Archive for the ‘Natural Revelation’ Category

The Maranatha Manuscripts

Posted: 02/19/2017 in Absolute Truth, Biblical Creation, Christian Doctrine, Creation vs. Evolution, Defending the Faith, Divine Revelation, irrefutable truth, Natural Revelation, special revelation, Ultimate Authority, worldviews
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(A series of scripted correspondences from a ‘Heavenly helper’ to a Christian Soldier)

[Letter 3]:

Greetings Soldier,

Of course it is no bother to further elaborate on the references to natural and special revelation as mentioned in my first correspondence to you. I am glad that you are interested in learning more about the ways that God has revealed Himself to humankind and I always enjoy talking in detail about them. First, there is natural revelation. This is God’s revelation of Himself through His creation. Consider the universe and all that it contains–the stars, the moon, the sun, planets, oceans, trees, grass, people, clouds, rain, insects, animals, etc. These are all but a reflection of God’s awesome power and His unlimited creative genius. Indeed, that which is made declares the presence of the Maker and the laws that govern His Creation serve as irrefutable proof of His Sovereignty as the Supreme ruler of Heaven and Earth. In fact, it bears repeating that Romans 1:18-20 states that God’s existence is so plainly confirmed via His creation that no one has an excuse for denying Him whatsoever. How’s that for irrefutable, eyewitness testimony!

Though Creation is more than sufficient proof of God’s existence, God hasn’t stopped there. He has also revealed Himself to mankind via special (or, as some like to call it, supernatural) revelation. This includes His revelation of Himself through the Bible, His Spirit, and through Jesus Christ. It is through these means that we find the deeper wellspring of wisdom and insight into who God is (His character and nature), what He expects of mankind with regards to their thinking, behavior, and salvation (as those being made in His image and subject to His Ultimate Authority), and His plan to ultimately restore all things to a state of eternal perfection, order, and peace through His only begotten Son. Through the kindness of the Father in revealing the Truth of Himself to man, natural and special revelation form the basis for all knowledge and truth and, therefore, provide sound testimony of the inescapable reality of a living God who upholds and sustains all things by the power of His might. May this knowledge make you bold in your witness and fill you with all confidence and Holy assurance in the God that has called you according to his Divine purpose. Here to serve,

Your Heavenly ‘Angent’

The Maranatha Manuscripts

Posted: 02/18/2017 in Absolute Truth, atheism, bias, Biblical Creation, Christian Doctrine, Creation vs. Evolution, Defending the Faith, Divine Revelation, evolution, folly of atheism, irrefutable truth, Natural Revelation
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(A series of scripted correspondences from a ‘Heavenly helper’ to a Christian Soldier)

[Letter 4]:

Greetings Soldier,

I appreciate very much your enthusiastic questions! I see a hunger for truth and understanding in you that the Father finds most pleasing. It is His great delight to ‘pull back the veil’ and reward those who seek truth with the answers that they desire as they ask, seek, and knock with confidence in Christ. It is my great pleasure to be the means by which this treasure is conveyed to you, as the only thing more joyful than receiving knowledge is imparting it to those who sincerely desire it. Indeed, the acceptance and appreciation of truth by those who gladly receive it is its own reward to those from whom it is imparted. With that in mind, let’s attend to that very thing.

First, you asked specifically for ways to convey to unbelievers how Creation itself demonstrates the existence of God. One very simple, yet powerful, way to convey this truth is to simply point out the obvious—that just as paintings don’t paint themselves and buildings don’t build themselves, creation cannot have ‘created’ itself. To assert that it has done so (and without having observed it or anything else ever having done so) is to abandon a stance of rationality and good sense in exchange for blind faith and wishful thinking. After all, who but a fool would attempt to argue that natural laws (such as thermodynamics, gravity, physics, etc.) can exist without a Lawgiver? No doubt, you have already noticed that many times, when in the midst of discussing these issues with unbelievers, they will often appeal to what they have read in science books or atheistic literature in order to try to support their faith in evolution—-in other words, they ultimately are asking you to join them in exercising blind faith in something they have only read about in a book—-how ironic indeed!!  Here to serve,

Your Heavenly ‘Angent’

 

The Maranatha Manuscripts

Posted: 02/06/2017 in Absolute Truth, atheism, Christian Doctrine, Christlike living, Creation vs. Evolution, Defending the Faith, Defense of Doctrine, Divine Revelation, folly of atheism, irrefutable truth, Jesus Christ, Justified Faith, Natural Revelation, presuppositional apologetics, presuppositions, self-deception, special revelation, The Bible, Ultimate Authority, Witnessing, worldviews
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(A series of scripted correspondences from a ‘Heavenly helper’ to a Christian Soldier)

[Letter 16]:

Greetings Soldier,

Yes, I can definitely see that your unbelieving opponents are not very happy with your challenges to their professed worldview (in fact, ‘unhappy’ would be quite the understatement to describe the nature of their most recent remarks). Remember, the unbeliever has much to lose in these types of discussions, once it is exposed what their worldview truly amounts to, since they often enjoy being viewed as ‘intellectuals’ on internet forums and loathe the idea that their position is really just one of blind, irrational faith. Therefore, you should expect open hostility such as the name calling being engaged in as of late, since it is no doubt very uncomfortable (think glass palace during an earthquake) to have one’s most fundamental beliefs challenged and then demonstrated to be undeniably false.

As a positive, this is one crystal clear way of demonstrating that the unbeliever is indeed engaging in suppression of the truth (just as the Bible states in Romans 1:18)—that is, they are not continuing to hold to their current professed position BECAUSE of rational reasons, but IN SPITE OF them–simply because they happen to dislike the alternative (i.e. bowing the knee to God). The purely emotional nature of the objections at this point are really exactly what one would expect from someone with simply a personal ‘ax to grind’ and nothing more. Sure, the unbeliever may not like the God of the Bible, but that is definitely not a rational basis for their rejection of Christianity and/or the truth of the Bible. At this point, you’ve done your job and it’s probably just best to politely thank them for sharing their opinions with you and invite them to return to the discussion when they have something rational to contribute. Oh, and do not cease to pray for these individuals–that they might come to their senses, cease their suppression of the Truth, and repent. Here to serve,

Your Heavenly ‘Angent’

The Maranatha Manuscripts

Posted: 02/04/2017 in Absolute Truth, bias, Christian Doctrine, Defending the Faith, Defense of Doctrine, Divine Revelation, folly of atheism, irrefutable truth, Justified Faith, Natural Revelation, Preaching the Gospel, presuppositional apologetics, presuppositions, self-deception, special revelation, Ultimate Authority, Witnessing, worldviews
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(A series of scripted correspondences from a ‘Heavenly helper’ to a Christian Soldier)

[Letter 18]:

Greetings Soldier,

Regarding your last correspondence; I assure you that you’re doing fine. No need to be concerned about the empty allegation that you are engaging in a double standard or being ‘unfair’ in your requests for the unbelievers to provide their worldview’s objective, consistent basis for the existence of preconditions of intelligibility (which must be appealed to and utilized in order to even begin to hold a rational discussion). Besides, as should be crystal clear by now, the unbeliever has no way of justifying such an allegation to begin with, since there can exist no objective standard of logical ‘fairness’ in a worldview without God. Not only that, it should also be pointed out that you have already provided the justification for how abstract, universal, invariants are justified in the Christian worldview, from the get go (as they are a reflection of the abstract, universal, invariant nature of the God of the Bible). Perhaps it would be helpful to remind those making the allegations of how discussions work: you provide your logically defensible argument, they provide theirs, and THEN they are compared and contrasted via internal critique to see whose is true.

Of course, because the unbeliever has no rationally defensible argument or justification to support their belief in abstract, universal, invariants (logic, truth, knowledge, etc.) there can really be no discussion at all, since they must borrow these concepts from the Christian worldview in order to even begin to levy any argument against the Christian worldview. Needless to say, in doing so, they are assuming the truth of the very thing they are trying to refute and, subsequently, destroying their own position. This only further substantiates the undeniable reality that Christianity is true by the impossibility of the contrary (since the contrary position cannot be rationally defended and always ends in some form of absurdity). Don’t ever be shy about exposing this for the unbeliever’s own benefit. Here to serve,

Your Heavenly ‘Angent’