Seeking Proof Finding Grace

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In our digital age that is becoming increasingly skeptical of everything, how do we know what to trust?  What makes something reliable?  The answer is actually easier than we might think and will help us on our journey to find God.

“Trusting testimony is not an irrational act of faith that leaves critical rationality aside; it is on the contrary, the rationally appropriate way of responding to authentic testimony.”  Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses, 2006  

“The works of our Savior were always present, for they were true: those who were healed, those who rose from the dead, those who were not only seen in the act of being healed or raised, but were also always present, not merely when the Savior was living on the earth, but also for a considerable time after his departure, so that some of them survived even to our own times.”  Eusebius quoting from Quadratus, Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., p. 4.3.2

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As we celebrate Easter this week we take a look at how God made the offer to us at the perfect time, in the perfect place and in the perfect way in the person of Jesus Christ.  We look at how Jesus, in the life He lived, the death He died and His resurrection changed the world.  And most importantly we look at the prayer to start an eternal relationship with God.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, [4] just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, [5] having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, [6] to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. [7] In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace [8] which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, [9] having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, [10] that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth-in Him.”  Ephesians 1:3-10 NKJV, Nelson, 1982

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This week we take a look at God’s great love for us and His offer to us for an eternal relationship with Him as His children.  How can God make that offer to us?

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As we begin our second great journey to find out if Jesus was who He claimed to be (spoiler alert – it was God), when we look for a coherent worldview we find that the Bible presents our best choice.  God loves you!!

“This subversive belief in Jesus’ Lordship, over against that of Caesar, was held in the teeth of the fact that Caesar had demonstrated his superior power in an obvious way, by having Jesus crucified.  But the truly extraordinary thing is that this belief was held by a tiny group who, for the first two or three generations at least, could hardly have mounted a riot in a village, let alone a revolution in an empire.  And yet they persisted against all the odds, attracting the unwelcome notice of authorities because of the power of the message and the worldview and lifestyle it generated and sustained.  And whenever we go back to the key texts for evidence of why they persisted in such an improbable and dangerous belief they answer: it is because Jesus of Nazareth was raised from the dead.  And this provokes us to ask once more: why did they make this claim?”  N.T. Wright, The Resurrection of the Son of God, 2003

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This week we prepare to start the journey looking to answer the question: who is our Creator?  But how much evidence is really enough?

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This week we wrap up our journey looking at moral values and prepare to kick off our journey looking at the answer to the question: Is God the God of the Bible?  What do we find when we look at the journey so far from the beginning of the universe to where we are today.  The best answer of how we got here points us to a God who loves you!

“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.  DNA neither knows, nor cares.  DNA just is, and we dance to its music.” Richard Dawkins, River Out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life, 1994  

“My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust.  But how had I got this idea of just and unjust?  A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line.  What was I comparing this universe with when I called it unjust?  If the whole show was bad and senseless from A to Z, so to speak, why did I, who was supposed to be part of the show, find myself in such violent reaction against it?  A man feels wet when he falls into water, because man is not a water animal; a fish would not feel wet.  Of course I could have given up my idea of justice by saying it was nothing but a private idea of my own.  But if I did that, then my argument against God collapsed too – for the argument depended on saying that the world was really unjust, not simply that it did not happen to please my fancies.  Thus in the very act of trying to prove that God did not exist – in other words, that the whole of reality was senseless – I found I was forced to assume that one part of reality – namely my idea of justice – was full of sense.  Consequently atheism turns out to be too simple.”  C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, 1952

“But feeling a desire to help is quite different from feeling that you ought to help whether you want to or not.  Supposing you hear a cry for help from a man in danger.  You will probably feel two desires – one a desire to give help (due to your herd instinct), the other a desire to keep out of danger (due to the instinct for self-preservation).  But you will find inside you, in addition to these two impulses, a third thing which tells you that you ought to follow the impulse to help, and suppress the impulse to run away.  Now this thing that judges between the two instincts, that decides which should be encouraged, cannot be either of them.” C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, 1952

 “The moment you say that one set of moral ideas can be better than another, you are, in fact, measuring both of them by a standard, saying that one of them conforms to that standard more nearly than the other.  But the standard that measures two things is something different from either.  You are, in fact, comparing them both with some Real Morality, admitting that there is such a thing as real Right, independent of what people think, and that some people’s ideas get nearer to that real Right than others.  Or put it this way.  If your moral ideas can be truer, and those of the Nazis less true, there must be something – some Real Morality – for them to be true about.” C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, 1952  

“ 1.    If God does not exist, objective moral values and duties do not exist.

2.    Objective moral values and duties do exist.

3.    Therefore, God exists.”  William Lane Craig, Reasonable Faith, 1984

This week we answer Christopher Hitchens’ famous moral challenge.  

“The moment you say that one set of moral ideas can be better than another, you are, in fact, measuring both of them by a standard, saying that one of them conforms to that standard more nearly than the other.  But the standard that measures two things is something different from either.  You are, in fact, comparing them both with some Real Morality, admitting that there is such a thing as real Right, independent of what people think, and that some people’s ideas get nearer to that real Right than others.  Or put it this way.  If your moral ideas can be truer, and those of the Nazis less true, there must be something – some Real Morality – for them to be true about.” C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, 1952  

“You have to name for me an ethical action or an ethical statement or moral action, moral statement, made or undertaken by a believer that I couldn’t undertake or say, I couldn’t state or do.  I haven’t yet had an example pointed out to me.  In other words that a person of faith would have an advantage by being able to call upon divine sanction.”  Biola University, Does God Exist? William Lane Craig vs. Christopher Hitchens, 4/4/2009 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tYm41hb48o

Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion, 2006 quoting from the website Patheos  https://www.patheos.com/blogs/daylightatheism/essays/the-new-ten-commandments/    

“Do not do to others what you would not want them to do to you…”

Matt 7, “7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? 11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! 12 Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”  The Holy Bible, New King James Version, 1982  

“It’s only really as good as the person uttering it.”  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tYm41hb48o

“There has never been a society found where rape, murder and perjury are not condemned.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tYm41hb48o

“Walter Kutschmann

Kutschmann was an SS and Gestapo officer based in the Lviv (Lwów) region of Poland. He played a direct role in the killings of more than 1,500 Polish Jews, intellectuals and civilians…Witness accounts describe Kutschmann publicly shooting an 18-year-old Jewish maid in the head after accusing her of transmitting a venereal disease after allegedly raping her.”  https://www.foxnews.com/world/delayed-justice-argentinas-secret-nazi-files-expose-costly-inaction-pursuit-war-criminals

“For example, to say that the Holocaust was objectively wrong is to say that it was wrong even though the Nazis who carried it out thought it was right, and it would still have been wrong even if the Nazis had won World War II and succeeded in exterminating or brainwashing everybody who disagreed with them so that it was believed that the Holocaust was right.”  William Lane Craig, Reasonable Faith, 1984

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This week we look at how to judge between two sets of competing moral values?  Is there are third thing that helps us reach the right conclusion or is a consensus enough?  Thank goodness God loves us!

Definition – “To say that there are objective moral values is to say that something is good or evil independently of whether any human being believes it to be so.”  William Lane Craig, Reasonable Faith, 1984

“Many philosophers have argued that if God does not exist, then morality is ultimately subjective and non-binding.  We might act in precisely the same way that we do in fact act, but in the absence of God such actions would no longer count as good or evil, right or wrong, since in the absence of God, objective moral values and duties do not exist.”  William Lane Craig, Reasonable Faith, 1984

“The moment you say that one set of moral ideas can be better than another, you are, in fact, measuring both of them by a standard, saying that one of them conforms to that standard more nearly than the other.  But the standard that measures two things is something different from either.  You are, in fact, comparing them both with some Real Morality, admitting that there is such a thing as real Right, independent of what people think, and that some people’s ideas get nearer to that real Right than others.  Or put it this way.  If your moral ideas can be truer, and those of the Nazis less true, there must be something – some Real Morality – for them to be true about.” C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, 1952  

“For example, to say that the Holocaust was objectively wrong is to say that it was wrong even though the Nazis who carried it out thought it was right, and it would still have been wrong even if the Nazis had won World War II and succeeded in exterminating or brainwashing everybody who disagreed with them so that it was believed that the Holocaust was right.”  William Lane Craig, Reasonable Faith, 1984

“What was the sense in saying the enemy were in the wrong unless Right is a real thing which the Nazis at bottom knew as well as we did and ought to have practiced?  If they had no notion of what we meant by right, then, though we might still have had to fight them, we could no more have blamed them for that than for the color of their hair.” C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, 1952  

Genesis 9, “5 Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man’s brother I will require the life of man. 6 “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed; For in the image of God He made man.” The Holy Bible, New King James Version, 1982

Jeremiah 1, “4 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.” The Holy Bible, New King James Version, 1982

Psalm 139, “14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well.” The Holy Bible, New King James Version, 1982

“The Declaration of Independence dogmatically bases all rights on the fact that God created all men equal; and it is right; for if they were not created equal, they were certainly evolved unequal. There is no basis for democracy except in a dogma about the divine origin of man.” –G.K. Chesterton, What I Saw In America, 1922

“ 1.    If God does not exist, objective moral values and duties do not exist.

2.    Objective moral values and duties do exist.

3.    Therefore, God exists.”  William Lane Craig, Reasonable Faith, 1984

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This week we look at a few more examples or morality building by consensus and then look at some historical examples of what has happened when you remove God from the equation.  Don’t ever forget how much God loves you!

“Religion is an insult to human dignity.  With or without it, you’d have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things.” Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion, 2006

“Fortunately, however, morals do not have to be absolute.” Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion, 2006

“Not all absolutism is derived from religion.  Nevertheless, it is pretty hard to defend absolute morals on grounds other than religious ones.” Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion, 2006

“How, then, do we decide what is right and what is wrong?  No matter how we answer that question, there is a consensus about what we do as a matter of fact consider right and wrong: a consensus that prevails surprisingly widely.” Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion, 2006

Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion, 2006 quoting from the website Patheos  https://www.patheos.com/blogs/daylightatheism/essays/the-new-ten-commandments/    

3.    Do not overlook evil or shrink from administering justice, but always be ready to forgive wrongdoing freely admitted and honestly regretted.

 Matt 5, “43You have heard it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy,’  44But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you.”  The Holy Bible, New King James Version, 1982  

Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion, 2006 quoting from the website Patheos  https://www.patheos.com/blogs/daylightatheism/essays/the-new-ten-commandments/    

9. Form independent opinions on the basis of your own reason and experience; do not allow yourself to be led blindly by others. 

·       Joseph Stalin & Other Soviet Communist Leaders – Atheist/Communist – murdered approximately 61 million of their own people. (Rummel, 1997)

·       Mao Zedong – Atheist/Communist – murdered through his policies or directly killed approximately 78 million of his own people. (Rummel, 1997)

·       Various North Korean Dictators – Atheist/Communist – murdered millions of their own people.

·       Khmer Rouge – Atheist/Communist – murdered millions of their own people.

Rummel, R. - Death By Government,  Routledge, 1997

“What matters is not whether Hitler and Stalin were atheists, but whether atheism systematically influences people to do bad things.  There is not the smallest evidence that it does…Individual atheists may do evil things but they don’t do evil things in the name of atheism.” Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion, 2006

“The humanness of an embryo’s cells cannot confer upon it any absolute discontinuous moral status.  It cannot, because of our evolutionary continuity with chimpanzees and, more distantly, with every species on the planet.” Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion, 2006

 “In the previous chapter, when trying to explain the shifting moral Zeitgeist, I invoked a widespread consensus of liberal, enlightened, decent people.” Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion, 2006

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This week we take a deep dive into the Golden Rule.  Can it really work without God?

Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion, 2006 quoting from the website Patheos  https://www.patheos.com/blogs/daylightatheism/essays/the-new-ten-commandments/    

Do not do to others what you would not want them to do to you

Matt 7, “7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? 11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! 12 Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”  The Holy Bible, New King James Version, 1982  

Matthew 5: 43-44, “You have heard it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy,’  But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you.”  The Holy Bible, New King James Version, 1982

Matt 22, “37 Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”  The Holy Bible, New King James Version, 1982