Gregory Koukl's Blog, page 49

Challenge Response: Your God Isn���t Moral

Here's my response to this week's challenge:

More Doubling Down on Faulty Principles

Remember when I talked about our culture biting absurd bullets? Here���s how it works:

A group argues for something by citing a reason that expresses a particular principle.

Other people point out that the reason given for A would argue equally for situation B, such that if we accept A because of that principle, then we must also accept the absurd B.

Though step #2 is intended to demonstrate that the principle being used to reason to A is faulty (since it equally supports absurd outcome B), instead of recognizing this, those arguing for A double down on their principle and accept B.

Well, this happened yet again this past week. I���m sure by now you���ve heard about Rachel Dolezal, a white woman who self-identifies as black. When the story first hit the news, there was shock and outrage. Clearly this woman was denying reality! 

Not so fast, media. Didn���t you spend the last two weeks telling us that our own image of our true self is the true image, regardless of our irrelevant biology? Didn���t you say that living out one���s true self is courageous? Weren���t you lamenting the fact that societal bigotry causes those whose self-image doesn���t match their biology to hide the truth about themselves?

When challenged with these questions, the response���at least, at first���was that the Jenner situation was completely different. And how was it different?

She���s only a ���white person pretending to be black���Caitlyn Jenner is not ���pretending��� to be a woman.���

���This goes WAY deeper than that. This woman is disturbed, clearly. Mentally disturbed.���

She���s ���mentally disturbed��� because her self-image doesn���t match the truth about her body? Because she hid the truth about the difference between her self-image and her body? Because she wanted other people to see her the way she saw herself? But Caitlyn Jenner, who still has the body of a man, is not pretending to be something he���s not (while demanding everyone else pretend so, as well), and there���s no delusion on his part about the reality of his body?

Dolezal sincerely believes she is black. Just as sincerely as Jenner believes he is a woman. Dolezal ���felt very isolated with [her] identity virtually [her] entire life.��� Mustn���t this isolation also be a result of our society���s bigotry preventing her from being open about the discontinuity between her self-image and her body?

If the principle that ���self-image, not biology, determines reality��� is true, then it���s true in every case (and race is just the tip of the iceberg). That���s not an easy bullet to bite, but as I pointed out in my last post on the current bullet-biting phenomenon, the human drive towards consistency is strong. Someone was bound to try to resolve their cognitive dissonance by moving on to step #3 eventually, and that person was MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry, who finally asked the question, ���Is it possible that she might actually be black?" In the video below, she wonders, "Can it be that one would be cis-black and trans-black?���

Is it possible that Rachel Dolezal is black? No, it isn���t. But it���s very possible that subjective self-image doesn���t determine objective reality. For anyone.

Links Mentioned on the 6/16/15 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: The Unreality of Self-Identification (0:00)

STR Cruise to Alaska ��� August 6-13, 2016

Questions:

1. Is continuationism biblical, and can it be taught responsibly? (0:17)

Does God Whisper? Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

2. Is there a difference in how Christians should treat other Christians versus non-Christians? (0:28)

3. How is God not a moral monster given the Old Testament atrocities He ordered? (0:43)

The Canaanites: Genocide or Judgment? (PDF) by Greg Koukl
Not Genocide, but Capital Punishment by Amy Hall (quoting Clay Jones)
Paul Copan: Is God a Moral Monster? Making Sense of the Old Testament God ��� Podcast
Clay Jones: The Problem of Evil and Destruction of the Canaanites ��� Podcast
The New Atheists and the Old Testament by Amy Hall

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���7:00 p.m. PT), follow @STRtweets and use the hashtag #STRtalk.

Challenge: Your God Isn���t Moral

Here���s a challenge I received from an atheist on Twitter:

Is a God who endorses slavery worth following and truly moral?

How would you respond to someone who said this to you? I think you could come at this from different directions. You could respond to the slavery part, or challenge him on the concept of something being ���truly moral,��� or do both. Tell us what you would say in the comments below. Then come back here on Thursday to hear how Brett would answer this challenge.

[Explore past challenges here and here.]

Do You Believe in Extra-Biblical Revelation in Present Day?

Does God talk directly to people nowadays?

How Praying in Community Helps You See Jesus

In Tim Keller���s book Prayer, he applies C.S. Lewis���s thoughts on friendship to our relationship with Jesus:

Prayer is therefore not a strictly private thing. As much as we can, we should pray with others both formally in gathered worship and informally. Why? If the substance of prayer is to continue a conversation with God, and if the purpose of it is to know God better, then this can happen best in community.

C. S. Lewis argues that it takes a community of people to get to know an individual person. Reflecting on his own friendships, he observed that some aspects of one of his friend���s personality were brought out only through interaction with a second friend. That meant if he lost the second friend, he lost the part of his first friend that was otherwise invisible. ���By myself I am not large enough to call the whole man into activity; I want other lights than my own to show all his facets.��� If it takes a community to know an ordinary human being, how much more necessary would it be to get to know Jesus alongside others? By praying with friends, you will be able to hear and see facets of Jesus that you have not yet perceived. (pp. 118-119)

If knowing Jesus makes you a better thinker, and praying in community helps you know Jesus better, then as apologists, I guess you know what you need to do now!

Knowing Jesus Makes You a Better Thinker

Michael Reeves has this to say in his excellent book Rejoicing in Christ:

[Many Christians] sing of [Christ���s] love on a Sunday���and there it is true���but walking home through the streets, past the people and the places where Real Life goes on, they don���t feel it is Christ���s world. As if the universe is a neutral place. As if Christianity is just something we have smeared on top of Real Life. Jesus is reduced to being little more than a comforting nibble of spiritual chocolate, an imaginary friend who ���saves souls��� but not much else���.

Since Jesus Christ is the one ���through whom all things came��� (1 Cor 8:6), God���s agent of creation who continues to uphold and sustain the creation he brought into being, the marks of his artistry are all round us. From the tiniest sea urchin to the brightest star, all things bear his magnificent stamp. The heavens cannot but declare his glory, for they are his craftsmanship, and they continue to hold together only in him. His character is written into the grain of the universe so intimately that even to think against Christ the Logos you must think against logic and descend into folly (Ps 14:1). In his world, our faculties work better the more they are harnessed to faith in him. Then we are able to be more logical, more vibrant, more imaginative, more creative, for we are working with the grain.

As soon as any of us denies an aspect of the truth about Jesus, we begin to distort our understanding of reality (see the series I posted on Nancy Pearcey���s book Finding Truth for more on how this happens and its consequences).

If Christ is the foundation of all reality, if all things were made through Him, then to learn truly about Him is to align ourselves with reality���it���s to see truth more clearly in every area of life. If you���d like to think more clearly about the world He created, start by focusing on knowing Christ.

Transgenderism Fragments the Human Person

Nancy Pearcey notes something important about transgenderism (and the worldview of a culture that celebrates it):

The worldview implicit in the transgender movement is that our physical bodies have no particular value ��� that our biology is irrelevant to who we are as persons���.

It is a worldview that drives a wedge between one's body and one's sense of self, which exerts a self-alienating, fragmenting effect on the human personality���.

The autonomous self will not tolerate having its options limited by anything it did not choose ��� not even its own body���.

This radical autonomy may be promoted as liberation, but it is a devastatingly disrespectful view of the physical body. The implication is that your body is not part of your authentic self���.

Today we are seeing the real-world results of this denial. Transgenderism treats the scientific facts of human biology as having no intrinsic purpose or significance. It treats the body as nothing but a piece of matter that gives people no clue about who they are as persons. It is a self-alienating worldview that teaches people that their identity as male or female has no inherent purpose or dignity���.

Liberals often portray the morality of the Bible as negative and restrictive. But in reality, Biblical morality honors humans as embodied beings. It respects our identity as male and female, thus leading to integrity and wholeness. The root of the word integrity means whole, integrated, unified ��� our minds and emotions in tune with our physical body.

A Biblical worldview offers a positive message that respects the whole person and is motivated by love and compassion. 

Read the full article.

The Eyewitnesses

In I Corinthians 15, Paul lists six specific individuals or groups who are reported to have been eyewitnesses of the resurrected Jesus. But are these reports credible? A brief assessment of each account seems to provide good reasons to think that these reports are reliable.

Paul���s first eyewitness is the apostle Peter. Interestingly, the Gospels do not give a detailed account of Jesus��� appearance to Peter. In light of this fact, are there other reasons to trust its historicity? From the earlier examination of I Corinthians 15:3ff and Paul���s visit with Peter in Galatians 1:18, one can be assured that Paul received a first-hand account of Peter���s testimony, which he vouches for in I Corinthians 15. In addition, Luke confirms the appearance to Peter in Luke 24:33-34: ���And they got up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found gathered together the eleven and those who were with them, saying, ���The Lord has really risen and has appeared to Simon.������ Thus, as William Lane Craig observes, ���even the most skeptical [New Testament] critics agree that Peter saw something that he called an appearance of Jesus alive from the dead.���

Secondly, Paul records that Jesus appeared to the Twelve. Considered the most reliable appearance account by scholars, it is confirmed in the Gospels by Luke 24:36-42 and John 20:19-20. The agreement in these independent records attests to their historical reliability. As a result, this event is well-attested to by early Christian tradition, Paul���s confirmation of the report after having spent time with the Twelve, and both Luke and John���s records in the Gospel material.

Thirdly, and quite remarkably, Paul records the fact that Jesus appeared to over 500 people at once. Nowhere else in the New Testament is this occurrence mentioned, but this fact casts no doubt upon its reliability. Indeed, it seems incomprehensible that Paul could have invented this material with the majority of eyewitnesses alive to confirm or deny the accuracy of his account. Immediately following his mention of the 500 eyewitnesses, Paul says that ���most of [them] remain until now, but some have fallen asleep.��� As C. H. Dodd comments, ���There can hardly be any purpose in mentioning the fact that most of the 500 are still alive, unless Paul is saying, in effect, ���the witnesses are there to be questioned.������

The next eyewitness account on Paul���s list comes from James, the younger brother of Jesus. This appearance is notable for the fact that during the lifetime of Jesus, James and his brothers did not believe in Jesus (see Mark 3:21, 31-35; John 7:1-10). However, after the resurrection event they are found in the upper room in Acts 1:14. Later, one discovers that James has become a prominent leader in the early church (Acts 12:17) and then appears to be the primary leader of the Jerusalem church (Acts 21:18). Ultimately, James was martyred for his faith. Given the history of James, an important question arises: what was it that transformed James from being an unbeliever who did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah, to giving up his life because of his faith in Jesus as the Messiah? The most reasonable explanation is that James saw the risen Jesus.

The fifth appearance is to ���all the apostles.��� This group, although wider than the Twelve (otherwise, this is simply a duplication of Paul���s reference to the Twelve in verse 5), was probably a limited circle of individuals who had been with Jesus from the beginning of his ministry (see Acts 1:21-22; John 15:27). Craig states that ���the facticity of this appearance is guaranteed by Paul���s personal contact with the apostles themselves.���

Lastly, Paul includes his own eyewitness account of the resurrected Jesus on the road to Damascus. As with the James account, one is confronted with the question of Paul���s transformation. What was it that changed Paul from a devout rabbi who persecuted Christians to their death, to a devout Christian who went to his death for his faith in Jesus? Paul gives us the only adequate explanation: ���and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also.���

The data found in I Corinthians 15 provides overwhelming eyewitness evidence of the post-mortem appearances of Jesus. Paul���s detailed account gives a ���diversity of witnesses in a variety of places over a forty-day period,��� suggesting that these ���earliest accounts of the resurrection were not fictitious.���

William Lane Craig, Reasonable Faith (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 1994), 281. 

C.H. Dodd, More New Testament Studies (Manchester: University of Manchester Press, 1968), 128.

Craig, Reasonable Faith, 283. 

Craig Blomberg, Jesus and the Gospels (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1997), 353.

Robert W. Funk and Roy W. Hoover, The Five Gospels: What Did Jesus Really Say? (New York: Macmilllan, 1993), 1.

Links Mentioned on the 6/09/15 Show

The following is a rundown of this week's podcast, annotated with links that were either mentioned on the show or inspired by it:

HOUR ONE

Commentary: Thinking about Bruce Jenner (0:00)

Why the First Hospital to Do Sex-Reassignment Surgeries No Longer Does Them by Amy Hall
Don't Assume We Should Change the Body to Match the Mind by Amy Hall
How to Help Transgender Children by Amy Hall
The Birth of Transableism: Why Our Culture Bites Absurd Bullets by Amy Hall

Questions:

1. Do you think the Shroud of Turin is Jesus' burial cloth? (0:24)

Gary Habermas on the Shroud of Turin ��� Podcast from 2/20/11
The Shroud of Turin and Its Significance for Biblical Studies by Gary Habermas

 2. When should you approach a Christian who is using bad language? (0:44)

HOUR TWO

Commentary: Stop Trying to Figure Out What God Is Doing (1:00)

The Ambassador's Guide to the Voice of God by Greg Koukl
Decision Making and the Will of God (CD) by Greg Koukl
Just Do Something: A Liberating Approach to Finding God's Will by Kevin DeYoung
Does God Whisper Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 (PDF) by Greg Koukl

Questions:

3. What is your evaluation of The Lord's Recovery and Christian Students on Campus? (1:19)

The Christian Research Journal's defense of the "Local Church" movement
A Response to the Christian Research Journal's Recent Defense of the Local Church Movement by Norm Geisler and Ron Rhodes

4. Can humanism ground ethics? (1:44)

God, Evolution, and Morality Part 1, Part 2 (PDF) by Greg Koukl

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���7:00 p.m. PT), follow @STRtweets and use the hashtag #STRtalk.