I think the largest thing that happened this last week besides just working was the Hawaii Apologetic conference that I went to at my church on the weekend. Before I get into that though, small uneventful things that have happened at work and just in the week in general.
It rained pretty much everyday last week for some part of the day. I think it was on Tuesday that it rained for about 7 hours and Wednesday when I was leaving work, definitely was pouring. Needless to say, I got soaked at points last week and also all the grasses and the trees are growing again. Very interesting side note, the laws normally are only mowed say like every few weeks, recently, they have been getting mowed weekly because of all the rain we have gotten. At least this rain fall didn't overflow the landfill on the west side of the island, breaking the containment wall and allowing biological waste go into the ocean. Now why was there biological waste in a landfill is beyond me. That in itself should be a question.
It rained pretty much everyday last week for some part of the day. I think it was on Tuesday that it rained for about 7 hours and Wednesday when I was leaving work, definitely was pouring. Needless to say, I got soaked at points last week and also all the grasses and the trees are growing again. Very interesting side note, the laws normally are only mowed say like every few weeks, recently, they have been getting mowed weekly because of all the rain we have gotten. At least this rain fall didn't overflow the landfill on the west side of the island, breaking the containment wall and allowing biological waste go into the ocean. Now why was there biological waste in a landfill is beyond me. That in itself should be a question.
I also found out why my books that were sent media mail at the end of last year and the beginning of this year haven't arrived. Wrong address......Somehow my mom got the wrong address and sent the boxes to the wrong address. Well, it should get to me this time since the address problem is fixed and also it has shipping confirmation. Random note, if you ready Ashley Young's (Begley) first post on her blog, she writes "Woohoo" a lot. End random note. One of my housemates also left on Thursday for Guam. He'll be gone for about five weeks I believe.
The Grammy's last night, if you watched them, well they were interesting to watch at least. The whole arrival red carpet, I guess Lady Gaga was the most interesting arrival. The broadcasting of the grammy's here in Hawaii also lied, since when it was airing, there was sunlight in the red carpet arrival stretch, when it was was 1900 here, making it 2100 in LA, obviously dark. After watching the Grammy's though, a lot of Facebook updates made much more sense. Now, only if they had showed it "live" here. Haha, I just got the early warning updates from everyone. I will probably get the same for the Oscars.
Now to the Apologetic Conference. The title was "Make Your Case: Evidence for God", hence where I got the title for this post. I sorta stole part of conference title. The conference had two main speakers and then one session from our senior pastor. It was hosted at Calvary Chapel Pearl Harbor www.calvarychapelpearlharbor.com. The two main speakers were Dr. William Lane Craig and Dr. Pat Zukeran. The schedule is below.
Dr. Pat Zukeran, he is based here in Hawaii and works at www.probe.com where he gets to interview and talk with Christian scholars and pastors from all over the country about their beliefs. He also has another website, www.evidenceandanswer.org. Dr. Zukerman's first talk about "New Atheism and their Case Against God" was pretty interesting. The most prevalent new atheist is probably Richard Dawkins. Now I would say that most people have heard of Richard Dawkins, although few have read his books. One of Dr. Zukeran's points was that Christianity is being seen as an "evil" instead of just a "wrong" in the world today. The "evil" of Christianity needs to be exterminated from influencing society according to a lot of the new atheists. Dr. Zukeran also pointed out that the early church as written in Acts 2 could transform the mind and the heart, not just the heart. In a sense Dr. Zukeran stated, "The heart does not commit to what the mind is not convinced of." I would say that this is very true in that most people have to rationalize things before they can truly accept something. This is seen in much higher percentages for science and engineering oriented people. Science and religion was also had a strong interaction back in the early science days. Faith helped sustain the science that was going on and many of the famous scientists could bring themselves to see that creation every day is pointing to God. In today's culture though, Christians need to know our faith well enough to dispel false myths that are being brought up about the Bible and Christianity that keep people away from the church. Christians also need to have courage to go out and share their faith.
Dr. Zukeran's three arguments are listed below
- Argument 1: Belief in God is Irrational
- Argument 2: Science and Faith in God are Irreconcilable
- Argument 3: Belief in God is Dangerous
- If God does not exist, there is no reason to live and we are doomed to perish with the earth. Basically we are living a meaningless life.
- If God does not exist, ultimately there is no hope for existence.
- If God does exist, hope and meaning exist, and there is a chance for you and I to know Him.
Dr. Craig also went into five different arguments which are listed below:
- The Cosmological Argument
- Whatever begins to exist has a cause
- The universe began to exist
- Therefore, the universe has a cause
- The Teleological Argument
- The fine-tuning of the universe is due to either physical necessity, chance, or design
- It is not due to physical necessity or chance
- Therefore, it is due to design
- The Moral Argument
- If God does not exist, objective moral values do not exist
- Objective moral values do exist
- Therefore, God exists.
- The Resurrection of Jesus
- There are four established facts concerning the fate of Jesus of Nazareth:
- His honorable burial by Joseph of Arimathea
- The discovery of His empty tomb
- His post-mortem appearances
- The origin of his disciples' belief in his resurrection
- The hypothesis" God raised Jesus from the dead" is the best explanation of these facts
- The hypothesis "God raised Jesus from the dead" entails that the God revealed by Jesus of Nazareth exists
- Therefore, God revealed by Jesus of Nazareth exists
- The Immediate Experience of God
- Beliefs which are appropriately grounded may be rationally accepted as basic beliefs not grounded on argument
- Belief that the biblical God exists is appropriately grounded
- Therefore, belief that the biblical God exists may be rationally accepted as a basic belief not grounded on argument.
The last section on friday night was a Q&A session with Dr. William Crag, Dr. Pat Zukeran and Paster Derald Skinner.
The morning session started out with Dr. Craig, on the topic that I found the most interesting "Science and Religion: Friend or Foe?" I think most that know me, will understand why this topic is of more interest to me. It appeals to the more science nature that I have. The topics that Dr. Craig covered are below:
- The Myth of a war between science and religion
- Science and religion are mutually exclusive
- The alleged conflict between science and religion arose in the 19th century
- Science and religion since 1500-1800 had an alliance
- Science and Religion are mutually irrelevant
- As science explores the universe, it deals with philosophical and religious questions
- All religions make claims about the world around us.
- How Science and Religion are Allies in the Quest for Truth
- Religion furnishes the conceptual framework in which science can flourish
- Science an both falsify and verify the claims of religion
- Science encounters metaphysical problems which religion can help to solve
- Religion can help to adjudicate between science theories
- Religion can augment the explanatory power of science
- Science can establish a premise in an argument for a conclusion having religious significance.
Dr. Zukeran followed the first session with trying to answer the hard question of "Did God create evil?" His title of his talk was "God and the problem of Evil."
- Non Theistic approach
- Naturalism denies God but acknowledges evil
- Pantheism acknowledges God (divine essence) but denies evil
- Modified Theism: changes the concept of God
- Only Christian theism brings the two together (believes in God and evil)
- Problem of Evil Clarified
- Two aspects of the problem that must be addressed
- Philosophical: The Mind
- Personal problem: The Heart
- Defining evil as a deprivation of some particular good that should be there.
- The Nature of Evil: Did God create Evil?
- The problem
- God Created all things.
- Evil is something
- Therefore, God created evil
- Answer
- False: #3 is wrong. Evil is not a thing. It is a corruption to what is good. Evil is a parasite. Therefore, God did not create evil
- The Origin of Evil: Is God the source of Evil?
- The argument: How can evil arise in a perfect world?
- God is absolutely perfect
- God cannot create anything imperfect
- And a perfect creature cannot do evil
- Therefore, evil cannot arise in such a world.
- But evil did arise in this world
- Hence, either 1) or 2) (or both) are false
- Answer in the Free Will defense
- #3 in incorrect. God created us to be in a relationship with Him. Love is the greatest good. Love requires the exercise of free will. Free will makes evil possible since it is the power to do otherwise. Hence a perfect FREE creature can do evil. Free creatures made evil come into actuality.
- The Persistence of Evil: WHy Does God Allow Evil to persist?
- The Problem:
- If God is all good, He would defeat evil
- If God is all powerful, He could defeat evil
- But Evil is not defeated
- Therefore, no such God Exists
- The Response:
- #3 is incorrect. It implies that evil will never be defeated. The nature of a theistic God guarantees evil's defeat. God is all powerful, He is all good, so He will do it. Matt 25:31-41 separates good from evil; Col 2:14-15 defeats evil officially at Christ's first coming; Rev 19-22 actually defeats evil at Christ's second coming
- Religious Problem
- The opposing worldviews
- Naturalism
- Pantheism
- Christian theism offers the only message of meaning of hope in the midst of suffering
- Principles to remember in the midst of suffering
- Eliminate false belief (1 Peter 4:12, Heb 5:8)
- There is a source of strength (God) to draw upon in our time of suffering (Psalm 23)
- There is a purpose to our suffering even when we cannot see or understand it (Job 13:15)
- There is Hope! (1 Thess 4:13)
Dr. Craig finished up with his last topic entitled "Can we be good without God? The Indispensability of Theological Foundations for Morality" Dr. Craig started out with a quote from Paul Kurtz from the Forbidden Fruit "The central question about moral and ethical principles concerns their ontological foundation. If they are neither derived from God nor anchored in some transcendent ground, are they purely ephemeral?" That is a very good question that could be brought up as a topic of discussion for a group session. Some definitions
- Theism: moral values are grounded in God
- Humanism: moral values are grounded in human beings
- Nihilism: moral values have no ground at all and are therefore ultimately illusory and non-binding
- If God exists, then we have a sound foundation for morality
- If God exists, objective moral values exist
- If God exists, objective moral duties exist
- If God exists, there is moral accountability
- If God does not exist, then morality is just a human invention
- If God does not exist, objective moral values do not exist.
- We are byproducts of evolution and socialist situations
- Humans have an awareness of morality because of the biological imprint in us
- Morality is a tool for survival and reproductivity
- If you take God out of the picture, we are just dumb apes
- If God does not exist, objective moral duties doe not exist
- Atheists view-humans are just animals and have no ties to each other
- Who or what would impose moral implications?
- If no moral law giver, then no moral law must be followed
- You can't condemn war and crime or even praise valor and commitment
- If God does not exist, there is no moral accountability
- All things are permitted if there is no moral accountability (the genocide by the Nazis would have been fine)
- Finality of death does not matter on how you live your life--you could live your life for no reason
- Morality runs smack into self interest--we would live in self indulgence
In closing of the conference Pastor Derald Skinner talked about "What difference does God make?" He came up with the acronym GOD
- G: Who is GOD?
- He is eternal in comparison to time, He is infinite in relation to knowledge
- Scriptures to look at
- Ex 3:14
- Ps. 46:1
- Jn 4:24
- Gen 1:1
- Rom 1:20
- Ps 14:1
- Jn 3:16
- 1 Jn 4:7-10
- Works of Josephus (Roman Historian)
- Antiquities, Bk 18, Ch 3, Paragraph 3
- O: What happens when I OBEY my God?
- Natural man vs spiritual man (1 Cor 2: 14-16)
- Atheist needs to really learn and know where his/her soul is going after death
- Jesus voiced and validated the spiritual relationship with God
- Jesus fulfilled 456 prophesies
- Scriptures to look at
- 1 Cor 1:18-25
- Jn 4:21-24
- Jn 14:15-26
- Jn 15:26-27
- Jn 16:1-15
- Acts 9:1-18
- Acts 26:12-32
- Heb 12:5-13
- Gal 5:16-22
- 2 Tim 3:1-4:7
- Heb 4:12-13
- Rev 3:20
- Rev 3
- God makes all the difference in the world because he changes us
- D: What is God's eternal DESTINY for me?
- heaven is mentioned 540 times in the Bible
- Scriptures to look at
- Jn 14: 1-3
- Acts 1-3
- 2 Cor 12:2-5
- Phil 3:20-21
- Rev 21:8
So the conference was pretty packed with some amazing talks. It definitely leaves a lot to think about and go back and look at. If anyone has a question or wants to know more, I will try to answer the questions.
No comments:
Post a Comment