Does Atheism Have a Future?

From Bart Ehrman's blog (2013) we read this ...

 

I apparently threw a few people for a loop yesterday when I referred to myself as an atheist. ... When I became an agnostic - 17 or 18 years ago? ... I thought that “agnosticism” and “atheism” were two *degrees* of basically the same thing. ...  According to this idea, an agnostic is someone who says that s/he does not *know* whether God exists, and an atheist is someone who makes a definitive statement that God does *not* exist.  Agnostics don’t know and atheists are sure.

 

This video responding to Ehrman's views is excellent.  I have replied to Ehrman's work here and here.  Some atheists go with the tag "brights," but what does the Real Creator and Author of Truth say?  "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding.  To him belongs eternal praise." (Ps. 111:10).  Does atheism have a future?  I think not:

 

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place

    and gave him the name that is above every name,

that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,

    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,

    to the glory of God the Father. (Phil. 2:9-11)

 

I have a few questions for my atheist friends:

 

• Why do we yearn for Utopia?
• If life is hopeless, is suicide an option?
• Did I create History?
• Am I the Author of the Universe?
• Have you read the Bible?
• What if you're wrong?

 

What does the non-Theist have to say?  Here are the chapters from the book Atheist Universe by David Mills:

This book has an endorsement from Richard Dawkins and a foreword from Dorion Sagan.  Should we follow our emotions blindly?  Isaac Asimov said, “Emotionally I am an atheist.  I don’t have the evidence to prove that God doesn’t exist, but I so strongly suspect he doesn’t that I don’t want to waste my time.”  But what about the Big Bang?  Sir Hermann Bondi (d. 2005), mathematician and astronomer, said, “… theories of the origin of the Universe have been disproved by present day empirical evidence as have various theories of the origin of the Solar System.”  One specific problem for the Big Bang is known as the "horizon problem" - the universe is not old enough for the heat to be so evenly distributed in the cosmos based on their assumptions. 

 

Check out our take on Hell here.  Eric Metaxas has written a profound book on miracles.  Metaxas hosts Socrates in the City where Malcolm Gladwell, Dick Cavett, N.T.  Wright and Peter Hitchens have been guests.  Concerning the Fundamentals of the Faith, see here.  To keep up with Intelligent Design, be sure to follow EvolutionNews.org and enjoy the info.  As for America's Christian Heritage, I would point to this book by Gary DeMar.  Also, the work of Wallbuilders is helpful.  I have visited the church that President Washington was a part of.  Consider the truth, turn from atheism and go to Jesus.  Here's a summary of the Good News (Gospel).  Check out this helpful apologetic for Jesus, God and the Bible.

 

The law from your mouth is more precious to me

than thousands of pieces of silver and gold. (Ps. 119:72)

 

#MichaelShermer #MalcolmGladwell #DickCavett #NTWright #PeterHitchens #Atheism #God #BigBang #Agnostic #Asimov #Jesus #Gospel #BartEhrman #Apologetics

Did Fido (K9) Die B4 the Fall (G3)?

You may have caught the debate between Marek Kizer and Scarlett Clay on Animal death before the Fall (Gen. 3) on The Gospel Truth show. 

Kizer is a Southern Baptist teenager interested in theology, apologetics and philosophy of religion.  Props to Marek for mentioning Aquinas.  Clay is an educator, artist, and Christian apologist (Ratio Christi).  She knows  English, Art History and enjoys public speaking.  Clay has a Master’s Degree in Christian Apologetics from Biola (formerly Bible Institute Of Los Angeles) and is  currently working on an M.Div. from The Southern Baptist Seminary (Louisville).  Consider Gen. 1:28,

 

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.  Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

 

Kizer takes this as implying animal death.  Did King David kill all his subjects?  Conservation, invention, exploration, technology and stewardship are implied by this passage - not assassinating Fido.  Calvin's comment on Gen. 1:28 is thought provoking:

 

Some infer, from this passage that men were content with herbs and fruits until the deluge, and that it was even unlawful for them to eat flesh.  And this seems the more probable, because God confines, in some way, the food of mankind within certain limits.  Then after the deluge, he expressly grants them the use of flesh.  These reasons, however are not sufficiently strong: for it may be adduced on the opposite side, that the first men offered sacrifices from their flocks.  This, moreover, is the law of sacrificing rightly, not to offer unto God anything except what he has granted to our use.  Lastly men were clothed in skins; therefore it was lawful for them to kill animals.

When God clothed Adam and Eve (Gen. 3:21) that was after the Fall, so was Abel's animal sacrifice (Gen. 4:4).  The permission to eat wagyu steaks was not given until after Noah landed atop Mt. Ararat:

 

Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth.  The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands.  Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything." (Gen. 9:1-3)

 

So, before the Flood, you and the animals may eat plants and after the Deluge  you can eat frogs per God's command (Gen. 1:29,30).  Did everyone follow this?  No.  Kizer seems unaware of historic Christian views on the fossil record that I summarized in a prior post (see 13:25 mark of the debate):

 

Tertullian pointed to fossils found on mountains as evidence of the Flood.   Augustine saw fossils as the remains of creatures living before the Flood.  Martin Luther referred to fossils as being the result of the Deluge in his commentary on Genesis.  Agostino Scilla published a work in 1670 on fossils which he illustrated himself which pointed to the Flood as their cause.  Colin Stearn and Robert Carroll, authors of a mainstream paleontology text, freely admit that by the middle of the eighteenth century, “Most [naturalists] attributed them [the fossils] to animals destroyed in the Biblical flood…”

 

Can you point to a single published work that holds to Creation In Six Days (#CISD, 6 real days, roughly 24 hours), a devastating Global Flood and animal death before Adam?  Founders Ministries (aka Southern Baptist Founders Conference) favors the 1689 confession which states:

 

In the beginning God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit was pleased to create or make the world and all things in it, both visible and invisible, in a six-day period, and all very good.  He did this to manifest the glory of his eternal power, wisdom, and goodness.

 

Kizer discounts Clay's excellent argument from an article on the Answers in Genesis site:

 

Many believe the earth is millions of years old, holding to a secular geological timescale, which necessarily includes millions of years of animals suffering, dying, and rotting prior to the fall in the Garden of Eden. ... God had declared his creation to be “very good” (Genesis 1:31) before the fall.  A putrefying animal carcass covered in flies and exuding an abhorrent odor reminds us of the consequences of sin and the horror of rebellion against our Creator.  There’s nothing good about death.

 

Jesus said this in his rebuke against the Pharisees ("woe to you"), "Therefore this generation will be held responsible for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the beginning of the world, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. ..." (Lk. 11:50,51).  If the beginning of Earth (not just mankind) and Abel are connected, then our home is young.  How can Death-before-Adam fit with a young earth?

 

Our latest book Is a Young Earth Possible? argues for a youthful world from history and science.  Please check out our website: TotalYouth.us >> "for Total truth, support earth's Youth."

 

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;

    from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.

The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him -

    the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding ...

The wolf will live with the lamb,

    the leopard will lie down with the goat,

the calf and the lion and the yearling together;

    and a little child will lead them.

The cow will feed with the bear,

    their young will lie down together,

    and the lion will eat straw like the ox.

The infant will play near the cobra’s den,

    and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest.

They will neither harm nor destroy

    on all my holy mountain,

for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord

    as the waters cover the sea. (Is. 11:1,2,6-9)

 

Does that sound like animal death was "very good" as stated at the end of Creation Week (Gen. 1:31)?

 

#AnimalDeath #Adam #Fall #Wagyu #MarekKizer #ScarlettClay #TrueTruth  #Genesis #Calvin #1689 #NDB4A #YoungEarthPossible #ChurchHistory #fossils #Abel #Noah #Flood #CISD

Broken Fools

I know that you’re broken, broken like me

Maybe that makes me a “fool”

God will judge us, both you and me

I’m just speakin’ the truth

Let’s light it up – a worship party!

Some trust in fame and wealth

The New York Times and tiny rooms

Great is the Lord, his salvation won’t wear off

Praise Him ye peoples!

Let’s all be friends

I’ve been touched by grace

And God’s Not Dead

Stars shout for joy, though they’re not pure

God’s judgment’s right, of that I’m sure

Praise Him all creation, forests and seas!

All false gods and idols will fry

We’re all broken souls floating by

Sing a Love Song to Him who knows Why

He’ll fix your broken pieces one at a time

I know that you’re broken, broken like me

  -- ice-j  2/2/21 AD

#LovelyTheBand #ApologetixFans #ChristianParody #Broken #Ps_96 #GodsNotDead #Pomes #NYT

Awakeness and the Noachian Revolution

The Welfare State has destroyed the Urban family and inner cities.  Free markets and entrepreneurship lead to prosperity.  Hard work pays off:

 

For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: "If anyone will not work, neither let him eat."

2 Thes. 3:10

Lady Justice is usually blindfolded and holds a balanced scale.  Her scales represent the weighing of evidence.  Scripture places the criterion for virtue on the inner man:

 

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him.  For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

1 Sam. 16:7

 

We are all Noachians now.  We descend from Noah and ultimately our family tree goes back to Adam:

 

And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. …

Acts 17:26,27

In The Descent of Man (1871), Darwin taught that some people groups were less evolved than others.  So, why hasn’t the statue (above) in Shrewsbury, UK, been torn down.  Why hasn’t the ultra-radical mob destroyed and burned Down House, Darwin’s old abode.

 

Omniculturalism looks for the good, the true and the beautiful from all cultures in all times.  We all can appreciate the gift of human creativity from those born on the opposite side of the planet.  Consider, for example, the wonder of Mayan mathematics.  The Mayans were superb astronomers.

 

The Bible clearly preaches against the oppression of the weak by the rich and powerful:

 

Look!  The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you.  The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty.  You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence.  You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter.  You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you.

James 5:4-6

 

Here is an excellent analysis on the Extreme Justice trend in today’s culture.  Check out what happens when a philosophy prof takes today’s identity confusion to its logical conclusion.  Evergreen College melted down in 2017 due to this movement and led to numerous faculty resignations, a humongous collapse in enrollments, layoffs and budget cuts.

 

Why do you make me see iniquity,

    and why do you idly look at wrong?

Destruction and violence are before me;

    strife and contention arise.

So the law is paralyzed,

    and justice never goes forth.

For the wicked surround the righteous;

    so justice goes forth perverted.

Hab. 1:3,4

William Tyndale and Socialism

William Tyndale became a Catholic priest in 1521, but learned the true gospel at some later point.  In 1525, he met Martin Luther and completed his translation of the New Testament into English which was illegal at the time.  Tyndale was choked and burned at the stake in 1536 after spending 500 days in a dungeon.  His last words were, "Lord, open the King of England's eyes."  Miles Coverdale continued Tyndale's work and the "Matthew Bible" came out in 1537.  Six copies were put in Old St. Paul's Church where, in front of huge crowds, one after another would publically read until his voice went out!  Tyndale's prayer was answered in short order.

 

Sir Thomas More wanted nothing more than to see Tyndale burned for his efforts. Tyndale, who spoke eight languages, produced two editions to the New Testament and translated two thirds of the Old Testament into English.  You can learn the details of the Tyndale/More debate here.  From Tyndale's The Obedience Of A Christian Man (1528) we read his attitude towards his persecutors:

 

Christ is the cause why I love you, why I am ready to do the uttermost of my power for you, and why I pray for you.  And as long as the cause abides, so long lasts the effect: even as it is always day so long as the sun shines.  Do therefore the worst you can to me, take away my goods, take away my good name; yet as long as Christ remains in my heart, so long I love you not a whit less, and so long are you as dear to me as my own soul, and so long am I ready to do you good for your evil, and so long I pray for you with all my heart: for Christ desires it of me, and has deserved it of me.

 

Now, what's the connection to Socialism?  Socialism leads to Communism which lays down the hammer on Christians ==> Soviet Russia and mainland China today.  Here is an excellent video on the dangers of Socialism. [1]  Will our country become Socialist?  Will serious persecution of Christians become a real thing in the USA?  Will you become a political prisoner within your lifetime?

 

Consider this timeline chart for Venezuela's downward trod from Free Markets to Socialism:

In the early 1990's Venezuela was quite prosperous.  Now, some Venezuelans are so desperate that they are eating cats and dogs.  Here is a pic of Cuba today:

Who can command things to happen

without the Lord’s permission?

Does not the Most High

send both calamity and good?

Then why should we, mere humans, complain

when we are punished for our sins?

  (Lam. 3:37-39, NLT)

 

 

Notes:

1) There is a positive reference to an LDS document in one spot of the video.  For another view of the teachings of the Elders of Salt Lake see my prior post:

https://adamslostdream.blogspot.com/2012/01/planet-kolob-chariot-of-gods.html

 

** Special thanks to James White for recently highlighting the life of Tyndale.

The Heresy of an Older Planet?

Should believers who need to grow further in their understanding of the Old Earth/New Earth controversy be put up on charges at a heresy trial?  When we look at the basics of the faith, we have a grand heritage to draw from.  Historic creeds, confessions and catechisms.  For example, consider the Apostle's Creed:

 

I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth;

And in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord,

Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,

born of the Virgin Mary,

Suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, dead, and buried.

He descended into hell;

The third day he rose again from the dead;

He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;

From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost;

I believe in the holy catholic church, the communion of saints;

The forgiveness of sin;

The resurrection of the body:

And the life everlasting. Amen.

 

Note that God's role as Creator is brought forth at the very beginning, but the exact dating of t₀ is not provided.

 

Francis Schaeffer* spoke of the "heart of the Christian faith" and includes three truths: authority of the Bible, Christ's deity and the real meaning of salvation.  He went on to give a positive affirmation of the series of books known as The Fundamentals published from 1910 to 1915 which had such authors as B.B. Warfield & G. Campbell Morgan.[1]  These writings did not set a date for Creation Week.  Instead, they made the case for these Bible basics:

 

•   Inspiration of the Bible
•   Inerrancy of the Scripture
•   Deity of Christ
•   Virgin birth of Christ
•   Substitutionary atonement
•   Literal resurrection of Jesus
•   A literal return of Christ

 

I have documented elsewhere that Schaeffer belongs more so in the camp that take Genesis as true history than those who mix the first two chapter of the Bible with Deep Time.

 

According to Matt Slick (Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry, CARM), "A heretic denies an essential Christian belief and asserts some error in its place."  That of course bring up the query, "What are those key doctrines?"  Matt gives us this list:

 

• The Deity of Christ
• Salvation by Grace
• The Resurrection of Christ
• The Gospel
• Monotheism
• Jesus is the only way to salvation
• Jesus' virgin birth
• Doctrine of the Trinity

 

Nothing in here about an Earth that's around six millennia old.

 

Erwin Lutzer (Hitler's Cross) summarizes the Gospel around six key points:

 

•   God is holy (Lev. 11:44)
•   Jesus is God in the flesh (1 Jn. 4:1-3, Heb. 1:8)
•   Substitutionary Atonement (1 Peter 3:18)
•   We are sinners by nature & choice (Eph. 2:1)
•   Salvation is by faith alone (Rom. 3:28)
•   Assurance of Salvation (1 Jn. 5:11-13).[2]

 

Although I have a high admiration for Lutzer's writing and radio ministry, I must sadly admit that he does hold to the traditional reading of Genesis as implying a young world:

 

... the earth was not created in 4004 BC as the study notes in one Bible affirm. Many of us hold to a "young earth," but since the Bible does not tell us when God created the heavens and the earth, we must respect those who believe that the earth is much older than some creationists have believed.[3]

 

We read this in 2 Peter 2:1, "But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them …"

 Robert Bowman, writing in Orthodoxy and Heresy, tags heresy as “a teaching which directly opposes the essentials of the Christian faith, so that true Christians must divide themselves from those who hold it.”[4]  I would call rejection of a young earth as errant teaching and would label it an Old Earth Fallacy (OEF), but I would not call it heresy.  I am willing to dialog/debate my brothers and sisters in Christ on the age-of-the-earth controversy in order to improve our mutual understanding.  A few months ago I bought a book advocating Deep Time from a Christian view with respect to the Grand Canyon.  I want to represent the other side respectfully.  I have written two book documenting a young earth from history and science:

 

   Is a Young Earth Possible?

   YES - Young Earth Science

 

You can find my biblical argument you a recent creation here.

Let me know what you think:  ned_oa_1657@yahoo.com

 

 

Notes:

1) Complete Works of Francis Schaeffer by Francis Schaeffer (Crossway, Wheaton, IL, 1982), Vol. 4, p. 349.

2) Who are You to Judge? by Erwin Lutzer (Moody Pub., Chicago, 2002), pp. 69-72.

3) 7 Reasons Why You Can Trust The Bible by Erwin Lutzer (Moody Pub., Chicago, 2015) p. 160.

4) Who are You to Judge? by Erwin Lutzer (Moody Pub., Chicago, 2002), pp. 65, 66.

 

* we named our son after Francis Schaeffer

Kudos:  special thanks to Justin Derby for the 2nd Lutzer ref.

Bill "Kalam" Craig and the de Molina Revolutionaries

In 2010, I went to an apologetics conference at Southwestern Seminary in Fort Worth.  During the banquet I was saddened to hear sympathetic conversation of "middle knowledge" at my table.  William Lane Craig (aka Craig w/ a "K") is one of the prominent advocates of Molinism and middle knowledge (scientia media).  Craig received his Doctorate in Theology from Universität München (Germany) and studied under Wolfhart Pannenberg (Jesus - God and Man).  According to Luis de Molina (d. 1600), God sets up the cosmos, among all the myriad upon myriad of possible worlds, so that given a certain situation, you will make the free choice that the Lord wants you to make.  Almost sounds like the Multiverse escape mechanism to avoid Intelligent Design, doesn't it?  Speaking of ID, I met Bill Dembski at the same meeting!

 

It seems clear from Scripture, that the King of Kings directs his plans without middle knowledge:

 

My times are in your hands ... (Ps. 31:15)

I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come.  I say, "My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please." (Is. 46:10)

In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will. (Eph. 1:11)

 

Bruce Ware (God's Lesser Glory) brings up a powerful objection de Molina's insights:

 

... it is not at all clear how God can know by middle knowledge just what choices free creatures would make in various sets of possible circumstances. Sometimes called the "grounding objection," the problem here is that, since freedom in the libertarian sense is defined as the ability, all things being just what they are, to choose differently, it is impossible to know what decision will be made simply by controlling the circumstances ... nothing grounds God's knowledge of what free creatures would do in various possible sets of circumstances; and hence, God cannot know what middle knowledge advocates claim he knows, that is, what free creatures would do in any and all possible sets of circumstances. [1]

 

In 1597, the Pope established the Congregatio de Auxiliis which tended toward  condemning Molinism.  In 1611 and again in 1625 a decree prohibited any discussion of middle knowledge.

 

The Catholic Encyclopedia of 1911 comes down hard on Molinism:

 

... the Thomists [followers of Aquinas] urge with great emphasis the grave accusation that the Molinists, by their undue exaltation of man's freedom of will, seriously circumscribe and diminish the supremacy of the Creator over His creatures, so that they destroy the efficacy and predominance of grace and make impossible in the hands of God the infallible result of efficacious grace. ... [Molinism] is contrary to the warning of St. Paul, that we must not glory in the work of our salvation as though it were our own (1 Corinthians 4:7), and to his teaching that it is Divine grace which does not only give us the power to act, but "worketh" also in us "to will and to accomplish" (Philippians 2:13); it is contrary also to the constant doctrine of St. Augustine, according to whom our free salutary acts are not our own work, but the work of grace.

 

Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274) clearly teaches contrary to de Molina:

 

God wills to manifest his goodness in men, in those whom he predestines in the manner of mercy by sparing them, in those whom he reprobates in the manner of justice by punishing them.  This provides a key to the problem why God chooses some and rejects others…  Why does he choose some to glory while others he rejects?  His so willing is the sole ground.  Augustine says, "Wherefore he draws this one and not that one, seek not to decide if you wish not to err."

 

If we take the absolutist view of human choice, then as Paul Helm, who has written for the Guardian, points out,

 

[God] cannot instantiate complete possibilities respecting anyone's free choice. And so, because his middle knowledge of such free choices is necessarily incomplete, he cannot exercise a "no-risk" providential control over his creation via his middle knowledge. [2]

 

 As Helm says, in Molinism we see our Sustainer orchestrating the affairs of life so that we act in a certain way: "God actualizes those files [viewing God as the Great Programmer] which refer to circumstances which, if the individuals are placed in them, and act freely, they will choose accordance with the end which God desires." [3]

Even Norman Leo Geisler (d. 2019), who I heard speak at the conference referenced above, said "No!" to de Molina:

 

... either God's knowledge is completely causal, determining all events, or it is determined by these events.  There is no third alternative.  Molinists say that God's knowledge is determined by future free acts.  This sacrifices God as ultimate Cause.  He is determined by events, not Determiner.  This is contrary to the nature of God, for he becomes an epistemological spectator. [4]

Remember the film Altered States with the sensory deprivation tanks?  Now there are "no" circumstances.  Should I go to sleep at 2:34 pm?  I am nearly completely isolated - how will my state of affairs push me toward one choice versus another?

 

This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. (Acts 2:23)

 

Craig not only has a wrong view of God's Providence, he also seems to imply that Jesus erred when he spoke of the early chapters of Genesis as real history (Pannenberg anyone?).

 

 

Notes:

1) God's Lesser Glory by Bruce Ware (Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL, 2000), p. 40.

2) The Providence of God by Paul Helm (IVP, 1994), p. 61.

3) Ibid., p. 59.

4) Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics by Norman Geisler (Baker Books, Grand Rapids, MI, 1999), p. 494.

#WilliamLaneCraig #Genesis #Molina #Molinism #Providence #Ware #Helm #Aquinas #Choice #Freedom #AlteredStates #IS46_10