Category Apologetics
If none of the Bible can be read and understood as it is written, then it cannot be understood at all, and this is impossible. Only if the Bible means what it says, can it be understood, known, and useful for salvation and living a godly life, as Paul and Peter assured their readers that it would.Read More
- Everything which has a beginning must have a capable and sufficient Cause.
- The First Cause, whatever it is, must be Self-Existent, or it must defy the known Natural Laws.
- A Self-Existent First Cause, by definition, defies natural laws; therefore the First Cause is necessarily Super-Natural.
- The self-existent First Cause, whatever it is, must be accepted by faith. There is no “proof” of any possible First Cause. (No other witnesses; no enduring, contemporaneous physical evidence.)
- Evidence exists that points to a probable First Cause.
- The true First Cause will be reasonably supported by the evidence.
- The evidence available to all parties is the same. The framework within which it is interpreted (worldview) is what differs.
- Valid interpretation must satisfy “is”, rather than “sup...
The Law of Non-contradiction:
Two opposing things cannot both be correct simultaneously.
One question cannot correctly elicit two opposing answers at the same time under the same circumstances.
Truth:
Truth, by definition, is not subjective. It does not change, or cease.
A false beginning (premise) cannot be used to justify a conclusion.
Relativism:
Invocation of moral law requires a moral law setter. “Every man for himself” invalidates any objection to any individual’s behaviour based on wrongness.
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Kurt Godel presented a theory of mathematics that demonstrates that anything that can be measured, or contained, cannot be dependent upon itself for explanation or existence. The excerpts below from various sources give a summary of the implications of his theorem; for greater detail, the articles and book listed at the end are strongly recommended. (These statements were pulled from several sources; they are not my own material, other than the section on “Implications”)
“Any effectively generated theory capable of expressing elementary arithmetic cannot be both consistent and complete. In particular, for any consistent, effectively generated formal theory that proves certain basic arithmetic truths, there is an arithmetical statement that is true, but not provable in the theory.”
- Ar...
First Law of Thermodynamics:
Matter and energy are relative. In a closed system, neither are created or lost. (A closed system is isolated from outside influence) “… the fundamental principle of physics that the total energy of an isolated system is constant despite internal changes”; energy changes form but does not increase or decrease qty.
ΔU = Q – W, where U = change in internal energy, Q = heat added to the system, and W = Work done by the system.
Second Law of Thermodynamics:
In the absence of outside influence, everything falls into a state of increasing disorder (entropy; biodegradation, etc.)
Third Law of Thermodynamics:
The entropy of a pure perfect crystal is zero at zero degrees Kelvin...
Read MoreScience – “knowledge”
Scientific Method requires: observation, testability, repeatability, falsifiability.
Steady State Theory – the universe has neither beginning nor end; it has always existed and will continue to exist forever (Sir Fred Hoyle)
Uniformitarianism – also called “gradualism” – slow and gradual, natural processes have occurred in the same manner and at the same rate throughout history. Is generally invoked to explain geological characteristics such as rock layers, erosion, sedimentary build-up, etc.)
Catastrophism – sudden, traumatic events are responsible for some or all major geological characteristics
Evolution – change of organisms into completely different organisms over time
Natural Selection – process by which organisms better suited to their envir...
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God has given us unqualified, objective, eternal truth in the Bible. His Word is truth (John 17:17) We can know what it says and what it means, and what God wants us to know by it.Read More
EMERGENT CHURCH; EMERGING CHURCH; NEW SPIRITUALITY; CONTEMPLATIVE SPIRITUALITY
Emergent church is blend of Christian vocabulary with New Age spirituality via RC mysticism.
Many well-known and popular writers, teachers, speakers, promoting emergence, or the “new spirituality” as they have started calling it.
Emergence, emergent church, new spirituality IS NOT Christian, despite having co-opted Christian vocabulary and basing teachings on their interpretation of the Bible.
“God” began personal, singular, and non-Trinitarian, but many promote a “God” that, when you pay attention, is not necessarily personal, having more fully adopted the New Age concept of “God”.
Jesus Christ is NOT God, but few of them come right out and say so directly...
Read MoreDoes it matter what we believe about the nature of God? Why or why not? Can someone be saved while believing that God is other than what God is? (ie: not believing that Jesus is God, believing that the Holy Spirit is merely the divine breath of God)
Two strands for evaluation:
What does the Bible say?
What does the material universe indicate or necessitate concerning the nature of the God which created?
God is either:
| An abstract force or ‘intelligence’ | A personal quantity or entity |
| Non-living or a “concept” | Living |
| Pervades the universe (pantheism) | A particular single or multiple entity |
| In all things (panentheism) | Independent of all other things |
| Everything is “god” | Only one is God |
The Biblical God is either:
| One Being presented in different roles (modalism: O... |
As a record of death, fossils only appear after organisms began to die; what may have happened prior to death of living things must be determined from sources outside of the fossil record. Read More