Welcome to the advanced apologetics series. In this series of articles, we give a rational defense of Christianity’s theological fundamentals and doctrine, in order to provide a peaceful worldview and to enable missions and evangelism to flourish.
We are doing this series to defend our faith in this generation (not just among friends but also in our hostile society). This forthcoming series of articles will summarize the reasons we use for defending the Faith. Although I want to ensure that the series is concise and readable, the articles will be detailed and technical. So, they probably require some time and meditation. These should hopefully serve as rationale to even be of use in the courtroom. However, these are not a substitute for legal advice and should be reviewed by a trusted lawyer.
Lots of people in this generation have an interest in apologetics (a rational defense of one’s beliefs against attack), unfortunately for all the wrong reasons. Recently, two youtube apologists left evangelicalism because their apologetic arguments could not sustain their faith. But I don’t believe that is what apologetics is supposed to do. The real use of apologetics has long been forgotten in an age where we need this tool more than ever.
Now let's understand a few terms.
Evangelism: the good news of Jesus Christ towards faith
This faith is spiritual and brings faith to the heart,
not just the mind
Religion: a combination of faith and piety,
as one who is in covenant with their only Lord
Missionary work: the introduction of a religious way of life
Dogma: the religious doctrines of the church
Theology: the study of the doctrines of God
Systematic Theology: the teaching of God in a logical format
Biblical theology: a philosophy of biblical doctrine
Fundamentals: dogmas essential for theology
Apologetics: a rational defense of one’s beliefs, against attack
I believe most evangelicals confuse these ideas and become ineffective by doing so. Apologetics is not meant to be evangelism, because defending yourself is not an invitation to others. Apologetics is also not religion: defending the faith is not practicing the faith.
Systematic theology can help apologetics, but it is not necessarily dogma, because dogma assumes there is already a relationship. Missionary work seems different from dogma because that work will focus on religious actions and lifestyle, while dogma will focus on religious belief. Of course, these topics combine and are linked to the same Faith. But sometimes understanding the different functions will be helpful.
It is the glory of God to conceal a thing:
but [it is] the honor of kings to search out a matter
—---Proverbs 25
Innocent until proven Guilty
When we discuss the issue of God and His existence, we have presuppositions even before we intend to prove the case. What makes better sense? The “new atheist” movement claims its views need no defense and that all that is required is to attack opposing the worldview. They claim that atheism is only “a lack of belief.”
If that were really the case, then atheism could not make claims to anything in a positive statement. (A lack of belief cannot deny.) I may not like mushrooms, but that does not prove the statement, “No one likes onions.” Famous agnostic prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi corrects this misunderstanding; ironically, he does so in a book meant to refute Christianity, The Divinity of Doubt. He wrote,
“First, in a trial, the side making the allegation has the burden of proof (the prosecution in a criminal case, the plaintiff in a civil case) that first presents the evidence to prove its allegation or case.
The defense provides evidence to poke holes in the other side’s case, and, many times, [it] even presents affirmative evidence to prove the opposite (that the allegation is not true).
In this context, the theist making the allegation that God exists would open the case, and the atheist would try to knock this allegation down by establishing weaknesses in the theist's case and/or by attempting to affirmatively prove that God cannot exist.
The agnostic would not fit into this theoretical trial, because he is not making an allegation one way or the other. The only position he is taking is that he doesn't know”
—--Vincent Bugliosi, The Divinity of Doubt, ch. 2, pg.19, “God in Court”
So we can not confuse the burden of atheism with the absence of agnosticism as the new atheists propose.
But, life gives us a different set of circumstances. Life is an issue of risks and faith. We don't know when we are going to die, so the risk of death is available every day. If there is no God, we could have a good life, but eventually it is cut short, or we could have a bad life with no relief. There would be no justice, because whether we do right or wrong, we have the same consequence.
Plus, what if we die in pain? Is our pain forever? Meanwhile, if we are unbelievers, then God will punish us eternally in Hell. But if we are believers, we have eternal life in paradise.
What’s the consequence if the believers are wrong? They have a life with less evil and the same end as the atheist. So the greater risk and rewards is that we should seek for God.
Some may claim that God is a myth, but this is irrational. When we understand God, we know He is eternal, immutable (unchanging), all-knowing, and everywhere. Is a myth all-knowing? Everywhere? Eternal? No, a myth is none of these things. So God is not a myth.
Some might retort, “God cannot be understood.” But while we don't exhaustively know everything about God, we can do systematic theology, an academic discipline that has been taught up to the doctoral level for well over a thousand years around the world. The problem is that if God is not a myth or incomprehensible, then we have exhausted the options, and God exists. Meanwhile the questions grow without God, and the answers shrink.
Ask yourself, how much in the universe do you know—-99% or 1%? Honestly, we don’t even know 1% of the universe. Could not God be hidden in over 99%? Have we searched the multiverse, our universe, our solar system, or a hollow earth? Many of these might not exist, but we just don't know. Where did time come from? Where did science, justice, or even beauty come from?
I have a little joke I often tell. “Your arguments against the existence of God sound good, but I just don't believe I can convince God with them!” People could argue if they really know God, but I am glad He really knows me. Of course, God is rational, and it is ludicrous to ignore the Lord without hearing Him out. So with this understanding, we can move on.
And God said unto Moses, I Am That I Am: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I Am hath sent me unto you.
And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, the Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.”
—--Exodus 3:14-15
Notes:
So in legal terminology, the atheist argues that the theist has the burden of proof. But agnostic prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi points out that the atheists' must hear out the full case of the theist and come up with an alternative scenario to defend their own views; but that’s often not what is going on. Moreover, this is a lifelong issue, and not just a “trial.” Then with "Pascal's Wager," we see that the chances of a better outcome lean toward theism over atheism.
So, this would motivate the search for monotheism as truth. Now the T.A.G. (Transcendental Argument for God) points out that the atheistic worldview has a problem having any kind of objective knowledge or epistemology. Thus, in its collapse, theists win by default.
Reformed epistemology asserts therefore the right to presuppose God to overcome the philosophical hurdles of knowledge. So, it is less aggressive a strategy to assert that disagreement can never create uniformity.
Finally, the ontological argument shows that God’s definition has to exist because of God's essential properties.
In fact, in the 20th century mathematician Kurt Godel proved that it is mathematically logical that essential properties like those belonging to God are reasonable. We can thus conclude that God is real. His math was later tested and vindicated by a super computer.
This means that there is mathematical proof for God!
The anecdote at the end, “I just don’t believe I can convince God of them!” points out the atheist problem of a religious relationship. Psychologist William James has diagnosed many cases where religious experience causes mental reactions that are real, not like fictional imagination which is under the power of the mind. Theologian E.Y. Mullins made a case of these millions of experiences showing an empirical reality which, by implication, points to the God of the Bible. This is called, “Subjective empiricism.”
Legal application: Often the government has interpreted faith under the philosophy of existentialism started by Soren Kierkegaard. Existentialism sees faith as a leap into the darkness or the unknown. This says that faith is not rational but rather, an exercise of the imagination which is used as a crutch for the weak.
But biblical faith is rational. However, faith enables us to receive knowledge through the revelation given by God. So, this is a different source of knowledge than logic or evidence within man's ability. However, coming from an all-knowing God, it is objective truth. So, through faith in God, we can see this revelation.
Since the government and secular academia appear to assume an existential faith, then christian faith is often denigrated as a right of imagination which has no effect upon others.
An application for this is what we see in the government's treatment of the family. For many, marriage is deeply sacred, and divorce should be rare if ever. Yet the government imposes its will on the family to allow (if not encourage) it. Also, many believe the man to be the head of the household and provider for the family. Often, the courts deny this and give the wife a preference in terms of custody. More than this, however, is the fact that the father has no say over the issue of aborting their own children. In fact, they do not even have a right to be notified that their children have been killed in the womb.
All of this rests on the premise that the element of faith within the idea of the family is to be despised. This is a direct attack upon religious liberty for the simple fact that the concept of faith has been straw-manned.
A Word to be Heard
The Rights of righteousness
Morality is the force guiding the conscience away from evil and towards the good. Examples of morals are around us everyday. They are not like daydreaming, because they are authoritative. If we live a self-centered lifestyle, then our conscience will pursue us until things get reconciled. We have a need for justice in the case of bad things, and we strive for the creation of good things. The bad is selfish, while the good is selfless. A firefighter risks his life for the safety of people and even other living creatures. In doing so, he’s selfless and therefore good.
If you were to walk into a room filled with stinky garbage, you would likely be disgusted. But if you were to walk in a room with dead bodies and open wounds, you would most likely be shaken (if not traumatized).
Why is that so different? The quality of life means something. Now, a couple of subcultures have adjusted to living in those conditions, but obviously, those are exceptions rather than the rule.
In the mid 1800's, the evolutionary naturalists of the day had become pretty confident that they had explained away all spiritual phenomena. However, they ended up passing the responsibility over to the new realm of psychology. Some concluded that all spiritual experience boiled down to mental evolution or mental lapses. They deemed that the drive of humanity was sexual rather than moral. Morality then breaks down to a will to power.
In their viewpoint, figments of the imagination may not be real in the physical world even though they are real in the world of the mind! That’s the impression we get when we look at the research of the psychologist Dr. Carl Jung, for example.
There are universal symbols and myths within all people called archetypes. These archetypes developed a story in the hearts of all people that give us a backdrop for morality. Even thousands of years ago, a Roman law teacher named Cicero picked up on the concept of a monotheistic God being the Final Judge of right and wrong over a morality we call natural law. This would develop the legal framework of western civilization.
Now, Judeo-Christian ethics are not that man is complete as a moral creature but rather, that man is damaged. That ethical framework explains why there are a variety of differences in ethics. However, we must simply ask ourselves which system of morality is better over all. Is the Christian theist, Muslim, pantheist, Hindu, or secular morality the best?
The Hindu model has justice carry over to different lifespans of reincarnation. The problem is that nothing you do is dealt with in your lifetime. You will be punished for a past life and rewarded in a future life. Worse yet, you neither remember nor have evidence of any reincarnation. This encourages society to have indignity to the suffering of people in society and to be apathetic to those victimizing society.
That is what we have seen in the Indian social caste system. In the caste system, different people have different ranks of respectability in society. The top rank (Brahmins) include scholars and priests; the second rank (Kshatriyas) include government officials and soldiers; the third rank (Vaishyas) include farmers and merchants; the fourth rank (Shudras) include the artisans and common laborers; the fifth rank are the outcasts who are to be ignored or dismissed.
The atheistic models range from no regard for human rights or regard only for a segment of the population (as is the case for Marxism). So then, in an atheistic and evolutionary worldview, what accounts for civilization’s morality? How would it have come about? The notion of “the survival of the fittest” only shows us the natural selfishness of a secular philosophy.
We should ask more questions too regarding a secular model of morality. What shows the intellectual justification for selfless morality under atheism? How could a human being be ruled by unselfish instincts? How can a heathen culture know to construct a selfless civilization? Even with an advanced culture, the group does not necessarily care for the individual. So, why does the individual have any value in the whole?
The Judeo-Christian model rewards the hard-working members of society as well as gives empathy to those suffering. While there are always exceptions to the rule, Christian values provide us with the most ideal model of society.
“Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is expedient for you that I go away;
for if I go not 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"
———John 16:7-8
In a nation of choices there is still a backdrop of light moral authority so society does not break down into anarchy. The movements as of late are intending to destroy the nation. We can only survive if we recognize one nation under God.
Cicero and moral law
"True law is right reason in agreement with nature; it is of universal application, unchanging and everlasting; it summons to duty by its commands, and averts from wrongdoing by its prohibitions.... It is a sin to try to alter this law, nor is it allowable to repeal any part of it, and it is impossible to abolish it entirely. We can not be freed from it's obligations by senator or people, and we need not look outside ourselves for an expounder or interpreter of it. And there will never be different laws at Rome and at Athens, or different laws now or in the future, but one eternal, unchangeable law will be valid for all nations and all times, and there will be one master and ruler, that is God, over us all, for he is the author of this law, it's promulgator, and it's enforcing Judge. whoever is disobedient is fleeing from himself and denying his human nature, and by reason of this very fact he will suffer the worst punishment." (Quoted by Ebenstein, Great Political Thinkers p. 133)
According to Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961), archetypes are patterns that repeat themselves in the collective unconscious of human beings. This could be in the form of dreams, stories, art, or even in myths (including religious ones), which don't seem to have cultural boundaries. These are then seen as universal and thus embody a hereditary factor of the human psyche."
"EVIDENCE FOR ARCHETYPES can be divided into several different categories: (1) ‘associative evidence’, similar or associative theory which overtly supports archetypes or bears a resemblance to archetypal theory; (2) ‘scientific evidence’, where it is argued Jung’s method which is descriptive and phenomenological is not unscientific, and ‘archetypes’ are given theoretical support from the theory of other scientists; (3) ‘evidence from quantum physics’, which is support from the theory of quantum physicists."https://sophiageography.com/.../evidence-for-archetypes/...
Abductive moral reasoning compares the general systems of ethics and determines which is more favorable as opposed to what is perfect.
Legal application:
We have several lines of evidence that reveal universal morality. This is part of the American understanding of law. The natural law and common law have a divine morality that supersedes the constitutional law of the land. We enshrine this in the declaration of Independence as well as the 7th amendment regarding common law. These are philosophically founded upon common sense philosophy recognizing God.
"The secular application of the Ten Commandments is clearly seen in it’s adoption as the fundamental legal code of Western civilization and the Common Law of the United States.” Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist
The "Idea" Behind the Matter
Not a chance of Evolution
Plato, one of the fathers of philosophy, had done a lot of teaching concerning the concept of “being.” From there, he developed his “theory of forms.” This theory teaches that behind every physical thing is the idea of that thing. A good illustration is that of a dog. What makes a dog, a dog? Someone in Plato’s lifetime would have suggested that a dog
1. Can make a forceful noise from its mouth
2. Has legs, fur, two ears, two eyes, a tongue, a round nose with two nostrils, normally a tail, and
3. Swallows, digests, and exports material
The dog also sheds material: it sheds its fur. But the dog preserves its identity even if the material (its food or fur) is gone. The idea of the dog preserves its identity.
So ancient philosophers could find the idea behind the dog. We have to wonder how the ancients would have reacted to the discoveries in molecular biology. An average cell is the smallest living thing and yet it is composed of 1,000,000,000,000 parts. Within these cells, you find all sorts of tool-like molecules, including motors and factories. Then you can find them to form tissues, then muscles, then organs and systems making an organism.
Suddenly, you end up finding a vast array of ideas!
Yet, as we look at the vastness of space with its molecules and energies, we have an unfathomable amount of matter which apparently has to operate in accordance with science with no human involvement. Now, if there were zero intelligent designers, then there should be no design. Typically, we hear that these only appear designed.
But sometimes these rules get broken in ways that are obvious. In the mid 2000s, a discovery was made by cosmologists in mapping the cosmic microwave background radiation of our universe. It was so strange that cosmologists call it “The axis of evil.” They discovered a flow band of heat that was only about 5 degrees Fahrenheit wrapping itself around the universe. The band would cross the earth. That radiation anomaly seems to be aligned with the plane of our solar system. This suggests that our solar system's alignment is special in our universe. But even beyond this, physicist have also found a counterclockwise rotation of all the galaxies in the northern sector of the universe, yet somehow this rotation stops right in line with the earth’s equator. These two universal aspects of nature create an axis across the earth. Cosmologists in shock labeled it the axis of evil. In a supposedly purposeless universe X marked the Spot!
So if everything that we are able to observe is filled with ideas, the question is, “Who is thinking them–Who is creating them?”
The idea of the material world is intelligible. In fact, if it were not, then we would not be capable of observing reality. So if the universe is intelligible, then the universe was created, because at a point in time, all ideas are created as thoughts.
Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands,
as saith the prophet,
“Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool:
What house will ye build me? saith the Lord:
or what is the place of my rest?
Hath not my hand made all these things?”
————Acts 7:48-50
Endnotes
Plato theory of forms
So if the universe were without God, it would not have any intelligence. But through a combination of philosophy and science. we see a nearly infinite number of ideas! Where did all these ideas come from? They came from an all-knowing God!
Leibniz cosmological argument
"Physicists and astronomers have long believed that the universe has mirror symmetry, like a basketball. But recent findings from the University of Michigan suggest that the shape of the Big Bang might be more complicated than previously thought, and that the early universe spun on an axis.
To test for the assumed mirror symmetry, physics professor Michael Longo and a team of five undergraduates catalogued the rotation direction of tens of thousands of spiral galaxies photographed in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.The mirror image of a counter-clockwise rotating galaxy would have clockwise rotation. More of one type than the other would be evidence for a breakdown of symmetry, or, in physics speak, a parity violation on cosmic scales, Longo said.The researchers found evidence that galaxies tend to rotate in a preferred direction. They uncovered an excess of left-handed, or counter-clockwise rotating, spirals in the part of the sky toward the north pole of the Milky Way. The effect extended beyond 600 million light years away."The excess is small, about 7 percent, but the chance that it could be a cosmic accident is something like one in a million," Longo said. "These results are extremely important because they appear to contradict the almost universally accepted notion that on sufficiently large scales the universe is isotropic, with no special direction.""http://www.dailygalaxy.com/.../-is-the-universe-spinning... or https://news.umich.edu/the-universe-may-have-been-born.../
Legal Application
The Declaration of Independence clearly speaks not simply of a spirit, but in fact of a Creator who gives us our rights. If Intelligent design is not recognized then the declaration of independence is not recognized either.
If faith is rational, if the world has morality, and if the universe was intelligently designed, then the next question is whether our ecosystem has a Creator or not.
In a study, I browsed Wikipedia under the title “creator gods.” I then weaned out of ancient myths about 36 cases from across every continent of the globe of a creator god who individually is credited with the creation of heaven and Earth. The deities were predominantly male and, in some cases, involved an account like the garden of Eden for the first man and woman. Also in ancient times, we find stories of a massive flood, around 200 to 300 cases alongside several other biblical archetypes. So, historically speaking, ancient history provides us with rich traditions of testimonies of a Creator.
In opposition to this, the modern world has provided us with an alternative to a Creator in the form of the combo of undesigned abiogenesis and the process of evolution.
The term abiogenesis refers to the origin of life on our planet. The idea of getting life from non-life without a designer behind it has been debunked. This was debunked by Louis Pasteur in his law of pasteurization.
The belief of evolutionism offers explanations of every aspect of life. In that perspective, through the rule of scientific natural law, all the universe developed in the midst of chaos.
It is a dark secret that evolutionary speculation has been off from the very start. Before Darwin, people found a skeleton on the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe in 1812 sometimes called “The Miocene man” or “The lady of Guadalupe.” It is a headless female human skeleton supposedly encased in 28-million-year-old limestone. But on the geological column, the humanoid primates are not even supposed to be 2 million years old (much less 28 million years old)!
The British Natural History Museum houses that skeleton, and in the 1960’s, it was moved to their basement. So, then, what’s the reaction from the evolutionary camp in more recent times on the issue? Keith Fitzpatrick-Matthews rejected the notion that the skeleton came from the Miocene time period, saying that “the skeleton of Guadeloupe Woman is of relatively recent date” and that “the skeleton is not fossilized.” This undermines the entire method for estimating Old earth dates, upon which a century of these dates are based pointing back to a young earth model. Either human evolution remains debunked.
Now, the crazy part of this is that some evolutionists were also touting human evolution frauds like Piltdown Man and Nebraska Man, and the Scopes Trial used the frauds too.
When I was growing up, there were many age-dating methods for evolution: carbon dating, coal formation, petrification, and oil and diamond formation. All of them have been debunked.
The foundation of the system of uniformitarianism, the theory that changes in the Earth’s crust and top soil during geological history have resulted from continuous uniform processes, is based on circular reasoning. The paleontologist based the age of the fossils upon the rocks' geologic column, then the geologist would date the rocks according to the fossil record. The uniformitarian geology claims that these columns take millions to billions of years to form. Yet in 1980, the volcanic eruption of Mt. St. Helens blew up that theory as it blew megatons of lava to smithereens. The newly formed column produced 60 million years of dirt in just a few days.
Finally, the genetics of microbiology is not an evolutionist’s friend. It has destroyed their theories of Lamarckianism, evolutionary embryology, and junk DNA. Let me explain.
Lamarckism is an early version of the evolution theory where evolution can take place within a lifetime. A common example was that of a giraffe reaching for higher leaves eventually. Growth-oriented mutations can occur over an organism’s lifetime, but we now know that phenomenon by another name—-cancer.
Evolutionary embryology is the notion that evolution occurs in the womb and that we can demonstrate common ancestry that way. Ernst Haeckel perpetrated that fraud by drawing pictures of embryos of animals to make them all look alike. This was debunked when scientists made real photographs of these animal embryos. The embryos did not look alike. Sometimes, these cartoons are still published as proof in current publications in our country.
Darwin originally taught that cells were extremely simple. Ernst Haekel thought he proved this point by cataloging this substance at sea. He thought it was a chemical creating cells. But in fact, it was seafoam made entirely of salt. We now know that cells are wildly complex and are generally composed of 1 trillion parts. However, the doctrine of junk DNA which taught that there were massive amounts of non-functional DNA in animals and humans, was still taught in many public schools even into the 2000’s.
Let's look at the current situation. The evolutionists must explain how 1 trillion parts can turn into a cell and also must figure out how a cell can turn into a multicellular organism!
They believe that bacteria was the first single-celled organism and that it popped into existence around 3 billion years ago. They also assume that a species can change kinds every 50 generations. Well, the bacteria found in the alleged 3-billion-year-old rock are essentially the same bacteria that we see today. On top of that, we have bacteria from 1990 that have reproduced over 50,000 generations with no sign of macroevolution—-just more bacteria!
When we look at the raw evidence of the past from the Earth, we find a greater abundance of life from the past and also a massive amount of destruction. As a Christian, we may interpret this as “Paradise lost,” a creation ruined by natural disasters and mankind’s fall from grace with God. But in evolution, we merely see the normalization of death. Evolutionary-biologist-turned-creationist Gary Parker described it this way:
What a difference! In evolutionary thinking, time, chance, struggle, and death produce "new and improved" forms of life. In biblical thinking, chance and struggle produce disease, decline and death.
Evolution begins with dead things; living things–including us–are temporary intruders in the universe, and when the sun burns out, death wins at last. The Bible begins with the life of God; death is a temporary intruder, and eternal life wins at Christ's return"
————Gary Parker, Creation Facts of Life, page 41
“For we know that the whole creation
groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now…”
————Romans 8:22
Now, if our ecosystem has a Creator, then has this Creator been intelligible to mankind? We’d like to offer an answer to that question in our next article. Stay tuned!
Endnotes
[1] Fitzpatrick-Matthews, Keith. “The Lady of Guadeloupe: a Miocene Homo sapiens?” Bad Archaeology. 5 Apr. 2015. https://badarchaeology.wordpress.com/.../the-lady-of.../. Accessed 30 Jan. 2023. Web.
[2] Parker, Gary. Creation Facts of Life. Master Books, 1994, page 41.
"Human remains from the Lower Miocene
It is everywhere taught, and held to be a scientific fact, that man evolved from apes during the last million years or so. Various charts and diagrams are devised that purport to demonstrate the stages of such evolution. What is omitted, however, is a vast body of evidence from the fossil record which shows that fully human fossils are found in much lower geological levels which are interpreted as millions of years earlier than man’s proposed ancestors. Either the time-scale of the geological column is quite wrong, or fossil man often pre-dates his proposed ancestors.
One example of this is a human skeleton at present lying in the basement of the British Museum of Natural History. This fossil was dug out of the Lower Miocene deposits of Grande Terre, part of the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe. It still lies firmly embedded in a two ton block of limestone which is harder than statuary marble. It had embedded the bones while the limestone was still fluid. The burial was sudden and catastrophic, as evidenced by the articulation of the bones and the high organic content of the rock immediately around them.
The body had not yet decayed when burial occurred. The bones are therefore of the same age as the rock. Miocene sediments are reckoned to date from 12 to 25 million years ago, so this Lower Miocene human should predate all its ancestors!
Skeleton in the cupboard
One curious aspect of this evidence is that the British museum has been in possession of this specimen since the Admiralty presented it to them in 1812. During the early 19th century it was displayed to the public as a curiosity. However, once Darwinism gained a foothold the specimen was removed from public display. I am given to understand, in fact, that I was the first member of the public to set eyes on it since the early 1930’s. The last geological survey of the island that mentions the presence of human remains in these deposits is that of Spencer in 1901."
Abiogenesis) The origin of life on the planet. The idea of getting life from nonlife has been debunked. This was debunked by Louis Pasteur in his law of pasteurization,
Lamarckism) an early version of the evolution theory where evolution can take place within a lifetime, a common example was that of a giraffe reaching for higher leaves eventually.
Embryology) the idea that evolution would take place in the womb. This was carried out by a fraud from Ernst Haeckel. Haeckel would draw pictures of embryos of animals to make them all look alike, This was debunked when a scientist made real photographs of these animal embryos and they clearly did not look alike. These cartoons are still published as proof however in random publics throughout the nation.
Junk DNA) Darwin originally taught that cells were extremely simple. Ernst Haekel though he proved this point by cataloging this substance at sea. He thought it was a chemical creating cells. But in fact, it was a sea-foam made entirely of salt. We now know that cells are infinitely complex and are generally composed of 1 trillion parts. However, junk dna is still taught in many public schools all the way up into the 2000's.
If God were real, then why wouldn't He show himself to us? How does He reach the most people? How do we know that a message is from God?
As of 2007, you could get a complete Bible in 438 different languages, and you can get portions of the Bible in 1,168 languages. Before the beginning of the twentieth century, we had over a billion copies of the Bible published.
Most of the ancient New Testaments follow the Byzantine tradition (over 99% of the Greek New Testaments). Wilbur Pickering in The Identity of the New Testament Text wrote the following:
A better, more cumbersome, way to describe the situation would be something like this: 100% of the manuscripts agree as to, say, 80% of the text; 99% agree as to another 10%; over 95% agree as to another 4%, over 90% as to another 3%: only 3% (or less) of the text do less than 90% of the manuscripts agree.
Our earliest manuscripts are a generation from the original (autographic) manuscripts. The Old Testament follows the Masoretic tradition usually to the letter. The standard translation of the Bible, the KJV, is considered by experts as one of the greatest pieces of English literature the world has ever seen.
The Bible dominates publication number statistics, starting with the very first printing press. We are not even counting the Bible on audio, video, or braille in saying that. Sermons from hundreds of denominations and thousands of ministers have centered on the Bible.
Meanwhile, most foreign Bibles come from this authorized version. Bible teacher John MacArthur has stated that the Bible speaks of Itself with “Thus saith the Lord” over 2,000 times!
The Bible uses prophecy both in the short-term and long-term to show that its message is Divine in origin. So, the ancient people could see the judgment of God in their lifetimes with the Great Flood of Noah, the exodus of the Jews, and more. Then you have long-term prophecies, including the Arab-Israeli conflict, the successive world empires of Nebuchadnezzar, and the spread of Christianity.
Meanwhile, the Bible has gotten science right at times where ancient people could not know these things. The Earth hangs upon nothing; running water tends to be more sanitary than still water; underwater currents exist in the deepest part of the sea; and darkness is the backdrop of outer space.
Archeologists have also found the Bible to be historically reliable in organizing the history of civilizations.
Psychologist and speaker Jordan Peterson noticed that the Bible is the central Book for mankind. It is a library whose influence has pervaded all of western thought and way of life. It was for that reason that the militant atheist Richard Dawkins argued for the inclusion of the Bible into the government school systems: it was embedded into our knowledge of history, law, drama, and literature.
Science, archaeology, prophecy, and the historical success and endurance of the Bible point towards the notion that a supernatural element is behind the Good Book.
Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible,
by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.
For all flesh is as grass,
and all the glory of man as the flower of grass.
The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:
But the Word of the Lord endureth forever.
And this is the word which by the Gospel is preached unto you.
—————1st Peter 1:23-25
Endnotes
See chapters
"I know of no finding in archaeology that’s properly confirmed which is in opposition to the Scriptures. The Bible is the most accurate history textbook the world has ever seen." - Dr Clifford Wilson, formerly director of the Australian Institute of Archaeology (quote obtained from: Archaeologist Speaks Out) http://www.creationwiki.org/Biblical_archaeology_quotes
"As of 1994, Kurt and Barbara Alund produced their latest combined statistics of extant manuscripts of the New Testament and estimated there to be 5,656 Greek manuscripts of the New Testament in varying form. However in 1967, Kurt Aland provided additional analysis of existing manuscripts. At that time, he noted a total of 5,255 New Testament manuscripts of varying form, Of that number 5,210 manuscripts supported the received text. In his 26th edition of the Nestle'-Aland Greek Text, Aland considered 5,210 manuscripts to belong to the received text group. Or to put it another way, he determined that only forty-five of those 5,255 manuscripts were something other than the received text. It was from those forty five manuscripts that the 26th edition of the Nestle'-Aland text was produced. Therefore in 1967, 99 percent of all existing manuscripts favored the received text and only 1 percent supported the critical text. That percentage has changed only slightly in the intervening years as other manuscripts have been discovered."
David H. Sorenson, Touch not the unclean thing**
"One key milestone in the history of the Bible comes in the early 19th century, when the first Bible Societies were founded. These organizations ordered Bibles in huge numbers, but gave them away or sold them at cost as part of their Christian mission. From this point on, the majority of Bibles were freely distributed rather than sold. A study produced by the British and Foreign Bible Society (founded in 1804) calculated that 2,458,000,000 Bibles were printed between 1815 and 1975.
The 5–7 billion figure has been arrived at by adding the above-mentioned figures to annual estimates compiled by United Bible Societies (the global umbrella organization). In the 21st century, Bibles are printed at a rate of around 80 million per year."
Jordan Peterson's realization on the Bible:
Legal Application
The Bible is the original context of western civilization.
We can not obtain the meaning of the law nor the original intent of the founding fathers without recognizing the intent and divine authority of scripture. Scripture justifies the US Justice system. This was venerated in the ceremony of swearing an oath upon the Bible in court testimonies.
The Undeniable Hero
Our modern world has been wrecked by a postmodern world which lacks any handle on truth. The children of this worldview are conspiracy theorists. Many denied modern science: they denied a round Earth with their flat Earth conspiracy. Likewise, many people with their Jesus mythicist theory denied the testimony of the historians. But the evidence of our Lord is overwhelming. Let’s proceed from weak arguments to strong arguments in making our case.
The British Arthurian legends tell of Joseph of Arimathea gaining his wealth and even bringing the teenaged Christ as a squire to Britain. Archaeology is starting to back this up, and if so, then Jesus existed. The gnostic gospels and New Testament apocrypha claim Jesus existed; and if Jesus never existed, then why not pick from dozens of messianic pretenders in that century? The ante-nicene fathers claimed Christ existed and often died for the claim. Jewish historian Josephus and Roman historian Tacitus recorded Christ as a historical figure. The rabbis of the Talmud and even heathen philosophers recorded him as well.
Archaeology has claims too. I believe the following artifacts are genuine: the garden tomb, the great stone (tomb door) of Mt. Nebo, the nails (cross nails) of Caiphus, the record of Pontus Pilate, the shroud of turin, the sudarium (facecloth), and the bone box of James (believed to be Jesus’s brother).
Not only do we end up with a historical Jesus, but also, we see a Christ of Faith. Musician Keith Green was a hippie in the sixties, and as he sought out a variety of gurus, he noticed a pattern that every religious cult or occult would have to develop a spiritual doctrine regarding Christ.
Now, if these extra-biblical works historically verify the existence of Christ, then the implication is that the New Testament Gospels will be authenticated as the historical record of Christ. After all, they are the best evidenced documents.
But was Jesus truly a supernatural entity?
Many historical figures may claim a miraculous experience, but what would verify a miracle in the natural world? Well, we can start with a significant sign for the world. We have evidence of such in Jesus’s birth and death. In the east, astrologers found an appearance of a star at his birth, and at his death, gentile historians have record of the sky turning to darkness in mid day.
But the greatest physical miracle verified in the life of Christ is the resurrection.
Now, the naturalist scholars will be negative on all miracles, but scholar of the resurrection Gary Habermas developed a strategy called “the Minimal Facts Approach.” In that approach, he surveyed the works of critical scholars who deny supernatural content and determined how many of them agreed to various parts of the death and resurrection narrative in the Gospels; from there, he considered what minimal facts are verified and whether they pointed to a resurrection. Examples of those facts include Paul's 1st Corinthians 15 account of the resurrection, the women at the empty tomb, Jesus’s claims of Deity, and Jesus’s death (which verified the 12 apostles' testimony).
The apostles would have known if Christ were a liar. Several of them died for their beliefs in Christ. If something were a lie, why die for something you know is a lie?
So what options are there? Did Jesus swoon? Could he have after the passion whipping, the walk with the cross, hanging on the cross, and then being speared and stuffed with 70 pounds of herbs? Then he threw a four-thousand-pound door open?
Did the apostles steal the body of Jesus? Could 12 untrained men beat highly trained up to 16 centurions under strict orders? Even if they could, why didn't Rome destroy them? Was it dogs? Who could bite through 4,000 guards and block the centurion swords?
Do we explain everything away with the idea that the disciples suffered from mass hysteria? If that were true, then what about the empty tomb? Did they arrive at the wrong tomb? Even if that happened, surely, the Jewish leadership and Romans could find the real tomb! If they paid off the soldiers, then why didn't they bribe the court?
Now, let's consider Bible prophecy. It is said that there are between 300-400 examples of prophecies.
Read this list of verses and see if you can see something about Jesus in them:
Genesis 1:26: Man is made in God’s image
Genesis 15:5: “Descendants” of Abraham shall be as the stars
Genesis 49:10: Scepter shall not depart until Christ comes
Exodus 3:6: God of the forefathers
Psalm 110: Enemies of David’s Lord to be put under footstool
Psalm 2: There is the Anointed of the Lord who is His Son
Psalm 69: The zeal for God’s house has eaten Him up
Micah 5:2: The ruler of Israel to be born in Bethlehem
Deuteronomy 18: A new prophet like Moses to arise
Psalm 22:16: Christ crucified
Zechariah 3:8: God’s Servant the Branch
Now, let's go further. The Dead Sea Scrolls included a copy of the Book of Isaiah which was remarkably similar to the Masoretic manuscript of the Book of Isaiah. This was carbon-dated between 150-300 B.C. Consequently, there was no tampering with the prophecies in the text, all of which pre-date the birth of Jesus. That includes
Isaiah 2: Rule of the Lord when weapons of war are repurposed
Isaiah 7:15: He will refuse the evil and choose the good
Isaiah 9:6: He shall be called Divine and the Prince of Peace
Isaiah 11: Descendant of Jesse
Isaiah 28:16: The spiritual cornerstone
Isaiah 40: The forerunner to the Christ
Isaiah 42: The suffering servant will bring justice to the nations
Isaiah 53: Man of sorrows bruised for our transgressions
In terms of mathematical probability, if only 8 prophecies were fulfilled in one man, the probability would be 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000 (or, one out of 100 quadrillion)! Remember: there are around 400 prophetic details!
Finally, was Christ a liar, a Lord, or a lunatic? Here is what Einstein said,
“As a child, I received instruction both in the Bible and in the Talmud. I am a Jew, but I am enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene... No one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life.”
H.G. Wells stated,
“I am an historian. I am not a believer, but I must confess as an historian that this penniless teacher from Nazareth is irrevocably the very center of history. Jesus Christ is easily the most dominant figure in all history.”
Gandhi stated,
“A man who was completely innocent offered himself as a sacrifice for the good of others including His enemies and became the ransom of the world. It was a perfect act.”
Could a liar or lunatic convince such men?
He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?
—Matthew 16:15
Endnotes
"As a child, I received instruction both in the Bible and in the Talmud. I am a Jew, But I am enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene... No one can read the gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life." Albert Einstein "What life means to Einstein: An interview by George Sylvestor Viereck.” The Saturday Evening Post
The central figure of the Bible, Jesus Christ is Historically affirmed.
Once metaphysics is confirmed as a part of reality, The figure of Jesus Christ is affirmed as the key figure in metaphysics.
Legal Application
Church of the Holy Trinity v. United States, 143 U.S.457 (1892) This court case by implication recognized the historic religious identity of the American people is unabashedly christian. While America is religiously inclusive of it’s citizens. “We the People” which is the sovereign force behind the United States of America is identified as predominantly christian.
“Brewer added that a legislature representing a religious people would certainly not take action against religion. He provided an overview of references to God in official documents from U.S. history, beginning with the commission to Christopher Columbus and continuing through colonial charters, state constitutions, and oaths of office.Turning to the Constitution, he offered the First Amendment and the “Sundays excepted” provision in Article 1 as evidence of the importance of religion in the United States. He also found throughout American life — from its laws to its businesses, customs, and multitudes of churches, charitable organizations, and missionary associations — further evidence that “this is a Christian nation.””Brewer added that a legislature representing a religious people would certainly not take action against religion. He provided an overview of references to God in official documents from U.S. history, beginning with the commission to Christopher Columbus and continuing through colonial charters, state constitutions, and oaths of office.Turning to the Constitution, he offered the First Amendment and the “Sundays excepted” provision in Article 1 as evidence of the importance of religion in the United States. He also found throughout American life — from its laws to its businesses, customs, and multitudes of churches, charitable organizations, and missionary associations — further evidence that “this is a Christian nation.” https://www.mtsu.edu/.../church-of-the-holy-trinity-v...)-,Church%20of%20the%20Holy%20Trinity%20v.,is%20a%20%E2%80%9CChristian%20nation.%E2%80%9D
Since the government is beholden to “We the People” the Government has no power to banish or censor the public worship of Christ.
This principle is evidence in the historic national holidays of Christmas and thanksgiving.
The Justice of Hell
Hell is an odd term. You can go to almost any bar in the country and hear someone chant it. Yet a few years ago, Bernie Sanders condemned a presidential appointee for just believing it and claimed that people who believed in Hell should lose the privilege of working for the government.
In ancient times, man was simply concerned with survival. When we hear about the word Hell, we forget about its Latin roots and how Hell was a pagan term that was simply synonymous with death. In other words, Hell was death, and everything in the afterlife was the gloomy darkness of death. No one could ever move from mortality into immortality to obtain eternal life. That was the case even in the ancient epic tale of Gilgamesh, a myth of a hero who was a son of a deity. The hero Gilgamesh according to the story was half-divine yet could never reach the heavens and obtain everlasting life.
An ancient Sumerian king list identifies Gilgamesh as an early ruler of the city of Uruk, and claims that Gilgamesh was a demigod. According to legend, Gilgamesh was the son of the goddess Ninsun.
In the pagan religion, sacrifice is still generally accepted as both a need and a given value. But the pagans did not believe that quality sacrifices were acceptable enough to grant eternal value. When we think about it, all animals are mortal. So how would animals contain within themselves eternal value?
But in Christianity, there is an immortal sacrifice offered. In the Christian point of view, Heaven is not simply “the dwelling place of the gods.”
Now, before we go any further, we must recognize the objection to Hell. Atheists and other secularists typically extend the rejection of Hell with their arguments concerning the Problem of Evil. How could God be a “Good God” if He is the same God condemning people to Hell eternally suffering His wrath? Well, before Christians scatter for a defense, we have to stop ourselves and ask, “Does the secularist ever deal with this issue?”
When the secularist deals with the issue of suffering and death, the answer is typically that death is natural and all these things happen by fate. It is so incomprehensible that, sometimes, they will curse the God they do not believe exists. If death is part of reality, then it should not feel so unnatural. If suffering is a simple aspect of evolution, there is nothing for us to complain about; but yet, bitterness finds its way into our lives one way or another. Ignoring pain and suffering can not ultimately prevail because pain and suffering are real entities.
One thing we can learn from the social justice warriors, Black Lives Matter, and Antifa movements is that secular justice cannot satisfy the soul.
The wrath of the past can only be explained by the wrath in the heart. Why do we need justice unless there was some reality of justice even though that is not upon the Earth? Let's give the devil his due! Calamity itself has a design. There is an intelligence and a plot. Mass murderers, terrorists, and dictators are all evil and are only known because they are clever individuals who accomplish great destruction. In a world with spirituality, the devil has a following, and, yet oddly enough, he is not blamed by the non-Christians of the world, and many people deny he is real, according to the polls. The father of lies is not interested in being a beacon of truth. If the Satanist religion does not encourage faith in the devil, then the devil may work through a different name, such as “the god of this world” or even his favorite name, “I.”
If we had a universal entry to Heaven, then Heaven would be evil. But if it were not a place of freedom, it would not be paradise either. So heaven must be the place for those souls who have been redeemed.
We are corrupt in our ways: we cannot follow God’s law on our own. So, the only solution is salvation through the work of Christ, recognizing His death, burial, and resurrection. Think of John 3.
As a preacher, my personal viewpoint is that Hell is the punishment for the wicked, and so, we know that those wicked against us will be punished. Let me speak some points as a preacher of the Bible.
1. According to Matthew 25:34-41, people were not created just to burn in Hell: Hell was not created for that
2. According to 2nd Peter 3:9, John 1:7, and John 3:15-17, God does not will anyone to perish
3. According to Colossians 1:20 and John 5:25, Christ reconciled the world and, as a result, has a resurrection for everyone
4. According to John 5:29 and 1st Corinthians 15:42, the immortal resurrection has extended damnation to eternity
5. In alignment with Revelation 20:10-15, denying Christ is a reason we do not receive salvation, but it is not the reason we are being condemned: we are condemned by breaking God's laws, but we are only saved by God's grace and love through Jesus.
