BE ADVISED: I am not offering support for this proof within this post, because of the complexity of the proof and the amount of work required to go through the steps to validate it. I am just pointing to the nature of the proof and where it can be found.
One can benefit greatly from listening to those with other viewpoints. Recently someone in a Facebook group I was in challenged people to present the best evidence for Creationism. Years ago, I probably would have advanced a very truncated teleological argument. That is, we can tell there is a creator God, and some things about Him, by observing the nature of His creation.
I say truncated because I am sure I would have focused on modern discoveries about the fine-tuning of our universe. If indeed our universe is the only one there is, it is very obvious that we are "meant to be here". Almost any other balance of forces other than those extant in the cosmos would result in either a vast thin cloud of hydrogen atoms (if any atoms at all) or the whole thing collapsing into one or a few black holes.
None of that however, was what Paul was talking about when he wrote in Romans 1:20 that "For since the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities, Hi eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood from His workmanship, so that men are without excuse." Paul wasn't talking about just, or even primarily, astrophysics- and certainly not what we have learned about it in modern times. He was talking about the entire orderly arrangement of existence, including how nature seems to have a moral disposition even while immorality is permitted to run rampant.
For example, many have gotten ahead by dishonest means, but those who gain wealth in this way also have a tendency to lose it and fall in disgrace. Another example: One might think a man who is a "player" and spreads his seed to many women has an "evolutionary advantage" over those who commit themselves to a single woman. The reality is that "playas" tend to die alone sitting in their own feces. Societies that honor the biblical model for family are so superior to other methods, such as "mothers-brothers" cultures, that the latter are virtually extinct from the earth. Governments that are unjust tend to fall while those more just endure, and the kinds of things that count for "justice" are universal, not cultural. In ancient China it was called "losing the Mandate of Heaven" but the principle is similar whatever the name. Despite all the lawlessness, the universe has an underlying moral order. It "cares" about the moral choices of its inhabitants. This points to the Creator and even tells us something about His nature.
Though Paul writes that these attributes have been seen, it doesn't mean that all people will see them or that all who do will admit to seeing them. Some people are uncaring or oblivious to life's larger questions. Scripture also speaks of those who "deny the truth in unrighteousness." Men may be "without excuse", but that doesn't seem to stop would-be excuses from being proffered. Even the fine-tuning arguments have an escape hatch- it could be that a near infinite number of universes have bubbled up, and we, by chance, just happen to live in the one where things turned out right. In such a case, what looks like intent in the universe- that we were meant to be here- has another potential explanation. Chance could still be accepted as a reasonable explanation for what we see, if what we see is only an infinitesimal fraction of what "is".
Of course, there is no way to determine that such a vast number of other universes exist, or if they do that they have random laws instead of laws like our universe, also fine-tuned. It is speculation beyond the reach of the Scientific Method. It seems a desperate evasion to me, but I've heard it used, and I really can't prove they aren't out there any more than the atheist can prove that they are.
While these speculations are not vigorously testable, the ultimate and specific answer to the question of "is there a God" is testable. Jesus Christ made a testable statement about Himself, which could only be true if a) He was indeed who the scriptures say that He is and b) those scriptures were Divinely inspired from the start. He said (John 5:46) that Moses wrote about Him! In Luke, on the road to Emmaus, something similar is communicated in that it said that "beginning with Moses" He showed the apostles "things concerning Him".
These are astounding claims for a number of reasons, and coming from almost anyone else they would be considered ridiculous and dismissed out-of-hand. Genesis was compiled more than a thousand years before the Incarnation. Even the most secular critics would say more than five hundred years. The idea that they could be speaking of the work and person of Christ is basically impossible- except in the case that He is indeed who scripture says that He is and those scriptures are inspired by Him. In any other set of circumstances, it is an outlandish claim. It would be like President Trump saying that St. Thomas Aquinas was writing about him!
Further, institutional Christians denominations have not incorporated the words of Christ into their view of the text. Many, particularly evangelical sects in the United States, have largely adopted the view the rabbis who opposed Christ when it comes to early Genesis. This is less true of say, Eastern Orthodox, but the idea of systematically reinterpreting the text with a view to seeing if Christ's words about it are even feasible isn't something churches seem interested in. That's bad for obvious reasons, who are they supposed to be representing? But it is also good. If an elegant fit is found, the accusation that the fit is only so elegant because church priests forged the text to make it so falls flat. If such a thing had been done, that would have been the "party line" for viewing Genesis, not some rabbinical spin-off. Does this mean that Christians will have to give up their view of what the text means in order to put Christ into it? Yes. Are many of them willing to do so? Not that I have found, but there is still time.
It is as if, in these times of doubt, what was there all along becomes visible to us. It turns out that viewing the text the way Christ said to look at it, that it was about Him, is not more consistent with the rest of the text but also reconciles the text with much of the evidence from the natural world that has troubled so many people.
For a few examples, and I can make a strong case textual case for every one of these ideas, but it takes a lot of work to peel back all the misinformation and theology that isn't really in the bible first:
1) The initial state of the universe was not "perfect". Rather it was a place that needed a lot of improving.
2) The "days" of Genesis chapter one are not about illumination from our sun, but rather the true illumination produced when the Word enters the cosmos, Creator enters creation. Each instance improved the state of things until man was formed as Divine Agents to complete God's work of taming the unruly world.
3) Therefore the "days" are not about a 24-hour solar cycle and are not limited in time. Indeed scripture teaches that the morning of the 7th "day" didn't even start until after the Crucifixion and is still ongoing.
3) The seeming conflict between creationism and evolution is mostly an illusion, we live in a creation that was "meant" to be able to bring forth creatures on God's command (theistic evolution), after all, this was God's original command to both earth and seas. But this lower realm is one fit for us. Nature can't do God's will without God's help anymore than we can. The gulf between creationism and naturalism remains.
4) The conflict between the apparent great age of mankind and a relatively recent (less than 15Y ago) Adam is resolved in the Christ centered model because Adam's true role is to be a figure of Christ (Rom 5:14) and not the father of humanity. He was formed to bring the line of Messiah who would reconcile the world to God and complete God's assignment to mankind in Himself.
5) Baptism is connected to the flood. It is where God's people are purified and what is unclean in them is put to death while what is approved safely passes through the waters of God's judgement due to the work of Christ. Baptism isn't about those who are not His getting wiped out. This is just a small part of the reason that a local flood, aimed only at the line of Adam in particular through Seth, fits the text better than a global flood. Not every kind of land animal was on the ark. It was a local flood with global consequences (since the works of God from chapter TWO would be wiped out and God's ordained method of deliverance through Messiah would be ended, causing the world to eventually perish). Other people, outside the line of the Seed, survived the flood.
******
These are just a few examples how the reasons secularists use to dismiss the bible are beating on a strawman, albeit a strawman that is proclaimed to be the Real Slim Shady by so many churches.
We should not be able to do this. We should not be able to re-examine the text and by seeing it all about Christ and His work have it still make sense, make even more sense and fit even better together within the body of scripture than the rabbinical view. Yet not only are we able to do this, but doing so also resolves many of these paradoxes with evidence from the natural universe.
This is like a vast and complicated math equation with a number of variables. We put in different variables trying to come up with a consistent and reasonable answer. Then someone suggests putting in a value that shouldn't be among the possibilities as the variable. We do so, and the results elegantly fit! And it was the same value for each "variable", that is, you assume the answer that most points toward the work and person of Christ and make that the meaning at each "fork in the road" of the text. If you do that, and only if you do that, the text is both internally most consistent and also best resolves paradoxes between the text and the rest of nature.
Is verifying all of this a lot of work? Yes, but the truth is only assured for those who seek it, earnestly. Not for those who are willing to consider it if it isn't too much trouble, or messes with their existing opinions. This world is designed to see if we care to prioritize seeking truth over other things. I've done my part, and it took me years to finish it.
Below is a link to the book, which is available in E-book version for no charge to those with access to a Kindle Unlimited Account. A link to the YOU TUBE channel is also given, and of course this blog is dedicated to issues related to the Christ-centered model.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.