We must all think about these issues throughly but most importantly we must think biblically, WWJD...
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We must all think about these issues throughly but most importantly we must think biblically, WWJD...
“We cannot foreclose on the question of God’s willingness to disclose himself and his purposes in some concrete, particularized way without first looking into the evidence for the authenticity of an alleged revelation from him; even if a quest for some particular truth of the matter is scandalous by today’s ephemeral standards, It will hardly do to accuse God of hiding from us if we have not sincerely sought him in appropriate ways, or if we have insisted on prescribing for God the conditions under which we would approve a revelation of himself.” —R. Douglas Geivett
“IS JESUS THE ONLY WAY?” IN JESUS UNDER FIRE, EDS. MICHAEL J. WILKINS AND JP MORELAND (GRAND RAPIDS: ZONDERVAN PUBLISHING HOUSE, 1995), 194.
“If the devil were wise enough and would stand by in silence and let the gospel be preached, he would suffer less harm. For when there is no battle for the gospel it rusts and it finds no cause and no occasion to show its vigor and power. Therefore, nothing better can befall the gospel than that the world should fight it with force and cunning.” - Martin Luther
“Truth is so obscured nowadays and lies [are] so well established that unless we love the truth we shall never recognize it.” - Blaise Pascal
The Heart of God
The Heart of God: Can Ethics Justified without God? In every society and community you have an agreement of behavior known as ethics. At times these ethics are spoken at others they are just understood. These behavioral codes may have variations but anthropology has discovered that they are nonetheless universal, there is a golden strand that runs through the vein of humanity that tells us how to behave no matter what culture you belong to.[1]
Ethics is best defined as an ought rather then an is. If ethics is just a description then we have no obligation to keep any ethical code. In our modern society this has been challenged philosophically but never really endorsed practically. While a man might consider himself a relativist he expects fairness in practicality. A story is told of a professor of ethics who received an essay brilliantly written defending relativism. The student received an F for the paper that should of have been A material. When the student confronted the teacher about the grade the professor simply replied, “You turned it in a blue folder, I hate blue folders.” The student stood shocked for second then retorted, “That is not fair?” The professor smiled and immediately they both knew that while relativism could be argued philosophically it is a principle no one accepts practically.
That leaves us with the question of the hour, how do we justify ethical standards? The question is not how we provide a reason why we behave the way we do but the reason why this ethical behavior is better than any other, why it is a transcendent law that is true regardless the circumstance. A brilliant debate took place in MIT back in 2009 by one of the most brilliant atheist ethicist, Peter Singer, and a Christian professor of the same field, John Hare. The title of the presentation was ‘ Does Atheism or Theism provide the best foundation for human worth and morality’. The most stunning of statements made was not when both of the debaters disagreed but when they came to they agreed:
So you agree, first, that there is this problem of reconciling morality and happiness, and on your view it would be nice to have an answer, but we just don’t. Second, you agree that it would be nice to have a justification for morality, but you think ultimately we just don’t. On my view, we do.[2]
As an Atheist Singer lacked two quintessential aspects of ethics he did not know how to reconcile ethics with fulfillment and he did not know of a way to justify ethics as a law above all laws that is mandatory for everyone, Hare, the Christian Ethicist did. The difference was God. Yet why would anyone be convinced of such an absurd notion that is commonly dejected in modern society? Isn’t believing that ethics comes from God an antiquarian way of thinking that was done away with the stone age? Apparently even in our modernity killing God by not believing in him not only betrays religious convictions but also a part of our humanity. Nietzsche foretold the malady in his infamous ‘Parable of the Madman,’
“Whither is God?” he cried; “I will tell you. We have killed him—you and I. All of us are his murderers… Whither is it moving now? Whither are we moving? Away from all suns? Are we not plunging continually? Backward, sideward, forward, in all directions? Is there still any up or down? Are we not straying, as through an infinite nothing … Do we hear nothing as yet of the noise of the gravediggers who are burying God? Do we smell nothing as yet of the divine decomposition? Gods, too, decompose. God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him.[3]
This famous atheist Requiem of God is very telling of the consequences of abandoning God. If God does not exist, if we kill God with our minds by not believing in him (not that his existence depends on our belief) then we have to face the consequence of not only a life without faith but one without justifiable ethics. We will have to try to pick ourselves up from out bootstraps only to find we cannot fly. A society where might makes right and people are just mud and blood.
Yet ethics in Christianity is not an abstract field of philosophy but the very heart of God. Ethics grounded not only in a being that knows everything, but sees everything, and cares for everything. If he knows everything then he obviously could show us true ethics, and if he sees everything then he can hold us accountable for our ethical misfires, and finally if he cares then ethics is not a cold principle but a way in which every sentient being could live the happiest existence possible. Only when ethics is firmly grounded in the citadel of heaven will we be able to stand on ethically justifiable grounds. God is not dead and our inner voice, our conscious, is his whisper into our souls.
[1] See Donald Browns work on universals for further study http://www.amazon.com/Human-Universals-Donald-Brown/dp/007008209X
[2] Dallas Willard. A Place for Truth: Leading Thinkers Explore Life’s Hardest Questions (p. 188). Kindle Edition.
[3] Nietzsche: Parable of the Madman. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/nietzsche-madman.asp
The Mind of God
When it comes to existence only two things exist abstract objects and concrete ones. An abstract object would be numbers, logic, the laws of nature, and even the concept of information all of which could be communicated in concrete ways but in of themselves are completely immaterial. Concrete objects are easier to grasp, they consist of things we can measure and sense, they include things like bridges, horses, and even people.
While concrete objects have a reason for their existence like a horse is a horse because it was given birth by a horse or a house is a house because it was built by a house builder, these are easy to grasp. Yet when we change the conversation to abstract objects where do we go from here? Who created logic? While the Greeks discovered it we can very well agree they did not invent it. If they did then logic is just a cultural standard and the rules of reason are more based on a cultural plethora of our surroundings. That means that the only thing you need to do to be right is to act like Hitler and kill everyone who disagreed with you. Yet, if logic transcends man, then even if you killed all who disagreed you would still be wrong but you would be wrong all by yourself.
What if logic was based on something that transcends man but even beyond that what if it transcended all material objects? What if logic was an eternal principle that is a emanation of a transcendent Mind? Then logic and all other abstract objects do not have short shelf-life of human minds but an eternal one. If one were to try to kill this transcendent mind then he or she would utterly fail. If logic is ground in this transcendent mind, which Christianity refers to as God, then logic and all other abstract objects are also eternal.
Logic itself was discovered by man because man was created in His image, he can comprehend logic, numbers, and abstract objects because the mind in which they emanate from is the same mind they derived from.
Abstract objects grounded in eternal principles is exactly how society operates. Whether they acknowledge God or not He is the presupposition they use to even function in rational thoughts.
While most would agree that concrete objects came into existence some might be surprised (perhaps even Christians) that abstract objects never have come into existence because they have always existed in a eternal mind.
God is reason and reason is a part of God. With it we command the waves when we set sail, with it we discover the laws of physics and with it we learn to live in a world in which we were originally created to ‘subdue the earth…’ (Gen 2:28).
Yet the mind of God was not only aspect in which God created man in his image, next blog post will we explore the heart of God.
A drug addiction keeps you seeking for that first high, you won't ever find it but you will die in the process.
Thank you http://rethinkinghell.com for this amazing info graphic! This explains perfectly the three major views of hell and everything else in between.
A word that has lead to a great misunderstanding of hell, Gehenna!