number? No. Does it contain any experimental reasoning concerning matter of fact and existence? No. Commit it then to the flames: For it can contain nothing but sophistry and illusion.” – Ibid. (italics added)

Scientists and philosophers have attacked miracles, for sure, but they haven’t proven that they are impossible because this would entail proving a negative.

Also, philosophers like Hume making the claim that only quantitative and experimental reasoning yield truth is odd since the sum of their work is non-empirical. Hume’s volumes would go into the flames, too. That can’t be right.

Arguing over miracles misses an important point. And it is a point you should not miss.

How did The Story begin?

“In the beginning God…” – Genesis 1:1

If you disagree with the 4^th word of the Bible, then it is fruitless to argue over a virgin birth, a man swallowed by a fish, adults and children rising from the dead, healings, prophecies, angels, and demons. It also fruitless to argue over creation, meaning, sin, holiness, judgement, heaven, and hell.

But if the 4^th word is true, and the rest of the phrase “created the heavens and the earth” is true, then there is nothing impossible about any of the other miracles or non-physical realities.

You may be skeptical of miracles. Fine. I’m also skeptical because I think there are many more con artists than miracle workers. But IF there is an all-powerful creator, then there REALLY is a miracle worker. How often God intervenes is up for debate, but interventions are not impossible a priori.

So let us at least look at the largest miracle ever studied. We have LOTS of scientific evidence for it.

Let’s finish Hume’s earlier quote:

“no testimony is sufficient to establish a miracle, unless the testimony be of such a kind, that its falsehood would be more miraculous, than the fact, which it endeavors to establish.”– David Hume, Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, 1748

Believing the universe came from nothing, or that there is a finely-tuned undetectable universe generator are both more miraculous than the simple exercise of an all-powerful non-contingent being, i.e. God.

The Point of Miracles

Lastly, if you look at the miracles of the Bible, they were not just magic tricks. They had a context and there was a point to be made or affirmed with the miracle. Here is the best example of a miracle with a point.

“2 Just then some men brought to Him a paralytic lying on a mat. Seeing their faith, Jesus told the paralytic, “Have courage, son, your sins are forgiven.”

3 At this, some of the scribes said among themselves, “He’s blaspheming! ”

4 But perceiving their thoughts, Jesus said, “Why are you thinking evil things in your hearts? 5 For which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? 6 But so you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” — then He told the paralytic, “Get up, pick up your mat, and go home.”

7 And he got up and went home.” – Matthew 9:2-7, HCSB

THAT’s a mic-drop moment.

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.

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What I Believe and Why

05 Tuesday Apr 2016

Posted by D. L. Williams in Biography, Campus Apologetics, Church, Ratio Christi

≈ 6 Comments

As Director of Ratio Christi at SHSU, I am always collecting “tough questions”. I want to be sure I am addressing the deepest questions that are percolating below the surface of the students’ calm and cool demeanor.

I also challenge the students to be ready to answer the First Question – “What do you believe and why do you believe it?” So I thought I would put down my answer to this question in blog post form, for them and for you.

Q: “What do you believe and why do you believe it?”

A: I’ll answer this in two parts since it is a two part question.

Part 1: What do you believe?

This question is easy to answer in some respects, because it is one that has been at the heart of the church for 2000 years. Since the beginning of the church at Pentecost (Acts 2), the Apostles began spreading the Gospel in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the world.

The early Christian Creeds were succinct statements of the Gospel. Take one of the earliest creedal statements as an example,

“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received,

that Christ
- died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures,
- that he was buried,
- that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and
- that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.” – 1 Corinthians 15: 3-6

I have written it in outline form, which is a useful practice when it comes to creeds. This statement is both an eyewitness report that Jesus bodily rose from the dead, and a theological statement that he died for our sins as predicted by the scriptures (Isaiah 53; Watch this amazing dialog about Isaiah 53 in Israel ).

The creeds grew from very simple to quite elaborate as the Church wrestled with finer theological points. But there is broad agreement that the Apostles’ Creed captures the foundational essentials of orthodox Christianity. To deviate from them is to deviate from Christianity. (In this usage orthodox is to mean authentic, not Eastern Orthodox, etc.)

The Apostles’ Creed

I believe in God the Father
- Almighty,
- Creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ,
- his only Son,
- our Lord.
- He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit
- and born of the Virgin Mary.
- He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
- was crucified,
- died and
- was buried.
- He descended to the dead.
- On the third day he rose again.
- He ascended into heaven, and
- is seated at the right hand of the Father.
- He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body, and
life everlasting.

Notice how most of the Creed is centered on our physical and temporal experience of “God with us” which is Isaiah’s prophesied name of the Messiah (Isaiah 7:14 and Matthew 1:23). Many of these claims are evidential, observable, and testable (at least at the time). Others are theological. All of these claims are Biblical. In fact, there is an EXTENSIVE Bible study on the Apostles Creed here.

And J. Warner Wallace has a nice blog post on early Christian creeds and confessions of faith.

So as a Christian, my simple answer to “What do you believe?” is given to me and to you in the Apostles’ Creed.

Part 2: Why do you believe it?

The “Why do you believe it?” question is subjective and personal. But this is where the conversation gets interesting, especially if we want to discuss our beliefs with others (i.e. evangelism).

Why would I believe some of the outlandish things put forth in the Apostles’ Creed?

My answer has changed over the years, but it has grown stronger, and I think, more compelling. Here is a timeline:

1968 – 73: Infancy and early childhood, I would have no answer to the “why” question, except “my family goes to church”, or “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” from the familiar hymn.

1974 – 80: Through the Sunday school program at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Fort Worth, TX, I began reading the Bible on my own time, as this was encouraged by my excellent Sunday School teachers. My answer at that time for “why do you believe it?” would have been “because it is in the Bible”.

This is a good answer, by the way. But it requires a second layer of defense, namely an answer to the question, “Why do you believe the Bible is reliable?”

1981 – 92: Through high school and my bachelor’s degree at UT Austin, my faith became more experiential. Emotionally moving worship experiences in both liturgical settings and contemporary settings helped me feel a connection to God. Summer camps, the Baptist student ministry, Chi Alpha at UT, FCA, Longhorn Band Bible study, and ski trips created close knit connections to the Church – the body of believers and the body of Christ on Earth.

My answer for “why do you believe it?” was as warranted as any other belief about a real person. I believed in God because I had “met Him” – in prayer, in worship, in service, in fellowship, and in the church.

This is also a good answer. It is internal confirmation of the Apostles’ Creed articles about the “Holy Spirit” and the “church”. It cannot be easily argued against, because it is experiential.

But it is not very compelling to some because it is experiential. They may not believe that my experience is an indicator of reality about God. I could be deceived or even acculturated to create these feelings in myself to fit into my chosen group – the church.

1993 – present: As a graduate student in Oregon – a very secular part of the country – I was able to see Christianity from “the outside” through the eyes of non-Christians who I met in the billion or so coffee shops and microbreweries in the Northwest. They were happy to let me have my subjective experiential Christian faith. But they were not convinced.

I began to read more Christian apologetics and found a treasure trove of books about and by atheists who became Christians. (For example, my Ratio Christi colleague Joel Furches has blogged about many atheist converts to Christianity, and it was apparently EASY for him to find examples.)

Many of these atheists sought to make an objective and evidential case against Christianity, because they had only heard subjective and emotional arguments like mine such as: – “Christianity is a relationship. Christianity works for me. If you ask me how I know He lives, He lives… within… my heart. (as the hymn goes)”.

I was energized to learn from these converts to Christianity. Their evidential approach convinced them that the Christian truth claims were actually True. I did my best to look at their arguments with “outside eyes”, and I continue to find their arguments compelling.

You may accuse me of confirmation bias, but making an accusation is not the same as making an argument.

Therefore, at the present time, here is my answer to “Why do you believe it?”

The universe had a beginning, and thus must have a cause that was immaterial, powerful, infinitely precise, beyond our conception of time.

The evidence for this comes from astrophysics and cosmology. It essentially gives evidence for the first article of the Apostles’ Creed “God almighty creator of heaven and earth”.

Jesus of Nazareth is a pivotal character in world history.

The claims about him only make sense if he supernaturally rose from the dead. Many of these facts are confirmed using sources outside the Bible. Consider this research using ONLY non-Christian sources done by J. Warner Wallace – an atheist homicide detective who became a Christian after his research.

Warner Wallace writes:

“Let’s review what we’ve learned from hostile pagan and Jewish sources describing Jesus. We’ll do our best to discount the anti-Christian bias we see in the sources, just as we discounted the pro-Christian bias we think might exist in some versions of the writing of Josephus. Many elements of the Biblical record are confirmed by these hostile accounts, in spite of the fact they deny the supernatural power of Jesus:

Jesus was born and lived in Palestine. He was born, supposedly, to a virgin and had an earthly father who was a carpenter. He was a teacher who taught that through repentance and belief, all followers would become brothers and sisters. He led the Jews away from their beliefs. He was a wise man who claimed to be God and the Messiah. He had unusual magical powers and performed miraculous deeds. He healed the lame. He accurately predicted the future. He was persecuted by the Jews for what He said, betrayed by Judah Iskarioto. He was beaten with rods, forced to drink vinegar and wear a crown of thorns. He was crucified on the eve of the Passover and this crucifixion occurred under the direction of Pontius Pilate, during the time of Tiberius. On the day of His crucifixion, the sky grew dark and there was an earthquake. Afterward, He was buried in a tomb and the tomb was later found to be empty. He appeared to His disciples resurrected from the grave and showed them His wounds. These disciples then told others Jesus was resurrected and ascended into heaven. Jesus’ disciples and followers upheld a high moral code. One of them was named Matthai. The disciples were also persecuted for their faith but were martyred without changing their claims. They met regularly to worship Jesus, even after His death.

Not bad, given this information is coming from ancient accounts hostile to the Biblical record. While these non-Christian sources interpret the claims of Christianity differently, they affirm the initial, evidential claims of the Biblical authors (much like those who interpret the evidence related to Kennedy’s assassination and the Twin Tower attacks come to different conclusions but affirm the basic facts of the historical events). Is there any evidence for Jesus outside the Bible? Yes, and the ancient non-Christian interpretations (and critical commentaries) of the Gospel accounts serve to strengthen the core claims of the New Testament.” –JWW

So without even using the Bible, we could confirm the main points of the second article of the Apostles’ Creed.

This is the center pole of the tent of Christianity. If Jesus is who he claims to be, then we get ALL OF SCRIPTURE in the mix. He quotes the Old Testament. The reason why he came is prophesied in the Old Testament.

These prophesies MUST BE FALSE if there is no God, and only nature exists. But if Jesus rose SUPERNATURALLY from the dead, then there is a supernatural realm, and the Bible becomes the best source for learning about God, the Holy Spirit, and all the other theological points – not because we like it, but because archaeology affirms the Biblical accounts over and over again.

There REALLY is a right and wrong.
1. Objective moral laws require a moral lawgiver with authority, namely God.
2. Objective moral laws exist.
3. Therefore, a moral lawgiver with authority (God) exists.

This syllogism is invincible. In fact, one can find atheists who support a. and deny b. And one can find atheists who support b. and deny a. One rarely finds an atheist who supports both a. and b. because that would make them a theist, or an internally conflicted atheist who ignores his own cognitive dissonance. (This is not much of a slight, though. We all tend to suppress cognitive dissonance. Hopefully, this post is causing some positive cognitive dissonance, for you.)

This moral framework is evidence for portions of the Apostles’ Creed as well – “at the right hand of the Father” (authority), “judge the living and the dead” (moral law breakers), “forgiveness of sins” (reconciliation with God), “everlasting life” (eternal reconciliation with God).

In Summary

What do you believe? – The Apostles’ Creed is a concise statement of my Christian convictions. I also accept the Nicene Creed, the Athanasian Creed, and the Augsburg Confession, and I am a member of Faith Lutheran Church LCMS in Huntsville, Texas.

Why do you believe it? – It is the best evidential description of reality – the way the world ACTUALLY is.

Bonus question,

What does this mean?

Wow! This means God REALLY loves me and YOU. We have been in rebellion against him through our self-centered desires. This rebellion will eventually lead to our permanent rejection of all Godly things – the antithesis of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. But God himself took the punishment we deserved, thus healing the sickness of sin that brings death. All we must do is consider the claims of the Apostles’ Creed – that through Jesus’ death and resurrection, our dead bodies can be made newly alive. If we accept the cure that he provides, we will live.

If you don’t believe it, yet, that’s understandable. But chew on it.

Don’t ignore your questions. Ignoring spiritual questions is worse than ignoring chest pain.

By Nheyob – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0

Tempus fugit.

Darren