Angels announced it. Luke 2:11
Jesus corroborated it. John 3:17
Samaritans saw it. John 4:42
Paul explained it. Acts 13:23
Timothy taught it. 1 Timothy 4:10
And John joins in. 1 John 4:14
Jesus is Savior of the world.
This means a lot and has a lot of implications. But just one thing we know from this: our problems are bigger than we think.
We look out at the world and see problems. In our efforts we want to fix them. We attack them intellectually with education. We attack them spiritually with meditation. We attack the behavior with therapy. We attack social issues with social structures. And while these efforts are good we still see problems. It doesn't ultimately work because we do not just have a problem with our minds, or our actions, or our social structures. We have a deep corruption through and through. Our problem(s) is(are) big enough that only God himself must fix them. Our corruption is deep enough that his Son had to die to save and rescue us. He is the Savior of the world because the worlds problems were so big and so thorough that we needed him.
Only God can save us. And he has and he will. A changing of the human heart. A recreation of this world. A living Hope in a Living Father, who sent a (re)living Savior.
Thank you Father. Thank you Jesus. And thank you Spirit. You planned redemption when we accepted corruption. You recreated what we broke. Thank you.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Dawkins v. Lennox
So I watched another video Dan provided to me. It was a debate between Richard Dawkins, the famous Atheist, and John Lennox, a really intelligent Christian.
You can find the link here.
Now Dan I have to warn you, I watched this video a while ago (2 weeks or so), took notes and then let my notes stare at me for a bit. So although this isn't fresh in my mind, I am drawing from notes taken for a bit ago.
This response will be a bit less organized and extensive. But here goes:
There are a few common threads throughout the debate that I want to key on: 1) Faith is blind, 2) Atheism has sight, and 3) Worship is at the heart.
1) FAITH IS BLIND
According to Dawkins, faith is by definition blind and evidence-less. Faith is removing yourself from any source of observation and accepting certain truths blindly and militantly. Therefore it naturally leads people to misunderstandings, half truths, and misconceptions. It is literally a blind guide happily leading humanity to a cliff of stupidity and utter ignorance. According to Dawkins, this is the essence of faith.
Furthermore, because faith is blind, it causes all who have faith to be blind with it. This blindness leads to violence. Religion and faith logically lead to violence and oppression.
Notice how I didn't give a lot of arguments for these statements, because Dawkins gives very little argument to his claims (though he does actually give reason for his scientific claims). So the man that argues faith is by nature without evidence does not give much evidence for that statement (ironic no?). Besides everyone has faith in something. Dawkins admits his faith in eternal material.
Now Dan, I believe that the faith that Jesus teaches and the Bible claims is not a blind, violent guide. One story that best retorts the claims of Dawkins is Thomas the Doubter in John 20.
Thomas doubted not out of blindness, but out of disillusionment and sadness. Remember after Jesus rose from the dead, he appeared to many people, but Thomas missed these events. And when they tell him about it, he says, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it."
This is not the cry of a man who never believed, but of a man who was saying, fool me once shame on you, fool me twice...
He had felt duped, he had been hurt. And when Jesus comes to him, look what he does, look how he responds. He doesn't appear in blazing glory, smiting Thomas. No he appears, and says believe, there is reason to believe. Hope, because there is reason to hope. He says, "Peace be with you." Jesus takes the man who had been burned and gives him a reason and hope for a renewed faith.
This is a very different picture than what Dawkins provides, but it is the picture of Jesus.
The Bible does show one interesting picture. In Matthew 11:25-26 (and in other parts of the Bible as well), God hides himself from unrepentant, self-righteous persons. One of the pictures of God is that he is close to the humble and invisible to the proud. A heart that is proud cannot see God because he shows himself to those who know they need him. Faith might be blind to some because of a proud heart (you see how there are deeper issues than just intellectual arguments because life covers all areas, not just the mind).
2) ATHEISM HAS SIGHT
Another major theme with Dawkins is that the empirical method (and therefore atheism) gives us sight.
First to appreciate the empirical method, one must understand its limits. The empirical method relies on cause and effect. If at one point A leads to B, which then becomes C, I am willing to bet $10 that 10 minutes from now A will lead to B, then C. That is a grossly simplified form of the empirical method.
However, this method does not give us all knowledge. It cannot tell us about history. It cannot tell us about morals. It cannot penetrate our souls because we are not machines. Science does great things and it is a powerful tool, but science (Empirical Method) can prove (or disprove) Jesus' miracles, just as much as it can prove or disprove Napoleon's existence. Those kinds of truths cannot be tested by science.
Second, atheism (or evolutionary materialist philosophy) does not give grounds for science. Lennox keys in on this during the debate. Evolution (which as Dawkins says lead him to Atheism) teaches that circumstances, chance, and chaos lead to life. Evolution teaches that a certain randomness leads to order. But that is much like cutting off the branch you are sitting on. Science demands a logical, cause and effect universe. Science teaches that if I give you and Advil your headache will go away. Randomness teaches that if I gave you an Advil one day your headache will go away, the next day I give you another and butterflies come out of your ears.
You cannot have it both ways. Either there is order from before and in the foundation or there is not.
3) Finally, WORSHIP IS AT THE HEART
Dawkins makes an incredible statement in the debate. He says that all humans throughout all of history have a "natural inclination to worship something."
Dawkins then claims to worship nature, to fill that void in his heart with natural knowledge. Now I don't know his heart, but I would wonder if he is worshiping something else.
Dawkins rather appears to worship not nature (he is not in Wicca), but the god of the human mind in the temple of the enlightenment. He rightly doesn't claim to worship nothing, for it is in all of man's heart to worship. But he seems to worship the mind of man. And if and when you worship your mind or man's intellect, you find and form your identity in what you know, how much you know, and how much more you know than others.
He is worshiping at the wrong temple.
Instead what the Bible teaches us is that Jesus came to earth. When he was here, even though he was smarter than everyone else, and even though he had all the knowledge in the world (because he created it), he took on the flesh of a poor uneducated carpenter. And not only that, but when they brought him and accused him before a council, he remained silent (or dumb if you will). He refused to show his intelligence. He didn't do this because he was stupid or powerless, but because of his love for us. He became silent so that we might know the wisdom of God. He became uneducated that our minds might be renewed with truth and grace.
The first step towards the gospel is to admit that you don't have the power within you and that you don't have all the answers to save yourself. The first step is admitting your foolishness and kneeling before the one who became foolish for your sake and the sake of the world (including Dawkins). The world teaches us that if we admit our simplicity we become more stupid. But the Gospel teaches that when we admit our foolishness, we don't become weak, but are empowered, we don't become ignorant, but wise, we don't become trapped by stupidity, but freed by the truth. And by doing so, we can admit our foolishness, but at the same time, point to our wisdom (Jesus). Do you see how freeing that is? It is not an easy answer or cop-out. It is truth and wisdom.
You can find the link here.
Now Dan I have to warn you, I watched this video a while ago (2 weeks or so), took notes and then let my notes stare at me for a bit. So although this isn't fresh in my mind, I am drawing from notes taken for a bit ago.
This response will be a bit less organized and extensive. But here goes:
There are a few common threads throughout the debate that I want to key on: 1) Faith is blind, 2) Atheism has sight, and 3) Worship is at the heart.
1) FAITH IS BLIND
According to Dawkins, faith is by definition blind and evidence-less. Faith is removing yourself from any source of observation and accepting certain truths blindly and militantly. Therefore it naturally leads people to misunderstandings, half truths, and misconceptions. It is literally a blind guide happily leading humanity to a cliff of stupidity and utter ignorance. According to Dawkins, this is the essence of faith.
Furthermore, because faith is blind, it causes all who have faith to be blind with it. This blindness leads to violence. Religion and faith logically lead to violence and oppression.
Notice how I didn't give a lot of arguments for these statements, because Dawkins gives very little argument to his claims (though he does actually give reason for his scientific claims). So the man that argues faith is by nature without evidence does not give much evidence for that statement (ironic no?). Besides everyone has faith in something. Dawkins admits his faith in eternal material.
Now Dan, I believe that the faith that Jesus teaches and the Bible claims is not a blind, violent guide. One story that best retorts the claims of Dawkins is Thomas the Doubter in John 20.
Thomas doubted not out of blindness, but out of disillusionment and sadness. Remember after Jesus rose from the dead, he appeared to many people, but Thomas missed these events. And when they tell him about it, he says, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it."
This is not the cry of a man who never believed, but of a man who was saying, fool me once shame on you, fool me twice...
He had felt duped, he had been hurt. And when Jesus comes to him, look what he does, look how he responds. He doesn't appear in blazing glory, smiting Thomas. No he appears, and says believe, there is reason to believe. Hope, because there is reason to hope. He says, "Peace be with you." Jesus takes the man who had been burned and gives him a reason and hope for a renewed faith.
This is a very different picture than what Dawkins provides, but it is the picture of Jesus.
The Bible does show one interesting picture. In Matthew 11:25-26 (and in other parts of the Bible as well), God hides himself from unrepentant, self-righteous persons. One of the pictures of God is that he is close to the humble and invisible to the proud. A heart that is proud cannot see God because he shows himself to those who know they need him. Faith might be blind to some because of a proud heart (you see how there are deeper issues than just intellectual arguments because life covers all areas, not just the mind).
2) ATHEISM HAS SIGHT
Another major theme with Dawkins is that the empirical method (and therefore atheism) gives us sight.
First to appreciate the empirical method, one must understand its limits. The empirical method relies on cause and effect. If at one point A leads to B, which then becomes C, I am willing to bet $10 that 10 minutes from now A will lead to B, then C. That is a grossly simplified form of the empirical method.
However, this method does not give us all knowledge. It cannot tell us about history. It cannot tell us about morals. It cannot penetrate our souls because we are not machines. Science does great things and it is a powerful tool, but science (Empirical Method) can prove (or disprove) Jesus' miracles, just as much as it can prove or disprove Napoleon's existence. Those kinds of truths cannot be tested by science.
Second, atheism (or evolutionary materialist philosophy) does not give grounds for science. Lennox keys in on this during the debate. Evolution (which as Dawkins says lead him to Atheism) teaches that circumstances, chance, and chaos lead to life. Evolution teaches that a certain randomness leads to order. But that is much like cutting off the branch you are sitting on. Science demands a logical, cause and effect universe. Science teaches that if I give you and Advil your headache will go away. Randomness teaches that if I gave you an Advil one day your headache will go away, the next day I give you another and butterflies come out of your ears.
You cannot have it both ways. Either there is order from before and in the foundation or there is not.
3) Finally, WORSHIP IS AT THE HEART
Dawkins makes an incredible statement in the debate. He says that all humans throughout all of history have a "natural inclination to worship something."
Dawkins then claims to worship nature, to fill that void in his heart with natural knowledge. Now I don't know his heart, but I would wonder if he is worshiping something else.
Dawkins rather appears to worship not nature (he is not in Wicca), but the god of the human mind in the temple of the enlightenment. He rightly doesn't claim to worship nothing, for it is in all of man's heart to worship. But he seems to worship the mind of man. And if and when you worship your mind or man's intellect, you find and form your identity in what you know, how much you know, and how much more you know than others.
He is worshiping at the wrong temple.
Instead what the Bible teaches us is that Jesus came to earth. When he was here, even though he was smarter than everyone else, and even though he had all the knowledge in the world (because he created it), he took on the flesh of a poor uneducated carpenter. And not only that, but when they brought him and accused him before a council, he remained silent (or dumb if you will). He refused to show his intelligence. He didn't do this because he was stupid or powerless, but because of his love for us. He became silent so that we might know the wisdom of God. He became uneducated that our minds might be renewed with truth and grace.
The first step towards the gospel is to admit that you don't have the power within you and that you don't have all the answers to save yourself. The first step is admitting your foolishness and kneeling before the one who became foolish for your sake and the sake of the world (including Dawkins). The world teaches us that if we admit our simplicity we become more stupid. But the Gospel teaches that when we admit our foolishness, we don't become weak, but are empowered, we don't become ignorant, but wise, we don't become trapped by stupidity, but freed by the truth. And by doing so, we can admit our foolishness, but at the same time, point to our wisdom (Jesus). Do you see how freeing that is? It is not an easy answer or cop-out. It is truth and wisdom.
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