Gregory Koukl's Blog, page 152

The Fourth Advent Candle

Sunday is the fourth of Advent and the final advent candle is lit.  Our hope has fulfillment.  Waiting turns into joy.  This was expressed very beautifully in Zechariah's words (Luke 1:68-79) as he rejoiced in the birth of his son John and looked forward to the birth of Mary's child, the Messiah that Israel had longed for for centuries.  His words recall the words of the prophets, the promises that reached their fulfillment in the Christ Child. 

There's a side of Christmas that we rarely reflect on because the season is joyous, the celebration so happy.  But it's the reason for the season.  It's sin.  And we see this in Zechariah's words, too.  The darkness and burden of our sins find their answer and solution in Jesus - Jesus on the cross and resurrected.  For many churches who follow the church calendar Christmas/Advent is the start that leads inevitably to Easter because that is the culmination of the birth.  Many churches save the trunk of the Christmas tree and use it as a cross for Easter.  Christmas makes no sense without Good Friday and Easter. 

The incarnation is the initiation of God's plan for redemption.  He comes to us when we cannot go to Him and He offers us His own Son, Jesus lays down His own life for our sakes.  That is the amazing grace and joy of Christmas.  Our light has come to turn our eternal mourning into eternal joy.

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people,
And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David;
As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began:
That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us;
To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant;
The oath which he swore to our father Abraham,
That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear,
In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life.
And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways;
To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins,
Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us,
To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.

O Clavis David

The O Antiphon for December 20:

O Clavis David (O Key of David)
Isaiah 22:15-25 / Isaiah 9:6-7 / Revelation 3:7

O Clavis David,[image error]

et sceptrum domus Israel,
qui aperis, et nemo claudit;
claudis, et nemo aperit:
veni, et educ vinctum
de domo carceris,
sedentem in tenebris,
et umbra mortis.

O Key of David
and scepter of the house of Israel,
you open and no one can close,
you close and no one can open:
Come and rescue the prisoners
who are in darkness
and the shadow of death.

Sharing the Gospel with Homosexuals

Three very good preliminary questions for potentially difficult conversations.  These are good questions for talking with any sinner no matter what the sin is.  From Michael McKinley at 9Marks Blog:

To be honest, sharing the gospel with gay people can be intimidating. There is an increasing social stigma that comes with believing that homosexuality is a sin. Frankly, you risk being treated like a racist bigot when you tell a homosexual that they have offended God and should repent.

But here are three questions that I have found useful in these types of conversations.

1. Can you still be friends with me even if I think homosexuality is a sin?

2. Hypothetically, if you knew that God disapproved of homosexual behavior, would you stop and obey him?

3. Are you happy?

O Radix Jesse

The O Antiphon for December 19:

O Radix Jesse (O Root of Jesse)
Isaiah 11:1-16 / Romans 15:8-13 / Revelation 5:1-5

O Radix Jesse,[image error]

qui stas in signum populorum,
super quem continebunt reges os suum,
quem Gentes deprecabuntur:
veni ad liberandum nos,
jam noli tardare.

O Root of Jesse,
standing as an ensign before the peoples,
before whom all kings are mute,
to whom the nations will do homage;
Come quickly to deliver us.

Newsweek: Heaven Is Real

I wrote this post about the book Heaven Is Real in October. Today I saw the author on a news program speaking as though he is an authority on the after life, making theological claims about the current situation of the victims and the perpetrator of last Friday's shooting based on his experience.  I thought it would be worthwhile to repost this to evaluate what we can and cannot learn from a near death experience.

 

The cover story of Newsweek is Dr. Eben Alexander's account of his near death experience and his discovery that his physicalistic worldview was unable to account for a real experience.

Dr. Alexander, a neurologist, contracted bacterial meningitis that shut down his cerebral cortex.  There was no higher-order brain activity during the time he was monitored in the hospital.  He says he was beyond a vegetative state.  During this time, however, his consciousness - his mind - was aware and active.  The doctor admits that he previously dismissed such accounts because he was a physicalist.  He didn't believe in the mind, only the brain.  But he had to abandon that view when his own experience provided counter-evidence.  There was no physical explanation for how he could have had conscious experiences when his brain was shut down.

He says there was no "scientific explanation" for this.  That's not quite true.  There's no physical explanation for his experience.  There's no scientific explanation if you define science by the philosophy of physicalism.  There is a scientific explanation when his and other experiences are studied carefully and scientifically.  It's just that the explanation isn't a physical one.

Gary Habermas and J. P. Moreland co-authored a fascinating book about their careful investigation of near death experiences.  Even after discounting many testimonies that can have other explanations, there are many reports, like Dr. Alexander's, that have no other explanation so they must be taken seriously.  What this indicates, as Dr. Alexander concluded from his own experience, is that physical explanations are not exhaustive - that there is a non-physical conscious mind and a non-physical world.

What we can't conclude from these experiences that appear to be real is that what they heard and learned during these experiences are necessarly true.  An experience can be real without the conclusions of the experience being accurate.  That happens to us all the time even in this life.  We have an experience, but we're mistaken about what we think about it.  It can happen in death, too.  After all, once we have evidence for a non-physical world, we have reason to believe from the Bible, which tells us about this world, that there are beings there that deceive us.  There are also beings who tell us the truth.  But which do people encounter in their near death experiences?  It's hard to tell.

The reports from these experiences vary significantly.  They can't all be true because they present different claims about that reality.  That doesn't mean the experience didn't happen - remember, these are experiences that have no other explantion.  We can conclude there is evidence of an afterlife from these reports, just not what the nature of it is.  For that, we have to return to the evidence for religious claims we allhave access to in this life.  Yes, we're back to evidence for the realiability of the Bible - or other religions.

And that's where Dr. Alexander's experience can't inform us.  While much of what he experienced during that time could be construed to be consistent with Biblical descriptions of Heaven, that doesn't mean that's what he saw.  What he tells us he learned there isn't what the Bible tells us.  He was told, "You have nothing to fear....There is nothing you can do wrong."  Now, the doctor's own explanation of his religious beliefs prior to this don't make him a Christian, even though he said that's how he thought of himself.  So it wasn't that He was being reassured of his salvation.  He didn't belief Jesus was the incarnate God who sacrificed Himself for our sins.  What he learned during his experience is no more authoritative than his (or anyone's) religious convictions.  Despite the extraorindary nature of near death experiences, we're right back to evaluating competing religious claims and the evidence for them.

We can learn from valid near death experiences that the non-physical mind is real and that some kind of life apart from this world is real.  The physical isn't all there is.  What we can't learn from any near death experience is what we can learn here and now from the Bible.

Here's a very interesting talk from Gary Habermas on near death experiences.

O Adonai

The O Antiphon for December 18:

O Adonai
Exodus 3:1-15 / Isaiah 11:4-5 / Isaiah 33:22

O Adonai,[image error]
et Dux domus Israel,
qui Moysi in igne flammæ rubi apparuisti,
et ei in Sina legem dedisti:
veni ad redimendum nos in brachio extento.

O Adonai and Ruler of the house of Israel,
who appeared to Moses in the burning bush
and gave him the Law on Sinai:
Come with an outstretched arm and redeem us.

Christianity Promotes Rational (and Evidential) Exploration

Anais Nin, the avant-garde author and diarist, once said, “When we blindly adopt a religion, a political system, a literary dogma, we become automatons. We cease to grow.” I couldn’t agree more. As a detective and evidentialist, the last thing I want a jury to do is adopt a position blindly. Many people seem to think that Christians do this very thing, however, when they adopt the view that Christianity is true. This is largely due to the fact that the term, “faith” is largely misunderstood. For some (even for some Christians), faith is best defined as “believing in something that lacks supporting evidence.” But this is not the definition of faith that is presented on the pages of Christian Scripture. Instead, the Biblical notion of faith is more akin to “trusting in the best inference from the evidence” (more on this in my post on Friday).

The Biblical authors repeatedly encouraged their readers to search the evidence to investigate the claims of Christianity (1 Thessalonians 5:19-21 and 1 John 4:1) so they could be convinced of the truth of these claims (Romans 14:5, 2 Timothy 1:8-12 and 2 Timothy 3:14). This encouragement is consistent with the notion that the evidence will lead us to a rational conclusion about the nature of Jesus. In fact, Jesus also encouraged his followers to consider the evidence he provided about his deity (John 14:11 and Acts 1:2-3). Christian faith is not blind. Instead, the Christian faith encourages investigation related to Jesus and to the world around us. Christians ought to understand the distinctions between unreasonable, blind and reasonable faith:

Unreasonable Faith
Believing in something IN SPITE of the evidence. We hold an unreasonable faith when we refuse to accept or acknowledge evidence that exists, is easily accessible and clearly refutes what we believe

Blind Faith
Believing in something WITHOUT any evidence. We hold a blind faith when we accept something even though there is no evidence to support our beliefs. We don’t search for ANY evidence that either supports or refutes what we are determined to believe

Reasonable Faith
Believing in something BECAUSE of the evidence. We hold a reasonable faith when we believe in something because it is the most reasonable conclusion from the evidence that exists. The Bible repeatedly makes evidential claims. It offers eyewitness accounts of historical events that can be verified archeologically, prophetically and even scientifically. We, as Christians are called to hold a REASONABLE FAITH that is grounded in this evidence.

The pages of Scripture support the notion of “reasonable faith”. Perhaps this is why so many Christians are evidentialists and have applied this evidential view of the world to their professional investigations (I’ve assembled a partial list of some of these Christian investigators in a variety of fields). Christianity has not stunted the intellectual growth of these men and women (as Anais Nin seemed to insinuate), but has instead provided the foundation for their exploration. For these investigators, the evidential nature of the Christian Worldview was entirely consistent (and even foundational) to their investigative pursuits in every aspect of God’s creation. Christianity did not cause them to “cease to grow” but, instead, provided the philosophical foundation for their investigations.

Greg Koukl - Never Read a Bible Verse - Luke 2:14 (Video)

Never Read a Bible Verse - Luke 2:14

Why Christianity?

Church historian Kenneth Scott Latourette considers the question why Christianity spread as no other religion had spread before it. 

There were many other religions and philosophies.  But none attracted the following Christianity did or had the impact Jesus' church did.  Why?

Inevitably the question arises: Why, from being the faith of a small, persecuted minority in competition with other religions which appeared to have better prospects of success, did Christianity eventually enroll the large majority of the population of the Roman Empire? To that outcome several factors contributed. In the disintegration of the existing order which by the end of the second century was becoming obvious many individuals were seeking spiritual and material security and believed that they could find it in the Christian faith. By the end of the third century, while enlisting only a minority, the Church was Empire-wide, was more comprehensive than any institution except the state, and gave to its members a sense of brotherhood and solidarity. Christianity assured its adherents what many in the ancient world were craving -- high ethical standards, a spiritual dynamic in which was power to approximate to those standards, and immortality. The Church was inclusive: its brotherhood included both sexes, rich and poor, intelligentsia and men and women of no intellectual attainments. Many intellectuals, including Augustine, found in the faith not only moral power but also, in the incarnation, the Word become flesh, what was absent in the highest philosophies of the time. The constancy of the martyrs awakened the admiration of thousands. So did the fact that Christianity was uncompromising in its demands. One modern scholar, T. R. Glover of Cambridge University declared that the Christians out-thought, out-lived, and out-died the adherents of the non-Christian religions.

The primary source of the appeal of Christianity was Jesus -- His incarnation, His life, His crucifixion, and His resurrection. Here was the sense of security and of meaning in a perplexing universe and in a society whose foundations were crumbling. Here were the command for and, although imperfect, the realization of a comprehensive fellowship. Here were high and exacting ethical commands and the proved power to approximate to them. Here was victory through apparent defeat. Here was the certainty of immortality in ever-growing and never-ending fellowship with the eternal God Who so loved that He had given Himself in His Son.

Because Christianity made no distinctions in the value of human beings.  Many philosophies of the time appealed to the educated.  Other religions viewed man as instrument of the gods.  Christianity was a unique religion.  God loved mankind and came in the flesh to sacrifice Himself for mankind; He didn't expect sacrifices to appease Him.  He valued all people, not for their status or education or race or sex or accomplishment, but simply because they were His creation.  And His church was to live these values as He transformed them. Christianity, unique among all religions and philosophies, was expansive in accepting people who shared their worship of Jesus as Savior.

Christianity was unique.  And its impact on the world is hard to apprehend now because we take for granted the values grounded in it.  Christians invented hospitals, orphanages, and social programs because they loved each other and others because God loved them and commanded them to.  Christianity established equal human value despite differences based on simply being God's creature. 

These kinds of values are commonplace now, but they were spawned by the Christian worldview and still find their home in Biblical values.

The O Antiphons

Tonight is the first of the seven "Golden Nights" of Advent (Dec. 17-23) in which the O Antiphons are traditionally prayed.  Known in English primarily by their versification in O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, the O Antiphons (so-called because each begins with "O") each address Jesus with a unique Messianic title from Old Testament prophecy.  Each antiphon is prayed--chanted or spoken--on its corresponding night this week:

* December 17: O Sapientia (O Wisdom)
* December 18: O Adonai (O Adonai)
* December 19: O Radix Jesse (O Root of Jesse)
* December 20: O Clavis David (O Key of David)
* December 21: O Oriens (O Dayspring)
* December 22: O Rex Gentium (O King of Nations)
* December 23: O Emmanuel (O Emmanuel)

Note that the first letters of each title form the Latin acrostic ERO CRAS ("I shall be [here] tomorrow") when read backwards from the 23rd.

I encourage you to make use of these prayers as part of your Advent devotionals.  I'll be posting each antiphon on its prescribed day, along with relevant Scripture passages.  Tonight's is included below, first in its original Latin, and then in English translation.

O Sapientia (O Wisdom)
Isaiah 11:2-3 / Proverbs 8 / I Corinthians 1:18-31

O Sapientia,[image error]
quæ ex ore Altissimi prodiisti,
attingens a fine usque ad finem fortiter,
suaviterque disponens omnia:
veni ad docendum nos viam prudentiæ.

O Wisdom,
proceeding from the mouth of the Most High,
pervading and permeating all creation,
mightily ordering all things:
Come and teach us the way of prudence.

Update: Issues, Etc. has posted some fantastic audio commentary on the O Antiphons from Rev. Wil Weedon of St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Hamel, IL.  Click below to listen:

O Wisdom / O Adonai / O Root of Jesse / O Key of David
O Dayspring / O King of Nations / O Emmanuel