Seeking God Seeking God
Colossians 2:1-9 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you, for those in Laodicea, and for all who have not seen me in person. I want their hearts to be encouraged and joined together in love, so that they may have all the riches of assured understanding and have the knowledge of God s mystery Christ. All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Him. I am saying this so that no one will deceive you with persuasive arguments. For I may be absent in body, but I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see how well ordered you are and the strength of your faith in Christ. Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, overflowing with gratitude. Be careful that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit based on human tradition, based on the elemental forces of the world, and not based on Christ. For the entire fullness of God s nature dwells bodily in Christ, and you have been filled by Him, who is the head over every ruler and authority.
Ask, Seek & Knock Matthew 7: 7, 8 Keep asking, and it will be given to you. Keep searching, and you will find. Keep knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who searches finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
Jeremiah 29:11-14 For I know the plans I have for you this is the LORD s declaration plans for your welfare, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. You will call to Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you this is the LORD s declaration and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and places where I banished you this is the LORD s declaration. I will restore you to the place I deported you from.
Doubt, a Shovel for Intelligent Faith Challenge #1: Wrestle with the unexamined blind faith on which skepticism is based Christians are called to have faith, but an intelligent faith. Challenge #2: Examine your objections and the prevailing cultural objections to faith, aka Have doubts about your doubts.
The Battle Between Science & Religion Skeptics vs. Believers
Big Bang Theory vs. Creationism Evolutionary Science vs. Intelligent Design
Four Models of How Science & Religion Relate Conflict: Irreconcilable Differences / War Independence: Science and religion are autonomous fields with their own rules and language Dialogue: Both science and religion involve a set of beliefs and require faith and so each can help the other Integration: Intelligent Design an ancient universe with signs of evolution but that has an irreducible complexity, so there must be God guiding the path
Really at odds? Evolutionary science assumes more complex life forms evolved from less complex through a process of natural selection When evolution is turned into an all encompassing theory explaining absolutely everything we believe, feel, and do as the product of natural selection then we are no longer talking about science but philosophy Collins: Fine-tuning beauty & order of nature points to a divine Creator
If evolution remains at the level of scientific biological hypothesis it would seem that there is little reason for conflict between the implications of Christian belief in the Creator and the scientific explorations of the way which at the level of biology God has gone about his creating process
One Example of an Unneeded Conflict Then God said, Let there be light, and there was light. ~ Genesis 1:3 Infinitely dense, dimensionless point of pure energy exploding in all directions at one point in time as if emanating from a light bulb that was turned on
Can miracles be reconciled with a rational view of the world? The statement that science has proven that miracles cannot exist is a sentiment that implicitly includes a giant leap of faith
Scientific Leap of Faith The scientific method by its very definition can only test for natural causes it has to because it is the only tool in the tool box So can science prove that a non-natural cause for an event has not taken place? No. Thus, the position that only natural measurable causes can effect change is a philosophical presumption. Ultimately, this position is a circular argument: Since supernatural causes cannot be tested, they don t exist.
[He] means to suggest that the very practice of science requires that one reject the idea of God raising someone from the dead [This] argument is like the drunk who insisted on looking for his lost car keys only under the streetlight on the grounds that the light was better there. In fact, it would go one better: it would insist that because the keys would be hard to find in the dark, they must be under the light. ~ Reason for God, page 89 ~
Fingerprints of God Is God findable?
The Very Existence of the World Fine-tuning of the Universe Regularity of Nature Beauty & Meaning Our Cognitive Faculties Work
If there is a God, which one is it? Can there really only be one religion?
Tolerance? Open-mindedness? Nice sentiment, but what does it mean? Does this mean we have to accept everyone s point of view? That we are all equally right? The Dodo Bird Verdict: All win and all must have prizes. Tolerance means that we do disagree Openness means we are willing to be persuaded by the truth It doesn t make sense that all religions are essentially equal and lead to the same place? The teachings are too disparate!
Why Jesus & Christianity?
Mathematical Probability that Jesus is the Christ Predicting 700 years from today the exact city in which the birth of a future leader would take place? Micah 5:2 Predicting the precise manner of death that a new, unknown religious leader would experience, a thousand years from now - a manner of death presently unknown, and to remain unknown for hundreds of years? King David did in 1000 B.C. If one were to conceive 50 specific prophecies about a person in the future, whom one would never meet, just what's the likelihood that this person will fulfill all 50 of the predictions? www.biblebelievers.org.
Probability cont. How much less would this likelihood be if 25 of these predictions were about what other people would do to him? "Arrange" to be born in a specific family? "Arrange" to be born in a specified city their parents don't live in? "Arrange" their own death by crucifixion, with two others? "Arrange" to have their executioners gamble for His clothing? "Arrange" to be betrayed in advance? "Arrange" to have the executioners carry out the regular practice of breaking the legs of the 2 victims on either side, but not their own? "Arrange" to be God? How does one escape from a grave and appear to people after having been killed? How about fulfilling 456 identifying characteristics?
Probability cont. Professor at Westmont College, Peter Stoner, made this calculation. The estimates were worked out by 12 different classes representing some 600 university students. The students carefully weighed all the factors, discussed each prophecy at length, and examined the various circumstances which might indicate that men had conspired together to fulfill a particular prophecy. They made their estimates conservative enough so that there was finally unanimous agreement even among the most skeptical students.
Probability cont. Professor Stoner then made the estimates even more conservative. He encouraged other skeptics/scientists to make their own estimates to see if his conclusions were more than fair. He submitted his figures for review to a committee of the American Scientific Affiliation. Upon examination, they verified that his calculations were dependable and accurate in regard to the scientific material presented
10 to the power of 17 for just 8 prophecies Any person who minimizes or ignores the significance of the biblical identifying signs concerning the Messiah would be irrational. Stoner concludes, 'Any man who rejects Christ as the Son of God is rejecting a fact, proved perhaps more absolutely than any other fact in the world
Thomas Sees & Believes John 20:24-31 But one of the Twelve, Thomas (called Twin ), was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples kept telling him, We have seen the Lord! But he said to them, If I don t see the mark of the nails in His hands, put my finger into the mark of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will never believe! After eight days His disciples were indoors again, and Thomas was with them. Even though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them. He said, Peace to you! Then He said to Thomas, Put your finger here and observe My hands. Reach out your hand and put it into My side. Don t be an unbeliever, but a believer. Thomas responded to Him, My Lord and my God! Jesus said, Because you have seen Me, you have believed. Those who believe without seeing are blessed. Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of His disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may believe Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and by believing you may have life in His name.
Resources for Further Study douglasjacoby.com evidenceforchristianity.org the disciple sitting next to you
Thank You