Naturalism: Devalued Existence

In a previous post I had briefly pointed out a few flaws with a naturalistic worldview. It fails to explain the humanity behind being human. Free will, appreciation for beauty, and reason aren’t well-explained in terms of natural causes. Another difficulty with a naturalistic worldview is the devaluing of existence. If our lives are to have objective meaning, there must be some things that are good, right, and beautiful. Those things must be ends in and of themselves, and they must be worth pursuing. There must be people and ideals that are worth living and dying for.

Of course, we must also believe that we can know what is good, right, and beautiful. This also means that we can know what is wrong, evil, and marred somehow. The means of knowing is unsavory to the naturalist. The existence of value and the standard of value are seemingly abstract and not a part of the physical world, which of course blows the naturalistic agenda to bits. Therefore, things and people of value are flatly denied, or the value of everything and anything is readily affirmed. The problem, then, is that if everything has value we still have no basis for evaluating worth in an objective sense. I say that hard work and honesty make a person valuable, but what if you value deceit and slothfulness? Are those character traits truly valuable to individuals or societies? I dare say not! No, the naturalist would rather blithely put that all things lack intrinsic value. It is much easier to say “vanity, vanity, all is vanity” and leave it at that. That’s the sort of world Bertrand Russell believes in.

You are no more valuable than a cockroach or a star or an atom in a naturalistic world. Fortunately we know that reality is far different than the naturalist portrays it. Some things are beautiful, and some are not. Some things are valuable, and others are worthless. Some things are moral, and others are horribly immoral. The naturalistic world required to allow Darwinism to exist as a plausible theory simply cannot be.

Naturalism: Following a Pied Piper

Princeton University’s WordNet defines naturalism as “the doctrine that the world can be understood in scientific terms without recourse to spiritual or supernatural explanations.” It includes an evolutionary origin of the universe, exclusion of even the possibility of a non-physical universe, and a belief that empirical knowledge is the only kind of knowledge there is. Ironically, naturalism is neither falsifiable, measurable, nor testable, which makes it unscientific from the outset. It is, in fact, a metaphysical assertion, not a scientific assertion.

Unfortunately, in spite of the fact that naturalism is self-refuting, there are many who unwittingly believe it and teach it in the public square. It is widely accepted in the political, educational, and legal realms. There are thousands of examples of this, but I think that there is none so striking as what happened after the Columbine massacre on April 20, 1999.  Who did the nation turn to for answers? Scientists. Practically every news network and magazine featured numerous interviews with psychologists, sociologists, and neurophysiologists in an attempt to explain why it happened. Pastors were only invited when it was time to comfort the family. Theologians and philosophers were never asked to provide insight into what had gone wrong. It was one tragic example of how other forms of knowledge are considered inferior to scientific knowledge because of a naturalistic worldview.

The truth is that while Richard Dawkins insists that we are all strictly the product of our DNA (“and we dance to its music”, says Dawkins), there are a good number of things that naturalism can’t explain. J. P. Moreland writes that naturalism can’t explain the existence of human consciousness in terms of ethical (a sense of morality), aesthetic (a sense of beauty), and intellectual (a sense of reason) properties. Furthermore, Moreland tells us that naturalism fails to explain free will. There is no room for real freedom in a naturalistic worldview. I cannot be held responsible for my actions if I’m merely dancing to the music of my DNA.

Naturalist John Bishop writes: “The idea of a responsible agent, with the ‘originative’ ability to initiate events in the natural world, does not sit easily with the idea of [an agent as] a natural organism. Our scientific understanding of human behavior seems to be in tension with a presupposition of the ethical stance we adopt toward it.”  (Natural Agency, 1989, pg 1) Professor Will Provine puts it more bluntly: “Free will as traditionally conceived simply does not exist. There is no way the evolutionary process as currently conceived can produce a being that is truly free to make choices.” (“Evolution and the Foundation of Ethics”, Marine Biological Laboratory Science 3, 1988)

How then can we prosecute criminals? We cannot punish them, for they have only lived in accordance with the way they were “made.” At best, we can only hope to rehabilitate them or protect the rest of society from them. More interestingly, how can we treat drug addiction and alcoholism as a disease of sorts and yet we still hold rapists and murderers guilty because of their actions? What about the likes of Bernie Madoff? What about Pol Pot, Hitler, or Stalin? Weren’t they also dancing to their DNA’s music? In may be useful to draw a utilitarian line in the sand between a drunk and a serial killer (the drunk isn’t necessarily hurting anyone, while a serial killer harms many people), but utilitarian lines in the sand are dangerous. After all, who decides where the line should be drawn?

Naturalism may depict a world in which you and I follow the eerie tones of our DNA’s music, but that is not the world you and I know to be. You and I make choices every day of our lives, and to strictly describe our decisions in terms of motive rather than a combination of motive and purpose is to give a garbled image of what life is really like. Besides being totally self-refuting, naturalism fails to explain a host of things about being human. It’s time we drop this ridiculous philosophy and consider that there might be more to reality than meets the eye.

More on this later.

Salvation: Two Inheritances, Part 2

Most believers are convinced that salvation in all of its forms is strictly a free gift of God. I fully believe that justification, sanctification, and glorification are all free gifts of God. However, I also believe that there is more to the story than meets the eye. We will see in the following verses that inheritance may be gained or lost, and that eternal life is something that we are sometimes told to work for. Certain habitual sins, according to several passages of Scripture,  preclude a person from inheriting the Kingdom. How is salvation free if it must also be worked for? How is salvation secure if one can lose their inheritance?

• He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. -John 12:25

• To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life.- Romans 2:7
• Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.- 1 Corinthians 6:9-10
• For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.- Galatians 6:8
• For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.- Ephesians 5:5
• Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.- 1 Timothy 6:12

Such verses are cause for deep concern for the believer, since warnings against sin and exhortations to gain eternal life would not exist unless there were a very real possibility to fail. As in the last post, I would like to suggest that the Bible is speaking of two types of inheritance or two aspects of salvation. In one sense, we have God as our inheritance and Heaven as our final home. This occurs at salvation because of faith. However, there is a second inheritance that we can enjoy that is by obedience, obtainable only by sanctified living. Our salvation is indeed secure, but there is a lot concerning our experience in the Kingdom that can change considerably.

I want to write an article that will discuss what this inheritance will consist of, but for now I’d like to focus on an aspect of what I’m saying that is likely to cause some consternation on the part of believers. What is this business of working for eternal life? How can a person be a believer but lose eternal life?

In John 10:10, Jesus says: “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” Interestingly enough, John begins his gospel by saying that life originates in Christ. Paul echoes this thought when he writes that it is in Him we live, and move, and have our being. The implication is that eternal life in Scripture is intimately tied to an active, dynamic relationship with Christ. In other words, eternal life isn’t something you and I simply get at salvation and hang onto until we die; it is something that can grow and develop or whither away in the present. An eternal home in Heaven is secure, of course, but Jesus came not to simply give us an infinitely long life, but an abundant quality of life. Enjoying a life of fullness and fulfilledness, one in which times with God can truly be described as “sweet”, can only occur when we are living for Him and desiring to know Him more. We all have access to eternal life, but our experience in that life will differ from individual to individual.

The reward for living out this life eternal in the here and now will have some bearing on the rewards we receive in the future. Paul makes this clear in Philippians 2:11 where he states that he has rejected the elements of his past to know Christ, the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His suffering so that he could attain a resurrection. What’s interesting is that this word isn’t the usual Greek word for resurrection (anastasis). Instead, Paul uses the word exanastasis- separation from out of the resurrected. Of those who are believers and enter into eternal life, there will be some set apart because they sought to win Christ. They alone of all believers will receive the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

God is faithful enough to reward believers based on their actions and attitudes. All believers will have eternal life, a home in Heaven, and forgiveness of sins. However, the vastness of that eternal life, the joys of that heavenly home, and the rewards in the Kingdom will be experienced by each of us to different degrees and in different ways.

More on that subject in the near future!

God IS Great: Christopher Hitchens, Metaphysics, and Teleology

The fifth and sixth chapters of Hitchens’ book God is not Great are an attempt to undermine belief in God as the Uncaused Cause of the universe. Originally, I had intended to treat chapter five’s dealings with metaphysics as a separate article from chapter six’s dealings with argument from design. However, once I read the chapter on metaphysics, I was faced with a serious problem. Hitchens only deals directly with metaphysics in one paragraph of the whole chapter!

I’ve begun to see the beauty of journalism. You can write articles and whole books based on anecdotes and sarcasm alone! Now, I’m a huge fan of both when used with real support, but if Hitchens wants to discuss such a serious issue as the origin of the universe, he had better have more to bring to the table than baseless claims and gross sarcasm. Perhaps he’d be better off as a White House spokesman. (Sorry, couldn’t resist that one.)

Hitchens fails miserably at proving the metaphysical claims of Christians to be false. He mocks them, uses some straw men here and there, takes some quotes out of context, etc. He doesn’t ever deal with real issues. He never quotes Christian apologists of the 21st century. This is, perhaps, the poorest chapter of his book.

Strangely, he also spends very little time dealing with atheistic metaphysics. Every belief system has metaphysical elements. We all must have answers to questions that are non-scientific in nature. After a shoddy attempt to pull the rug out from under Christian metaphysics, Hitchens does little if anything to explain his perspective on the issue of metaphysics.

Hitchens’ only real attempt at metaphysics is one that could have easily been placed in his chapter on arguments from design. He says that because every cause must have a cause, theistic explanations for God are weak. Hitchens makes a categorical mistake here. Christian metaphysics state that whatever comes into being must have a cause. There is a great distinction between the two statements. If God never came into being but simply always is (which, by the way, is the actual claim of Christianity since God is the “I Am”, the high and lofty one that inhabits eternity), then He has no need of an external force or intelligence to bring Him about. Christians simply don’t believe in a created God, for created gods really are a delusion. What really is a tragedy is when intelligent people have no problem believing an infinite regression of causes, such as those who espouse Darwinism.

Hitchens also makes the assertion that the universe could not have been created because there is imperfection in the universe. This seems to be quite the leap to me, and one that ignores the clear marks of design in our world. One of his evidences of the imperfection of the universe is the state of the universe itself. The explosions of stars seems to be evidence of violence to Hitchens, something far more random than a created universe should have. I think it strange that just a few chapters ago, Hitchens talked about the wonder and majesty of the cosmos. Surely he can see that beauty and awe can come from even the explosion of suns! We see very little of the “big picture” in the cosmos so that an argument of this source is really an argument from ignorance. He mocks those who lived centuries ago for their superstitions and false beliefs. Doesn’t he know that people will one day look back on even the likes of Einstein and chuckle to themselves? To argue from lack of knowledge seems foolish.

Secondly, Hitchens makes the assumption that the God of the Bible is a pragmatist. He thinks that because humans see organs or portions of DNA as unnecessary that we couldn’t have been designed that way. Why did God create things as He did? Why did He not do things differently? I suppose there are many different ways God could have done things. The point is that He did them in this way for purposes that we do not know. Rather than assume that we have all knowledge, why not simply admit that we lack true understanding? Isn’t that part of the wonder of God’s universe, to be able to explore, experience, and discover?

Thirdly, Hitchens assumes that because things are unpleasant that they are therefore imperfect. Ears that need cleaning, for instance, are evidence of imperfection in the created order. Seriously? Nowhere in the Bible does God claim to have made a sterile world. Nowhere in the Bible does God claim to have made a world in which there will be minimal to no effort required on our part. God gave us things to do and the means to accomplish those tasks. How is ear wax proof of a world that lacks a Designer? (One could, by the way, make the argument that the existence of earwax is miraculous in itself. Maybe someday…)

Finally, Hitchens completely ignores the Biblical account of the Fall. Things aren’t perfect, and we’d be fools to claim they were. However, assuming that this world is precisely what God intended is equally foolish. Paul speaks in Romans 8 about how the entire creation groans under the crushing weight of human sin. “Man marks the earth with ruin”, as Lord Byron says, and his control no longer stops with the shore. Violence, destruction, and failure to properly care for our Father’s world have ravaged this planet. The results of both Fall and Flood are great and tragic. Everything in this world was thrown about because of man’s fall, and we won’t see a perfect world as God intended it until the Eternal State begins.

On the whole, Hitchens fails miserably to deal seriously with Christian thought and practice. Rather than deal with Christian belief within the Bible itself, he is quite content to deal with historical, marginal Christianity bereft of context. Such a straw man may be easy to knock down, but one is left to wonder how Hitchens would do if he ever came across the genuine artifact.

Eternal Truths or Cultural Command?

The third complaint of my friend Nitwit Nastik is that some things in the Bible cannot be eternal since there are some obvious cultural instructions. If there are specific cultural instructions, how can we say that the Bible is an eternal Book with eternal truths? How can something be both eternal and local? This is an interesting and complex problem which I won’t attempt to treat entirely in this posting.

It is correct that the Bible is both eternal and true. It contains the words of Almighty God. God, in His wisdom, had men write down the words of Scripture for several purposes. Paul lists those purposes in 2Timothy 3:16:

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.

There are doctrinal reasons and practical (moral) reasons for the existence of Scripture. We learn Who God is and what He is like through Scripture. We know of Heaven, Hell, angels, demons, eternity, and Salvation through the Bible. We also get to see how God has worked to bring about His plans through the narrative of both Testaments. As history plays out on the pages of Scripture, we encounter both eternal commands (Thou shalt not commit adultery) and local commands (But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven.) Eternal commands never change because they are true in all ages, but local commands do change according to the culture. However, local commands are based on eternal principles.

Nitwit brings up 1Corinthians 11:4-10, which is the command concerning women wearing head coverings. There are believers who are of the opinion that women must wear head coverings while attending church services. Others believe that this was a cultural command to a specific church in history and does not have to be followed today. Those who take this second view believe that there is an eternal principle behind the cultural command. I am not in this post going to explain my view on the subject. Both views must be defended against the allegations that such a command (whether local or eternal in nature) is sexist and prejudiced.

Remembering that Scripture must be compared with Scripture to determine a proper interpretation, let us look at what the Bible says about the status and role of women is. That same passage in 1 Corinthians also tells us that in terms of value, men and women are completely equal. Men owe their existence to women because of natural birth, but women owe their existence to man because Eve came from Adam. Galatians 3:28 echoes this idea:

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.

Proverbs 31 also explains that women are just as capable of productivity and efficiency in every area of life. Therefore, it cannot be said that 1 Corinthians 11 is an example of prejudice or sexism. There must be another explanation. The Bible does assert that women and men have different roles in the home and in society. This only makes sense. Our brains are distinct, our bodies are distinct, and our needs and emotions are distinct. Men are from Mars; women are from Venus. Men are like waffles; women are like spaghetti. (Google it if you don’t get it.) God planned for each gender to be uniquely made in His image, but we reflect different aspects of Himself.

God tells us that we must maintain this distinction between genders in every area, including dress. This is the eternal principle underlying the local command given in 1 Corinthians 11. Paul is instructing the Corinthian church to be sure to maintain the distinction according to society’s standards. For them, this means that men’s hair is short and women’s hair is long. This is not sexism. If anything, it maintains that women are unique and special and therefore should be treated as such.

Entertainment, Bible Narrative, and The Power of Shared Experience

Those of us who grew up in the 1980′s remember the popular slogan for Music Television: “I Want My MTV!” There were commercials, t-shirts, and a host of other paraphernalia on which the slogan was emblazoned. I came from a fairly conservative background and wasn’t allowed to watch MTV (not that we could, since the cable company STILL has yet to actually run cable to my parents’ house), but I was keenly aware of the mania that surrounded the cultural phenomenon that is still a fixture today.

For a number of years I’ve wondered what it is about entertainment (broadly defined in this article as reading material, music, movies, television, video games, and even the sin of pornography) that is so powerful. With the possible exception of reading, each of these forms of entertainment have a certain addictive quality. Of course, when I was a teenager I thought that the content of my entertainment was irrelevant. As I’ve gotten a little older, I’ve come to realize that there is a strange power in entertainment. I think I’m finally ready to take a “stab” at what that power is.

The power of entertainment is the power of a shared experience. When I read a book, watch a movie, or play a video game with a decent plot, I am involved in the experience. My heart races during the intense parts. I may like or dislike certain characters. I am emotionally and cognitively involved with the protagonist of every “story” I am told. Such is the power of narrative. It doesn’t matter whether or not the characters are real, I respond to them as if I knew them personally. Music seems to be even more powerful because melody, harmony, and rhythm blend together with the narrative of the lyrics. The musical elements reinforce the power of the experience.

This is what makes entertainment so wonderful….and so perilous. A protagonist that overcomes tragedy can strengthen us. A family in a movie that rallies during a time of difficulty can inspire us. Music that glorifies real love (as opposed to the whimsical, fickle sort) can draw us closer to a spouse. Entertainment that glorifies an immoral protagonist and emphasizes sensual “love” causes us to experience reality as the author sees it, sometimes quite graphically. We may be able to label actions, attitudes, and thoughts as “wrong”, but we cannot escape the experience. This is why we must be so careful what we allow our souls to imbibe.

I’ve also thought about the nature of sharing experience as it relates to the Bible. Perhaps the reason why God shared so much of His Truths through Old Testament narrative is that experience is so powerful. Most of the Bible, after all, is a narrative of one sort or another. There’s really very little in the Bible that doesn’t take the form of a narrative.

Perhaps God wants us to experience the lives of the men and women of the Bible. We can bask in the wonder of the Shekinah with Moses on Mount Sinai, slay the giant Goliath with David, stand boldly before the king with Esther, and sense the wonder of John as he writes: “And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the father.” Experience is often a better teacher than men. How much better is it to experience life from those who have gone before, to learn the wisdom of the ages vicariously, than to have to learn everything the hard way?

Whether we consider the power of entertainment or the power of the Scriptural narrative, we cannot ignore or deny the hold that a “story” has on us. We must be careful to abhor evil, to cling to that which is good. Because it isn’t just a movie. It isn’t just the Bible. It’s an experience that, once shared, will be a part of us forever. If MTV is what I choose to watch, it really is “my” MTV.

Fiat: The Creative Word

King David of Israel wrote the following words, which are recorded for us in Psalm 19:1-3:

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard.

How have the heavens spoken? In what way has God revealed Himself to mankind? At God’s fiat (an authoritative decree coming from the Latin word meaning “Let it be done” [Fiat lux = Let there be light]), matter, energy, and even time itself leapt into existence. Every experiment and experience we are a part of is made possible by God’s Creative Word. God’s very act of creation was done to glorify Himself and to point mankind to Him. His beauty is reflected in the starry sky. He is shown to be wise in the complexity of the human eye, to speak nothing of the body. His majesty is revealed in the roaring of the ocean waves. His power is displayed in the thunder and lightning.

On a sunny spring morning, we can hear His music that birds sing. On a wintry day, we can discover His “treasures of the snow.” The physicist and mathematician are impressed by the elegance of the natural laws designed by the great Mathematician. The more we learn about our universe- and there is so much to learn- the more impressed we are by the magnificence of God. Whoever you are, wherever you are, and whenever you are, God designed His world with you in mind. He makes His presence so obvious, Paul tells us in Romans 1:20 that those who deny God’s existence are without excuse.

Logos: The Incarnate Word

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.- John 1:1-5

These verses are perhaps the most profound in all of Scripture. They tell us of the Word Incarnate, Jesus, Who has come to be the ultimate revelation of the Father in Heaven. The Word came to reveal the glory and personality of the Godhead in a tangible form. By coming in human form, we could relate to Him and He could relate to us. We could see God for the first time, and He could experience the suffering that sin had created.

Kant tells us that reason is limited because we don’t know what it is like to BE anything but human. Though we may gain a perspective on a thing, we can never know what it is to be something other than human. Jesus cannot be said to be limited in His understanding of humanity because He is human. That’s the easy part, though.

“In the beginning was the Word…”

By way of introduction, John tells us that Jesus existed before the Creation. When the Beginning (Genesis 1) took place, Jesus already was. He is the uncreated Creator. Paul writes in Colossians 1:15-17:

Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature, for by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him. And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

Jesus is unique because He not only existed prior to the created universe (matter, energy, time, etc.), but because He is eternal just as the Father is eternal. This is necessary because He is the ultimate self-disclosure of the Father. The Godhead is revealed in Jesus’ words, emotions, actions, and attitudes. If Jesus were merely pre-existent but not eternal (as some cults believe), He would be unable to speak for God adequately. In order for Jesus to speak for a God Who is infinite in all of His attributes (love, holiness, justice, mercy, grace, power, etc.) He must be eternal because only the eternal can truly understand Infinity. This is where we fall so short. We categorize God using systematic theologies (which are admittedly very helpful), but He is above all categorization. We are accustomed to things having beginnings because we had a beginning, but God never began. He simply is. His very name, “I AM” tells us of His ever-present nature. Unlike us, Christ has missed nothing of God. He also always is.

“The Word was with God…”

If the Word was with God, then He is not the same person as the Father. “With” also implies a unique relationship with the Father. For all of eternity the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit had enjoyed unbroken, perfect communion with each other. They understood one another and basked in each Other’s glory and love. God didn’t need a creation to be complete. He was complete in and of Himself. For all of eternity, God loves, glorifies, and communes with Himself, but not in the narcissistic sense we think of when speaking of humans. As a tri-unity (trinity), the Father loves and glorifies the Son and Spirit, the Son loves and glorifies the Father and Spirit, and the Spirit loves and glorifies the Father and Son. So the Persons of the Godhead love and glorify each other infinitely and eternally. So it should be, for God alone is worthy of infinite love and glory.

“…and the Word WAS God…”

John asserts that Jesus was Divine in all aspects. He has the same essence, nature, character, and quality of God. He is no less Divine than the Father is. Though He takes the position of Son for Himself, He is no less than God Himself.

“In Him was Life…”

Jesus came to give us life. This does not just mean that He intends for us to merely have eternal life, but also He intends for us to have abundant life. (John 15) Consider John’s words in the following verses:

• John 20:31—“But these are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life through His name.”
• (quoting Jesus) John 10:10—“I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”

Spiritual (zoe as opposed to bios) life is referenced 36 times in John’s gospel. That’s more than the other three Gospels combined. John emphasizes that Jesus’ life is not just about quantity; it’s about quality. No, I’m not talking about a “health and wealth” gospel. I’m talking about something eternal and intangible that comes our way as a result of faith in Him. He came to give us something unbelievable and indescribable. God stepped into the mess that humans had made and ministered with compassion, healed in love, and spoke truth to all who would listen. Some people didn’t like it though…

“And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.”

Light. God’s emblem for Himself. It’s the first thing He made, and it’s how He reveals Himself: burning bushes, the Shekinah glory, the Mount of Transfiguration. Hebrews 1:1-3 begins:

God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person…”

I don’t think it’s incidental that Jesus is called the brightness of His glory in Hebrews and the Light in John. There was darkness as a result of Adam’s fall and now Jesus, acting as the light now points the way back to God. Light symbolizes His holiness, perfection, etc. Darkness, however, is not simply absence of light in John’s gospel. It is a moral category. It is characterized by a hatred of light, evil, and general hostility toward God. Light, however, is able to pierce the Darkness and overtake Evil’s territory. Evil itself is overwhelmed by the “invasion” of God’s Light.

Darkness cannot comprehend the Light. “Comprehend” here does not mean mere understanding. It speaks of overwhelming, destroying, and seizing with hostile intent. Jesus came to give Light, but fallen humanity didn’t like the light they saw. Light is never simply ignored. Darkness attempted to destroy the Light on the Cross. Why? Light reveals Truth even when it is not palatable. Light reveals God for Who He is, and people hate Him for it.

The story doesn’t end there, though. The greatest miracle of all took place three days later. The Father resurrected the Son, and after being seen by hundreds of people, He ascended into Heaven and is seated at the Father’s side.

The Light won.

The Evolution of Pantheism

In my previous post, I contrasted Christianity and Pantheism, the belief that all of Creation is a god. Pantheism has taken on many forms, some of them more complex and articulate than others. Ancient animism, the New Age movement, and the Greek Pantheon all smack of Pantheism in one way or another. In contrast to these belief systems and others, which either attempt to pit various gods or spirits against each other or identify the universe itself as a god, Christianity asserts that God exists uncreated beyond space and time. He may choose to enter our world to accomplish His purpose, but He does not belong to It any more than Picasso belonged to one of his paintings.

Most recently, Darwinism has crept on the scene as the “new” pantheism. In the evolutionary paradigm, lifeless matter and energy somehow- and most scientists are careful enough to inform us that they don’t know how- spawned or created life. Not only did the lifeless universe produce life, it produced information to allow life to reproduce. Where did this information- this DNA- come from? Computer programs, books, magazines, and even Snickers wrappers tell me that an intelligence created them. When I see these things, I know a mind has been at work.

Whether they realize it or not, in the unbelievers’ effort to banish God from their minds, they have replaced Him with something preposterous. They have returned to a sophisticated kind of pantheism. Instead of spirits, gods, or a living universe creating life, they have attributed life to an unliving universe. They have attributed information to a universe without a mind. They have endowed mere matter and energy with god-like creative powers.

Am I going too far in comparing Darwinism to Pantheism? I think not. Consider the words of atheist Carl Sagan in his work Pale Blue Dot:

How is it that hardly any major religion has looked at science and concluded, ‘This is better than we thought! The Universe is much bigger than our prophets said, grander, more subtle, more elegant’? Instead they say, ‘No, no, no! My god is a little god, and I want him to stay that way.’ A religion, old or new, that stressed the magnificence of the Universe as revealed by modern science might be able to draw forth reserves of reverence and awe hardly tapped by the conventional faiths.

Sagan obviously believes that the universe is far more magnificent than God. Consider also the words of Paul Davies, who believes that mathematics (which he ascribes intelligence, personality, and inherent power to) alone could produce our universe:

There’s no need to invoke anything supernatural in the origins of the universe or of life. I have never liked the idea of divine tinkering. For me it is much more inspiring to believe that a set of mathematical laws can be so clever as to bring all these things into being.

Richard Dawkins has similar things to say. When John Lennox concluded his debate with Dawkins by pointing to the resurrection of Jesus Christ as the focus of the Christian faith, Dawkins responded by saying: “Having proven some case for a deistic God, you fall back on the Resurrection. It’s so petty, it’s so trivial. So unworthy of the universe.”

Darwinists cannot escape the striking beauty, majesty, and wonder of the universe. Without a God to be grateful to and worship, they are only left with an undue reverence for God’s Creation and a desire to attribute intelligence and life to that which is unliving and thoughtless.

As Paul writes in Romans 1:

Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. . . .Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever.

But Deliver Us From Evil

Ravi Zacharias once said that evil has taken on forms that astonish the world. This was illustrated very dramatically when Bruce Pardo (left) drove to his former in-laws’ house and opened fire on his former relatives- dressed as Santa Claus. His first action when the door was opened was to shoot an eight-year-old girl in the face. Details are still sketchy, but he shot several others and then torched the house using a homemade flame thrower, which he had hidden in what looked like a large Christmas present.

I think we would all agree that what Pardo did was evil, and few would doubt that a man so deranged could be anything but evil. When we read the accounts of the survivors and police officers, when we consider the tragic events that took place on Christmas Eve, we are right to be horrified. Evil in all forms should disgust us, but this “new” form that Evil has taken on should shock and stun us. This is an appropriate reaction to sin. As the sensation of pain when we fall is an indication that our nerves are intact, reeling from the shock of such horrific accounts tells us that our soul is intact.

What is equally shocking, however, is that some are not shocked, amazed, or stunned by this tradgedy. Some have used the incident to joke about in-law problems. Some have used this event to point out the “problems” with Christmas. Most disturbingly, some have barely even noticed. Evil is spreading so rapidly and is making so many inroads into society, many have become desensitized and indifferent to its effects. It enters into the soul of our culture through movies, music, video games, television, and even art. These forms of entertainment have been known to mock the sacred, glorify violence, exalt immorality, and justify hatred while bankrupting the mind, skewing the will, and ravaging the emotions. What so often goes on in the name of entertainment is in fact the rape of the very soul of humanity. Let us remember the importance of crying for deliverance from evil, abhoring sin, and cleaving to that which is good.

What Science CAN’T Do

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not a scientist. I don’t have a degree in one of the sciences, I don’t teach science, and I’m not an expert in any particular scientific field. The only “science” I am skilled in is computer science. I do have a love for reading about scientific discoveries, and I have always had a love for astronomy. All that being said, there are a few things that even I, a lowly school teacher, know that science can’t do. I’ve decided to put this in a list form to make this a relatively easy read.

1. Science cannot analyze or explain things that are neither matter nor energy.
2. Science cannot analyze or explain abstract concepts such as love, truth, and beauty. It may analyze the effects of such concepts on a person physiologically or statistically, but it can’t empirically examine such things.
3. Science cannot identify the origin of the universe. If it assumes it was created by the eternal God, then it is assuming a supernatural act which falls outside of the boundaries of science. If it assumes that Darwinism is correct then it is assuming an eternal universe, which is in contradiction to its own natural laws. In either case, an assumption is made.
4. Science cannot identify the purpose for the universe.
5. Science cannot analyze or explain things that exist outside of our universe. (If you happen to believe in a multiverse, I would further explain that I mean things outside of ALL universes.)
6. Science cannot set moral or ethical boundaries (although moral and ethical boundaries can and must  be set using the information that arises from science.)
7. Science and the scientific process cannot be employed independently of moral and ethical boundaries, biases, and opinions.
8. Science cannot prove that something does not exist using inductive reasoning.
9. Science cannot state anything with absolute certainty. New information may (and almost always does) arise which changes our understanding of the natural world, which means that we only have maximum certainty that things are true.
10. Science cannot prescribe what must always happen in the universe. It can only describe what does generally happen in the universe. Ergo, supernatural events do not “break” the laws of nature. This does not mean that a “God in the gaps” method of looking at the universe should be accepted. It simply means that miracles should not be discounted simply because they have not been observed happening in our world today.

Science is limited by what is physically observable (through the five senses, instruments, or statistical data) in the universe. My point is that there is NO conflict between science and Christianity. I can believe in the law of gravity and the resurrection of Jesus Christ without compromise. The real conflict (if you can call it that) is not between the Christian and the scientist but between the Christian and the materialist. It all comes down to worldviews, not reason.

What Lies Beneath

This week I’ve been working with my in-laws on remodeling a bathroom in our home. At first, we were  just going to replace the toilet because it had a very fine crack in the upper tank. However, we quickly realized that the “stick-on” tile had gotten too wet around the toilet, and we’d have to re-tile the bathroom too. Then we decided to also replace the shower, which turned out to be a good thing since we discovered a world of water damage beneath our bathroom. Both layers of plywood had rotted to the point that I fell through a few times while taking the tile out. In the end, we were left with joists and a two-foot section of plywood floor that was somehow still dry. The shower and toilet had been leaking in multiple places, and we had to completely replace the floor, shower, tile, and toilet as a result. It was a mess!

That wasn’t the worst of it, though. In the walls, floor, and beneath our house, massive amounts of mold and mildew were growing. The mildew was growing in “veins” between layers rotting wood. Now we knew why we were both so sick all of the time. We had no idea that such rottenness and filth were just inches away, buried beneath a thin layer of tile. It was there all the time, sickening us, damaging our house, and setting us up for a nasty surprise.

As a relative and I were tearing out all of the filth, it occurred to me that this was a perfect picture of what evil does to the soul. Evil isn’t just a label given to a random assortment of feelings, thoughts, or deeds. It is rather a category of feelings, thoughts, or deeds that violate, corrupt, and rot a person at their very soul. If enough people in a society imbibe evil, it will rot out the society as well.

God is not some cosmic killjoy bent on ruining fun and removing rights. He knows how to keep the human soul safe from rottenness and decay, and He wants us to enjoy our lives rather than ruin them. I’ve written before on how holiness acts as a fence to guard Beauty and prevent it from being spoiled. The Soul is a beautiful thing crafted in the image of its Creator. Holiness prevents it from being spoiled. We must never forget that morality and ethics are not just little buzzwords. Those are simply two aspects of the Law God has written into the universe. Obedience to Him doesn’t stifle free will; it promotes it, for only in obedience are we truly free to enjoy our Father’s world.

You Can’t Handle the TRUTH

In order for any religious system to be the truth, it has to pass a few tests.

It has to be logical.

Faith has to be understandable and it has to make sense. I’m a Christian because what is being said in the Bible makes sense. I don’t read the Bible and find myself scratching my head. The Bible is fantastic literature. It has great insight into ancient cultures. It has clear propositional teachings. I don’t mean this to say that it is always easy to understand. I simply mean that it is understandable and logical in what it is saying.

It has to agree with what is already known.

By this I mean that a religious book cannot go against plain fact and still claim to contain truth. It cannot insist that up is down, that blue is orange, or that two plus two equals seven. If my religious book insists something that is clearly, historically not true, then there’s a problem. If, however, it is historically and scientifically accurate, then I have reason to suspect that it might be accurate concerning spiritual or eternal areas.

Now, I don’t mean this to be true concerning origins. Atheists love their Darwinism for the same reasons that Theists love the Creationism. When it comes to origins, ones worldview quickly determines the scenario that fits the worldview.

It has to personally affect the individual.

If my faith is real, it must change me. A religion that left the believer unchanged and unmotivated is no good at all. The whole point of a religion is that it offers answers and hope concerning some very important areas in a person’s life. In fact, I would go so far as to say that faith that does not change the believer to some extent isn’t faith at all…

Here’s some ideas about what questions a faith should answer:

1. Where did I (and this entire reality) come from?
2. Why do I (and this entire reality) exist?
3. What is right and what is wrong?
4. Where am I going when I am physically dead?

Christianity answers these questions. What’s more, Christianity passes all of these tests with flying colors. I am a believer because the Bible is able to accomplish within me and others what no other religion, belief system, or cult can do, and it answers perfectly the questions concerning life that nothing else can answer. Faith in Christ alone satisfies the longing of the mind, soul, spirit, and heart.

What’s Right for You IS What’s Right for Me, Part 2

When questioning the existence of an absolute Law of Morality, it may be easy to mistake an inner sensitivity to the Law of Morality for mere human instinct. Humans do, of course, have certain biological instincts. For instance, we are very much wired to protect and care for our young. Only the most callous mother could throw the life of their child away. We must not assume that instinct is all that directs our actions.

If Darwinism were a reality, and survival of the fittest the most important thing, why do humans build hospitals? If it’s all about biology and survival, why not leave the sick to die? Doing so would mean more food for the living and less competition in finding a mate. Some sort of sympathy “instinct” doesn’t really explain the reality of how decent people function.

That there is within humanity a will for self-preservation is a reality. It is also true that people will often sacrifice their well-being for another. However, what is most interesting is not the coexistence of self-preservation and sympathy in a person. What is most interesting is that there is a third factor, a sensation within individuals that they ought to do something, even if it means sacrificing their own lives.

A police officer has the same will to live as any other member of our race. Why, then, do people choose a profession that has a much higher mortality rate than most other professions in society? At least part of the rational is that something ought to be done about violence and injustice. The existence of this third factor, this sense of responsibility and justice, which exists within every person and culture, is very telling. It is not identical to sympathy. It is distinct from it, as notes on a piece of sheet music are distinct from a note played on an instrument. It is what causes an individual to side with sympathy, mercy, or love when self-preservation and “survival of the fittest” ought to reign.

If humans do not have an innate sensitivity to the universal Law of Morality, where does this universal sense of responsibility come from? Is it learned in the home or the classroom? Perhaps the Law of Morality is taught by parents, teachers, pastors, and other members of society, but just because there is a societal element here does not deny the existence of a Law. You learned math, science, history, and English in the classroom, too. That doesn’t mean that those things aren’t facts, that there isn’t a reality beyond those words and figures on a page.

If an eternal, universal Law of Morality exists, where did it come from? Humans did not create it. Nature did not mold it into being, for the existence of sympathy destabilizes the process of natural selection. (Even Darwin admitted that civilized cultures had halted the process of natural selection in his work The Abolition of Man.) Someone must have created it, for chance does not spawn moral law. The simplest and best answer is that a loving God did so. A God Who cares for His creation, Who wishes to protect Beauty in all its forms, Who desires that the Sacred not become Profane. Strangely enough, this is very God mentioned in the Bible. He has ordained Beauty and Morality in this universe, and He has revealed Himself through His Word and His Creation.

What’s Right for You IS What’s Right for Me

I’ve written a bit on what I have termed “The Law of Beauty.” I’ve spoken of how Beauty is a Sacred thing because it springs from the mind of God and because it is guarded by holiness itself. In fact, things are beautiful only to the extent that they “measure up” to God’s standard. I’ve even gone so far as to say that God’s Law of Morality is a natural result of the Law of Beauty.

Of course, the moment I assert that there is such a thing as a universal Law of Morality there will be some who cry foul. “You can’t say that there are things that are absolutely right and absolutely wrong. It’s up to cultures to decide.” I’ve simplified the argument, of course, but that’s what they’re saying when they get right down to it.

It’s not just my Christian belief that causes me to believe in a Law of Morality. There is evidence of it within human nature. There are certain common beliefs that express themselves regardless of what time or in what culture a person is born. While societies may have had different instances in which murder or stealing were considered acceptable, I am not aware of any society in which everyone could steal or murder for any reason. It may be acceptable in some cultures to be promiscuous, have many wives, or commit a homosexual act, but I am not aware of a culture in the world that permitted everyone to have any partner they wanted at any time they wanted. The same could be said for every category of immorality conceivable.

Consider also that even those who don’t believe in the Law of Morality are nonetheless at its mercy. They may vehemently deny that promiscuity is immoral, but they are deeply hurt when a spouse is unfaithful. Or turn the scenario around. They deny that promiscuity is immoral, but use every excuse in the book to explain away their affair. If there is no such thing as morality, why do they experience guilt? Why do they feel a need to excuse their actions if they did nothing wrong? And, furthermore, how can a person even make an excuse without the Law of Morality? Shouldn’t a person without an inner sensitivity to a Law of Morality be blithely indifferent to the “rightness” of their actions?

Think about it: a man may blame his adultery on the fact that his wife hasn’t treated him fairly on some point. Without the Law of Morality, what is the difference between fair and unfair? Why do we think that humans have any rights at all without the Law of Morality? There is a difference between legal rights and human rights, after all. Otherwise, we shouldn’t feel any outrage at the atrocities of Hitler, Stalin, or Hussein. They were the leaders of their governments, the writers and maintainers of their respective laws.

If, however, there is a thing as human rights, then there are beliefs concerning those rights that are better than others. In theory, your own beliefs concerning human rights are better than Hitler’s. In asserting that one belief is better than another, you create the possibility that a perfect standard of rights does exist. This perfect standard of rights is the Law of Morality.

The Eye of the Beholder?

Psalm 29:2 exhorts us to “worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.” There is a relationship between that which is beautiful and that which is holy. Holiness- purity from sin- is a beautiful thing, and, by the same token, Beauty is a holy thing. It is a holy thing because Beauty itself originates in God. It is from His mind that stars leaped into being. His creative powers brought forth this world. His genius formed man from simple clay. Even in this damaged world in which we live, we can see His splendor in the sunset, the mountains, and even the falling snow.

Because beauty originates from Him, God does not differentiate between Sacred and Secular. There is of course, a specific type of Sacredness that is reserved for our communion with Him. In general, though, all things that are pure and without sin are Sacred. Races and ethnicities are Sacred. Music is Sacred. Sexuality is Sacred. Our living and dying [Romans 14:7-9], eating and drinking [1Corinthians 10:31], and whatever else may accompany our existence is Sacred to the extent that we obey God’s ordained order. An important part of that ordained order is the Law of Beauty. In fact, one could argue that God’s Law of Purity (His moral law) is based heavily in the Law of Beauty.

Think of it this way: God considers the variety of races to be a beautiful thing. Therefore, racism is wrong because it belittles the Beauty God has created in this world. Sexual perversion is wrong because it mars the beauty of the marriage relationship. When we turn to the matter of man’s creations, though, things get a bit more sticky. People argue that passion and creativity are all that matters.

This is simply not the case. Music, art, and literature are only beautiful to the degree that they adhere to God’s set standard of holiness. In this way, holiness acts as a shield and defense to true beauty. Holiness does not limit Beauty. It protects Beauty. When the Arts cease to model true Beauty, they are no longer Art. They are a profanity, a twisted mockery of the Sacred.

I’m a Lord of the Rings fan, and I like Tolkien’s illustration of this. He writes that Sauron (what we might call the “Satan” figure in Tolkien’s mythology) cannot create anything. Trolls, goblins, and other evil creatures are merely a corruption of the created order. In fact, none of the creatures in Tolkien’s Middle Earth were originally evil. The distortion came from within at the bidding of Evil. So it is with our world.

There is much that is good, holy, and beautiful in our world. It is still “my Father’s world” after all. As awful as things have gotten here, evil is only a mockery of the good. It is at best an assault on Beauty. Such mockery is really an attempt to assault God Himself, because He is the author of Beauty. A quick read of Psalms 2 will quickly point out that evil is only a passing thing, and though evil men and women may mock God and His Law of Beauty, a Day is coming which will end all such attacks.

God has so much for us to enjoy in this world. Find sources of pure Beauty to enjoy, summon the measure of creativity He has given you, and you will both glorify God and enjoy this world He has given to us. We are no more perfectly His Image-bearers than when we exalt Beauty as something Sacred.

Fun Dip and Beer

If you are in the least bit sane, you probably saw the title of this post and had a few questions for me. No worries; it’s just that there’s a story here that has to be shared. This year my wife and I decided to give each other a Christmas gift that we could really enjoy: a night at the symphony and a nice dinner. We don’t go out for culture and class very often, so we were both pretty excited. I donned my nicest attire and even threw on some cologne. No khaki slacks for me!

After an amazing dinner at our favorite (nearly) high-end restaurant, we went to the symphony. The music was absolutely beautiful, and it’s safe to say that we had an enjoyable time. There was only one major glitch in the whole night. Ten minutes into the concert, the guy next to me whipped out a bottle of beer and a Fun Dip package. Now, I’m a huge fan of Fun Dips. Some of my fondest childhood memories involve taking a sugar stick, dipping it into a fruit-flavored powder, and enjoying a nice, refreshing sugar high. Could he have enjoyed the music while enjoying his “snack”? Sure. But it was obvious that he wasn’t tuned into the concert at all. No doubt, he was simply there because his wife wanted to go.

I was irritated and maybe a little sad because this guy missed out on something of the Eternal. And that, I think, is what irked me so much. The truth is, I enjoyed the experience regardless of what the bozo next to me was doing. What drives me nuts as I sit here writing at 12:45am is that, while hundreds around him partook of a Sacred experience, he exercised his free will in wallowing in amusement (a term which originally meant the absence of thinking.)

Tonight, in the middle of this repository of passion, skill, and intelligence (classical music), this glorious cultural- or perhaps hypercultural- experience, sat one man who couldn’t perceive what was going on around him. There he sat, eating his Fun Dip and sipping his beer, while music- some of it written hundreds of years ago- stirred the emotions and the minds of those around him.

“How,” you may ask, “is the symphony Sacred? And what in the world do you mean by hypercultural?” When I say “hypercultural,” I simply mean that there are things that in their essence transcend culture. Beauty is one of those things. Music- true music- is a potent expression of the Law of Beauty- a transcendent reality. It is proof that beauty is not simply in the eye of the beholder. Classical music isn’t classical just because it was written a long time ago. It is a classic because it speaks across generations, languages, and cultures. It has survived the test of time. In a sense works such as classical music and classical literature are not merely beautiful works. They are the incarnation of the Law of Beauty. Something in the thought put into their creation, the passion summoned by a rational mind, has a soulish quality that speaks to the listener.

If the music played at the symphony is indeed soulish, if it communicates something deep and real to the mind and heart of a human being, if it awakens the listener to a higher reality (in this case transcendent Beauty) than himself, then it is in fact Sacred. I don’t mean that it is Sacred in the sense that it reveals God’s Word or is a substitute for Christian music or that a person could come to God by listening to it. I mean that it stirs within the listener (or at least a listener who isn’t dulling his senses with beer and Fun Dip) a desire for Beauty, it tantalizes the Soul which was breathed into Man at Creation, it causes him to turn from himself and ponder the existence of a deeper, broader, more intricate reality than he can perceive with the senses. Something as simple as enjoying Christmas music in a crowded theatre can be just one movement of the Anthem of the Ages orchestrated by a loving God. How sad would it be if we missed Him because we traded the Sacred for Fun Dip!