Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Beliefs I Don't Believe

1 Peter 1:10-21
All scripture is God-breathed. I wish I believed that. I mean I would tell you that I do but I have to believe I would cherish it more if it were true.
Here in 1 Peter he tells the reader that these are not "cleverly invented" stories, but accounts from eyewitnesses. These men lived with Jesus for years and still believed he was God. If there were faults, they would have been revealed.

But there were none.

Jesus really was God. The stories in the Bible are historical. Not embellished. Not conjured up by men removed from the content, but men who watched Jesus do the things we read about.
That means the blind man really was healed. The lame man walked. Jesus actually put that guard's ear back on. He really was pierced for our transgressions.
Oh, and the Old Testament... Samson really killed all those men by himself with a donkey's jaw. Daniel really was saved from the Lions, and the brothers weren't burned in the furnace. Solomon really had everything, and Job really had everything taken away.

An the God that achieved all of that pulls me to himself?! Even now he draws me closer to his voice through scripture.
Out of begrudging submission I opened my Bible, but he showed me the truth of his power. How deep the Father's love for me, that he lead me out of a coldaesack life and into the gospel. May I press in to the Holy Scripture. May it cut me, and sharpen me. Praise Him for answering my prayer for a thirst for scripture.

He is God and the Bible is true and I am here.




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8 comments:

  1. Yes, the writers of these books (guided by a bearded man in the sky) said that the facts within the books were completely true so that means that the books are true.

    Do you see how ridiculous that sounds? That's what you're stating in the first paragraph.

    You are peer pressured and brainwashed. You don't need God to be happy. This may bring superficial ideas to mind when thinking about a life without God, but it doesn't have to. Humans should cooperate and humans should have affection for one another. Life doesn't need an over arching purpose for it to be worth living. You can live a completely fulfilled life not knowing how the universe was created or being told how you should think or act. Morality is relative no matter how hard you pretend it's not.

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  2. Morality is not relative, in fact it is absolute, just like physics. You can look for proof of this in William Gairdner’s book The Book of Absolutes and in C.S. Lewis’ The Abolition of Man. Some cultures may change small concepts in the Moral Law but it still exists in every single one of us. And as Lewis eloquently posits in Mere Christianity this Moral law which we are all aware of, yet all constantly fail to uphold describes an archetype. This archetype is the Good that Plato speaks of in Republic, it is also the Good that Aristotle claims must have a tangible proof of its existence in Metaphysics. Jesus Christ came to this earth and lived that perfect life, he was the Platonic Good in a way that Plato would of never expected. This fact that his life was completely without pride and only encompassed grace now makes the realization of the chasm between man and this moral Good all the greater. Therefore, he died to bridge this gap and on the third day was raised again, providing us with eternal life. His perfection is accredited to us as our own, this is grace. If you would desire to discuss the concept of relativism further I would be glad to embark on such a discussion.

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  3. And what if the philosophy is not rooted in the Greek?

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  4. Oh crap! Ryan, your blog has become the battleground of a cyber debate.

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  5. Wait, so your argument for morality not being relative is a citations from the opinions of other authors? This does not make sense. Plato is not famous for being correct, he's famous for setting a ground work of modern philosophy. Ground work that was improved upon and made better in later philosophers.

    Morality is relative and only as valuable as we make it. "Good" deeds and "Bad" deeds do not exist. The only thing that is revelvant is what is physically happening as a result of our decisions and is it something that we as humans desire. No extra layer of religious jargon needs to be laid on top of our decisions to force us to make "good" decisions. These "good" deeds can appear without the need of a religion in society.

    I think if people realized they would be less afraid of letting go of religion and being more comfortable with the idea that the reason religion was created in the first place was to deal with the stress and uncertainty we have of this large universe surrounding us. I think beyond this small cyber discussion that humans will continue to learn more and more about the universe becoming less afraid of our surroundings as we gain more control of it. And with this release of fear will be a release of the idea of tradition and religion. All I wish to convince of you of is that you will lose nothing by not participating in religion.

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  6. Just a response to the first comment made by Anonymous:

    What is life without a purpose? You're practically stating that we're better off dead than alive.

    "Life doesn't need an over arching purpose for it to be worth living."

    Then, why live if life has no purpose?

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