Archive for May, 2009

An Atheist has Faith

Monday, May 25th, 2009

An Atheist has enough faith to believe his or hers own philosophy without the assurance of absolute knowledge and truth. Atheism is as much a religion as any other worldview.

An Atheist can exercise faith in all kinds of things that are beyond his understanding and control such as the weather forecasts,newspapers, car brakes,history books,medical journals, and elevators. Yet elevators can let us down, history books can be wrong, and planes can crash.

The Atheist may seem to be making a case based strictly on  intellectual objections yet this may only be a veneer which is merely hiding a moral obligation  to God and his rule and reign over his or hers own life.

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The Quran Supports the Bible

Saturday, May 23rd, 2009

The Quran supports the divine inspiration  of the Torah, Psalms, and the Gospel accounts yet contemporary Muslim belief  claims that the bible is corrupted and can not be trusted. This of course cannot be proven and this statement is  merely just one of the many opinions being circulated among the practitioners of Islam.

One of the reasons for this kind of thinking  is because  there are many different bibles available and therefore the logic is that they can’t all  be right.

The main reason why there are different bibles is simply because of the vast amount of manuscript evidence that we have available to us. There exists about  6,000 Greek manuscript copies alone which is more manuscript evidence  than any other piece of ancient literature that has come to us from antiquity.

Today we have the luxury of printing as well as a better means of producing, sharing and preserving documents. During biblical times manuscripts were few and expensive. So due to the needs of preservation  as well as the urgent demand for the scriptures it became absolutely necessary for  copies to be made and circulated.

Copies were made available or produced  through critical scribal rules and techniques that were followed by the Jews so as not to alter the content of the original autograph. These copies are an advantage in   doing comparisons to ensure the accuracy of the text as well as validating its authenticity. You must remember that any discrepancies among the  accepted manuscripts are seen as minimal without alterations to its original content or text. What is also remarkable about the new testament is that if  had been destroyed it could of been nearly reconstructed  just from utilizing the quotes from the ancient church fathers which helps to serve as corroborating evidence to the  authenticity and reliability  of the scriptures as well .

Also in favor of the new testament is the relatively short period of time between the original autograph and the oldest existing copies with about 100 to 250 years  between them. This is relatively a short period of time compared to other ancient pieces of literature such as  Caesars Gallic wars which has a time gap of about a 1000 years.

Another means in helping to validate the authenticity of the bible comes with the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls which were found at Qumran back in the 1940’s. Up to this time the oldest copy of the Old Testament was the Masoretic text which dates to about 900 CE . When compared to the Dead Sea Scrolls which predate this manuscript by about a 1000 years we see no significant difference.

Also among the checks and balances of keeping the bible from corruption there were meetings that were conducted to establish and protect the scripture from heresy because other forms of pseudo-literature  were being circulated and the church leadership had to establish the given orthodoxy and canon which was  held to be as sacred scripture.  The Council of Nicaea took place in 325 CE among the Christians while the Jews had the council of Jamnia in 90CE.

Another reason why there are different bibles is for the practical purpose of getting the scripture into the common language of the people to whom it was intended. The disciples were commanded to go into all the world and preach the gospel and this is the only way that it could of been done in an efficient matter. There is no conspiracy to alter or change anything through bible translation. I cant imagine somebody handing me a bible written in its original language of Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek and  expecting  me to comprehend its meaning. Even if I studied these ancient languages I am culturally trained to think in English and that would be my bias of interpretation.

The Quran is faced with the same challenges as the Bible when it comes to the rules of  literary criticism. After all it didn’t just fall out of the sky nor was it imprinted by the finger of Allah.

Lastly I would like to say that whatever Muhammad received in regards to biblical ideas he obtained and borrowed them through the secondary influences of both Christians and Jews who were the originators of such texts. If the Bible had been corrupted by this time in history in which Muhammad lived then how could Muhammad of received the truth of the matter since He was dependent  upon Christian and Jewish influence. The Bible contains good textual copies prior to the advent of Islam so I do not see this as a matter of debate. If the Bible were to be mishandled and corrupted by Christians and Jews then why didn’t Allah in his sovereignty initiate this revelation first with the Muslims. I know these arguments are ridiculous but I wanted to carry them out to their logical conclusion to allow you to see the inconsistencies in these unfounded arguments.

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Jesus the Last Prophet

Thursday, May 21st, 2009

I recently had a Muslim friend tell me that Muhammad was the last and final prophet. This is a belief that has come through the Hebrew scriptures and can be found in Deuteronomy 18:15.

This scripture was never intended to find its fulfillment in the  founder of Islam, which would of represented a foreign religion and a false deity or idol to the Hebrews, to whom this prophecy was misapplied .

Moses spoke this word specifically to the Hebrews and it ultimately found its application by the Hebrews towards a fellow Hebrew. After all the Torah originated with the covenant people of Israel and according to the apostle Peter in Acts 3:22 as well as Stephen in Acts 7:37 it had its consummation in the final prophet Jesus.

Moses told the children of Israel that God will raise up a prophet like me from among your brothers. A significant point when interpreting this text is the wording “brothers “ which was applied to those of Hebrew heritage.

Though there are some ancestral ties between the Hebrews and those of  Arab descent the scripture plainly applies it to the people of the book or Israel.

Lastly this scripture has not been distorted or misrepresented by Christians in tampering with the scriptural text after all the Torah is the centerpiece to Judaism who finds no sympathy in giving Jesus the title or the status of a  prophet.

You too may concur with the decision of mainstream Judaism in denying Jesus as this “Great Prophet” yet they would not agree likewise to the liberties that Islam has taken with the text either .

Finally as you study the prophetic ministry of Israel you will often see rejection as the primary reaction from the Jewish community. One of the greatest messianic scriptures as applied to Jesus comes from the prophet Isaiah. In Isaiah 53 it speaks of Jesus as a suffering servant who was rejected and despised of men yet accepted by God.

I pray that you will not deny Jesus his rightful position as the last and final authority  to whom the Scriptures find their ultimate fulfillment and purpose.

For the prophetic voice served to distinguish the “heir” resulting in those who would “hear” and receive its message and fulfillment in establishing a finality in the person and work of Jesus Hebrews 1:1. Those who have ears to hear may they hear what the Spirit of God is saying. Are you listening to the prophetic voice of God?


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Atheists Do Not Exist

Wednesday, May 20th, 2009

There may be people who make claims to rejecting the existence of God yet this position is impossible to verify an cannot be validated. Not believing in something  does not prove its nonexistence but rather it is merely a belief system. In order to make an exclusive claim that God does not exist it would take an  all-powerful being who contains all-knowledge and has surveyed ever square inch of the universe. To make a clear case that  God does not exist and present it as an absolute truth would be a determined state of psychosis.

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Pain and Suffering

Sunday, May 17th, 2009

To attempt to answer the question of why there is pain and suffering in the world and more personally within our individual lives we must first understand that this is often times a complex question which is difficult to answer in a short blog. Actually there have been many books written on this very subject and it is a question that is begging an answer. My concern with this blog is that people often misapply the existence of pain in suffering with a improper view towards God.

When dealing with the problem of pain, suffering, and evil there are several challenges that may occur in respect to how we see this in relationship to the presence or the existence of God and how He relates to us and our world. It calls to question His reality along with His sovereignty and His goodness. One thought that needs to be considered likewise is that  if God exists and He permits suffering then does He likewise get any credit for permitting good?

From a biblical perspective, which is my approach to help solve this problem, evil is seen as a  existing reality dating all the way back to the beginning of time. Along with evil are its companions of pain and suffering. If you study the creation account you will see that what God originally created  was good and when He created mankind He gave Him the capacity to make choices and as you know anybody who has a choice therefore can have influence on their culture. This influence of course resulted in mankind ultimately rejecting God’s goodness thus resulting in a curse upon himself and all of creation. As a part of this curse it led all of mankind into a natural ability to alienate himself from God. Also along with mankind’s contribution to the plot of evil their is likewise another enemy namely the Devil. He is a evil adversary in rebellion to God  who works in opposition to the goodness of God and His creation. He is seen as a spiritual counterpart to God along with his demonic cohorts and even though they may not be seen with the naked or natural eye they are nevertheless a present and a active reality in our world creating havoc upon mankind and nature. When the demonic and the human element acting as enemies of God are joined together harmoniously they have a  synergistic effect leading to the greatest depths of human depravity and wickedness.

Along side all of this it is obvious that  God in His sovereignty allows for free will at least for a season. One interesting aspect or attribute about God is that He is seen as the eternal judge that is just. There will be accountability for the evil doers of society in God’s future impending judgment towards mankind concerning the acts of men whereby we have to give an account for our deeds. So anyway simply speaking God judges mankind based on his decisions to act as a free moral agent and the responsibility of living life under submission to God or in rebellion to Him. So God’s sovereignty in judgement will be exercised fully if not in this life than in the life to come.

One thing we must look at  in dealing with this problem of evil and pain/suffering in regards to questioning God existence in His sovereignty and goodness begins first with a question concerning ourselves. This question if taken as a fair evaluation of our own lives which will lead us down the path of asking ourselves if  we personally have created any evil in our own lives? Have we violated others or God at any time to any degree? Are we innocent? Are we strictly the victim or are we also the perpetrators of sin crimes. What have we done to help eliminate suffering in our world? The bible refers to the ten commandments of God and on this level all people have sinned against man or God to some degree. Therefore we are all responsible for this curse or grief that we see in our world.

Lastly but not least we must see that God himself through the person of Jesus allowed Himself to feel the pain in the suffering of humanity by placing himself on a human instrument of torture namely the cross. The prophet Isaiah says that Jesus  was a man of sorrows and was acquainted with grief. Interestingly enough God subjected himself willfully to the human element of pain and suffering stating that He suffered with us. His pain led ultimately to our gain because he satisfied the just and righteous judgment of God by taking His life as a ransom on behalf of our sinful lives in which we were to be held as guilty before a  Holy and supreme judge in the courts of heaven. Even though we were enemies He died for us reconciling us to God and one another and  it was strictly an act of His mercy and grace to undeserving creatures. A person must evaluate from this that God is both good and sovereign in the face of evil and that there is no conflict.

Whatever our viewpoint is on the matter. This good God will give us a new heaven and a new earth and he will someday put away all pain, suffering ,and sorrow resulting in ultimate peace. Of course it is obvious that this dispensation in  time has not occurred yet but nevertheless it is our hope and it is on the  upcoming horizon. One thing we can secure now and today is that God can change our sinful hearts when we submit to His will in accepting Christ as our Lord and Saviour. When He changes our hearts then the curse is reversed in our own personal lives and God produces within us His righteousness even to the point that by his grace  we can even love our enemies.

I support a group called Voice of the Martyr’s and based on statistics there are over 300,000 Christians who suffer for their faith yearly. Now a Martyr is not necessarily someone who dies for the faith alone but rather it includes anyone who suffers inhumanely for their faith. This can be loss of job, family, home, physical and emotional torture etc., etc. There only crime is that they are Christians living in a hostile world of people who are intolerant to their beliefs. Now many of the things that had went on in Catholicism were of the same measure of persecuting others as well such as the Crusades and the Inquisition. Yet Christ never said anything about fighting for His kingdom in this manner and even said that we as His disciples should love our enemies and turn the other cheek. So those who make claims to Christ but behave hostile like the world are not truly His followers. As a matter of fact many of these Martyrs that have been violated forgive and prayer for their persecutors.

Anyway we might question the length and breadth of suffering in this world yet in regards to eternity it is only momentary and fleeting. The Bible calls the duration of human life as a vapor of smoke. The Apostle Paul said that our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us a eternal glory that far outweigh them all. Yet his credentials of suffering surpass most peoples in that he was imprisoned frequently, 5 times was he flogged, 3 times beaten with rods, once stoned, and was shipwrecked 3 times. He was in danger most of the time during his missionary journeys when he was promoting the welfare of others. Reminds me of the humanitarian helps that are contributed largely through the church and without the influence of God or Christ in their hearts these helps would not exist for our world today. This isn’t about favors for conversions either. I gave up a job making 70,000 a year along with my retirement in order to volunteer in a food and clothing distribution center  in Tel Aviv Israel and many people did not come to Christ but we continued to share and serve anyway.

Finally sometimes pain and suffering can produce a redemptive act of goodness. There are too many examples to explain this but the one that I often think about is the placement of a stop sign after there has been an accident. Unfortunately someone had to suffer for the sake of another and yet this sounds so much like what God did for us in allowing his Son to suffer on our behalf whereby we have now become the benefactors.

Anyway if after all of this it still doesn’t make sense then all we can do is trust God. It’s kind of when we were little and we didn’t understand things about life but we always looked to our parents to provide us with a sense of love and security anyways. That is what God want us to do with Him in the midst of our crisis. Even if we had a answer to every question would that be enough then to solve it. God is not concerned about our intellect as he is our hearts for therein lies the key to the dilemma. Let’s simply trust God together.

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Evolution is Science Fiction

Tuesday, May 12th, 2009

There is a natural tendency to believe whatever we read in a printed text book. When we read published material there is a unconscious bias to accept as fact what is being taught without scrutiny  or further analysis. We merely just accept it  and then we file it away in our minds allowing these ideas to form our worldview from the inspiration and the perspective of a piece of paper who is merely under the power and the bias of its author/creator.  Yet when reading these materials this informational propaganda can be so tricky that we can believe almost anything. Hitler said that if you say something loud enough long enough then people will begin to believe you.

We must remember that there are key words that science has invented which explains the logic of this supposed phenomenon called evolution. The words such as theory and hypothesis are used but are not always taken seriously or they are forgotten because a person wants to believe something so bad that they haphazardly cast off all reasonable doubt and for them to think otherwise would be a regression of progress in their proving the  absence of God. The God factor becomes automatically factored out of the equation and to reconsider life would be a total embarrassment to their intellectual capacity. Yet the very foundation that many have built their structure of faith on is  devoid of absolutes with theory and hypothesis being its very cornerstones. Be careful that your structural reasoning doesn’t topple down around you someday.

Remember evolution was a theory and that is as far as the story line has ever gotten. With all of our modern technological advances and archaeological finds they have failed to piece together the missing link. Life  is better explained and formulated through the process of intelligent design.

No matter where science wants to take off and develop its theory of random chance they often skip over the starting point  with an eagerness to explain existence without a beginning.  Science can not  prove the non-existence of a creator but on the contrary it supports the concept of creation science because life is delicate and is extremely complicated or fine tuned.  Science can make a observation such as a big-bang theory because they know the universe is expanding. Science agrees there was a beginning such as what the bible supports rather than a eternity past with a infinite universe. This big bang had to originate with a mass and a subsequent explosion factors that scientists often mention without  explaining their original cause or origin.

Darwin states that his theories where only as good as the archaeological evidences that support them yet there has been no concrete evidences such as intermediary forms or missing links. The ones that were often brought forward and substantiated as proof cases  were latter to be proved as hoaxes or falsifications. The intelligent design model bases the observed evidence as life originating after their own kind.

The real issue is not a intellectual one but rather a moral choice. Evolution has become a fairy tale to delude and satisfy  the minds of  people who do not want God to exist. So these thin walls of theory are build to sustain and protect their beliefs of ignorance which will quite the conscious that is crying out that there is a supreme being who rules over the created order of life. Romans 1: 18-32 defines the mechanics of this logic.

I know this blog is direct and pointed but can you give the same attention and devotion to studying the possibilities of God with an unbiased approach as what some claim when studying the sciences? Can you allow the evidence to direct your call without the input of a  professor or a text book? Will you think for yourself and not allow your peers or associates to determine the boundaries of your existence?

I challenge you to pray to the creator of the universe and the one who made you. To reveal himself to you in a real and tangible way so as to believe in Him. Not as a skeptic but with sincerity of heart as one who is really trying to investigate matters of fact.

Many people who have set out on a quest to disprove God through the sciences have ironically come to believe in Him. You can read about individuals such as Josh McDowell and Lee Strobel who were bent on this very mission of silencing the Christian witness when they began to realize that the truth resonated so loudly to them that they could no longer bear the voice of God  speaking to their hearts.

The bible states in Psalms 19:1-3

1 The heavens declare the glory of God;

the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

2 Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge.

3 There is no speech or language

where their voice is not heard. [a]

The fact is that God is speaking and my challenge to you is whether or not you are willing to listen.

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