"Theist David Wood asks in his debates...whether
it is rational to look at the Venus de Milo statue, note its
condition, and conclude that no intelligent artist would be
incompetent or perverse enough to sculpt it without arms.
Surely it makes more sense to view the delicate greatness of what remains of Venus de Milo and conclude instead that a great
artist's work has suffered serious damage." pg 126.
Often I have asked the question of an older children's Sunday school class, "What do you think the world would be like if God did not exist?" Where would the ability
to sense right and wrong come from and whose authority would decide
it? What would make someone an authority in the first place?
Strength - physical and mental strength. It would truly be a
world of the strong dominating the weak. I would have been
squashed and considered worthless as I was sick much of my
childhood. I might not would have made it to my current age, or
even to my teens for that matter. The "survival of the
fittest" would surely take control.
We can watch the animal world and see what it would be like somewhat: Perhaps the adult males would kill the infant males so as to keep them from one day trying to take over leadership. Many in the animal kingdom try to do this and succeed if the mother fails to defend the little one.
If one of us became ill, the others would perhaps jump and kill them to rid the group of possible disease. This too takes place. We call these things "natural selection." We see nothing inherently wrong in them, because these are animals we speak of instead of humans. But what, if not God, makes us any better than the animals. It is being discovered as of late that the thing we THOUGHT made us different (ability to reason) is not the case. More and more animals, dogs, cats, pigs, apes, and many others, it has been discovered, can reason, yet to them it is perfectly natural to kill or be killed, even amongst their own kind. Yet it must also be stated that animals can and sometimes do change. When humankind pours out love and affection on them, they tend to respond in like manner.
A dog in the wild will kill any animal that it considers edible. Bring it home, bath, feed, pet and shower it with affection and this same dog will most of the time become your greatest defender. He will wag his tail (sometimes entire body), lick your hands and face, sit on your lap, stay by you when you are ill and will never even try to bite you, let alone kill you for food. What is the difference? Love given by someone bigger, smarter and wealthier than they ever imagined. As a matter of fact, they probably never imagined being loved at all, yet here they are.
People are the same. Picturing a God who is bigger, stronger, smarter and so very much wealthier than we in the things that are of real worth loving us is simply unfathomable. How could such a person exist? We see so little of that kind of love in the physical realm, how could it possible exist anywhere else? Yet those of us who have experienced that love know how extreme and real it is.
I once read a book of fiction entitled The Demas Revelation. It is based on one verse of Scripture: "...for Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world, and has departed for Thessalonica-" II Timothy 4:10.
In the book a Christian archaeologist discovers some scrolls that have supposedly been related by the disciples and Paul to a scribe, who wrote them on papyrus, placed them in a wax sealed container, buried half in Herculaneum and the other half in Pompeii. Each scroll is supposedly a confession that they lied about Jesus' resurrection. Before the archaeologist can finish testing them, one is stolen and brought before the press, who of course, enjoy telling the world that there is proof that Jesus was a fake. The chaos that takes place reveals somewhat what the world would be like if the world as a whole stopped believing. I will not tell you how the book ends, but I hope that you check it out at your library, borrow it from a loved one, download it onto your Kindle or other device or purchase it for yourself. It really made me stop and think about how I would react in such a situation and I found myself coming up with reasons that would cause such lies to be a true archaeological find and yet still be false. See what reasons you come up with and test your faith. Read the entire book including epilogue, questions and answers section and note from the author. I promise you will be blessed.
The author's name is Shane Johnson. This is the first novel I have read of his, but look forward to more adventures from him as I LOVE archaeological fiction AND non-fiction.
Without God there would be no such thing as good or bad and we would have to simply live or die by it. There would be no purpose in life but to eat, drink and be merry, and the merry part would be fake and very short lived as we would constantly having to look over our shoulder. Would it be possible to have friends or would we be forced to trust no one?
We would be in constant search of the next big experience. Each would have to be better than the last to satisfy our "hunger" until we ultimately become the beast or the prey. There would be no in-between.
Some may disagree or find my thought process a little far fetched, but those who know Him will not. I grieve for those who do not. As Shane writes on page 295 of his book, "We're saved only because God has chosen to save us through His Son. We receive salvation. We don't buy it. We don't pursue it. It is a gift. There's one narrow bridge by which we may reach God, a bridge He built because, otherwise, there could be none between us. And if we place our trust in any other, if we try to cross that chasm by any other path, we just won't get there."
We can watch the animal world and see what it would be like somewhat: Perhaps the adult males would kill the infant males so as to keep them from one day trying to take over leadership. Many in the animal kingdom try to do this and succeed if the mother fails to defend the little one.
If one of us became ill, the others would perhaps jump and kill them to rid the group of possible disease. This too takes place. We call these things "natural selection." We see nothing inherently wrong in them, because these are animals we speak of instead of humans. But what, if not God, makes us any better than the animals. It is being discovered as of late that the thing we THOUGHT made us different (ability to reason) is not the case. More and more animals, dogs, cats, pigs, apes, and many others, it has been discovered, can reason, yet to them it is perfectly natural to kill or be killed, even amongst their own kind. Yet it must also be stated that animals can and sometimes do change. When humankind pours out love and affection on them, they tend to respond in like manner.
A dog in the wild will kill any animal that it considers edible. Bring it home, bath, feed, pet and shower it with affection and this same dog will most of the time become your greatest defender. He will wag his tail (sometimes entire body), lick your hands and face, sit on your lap, stay by you when you are ill and will never even try to bite you, let alone kill you for food. What is the difference? Love given by someone bigger, smarter and wealthier than they ever imagined. As a matter of fact, they probably never imagined being loved at all, yet here they are.
People are the same. Picturing a God who is bigger, stronger, smarter and so very much wealthier than we in the things that are of real worth loving us is simply unfathomable. How could such a person exist? We see so little of that kind of love in the physical realm, how could it possible exist anywhere else? Yet those of us who have experienced that love know how extreme and real it is.
I once read a book of fiction entitled The Demas Revelation. It is based on one verse of Scripture: "...for Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world, and has departed for Thessalonica-" II Timothy 4:10.
In the book a Christian archaeologist discovers some scrolls that have supposedly been related by the disciples and Paul to a scribe, who wrote them on papyrus, placed them in a wax sealed container, buried half in Herculaneum and the other half in Pompeii. Each scroll is supposedly a confession that they lied about Jesus' resurrection. Before the archaeologist can finish testing them, one is stolen and brought before the press, who of course, enjoy telling the world that there is proof that Jesus was a fake. The chaos that takes place reveals somewhat what the world would be like if the world as a whole stopped believing. I will not tell you how the book ends, but I hope that you check it out at your library, borrow it from a loved one, download it onto your Kindle or other device or purchase it for yourself. It really made me stop and think about how I would react in such a situation and I found myself coming up with reasons that would cause such lies to be a true archaeological find and yet still be false. See what reasons you come up with and test your faith. Read the entire book including epilogue, questions and answers section and note from the author. I promise you will be blessed.
The author's name is Shane Johnson. This is the first novel I have read of his, but look forward to more adventures from him as I LOVE archaeological fiction AND non-fiction.
Without God there would be no such thing as good or bad and we would have to simply live or die by it. There would be no purpose in life but to eat, drink and be merry, and the merry part would be fake and very short lived as we would constantly having to look over our shoulder. Would it be possible to have friends or would we be forced to trust no one?
We would be in constant search of the next big experience. Each would have to be better than the last to satisfy our "hunger" until we ultimately become the beast or the prey. There would be no in-between.
Some may disagree or find my thought process a little far fetched, but those who know Him will not. I grieve for those who do not. As Shane writes on page 295 of his book, "We're saved only because God has chosen to save us through His Son. We receive salvation. We don't buy it. We don't pursue it. It is a gift. There's one narrow bridge by which we may reach God, a bridge He built because, otherwise, there could be none between us. And if we place our trust in any other, if we try to cross that chasm by any other path, we just won't get there."
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