The truth is only effective against an honest and sound mind.
-- Ilfinor
13 March 2024
Note: In what I refer to as an apologist, I mean a Christian apologist, which is
a person whose primary
ministry is to intellectually defend the Christian faith, using Christian principles and often secular 'facts',
to the degree that they are considered reliable.
Note: Most of what I communicate in this essay is readily securely backed up by scriptures. However,
some of it is less secure, but I believe in its truth just the same. I hope the reader can distinguish
between them.
What an enormously broad education one would need to be a Christian apologist these days! I'm not
cut out for that investment in study in those areas. I have a full-time 'lay ministry' (of no denomination)
in other areas. My ministry is to teach people how to be saved and then how to get the victory over the
lusts of the flesh. [Galatians 5:16] I do this through the writing of essays/sermons and Christian speculative
fiction, of which I currently have seven books on the major characters Ilfinor and Tristan, published on
my website, available in PDF for free. And I have placed quite a bit of my own apologetic arguments inside
those stories.
Nevertheless, as I find the time, I do indeed defend the faith. I even listen to both atheists and
apologists battle it out. I might even get around to making some suggestions to the both of you before
this essay is over.
There is no doubt that apologetics is a valid ministry of Christianity. Paul put it this way for himself:
And many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much
more bold to speak the word without fear. Some indeed preach Christ even of envy
and strife; and some also of good will: The one preach Christ of contention,
not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds: But the other of love,
knowing that I am set for the defense of the gospel. -- Philippians 1:14-17
However, the Apostle Paul was not an apologist as I have defined it above. Rather, he was an evangelist
and church planter, who also did the work of an apologist parttime.
I will now define four categories of Christian apologists. [The number by the category represents what
I figure to be the approximate number of years of hard study before attaining this level.]
To the small degree that I act as an occasional apologist, I would categorize myself as a rank novice. My
calling and abilities are elsewhere.
I have many problems with the claims and attacks from atheists, agnostics, secular scientists, and
deconstructed former 'Christians'. Likewise, I have problems with the major apologists. Sometimes it's
over their doctrine. Other times it's specifically about how they interact with their audiences or formulate
their arguments and counterarguments in videos, books, or articles.
Apologetics is a debate that is centered on the mind, on rational thought, and on facts, both biblical and
secular. This is as it should be, but I need to preach to the heart, soul, and strength of people as well,
not just to their minds. Jesus said:
And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and withWhen one debates as an apologist, one is more like the scribe than the preacher. The preacher can
all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour
as thyself. -- Luke 10:27
The one thing an apologist should never feel compelled to do is to apologize for God's behavior. God
does what He does and we don't have to make up excuses for it. If you, as an apologist, have a real
problem with how God does things, that will show through in your replied to the naysayers. Deal with
that first, guys.
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvationDoes God do things that the human mind has difficulty to deal with? Absolutely. Yet, we are
to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. -- Romans 1:16
And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me -- Matthew 11:6Most of the time I listen to the accounts of the deconstructed believers, their first complaint about
You can't hold out for the God that you want; you have to deal with the God that is.Jesus gave us a parable of 'two believers':
But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, goIf you're still breathing, there's still hope for your repentance; only this time do it right!
work to day in my vineyard. He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented,
and went. And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go,
sir: and went not. Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him,
The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots
go into the kingdom of God before you. -- Matthew 21:28-31
Jesus did apologetics inasmuch as He appealed to historical and scriptural facts. He often made logical
arguments against His opponents. But He did not limit Himself to those tactics. For instance, Jesus
challenged His enemies to decide publicly whether the ministry of John the Baptist was of men or of
God. [Mark 11:27-33] We see in this confrontation one example in which He had His gotcha moment
against His enemies, but He was not merely showing off. John the Baptist's ministry was prophesied
in the Old Testament, so they shouldn't just ignore its wider importance. I have every reason to
believe that Jesus would have answered their question of His authority if they would have answered His
question about the authority of John the Baptist. (Jesus had by that point already claimed that John's
ministry was a fulfilment of scripture before the Messiah would come.) [Isaiah 40:3-5, Malachi 3:1,
Malachi 4:5.]
What's the point? Jesus said that they have Moses and the prophets, so if they won't believe them,
they won't believe Him either. [From a parable Jesus told: Luke 16:31] Jesus was telling them
that they were looking right at the scriptures that defined His ministry, yet missing it.
Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they
which testify of me -- John 5:39
The Pharisees He had challenged could not answer His question merely based on the facts of the
Hebrew scriptures. Then how would they answer it? By looking inside themselves and drawing
on the intuition of truth that all true believers of Jesus are capable of doing, some better
than others. You see, what Jesus told us in our love of God in heart, mind, soul, and strength is
that we have four modes of worship and communication with the Father in Heaven. The mind is
for rational thought, of course. The Heart is for emotional love and dedication for us to God and
for God to love others through us, the love of God being shed abroad in our hearts [Romans 5:5].
Strength being for our mental and physical perseverance till the day we die. And the soul? I have
to pigeon-hole the Intuition of Truth for that domain of our psyches. Remember that I said that
these four attributes of the human psyche are channels of communication from God to us. And
through these channels God can reach us with the Intuition of Truth. It's as good a way as any
that I can think of to explain how God drops a truth into our spirits, which we can receive
with confidence.
When Peter proclaimed Jesus as the Son of God, he did so as the recipient of an Intuition of Truth
from the Father (probably through the agency of the Holy Spirit). When Jesus asked His disciples if
they would abandon Him, as the masses had done, Peter said:
Will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go?This claim that Peter made ['thou hast the words of eternal life'] cannot be proved by logic and the
thou hast the words of eternal life. -- John 6:67-68
If you're trying to find Jesus only through the mind, you may well miss Him because He never said
to do that. But you people who, in your human pride, preach that rationality is the highest virtue,
will miss God, who demands that we humble ourselves before Him and His wisdom. Besides all
that, do you not know that 'All truth is rational'? Therefore, if God is true, God is also rational, so
what have you gained? In that case, rationality has failed to eliminate God.
Judas Iscariot had the intuition of truth, but his intuition was corrupted. He thought he could hand
Jesus over to the leaders of Israel and they would rebuke Him somehow, but in the end let Him go.
He seemed to have believed that Jesus would find a way out, like He had done so many times before.
But it wasn't so that time. Then Judas, seeing that Jesus was condemned, could not deal with this guilt,
so he killed himself.
Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself,From the biblical point of view, it's clear that Judas did not have a sound mind. In his own mind, he
and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, Saying, I have
sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou
to that. And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged
himself. -- Matthew 27:3-5
But where did Judas go wrong? He was first of all a thief [John 12:6], but even if he hadn't been,
his whole reason for following Jesus was apparently for secular payoff, earthly rewards, for that is all
he ever seemed to care about. His heart was never into the ministry. [Reread the first phrase of the
first line of 1 Peter 3:15 above.] He was at best a worker for hire. How many of those so-called 'Church'
ministers are of the same mentality today? My guess is almost all of them. How many of them have sold
their souls to the Devil for political power or for the lie of 'their best life now' or by being cowed by
denominational or evangelical group-think?
If you do not have the intuition of truth that you live in a moral universe, apart from all human definitions
of or contrived implementations of morality, then how could you ever be convinced that God is real or
even needed to explain the world you live within? As for me, since I was a small boy, I have had the
intuition that I live in a moral universe, and I needed a way to explain this feeling. Guess what? That's
what Jesus and His gospel does for me! That's a major reason in itself why I don't have to waste my
time to check out all the other religions, friend! And I can't transfer that intuition of the truth of the
gospel to you by the mere action of my preaching it to you. However, the Holy Spirit can give it to
you, enlightening you by the words you hear, as you take in the words of the preacher of the gospel
of Truth!
But if by your hardened and impenitent heart you refuse to receive the truth, don't blame God, for
He said:
So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shallSo, does God talk to (i.e., communicate with by some means) Patrick? Well, why wouldn't He? He
not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please,
and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. -- Isaiah 55:11
Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go notThe world is a pretty big place, containing 8+ billion people God tries to get through to. But
away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of
judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on me; Of righteousness, because I go to my
Father, and ye see me no more; Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.
-- John 16:7-11
So, I say to you, Doubter, Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened unto you. [Matthew 7:7]
But this journey is not for the faint of heart nor for the cowardly. To be a Christian is to grow a
backbone -- not for politics or to conform to religious group-think, but for love and good works.
If you exercise your heart for selfishness, your intuition of truth will be corrupted and you will not
have a sound mind. Jesus demands of us a pure heart. If we exercise our hearts in pure motives,
we can develop godly discernment, even as the writer of Hebrews told us:
For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which beAnd also:
the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of
strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a
babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use
have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. -- Hebrews 5:12-14
But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe thatBut do not be deceived, Reader. A half-hearted response to Jesus is as good as none at all. If
he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. -- Hebrews 11:6
Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous,
even as he is righteous. -- 1 John 3:7
Are you willing to diligently seek out God? If you're not all-in with God, why should He be all-in with
you? You cannot expect to be saved if you treat being a Christian as simply tacking on a little formal
Christian piety to your already-busy life, that's full to the brim of your own concerns and aspirations.
To the contrary, Jesus has to become the center of your life, even if nobody else in your life will share
that straight and narrow road to heaven with you. You must be born again. You must become a new
person who is no longer the slave to your carnal desires and goals. You must strive to enter the
kingdom! [Luke 13:24]
If you do that with a pure heart, Jesus promised that He would manifest Himself to His true followers:
He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me:Did you catch that, folks? Jesus promised that He would manifest Himself to His true followers!! Think
and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him,
and will manifest myself to him. -- John 14:21
If you ever hope to find God, you have to set yourself to loving all truth and hating all lies. Vet
every proposition; hold to that which is well founded. [Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.
(1 Thessalonians 5:21)] Never tell a lie. Never let yourself be conned into believing a lie. If you
disbelieve authorities, you'd better have more than a conspiracy theory to justify your belief, or there
be hell fire waiting for you. We are ordered to submit to authorities, folks.
Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: theAnd
powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the
ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are
not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do
that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same:
-- Romans 13:1-3
Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king,My personal belief is that every preacher who fails to preach these verses, right when we need this
as supreme; Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers,
and for the praise of them that do well. For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may
put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: -- 1 Peter 2:13-15
You either get control of your lusts and feelings of entitlements or they will get control of you. --- Ilfinor
How is it that the most brazen so-called Christians are the most reprobate and evil?
They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient,
and unto every good work reprobate. -- Titus 1:16
You false preachers pretend that your preaching job is done when you've preached against the sins
of the heathen about you. But God says to leave them alone:
For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within?No surprise that the false preachers have their preaching priorities backwards. The Church is to deal
But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked
person. -- 1 Corinthians 5:12-13
And remember, There is more hope for a fool than for a man who believes in conspiracy theories. Jesus
is self-proclaimed as 'the way the truth and the life', not 'the way, the conspiracy theory, and the life'.
[John 14:6] Conspiracy theories are just a fancy, pretentious way to believe a lie, resulting in eventual
hell fire.
Don't you think that Jesus hates conspiracy theories most of all? It was a conspiracy theory that the Devil
handed to Adam and Eve to provoke them to rebel against the Word of God. It was a conspiracy theory
that the Pharisees argued against the works that Jesus did to cast out devils. It was a conspiracy theory
by which the leaders of Israel argued after the Resurrection that the body of Jesus had been stolen away
by His disciples. Conspiracy theories aren't anything new, folks, but they are damnable lies. They are
insidious. They are the Devil's lies dressed up to be respectable.
For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters,What marvelous company liars keep in God's opinion, folks! Think carefully about this warning.
and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. -- Revelation 22:15
But surely, you will tell me that the only lies Jesus really cares about are those specifically 'against
the faith," right? No! Every lie is against the faith because it if against the incarnation of Truth: the
very knowledge and holiness of God. If you want to please God, you had better arrange your life so that
you never tell a lie. You should begin by repenting of all your activities (including mental habits) that
you would lie about. In some sense, wherever the truth is, Jesus is. And wherever a lie is, the Devil is.
I warn you all that Jesus will not accept your plea of ignorance on your day of judgment, if you lie about
vaccines, or illegal aliens, or any lie that the extreme right and the extreme left declare openly. Jesus
placed you in the 21st century AD, not the 21st century BC. You had better account with good evidence for
every single proposition you believe and teach others to believe. For on your day of judgment, the books
will be opened and every man will be judge according to his works. [America is not a 'Christian nation'
because there is no such thing. And, Cleopatra was European caucasian, not African black. These are the
facts, according to best evidence.]
He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and
he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.
And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according
as his work shall be. -- Revelation 22:11-12
Jesus said that He would lead His true followers. [My sheep hear my voice, and I know them,
and they follow me (John 10:27)] He can do this by literal voice, by feeling/intuition, by
scripture brought to mind, and by circumstance. Absolutely, God does not expect us to believe on
Him as a mere act of blind faith! In fact, if blind faith is as far along in the process of godliness that
you ever get, you have seriously failed to diligently follow after Him. The purpose of the fear of God
is merely to get you interested in pursuing God. It is not an end in itself. Yes, there is a place for us
to fear God. But Jesus went to Peter after His resurrection to ask him if he loved Him, not if he feared
Him. [John 21:15-17]
I cannot tell you exactly what it means to love God, but I know that it entails this much: We must love
the vision that God has given us for how we should treat each other, which is that we should, to the best
of our abilities and means, be kind to each other and never lie to each other. Think of how much better
this world would be if we could hold to just those two principles! Think of how much your life would
have to change if you were to dedicate your life to holding to those two principles. And there, perhaps,
is the rub.
And you be careful not to ignore all coincidences in your life, because God may be trying to get
your attention for revelation or for a blessing through life's 'coincidences'.
Apologists, please try to answer the questions posed to you, without dodging them. You have to get over
being embarrassed that God has done so many things that the modern mind finds offensive. God claims
to own all souls, and what He does with those souls is up to Him:
Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine:Don't sugar-coat the gospel. People need to know the harsh truth, which separates people, rather than
the soul that sinneth, it shall die. -- Ezekiel 18:4
How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not theAs a true believer you have to develop a thick skin and independence from group-think. As for myself,
honour that cometh from God only? -- John 5:44
Whose church is the Christian church, anyway. Yours? Mine? No, it belongs entirely to Jesus Christ.
Jesus told us through the gospels and the epistles how to run His church. If we're not going to do church
the way He told us to, why do we even bother, then? If we refuse to do church the way Jesus told us
to because we cow to humanism, feminism, authoritarianism, denominationalism, New Ageism, political
expedience, popularity, socialism, communism, fascism, or wokism, or for any other unscriptural influence,
we are in sin.
Let's look at some issues that apologist/believers seem to get embarrassed about:
God is not fair. No, He isn't. God has not distributed the good and the evil of this world equally over the
entire population of the world. And besides that, Time and chance happen to them all [Ecclesiastes 9:11].
God is not 'All Good', neither is He 'All Just'. These superlatives have no basis in scripture. The Bible
tells us that God is Good, but it stops there. What does it even mean to claim that God is "all good" or
"all just"? Whatever God is, He is the sum of all of His attributes presented to us in the Bible. No one
of them is to the exclusion of the others. And of all His attributes, how are we supposed to rank them?
By human sentiment?
Say, for example, that we declare that God is ALL Good. Is that supposed to somehow annul His Justice?
God forbid: for then how shall God judge the world? [Romans 3:6]
God is not All powerful. If God were to whisk me to His throne and demand of me to explain my statement,
I have a ready answer:
My Lord, who am I to defend myself in your presence? But here is my reply: Any being who is allIs God 'All Loving'? It's tempting to proclaim that God is all-loving, except that I know of no scripture to
powerful is without constraint. But you have declared that you cannot deny yourself [2 Timothy 2:13].
And that you cannot tell a lie [Hebrews 6:18]. For so it must be, my Lord, for were it not true, how
could we trust the scripture: Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever? [Hebrews 13:8]
Leaving our faith on shifting sand. Thus, by these holy constraints, you are not all powerful. And as a
consequence, You cannot change the past, for if You did, that would mess with the soundness of our
minds to believe in facts and the scriptures set down, even in stone.
More Bugaboos!
Stop trying to debunk Darwinism/evolution on the basis that Darwin had an agenda and that he had personal
faults. We all have an agenda and personal faults. As for Darwin's, point them out if you must, but don't
linger on them. Don't make ad hominem attacks against the theory of evolution. If you do, it makes it look
like you don't have anything better to argue with, but I know that you do.
Be careful of claiming to have a gotcha question for atheists. I can think of only three of them: One involves
the existence of morality; the other asks whether free will exists. Then I would add Fine-Tuning of the constants
of physics, but atheists see no problem trivializing the thing down to: "We just happen to exist in the 1 out of
10500 universes in which life as we know it can exists." This is a ludicrous reply so far as I'm concerned,
but they are quite comfortable with that cop-out explanation that explains nothing. Again, the truth is only
affective against an honest and sound mind. [If I think of any more gotcha questions later, I may add them to
this essay, which will probably never be finalized so long as I live.]
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love,If you want to have a sound mind, then rid your mind of all lies and learn to hate falsities.
and of a sound mind. -- 2 Timothy 1:7
Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
[Romans 8:7] Look at it this way: Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge.
Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth. [1 Corinthians 8:1]. This is true of people generally. We are born in
the Information Age so we have to have knowledge, but we have to be aware of the tendency of that knowledge
making us proud. But the proud mind is in enmity against God. God claims that He will determine the delusion
of His enemies. (Yes, God deludes!) So, on the one hand you have a person who believes that the universe is very
old and that science has it all figured out, so why does this person need a god to explain anything? The believer
has the great advantage of having the Intuition of Morality from God through his or her Intuition of Truth, which
gives him or her confidence in the Bible and in Jesus. But the educated natural mind thinks this is foolishness.
If you want the grace of God to see the truth, you need to humble yourself. But how many people will humble
themselves before the God of the New Testament? Very few. Therefore, they are without excuse. But though we
be few, we are not forgotten of God:
Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. -- Luke 12:32
Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoeverOne apologist claimed that a certain set of cosmological events posited for the evolution of the universe could not be
therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The
spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud,
but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from
you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts,
ye double minded. -- James 4:4-8
However God made all things in that first Creation Week, He made an awful lot in a short amount of time. He had
all life-supporting necessities ready by the time Adam was made in the Garden of Eden on the Sixth Day. And what
did Adam find for his environment? A billion seedlings that would take decades to grow up? Probably not. Form
follows function here, folks. On Day Six, the Garden was full grown because it had to function as a fully formed
garden as soon as Adam was conscious within it. The Garden looked decades old, though it was less than a week old.
God does not initially lead us to delusion, but if we walk away from Him, there are a multitude of delusional
explanations out there waiting to take us down. Failing to believe God leads directly to delusion. The first
step toward delusion begins with our own personal rebellion against God. The existence of these delusions is
hardwired into the system for unbelievers (and for believers):
For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken outAnd also:
of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his
mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working
of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness
in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for
this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be
damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. -- 2 Thessalonians 2:7-12
He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he cut off a dog's neck;Don't believe for a second, friend, that just because you sit in some church for a couple hours a week
he that offereth an oblation, as if he offered swine's blood; he that burneth incense, as if he blessed
an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations. I also
will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did
answer; when I spake, they did not hear: but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which
I delighted not. -- Isaiah 66:3-4
So, how are we to avoid these delusions, then? Jesus is the truth, we can start with Him. But beyond knowing the
truth, we have to be ever vigilant not to lose it to some cunny alternative, designed to please men and not God:
Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God,So what do you do when you are confronted by an atheist who claims that the universe is old and that
and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; -- 1 Corinthians 10:5
There cannot be a god I don't like.
Oh, yes there can! There is no logical connection between your sensibilities and the nature of God. If you
think you are more powerful or righteous than God, you'll find out to the contrary on your judgment day.
You (and I) have to deal with the God that exists, not the God we would prefer to exist.
God kills. He kills the godly and the ungodly. It's only a matter of time. Our job is to be ready at all
times for death and judgment.
And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: -- Hebrews 9:27If the atheists and disaffected don't like the God of the Bible who has allowed slavery and he Himself
What is Rationality?
Rationality has to have something to do with having a sound mind. Atheists love to take the 'rational' high
ground in debates with believer, and they assume this position by default. They are wrong in this.
Is modern cosmogony true? It's certainly considered scientific by the naturalists. Genesis questions
are often shrugged off by naturalists. They claim to know how life evolve once it was started, but they
don't know how it was started. They know how the universe evolved from the Big Bang seed, but they
don't know what caused it to Bang, so to speak. So far as I'm concerned, the naturalists can invent a
hundred theories to answer these questions, but proof will never be there.
For my concern, though, the jump from nothing to matter is no where near as large, or as important,
as the jump from matter to sentience and more from matter to morality. If you downplay or trivialize
morality, you are then free not to try to explain it.
Boy, would I love to skip this one, but I believe in being direct and pragmatic about my faith in all its
aspects. So, I'll just say it outright. The Bible may be inerrant, or may have been inerrant in its
original form, but I cannot declare it to be or not to be. Whether the Bible is or is not inerrant is simply
not a matter of faith. It's a matter of technicalities, and I do not have to technical expertise to decide the
matter. The claim that the Bible, as we have it today, is inerrant is a matter of establishing by evidence,
not by proclamation. If I have a calculus book that I know has two errors in it, I don't throw out the
calculus book. Maybe the reader would, maybe he or she just doesn't like calculus and is using this fact
merely as an excuse not to deal with it. [Come on, reader, you're smart enough to know what I'm getting
at, but it won't work for you on Judgment Day.]
Quite fortunately, none of us needs to decide the matter to be saved. Jesus sent His disciples out to preach
salvation in His name. Do you suppose any of their listeners were saved by their preaching? I do. But do
you suppose that they were perfect preachers? I don't. Peter wasn't perfect, but I suppose that I could
have been saved by listening to the preaching of Peter.
While you apologists stress the importance of the inerrancy of scriptures, precious time is going by while the
unsaved run out the clock, waiting for everyone of their criticisms to be answered. For most of them, they
never will. There are probably a million ways to find technical faults with the Bible, when including the
miniscule and the frivolous. But the unsaved do not have forever to make the decision for Christ.
Nevertheless, if you apologists feel called of God to defend biblical inerrancy, who am I to tell you not to?
Keep the small things small, and the big things big. If you can't be persuaded to believe on Jesus by reading
the King James version of the Gospel of John, then I wonder if anything would convince you that Jesus is
the true Messiah of the world. You should rely on the intuition of truth to tip the balance of authenticity
of the words of Jesus in the Gospel of John.
Jesus never demanded that anyone believe in the inerrancy of the Bible of His day. Most of His followers were
quite ignorant, were they not? Do you really think that God cares how many times you believe that the cock
crowed the night of Jesus' betrayal? Your salvation does not hang on any such trivial matters. Of course it
would be nice to get a perfectly harmonized gospel, but I'll take what I can get. I'm not going to sweat the
small stuff, folks, and you shouldn't either.
Jesus has freed me from my addictions to sex, porn, getting high, healed my body, provided many manifestations
to me, answered most of my questions, provided for my material needs. So do you think I should at this point
care how many chariots King David really had at any given time? I do not. You unsaved people out there, quit
allowing these minor issues keep you from taking up the challenge Jesus gave you to free you from your
addictions, reveal the truth to you, and save your souls. The clock is ticking. When you experience the
deliverance
of a kind that Frodo Baggins experienced after the One Ring was destroyed at Mount Doom and he realized that
the curse was no longer on him, you will know that the promises of Jesus are real, and no one has to merely
believe on them by one giant leap of blind faith for the rest of their lives. Jesus promised that He would manifest
Himself to you! That's the power of the cross reaching out to you over space and time. Will you receive it?
For decades I was really frustrated by this conundrum. Why doesn't God just prove Himself undeniably
through the secular physical world? (This is not to be confused with manifestations in one's
personal life.)
People often refer to this conundrum as the 'Hiddenness of God'. But, as I have already tried to explain,
God is not hidden to those who diligently seek the truth, and who exercise their intuition to receive the
impressions of the Holy Spirit. To those who are willing to seek after God in Spirit and in truth [John 4:24],
they will find God.
I can think of one obvious way He could have done so, a way a hypothetical Flat-Earther could claim that He
did. Make all the large bodies of the solar system agree with Newton (in some form or other), but make the
earth flat to prove UNDENIABLY that God rules over the earth! But this is exactly what God would NOT do!
He would not tip His hand to that degree and rob from us the intellectual right to come to Him out of a good
and noble heart, or to find some intellectual 'reason' to reject Him, as most people do.
If Jesus had wanted to give His enemies no place to intellectually deny Him, after His resurrection, He could
have gone to Pilate and the Sanhedrin and shown Himself alive and in command of the whole Earth. But He
didn't. Why not? Think hard about this question, Reader! Why didn't He?
I'll tell you why the religious flat-earthers believe that God made the earth flat. Because they lack the
Intuition
of Truth by which they can have confidence that the Gospels are true, without having UNDENIABLE facts
to base it on. These are not true Christians so far as I'm concerned. They are false believers, teaching a false
science and a false gospel. The Flat-Earth model is for them the crutch for their lack of faith in God in the
face of contrary scientific arguments, so-called, against God. Of course there must be 'facts' against God, for
if there weren't, we would never need faith to believe in God. If God told Adam that the earth was only a
week old, I imagine that at some point in his life, Adam would be tempted to believe that such a claim is
nonsense. It would be then that Adam would need to exercise his faith in the Word of God in the face of the
seeming 'facts' against it. But the natural mind is enmity against God. That makes it, by itself, incapable
of discerning truth. To know truth, some revelation from God to us is necessary. But if the only truth you
care about is 'natural' truth, you'll surely miss God. Note: There are many models of the flat-earth universe,
and I have picked on just one of them, hopefully not too inaccurately.
Why was Adam created on the Sixth Day rather than on the First Day, so he could watch the whole thing
being created in real time? I suppose for many reasons, but one reason stands out: Adam was to be made
out of the dust of the earth, so some time delay was needed to do that. But there is a profound consequence
that Adam did not see the Creation week unfold before his eyes. He would have to accept God's explanation
of what happened on faith. The just shall live by faith. Even believers are not privileged in this life to peek
behind God's cosmic curtain to comprehend all that undergirds reality.
For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but thenAnd
shall I know even as also I am known. -- 1 Corinthians 13:12
He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no
man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end. -- Ecclesiastes 3:11
God cannot make His existence obvious to us all through the secular physical realm, for if He did, there
would be no place for faith, hope, and love. God has granted us all the intellectual right to decide the
question of His existence apart from the undeniable domination of facts. He has given us the inellectual
wiggle room to deny Him with our minds, but we would do so against the prodding of the Holy Spirit, so
that those who do are without excuse.
Yes, there are facts that support Old-Earth-Evolutionary dogmas. But, not all the facts align with this view.
There are facts that support the Young-Earth Creationist model, but not all facts align with this theory either.
So, where does that leave us? It's interesting: Both believer and unbeliever must settle the matter in their own
minds based on faith, by which they grant more weight to some facts over others. Thus, the just -- and the
unjust -- shall live by faith. The prideful unsaved can brag that they have removed faith in God, but not
faith altogether.
If God had made His existence scientifically undeniable, then the Apostle Paul would have had no need
to preach to us that God has left us witness of Himself:
Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven,Because the facts of nature do not obligate us to believe in God, the unbeliever must resort to these subtle
and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness. -- Acts 14:17
However, I'm not saying that Nature does not hint to us of God.
The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. -- Palms 19:1And
For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shallBut why is it that some people can see the handywork of God in Nature, while others cannot? I
live by faith. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
of men, who hold the truth in righteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in
them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world
are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead;
so that they are without excuse: -- Romans 1:17-20
Bugaboo: I don't understand why Jesus had to die for my sins. It makes no sense to me.
I read or heard this complaint many times. In the end, what ultimately motivated God's action and His
reasoning is to God alone. Nevertheless, there is an internal consistency about the death of Jesus on the
cross. To God, sin is so repugnant that godly Justice demands some form of payment for it. In other words,
God won't just let it go. It was God's choice that the ultimate payment for Man's sin would be by the shedding
of His Son's blood on the cross of Calvary.
For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is ofAnd
force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth. Whereupon neither
the first testament was dedicated without blood. For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the
people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and
hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people, Saying, This is the blood of the testament which
God hath enjoined unto you. Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels
of the ministry. And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood
is no remission. -- Hebrews 9:16-22
And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and
said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink
ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
-- Matthew 26:26-28
Bugaboo: Why can't I get to heaven by living a good life?
Question: What defines your 'good life'?
Your reply: I suppose by a list of good behaviors to live by.
My reply: It's far too late for that kind of thinking. Your so-called 'list of good behaviors' didn't die on a cross for
you; Jesus did.
God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth
not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing,
seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; And hath made of one blood all nations of men for
to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of
their habitation; That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though
he be not far from every one of us: For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of
your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we
ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device.
And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:
Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he
hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.
-- Acts 17:24-31
Bugaboo: If God is all good, why is there so much evil in the world?
I don't claim that God is all good, but let's rephrase it to this:
Bugaboo: If God is good, why is there so much evil in the world?
The world before the Fall of Man was called good. After the Fall, God cursed the people of the earth to harships.
These hardships are magnified by the evilness of mankind (lusts, greed, idolatry, hatred of others, etc).
So what's the issue here? Is it that you don't like this answer or you don't understand this answer?
If it were up to you, how much curse could God place on the earth? None? Well, then, how would an earth without
curse look any worse than the Garden Mankind left? And why would we ever look forward to a New heavens and a
new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness? [2 Peter 3:13]
Bugaboo: One reason I left the church is because I learned how badly God treats people.
I so often hear this complaint from deconstructed Christians because they don't like the fact that God has
behavioral, moral standards. Usually this is about people's sexual orientations that God disapproves of.
Look, folks, we are all born with lusts (the lusts of the flesh). It's just part of our natural fallen natures. I
was born with it and suffered from it for decades. But in 2008, I learned how to 'walk in the Spirit'
[Galatians 5:16], to get the victory. I used to be terribly addicted to sex: heterosexuality, homosexuality,
porn, Mast. But Jesus took all that from me in one day! What He did for me, He can do for you. I have
written about all this many times in my essays and fiction stories.
I have nothing against psychology and psychiatry. They can work well in those domains in which they are
crafted to work. But they are not the best weapons against spiritual problems, such as intense sexual lust.
But the Holy Spirit can deal with it -- even if you were 'born with it'. I certainly was 'born with it', but
that didn't stop me from being delivered. The promises of God are yea and amen [2 Corinthians 1:20], but
if you want to receive them, you must be all-in with Jesus. No phoniness about it.
Remember this: The righteous are mindful of the poor and help them; the wicked do not! (Proverbs 29:7)