Tuesday, June 30, 2020

CHRISTIAN AGNOSTICS AND THEIR DENIAL OF BIBLICAL CERTAINTY




Can we know about God with some degree of certainty? It seems that there is a growing chorus who say “no.” In the Myth of Certainty, Daniel Taylor had made the absurd claim that, “Faith in God, then, is not a belief system to defend but a life to live out.”

Well, the Christian faith is certainly to be lived out, but how can we live it out if we can have no degree of certainty about whether or not we can trust the teachings enough to live them out!

Taylor’s claim goes against everything that the Bible teaches about certainty and confidence. Doubting Thomas had learned that certainty wasn’t a myth, but instead it is a reasonable expectation. Thomas had refused to believe that Jesus had risen from the dead. However, Jesus was easily able to reverse Thomas’ thinking, when He appeared to Him after His resurrection. Thomas’ uncertainty was placed by, “My Lord and my God,” (John 20:28).

Jesus performed many miracles to banish uncertainty: “If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” (John 10:37-38; 5:31-38)

The Bible often assumes that there this no rational basis for uncertainty:

·       Then the LORD said to Moses: "How long will these people reject Me? And how long will they not believe Me, with all the signs which I have performed among them?” (Numbers 14:11)

Today, certainty also comes through following Jesus according to His Word:

·       So Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority.” (John 7:16-17 )

·       So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32)

Do we need certainty? Scripture repeatedly tell us “yes,” especially about God:

·       Thus says the LORD: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.” (Jeremiah 9:23-24)

All blessings are conveyed through the knowledge of God:

·       May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. (2 Peter 1:2-4)

Jesus had prayed:

·       “I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” (John 17:26)

This knowledge of God produces confidence and boldness:

·       Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. (Hebrews 10:19-22)

It is this knowledge of God that assures us that our sins are completely forgiven and washed away, and that we are beloved.

Why then are there “Christian” agnostics? I had confronted one Christian leader who called himself a “Christian agnostic” with the question:

·       Since you are uncertain and agnostic about the truth claims of the Bible, have you ever read any of the many Christian authors who have addressed your areas of uncertainty?

He sheepishly admitted that he hadn’t. It, therefore, seemed that he was happy to remain uncertain.

Sunday, June 28, 2020

THE ULTIMATE CAUSE




Scientists have long sought after the one unifying cause from which everything else had arisen.

Whatever the cause or explanation, it must be a cause that is great enough to account for the existence of all the phenomena, which we find in the universe -
consciousness, life, DNA, freewill, the origin of space, time, matter, the elegant and immutable laws of science, the fine-tuning of the universe and whatever it is that sustains them. If it is less than its effects, then this would mean that at least some of the aspects of the effects are uncaused – an absolute science stopper, suggesting that some things are uncaused and don’t require an explanation.

This cause must also be uncaused and eternal. If not, it would require its own infinite series of causes – a logical impossibility.


This cause must transcend time. If it didn’t, it would have existed for an infinite number of years. However, if an infinite number of years had already existed, it would be impossible to ever arrive in our present year.


There are others things that we can know about this cause. We find order and predictability which has made learning possible. What can account for this? A Big Bang? Explosions generally cause chaos and not a self-sustaining and a harmoniously functioning and highly integrated world.  

What do these observations imply about this ultimate cause?

Saturday, June 27, 2020

ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE AND TWO TOWNS





Alexis de Tocqueville, French statesman, historian, and social philosopher, wrote Democracy in America in 1835, documenting his analysis of what had once made America great.  All of the quotations in this chapter have been taken from de Tocqueville’s book. It has been described as "the most comprehensive and penetrating analysis of the relationship between character and society in America that has ever been written" (Robert Bellah).  

De Tocqueville wanted to understand why the American Revolution and American democracy has proven to be such a success. According to de Tocqueville, freedom and morality both found their American incarnation in Christianity: 

·       Religion in America…must be regarded as the foremost of the political institutions of that country; for if it does not impart a taste for freedom, it facilitates the use of it.  

De Tocqueville had been well-acquainted with the demands for freedom and equality that had arisen from his own French revolution, which ironically had entailed the hatred and murder of the clergy. This revolution had confidently sought to push aside anything that stood in its way.  However, with the advantage of decades of hindsight, another revolution was something that the French wanted to avoid at all costs. With the tumultuous lessons of his homeland still vivid in his mind, de Tocqueville wrote: 

·       The safeguard of morality is religion, and morality is the best security of law and the surest pledge of freedom.  

He therefore appreciated the moral constraints that he found so ubiquitously associated with democracy in the United States: 

·       I do not question that the great austerity [self-control] of manners that is observable in the United States arises, in the first instance, from religious faith...its influence over the mind of woman is supreme, and women are the protectors of morals. There is certainly no country in the world where the tie of marriage is more respected than in America or where conjugal happiness is more highly or worthily appreciated...  

Over and over again, he found that the fruitful expression of democracy was inseparable from its underlying Christian roots: 

·       In the United States the influence of religion is not confined to the manners, but it extends to the intelligence of the people...Christianity, therefore, reigns without obstacle, by universal consent; the consequence is, as I have before observed, that every principle of the moral world is fixed and determinate. 

De Tocqueville’s glowing observations of Christian faith and conduct did not amount to a claim that Christianity had rooted out all evils. It certainly hadn’t….but neither had any other religion or government. Slavery remained a troubling example. But in view of the many moral failures in every nation and the worldwide acceptance of slavery, this one failure should not be used to discredit the entirety of the Christian influence on America. 

According to de Tocqueville, the greatness of the United States was the outgrowth of what the churches were preaching: 

·       I sought for the key to the greatness and genius of America in her harbors...in her fertile fields and boundless forests; in her rich mines and vast world commerce; in her public school system and institutions of learning. I sought for it in her democratic Congress and in her matchless Constitution. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great. 

Have we ceased to be good? There is certainly a lot of talk about goodness, virtue-signaling, and atoning for one’s “sins” by taking-a-knee, but are these the values that de Tocqueville had observed, the values that build civilizations?

Historian Ariel Durant had written, “A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within.” Her historian husband and co-author, Will Durant, added: “Civilization begins with order, grows with liberty and dies with chaos.” https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/civilization-quotes
From where does the chaos arise? The answer is really quite simple. Robert Kennedy had stated:
·       We know that we cannot live together without rules which tell us what is right and what is wrong, what is permitted and what is prohibited. We know that it is law which enables men to live together, that creates order out of chaos. We know that law is the glue that holds civilization together.
What happens when we no longer value and respect truth, equality, justice, and law, when the glue of our shared Christian-Western values has dissolved? The Roebling Steel Mill was founded by Charles Roebling, son of John A. Roebling, which provided the steel for the Brooklyn Bridge, the Golden Gate Bridge, as well as numerous other bridges including one over Niagara Falls.

At its heyday, it employed 10,000 at the Roebling company town, where Charles had designed the houses and rented them to his employees. The fancier houses were designed for upper management. However, even the most unskilled workers lived in respectable quarters.

Admittedly, the company was somewhat paternalistic. It had its own police, schools, ball teams, a tavern and medical care was available. Roebling even allowed competing stores access and paid their newly-immigrated employees in US dollars, giving them the option of exercising choice. However, the employee had to sign a contract agreeing that he could be discharged from Roebling for rowdiness.

The Roeblings admitted that their intention was not to build the ideal community. However, they had envisioned a sustainable community.

Joseph Stalin had built what was supposed to be the ideal community, Nowa Huta, in 1949, to rival neighboring Krakov, Poland. It contained everything needed to nurture a community where all would live equally as brothers, in harmony. It included a steel mill, which became more productive than any other in Poland.

The walls of the apartments were purposely made thin so that each family would be able to hear the doings of the neighboring families - no barriers! Indoctrination meetings designed to raise up the ideal new man were compulsory to ensure a "workers' paradise."

However, this experiment was far from ideal. This paradise came crashingly to an end when the workers could only be paid with vodka and sugar.

In contrast, even during the Depression, Roebling never forced anyone out of company housing when they couldn't pay the rent.

Although Roebling sold their mill and town in the mid-fifties, most of its present residents are descendants of the families of former employees. Each, to whom we talked, spoke well of what their families had communicated about the Roebling experience.

Why had it been such a positive experience? Not only had the workers been treated fairly and equally, their various ethnicities and faiths were treated respectfully. Czechs, Hungarians, and Poles were each allowed to have their own enclaves, social groups, and churches.

Despite these differences in class, ethnicity, and religion, it is reported that everyone got along well, each respecting their respective differences.

How could this be? From what we were able to understand from our visit, it seemed that each community felt safe. The company guaranteed just standards. There were no reports of favoritism based upon historical designations between the "oppressed" and the "oppressors." The only distinctions were based on behavior and job performance, distinctions that seemingly were accepted.

From all indications, peace prevailed at Roebling. However, Nowa Huta presented another portrait. Wikipedia reports:

·       During the 1980s, Nowa Huta became a city of many demonstrations and violent street protests of the Solidarity movement, fought by the police. At that time, almost 29,000 of the 38,000 workers of the then Lenin Steelworks belonged to the Solidarity trade union.

It was hardly a paradise, but why not? What went wrong? Perhaps communism did not start out with a correct estimation of humanity? Perhaps we are not as malleable as they had thought. The “new man” never materialized.

Whatever we manage, we must first understand. We cannot manage a business well unless we understand the people who we manage. We need room for individual initiative and the freedom to grow a garden or to improve our lodgings without being condemned as “bourgeois.”

We need the freedom to think what we want, to say what we want (within limits), and to worship as we please. In other words, human thriving requires human rights.

However, the authorities at Nowa Huta were convinced that they could micro-manage human affairs. They knew best what others should be thinking, believing, and saying. Meanwhile, they robbed the workers of their welfare, initiative, and dignity. Dis-empowering the people, they had disempowered the economy. Consequently, communism has been an unmitigated flop, maintained only by oppression and fear.

Roebling didn't last either. However, it gave many a start to a better life, leaving a legacy of many grateful people. Communism has also left its legacy - a scorched earth and the slaughter of the millions who resisted their "paradise."