oddXian: Challenge the Consensus

1. Scientific Naturalism (SN), which is the prevailing modern scientific and mainstream worldview, by definition cannot account for the supernatural (i.e., immaterial and transcendent from nature) and its explanatory power is limited to natural and implicitly non-intelligent sources. 2. The natural universe is clearly governed by intelligible complex code - code that implies an Intelligent Developer (I.e., God) above/outside of nature (I.e., supernatural) 3. God can manipulate and accelerate His code in ways that would not match an internal observer’s natural perceptions/measurements (e.g., adult humans fully formed, 6 day creation, water into aged wine, etc.). 4. SN cannot naturally and scientifically account for the origin of the code (inherent order), origin of the universe (ultimate causality), origin of the mind (consciousness and purposefulness from chaos), or the origin of life (abiogenesis) and rely on their faith in “Scientific Naturalism of the Gaps” (SNG) which presupposes s...

Why would an all-good and all-powerful God allow the existence of evil? The Biblical Christian answer to the PoE is simple: “All things work together for good for those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose.” Rom 8:28 Simply, what we perceive as evil is ultimately part of a good purpose. The good purpose is that God (particularly Jesus Christ) is glorified and shares that glory with His people. We know the reason. We know the objective. You may not agree with or accept it, but we have the answer to the PoE. For the Biblical Christian, it’s not a problem at all. The foundation for my rationality is rock solid based on my authoritative source of truth. The atheist has much more of a “problem” in that they have no objective moral standard from which to judge what is “evil” or “good”. The torture of a 3 year old holds as much moral and rational weight as buying them an ice cream. It is a precarious basis for morality - rationally more akin to psychopathy than altruism. ...

Deuteronomy 1:39 And as for your little ones, who you said would become a prey, and your children, who today have no knowledge of good or evil, they shall go in there. And to them I will give it, and they shall possess it. Matthew 19:14 but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 18:2-4 And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus, who exemplifies the character of God, loves little children, in and out of the womb. It is good and necessary consequence that little children who die in their infancy are Elect.

Practically, nothing in terms of God’s plan. The physical kingdom of Israel fell long ago and was supplanted by the spiritual kingdom of Israel we call the church of Christ. This kingdom has the law of God written on their hearts by the constant indwelling of the Holy Spirit, who previously only acted internally as He would in certain individuals in certain circumstances.   This kingdom does not have physical boundaries and holy places. We are the temple that God inhabits and we carry the kingdom of Heaven with us wherever we go. This kingdom has an eternal king that set aside His glory for a time, joined us here in the material plane, and revealed the character of God as loving, forgiving, and sacrificial for His children. Do not lose hope if the state of Israel falls and Christ does not return. He will come when and as the Father intended. His is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, amen. John 18:36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were ...

In the modern era, much ado has been made in the field of Biblical criticism concerning textual variances in the many historical copies we have that comprise our current set of Bible translations. Without a proper understanding and context, it can cause doubt about the fidelity of God’s Word in otherwise staunch Christians and cause weaker believers to stray from the faith. First - No informed person denies that there are minor variations in the manuscript texts. That being said, none of these variations have any impact on historic and traditional core Biblical doctrines. The cohesive narrative of Scripture remains over and above the translations and refinements over the centuries. Second - we do not have the original documents, but Biblical Christians believe that they were originally textually inerrant. There is no surprise minor variations happened over time. We accept some variation now,    in the sense that the documents in their original languages are translated into the...

The Bible is true, trustworthy, authoritative, and infallible in all matters of the Christian faith because it is totally inspired, stewarded, and externally verified by the Spirit of truth. John 17:17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. John 16:13-14 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 2 Peter 1:21 For no pr...

 “…Scripture cannot be broken…” By definition, God is the highest authority possible (Heb. 6:13), so what He says is the final arbiter of truth. And if the only place we have His words is Scripture, then Scripture is the highest court of authority to which we can appeal. Nothing else is on the same level, for only Scripture is “God-breathed”, or theopneustos (2 Tim. 3:16–17). From The Heart of the Reformation Devotional

God is spirit (John 4:24), which means He is imperceptible to natural senses, such as the eye. The only way humans can physically “see” God is to see Jesus, the incarnate God-Man, (John 14:9) which is why I believe it was Christ walking in the Garden, judging Man, and prophesying of Himself. (John 1:18)

I think of God’s complete sovereignty over human and natural evil in this way: God is weaving a tapestry of events. This tapestry is complex, with light and dark threads. The dark threads (evil) are the absence of the light (good) of God, but still essential to the overarching goal/theme, which is to maximize the glory of the Son as Judge and Savior-Redeemer of Man.  Gen 50:20, Isaiah 45:7, 2 Tim 4:1, Rom 8:28, Rom 9:22-23, Heb 1:3 (to name but a few)

  I’m sitting in a lounge in the airport on my way to LA for business. I had about an hour and a half ride to get here and, as I have a tendency to do, was thinking about ways to get people to think about how their fundamental perspectives color the way they think about everything else. One of the things that made me think of this particular topic was a couple of news articles that indicates a significant drop in the certainty of God’s existence among the general populace. I believe that this is due in part to the vast amount of media available that presumes the universe is solely governed by natural law. The prevailing idea is that the universe and all the contents within it, including you and me, basically evolved from one state to another by a gradual process over vast amounts of time. You may not even think about it anymore. In fact, you may even hold diametrically opposing positions, such as a general acceptance of this autonomous evolutionary viewpoint while holding to some i...

Old Earth/Universe Christian adherents are guilty, intentionally or not, of attempting to reconcile the Bible with material naturalism instead of taking Scripture as the prime authority. Young Earth/Universe adherents subjugate man’s wisdom and knowledge to God’s Word. (I confess to being deliberately provocative.) The naturalistic presupposition is uniformitarianism (I.e., natural laws are equally applicable across all places and times) and it is flawed on a cosmological scale. All naturalistic “empirical evidence” is based on it. It is an article of faith.  I have no problem accepting the laws of physics as a general operating rule but I presuppose the laws have not always been uniform in the past, nor will they necessarily be for all times and places. A simple google search can confirm my presupposition. As an example, the naturalistic proposition that “energy is *always* conserved” is neither rational nor scientific as it applies cosmologically.  Naturalists have faith tha...

The naturalistic presupposition is uniformitarianism (I.e., natural laws are equally applicable across all places and times) and it is flawed on a cosmological scale. All naturalistic “empirical evidence” is based on it. It is an article of faith.  I have no problem accepting the laws of physics as a general operating rule but I presuppose the laws have not always been uniform in the past, nor will they necessarily be for all times and places. A simple google search can confirm my presupposition. As an example, the naturalistic proposition that “energy is *always* conserved” is neither rational nor scientific as it applies cosmologically.  Naturalists have faith that science will somehow develop a naturalistic explanation given enough time and information and they grasp onto every fuzzy theoretical construct (e.g., dark matter and energy, multiverses, string theory, etc.) that supports it - “naturalism of the gaps”. Here is a great article that illustrates this approach: https...