Monday, June 18, 2012

Count it all Joy...

God in his sovereignty has allowed me to endure another trial regarding my tracheal stenosis. The last couple of surgeries with a particular surgeon has proven counterproductive and now I have recurring granulation tissue growth around the tube. I don't know what this ultimately means, but I must continue to press toward the mark for the prize...I will not lie and pretend I'm brave at all through this. I know what heaven has in store for me but I'm not comfortable with death. Dying in most circumstances is a laborious process. I pray that the Lord gives me grace to go through whatever I have to and glorify his name in the process. 

Monday, June 11, 2012

Dialogue with an atheist


Abu Hamid Al Ghazali developed an argument in the 9th century against traditional Greek philosophy that the universe is necessary (eternal). The kalam cosmological  argument began with the efforts of ancient Christian philosophers like John Philoponus of Alexandria to refute Aristotle's doctrine of the necessity of the universe. His argument is: 1. Whatever begins to exist has a cause. 2. the universe began to exist 3. the universe has a cause.

VigorousAtheist: You're #1 on that list has no basis in reality. There is no scientific explanation to how something "has a cause". Also, just because something has a cause, doesn't give you the right to plug in a "god" into the equation.
It's called the god of the gaps. It's where people like you find little unexplained mysteries in the universe and say "oh that HAS to be god".

Also, can you explain to me how god was created?

Response
you have objections to premise 1. (Premise 1: Whatever begins to exist has a cause.) So in your experience, anything can exist without a cause? Can you name them? Despite common knowledge and scientific evidence that everything has a cause, you choose to believe that premise 1 has "no basis in reality"? 

so you assume that atheism is true in that if atheism is true, then the universe has no explanation. The logical equivalent to that statement is if the universe has an explanation, then there is a God. 

There are abstract objects and concrete objects. Abstract objects have no effect on other objects such as mathematical entities like numbers and number sets. Concrete objects can cause effects in the world. 

The universe consists of all matter, energy, and time space reality. This is fact. It follows that if the universe has an explanation, then that cause must be an immaterial being outside of time/space reality.  There are 2 entities that fit that bill: an abstract object like a number. But numbers do not cause anything. The only explanation is an eternal transcendent mind which is what God is. 

Premise 1. says whatever begins to exist has a cause. God is eternal, outside of time and space, therefore has no cause.

Again, The big bang theory shows that the universe is expanding, therefore the universe had a beginning. And if the universe has a beginning, then the cause is God. 

It's not logical to state that the universe came from nothing. Why would nothingness be so discriminatory? Why doesn't anything else come from nothing? In the video, it is explaining that even if you had all the necessary environmental factors for a living cell, a living cell would not assemble. That's a compelling argument for an intelligent designer--God. 

When you come to this realization, we can go over how God has revealed himself in the Bible. God Bless!

VigorousAtheist:
‪Any supposed source of the universe would, by definition, be outside of space/time. This means that such a source, whatever it might be, is not a proper referent for the term "cause", since something must come *before* something else to be a cause of that something else. Put simply, causality is a time bound concept, so it cannot be applied outside of the universe. Thus, any question about the origin of the universe is not askable (the technical term is "nonsense'), much less answerable. Thus, you have not even asked a question, and in no way have you supported the idea of a deity.‬

Not having a cause does not require that something will remain random and acausal. It just describes that it starts that way, or rather that it's start is that way. You have no proof whatsoever that a GOD did this. You're only plugging a god into the equation.‬

You still have refused to answer the big question. If nothing can have a cause, or nothing can come from nothing, then WHERE DID GOD COME FROM.‬

‪"god is eternal, outside of time and space, therefor has no cause"‬

‪Wow. what a completely cowardly way out of the argument. If you can use this excuse for god, you can use the same excuse for the mysteries of the universe.‬

‪"if the universe has a beginning, then the cause is God"‬

‪Sorry but the OVERWHELMING majority of scientists believe this to be total nonsense. But i guess they're ALL wrong right?‬


‪"It's not logical to state that the universe came from nothing."‬

‪You really need to brush up on your scientific history. Not one modern scientist(who has any credibility) says that the universe came from nothing.‬
‪Bone up on your quantum physics, 'nothingness' does not exist in this universe, even space has a fabric. There's a good possibility that it cannot exist outside our universe. You are creating a god because of your anthropomorphic sense of incredulity. The universe and all the evidence it provides demonstrates that nature is perfectly capable of being self creating. snowflakes do not need a creator because they are the product of natural laws, so too is the universe.‬


‪And do you HONESTLY believe in the bible? You do know that the bible is FULL of fallacies right? Do i even have to list them right here?‬
‪You do know that the universe is BILLIONS of years old, which makes the story in the bible about creation impossible.‬
‪When are you going to open your eyes and realize that you were BRAINWASHED into believing a fairytale?‬

‪And what makes YOUR fairytale more likely or true than the THOUSANDS of others???‬

Response
Cause: 1. Noun A person or thing that gives rise to an action, phenomenon, or condition. God fits this description.

What i stated made sense. Stick  to the premises. You cannot refute any of them. 

Premise 1: Whatever begins to exist, has a cause. We understand this to be true in every day life. Your lunch comes from some plant/animal, Cars are made from specific components, etc. 

there are objects that exist necessarily, or have an uncaused existence, most notably, numbers. They're uncaused existence is part of their nature. We understand this to be true of God as well. He is eternal, always existed. However, numbers, ideas and other abstract objects cannot cause anything because that's what makes them abstract. So the most plausible explanation for the beginning of the universe is God. 

Premise 2: The universe began to exist. We understand this to be true from the big bang theory and evidence that the universe is expanding. This  is a scientific, observed fact. 

If the universe began to exist (which is true), then,
Premise 3: The universe has a cause. Since the universe consists of all matter, energy, time and space, then the cause must be a necessary (eternal) immaterial being outside of time and space. We understand  this to be God, who is necessary and uncaused. 

VigorousAtheist
Wow. you must have completely not read my message.
I clearly proved to you that "cause" does not refer to the universe. And even if it did, you can't plug your god into the equation with no proof whatsoever.


"Whatever begins to exist, has a cause"

Yes, in our UNIVERSE. So whatever happened before the universe does not equate to what you are talking about.


I advise you to read this very carefully-

"An objection against the theist implication of the proposition is that even if one accepts the argument as a proof of a First Cause, it does not identify that First Cause with God. The argument does not go on to ascribe to the First Cause some of the basic attributes commonly associated with, for instance, a theistic God, such as immanence or omnibenevolence. Rather, it simply argues that a First Cause (e.g. the Big Bang, God, or an unarticulated First Cause) must exist.[16] It might be argued, however, that the Big Bang is not an acceptable first cause as the event clearly began and is quite finite. Hence the first premise in both formulations above seems to exclude this conclusion as a possibility. Furthermore, even if one chooses to accept God as the First Cause, there is an argument that God's continued interaction with the Universe is not required. This is the foundation for beliefs such as deism that accept that a god created the Universe, but then ceased to have any further interaction with it."

"We understand this to be true of God as well. He is eternal, always existed."

Yeah cause you read it in a book. Sorry but biblical "science" doesn't even hold a candle to real world science, which coincidentally disproves it.


And again, you're misconstruing what "exist" means. At least you got off of the bandwagon of "the universe came from nothing".

Listen to what you're saying. Your trying to find mysteries in the universe(to only fail) and then stepping back and saying that god himself doesn't need an explanation. It's an extremely childish argument.
You have refused to address my other points like the fact that the bible is FULL of fallacies, lies, murder, rape, etc etc. Or the fact that 93% of scientists don't believe in god. Or the fact that atheists have a higher average IQ than religious fanatics. Doesn't that last one tell you something? Doesn't that show how brainwashed you truly are?

Response
So you're saying that only things within the universe can be caused. This is a logical fallacy in which you use certain laws of metaphysics for the universe but then change views to object to any causality of the universe. Premise 1 is not only a law of nature like gravity that only applies to the universe, but it is a metaphysical law that applies to all being, all reality. 

You use this same logical fallacy in your objection to the Bible. You say that the Bible cannot be true because it speaks of violence, rape and murder, yet you object to any evidence I bring up from the Bible. You are not being logically consistent.

I brought up the fact that the universe cannot come from nothing because that is effectively what you're saying if the universe has no causality which is absurd. 

You cannot get away from these premises. The more you try, it shows that you are simply deluding yourself from the truth. Albert Camus, Bertrand Russell, Nietzsche,  and Sartre have also stated life is absurd if there is no God. Sartre has no basis making marxism his purpose in life because it's not consistent with the idea that there is no purpose without God. It's self delusional. 

There will always be atheists and I cannot convince anyone to come to any spiritual understanding. Paul, guided by the Holy Spirit puts it well when he says, "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know [them], because they are spiritually discerned." It doesn't matter how much evidence one can present, personal knowledge of God is God given. I still pray Anthony Flew, who now recognizes there is a God, to come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. I will pray for you too.

Take care. 



When I find that a person is running from a straight forward argument it's obvious they are not interested in genuine dialogue. They are arguing for the sake of arguing and it's at this point I can shake the dust off and move on. One day, we will all stand before our creator and take an account for our response to how God has revealed himself. Many will have no excuse for rejecting Jesus.

Thursday, June 7, 2012

A call to Pray

A couple of weeks ago, I took a few days off the internet to seek the Lord. I felt led to read the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah is an old testament prophet that warns Israel and Judah of God's impending judgement  for their disobedience to Him. All throughout my reading, I kept  thinking, "he's speaking of us. God is going to seriously judge the U.S.!"


It is no secret that this country has seen a decline, from academic achievement to economic prosperity. The most drastic change has been decline of morals. Assault of the elderly has become common. Mass shootings are more prevalent in this decade. Sex outside of marriage is at an all time high. What's worse is that the music and film industry encourages much of this behavior. Abortion makes it easy to avoid the consequences of sex. States are changing the institution of marriage to include same-sex couples. This was once a huge issue for me as a lesbian. But I found the absolute truth in Jesus Christ and had to acknowledge that there were things in my life that didn't please God.


Our fleshly desires are often a reflection of our sin nature. Sex can be a wonderful expression of love and help strengthen commitment and encourage procreation. Since the fall of man, our sexuality has gone awry to pleasure ourselves. Our lust for food has us obese with cardiac trouble. Seeking after physical and psychological anesthetizing has left us plagued with drug and alcohol addiction. We constantly seek to indulge our flesh in some way and really, it's a sign that we are unfulfilled.


Jesus speaks much about this when he says, "if any man will come after me, let him deny himself, pick up his cross and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" "Don't worry about what you will wear or what you will eat. Seek first the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added to you." "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil..." "Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word of God." "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."


I'm not saying that we shouldn't enjoy things like food or fashion, but we need to check ourselves in our motives and goals. The void in our soul that we seek to fill with various things is a missing relationship with God. God wanted to reconcile us to himself so much, He had his son Jesus enter into this world to suffer the penalty for our sins. He has revealed Himself in the person of Jesus Christ and has given us historically reliable, consistent testimony of His character in the Bible.


Never before has the truth of the Bible been so evident than with our current events! Nations rising against Israel, unprecedented natural disasters, and unlikely alliances forming just as the Bible predicted. I recently listened to a messianic rabbi named Jonathan Cahn foretell fulfilled prophecy in Isaiah 9:10 regarding 9/11. He says God has allowed this attack to show he has removed his divine protection from America. Now I have my reservations that this country was indeed founded as a Christian nation, but I do agree that God was in the midst here as pilgrim Christians came, fleeing religious persecution from Europe. Many settlers here did put their trust in the Lord and center their lives around His Word. Unfortunately, many now are denying God and living carnally, even much of the Church! Just as Israel faced God's judgment for her idolatry, so America is facing the same same fate. I don't think it was any coincidence that I thought what I did reading Jeremiah, as I hear many Christians saying similar things. My pastor was led to give many of us "Invasion of Wales by the Spirit" by James Stewart. It's a short account of the revival in Wales in 1904-1905. Through many years of prayer, the Holy Spirit came down mightily to save the lost and move people towards confession and intercession. 


Brethren: we need to seek the Lord and pray for revival in this country. We can do nothing without the Holy Spirit. Read Psalm 80, Isaiah 63:15-64:12, Daniel 9:2-21, Nehemiah 1 for biblical accounts of these supplications. Be the woman clamoring for justice to the judge and continuously pray! Be thankful for God's mercy in all His provisions and intercede for lost souls! Pray for the leadership in this country, mourn and confess your sins to the Lord! Don't worry if you feel you don't pray eloquently enough. Don't worry if you spend time in silence. Just pour your heart out to Him who has redeemed you. Remember the time when your eyes opened, when you realized that you needed saving and you felt the love of God shed abroad in your heart. Pray earnestly for that love again, for it to be manifest in your life and for others to receive it. Pray for for our Brethren abroad and remember those in bonds. May our Lord Jesus snatch his bride soon!