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Archive for June, 2010

Q. Is there an absolute proof of Gods existence or does it completely come down to faith and personal testimony? Romans 1:20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse. Invisible meaning actually can’t physically be seen, but at the end says are clearly seen by the world around us.
Let’s focus first on the verse quoted above: Romans 1:20.  In it Paul is talking about the material manifestations of God’s eternal attributes.  In other words, he says that something of who God is can be seen in the things that He has made; that the creation bears the image of its creator.  This refers not only to the planet we live on, but also to the inner-workings of we as human beings.
Only Two Ways To Look At Things
Essentially, there can be only two reactions to Paul’s point.  Either we infer a great creative mind from the incomprehensible complexity and beauty we behold in creation, or, we believe that everything (and I stress, everything) we know of life is the result of one huge cosmic accident. This latter option would declare that everything from DNA, to romantic love, to art, to iPods, to earthworms, to irony, to Bach’s cello pieces, to dirt, to college degrees, to self-esteem are all products of the same cataclysmic explosion that happened somewhere in the ancient past, long before the laws of physics (the ones we use to describe it) had come into existence.

This reductio ad absurdum, though it shows the irrational grounds of materialistic evolution, does not prove the existence of God outright.  What it does help us to do is make an inference to the best possible explanation, which is that all the complexity of life, emotion, physics, energy, and thought owe their existence to a Being more complex and wise than a cosmic cocktail of chemicals (which, by the way, would have had to come from somewhere).*
Absolute Proof
In the end, the answer to the question is that there is BOTH absolute proof and the assurance of faith and personal testimony.  Aside from any arguments related to the creation/evolution debate, we have absolute proof for God of another kind: the life of the historical Jesus. Even if God had left no visible traces of His divine nature in creation, as Paul wrote, we would still be left with the record of the God-Man himself.

The evidences from the life of Jesus form a greater proof for God’s existence than all the volumes of arguments written on God’s existence as proved from material creation.  And this is to be expected, because the focus of the Bible is not the scientific evidence we have for belief in God; it is rather the eternal Word of God, manifest in the God-Man Jesus Christ, whose life is the greatest proof for God available to us.

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* Proceeding with an argument for God’s existence from design would take a much longer than the scope of this post.  Serious inquirers would be well served to obtain a copy of documentaries such as “The Privileged Planet,” or books such as I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist by Norman Geisler.

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Q. There are many different religions and faiths claiming that they are the only way to heaven. Obviously that means one is right and the rest are wrong. I’m not a very learned guy when it comes to worldviews other than Christianity, but if people believe in something then I would think there would be some concrete evidence for the foundation to their faith. Back to my question, If one is right and the rest wrong, wouldn’t there be some serious loopholes in the “wrong” ones?
Only One Religion Corresponds With Reality
All world-views have to answer the questions that all humans intrinsically ask, Where do we come from? What is our purpose? What is Morality? Why is there evil and suffering in the world? and What will happen when we die? Only the Christian worldview answers all of these questions to the clearest extent. It is the only religion which clearly corresponds to reality and whose text is so instructional and clear in explanation. Other world-views try but they all lack depth and correspondence with reality.

Buddhism doesn’t explain where evil and suffering come from it just explains what one must do to try to get away from it, and that which teaches us how to get away were taught by Buddha, who ultimately died and no one really knows if he ever overcame it. Hinduism adapts relativism, which breaks the very structure of thought to know Truth. Islam and many cults claim the Bible as their foundation of legitimacy (since many come hundreds and others thousands of years after the new testament), then they go and deny their foundation and posit contradictory information which still roots itself in the denied foundation. Once one denies their foundation for legitimacy all of their claims built on a broken foundation, lack foundation. Culture is also against many, for culture perpetuates thinking which is devoid of truth.

“He cuts down cedars, or he chooses a cypress tree or an oak and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a cedar and the rain nourishes it. Then it becomes fuel for a man. He takes a part of it and warms himself; he kindles a fire and bakes bread. Also he makes a god and worships it; he makes it an idol and falls down before it. Half of it he burns in the fire. Over the half he eats meat; he roasts it and is satisfied. Also he warms himself and says, “Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire!” And the rest of it he makes into a god, his idol, and falls down to it and worships it. He prays to it and says, “Deliver me, for you are my god!” They know not, nor do they discern, for he has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, and their hearts, so that they cannot understand. No one considers, nor is there knowledge or discernment to say, “Half of it I burned in the fire; I also baked bread on its coals; I roasted meat and have eaten. And shall I make the rest of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?” Isaiah 44:15-19
People Ultimately Want To Deny Jesus As God
This is an example in the Bible how man will follow foolishness to all extents. Romans 1:18-32 describes how and why people follow other religions. in 2 Corinthians 3:13-18 Paul describes that peoples’ hearts are hardened and there is a veil over their eyes and that only through Christ can one come and have their veil lifted to truth and salvation. This is why you can prove to someone God is real logically, historically, rationally but they will never accept the Lordship of Christ, because their hearts still have a veil over it. People do not accept Jesus by facts alone but through the heart and the Spirit.

So why do people not see the true God of reality? because of the darkness of the human heart to not look and accept the fallacy of an idea for personal comfort;

“And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. “For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.”  John 3:19-20

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