Questions
Mood:  quizzical
Now Playing: Let My People Think by Ravi Zacharias

From Ravi's series of 5 most asked questions regarding faith with Dr. William Craig.

• If God did not exist...how did the universe originate?

• If God did not exist...how is it that all these precision aspects of what allows for life come about? order of the universe
  

• if God did not exist neither would objective moral values exist.if there is no moral law, there is no moral law giver
  

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 People in the East spend their time wondering which god to believe in...while people in the West spend their time wondering whether God exists.

 

no matter how you section or present the concrete world, it demands something outside itself for its origin

evolution cannot be an argument for origins; it presupposes some pre-existing complexities 

non-matrial; intelligent; personal God does exist. 

 good vs. evil

no world

an amoral world

robotic world... only choice for good

or this world

if you begin to compare looking for the "better"you are already applying a moral law approach...such that one is less good (closer to evil?) 

 love is the supreme ethic; love is only possible where the opposite is also possible....said Ravi.  hmmm.

 if i take a life; it would be evil because i cannot replace it with life... God, however can (as in the case of the death of the innocents; as to those who grieve, God gives strength and grace and sustenance.)

1. fact, 2. face, & 3.feeling of (about) evil

1. moral order; 2. responsibility; & 3.heart talk 

 sometimes we get confused about what God's purpose for our life is... knowledge of God. (not here & now happiness, which passes quickly by...but rather the treasure in heaven kind that IS knowing Him. (my words not his).)

watch the growth of the gospel in areas of suffering.  our suffering needs to be seen in light of the cross. where is God? Look to the cross...He knows suffering.

God does not need to justify Himself to me (us). I (we) need to be justified to Him!  

historicity of the resurrection of Jesus

• Jesus was buried by Joseph of Aramathia in his own tomb...place known to both Jew and gentile alike.
  
• On Sunday morning following the cruxifiction; empty tomb found by his women followers;attested to in Mark's gospel; women found the tomb...so a legendary story would have had men discover the tomb empty...Jewish authorities said the disciples came and stole his body...so they presupposed the body to be missing. the tomb was empty.
• various occasions different individuals and groups of people saw the resurrected Christ bodily. not just to believers ... confirmed in the gospel accounts...
  
• earliest disciples were predisposed not to believe in a dead/dieing or resurrected Messiah. No expectation of any resurrection until the end of the world; but having seen the risen Jesus Christ, they were willing to go to their deaths in the defense of that fact.

 Ravi's comments... beyond the biblical witness, there are other witnesses....  the Koran even points to Jesus as having power to raise the dead.

Acts 24 notes from Ravi's sermon "Let My People Think" podcast
Paul's faith came in reverse order...first the resurrection...then the suffering    ...sez Ravi Z.

v. 21  

Roman worldview
position of law
  stoicism & epicurinism
  atheism & despair
  might was right
Greek wv
  position of philosphy
Jewish w.v.
 position of ten commandments
Christian w.v.
 position of submission in faith to Christ Jesus
v. 25
Paul's approach
 methodological genius:
  common point of reference selected... framework of righteousness

how we get our philosphy of life:
  a. philosophers / theory   argue from
  b. drama/arts   illustrate from
  c. "kitchen table"  apply at

Not "Why isn't this alright?"; rather, "Is there anything that is not alright?; and if so, why...how do you get at it?"


2. from righteousness point of reference, to self-control point of relavence, to judgment point of disturbance

first focus on Jesus Christ, second on the Spirit of God (only hope for real self-control), finally judgment to come
 conviction comes from God


if you cannot endure  the message, you try to destroy the messenger...so Felix didn't kill Paul, but kept giving him opportunity to become corrupt. Paul, however had the undergirding of the Holy Spirit that gave him the super human resistance and worked out as self control that goes beyond self control and on to the control of the Spirit of the Living God.

Silas Marner, where have you been all my life?
Mood:  blue
So, I'm finally getting around to reading Silas Marner. Who knew George Eliot was a woman, by the way? The world is still full of surprises...even without going into the pristine jungles of Indonesia. "Georgie" really has a handle on human nature...must be what made this one a classic. I find myself grabbing the pencil and underlining all over the place...right, as if i'll be quoting. It is a well-woven piece...one Silas would himself be pleased to present from his loom.

Desiring God by John Piper
Mood:  sharp
The book i'm commenting on/from is Desiring God by John Piper. He uses Genesis 2, latter part to argue against homosexuality. says... God parades the animals before Adam who is without helpmate to show him that dogs, sheep, horses etc. are good, but they are not, cannot be, his soul mate. something is missing from them...they are not his counterpart...they do not complete him ... there is not the same capacity for spiritual interaction on the same frequency with the complimentary (and necessarily, completing) difference. so the rib-ectomy takes place and Voila! it is not another Adam. Another Adam would not have been the fruitful representation of Christ and his bride, the Church.

mystery...marriage
Topic: marriage
J.P. is talking about marriage and the mystery that it is and how the mystery is not so much that it is like Christ and the church, as it is that it was modeled after Christ and the church as a living, albeit imperfect representation of it. And that tho husbands and wives are ultimately to submit to one another, it does not mean that the husband is not the head. For Christ, even Christ, submits to his bride the church by service, but maintains authority and rightful leadership. And the church, of course submits to Christ, whereas the wife is to have the inclination toward submission...which is to say she is not to be a doormat to an ungodly man, if indeed that is whom she is yoked to.

the idea is ...
Mood:  not sure
So, the deal is that i'm all the time reading stuff and thinking..hey that's a great idea or insight or yeah i could really use that later and then i don't remember where i read what or when it was or what i even thought was there...so this is to record some of that kind of thing...that if i owned the book i might just scribble ...in the margin.