The Verdict of Reason
Why do you believe? Or perhaps the question should be: Why don’t you believe? The question of ‘Faith,’ of ‘Worldview,’ of true ‘Belief,’ is the most essential question faced by every human being who has ever lived and reached the age of reason. It starts with the simple – but not very easy question: Does God exist? If He does: Who is He? As a Christian I believe that the answer is plain and that it is revealed in the Bible. But this is no leap in the dark; no exercise in blind and unreasoned faith. Anyone who has taken the time to study the Bible realizes that it is a book of truth claims. History, prophecy, moral law and miraculous testimony all laid out and ready to be tested. Claiming to be the very Word of God it sets a high standard and begs to be challenged.
In this series we will set out the evidence – and it is ample for both the existence of God and most specifically for the Christian notion of who God really is. In testing the evidence, we will explore the nature of Truth itself, examine the question of good and evil, and rationally and inexorably follow the trail of reason, science, and the history that rationally leads to a call to put our faith in Jesus Christ as the promised Messiah of the Jewish tradition. We intend to reach to the heart through the window of the mind. Believer or skeptic, I invite you to take the challenge and come along for the ride.
FRAMING THE QUESTION
Let’s begin with what the world believes. This could be their credo. Let us begin by stating the obvious. No modern, no post-modern thinking person can deny it. Science stands triumphant! We are mapping the human genome, we are exploring space, and are on the threshold of cloning copies of ourselves. Man is fast overthrowing the ancient idols of external morality and superstition. This is the 21st century. The old truth no longer applies. There is nothing but the DNA. We are but a cosmic accident, products of nothing plus chance. Therefore, we owe no allegiance outside ourselves. God is chance. He is accident. He is the great Nothing. God is dead. The very notion of God is dead. We are free to remake ourselves in any image we want. We are free. We are masters of our own souls. So all truth is illusion. It is a reflection of the nothing. It is our own to create. Truth, in the higher, ultimate sense is false. All is truth, because it is ours. Everything, everyone is subject to auto-interpretation. There is nothing outside to tell us the right and the wrong. There can be nothing higher than ourselves, we accidents of nature. We are become our own gods.
This has become the mission statement of our age. It is the assertion of man’s supremacy and God’s demise. So many of the denizens of science, high priests of our culture, declare it so. Who are we to question? Yet God’s fingerprints lie all around us. The universe is filled with astounding evidence of His design. We see it in the workings of the heavens, in the delicate life supporting balance of our own planet. Science now believes there may be as many as 100 billion to 200 billion galaxies out there, with tens of millions of stars in even the smallest ones.[i] Then how many planets exist? How many atoms are there in the universe? We find evidence in the precise workings of each atom, in each element, in each substance of nature. We witness it in the harmony and power of that nature, and in the functioning of the animal kingdom. If we listen, we can hear the evidence in our heart. Some things are immoral. We just know this. That murder is evil is little debated. That lying and stealing and cruelty and unfairness are wrong is an accepted principal. What makes this so? And we see it in the nature of love. It is evident in the love of parent for child, in the other-centeredness of love between a man and woman, and in the self-sacrifice sometimes found among comrades in war.
While many may mock or discount the evidence, the Bible itself holds us responsible for this understanding. In his letter to the Church at Rome, the Apostle Paul wrote: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.” (Romans 1:18-19) And just how does this evidence manifest? “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.” (Romans 1:20) So much for the evidence of creation. Just a little later in this epistle, Paul makes the argument of conscience. We are to understand that God exists even by the internal evidence of conscience put within us. “for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, 15 who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them).”
(Romans 2:14-15)
There is so much evidence out there to be examined without even going to a scripture confirmed by history. Yet there are many that will not see, that refuse to believe. There seems to be a will to disbelieve. Perhaps it is the loss of control entailed in that act. To believe would mean that one would no longer be at the center of one’s personal universe. The notion of God means submission. To the self-immersed this can be a terrifying and revolting experience. It means the existence of a power greater than one’s self. If true, it means a Truth that transcends all others, by which all things are judged.
It will be the task of this series to look at the evidence; to put it to the test. Sometimes this will be a systematic approach – and at other times it may seem more random. But we will explore what we know and what we can know. Having studied this for years I hope that you will find with me that the evidence for the biblical worldview is all around us. It can be found in the design and scope of the universe, the morality found in the hearts of men, and the very existence of love. The evidence for Jesus is comprehensive. It is apparent in the accuracy of the gospels confirmed by its’ agreement with earlier scripture, independent historical sources, and archaeological finds. Then there is the testimony of dozens of fulfilled Old Testament Prophecies. Perhaps most compellingly, there is the fact that his companions believed so completely in His resurrection that they all put there lives on the line to spread its truth. With nothing material to gain, not one recanted as they faced torture and death. Finally there are the millions of lives that have been touched and changed by faith in Christ. I hope that you will join us for this series. It is an essential journey for both believer and unbeliever alike.
[i] Royal Museums Greenwich, http://www.rmg.co.uk/explore/astronomy-and-time/astronomy-facts/faqs/what-is-a-galaxy-how-many-stars-in-a-galaxy-how-many-stars/galaxies-in-the-universe, viewed January 22, 2015
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