Everyday Apologetics: "Why Beleive in Christianity"

Philippians 1:7: "...and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel..."

1 Peter 3:15: "...and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you..."
Christian Apologetics = apologia (Greek): To offer a reason, defense of the Christian faith.

• It helps a believer better understand and share his faith with others.
• It removes intellectual barriers and helps non-believers know why to choose Christianity over religions and Atheism.

Christians tend to compartmentalize their lives into separate areas: home and family, work, school, recreation, friends. American Christians add the compartment of "church", but many fail to see the connection between what they say and do at church and the other compartments of life. These type of Christians have not yet grown into a biblical mind-set in which the Lord is at the center of everyday life, so that every compartment revolves around Him.


Everybody longs for dignity and legacy. Atheism can't answer for this. Atheism has no ground for objective morality or human dignity.


Christianity is not based on what Jesus taught but on who Jesus is. If Jesus is truly dead, then Christianity collapses.


Christianity is based on the person of Christ. It can be reasonable even with the Bible closed.
The problem of unbelief is not an intellectual matter but moral choice.

Lesson 5 – Science: What is True?

Introduction – What is true?
In this, the fifth worldview tour, we are invited to enter the cavern of nature, gaze upon the jewels of creation, and establish yet another important pillar in the Temple of Truth: Science.

Video: Did you ever wonder... about everything?

A. The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows His handiwork (Psalm 19:1)
We’re going to look inside the box and see 2 things:
1- The glory of God:
For when we open the box, we find that it is filled with voices that speak to us loudly about the majesty and power of the One who has created the physical universe.

2- The work of his hands:
Everywhere we look – whether up at the grandeur of the stars and galaxies or deep into the tiny and elegantly designed inner workings of a living cell – there is evidence that the cosmos is the handiwork of an intelligent, rational mind.

In the contemplation of nature, we come face to face with the truth that God exists and that He has revealed Himself to us, not only through His written Word (special revelation) but also through the works of His hands (general revelation).

How many stars are there?

- Hipparchus, the Greek astronomer, in 128 B.C. stated there were 1,026 stars in the sky.
- Kepler in 1600 A.D. did his own count and found the number to be 1,005.
- Today, thanks to the Hubble Telescope among other methods, the actual number is put at 70 sextillion (70 x 1021).

B. The Creator’s “invisible attributes are plainly seen” (Romans 1:20)

• Is God’s handiwork so difficult to see? Is it obscure?
• God has made it plain to us!
• We must go out of our way to deny this and ignore it.
• Mankind has nevertheless chosen to ignore the obvious truth, twisting scientific investigation into a vehicle for propagating a godless philosophy of human independence and self-determination.
• The fool says in his heart: There is no God.
• Our natural reaction to this experience should be like that of a child: wonder, marvel, and praise for the Creator.
• But because of the effects of the fall and the polarizing influence of the Cosmic Battle, man shows a tendency to deny what is plain to the senses and to “exchange the truth of God for a lie” (Romans 1:25).

C. Scientific Investigation
“The systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment” – It is also a valid way of ascertaining truth.

D. The great cosmos question: Where did the cosmos come from?
Only two possibilities: the cosmos has always existed or the cosmos had a beginning – either one posses a serious problem for those who deny a Creator.

The problem with the claim that the cosmos had a beginning:

• How can we start with nothing, and then have everything? It’s like magic!
• Philosophical question à why is there something rather than nothing?
• Einstein was irritated with the concept that the universe started from nothing – that is why he proposed the cosmological constant, which is a modification to his theory of general relativity to achieve a stationary universe. He abandoned the concept after observations by

Edwin Hubble indicated that the universe appears to be expanding.

It takes faith to believe that the cosmos began with nothing.

The problem with the claim that the cosmos has always existed:

• The idea is that matter has always existed in the form of either matter or energy; and all that has happened is that matter has been changed from form to form, but it has always been.
• The Humanist Manifesto says, "Matter is “self-existing” and not created," and that is a concise statement of the atheist's belief.
• 1st problem: We live in an expanding universe that gets bigger and bigger and bigger with every passing day. Now, if we were to make time run backwards, we would arrive at a point, at a beginning. At what scientists call a singularity!
• 2nd problem: Energy is always breaking down in the cosmos (hydrogen is being consumed). If this process has been going on forever, we would have run out of hydrogen. All the energy should be used-up by now.
• 3rd problem: The second law of thermodynamics states that in any closed system, things tend to become disordered, which is the universal law of increasing entropy. Getting old is simple conformity to the second law of thermodynamics. In space, things also get old. Astronomers refer to the aging process as heat death.

E. Metaphysical questions:

• Does God exist?
• Why are we here?
• Is the universe eternal or not eternal?
• Are the body and the “self" the same?
• After death, do we continue to exist or not exist?
• What Attracts Us To Beauty
• Why is there music? Can you think of that evolving?

F. Design vs. Randomness
Science is a methodology for discovering and classifying

knowledge. The scope of science encompasses all measurable phenomena. Science falls under two scopes: natural science, dealing with the physical, natural world, and social science, dealing with society and human nature.

• Science and philosophy are very closely linked.
• Philosophy is trying to develop truth claims about the upper level ideas
• Science is trying to develop truth claims about the particulars

Dr. Steven Meyer >> The idea of design
Study nature >> created by a rational intellect

Randomness >> There’s nothing intelligent

Unlocking the mysteries of life – Scrabble Illustration

Where does the organized information come from? Is it just a matter of time and chance??!!

Earliest scientists were convinced that the universe bore evidence of design
Scrabble Example – Where does the organized information in the genetic code come from?
Wald- “Time is the hero of the plot …the impossible becomes possible.”

7 men that ruled the world from the grave:

Charles Darwin: Devolution into Depravity >> He popularized the theory of evolution, and revolutionized modern science. Instead of staying in science, the theory of evolution is now thought to apply to society at large. "Social Darwinism" is a foundational belief of our culture. This concept says that the social structure is engineered and controlled by impersonal forces, natural selection, and the survival of the fittest, rather than by a personal God. Society has become secularized, and God is resented and opposed at every opportunity. The fact is Darwinism is not true, not in science, and not in society. Man is digressing instead of progressing, just has God said he would, II Timothy 3:13. A prime example is our criminal "justice" system. Our "primitive" hang-em-high 19th Century system of justice did a much better job in eliminating the criminal threat to society, than today’s "humane" system. Instead of evolving into a higher life form, mankind is devolving into the depths of depravity.

Karl Marx: But Socialism is Alive and Well >> Godless atheism produced in the wake of Communist revolutions in Russia and China has not been overthrown. Socialism and the welfare state is alive and well in Europe, North America and Australia and New Zealand. Marxism continues to have a profound influence on western intellectuals, who reject the Judeo-Christian morality in favor of atheism.
Communists are materialists, i.e., they believe that all is material, and deny the existence of immeasurable things such as love, honor, courage and fidelity. 60,000,000 people have died at the hands of blood-thirsty Communists. Communist dictators live like kings all the while claiming to be promoting a "classless society".

Julius Wellhausen: Higher Criticism, Religious Liberalism >> a German rationalist, Old Testament scholar, and theologian, declared that human reason was totally dependable and the Bible could not be seriously trusted. Rather than divine inspiration, the Old Testament was said to be a product of evolutionary thinking of several individuals (referred to as the Elohim, Jehovah, Priestly and Deuteronomy, or EJPD, sources). He became a leader in a religious school of thought called "Higher Criticism”.

Sigmund Freud: Looking for the Truth Within >> The basis for Freudian thinking is the idea that the driving force behind all human action is the sexual instinct or urge. There exists a force, or libido, within mankind that, properly analyzed and controlled, will lead him to greater social progress. Freud opened the door for the New Age Movement, which insists that man can discover and control his own "life force" and obtain a utopia.

John Dewey and Humanistic Education >> He developed our liberal education system where there is no foundational truth. Nothing is settled, final and sure, but only subject to further research. Nothing is constant, given, or finally true, but rather all is pragmatic, adaptable, and subject to reinterpretation deemed appropriate to the time. Truth, he believed, was only found in experience. Rather than instilling morals in students, teachers were led to teach by experiment, to mold students to be servants of the state.

John Maynard Keynes: The Government is God >> He had a profound influence on the development of our government economic system. In the wake of the devastating global depression of 1929 through the 1930’s he thought that it was the responsibility of government to create full employment, even if it had to borrow money and assume mounting debt to do so. Rather than get rid of the sins which cause economic depression, vanity, jealously, lust and greed, he promoted the idea that government had all the answers.

G. Examining Darwin’s Theory

• Hypothesis, theory, law – data must confirm investigation of truth claims
• Hypothesis: Very early assumption made on the basis of limited evidence and basic data used as a starting point for further investigation.
• Theory: Much more sophisticated than a Hypo. Idea or belief about something formed by speculation, conjecture, or deduction from certain facts within certain parameters. It is one that allows us to make predictions about future occurrences or observations of the same kind and capable of being tested through experiment or otherwise verified through empirical observation.
• Declaration of a Law: A statement of scientific fact that a particular natural or scientific phenomenon is invariable under given circumstances (Laws of science are considered universal and invariable facts of the physical world.)
• Darwinian Evolution taught as “Fact” – Does his theory match reality?
  Paley’s Argument – Anyone who looks at a pocket watch understands that is was designed with intelligent purpose
• Ignoring the obvious – Francis Crick: You’ve got to keep in mind that all of this was not designed
  

H. Hollow & deceptive philosophy:

Carl Sagan’s Assumptions:

• Our future depends on how we understand this cosmos
• We’re going to follow the truth wherever it leads (dishonest statement – if it leads to a creator, we will ignore it).
• We need imagination and skepticism
• We will not be afraid to speculate.

I. Contemporary Molecular Biology
Testing Darwin’s statement that his theory would absolutely break down if it could be demonstrated that a complex organism could not come into existence without numerous, successive slight modifications.

• In the 19th century, the cell was viewed as a simple glob of plasma, a black box; today, micro technology reveals a cell filled with exquisite machinery
• Irreducible complexity – The cell cannot exist if one component of the machinery is missing – Examples: mouse trap and the flagellum motor

The flagellum motor research: 40 unique structural parts – it can be compared to the construction of a house built from the inside out.

• It is in the realm of molecular genetics where we see the most compelling evidence of design on earth – evolution fails Darwin’s test.
• Today we have the technology to look at the inner cell machinery.
• But Man doesn’t always accede to the reality of this evidence.

J. The fossil record:

• The fossil record – testing Darwin’s statement that if one can’t find all of the fine, graduated evolutionary steps in the fossil record, then one can rightly reject the theory
• If speciation requires many thousands of morphological changes, there should be some fossil evidence of those changes – Darwin agreed they weren’t there, but only because we hadn’t dug up enough fossils
• 120 years after Darwin’s time we have a lot more fossil evidence than he did, but we have even less support for his evolutionary theories
• Theory of punctuated equilibrium – offered by evolutionist Gould because of the lack of evidence in the fossil record; purports immediate speciation to account for the missing links
  Icons of Evolution – used for years as “proof” of evolution – all are inaccurate and outdated
• Theory of directed panspermia – purports that the first living cell was sent to earth from another planet – offered by Crick because evidence was overwhelmingly against spontaneous generation – now the problem is somewhere else? – this is now resorting to blind faith.
• Evolution again fails Darwin’s own test

K. Fearfully and wonderfully made

Video: "Did You Ever Wonder about blood clots"
Blood clot – the clotting of the blood.
An amazing system >> is it a part of evolution?
How long will we last without blood clotting?

Testing Carl Sagan’s Statement – “Evolution is a fact amply demonstrated by the fossil record and contemporary molecular biology.”

Contemporary Molecular Biology – testing Darwin’s statement that his theory would absolutely break down if it could be demonstrated that a complex organism could not come into existence without numerous, successive slight modifications (slow gradual process)

Dr. Meyer’s Response – Post 1953 discovery of DNA, cells cannot be looked at in the same way.

In the 19th century, the cell was viewed as a simple glob of plasma, a black box; today, micro technology reveals a cell filled with exquisite machinery.

Molecular machines contain matter and energy.
There’s a 3rd factor >> INFORMATION!!! (For processing)

Today we have the technology to look at the inner cell machinery.
Dr. Kenyan’s statement on the Molecular structure:
Finely tuned apparatus (devise)
Genetic information processing
The result of an intelligent designer

L. Man doesn’t always accede to reality

Francis Crick – Evolutionist: Amazing complexity at the fundamental level of life

Directed Panspermia – Theory >> The problem is now somewhere else.

Blind Faith – George Wald – The origin of life
Spontaneous generation hypothesis >> it’s broken down

Michael Behe >> Darwin’s Black Box
Irreducible complexity – mouse trap

Flagellum motor Research:

• 40 structural parts
• unique parts
• Compared to the construction of a House from the inside out

Dr. Chandra Wickramasinghe


M. The Fossil Record >> Book: Of Pandas and People

• The variety must be enormous
• We got a problem in the fossil record
• The amount of changes are so much greater
• Fundamental Pantheology
• Questions and issues

If going from one species to another, it requires many variations of varieties.

Book: Icons of Evolution

Collin Patterson >> no water tight argument

Archaeopteryx >> missing link or fully formed species of its own?
David Raup >> we have more fossils now but no transitional forms.

Gould’s Response (Graduated Equilibrium) >> Theory supported by the lack of evidence in the fossil record

Jonathan Wells
Darwin’s finches (Nutty Journalism)
Jonathon Wyler >> The power of Darwinian process.
Can the beak size be extrapolated?
Changes oscillate back and forth.

S. Huvtrap
This is just a scientific truth claim it’s also a philosophical truth claim.

The consequences of rejecting it forces them to face the reality of a creator.

Lesson 4 – Theology: Who is God?

Eternal life, according to Jesus, is knowing God in an intimate, personal, and relational way. Such knowledge, which is possible only because of divine revelation, transforms us from the inside out as we begin to see ourselves in the light of His majesty and holiness.

A. Theology: The study of God
Col 2:23 >> God’s nature, character, and attributes are the ultimate source of truth.
With God, there is no end, no beginning.
Who can fathom that?
It’s easier to define infinity.
He has revealed himself to us.
We are attempting to answer the question of an infinite being.

B. What some people say who God is:
God is ultimate reality
God is what you make of it
Our heart is the temple of God
Confused about God – spirituality
A place to be happy when you are dead
Energy – essence where a relationship exists
Self – I create my own being
A fantasy concept – depending on whose worldview
The construct in my mind
A nice thought to have on a Sunday morning and irrelevant during the rest of the week


C. The Westminster Confession
I. There is but one only, living, and true God, who is infinite in being and perfection, a most pure spirit, invisible, without body, parts, or passions; immutable, immense, eternal, incomprehensible, almighty, most wise, most holy, most free, most absolute; working all things according to the counsel of His own immutable and most righteous will, for His own glory; most loving, gracious, merciful, long- suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin; the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him; and withal, most just, and terrible in His judgments, hating all sin, and who will by no means clear the guilty.

II. God has all life, glory, goodness, blessedness, in and of Himself; and is alone in and unto Himself all-sufficient, not standing in need of any creatures which He has made, nor deriving any glory from them, but only manifesting His own glory in, by, unto, and upon them. He is the alone fountain of all being, of whom, through whom, and to whom are all things; and has most sovereign dominion over them, to do by them, for them, or upon them whatsoever Himself pleases. In His sight all things are open and manifest, His knowledge is infinite, infallible, and independent upon the creature, so as nothing is to Him contingent, or uncertain. He is most holy in all His counsels, in all His works, and in all His commands. To Him is due from angels and men, and every other creature, whatsoever worship, service, or obedience He is pleased to require of them.

III. In the unity of the Godhead there be three persons, of one substance, power, and eternity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost: the Father is of none, neither begotten, nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; the Holy Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son.

D. The eclipse of God
R. C. Sproul asserts that ours is an era in which the knowledge of God has been an eclipsed – not completely destroyed, but obscured and shadowed by lies and misconceptions.

Given this situation, it is essential that we establish two main points:
1. That God exists
2. That the Bible, the vehicle of His self-revelation, is utterly reliable


E. What is eternal life? (from John 3:16)
John 4:13-14 >> The water of eternal life
John 5:24
John 6:27
John 6:54
John 17:1-3 >> Jesus defined eternal life
An intimate conversation between the Son and the Father.
That they may know you not just street knowledge or clinical knowledge but a personal communion – real relationship.
An intimate kind of knowledge, understanding, fellowship – what a privilege!!!

John 5:39-40 >> He is not diminishing the scriptures. They only point to Jesus. You must go further.

F. Spurgeon’s Perspective
“The highest science, the loftiest speculation, the mightiest philosophy, which can engage the attention of a child of God is the name, the nature, the person, the doings, and the existence of the great God which he calls his Father."

G. Paul’s Perspective
Philippians 3:8-10 >> More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.

H. God’s Perspective
Hosea 6:6 >> “I’d rather for you to be faithful and to know me than to offer sacrifices.”

Jeremiah 9:23-24 (New Century Version)
This is what the Lord says:
“The wise must not brag about their wisdom. The strong must not brag about their strength.
The rich must not brag about their money. But if people want to brag, let them brag that they understand and know me. Let them brag that I am the Lord, and that I am kind and fair, and that I do things that are right on earth. This kind of bragging pleases me,” says the Lord

I. Names Have Meaning
· Names of God – El Qanna – A jealous God
· What does it mean for God to be jealous? Isn’t jealousy a bad thing?

Deuteronomy 4:23-24:
Be careful not to forget the covenant of the LORD your God that he made with you; do not make for yourselves an idol in the form of anything the LORD your God has forbidden. For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

Zechariah 8:2:
This is what the Lord All-Powerful says: “I have a very strong love for Jerusalem. My strong love for her is like a fire burning in me.”

Exodus 34:14:
Do not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God

· God’s very name is jealous.
· The jealousy of the flesh says “you have something I want and I hate you for it.”
· The jealousy of El Qanna is a zeal that arises when sin threatens a covenant relationship.
· El Qanna arose in God to the extent of the sacrifice of His only Son.
· He is jealous when my sin threatens that relationship.
· When you wrestle in the cocoon with God, he will give you a new name.
· Jacob (supplanter) changed to Israel (strives with God) Gen. 32:28
· Abram (father of height) changed to Abraham (father of a multitude) Gen. 17:5
· Moses (taken out of the water)
· Simon (hearing) changed to Peter (rock)
· Saul (demanded) changed to Paul (little)
· You shall name the child John (God is gracious) Lk. 1:15
· You shall name His Jesus (savior)

Ps. 42:1-2 >> Hungering for God.
As we know God, we begin to know ourselves.
That will transform us.

J. The Attack (2 Cor. 10:4-5)
Take every thought captive.
Our pretentions that are against God.

2 Critical Questions that must be asked regarding his nature and His word:
1- Is there really a God?
2- Can His Word (scriptures) be trusted?

Attacks against His nature: twisting, distorting, denying, ignoring
Attacks against His Word: accusing, demeaning

All attempts to by all powers:
Extinguish >> Empires
Suppress >> Religion
Discredit >> Philosophy
Destroy >> Science
Dilute >> Academia
Deny >> Judiciary
Ignore >> …

All have failed. The Word of God is still the best seller of all time.

K. Voltaire 1776 >> claims to destroy the bible (but have failed)
“100 years from my day there will not be a Bible in the earth except one that is looked upon by an antiquarian curiosity seeker.”
“It took 12 men to start Christianity; one will destroy it.”
He died in 1778. One hundred years later, Voltaire’s home was used to store Bibles and distribute them all over Europe.

L. Robert Ingersoll
“In 15 years, I will have this book [the Bible] in the morgue. 15 years later, Ingersoll was in the morgue. Later a pastor purchased Ingersoll’s desk and spent his life writing sermons on it.
1 Pe. 1:24-25

M. Julius Wellhausen (1844-1918)
A 19th century German liberal scholar who suggested the Documentary Hypothesis (JEPD), which theorizes that the Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy) was not written by Moses but evolved over time and was compiled from at least four sources written by various authors. Numerous scholars have refuted the theory.
Known as the father of “Higher Criticism”
Documentary hypothesis: “JEDP”
A proponent of liberal theology

N. The Jesus Seminar
The Jesus Seminar Started in 1985 in Berkley, California, by Robert Funk and thirty-five other liberal New Testament scholars. The Seminar,–which now includes about 100 members–meets twice a year to debate technical papers. At the close of debate on each agenda item, members vote using colored beads to indicate the degree of authenticity of Jesus’ words or deeds.

The Colored Beads
- red: Jesus undoubtedly said this or something very much like it (That’s Jesus!)
- pink: Jesus probably said this (Sure sounds like Jesus)
- grey: Jesus did not say this, but the ideas contained in it are close to His own (Well, maybe)
- black: Jesus did not say this; it represents the perspective or content of a later or different tradition (There’s been some mistake)
They voted and the book of The 5 Gospels resulted from it.
Ez. 22:26-28

They claim that 82% of words of Jesus were not spoken by him.

Are we going to be drawn to a web of deceit?

O. Dr. Del Tackett’s Personal Crisis
Is there contradiction in Scripture?
2 Kings 8:16 >> Jehoram
2 Kings 1:17 >> Joram
2 kings 3:1

How true is the bible?
Edwin Thiele: “The mysterious dates of the Hebrew Kings.”

P. Why so Fierce?
Heb. 4:12 – 13

We must give an account.

Don’t be surprised when the world around us tries to rip from us the very Word of God. Even we, sometimes in our sinful nature, don’t want to listen to God’s Word. It stands in the way of self-actualization >> the pursuit of our desires and wants.

Lesson 3 Notes – Anthropology: Who is man?

I. Introduction – The Problem of Evil and who is Man?

What is evil? Why is there evil in the world?" This is one of the most fundamental and important questions that every person asks.

• Christians have answers to these questions.
• When the same questions are given back to the world – answers come back empty.
• Here are some examples of the worlds interpretation of evil:
  - Some people chose not to talk about it – ignore it.
  - Doing something bad and feeling good about it.
  - A child going to bed hungry.
  - It’s something natural to our nature.
  - It’s what appears not to be good to other people.


• Everyone acknowledges that evil exists


• Some people say it’s necessary


• The devil has made evil look exciting

A - Primary Doctrine – Laying down the foundation of Anthropology

• The knowledge of Man and God


• Who is Man? Who is God?


• The answers to these two questions form the foundation of every one's worldview.

The nature of Man:

• Self awareness


• Deep search for meaning and purpose


• Sensitive to moral concerns


• Hungry for relationships


• Capable of doing evil

B. The cosmic battle within

• The battle within – Galatians 5:16-17


• Our sinful nature is in constant conflict with God's Spirit – Romans 7:15-25, Romans 6:12, Romans 8:5-14.
  
  The battle over Anthropology >> Truth (reality) vs. Lie (Illusion)
  
  “The Pernicious Lie” >> The lie which says things will be better if we do it our way instead of God's way. That we can get a better deal if we follow our own wisdom and desires than if we live life the way God said it should be lived.
  
  The Biblical view of man:
  His essence >> made in the image of God
  His Moral state >> dualistic
  His Need >> Redemption

II. Man’s Essence
Cataclysmic events have caused various states of man

A. States of man

• Mode 1: Innocent >> Result of creation (Genesis 1:27)
  - God created man in the image of God


• Mode 2: Fallen >> Adam and Eve decided they could get a better deal on their own than doing things God's way (Romans 5:12, Genesis 6:5)
  Hell – If man transitions over to the “death” state at this point, then the state he will go to is “Hell” (Revelation 20:15, Hebrew 9:27)

Descriptions of man in a fallen state: Evil, Dead, Blind, Deaf, Lost, Rebellious, Without hope, Haters of God, Desperately wicked, Children of the devil

• Mode 3: Redeemed >> Revelation 5:9
  Glorified – We will be raised in a new spiritual body >> we call it “being glorified” (1 Corinthians 15:42)

Descriptions of the new man: The redeemed, Saints, Priests, Called-out ones, People of God, A holy nation, Children of God, Sons of God, Beloved, Born from above

B. Dualistic or Monistic – Both flesh and spirit or purely material?

• Man still bears the “Image of God” in the fallen state


• We still carry and bear our sinful nature in our redeemed state


• We must live by the Spirit of God to avoid living in our sinful nature


• As believers, we are wrestling with this issue >> to live with our sinful nature (Romans 7:15, 18-20)


• his does not absolve us from responsibility

C. Naturalistic Philosophy Implications – No gods or purposive forces

• Corliss Lamont: Nothing exists out of the box


• Natural Man >> material beast


• We are “cause & effect machines” in the box Implications: No purpose beyond himself; No foundation for ethics; No Free will; No life after death; No ultimate meaning in life >> Dr. William Provine


• Paul Kurtz – The humanist alternative: “If man is a product of evolution, one species among others, in a universe without purpose, then man’s option is to live for himself.”
  Science >> looking for the answer in the box.


• Haeckel’s Embryos – Fabricated drawings to present evidence for evolution.


• Ingrid Newkirk (co-founder of PETA) –

animal rights activist: "A rat, is a pig is dog, is a boy”

Should we be more concerned about insects? - Activist, Pentti Linkola of the Finnish Green Party says he has more sympathy for threatened insect species than for children dying of hunger in Africa."

Clarence Darrow >> The purpose of Man – to wiggle in life: “The purpose of man is like the the purpose of the pollywog -- to wiggle along as far as he can without dying; or, to hang to life until death takes him.”

Should we be surprised by how so many people are checking out of life?

The leading cause of women showing up in the ER >> Suicide (for men in the UK, it’s second).

III. Man’s Moral State and Man’s Needs

A. Abraham Maslow – Hierarchy of Needs

• Man’s ultimate objective is:
  a. Self Actualization
  b. Getting in touch with your inner nature
  c. Do what your inner desires want you to do
  d. Follow your desires


• What a Pernicious lie!!!

B. Basically Good or sinful

• Depravity of Man


• Man’s propensity for evil


• Children are both the promise and the threat of the future.
  The self-proclaimed “BTK killer” He confessed in 2005 to serial killing

C. Carl Rogers: Influential American psychologist and among the founders of the humanistic approach to psychology.

• His quote: “I do not find that evil is inherent in human nature”

D. Scriptural Truth

• Put to death your earthly nature – Romans 8:13, Colossians 3:5-10


• If you live according to the sinful nature – you will die.


• Our inner desires will lead us to death.


• Self actualizing humanity is dangerous


• IMAGO DEO vs. IMAGO Goo


• RC Sproul's Comments (video)

IV. If evil is not inherent in man, then where does evil come from?

A. Abraham Maslow – “Sick people are made by a sick culture…”

• Christianity restricts and suppresses self-actualization


• Christians are the problem


• The one we serve is the problem

B. Carl Rogers – “…experience leads me to believe that it is cultural influences which are the major factor in our evil behaviors.”

• If man is instinctively good, and it doesn’t come from human nature, then where does evil come from?


• They don’t have the answers


• They don’t even have the ethical language

C. Social Institutions and authority structures are blamed for man’s evil actions

• We currently live in a culture of blame


• Victim mentality – If I am basically good, then anything bad that happens to me must be caused by someone or something outside of me. I will always find someone or something to blame for my troubles or situation.


• That is why today we see in our culture so many social and political activists


• This provides basis for understanding the battleground over social Institutions today

V. Why should “evil” bother someone with a secular worldview?

The question of evil is more difficult for them than us.

• It’s survival of the fittest world


• We are products of the “dog-eat-dog” world


• The mighty are responsible of destroying the weak

Social institutions are the bad guys for the secular world >> oppression with authority is the cause of evil.

Recommended reading >> Life at the Bottom: The Worldview that makes the underclass
By Theodore Dalrymple.

• Doing what you like is not always a virtue.


• "You don't need to find yourself. You need to lose yourself. You need to have something which transcends yourself, in order to make your life meaningful." - Theodore Dalrymple Video

Summary:
"We are the problem."
Evil, to put it plainly, comes from you and me - not from "civilization," "society," or the "chains and shackles of religion." Man made the unfortunate choice to violate his proper relationship with God - not because the devil forced him to do so, but because he freely elected, under the influence of temptation, to follow an analogous course of self-deification.

Economy already Stimualted - Sales rose in January

There are signs that the economy is already stabilizing before the Stimulus Package gets signed by the President. January Retail Sales Post biggest Increase in 14 months. Is this a glimmer of hope?

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

BBandT Capital Markets Retail Analyst, Andy Wolf says that in addition to increase of retail sales, gasoline, cars and car parts sales have also rebounded in the month of January.
The Super Markets, Dollar Stores, Mass Merchandisers and Big Buck Discounters are doing the best so far.

The American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009

Will a big-government, trillion dollar spending stimulus package raise the economy to a higher level of growth, or will it make it worse-off than it is today?

The "Read the Stimulus" website is an online tool designed to shine some light on the Congressional Prokfest.

Is spending money the solution to our problems?

Transition policy experts talk about President Obama's American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan -- why it's necessary and how it will work:

Dan Mitchell has a video from the Center for Freedom and Prosperity explaining the folly of Barack Obama’s stimulus plan:

In Summary:
Government cannot create jobs. It can only shift jobs from one part of the economy to the other.
Government can spend only what it has taxed or borrowed away from the public, it creates no new demand but merely redirects it. And getting money from Uncle Sam doesn't necessarily give anyone the incentive to work more, produce more or earn more income.

According to analysts, only 5 percent of the $819 billion measure will go towards highway, mass transit, and rail projects:

Stimulus, Illustrated Part I

Stimulus, Illustrated - Part II

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford on the new “savior-based economy”:

Timeline:
January 28th, 2009 - The House passed the $819 billion economic stimulus bill with no Republican support. The measure passed 244 to 188, with 11 Democrats and 177 Republicans voting against it. Only 12% of the bill has any actual stimulus value, and it comes too slowly to help. The rest is filled mostly with historical Democratic spending priorities for government like family planning, education spending, and poverty programs, which should have been handled through normal appropriations and not emergency economic stimulus spending, which it clearly is not.

February 9th, 2009 - The Stimulus cloture invoked a 61-36 vote, advancing toward passage in the Senate. Only three Republicans voted with Democratic majority: Senators Collins, Snowe and Spector joined the 58-member Democratic caucus to invoke cloture.

On February 13, 2009 at 2:24 p.m., the bill was passed by the House with 246 Yeas and 183 Nays. No Republicans in the House voted for the bill. At 10:48 p.m., the Senate passed the bill by a vote of 60-38, with all Democrats and Independents voting for the bill along with three Republicans.
The 1,071 page Conference Report with final handwritten provisions was made available to the public late Friday. Very few, if any, lawmakers read the final version before their vote was cast.

Hidden Provisions added that would not provide job creation or economic growth:

• $650 million for digital television converter box coupons
• $300 million for electric quasi-golf carts (NY Post)
• $1 billion for Amtrak, which hasn't been profitable in half a century (WSJ)
• $400 million for global warming research by NASA scientists (Real Clear Politics)
• $2.2 billion for carbon capture research
• $75 million for smoking cessation programs (MichelleMalkin)
• $335 million for the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases (WashingtonTimes)
• $20 billion to hasten depreciation and write-off for equipment
• $209 million for work on deferred maintenance at Agricultural Research Service facilities
• $245 million for maintaining and modernizing the IT system of the Farm Service Agency
• $1 billion for "Periodic Censuses and Programs"
• $140 million for "climate data modeling"
• $600 million to buy and lease government plug-in and alternative fuel vehicles
• $1.2 billion in grants to states for youth summer jobs programs and other activities
• $600 million for "preparations" for socialized medicine (Bloomberg, FoxNews video)
• $6 billion for energy efficiency projects on government buildings
• $4.4 billion allocation for "smart" technologies, which includes power monitors ("smart meters")
• $8 billion to construct high-speed rail lines (Associated Press)

Other Sources regarding the stmulus package proposal:

'Atlas Shrugged': From Fiction to Fact in 52 Years (Steve Moore - WSJ)

The Job-Destroying Stimulus Bill (The Club for Growth)

Buyers' Remorse?

One of the mothers who lost her son on the U.S.S. Cole, gave an interview on Fox News.
She declined the White House Invitation to meet with Obama. (She also, voted for him and says in the interview that she made a mistake in doing so). The President is planning to release the Cole bombing mastermind Al-Nashiri, Killing 17 American sailors.