Science is thought to be the enemy of God, and in some ways it may be. And yet, the laws of physics confirm the most essential and persistent question that never seems to go away. Is there really a God, or is He a fabrication of the human mind? I am certain all those who believe there is a God, at times may think, “I sure hope there is a God, since I am placing all my marbles in His basket, and if there is a God, is Jesus Christ His Son?" Therefore, through FAITH alone we believe there is a God. Still, it would be reassuring to know God exists above and beyond faith. Or are the millions, even billions of people correct when they say, "There is no God"? In America and elsewhere, many educated people refuse to believe there is a God. Their intellect tells them, "Impossible."
Sorry, but I have to say to them they are dead-wrong. And our laws of physics will supply that proof. We know the laws that control all physical things are absolute. Since that fact is undisputable, let us rely on just those laws to prove beyond a shadow of doubt that there is a God. The law I am referring to is the law that dictates that something physical cannot come into existence from nothing. In fact, anyone is moronic to imply that law is wrong. To date, no one has been able to make anything physical out of thin air.
Since that is the unequivocal truth, why have cosmologists, physicists and astronomers, etc. been attempting to convince Christians of the theory that an extremely small “physical” object was the genesis of our gigantic universe? You see, according to the red-shift light spectrum, they, along with us, know the universe is continually expanding, which allows them to believe (THE UNKNOWN) that a gigantic explosion of that minute object eventually turned into our universe. Anyone who looks at science as we now know it realizes their faith (belief) is hogwash.
Then to attempt to justify their hypothesis, they tell us an unknown force or energy was responsible for that small object. I ask them this question about that force of energy or whatever else it might have been: Was it physical or not, and did that force have intelligence? I also ask, was there any specific reason this unknown force was responsible for turning that densely packed object into the universe? No comment. They want us to believe in something, but they don’t know how or why it happened.
Here is a much more plausible theory, for all thinking people, of how the genesis of the physical universe came into existence: Before the physical came on the scene, all that existed was an all-powerful invisible intelligence (God). Since we humans are not aware of the laws which control that invisible realm, we cannot dogmatically say how that intelligence came to being, and it is useless to use the term “eternal God” to any unbelievers. But without time as we know it to dictate age, nothing in that realm has/had a beginning or an end; everything in that sphere was/is eternal (always in the present). Logic says that was how things were before the physical universe came on the scene. That form of invisible life may be extremely difficult, if not impossible, for pagans/heathens to believe in, but it makes much more sense than to think the physical came about as a result of an unknown force, energy or whatever, and for no reason whatsoever.
Of course, if physicists would be willing to believe this invisible, intelligent, timeless realm was responsible for the universe, then we who believe in the existence of God could agree. We, as believers in God, call that invisible stuff the realm of God.
Therefore, since our laws of physics tell us beyond a shadow of a doubt that it is impossible for the physical to come into existence on its own, we can with the aforementioned empirical evidence unequivocally proclaim that the power which exists in that invisible realm is the God we believe in. Applying all the logic which is apparent, it would be absolutely impossible for a powerful, all-encompassing being, which we call God, not to exist. Display the information in this post to atheists, agnostics, skeptics, physicists and astronomers, and let them digest the absolute certainty of the existence of an invisible creator.
Now that genuine Christians have the perfect reason to remove ALL DOUBT concerning the existence of God, we can worship God with all certainty. In other words, it is impossible for God not to exist. Now we can go to the next step and find out what His purpose was for the creation of the universe and for all humanity, and what He expects from his animate creation (us). Many of the posts in this blog have that answer. Start by clicking on the Table of Contents, post # 143: “Creation, Evolution, and Intelligent Design.”
Now that we dogmatically know that it would be impossible for an intelligent, invisible power not to exist—which we as Christians call Almighty God whose name is Jehovah—we would love to find information concerning Jesus Christ from a creditable source outside the New Testament originating in the first century, to corroborate that He actually lived and did what it says. However, for ourselves as disciples of Christ, our faith confirms Christ as the Son of God.
To the dismay of nonbelievers, there is such evidence.
Excerpts taken from Encyclopedia Americana, International Edition: There was a man in the first century, who was born in 37 A.D. His name is JOSEPHUS Flavius. He was a Jewish historian and apologist, noted for his classic works on the history of the Jews and Judaism. He was born in Jerusalem of an aristocratic priestly family. . . . At 26 he traveled to Rome in an attempt to secure the release of priests who have been sent there for trifling offences. . . . After the fall of Jerusalem (70 A.D.), he took up residence in Rome, receiving citizenship and a pension. He died in Rome about 100 A.D.
In the Greek version of Josephus’s “History of the Jewish War” (completed after 75 A.D.), Josephus attributed the revolt to fanatical Jews . . .
Among many of his writings there appears in “The Antiquities of the Jews” a section where Josephus mentioned Jesus.
FLAVIOUS JOSEPHUS Selections from His Work. Author: Abraham Wasserstein. Copyright 1974.
“Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it is lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works–a teacher of such men as received the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews and many of the Gentiles. He was the Messiah; and when Pilate, on the accusations of the leaders amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him from the first did not forsake him, for he appeared to them alive again the third day, as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him; and the tribe of Christians, so named after him, are not extinct to this day.”
7 comments:
Great Post Al.
You gave some great points for unbelievers to ponder. I would like to give these same skeptics a challenge that our God has given to everybody. It is in John 14:21 “ Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him."
Now for this to work one must know what God’s commands are. The only way we can find out what he is commanding us to do is by reading his holy word. Some might say that that book is full of man made ideas and not worth the time to read. That’s what the challenge is. When you take the time to read what God has to say about his commands there is an extra miracle that takes place, kind of like a side affect, a really good side affect. Gods divine power gives us the ability to obey those commands through the knowledge of his son Jesus Christ. So my suggestion is take the Jesus challenge he will be faithful to show himself to you, he did for me and I am certainly not better the anybody else. Jay
Dear Jay, Thanks for your God inspired comments. I, and others would agree with you wholeheartedly. Your message is a great addition to this blog. The Jesus challenge is what we all need, if we know it or not. I would add, for myself it is a continual challenge. That is what gives me the desire to walk the straight and narrow. I pray our God will continue to bless you with all His Goodness and Love. Althinker
I like the cut of your jib! You seem to be unafraid of using God's second greatest gift; your mind (third, our body; first, our heart).
God is indeed That Which Created All Things, and since God had nothing but God to make things out of, all things must be literally forms of God, and are thus to be treated as such, i.e. as holy.
Jesus, in my opinion, was no more nor less than one of the first, if not the first human being who had Fifth Kingdom consciousness, which it was his entire purpose to educate us about, since it is our destiny to enter that state. The Fifth Kingdom refers to the coming (actually happening as we speak) evolutionary shift from the Fourth (human) Kingdom, which of course evolved in a quantum shift from the Third (animal) Kingdom, which shifted from the Second (vegetable) Kingdom, which in turn came out of the First (mineral) Kingdom, which came into existence when God made not-thingness thingy, by creating space (for things...) and time (to happen.). Big surprise; the process of evolution doesn't stop. Ever. Jesus knew what he was talking about; it's REAL. And by the way, what could be a better example of stunningly intelligent design than evolution?
It is worth remembering that Jesus emphatically enjoined us from worshiping him; he said to copy him ("Why do you call me holy? There is but One holy; the Father within, which doeth the work [Hmmm!]. These things and more shall ye do.")
These things can only be understood when the individual is free from any controlling influence whatever; the only hand to touch the rudder of our individual boat must be our own (although we should listen to anyone's advice about sailing). That's what "freedom of the individual" is all about. And there (would that would awaken to it) is the real value of the United States of America.
Eternal Optimist, thanks for your comment. After diligently reading your comments, I agree with much of what is said. Where I disagree is in your first sentence. Although I would agree with it after a little modification. This is what I mean: in the natural state the mind, body and heart, have one purpose in common: hooray for me and boo for the next guy. In the redeemed state they are noteworthy. And still, not to be compared with God’s greatest gifts, which are 1) love, I mean God’s love, which is the absolute foundation of God’s existence; 2) grace, without grace we could never be elevated to share in God’s kingdom; and 3) faith, is the instrument that qualifies us to enjoy God’s goodness for eternity.
As for your description of God’s evolution process, giving them understandable names is of limited value, what counts is the finish product: becoming a ‘Clone-of-Christ-in-the-making.’
As to your last statement concerning, “freedom of the individual,’ no one country, etc. especially the United States of America has a monopoly on allowing us to partake in expressing our values; it is universal.
It was a pleasure receiving a comment like yours. It certainly can be an eye opener. I leave you with one very simple question: what is the end result of all that you said relating to the various Kingdoms? Put another way, what is the reason for the existence and evolution of our gigantic universe? God bless and keep in touch. althinker
Hi Al! Glad that my comments seemed useful. Well. How much time do you have here? More to the point, how much do I? Not enough, I can assure you, but I do want to discuss a few things.
First, not to quibble about wording, but I much prefer to refer to the "me first" mentality that does indeed characterize so much (but far from all) of our behavior is not at all a "natural" state, but an unnatural one. To really define such terms accurately we'd have to agree on the point at which error comes into existence, and I admit that I have almost no grip on this one. It seems self-evident to me that God is perfect, and that all wrong came into the picture at some point after creation began, but where? Got me! All religious symbolism in this regard (Satan, fallen angels,etc.) strikes me as just that; symbolic, but of exactly what, I can't yet tell. (We do tend to paper our walls with photos of the great outdoors and then pretend that we're living outside!) The greatest image I've encountered in this regard (good/evil) is that of God as the harp-maker. God (I can't say "He", for obvious reasons) made a perfect harp; we play horrible stuff on it, and then blame the harp-maker. Darned if I know why we ever played anything but celestial music. But we did, and we (especially now) need to stop it, and the best instructions I've ever seen for doing so come from Jesus.
I agree that love is the very essence of God. What we call our "heart" is the organ through which we experience that love. There is nothing more important, which is why I referred to it as God's greatest gift. But we also have to think. God also endowed us with a mind, which is the organ through which we "figure things out". The entire cosmos is arranged rationally, and when we think rationally about true premises, we come up wih a sum that is greater than its parts. That seems to me to be second only to our hearts in its importance. Then, our bodies furnish us with food for thought, through our senses. If we are allowing that information to come through clearly, if we think clearly and rightly about that information, and we then lay whatever we've come up with before our hearts to judge its real value, then it seems to me that we're operating at full potential, using God's gifts rightly, and will advance toward our destiny with the maximum efficiency.
I suspect you have a more specific definition of "grace" than I do. I find it hard to differentiate between God's grace and God's love.
To me, "faith" is simply trusting God to do what God does, namely, to provide us with whatever we need (starting with a body and a place to put it) to do what we should be doing , which turns out to be whatever we truly love to do. It's just that simple, and my teaching and experience strongly indicate that it really works. If only the world knew! All fear and competition out the window.
I love your term "clone-of-Christ-in-the-making"! Infinitely more important, indeed, than any nomenclature regarding stages of the journey. However, to me, it's very important to realize that Jesus did not hold himself to be above us in any way except that he was ahead of us. It was his wish that we see in ourselves what he saw in himself (and us, and everything else), and I feel that it disempowers us to think of ourselves as anything less than the direct expression of God's creative desire, that he held himself to be. We are so much more wonderful than we have dared to realize! When we meet Jesus (as I strongly suspect we will), I feel certain that he will not be on an elevated platform. We will be eye to eye, and our gaze will not falter, because we will see (experience) ourselves as he always saw us. We will be, as he always said we were, equals. We just don't see it yet.
You're of course absolutely right that no nation has a monopoly on any good thing, but I really do believe that we have perhaps a unique combination of circumstances here that were designed to further the highest goals of human existence, not just to make us free to make a buck, or to control us for the benefit of a few, the fact that we seem to have chosen the latter notwithstanding. We should treasure that heritage, and live up to it.
And for the grand finale; what is the meaning of it all? Well, I can tell you what the purpose of life is (trumpets! bubble machine!). The purpose of life is to understand the purpose of life. Okay, sorry! I don't know what the end result of things as we now know them will be (how could a rock have known what it would be like to be vegetable?), but I'm convinced that what lies immediately ahead of us (after we get through the rough patch) will be wonderful beyond our wildest dreams. It will be the fulfillment of our deepest desire for purity, for perfection, and for permanence.
Walt Whitman: "I say no man mas ever yet been half devout enough, none has ever yet adored or worship'd half enough, none has begun to think how divine he himself is, and how certain the future is." Onward, onward!
Eternal Optimist, thanks for your intriguing comments and responses to my response. As I carefully weighed your every word, it is fair to say that your writing skills are far superior to mine. You must be an erudite. I love it! As you, most likely can tell, my writing, though not even close to yours, is the very best I am capable of. You see, I have never been an academic person. I am not educated or learned. I am a nothing, God’s nothing. I truly mean that. I was a construction worker the majority of my life. In fact, when it comes to literally accomplishments, I grade myself as a student of grade school quality. Enough of that.
I have to say, except for a few minor differences, I agree with all that you said. The most obvious quality of your comments is the gentleness of how you use your words. That usually is not a masculine quality. I am inferring that the Eternal Optimist my just as well be a female, which if true is all well and good. As to the gentleness, I certainty don’t have much. I should learn from you.
I would differ to a slight degree concerning the ‘me first attitude’ the majority of us humans have. You say it is unnatural, where I say natural. The reason I say natural is because without Christ’s Spirit living in us, other than our intelligence, we are no better than those in the animal kingdom (survival or the fittest). They have little reason to put other first, except for their offsprings. Not to split-hairs; that is just as I see the unregenerate world. Is there error to my belief? Yes to a some degree. Let me put it this way as to how the ‘me first’ attitude start: selfishness is the root of all evil, which Satan is the leader. A connection with God thorough Christ destroy that self-centered attitude.
I love your analogy as God being the harp maker. As for your inability to use a masculine pronoun and possibly the word Father for God, needs to be corrected; not for your sake, but for others who would wonder why, when Scripture emphatically uses pronouns over and over again, referring to God the Father. You left me in suspense where you said, “for obvious reasons” I take it you had/have an abusive, unfair or cruel father. And I can understand why you feel as you do, if that is true. Still, we must try not to let out personal prejudice rub-off on others.
Concerning experiencing God’s love with our heart is true but only the heart which has been regenerated by Christ. The prophet Jeremiah poignantly described the condition of the heart in not so many words “The [natural] heart [we were born with] is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” Jeremiah 17:9. I believe you will agree with me. I will agree with you that we experience God’s love for us through our new heart. That is a new teaching for me. Thank you.
In your next paragraph where you mentioned our mind, I will not comment on that at this time. I was inspired by God through your comments to publish a complete post on that subject. I am not certain I will be able to accomplish that; but with inspiration of the Holy Spirit, there is a good potential I will. It won’t be for several weeks, since I already have lined-up several other posts I should publish first.
In response to you next sentence, God’s love and God’s grace for all disciples of Christ. There is a distinct difference. See if you don’t agree. It is true that God loves all peoples. The love He has for the lost is that they be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. Although God loves them, He is not able to give His grace to the lost, for apparent reasons. That love has no eternal value to them if they don’t respond to the call of Christ.
The love God has for His own is a special love that will endure for all eternity. Because of His love for them, springs grace. To these, in response to their faith in His Son, He is able to give them unmerited grace free of charge. Love and grace are both attributes of God (One hand washes the other). No one would have ever been able to work for that precious grace; it is that valuable, that is the reason He give it as a gift. In a way you are correct to say there is no difference between the two, in that God’s love gift to His own is called grace.
I agree with your definition of faith, with a little addition: saving faith is that we believe with our mind, heart and LIVES all that which Christ did to save us, and through that belief alone will give us eternal life. There is one contingency I mention frequently in this blog, that is obedience to all of Christ teachings. That teachings saves no one, but is evidence to the reality/genuineness of our faith. It all depends on us; to believe or not to believe. Faith destroys fear of death, for where we are going is a much better place, to say the least. Thanks for the esoteric word ‘nomenclature.’ I will find a place to us it in my writings.
I agree with your description of how Jesus sees us and how we will see Him. Isn’t that wonderful!
Concerning the liberates in America: the heritage of the freedoms we inherited as Americans has, to a large part, done a disservice to the cause of Christ. If you read more of this blog, you will see the reason why I make that disloyal comment, i.e., allegiance to the flag, instead of to Christ.
As to the final outcome, if our devotion to Christ is real, we cant wait to be with Him, either by His return, or by death. Death, where is your sting? Christ made it a blessing.
Your last sentence is right on the mark. We are to make every effort to do and be all that is required of us, and still with all that effort it is still not enough. We will always be lacking. That is where grace kicks in. God bless and thanks again. althinker
Thank you for your review! Frankly speaking I have never come across anything that interesting.
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