Skip to content

Tag: atheism

Published on Leave a comment on Evidence for God – William Lane Craig Lecture this afternoon

This lunchtime (1245 in the UK) William Lane Craig will give a lecture entitled "The Evidence for God."  You can watch it live here.  His other engagements in the UK are listed here.

UPDATE: Apparently the video will be here in the next few days.  In the end I didn't get to hear more than 5 minutes of it since I was called away.  Another time!

I will be very interested to watch and I know I will learn plenty.

Just for the record I still hold these six convictions regarding what has already happened between God and man.  In my opinion we must not argue as though these things have not happened - because their happening is the Gospel which we claim to stand on:

  1. Through Christ, the Triune God has already revealed Himself unmistakably in every aspect of creation so that humanity is without excuse.  (Everything is evidence!)
  2. Against Christ, humanity has taken knowledge into its own hands and so barred the door against all claims from above.
  3. In view of Christ, God has handed humanity over to its chosen futility, locking the door from His side too.
  4. In Christ, God has entered this prison and manifested His eternal glory in time and space, even in human flesh.  (So focus your seeking there - where He is given).
  5. As Christ, humanity now has a perfect mind with which to comprehend God (and everything else) – one that is not only human but also in God.
  6. Out of Christ, His Spirit has been poured to incorporate us into the Man who knows.

These convictions have implications for how we do apologetics.  Read more here.

Published on Leave a comment on Engaging Atheists

Dave Bish has some good advice here.

And here's a recent foray I made into the atheosphere.  That's not an invitation for you to join that particular discussion.  The thread is dead and I'd ask you not to reawaken it.  Join another more recent discussion if you feel like you've got a day or two handy! :)

One thing that re-occurred to me is that "law-gospel" is very handy to keep in mind.  In the context where they demand "evidence" for Jesus (and insist on the kind of evidence they're prepared to accept):

LAW: Jesus is the Truth.  To take Him seriously you either begin again with Him or you reject Him.  What you don’t do is treat Him as a possible player in amongst a cast of other, more certain, truths.  If you did so, you would not be treating Him as He is.  Therefore you would not be seeking Him.  

Put it another way: He is not in the dock, the “evidence” does not stand over Him, and you are not the prosecutor.

That's the law.  It flattens us and gives us no grounds for hope in ourselves.  But here comes the gospel...

GOSPEL: There is good news!  The Truth has sought us.  He has come into the world explaining Himself.  He became flesh, was witnessed, was handled, was even dissected on full view of the world.  The word written, the Bible, will show you Him at full strength.  This is far more than a scrap of evidence.  This is far more than Him showing up in a laboratory.  He hasn't just submitted Himself to experimental conditions, the Truth has given His very Self to us.

The cross stands between law and gospel.  It insists that: Here is the living God!  This is where to look and nowhere else.  Jews look for signs, Greeks look for wisdom, we lay a stumbling block in their way - the cross.  That is law.  But if, by faith, the stumbling block becomes the Rock on which they build, suddenly the cross is complete gospel.  There is good news: the Truth is given to us utterly - far more than we ever demanded as naturalists.

What kind of responses does this get?

Well one person on the thread quoted from me and then responded:

[I had said]  If you start with Jesus (and there’s no way to take Him seriously unless you do) then *He* is the Truth.  

[He responded] That’s probably your problem then. No-one here takes him seriously.

If you ask me, our role is presenting Christ such that people see they are accepting or rejecting Jesus and not just a world-view.  We must never give the impression that the evidence is only "very good" or that Jesus is merely "the most logical option".  If we believe that a person's fundamental issue is their personal orientation towards Christ Himself then that's got to be the pivot on which the conversation turns.  We confront people with Christ, it's His rejection or acceptance that is at stake.  And that ought to be front and centre.

Lots more to say.  But those are just a few thoughts...

 

Published on Leave a comment on Two conversion stories [repost]

Dan Barker of the Freedom from Religion Foundation tells of his past in evangelical Christianity

I was a "doer of the word and not a hearer only." I went to a Christian college, majored in Religion/Philosophy, became ordained and served in a pastoral capacity in three California churches. I personally led many people to Jesus Christ, and encouraged many young people to consider full-time Christian service.  (Here)

And here's his conversion to atheism as told to a journalist here

[Barker] lay on a burlap cot in a church in a Mexican border town where he'd come to give a guest sermon. As he peered out at a splash of stars, Barker had a sudden profound sensation that had nothing to do with intellect, the kind of deeply felt moment more commonly associated with finding God than losing Him. He was, Barker understood, utterly alone here.

"For my whole life there had been this giant eyeball looking at me, this god, this holy spirit, this church history, and this Bible. And not only everything I did but everything I thought was being judged: Was God pleased? I realized that that wasn't there anymore. It occurred to me, 'I own these thoughts. Nobody knows what I'm thinking right now. There's no fear of hell, no fear of judgment, I don't have to be right or wrong, I can just be me.'" It felt as if charges had been dropped for a crime for which he had been falsely accused. It was exhilarating and frightening all at once. "When you're ready to jump out of an airplane to skydive, you can be terrified but excited at the same time," he says. "There's a point where you go, all right, let's do this."

It strongly reminded me of John Bunyan's conversion:

"As I was passing in the field, and that too with some dashes on my conscience . . . suddenly this sentence fell upon my soul, Thy righteousness is in heaven; and, methought withal, I saw with the eyes of my soul Jesus Christ at God's right hand, there, I say, is my righteousness; so that wherever I was, or whatever I was a-doing, God could not say of me, He wants [lacks] my righteousness, for that was just before him. I also saw, moreover, that it was not my good frame of heart that made my righteousness better, nor yet my bad frame that made my righteousness worse; for my righteousness was Jesus Christ himself, the same yesterday and today for ever (Heb. 13:8)."

"Now did my chains fall from my legs indeed, I was loosed from my affliction and irons, my temptations also fled away, so that from that time, those dreadful scriptures of God left off to trouble me; now also went I home rejoicing for the grace and love of God."

In both conversions naturally enough it was their view of God that changed and that changed them.  Both were weighed down under the scrutiny of Heaven.  Both found a joyful liberation in the death of God.  (Of course Barker's empty heaven does not remove his spiritual masters but multiplies them).

Nonetheless, I think the similarities are very instructive.

Because what did/does Barker need?  More theistic proofs?  These would only have strengthened his notion of a 'giant eyeball' in the sky.  And who could blame him if he wants to be free of that?

Yet there are apologetic strategies that drive the Barkers of this world firmly into atheism, not away.

What should we do instead?

Let's seek to give them what Bunyan got - true freedom through Christ crucified.  It's the death of all the old gods and the life of the new man, free from the eye-ball in the sky.

.

7

Published on 7 Comments on The Teacher is not an atheist – he’s just a crummy christ

I'm preaching on Ecclesiastes on Sunday so I've been listening to some other preachers.  They pretty much all preach Ecclesiastes as the futility of atheism.  And of course when you preach it like that, what's the solution?  Good old theism.  Yay theism.

And one or two preachers have even suggested that Christian theism gives the most amount of meaning.  So yay Jesus too.  (Although the last preacher I listened to -- BIG NAME --  was way too excited about theism to get around to that Jesus nuance.)

Anyway, just thought I'd state something that's pretty darned obvious but it seems like it needs saying.  The Teacher aint no atheist.  He's a hard-core theist.  Check it:

Ecclesiastes 1:13; 2:24-26; 3:10-22; 5:1-7, 18-20; 6:1-2; 7:13-14; 18,20; 8:2, 11-17; 9:1,9; 11:5,9; 12:1-14;

Here's just a sample of what he says:

God has set eternity in the hearts of men.... He's done it so that men will revere him... Stand in awe of God... God made mankind upright but men have gone in search of many schemes... I know that it will go better with God-fearing men who are reverent before God... God will bring you to judgement... Remember your Creator... Fear God and keep his commandments.

He's a theist right?  A pretty ardent one.

But what do you expect from a son of David, a king of Jerusalem? (Ecclesiastes 1:1)  Here is a christ - an anointed king.  But, here's the thing, he's not the King of Heaven.  He's a king under heaven (notice how 'under heaven' and 'under the sun' are parallel 1:3; 3:1).  He's not the One full of the Spirit without measure, instead he seeks to shepherd the Spirit (or chase the wind, e.g. 1:14) while he must receive his teachings from the true Shepherd (12:11).

The teacher is self-consciously not the Messiah (he's a very naughty boy!).  He's not the Christ with a capital C certainly. But he is a christ with a small c.  And so he embarks on a sustained meditation of life in which the king is subject to all the forces that we are.  This christ is also under the sun and therefore under the powers that enslave mankind and even nature itself.  This king, for all his wealth and power and wisdom cannot pierce through the shroud of sin, law, judgement and death.   And so what hope is there?  None!  Not with this king.  Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die.  And then we are judged - by the God is who is ever-present in Ecclesiastes.  But ever-present as Judge.  And who knows how we will fare under His judgement.

That's life under the sun.  Here's what we can expect if the Teacher is our christ.

But if that's the problem, what's the solution?  The glories of theism?  The truth that God knows us and has a wonderful plan for our lives?  The thought that my actions have eternal significance?  The Teacher knows all these things and declares them utterly meaningless.  Our only hope is Christ.  The true Christ.  The Christ from Heaven.  The Christ who conquers sin and law and judgement and death and bursts through into resurrection hope.  That's the answer to Ecclesiastes' meaninglessness.

Any other solution is vanity of vanities.

 

8

Published on 8 Comments on The Teacher is not an atheist – he's just a crummy christ

I'm preaching on Ecclesiastes on Sunday so I've been listening to some other preachers.  They pretty much all preach Ecclesiastes as the futility of atheism.  And of course when you preach it like that, what's the solution?  Good old theism.  Yay theism.

And one or two preachers have even suggested that Christian theism gives the most amount of meaning.  So yay Jesus too.  (Although the last preacher I listened to -- BIG NAME --  was way too excited about theism to get around to that Jesus nuance.)

Anyway, just thought I'd state something that's pretty darned obvious but it seems like it needs saying.  The Teacher aint no atheist.  He's a hard-core theist.  Check it:

Ecclesiastes 1:13; 2:24-26; 3:10-22; 5:1-7, 18-20; 6:1-2; 7:13-14; 18,20; 8:2, 11-17; 9:1,9; 11:5,9; 12:1-14;

Here's just a sample of what he says:

God has set eternity in the hearts of men.... He's done it so that men will revere him... Stand in awe of God... God made mankind upright but men have gone in search of many schemes... I know that it will go better with God-fearing men who are reverent before God... God will bring you to judgement... Remember your Creator... Fear God and keep his commandments.

He's a theist right?  A pretty ardent one.

But what do you expect from a son of David, a king of Jerusalem? (Ecclesiastes 1:1)  Here is a christ - an anointed king.  But, here's the thing, he's not the King of Heaven.  He's a king under heaven (notice how 'under heaven' and 'under the sun' are parallel 1:3; 3:1).  He's not the One full of the Spirit without measure, instead he seeks to shepherd the Spirit (or chase the wind, e.g. 1:14) while he must receive his teachings from the true Shepherd (12:11).

The teacher is self-consciously not the Messiah (he's a very naughty boy!).  He's not the Christ with a capital C certainly. But he is a christ with a small c.  And so he embarks on a sustained meditation of life in which the king is subject to all the forces that we are.  This christ is also under the sun and therefore under the powers that enslave mankind and even nature itself.  This king, for all his wealth and power and wisdom cannot pierce through the shroud of sin, law, judgement and death.   And so what hope is there?  None!  Not with this king.  Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die.  And then we are judged - by the God is who is ever-present in Ecclesiastes.  But ever-present as Judge.  And who knows how we will fare under His judgement.

That's life under the sun.  Here's what we can expect if the Teacher is our christ.

But if that's the problem, what's the solution?  The glories of theism?  The truth that God knows us and has a wonderful plan for our lives?  The thought that my actions have eternal significance?  The Teacher knows all these things and declares them utterly meaningless.  Our only hope is Christ.  The true Christ.  The Christ from Heaven.  The Christ who conquers sin and law and judgement and death and bursts through into resurrection hope.  That's the answer to Ecclesiastes' meaninglessness.

Any other solution is vanity of vanities.

 

6

Published on 6 Comments on Religious Antagonist versus Feisty Mother

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziaL1MH0j8I

Mom wins!

I'm shocked by his ignorance, his arrogance, his appalling use of power over vulnerable people.  But most of all I'm shocked he aired the film.  Because that woman kicked his ass!

ht Unreasonable Faith

 

Published on Leave a comment on Religion hijacking the word… and the world

Here Richard Dawkins makes the case for being steeped 'to some extent' in the King James Bible.  If we don't know the KJV we are 'in some small way barbarian.'  But he ends by saying:

it is important that religion should not be allowed to hijack this cultural resource.

[youtube="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ej1auSuVM-M&feature=player_embedded"]

Notch it up as another Dickie Dawkins classic.  But before we laugh and point, let's make sure there aren't three fingers pointing back.

You see, because he's talking about the bible the stupidity of his position is obvious.  Of course it's ridiculous to view the bible as first a cultural resource that religion then hijacks.  Any fool knows that the bible is originally, purposefully and most meaningfully a religious text (or if you don't like 'religious', say 'spiritual' or 'theological' or even 'Christian').  It is evident (but not to Dawkins) that the essence of the bible is appreciated only when it's treated according to its true theological nature.  And that to read it through atheistic lenses is the real hijacking.

But Dawkins' inability to appreciate the bible according to its true nature is only one more example of his inability to appreciate the world according to its true nature.  The whole atheistic project follows exactly the same line.  It says that everything is most ultimately a physical, chemical, biological, historical or cultural artefact, let's not allow 'religion' to hijack it.  But to pretend you are honouring the world by treating it non-theologically is just as ridiculous as pretending to honour the Word by treating it non-theologically.

The only reason we don't see its foolishness is because we have, to some extent, bought the double-decker atheistic approach.  When it comes to the world around us we pretty much assume along with the atheists that there are brute facts that are perfectly understood in non-theological terms and that we then work with this raw data to make our theological (or atheistical) pronouncements.  And even if we do dare to wear some theological lenses to view the world, we have a slight guilty feeling that maybe we are hijacking a properly non-theological reality.

But no.  You've got to begin by treating the Word theologically.  And you've got to begin by treating the world theologically.  And it's best you do so in that order.

It's those who fail to see the world according to its essentially theological character who hijack it.

 

.

 

9

Published on 9 Comments on My mind’s made up by the way that I feel

Last month the Times' front page screamed: "God did not create the universe" - reporting on the new book co-authored by Stephen Hawking in which he asserts a spontaneous creation.  What I most enjoyed about the piece was a ringing endorsement from Richard Dawkins.  Among other things he made this revealing comment:

“I know nothing of the details of the physics but I had always assumed the same thing.” (ht)

Isn't that brilliant?!

Actually that's how we all reason.  All of us.  All the time.  But it's hilarious to see it so plainly in Dawkins.

Here's a guy who claims to be a child of the Enlightenment, he doesn't know the details, he's in no way qualified to pass judgement, it's not even remotely his field, but he'd always assumed something like this must be right because it fits with some other stuff he also believes and is very much committed to... so... it floats his boat and he gives it his full assent (whatever it is, he's not entirely sure) and, carried away by the necessity of its truth, he wants you to be carried away by it too, that we might all give allegiance to this grand vision (whatever it is, let's not get too hung up on the details).

But you know what?  That's how we all "reason".

And it's not just inconsistent atheists.  It's just how human beings work.  Our hearts are captured by a bigger vision and our minds catch up.

Christians tend to hate the Wet, Wet, Wet line "My mind's made up by the way that I feel" - even as much as the song itself.  Many times I've heard preachers denounce such an idea - Our minds aren't made up by our feelings!  Or at least they shouldn't be.  Feelings don't boss us around.  Our minds need to tell our feelings where to get off.

Really?

Now "feelings" are indeed fickle things.  Perhaps even as fickle as thoughts!  So let's substitute "heart" for feelings.  And let's also acknowledge that our hearts should not be given free rein.  Something certainly needs to control our hearts.  But that the something is God's Word.  That's what shapes the heart.  And the heart shapes the thinking.  (Gen 6:5ff; Prov 4:23; Matt 12:34; Matt 15:19; Heb 4:12).

That feels right to me anyway.  What do you think?  And why?

.

Published on Leave a comment on My mind's made up by the way that I feel

Last month the Times' front page screamed: "God did not create the universe" - reporting on the new book co-authored by Stephen Hawking in which he asserts a spontaneous creation.  What I most enjoyed about the piece was a ringing endorsement from Richard Dawkins.  Among other things he made this revealing comment:

“I know nothing of the details of the physics but I had always assumed the same thing.” (ht)

Isn't that brilliant?!

Actually that's how we all reason.  All of us.  All the time.  But it's hilarious to see it so plainly in Dawkins.

Here's a guy who claims to be a child of the Enlightenment, he doesn't know the details, he's in no way qualified to pass judgement, it's not even remotely his field, but he'd always assumed something like this must be right because it fits with some other stuff he also believes and is very much committed to... so... it floats his boat and he gives it his full assent (whatever it is, he's not entirely sure) and, carried away by the necessity of its truth, he wants you to be carried away by it too, that we might all give allegiance to this grand vision (whatever it is, let's not get too hung up on the details).

But you know what?  That's how we all "reason".

And it's not just inconsistent atheists.  It's just how human beings work.  Our hearts are captured by a bigger vision and our minds catch up.

Christians tend to hate the Wet, Wet, Wet line "My mind's made up by the way that I feel" - even as much as the song itself.  Many times I've heard preachers denounce such an idea - Our minds aren't made up by our feelings!  Or at least they shouldn't be.  Feelings don't boss us around.  Our minds need to tell our feelings where to get off.

Really?

Now "feelings" are indeed fickle things.  Perhaps even as fickle as thoughts!  So let's substitute "heart" for feelings.  And let's also acknowledge that our hearts should not be given free rein.  Something certainly needs to control our hearts.  But that the something is God's Word.  That's what shapes the heart.  And the heart shapes the thinking.  (Gen 6:5ff; Prov 4:23; Matt 12:34; Matt 15:19; Heb 4:12).

That feels right to me anyway.  What do you think?  And why?

.

3

Published on 3 Comments on You’re not a bag of protoplasm

Sometimes I'm asked whether we should spend time entering into non-Christian "world-views" to expose their internal inconsistencies.

Sure - if you do it like this.  But then, if you do it like this (and do listen to the song) you're not seeking to convict them of a logical contradiction but an existential one.  The former contradiction can be solved by conversion to Aristotle.  For the latter, only Jesus saves.

.

Twitter widget by Rimon Habib - BuddyPress Expert Developer