12

12 days until I see Summer again!

Good stuff! (I don't have enough faith to be an atheist.)

I'm still working my way through this book cover to cover... and dang, it's good!  The reasoning the authors use is excellent, and it is very professional... yet the language is still very easy to understand.

Here's the conclusion paragraph to the 7th chapter, entitled "Mother Teresa vs. Hitler" (which talks about the existence of the Moral Law, and therefore the existence of a moral law giver):

"In the end, atheism cannot justify why anything is morally right or wrong.  It cannot guarantee human rights or ultimate justice in the universe.  To be an atheist--a consistent atheist--you have to believe that there is nothing really wrong with murder, rape, genocide, otrture, or any other heinous act.  By faith, you have to believe there is no moral difference between a murderer and a missionary, a teacher and a terrorist, or Mother Teresa and Hitler.  Or, by faith, you have to believe that real moral principles arose from nothing.  Since such beliefs are clearly unreasonable, we don't have enough faith to be atheists."

Good stuff!

Proof that Jesus Christ is God and that He Rose from the Dead

Note:  Originally written for my BSBI Apologetics class.  I'm teaching a Sunday school tomorrow on the same topic.

Proof that Jesus Christ is God and that He Rose from the Dead

By Gregory Heil

            I believe that there is incredible proof for the fact that Jesus Christ claimed He is God, that He truly is God, and that He rose from the dead.  Like the reliability of the New Testament documents, the entirety of the Christian faith relies on this point.  But don’t take my word for it, read on and look at the evidence.

            Some atheists put forth the opinion that Jesus Christ was a liar.  They claim that He knew that He truly wasn’t God, and that He was just trying to deceive people into believing him.  This theory does not “hold water.”  The atheists who present this opinion have a completely incorrect psychological profile for Jesus.  Jesus continuously expressed how important truth is.  Jesus was selfless, constantly exhibiting the characteristics of a servant.    There is no way that He would tell an untruth for his own personal gain!  Even if he did lie for his own personal gain, he did not end up gaining anything!  He was crucified on a cross!  Where is the gain in that? 

            Yet other atheists say that Jesus did not know that he was not God.  These people claim that Jesus truly thought He was God, but that He had an extreme divinity complex.  But yet again, that is a totally incorrect psychological profile of who Christ was.  A person with a divinity complex is egotistical, narcissistic, boring, and predictable; yet none of those characteristics apply to Jesus!  In addition, we tend to feel superior to crazy people.  It would be impossible for a crazy person to have become as influential as Jesus Christ became. 

            There are other groups of people, or maybe it is even the same group, that claim that Jesus never really claimed to be God.  Their main argument is that legends had arisen about Christ, and that some of these were inserted into the text of scripture as it was written.  Well, this was refuted in my previous paper, entitled “How I Know the New Testament Documents Are Reliable.”  Concisely restated the evidence against is this:  the New Testament was written too close to the time when Christ lived, and the writers could be trusted to be truthful.  For an expansion on this argument, please see “How I Know the New Testament Documents Are Reliable.”

            Now, assuming that you as an atheist saw reason and determined that Jesus was who He said He was, the next argument that you are likely to have is “Well, He never rose from the dead, so it is a moot point!”  A theory that you as an atheist might pose is the swoon theory:  that Jesus simply passed out, and then was revived in the cool tomb.  First off, Romans soldiers are professional killers.  They kill for a living, and they know what they’re doing.  Plus, if they make a mistake, they become the one getting killed.  As the Roman soldiers are trained killers, they stabbed Jesus through the heart with a spear to make sure He was dead.  There is no way that He could have survived that.  Next, He was embalmed by His friends.  If they had noticed any sign of life in Him, I am pretty sure they would not have continued to wrap him up. 

            Another theory that you atheists provide is the hallucination theory.  You present the idea that the people who “saw” Jesus after his death merely had a hallucination.  The main problem that I see with this argument is:  how could over 500 people all have the same hallucination?  That’s not how hallucinations work!  It is a solo adventure.  Plus, even if they all had hallucinated the same thing, the Pharisees could simply have produced his body from the tomb. 

            Yet another theory presented is that the women went to visit the wrong tomb.  Well then, just like in the last theory, the Pharisees could simply have produced his body from the correct tomb and disproved them.  Case solved.

            The last main skeptic theory is that of the mistaken identity.  This theory basically states that Jesus had a twin brother who had grown up elsewhere, and he decided to come back to Jerusalem right after the crucifixion of Jesus, and the disciples saw him and thought that he was Jesus.  James was one of the disciples and was Jesus’ brother, so he was also the brother of Jesus’ twin.  He would have known what was going on; there is no way he could have been deceived. 

            Some say that the disciples stole the body and fabricated the whole story.  Well, the disciples have the exact same non-motivations to lie as Jesus did.  Here is what the disciples got out of their “story:” torture, persecution, and excruciating death!  What is more, none of the 11 disciples confessed their misdeeds even in face of these horrible consequences.

            In conclusion, it is only logical to believe that Jesus is God and that He rose from the dead.  At first it may seem farfetched, but once the evidence is examined, it makes way more sense than any of the alternatives.

13

13 more days until I see Summer again!!!!! Yes, it is down to just two weeks!

Wal-Mart worker dies

This is absolutely ridiculous!  How in the world could a bunch of people trample a man to death, cause a pregnant woman to have a miscarriage, and injure several others ALL OVER STUPID JUNK!  "OO, I'm gonna save money on these toys for my kids..." Yeh, at the expense of someone's life!!  I am in shock.  

Currently Reading: "Know Why You Believe"

Know Why You Believe

by Paul E. Little

A concise, apologetics volume which Dave Brown (with some of my help) is teaching through in Sunday school.  If you want an apologetics book that is not very technical, that is brief, and is still pretty solid... this is it.

Happy Turkey Day!

Life is hard, and some things are hard and somewhat depressing, and yet I have SO many things to be thankful for! I lead an incredibly blessed life, in so many ways! I thank God for his many blessings!

Some of God's incredible blessings to me:
-His grace and mercy, and loving me enough to send His Son to die for me!
-Loving me even when I sin!
-For Summer :)
-For blessing me with a body capable of physical exercise and capable of enjoying sports.
-For blessing me with good eyesight.
-For a decently sharp and intelligent mind.
-For providing for my physical needs.
-And so many more things!

Thanksgiving Outreach!

Pictures from the final assembly and distribution of the thanksgiving baskets... those 39 families will all be enjoying their meals today!! Let's just hope that through this outreach, they can see the love of Christ!

View of the mountains and the Flathead Valley

Mountainbiking Yesterday

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Snow on The Big!

There is some snow up on The Big! And it is a sunny, crisp day here in the Flathead Valley! I may have to bundle up and try to get on my bike.

Driving Towards Somers

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