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Published on 5 Comments on How not to know God – creation

Previously on Christ the Truth:

We must begin all theology with the Word of God - Jesus.

This means ruling out other starting points, such as...

Reason

and

Religion

Now we consider creation as another false foundation for theology.  Not, of course, that the heavens are silent about God - they pour forth speech day after day! (Psalm 19).  What I am opposing here is the idea that creation gives us a sub-Christian witness that is a kind of stepping stone to Christian knowledge. 

I turn to this issue now because it is just so common for people to argue that revelation cannot be solely mediated in Jesus since 'general revelation' is not a specific witness to Jesus.  If this were true then I would have to give up my claim that all revelation of God is in and through Jesus.

So then let us then apply ourselves to the question 'Does the creation tell us general things about God without Jesus?'

Well the Scripture has a very high view of the creation. The heavens and the earth were created very good and though the universe is now fallen due to human sin, the Father is committed to redeeming it through the Son and making planet earth His eternal home. In Romans 8, creation itself groans in its longing for this time and cannot wait for its liberation from the bondage to decay. Throughout the Psalms the personality of the creation is proclaimed again and again. A famous example is Psalm 19:

"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world." (vv1-4)

The creation is an evangelist - it declares continually and universally the Glory of God. And notice, this is intentional evangelism. It is declaring, proclaiming, speaking and displaying. The creation is not concealing special clues in odd places. It is not that creation has simply left marks of design that point to some kind of god. This is proclamation. This is the pouring forth of speech. And there is no speech or language where this proclamation is not heard.

So, many claim "there it is!" The creation reveals general truths about God but without the need for Jesus." Not so fast! Let's see how the Apostle Paul understands the Psalm:

"Not all Israel accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, 'LORD, who has believed our message?' Consequently faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. But I ask: Did they not hear? Of course they did:

'Their voice has gone out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.'" (Romans 10:16-18)

Paul makes it abundantly clear that Psalm 19 is not declaring general truths about some kind of god. Psalm 19 declares message of the 'good news. The heavens of Psalm 19 are declaring "the word of Christ."

We may ask, 'how are they declaring the word of Christ?' Well let's note, first of all, that verse 1 of the Psalm tells us the heavens are declaring the Glory of God. The Glory of God is not primarily a shininess of character- the Glory of God is fundamentally His Son.

From verse 4, the Psalmist develops the way in which the Creation proclaims the 'word of Christ' - he gives us one small illustration - the sun:

"In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun, which is like a bridegroom coming forth from his pavilion, like a champion rejoicing to run his course. It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is hidden from its heat."

 So the sun, which is the light of the whole world (nothing is hidden from its heat) - is like a Bridegroom who is also a Champion as He moves from east to west across the sky (east is estrangement from God, west is His presence.  Note that the High Priest travels east to west on day of atonement to enter into the presence of God)

What is the sun trying to tell us? Well it represents One who is both Bridegroom and Victor and the Light of the World . Who could this be but Christ? The Apostle Paul agrees! (Rom 10:17) The creation does not mutter general truths about God but boldly proclaims the word of Christ.

What about Romans 1?

Perhaps the most frequently cited passage used to establish a Christ-free revelation of God is Romans chapter 1. It is asserted that these words from Paul prove that creation reveals God in a non-Trinitarian, non-Christ-centred way. If this were true then Christ would not be the sole mediator of revelation. Let's look at the verses:

"I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith." [For] the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities --his eternal power and divine nature --have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse." (Romans 1:16-20)

Here we have a simultaneous revelation of the righteousness from God and the wrath of God from heaven to earth. This revelation is (v17) in the gospel. It is in the gospel that we see God's anger at sin when the Father metes it out on the Son at the cross. It is also in the gospel that we see God's offer of righteousness as Christ rises again to offer us His righteous status before the Father. Both those things, the righteousness from God and the wrath of God, are revealed in the gospel. Unfortunately, v18, we suppress the truth of the gospel by our wickedness.

But this does not deter the Living God from revealing Himself. No - He continues to reveal these truths whether we suppress them or not! Verse 19 shows that God reveals an incredibly vast amount about Himself in the creation. "What may be known" about God is made plain to every human being. This is very similar to what we saw in Psalm 19. In the creation - if we have eyes to see it - God is revealing Himself in depth and in deliberate universality. Verse 20 tells us that this revelation could not be more full - even God's invisible qualities can be clearly seen. (We've already noted from Colossians 1:15 that the invisible God is only made visible in Christ). We are told that this revelation explicitly includes the power of God (which has helpfully been defined in v16 as the gospel) and His divine nature.

All of this plain revelation of 'what may be known' about God renders every single human being without excuse on judgement day. No-one will be able to stand in front of Jesus, the Judge of the World, and say "Who are you? The creation said nothing of You".

The heavens declare daily, deliberately and universally the Jesus Christ, who IS righteousness FROM God. That is why all humanity is without excuse. The only excuse on judgement day IS the gospel of Jesus Christ. Yet Paul says no-one can claim ignorance of this 'excuse'. The creation proclaims the word of Christ day after day, night after night.  Thus the creation removes from people any excuse that they are ignorant of Christ since it proclaims Him, every day, in every detail of His world.

It may seem like an odd idea to us that the creation speaks specifically of Jesus (rather than just 'some kind of god'). Most western people think that if the creation is saying anything spiritual at all it is proclaiming the god of western philosophy. However, if we asked a Hindu they might say that the creation tells of many different gods. The atheist claims that the creation says nothing spiritual. It is clear that we only ever hear what we want to hear. That is the point of v18 - "we suppress the truth by our wickedness." Though the gospel is trumpeted into our ears day after day, we pursue our own agendas in wilful ignorance of the Truth. Verse 16 gives us the remedy though: ONLY as the church does its work of evangelism, is the power of God unleashed to open blind eyes, unstop deaf ears, and bring salvation to the world.

When Jesus picked up a seed to demonstrate some spiritual truth, He didn't say "Hey look how cool seeds are, they're incredibly complex and well designed, isn't God a powerful and intelligent Creator?!" When Jesus looked at a seed He saw a picture of His own death and resurrection and from it the new life made possible for many! (John 12:24) When the Apostle John is given ears to hear the song of creation in Revelation 5:13 it is explicitly about the Father and the Son who is the slain Lamb! The creation does not reveal some kind of Unitarian non-Christ-centred god who may as well be Allah. The creation is an evangelist - it tells the Trinitarian gospel.

The Apostle Paul said it best in Colossian 1:23. Having told us that Jesus is the image of the invisible God in v15, he tells us in v16 that He is the Creator of all things - the Father made everything through Jesus and for Jesus. In v17 Paul writes that Jesus is the operating system in which all things hold together. In v19 we see that all the fullness of God dwells in Jesus. In v20 He is shown to be the universal reconciler of all things in heaven and on earth. It is therefore no surprise when we get to v23 that Paul says this:

"This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant."

Paul proclaims the same gospel that the heavens proclaim. Day after day the non-Christian is confronted with Jesus Christ the image of the invisible God, the Creator and Purpose of all life.

To summarize

The proclamation of general revelation is, according to the Apostle, the same as the proclamation of special revelation. And humanity is equally blind to both in our wicked truth suppression. Only through the preached word of Christ (Romans 10:17) are people able to see what is most manifestly true about the universe - Jesus is LORD.

The pagan looking up into the night sky sees everything yet sees nothing. He ought to know everything yet he knows nothing. He is without excuse for Christ is proclaimed in every way possible. He is ignorant exactly because he rejects Christ in every way possible.

In all this, it should be clear that Jesus is not incidental to the question of revelation. Not a speck of the knowledge of God can be credited to the one who rejects Christ. Yet it is Christ who the unbeliever rejects, in every aspect of their being. For this they will be judged - judged by the One who they have actively and wilfully resisted all the days of their life.

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Published on Leave a comment on How not to know God – religion

So God is known in Jesus alone.

This means He is not known through human reason.

It also means He is not known through human religion.

The Bible often engages with other religions. Never does it assume that such religions have any revelatory insights to offer.

Numbers 33:50-53; Deut 7:1-6; 12:1-3; 29:16-18; 32:15-21; Psalm 96:4-5; 106:35-40; Isaiah 41:21-24; 44:6-26; Jeremiah 16:19-21; Romans 1:23-25; 1 Corinthians 8:4-6; 10:20.

We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but one. For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many "gods" and many "lords"), yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live. (1 Corinthians 8:4-6)

  1. A religious person may speak eloquently about their "lords" and their "gods" - aspects may seem similar to the Living God, yet they are not speaking of the God who has made Jesus Christ the point of contact. They are speaking about something else - not the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  For more on this see my posts on Allah.

It is instructive that none of the prophets ever speak with Assyrians, Moabites, Baal worshippers etc and say "Yeah, Yahweh - He's like a cross between Asherah and Baal - but, like, bigger."  Or "Of course you know El Elyon through the primitive religious spark latent within you.  But let me now introduce to you the Son of the Most High, His name is Yahweh.  If you like Elyon, you'll love the LORD!"  Yet how many Christian apologists function with just this kind of methodology.  Anyway, mustn't get side tracked...

Big point: human religion is not a stepping stone to the living God.  It does not yield partial knowledge that can then be built upon towards a knowledge of Jesus.

Biblical religion

Ok, maybe world religions don't have an angle on God. But surely there is one religion in the world that does. Don't the Jews have revelation of the Living God? They share our Scriptures (three quarters of them!!). Don't they know at least some truth about the One True God?

Well, what did Jesus think about that? Let's look at John 5:37-46:

The Father who sent me has Himself testified concerning Me. You have never heard His voice nor seen His form, nor does His word dwell in you, for you do not believe the One He sent. You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about Me, yet you refuse to come to Me to have life...
..."But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. If you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?"

Jesus acknowledges these men's diligent study of the Scriptures. Yet He denies outright that they have any knowledge of the Father or the Son. They have sought to by-pass revelation in Christ and their very means of attempting this will be their damnation.

To the person who does not come to Christ, the Scriptures leave them utterly ignorant of the Living God. Even 'diligent' study of the Bible leaves a person utterly lost unless they are drawn to the central character of the Bible - Jesus. No part of the Bible - not Moses, not the Prophets, nothing - reveals God outside of Jesus.

This of course has many implications for how we read the Old Testament.  If you've read my blog for any length of time you'll know my position on Christ in the Old Testament.  To put it in John 5 terms, Moses believed in and proclaimed Christ.  Whatever you believe about such things, it is enough presently to note that Jesus does not consider the Bible, in any part, to be a Christ-less revelation of God.

Now none of this is to be construed as an anti-Jewish sentiment.  Nor is it some chronological snobbery against the ancient world.  It's not something that Christians can laugh off as an error belonging to another people or another time.  If any human action towards God could lay hold of true salvation or knowledge - then surely it would be Jewish religion and Jewish Scripture.  Their privileges are "much in every way." (Rom 3:2)  Yet the failure of Jewish religion should serve as a stark warning for those who would seek to grasp the things of God through some supposed Christian religion.  Doesn't the experience of the Pharisees in John 5 warn us too?  Shouldn't we too be wary of our diligent study?  Their error is repeated in Christians time and again.  We have these witnesses to Christ (Scripture and also sacraments etc).  Yet rather than receive them with empty hands and be led away from ourselves and to the One in Whom all salvation and all knowledge of God is complete, we attempt to use them as building blocks towards our own salvation and our own synthesized theology.

To know God we must abandon the attempt to build, to strive, to ascend.  It is all a given in Christ.  Human religion, even biblical religion - when used rather than received - will produce only ignorance.  We must begin again with Jesus at the foundation.

So we've rejected reason and religion.  Next time we'll see how creation is not the way to a true knowledge of God either.

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Published on Leave a comment on How not to know God – reason

Last time we made the claim that knowledge of God and salvation by God go hand in hand.  Only those who have been saved by God know God.  At the same time, coming to know God is another way of describing being saved by God.

Therefore all those truths we hold so dear about salvation are equally true for knowledge of God.  Knowledge of God is by God's grace alone.  It is received by faith alone.  And it is given to us in Christ alone (the Christ of Scripture alone!).  We must receive the freely given truth about God by faith - that truth is in Jesus.  Christ alone reveals to us the true and living God.

Now at this point people generally have a few objections.

Objections

People will often say: "Hang on. Don't people know lots of things about God? Aren't there billions of people who may not trust Jesus, but they have plenty to say about God?"

Well of course that is true. People have lots of things to say about some kind of higher being - and many of them may even use the word "God". But using the same name does not at all mean that they know the same person (or Persons)!

I share a name with my father which is very confusing for people who think they know Glen Scrivener. People may know my father very well indeed and be able to tell you all kinds of personal things about Glen Scrivener, some of them may even be true of me! But they are NOT describing me when they use those words. Any actual correspondence between their words about my father and my own situation would be utterly co-incidental. They do not know me at all.

The same is true of statements about "God". A non-Christian may have plenty to say about "God", yet however similar their descriptions may sound , they have no knowledge of the True God whatsoever.

Over the next few posts we'll look at four areas where people have attempted to by-pass revelation in Jesus and come up with a knowledge of God:-

  • Reason
  • Other religions
  • Biblical religion
  • Creation

Reason

Perhaps we can use reason and logic to build up for ourselves a true picture of God. Certainly we won't be able to get the whole picture - but basic truths about God as Creator, God as Intelligent, God as Powerful - surely these can be deduced without the need for revelation.

Descartes is a good example of someone who believed this. From the 'unshakeable' foundation of "I think therefore I am", Descartes set out to build a picture of reality. This picture was based not on external revelation - he doubted all external sensory experience - but trusted instead the powers of his own mind to bring him truth. He used an age-old philosophical argument for God's existence - the ontological argument - and came up with a definition of something he called "god". At heart, this "god" was a being of infinite perfections (whatever they are).

What do we make of all this? Is that the God we worship? Well Matthew 11 has made us pretty dubious about a wise and learned approach to God! Those famous verses from Proverbs 3 are an age-old warning:

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding... Do not be wise in your own eyes. (Proverbs 3:5-7)

Combine this with three verses from Paul's epistles and we see that the human mind and its powers are not to be trusted:

Romans 8:7: the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so.

2 Corinthians 4:4: The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

Colossians 1:21: Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behaviour.

Our rebellion against God alienates us from God. This, we know. Yet Paul says, strikingly, that the focus of this rebellion is in our minds. Our minds are not dispassionate observers, collating data and building logical pictures from assured foundations. Our minds are weapons used against God. Reason will never come up with the truth about God, it will only yield idolatry. Descartes' so-called god is a philosophical idol constructed in opposition to the God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

In Colossians 2:8, Paul warns us very sternly about the dangers of philosophy:

"See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ."

All our thinking must be based on Christ - built from His sure foundation. The people who say they can get part of the way through reason are utterly wrong. You can't even get off the ground without the foundation of Christ. We never reason our way towards Jesus, we must start with Him.

As the 4th century theologian Athanasius said:

"The only system of thought into which Jesus Christ will fit, is the one in which He is the starting point."

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Published on 5 Comments on Beginning with Jesus

I've just realised I've never really posted on why my blog's called Christ the Truth.  That's a bit of an oversight.  So let me now begin a series on how Christ is the starting point for all true theology.  It's taken from this paper on my website.

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Christians believe in revelation.

We know God, not through our efforts and ingenuity, but by the gracious gift of His self-revelation. The question of how God reveals Himself will, therefore, affect every aspect of our theology. If we get this issue wrong - everything else will go awry.

With this in mind let's turn to Matthew 11:25-30 and hear Jesus set us straight on the fundamentals of revelation.

At that time Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure. All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

From this, a number of things can be said:

Firstly, revelation is a fact. It is not a possibility. Revelation of the things of God has happened. We must not waste any time wondering about the "possibility of revelation". We know that the infinite can communicate with the finite precisely because it has happened!

How has it happened? Well at first glance we may get the impression that God's revelation is grudging, indistinct or enigmatic. Verse 26 says the Father takes pleasure in hiding the truth from the wise and learned. Verse 27 seems to present an impenetrable union between Father and Son. The Father knows the Son and the Son knows the Father. The question is, how can we break into this intimate family secret? Is there a way into a knowledge of God?

Yes there is! The Son chooses to reveal the Father. In verse 27 we see the hiding place which the Father has chosen for all the things of God - all things are hidden in Jesus.

This must be a truth we live by as Christians. God the Father has chosen to mediate all His revelation through Jesus, God the Son. "No-one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him." To know God - we must come to Jesus. Jesus is the One to Whom the wise and learned refuse to come. Yet He is the One to whom all the little children can come in dependence and love. And when people come to Him to learn the truth - Jesus liberally reveals the very deepest things of God.

In verse 28, Jesus calls all people to come to Him, the great Revealer, and He presents this coming in terms of entering rest. The implication is clear - to come to true revelation is to come to true salvation. Both are offered freely in the Son.

Jesus makes the link between revelation and salvation even more explicitly in John 17:3. There He says: "This is eternal life: that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent." Coming to know God through Jesus is salvation. Revelation and salvation go together.

The Bible gives us both sides of this truth again and again:

Fallen humanity does not know God

1 Samuel 3:7; Psalm 14; Matthew 7:24-27; 11:25-26; John 1:5; 1:18; 5:37-38; 7:28-29; 8:19; 14:17; 15:21; 17:25-26; Romans 1:18; 3:10-18; 8:7; 1 Corinthians 1:21; 2:11-14; 3:18, 19; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Ephesians 4:17-19; Colossians 1:21; 2:6-8

To know God is to be saved by Him

Proverbs 1:7; Matthew 11:25-30; John 1:10-13, 18; 14:6-9; 17:3; Rom 10:14-17; 1 Corinthians 1:18-2:16; 2 Corinthians 4:1-6; Eph 4:17-21; 1 Tim 2:3-4

All that we know about God, we must learn from Jesus. Jesus is the point of contact between God and humanity. God can only be known in the place of His choosing. God chooses this place by committing all things into the hands of Jesus. We must come to Him or we remain without hope and without God in the world.

All Christian truth, all true statements about God, must be built upon, defined by and shaped after Jesus, the Word of the Father, for we have no other presentation of God.

The Apostles John and Paul agree:

John 1:18: No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made Him known.

Colossians 1:15: He [Christ] is the Image of the invisible God

Jesus is not an optional extra in our theology - He is the foundation. He is the pole star that guides all our theological enquiries. Anything we want to know about God the Father or indeed God the Trinity, we must arrive at by thinking through 'who is Jesus?' The Father has chosen Jesus as the point of contact between Himself and us, we must always go to Jesus.

This post begins a series on theological method.  The other posts are here...

How not to know God - reason

How not to know God - religion

How not to know God - creation

Christ the Truth

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Published on 20 Comments on Christian cosmology

Still don't have the time to write properly on a Christian approach to cosmology.  Never mind I'll jot down some thoughts as they occur.

 

For now, let me just jot down three thoughts on the multiverse, two quotes from Barth and then a suggestion about how to pursue Christian cosmology.

The multiverse

1) The Bible teaches a division of creation into invisible and visible - the heaven and the earth.  This is not the same as the observable universe versus the non-observable multiverse.  For the bible the unseen realm is intimately linked to the seen.  Heaven is the counterpart to earth in a way analagous to the unseen Father's correspondence to His visible Image, Jesus. 

2) The seen and unseen realms are reconciled to one another in the decisive, once-for-all event of the crucifixion.  (Col 1:20)

3) There simply is no room in a Christian cosmology for multiple incarnations or multiple atonements.  And this is really the downfall of the multiverse - its relation to Christ.  Christ does not bridge multiple universes in multiple incarnation, He bridges heaven and earth in His singular incarnation. 

 

Two Barth Quotes from Dogmatics in Outline

“‘Heaven and earth’ describe an arena prepared for a quite definite event, in the centre of which, from our standpoint of course, stands man.” (p60)

“…heaven and earth are related like God and man in the covenant, so that even the existence of creation is a single, mighty signum, a sign of the will of God. The meeting and togetherness of above and below, of the conceivable and the inconceivable, of the infinite and the limited – we are speaking of creation. All that is the world. But since within this world there really exist an above and a below confronting one another, since in every breath we take, in every one of our thoughts, in every great and petty experience of our human lives heaven and earth are side by side, greeting each other, attracting and repelling each other and yet belonging to one another, we are, in our existence, of which God is the Creator, a sign and indication, a promise of what ought to happen in creation and to creation – the meeting, the togetherness, the fellowship and, in Jesus Christ, the oneness of Creator and creature.” (p64)

 

How to proceed in Christian cosmology

Beginning from 'the Cosmic Fine-Tuner' would be like beginning with heaven alone.  Beginning from the standpoint of the anthropic principle would be like beginning with earth alone.  The Christian can refuse both option.  We begin with the heavens and the earth - the theatre of God's Glory.  Of course God's Glory is His Son, dying to save.  The cross is the crux of creation (Col 1:20).  When we begin with this in mind we are able to relate the unseen and seen coherently.

The Christian knows that not only is there a Word (Logos) to make sense of the world - not only an explanation beyond.  That Word became flesh, taking our world to Himself.  Therefore the Word from beyond has become a Word in our midst.  The Christian can simultaneously be in touch with this world and with its Explanation - they are one in Christ. 

While we ought not to approach Christ 'according to the flesh' (2 Cor 5:16), still according to the Spirit there is a way of examining this earthed Logos.  Now 'according to the Spirit' means 'according to the Scriptures' and therefore this will be a thoroughly theological enquiry.  And yet it will not for that reason be a groundless, ethereal investigation.  This world in its this-world-ness has been taken up into the life of God and proven to be, beyond any question, a realm fit for God (Col 2:9).

Now that we have seen the creative Word in the world and now that we have seen Him - the visible Image - reconcile the world to the invisible Father in the creative Spirit, we have seen a triune dynamic that is inherent to all creation.  Interpenetration of spirit and flesh, then and now, unseen and seen is at the heart of reality.  This will lead us to expect similar perichoretic dynamics in the created order.  As we move on from what the bible strictly says about creation, we will wear these bible-glasses to investigate creation.  This conceptual framework will help us to understand the inter-related-ness of space and time, of waves and particles etc etc. 

I'll have to leave it there.

Night night.

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Published on Leave a comment on Now that’s how to preach the Good Samaritan

We've talked about how Jesus is the Good Samaritan.  But seriously - this is how you preach it...

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5Mr4UUYetw&eurl=http://thefoolsgold.net/&feature=player_embedded]

ht Fools Gold

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I was like a wounded man

Jesus came all the way down.

On a Friday evening, He died on a Roman cross

Early one Sunday morning He got up

How many of you believe - He got up?

Thank You, for being a Good Samaritan

Thank You, You didn't have to do it

Thank You, for taking my feet out of the miry clay,

Thank You, for setting them on the rock

Thank you, for saving me,

Thank You, for binding up my wounds

Thank You, for healing my wounds

Thank You, for fighting my battles

Did He pick you up?

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Published on Leave a comment on Now that's how to preach the Good Samaritan

We've talked about how Jesus is the Good Samaritan.  But seriously - this is how you preach it...

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5Mr4UUYetw&eurl=http://thefoolsgold.net/&feature=player_embedded]

ht Fools Gold

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I was like a wounded man

Jesus came all the way down.

On a Friday evening, He died on a Roman cross

Early one Sunday morning He got up

How many of you believe - He got up?

Thank You, for being a Good Samaritan

Thank You, You didn't have to do it

Thank You, for taking my feet out of the miry clay,

Thank You, for setting them on the rock

Thank you, for saving me,

Thank You, for binding up my wounds

Thank You, for healing my wounds

Thank You, for fighting my battles

Did He pick you up?

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11

Published on 11 Comments on Blogging personality

Further to previous discussions on personality (here, here, here, here)...

This site will tell you your Myers-Briggs type based on analyzing your blog. 

(ht: Biblical Studies and Technological Tools)

It came up with INTP for me.  I'm officially ENFP but my E and T are quite weak so that's a pretty good guess.

Does it get you right?

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PS I'll get around to writing the last science post some time soon.  Bit busy at the moment.

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Published on Leave a comment on Falling off either side of the wrong horse

Let me say before I continue that I've had no formal training in science and my views on contemporary scientific theories are completely amateur and I'm sure terribly simplistic.  However, if we're looking for academic credentials, my first university could probably claim to have 'trained' me in philosophy of religion and science, cosmological debates etc - that's what I studied much of the time.  But really, that's not why I'm writing about it.  I'm writing about this because these scientific claims are theological.  They are all-embracing world-views founded upon a logos other than Jesus.  That makes them fair game.  It also means I should try to be as even-handed and informed in my criticism as possible and this I will seek to do.  But that's where I'm coming from.

In the last post we considered that belief in multiple universes or belief in an intelligent Designer are just that - beliefs.  They are not directly testable by the science that faces them.  It is not the case that the naturalistic scientist deals in the realm of pure facts and the supernaturalist shadily slinks off into the realm of faith.  Both positions are founded upon and shaped after beliefs.

Yet not beliefs divorced from evidence.  Both positions claim that their belief has more explanatory power in accounting for that which is testable and both move forwards on the basis of this belief.   Everyone conducts themselves according to the dynamic of 'faith seeking understanding'. 

(As an aside, naturalistic science conducted according to it's own beliefs and methods will turn up many fascinating things, draw many remarkable links and make innumberable positive contributions to our common life.  This is precisely parallel to the 'good' done by atheists and other religions in many charitable causes.  It is not testimony to the 'rightness' of their underlying beliefs but to the inter-relatedness of all things in Christ's creation.  The child who makes a bridge out of their mechano set will, on one level, have produced something good and useful.  On another level the components used were meant to form a helicopter and it's all 'wrong' - but it works (but it doesn't).)

But now that we've established that the multiverse and the intelligent Designer are faith-positions - should we accept the dilemma offered to us?  Should we prefer a Cosmic Fine-tuner to a multiverse explanation? 

Well, both positions are inferences from human reason to possible explanations.  Therefore, by my reckoning, neither option is properly Christian.   Why not?  Well the route to both explanations begins with the certainty of us, of 'the facts' and of our ability to assess 'the facts.'  It then puts confidence in our working towards the truth.  Finally, at the end of this process, we come to 'God' who is posited as the most probable of the explanations (even if the probability claimed may be astronomically 'likely').

Such an intelligent design deism falls into a number of errors. 

First, it effectively considers God's Word as one among many voices to be considered. And in practice it is a much lesser and later voice in the process.  First we investigate the strong force of the atomic nuclei, then we listen to God!

Second, it capitulates to the naturalist's worldview from the outset.  It makes the starting point for both the Christian and the atheist the same - us!  We decide to go along with the belief (and it is a belief!) that, while the existence of a deity can be doubted, the veracity of 'the facts' and of ourselves as competent judges of reality is bedrock truth! 

Third, it falls for a god of the gaps.  When our human enterprise comes to an end, 'god' comes to the rescue as the explanatory cause.  God is not the beginning, middle and end of our doctrine of creation, He is the poly-filler to be used only where our 'understanding' falters. 

Fourth, it is natural theology pure and simple to argue from nature to God.  I'll let David Congdon lay out the perils of this:

[Natural theology] is antithetical to the Christian faith for a number of reasons: (1) we do not know who God is apart from Jesus Christ; (2) we either begin with the triune God revealed in Christ or we do not begin at all; (3) we are incapable of knowing anything about God apart from faith, because the Fall has noetic implications, i.e., our reason is fallen; (4) therefore, knowledge of God is saving knowledge, because we only know the God who saved us in Jesus. There is no other god, no prior abstract deity, no foundational divine reality upon which Christ builds. The point of these (and other similar statements) is that we either know the one true God who reconciled the world in Jesus Christ or we simply have some concept devised by fallen human reason that has no connection to this revealed God. Philosophy does not provide a stepping-stone to theology. We either do theology from the start, or we don’t do theology at all.

(For more on this see David Congdon's post here.  I agree with the first three of his four theses).

So really it's not a case of sitting with the atheistic scientist, agreeing to their presuppositions, their epistemological self-confidence, their scientific method and then demurring on their conclusions.  If 'their science' leads them to the Cosmic Fine-tuner that's interesting.  It's not the stepping stone to faith in the God and Father of our LORD Jesus Christ.  There is only one Mediator and He's not the god of intelligent design.

What can we say?  Maybe next post I'll give some thoughts.

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