Gregory Koukl's Blog, page 29
December 25, 2015
Links Mentioned on the 12/25/15 Show
The following is a rundown of today's podcast, annotated with links that were either mentioned on the show or inspired by it:
Guest: Gail Carter ��� D.O.L.L.S. ��� Daughters of the Living Lord and Savior (0:00)
reTHINK Apologetics Student Conferences
D.O.L.L.S. website
Greg's previous commentary where he discussed D.O.L.L.S.
Questions:
��� Announcements:
STR Cruise to Alaska ��� August 6-13, 2016
1. Evidence for and against Noah's Ark (0:29)
Commentary: History of Christmas (0:41)
Stories behind the Great Traditions of Christmas by Ace Collins
The Incarnation ��� A Startling Idea! (Harry Reasoner piece quoted by Greg)
Listen to today's show or download any archived show for free. (Find links from past shows here.)
To take part in the Twitter conversation during the live show (Tuesdays 4:00���6:00 p.m. PT), follow @STRtweets and use the hashtag #STRtalk.
Eve���s Hope
Today we celebrate the coming of the One who rescues us from the chains of our sin. Merry Christmas to all of you!
Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us.... (Romans 8:1-4)
(���Mary and Eve��� by Sr. Grace Remington, OCSO)
December 24, 2015
Does Proverbs 8:22 Teach That Jesus Was Created?
When you tell Jehovah���s Witnesses that Jesus is uncreated, they are likely to take you directly to Proverbs 8:22-30 in their New World Translation (NWT). They believe this is undeniable proof that Jesus was the first created creature. Before looking specifically at this passage, we should familiarize ourselves with the context. This chapter begins with a personification of wisdom as a woman calling out in the streets. A personification is a figure of speech where human qualities are given to non-human things. For example, telling my wife that opportunity is knocking at her door is a personification of opportunity. It would be foolish for her to go check the door to see if someone is literally there knocking. Opportunity is not an actual person. In the case of Proverbs 8, personal qualities are attributed to the virtue of wisdom so that it sounds like a person (Prov. 8:12), but it���s not really a person.
Solomon���s primary intent of verses 22-30 is to communicate that God used wisdom when He created the world. God was wise from the beginning. David echoes this idea in the Psalms. He writes, ���O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures��� (Psa. 104:24). Solomon stresses the same point. He writes, ���The Lord possessed me [wisdom] at the beginning of his work��� and ���I [wisdom] was beside Him, like a master workman������ (Prov. 8:22, 30). The question is, is this passage about more than wisdom?
Jehovah���s Witnesses argue that this description moves beyond a personification to describing a personality; namely, it describes the person of Christ. Furthermore, their NWT translates verse 22 as ���Jehovah produced me as the beginning of His way��� (Prov. 8:22). According to Jehovah���s Witnesses, if wisdom was created, and the wisdom of God is Jesus (1 Cor. 1:30), then Solomon must be saying that Jesus was created.
The Jehovah���s Witnesses��� argument hinges on the meaning of the verb qanah, which they translate as produced, or created. There are two reasons to reject the NWT���s rendering. First, most Bible scholars, think that possess is the best translation of the original language. Therefore, Solomon is saying that Jehovah possessed wisdom, not that He created it. If Jehovah didn���t create wisdom, then their argument that Jesus was created disappears.
Second, logic demands that the Jehovah���s Witness translation be disregarded. Clearly, Jehovah could not have produced wisdom. Wisdom is one of His essential attributes that Jehovah has possessed from eternity. If the NWT is correct, then Jehovah lacked wisdom until He produced it. Since Jehovah is eternal, this means that He eternally existed without the virtue of wisdom until He produced it a finite time ago.
If this passage comes up in discussion with your Jehovah���s Witness friends, ask them, ���Do you believe that Jehovah lacked wisdom?��� This question puts them between a rock and a hard place. If they answer yes, then their view of God is mistaken. The God of the Bible is omnisapient, which means all-wise. Therefore, there cannot be a time when He lacked wisdom.
If they say no, then their translation of verse 22 is mistaken. The NWT clearly says, ���Jehovah produced wisdom.��� God could not have produced wisdom since He already possessed it.
Your Jehovah���s Witness friends might object at this point. ���This passage isn���t about wisdom; it���s about Jesus,��� they might exclaim. However, this response makes a gross exegetical error. Whether or not someone believes this passage applies to Christ, we all recognize that it is at least talking about the virtue of wisdom. It may be about the virtue of wisdom only, or it may be about the virtue of wisdom and Jesus. But the context will not allow this text to be about Jesus alone.
At this point, I need to employ an important hermeneutical principle. When it comes to Scripture, you always interpret what is unclear in light of what is clear. That is, you start with what is clear and work out to what is less clear. Reinterpreting clear passages to make them fit with less clear passages is bad hermeneutics. Yet, Jehovah���s Witnesses do this all the time.
For example, I was discussing John 1:3 with a Jehovah���s Witness to establish that Jesus is the uncreated Creator. He responded by citing Proverbs 8:22 and stating, ���Jesus is Jehovah���s first creation.��� Given what I���ve have already said about John 1:3 and Proverbs 8:22, it should be obvious to any honest person that the former is much more clear than the latter. Consequently, it would be an egregious error to reinterpret a straightforward passage, like John 1:3, to accommodate a debatable reading of Proverbs 8:22.
December 23, 2015
Links Mentioned on the 12/23/15 Show
The following is a rundown of today's podcast, annotated with links that were either mentioned on the show or inspired by it:
Commentary: Greg's Christmas Confession (0:00)
The Nativity Story
Questions:
��� Announcements:
#STRask Podcast with Greg Koukl and Melinda Penner
1. How should I respond to a friend who thinks his six-year-old child is transgender? (0:22)
How to Help Transgender Children by Amy Hall (quoting Walt Heyer)
9 Things You Should Know about Transgenderism by Joe Carter
Transgender Surgery Isn't the Solution by Paul McHugh
2. Do we make too much of of the armor of God ��� do we take it too literally? (0:45)
Listen to today's show or download any archived show for free. (Find links from past shows here.)
To take part in the Twitter conversation during the live show (Tuesdays 4:00���6:00 p.m. PT), follow @STRtweets and use the hashtag #STRtalk.
The Top Ten Videos of 2015
Here are the ten videos that got the most views in 2015 (see yesterday for the ten most popular written posts):
If God Is All-Loving, How Can He Say He, ���Hated Esau��� in Malachi 11?
Challenge Response: When Did You Choose Your Heterosexuality?
Is It Possible That Mormonism Is True?
Covenant Theology and Dispensationalism
That's Just Your Opinion
Challenge Response: Proof That Christianity Is Wrong
Why Abortion Is Unjust Discrimination
Why Is Suicide a Sin?
Talking about Bruce Jenner
Responding to Same-Sex Marriage
December 22, 2015
The Top Ten Posts of 2015
Here are the top ten posts of 2015 (measured by the number of page views):
The Line between Rule of Law and Civil Disobedience ��� ���Rule of law is what makes a good society possible, and the value we place on it should be great���it should never be compromised as part of a regular strategy for getting what we want���. But there is also a time and place for civil disobedience, grounded in a Law higher than man���s, against an unjust law. Determining where the line should be drawn between them is not a simple task.���
About Those Crusades��� ��� ���Since the Crusades are back in the news, these excerpts from a 2005 article by Crusade historian Thomas F. Madden will help you brush up on the basics.���
Why Christians Don���t Seek to Avenge Insults against God ��� ���[T]he most honored act of all time, for which Jesus was highly exalted by the Father, was not avenging His Name, but dying for those who disgraced it. He didn���t dismiss justice, but instead He upheld it by bearing it on His own shoulders. This central act of Christianity burrowed into our understanding of the virtuous life and slowly infiltrated all of Western culture���so much so that we in the West now take for granted the beauty of patient, gracious, self-sacrificial humility over an immediate exercise of punitive power. We forget that not every culture has seen this as desirable. It���s an echo of Christ, not something men naturally reason to on their own.���
Refusing to Serve Individuals vs. Refusing to Participate in Events ��� ���Compelling someone else's speech (through creative or expressive services) can be a soft form of slavery���. To argue in essence, ���But giving people liberties and freedoms might enable them to act unethically toward others��� is fundamentally to argue against the Constitution. Liberties and freedoms require vulnerabilities and risks that are worth having.���
Christians, You Will Suffer ��� ���If suffering disproves your Christianity, you���ve missed Christianity. The Bible is filled with the suffering of those whom God loves. The central event of the Bible is one of suffering. Love involves suffering. ���We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.��� That means suffering���. The truth is that even if you���ve been taught these things, a time will come when an experience will make this real to you, and then you will struggle to learn how to entrust yourself to God when you can���t trust He���ll protect you from pain and tragedy, can���t trust that things will get better. The only thing you can trust is Him. That He is good.���
How to Defuse the Accusation of Intolerance ��� ���I can think of a specific instance right now when I used this approach in response to a hostile questioner. It completely defused a very tense situation, enabling us to have a deep, profitable conversation about same-sex marriage that ended with him understanding my position and saying he believed I wasn���t a bigot after all.���
Why Is Evolution so Widely Believed? ��� ���Dr. Craig points outs that the mainstream acceptance of the theory of evolution is not for scientific reasons; it���s accepted for philosophical reasons. More specifically, it���s believed because of a commitment to methodological naturalism.���
Advice from Chesterton: Don���t Take Down the Fence until You Know Why It���s There ��� ���If there���s one thing I���ve learned in the past few days, it���s this: Most people���religious or otherwise���have no idea what marriage is, why it exists, and what we need it for. And what���s worse, they have no idea they have no idea.���
Justice Kennedy���s Arguments for Polygamy and Polyamory ��� ���Now tell me, on the basis of the reasons given, why not?���
What Jesus Said about Homosexuality ��� ���The Bible���s view of the Bible is that it is God-breathed. 2 Timothy 3:16 says, ���All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.��� Jesus is God, therefore all of the Bible is His Word, not just the parts in red in the four Gospels.���
December 21, 2015
How Do We Reconcile an Unchanging God with the New Covenant?
If God doesn't change, why does God deal with the world in different ways throughout history?
December 19, 2015
Is It Unloving to Tell People They Are Sinners?
Is it unloving to tell people they are sinners? While thinking about this question, an analogy immediately came to mind that I think brilliantly articulates why telling people they are sinners is not only loving, but also life-giving. I hope that you find this illustration as helpful as I have.
Imagine a young man named Joe goes to the doctor to get a couple of routine tests done. A few days later, the test results come back, and each test shows that Joe has cancer. This particular cancer is completely curable if Joe gets the right treatment. However, the doctor cares too much to give Joe that bad news. He has known Joe for quite some time and considers him a good friend. He knows this news will be emotionally upsetting. Furthermore, this diagnosis is going to alter Joe's current lifestyle. The treatment will be intense, so Joe won't have the energy to do what he used to, he will need more bed rest, and he will even need to change his diet. Since the doctor doesn���t want to come across as unloving, he changes one of the test results to indicate that Joe doesn���t have cancer and flat out ignores the other tests. Rather than give the truth, the doctor chooses to misrepresent and even ignore the truth.
I believe this illustrates the mentality of many Christians in the church today. For example, some Christians are so worried about coming across as unloving, bigoted, intolerant, and judgmental to their homosexual friends or relatives that they would rather alter the clear teaching of Scripture or just flat out ignore it. Of course, whoever does this isn���t really doing his homosexual friend any favors. His friend needs to know his sin before he can repent of it, in the same way a man with cancer needs to know he���s sick before he will seek out the cure.
The gospel���that Christ died for our sins���is the good news for sinners. However, it only makes sense in light of the bad news���that we are sinners. One of the earliest oral creeds recorded in the New Testament is 1 Corinthians 15:3-7. This Christian oral tradition dates back to within a few years of Jesus��� death and resurrection. The message our brothers and sisters from the 1st century were communicating was ���that Christ died for our sins.��� But this doesn't mean anything to people who are ignorant of their sins. Think about it! Healthy people don't need a doctor; sick people do. Likewise, righteous people don't need a Savior; sinners do.
Getting back to the illustration: The most loving thing that the doctor can do is to gently and graciously share the truth with his patient that he has a deadly disease. Only then can he offer the lifesaving cure. In exactly the same way, humbly and graciously telling people that they are sinners���like you, and I, and the rest of mankind���is the most loving thing you can do, because only then will they turn to the life-giving Savior.
December 18, 2015
The Contingency Argument
Reasonable Faith has a new apologetics video on Leibniz���s contingency argument for the existence of God. Enjoy!
If you liked this one, be sure to watch their other videos on the moral argument and the kalam cosmological argument. All of these videos are simple and clear���good introductions of the ideas involved.
