Friday, June 24, 2011

Reasons to Believe in the Existence of God


C. Michael Patton of Credo House Ministries has an excellent blog posting titled: Ten Arguments for the Existence of God. These arguments are:

1. Cosmological Argument - all effects have an efficient cause.
2. Teleological Argument - the argument from design.
3. Moral Argument - moral laws point to a moral law giver.
4. "sensus divinitatus" (sense of the divine) - the need to worship something greater than ourselves.
5. Argument from Aesthetic Experience - beauty has an ultimate source.
6. Argument from Existence of Arguments - the existence of arguments means there is order/rationality.
7. Argument from Existence of Free-Will Arguments - without God there is only meaningless series of cause and effect.
8. Argument from the Existence of Evil - if evil exists, so does good, and a transcendent norm from which they get their meaning.
9. Argument from Miracles - events in human history that cannot be explained apart from God (like the resurrection of Christ).
10. Pascal's Wager - belief in God is the most rational choice due to the consequences of being wrong.

You can read the entire article at the link below:
http://www.reclaimingthemind.org/blog/2011/06/ten-arguments-for-the-existence-of-god/

Saturday, June 18, 2011

A Story of Hope: Prodigal Transformation

Christopher Yuan and his parents Angela and Leon were successful people by most standards; Leon was a sucessful dentist, Angela was a happy wife, mother, and career woman, and Christopher was a talented son who was close to graduating from Dental school. After living seemingly successful lives for years without any interest in religion as agnostics, things began to unravel for the Yuans. Leon and Angela decided to divorce. Christopher “came out” to his parents, declaring his homosexuality. What Christopher didn’t tell his parents was about his secret life as a drug dealer. A distraught Angela planned her own suicide as a way of dealing with her son’s lifestyle and the divorce from Leon.
Christopher, Angela, and Leon gave their heartfelt and powerful testimony last Sunday at our church, describing their journey from the darkness of the"far country" into living in the light and hope of Christ. Their story is also about the power of prayer. Below is a link to a video of the Yuan’s amazing testimony:
http://beta.subsplash.com/wheatonbible/#!/detail/7b2747

You can read more about the Yuan’s in this article in our church magazine at this link:
You can also read Christopher and Angela Yuan's entire amazing story in their book: "Out of a Far Country." Check out Christopher's website at:

http://www.christopheryuan.com/main/index.html

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Sins of the Heart

Congressman Anthony Weiner finally resigned today, due to his antics involving sending lewd texts and pictures of himself over the Internet to women other than his wife, including a teenage girl. There are many people who are glad that Anthony Weiner resigned. Many Democrats are glad because he represented an albatross around the neck of the party coming up on an election year in 2012. Many Republicans are glad because it is one less Democrat in the House of Representatives. Some are glad to see Weiner gone due to moral outrage. There are some people, like Anthony Sullivan of the Daily Beast, who thinks that what Weiner did was no more wrong than killing someone in the virtual reality of a video game. After all Sullivan reasons, Weiner didn't actually physically commit the act of adultery. Sullivan says that what was intended to be private entertainment became public, and is no more serious than that. John Stark of the Gospel Coalition, critiques and thoughtfully responds to Sullivan's viewpoint in his article Morality for the Internet Age, which you can read at this link:


In Matthew 5:28, Jesus said that if a man simply looks lustfully at a woman, he has already committed adultery with her in his heart. This verse tells us that from God's perspective, what Anthony Weiner did was sin. Lest we become pridefull, that also means that if we are viewing/using pornography on the internet, on TV, or doing anything of a similar nature in so-called virtual reality or in our thought life, then we are sinners who are no better than Anthony Weiner. While we may haven't been caught yet and had our face plastered over the news, the God of the universe knows our heart. If we do not repent and seek God's forgiveness, the consequences of our sin may be even more damaging and tragic to us than what has happened to Anthony Weiner.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Which Jesus Do You Believe In?

JESUS APPEARS TO THOMAS


When you ask the average person whether or not they believe in Jesus Christ, most people will say yes. The problem comes with the particular Jesus they believe in; people have different definitions of who Jesus is. Below is a list of some of the various definitions of who Jesus is:

  • The Jesus of Islam is a human prophet of God (like Abraham and Moses) who was a lesser prophet than Mohammad (who was the greatest) and is not divine.
  • The Jesus of Jehovah’s Witnesses is the Archangel Michael, a lesser god, the first and greatest creation of Jehovah.
  • The Jesus of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS) is the spirit brother of Lucifer, whose plan to save mankind on Earth was approved by a counsel of the gods.
  • The Jesus of the Unitarian Universalist Church was not god or divine, and is not worshipped; he was simply an incredibly good man.
  • The Jesus of the Baha’i Faith is just one of several manifestations or messengers of divinity that God used to reveal himself to the world.
  • The Jesus of Eastern religions is basically a guru; someone who is a teacher and helps people discover their own way to work towards enlightenment and Nirvana (heaven).
  • The Jesus of the United Pentecostal Church is simply one of the three modes that God takes-on when he interacts with humans.
  • The Jesus of Liberal Christianity is not god or divine; he was only a human being who wasn’t resurrected, but gave moral teachings that we should follow, especially those pertaining to helping the poor.
  • The Jesus of modern American youth (whose philosophy is called “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism” by Sociologist Christian Smith) is not really important or necessarily divine, since they (the youth) believe all good people go to heaven anyway and morality is basically the same in all religions.

The belief systems above, while having mostly contradictory ideas of who Jesus is, have an underlying commonality: Jesus is not almighty god and mankind needs to achieve salvation by their own means. The Jesus described in the definitions above fall far short of the description of Jesus in the Bible and Christianity.

In the 1st chapter of the book of Hebrews in the Bible, we get an unmistakable and compelling description of Jesus and how glorious and wonderful he really is. The writer of Hebrews is reminding Hellenistic Jewish believers who Jesus is. In Hebrews 1, Jesus is described as follows:

  • God spoke to people in the past through prophets, but has now spoken to us in these last days by Jesus, who is His Son.
  • God appointed Jesus to inherit all things (in heaven & earth).
  • God created the world through Jesus.
  • Jesus is the radiance of God’s glory.
  • Jesus is the exact imprint of God’s nature.
  • Jesus upholds the universe (and all creation) by his powerful word.
  • Jesus made purification for our sins.
  • Jesus sits at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
  • Jesus’ nature and name is superior to angels (who are created beings).
  • God calls Jesus His son.
  • God tells all the angels to worship Jesus.
  • God calls Jesus God, and says that Jesus’ throne will last forever.
  • God has anointed Jesus more than anyone else.
  • God says Jesus laid the foundations of the Earth and created all things.
  • God says Jesus remains the same forever.
  • God tells Jesus to sit at His right hand of honor.
  • God says He has humbled all of Jesus’ enemies at his feet.

It should also be noted in this chapter that the writer applies numerous Old Testament Scriptures that refer to Messiah and God directly to Jesus. (see Ps 2:7, Ps 45:6-7, Ps 102:25-27, Ps 110:1, Deut 32:43)   

It is clear from the Biblical text that Jesus is the Son of God and God the Son, the one who died for our sins and rose again, the one who lives and reigns forever more, and is the only one worthy of our worship.

Our response? Repent and believe.

Below are links to Hebrews chapter 1 so you can read it in several different translations:

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

John Piper Explains How We Can Trust The Bible

In my May 14, 2011 posting entitled "Can We Trust the Bible? Is It Sufficient?," I gave objective evidence for believing in the authority and reliability of the Bible. In the short video below, Pastor John Piper from Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis MN explains how the transforming power of meeting Jesus Christ in the Scriptures gives us confirmation of the Bible's authority, and complements the objective evidence for the Bible.