Miscellaneous Lane
[↑↑↑ mostly apologetics related ↑↑↑]
[↑↑↑ mostly apologetics related ↑↑↑]
But Jesus said...“Let the children be filled first, for it is not good to take the children’s bread...” - Mark 7:27
Jesus is the prototype cult leader. 1) He established himself as an ultimate authority. 2) He claimed to be divine. 3) He demanded control over the actions and thoughts of his followers. Control he promised to maintain beyond the limitations of his earthly life. 4) He promised his followers unfathomable rewards for their devotion. 5) He told his followers that everything he asked of them was out of love.
Christ said to a certain ruler: "Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God." (Mark x, 17, 18.) Christ did not deny that he himself was "good," nor did he deny that he himself was God; but the ruler had not acknowledged him to be God, and our Lord's question to the ruler was based upon that fact. It was as much as to say, As you do not confess me to be God, why call me good? Our Lord said: "There is none good but one, that is, God." It would follow from this that whoever is perfectly good must be God; but our Lord is perfectly, infinitely good, hence must be God........The dilemma, as regards the Socinians, has been well put (see Stier II, 283, note), either, 'There is none good but God; Christ is good; therefore Christ is God;' or, 'There is none good but God; Christ is not God; therefore Christ is not good.' " (Alford, in loco)-Richard N. Davies book The Doctrine of the Trinity page 18-19
Yet we know that the Gospel writers and the other writers of the New Testament affirm Jesus' goodness.
2 Now the Jews' Feast of Booths was at hand.3 So his brothers said to him, "Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing.4 For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world."5 For not even his brothers believed in him.6 Jesus said to them, "My time has not yet come, but your time is always here.7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil.8 You go up to the feast. I am not going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come."9 After saying this, he remained in Galilee.- John 7:2-9
27 For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you as the One who serves.- Luke 22:27
4 [Jesus] rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself.5 After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.- John 13:4-5
12 So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, "Do you know what I have done to you?13 You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am.14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.15 For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.16 Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him.- John 13:12-16
28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."- Matt. 20:28
45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."- Mark 10:45
Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me?- John 8:46
30 I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He [i.e. the Devil] has no claim on me,31 but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.- John 14:30-31
42 And Jesus called them to him and said to them, "You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.43 But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant,44 and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."- Mark 10:42-45
And in his teaching he said, "Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the marketplaces39 and have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts,40 who devour widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation."- Mark 10:38-39
Willing to appear openly to those who seek him with all their heart, and to be hidden from those who flee from him with all their heart, God so regulates the knowledge of himself that he has given indications [or "signs"] of himself which are visible to those who seek him and not to those who do not seek him. There is enough light for those to see who only desire to see, and enough obscurity for those who have a contrary disposition.
The prophecies, the very miracles and proofs of our religion, are not of such a nature that they can be said to be absolutely convincing. But they are also of such a kind that it cannot be said that it is unreasonable to believe them. Thus there is both evidence and obscurity to enlighten some and confuse others. But the evidence is such that it surpasses, or at least equals, the evidence to the contrary; so that it is not reason which can determine men not to follow it, and thus it can only be lust or malice of heart. And by this means there is sufficient evidence to condemn, and insufficient to convince; so that it appears in those who follow it, that it is grace, and not reason, which makes them follow it; and in those who shun it, that it is lust, not reason, which makes them shun it. [bold used for emphasis by me]
The Cricket
A Native American and his friend were in downtown New York City, walking near Times Square in Manhattan. It was during the noon lunch hour and the streets were filled with people. Cars were honking their horns, taxicabs were squealing around corners, sirens were wailing, and the sounds of the city were almost deafening. Suddenly, the Native American said, "I hear a cricket."
His friend said, "What? You must be crazy. You couldn't possibly hear a cricket in all of this noise!"
"No, I'm sure of it," the Native American said, "I heard a cricket."
"That's crazy," said the friend.
The Native American listened carefully for a moment, and then walked across the street to a big cement planter where some shrubs were growing. He looked into the bushes, beneath the branches, and sure enough, he located a small cricket. His friend was utterly amazed.
"That's incredible," said his friend. "You must have super-human ears!"
"No," said the Native American. "My ears are no different from yours. It all depends on what you're listening for."
"But that can't be!" said the friend. "I could never hear a cricket in this noise."
"Yes, it's true," came the reply. "It depends on what is really important to you. Here, let me show you."
He reached into his pocket, pulled out a few coins, and discreetly dropped them on the sidewalk. And then, with the noise of the crowded street still blaring in their ears, they noticed every head within twenty feet turn and look to see if the money that tinkled on the pavement was theirs.
"See what I mean?" asked the Native American. "It all depends on what's important to you."
That even Reformed philosophers and theologians do not always make full use of the riches found in Calvin's Institutes may be briefly pointed out by a reference to the work of Gordon H. Clark, A Christian Philosohy of Education. He says that the position of the atheist and pantheist in actually or virtually denying that there is a Creator is untenable. If a discoverer of an uninhabited island were to search its confines for a particular form of animal life, he might fail to find it. [He then quotes Gordon Clark]
He could not be sure, however that the particular animal had never lived on the island, because, even though the search had been diligent, still tomorrow the remains might be discovered. Similarly, it is clear that no finite amount of searching could rationally lead one to deny the existence of God. During the time of the atheist's investigation of this earth, it just might be that God was hiding on the other side of the moon, and if some rocket should take the atheist to the moon, there is no reason to hold that God might not go over to Jupiter–for the express purpose of inconveniencing the atheist.
[Van Til goes on to comment] But a God who can thus escape to the moon or to Jupiter is not inconveniencing the atheist at all. On the contrary, he shows himself to be so finite, so insignificant, that the atheist can cover the whole earth without being confronted by him [i.e. God]. This is the exact reverse of the teaching of Calvin, based on Paul, that God is divinity and power [ I suspect this is a typo and should read "that God's divinity and power" ], being always and everywhere so obviously present that he who says there is no God is a fool. The foolishness of the denial of the Creator lies precisely in the fact that this Creator confronts man in every fact so that no fact has any meaning for man except it be seen as God's creation. [pages 173-174 2nd edition edited by William Edgar; bold used for emphasis by me]I agree with Van Til that the evidence for God's existence is sufficient that one cannot escape being confronted with evidence for God's existence. However, I'm not so sure that all humans actually rationally know that God exists, even if I am certainly persuaded that they OUGHT to know that He exists because of the evidence in general revelation (both within them and external to them), not to mention the self-attesting evidence of special revelation found in the Bible (of which, admittedly, not everyone is exposed to). So, even if it is the case that not all men know that God exists, they nevertheless ought to know God exists since there is the moral category of culpable ignorance as well as vincible ignorance. This doesn't contradict my earlier statement that while not all men necessarily know rationally that God exists, they do so existentially.
Truly, you are a God who hides himself,
O God of Israel, the Savior. – Isaiah 45:15
"Indeed, I could well imagine that in such a world, after a while, people would begin to chafe under such brazen advertisements of their Creator. And in time, eventually come to resent His effrontery for such brazen advertisements of His existence." (paraphrase of a statement he's made in various texts and in debates; e.g. HERE and HERE, similarly HERE)Apparently, that's what might have happened in the angelic realm. The existence of God was so commonplace that that familiarity bred contempt. It may be asked, "Could not the same thing happen with humans in heaven after countless eons of living in the presence of God?" This delves into a topic that's outside the purpose of this particular blog. But I'll give a brief truncated answer. I speculate that the knowledge of God angels had before any of them fell into sin was probably limited and therefore allowed for the possibility of some of them thinking they can join forces to successfully overthrow and replace God.
"How does one come to know or be convinced of the existence of God? If the evidence for God is not sufficiently strong enough, how can one come to justifiably believe in God, or justifiably be judged by God when His existence wasn't evidently clear?"A beginning answer can be found in a few quotes by Blaise Pascal. He wrote in his Pensées:
Willing to appear openly to those who seek him with all their heart, and to be hidden from those who flee from him with all their heart, God so regulates the knowledge of himself that he has given indications [or "signs"] of himself which are visible to those who seek him and not to those who do not seek him. There is enough light for those to see who only desire to see, and enough obscurity for those who have a contrary disposition. [Quoted by William Lane Craig HERE and HERE]
The prophecies, the very miracles and proofs of our religion, are not of such a nature that they can be said to be absolutely convincing. But they are also of such a kind that it cannot be said that it is unreasonable to believe them. Thus there is both evidence and obscurity to enlighten some and confuse others. But the evidence is such that it surpasses, or at least equals, the evidence to the contrary; so that it is not reason which can determine men not to follow it, and thus it can only be lust or malice of heart. And by this means there is sufficient evidence to condemn, and insufficient to convince; so that it appears in those who follow it, that it is grace, and not reason, which makes them follow it; and in those who shun it, that it is lust, not reason, which makes them shun it.God's apparent absence can also be compounded and explained by the fact that God uses relational distance as a form of judgment. Isaiah 59 says,
1 Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save,
or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;
2 but your iniquities have made a separation
between you and your God,
and your sins have hidden his face from you
so that he does not hear.
3 For your hands are defiled with blood
and your fingers with iniquity;
your lips have spoken lies;
your tongue mutters wickedness.
[The remainder of the chapter continues in the same vein]
And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.– Gen. 3:8
Or as C.S. Lewis put it in Surprised by Joy, "Amiable agnostics will talk cheerfully about 'man's search for God'. To me, as I then was, they might as well have talked about the mouse's search for the cat."19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.– John 3:19-20
577 There is sufficient clearness to enlighten the elect, and sufficient obscurity to humble them. There is sufficient obscurity to blind the reprobate, and sufficient clearness to condemn them, and make them inexcusable.—Saint Augustine, Montaigne, Sébond.
574 All things work together for good to the elect, even the obscurities of Scripture; for they honour them because of what is divinely clear. And all things work together for evil to the rest of the world, even what is clear; for they revile such, because of the obscurities which they do not understand.
562 It will be one of the confusions of the damned to see that they are condemned by their own reason, by which they claimed to condemn the Christian religion.
576 God has made the blindness of this people subservient to the good of the elect.
1. Truly God is good to Israel,
to those who are pure in heart.
2 But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled,
my steps had nearly slipped.
3 For I was envious of the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked....
16 But when I thought how to understand this,
it seemed to me a wearisome task,
17 until I went into the sanctuary of God;
then I discerned their end....
21 When my soul was embittered,
when I was pricked in heart,
22 I was brutish and ignorant;
I was like a beast toward you.
23 Nevertheless, I am continually with you;
you hold my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will receive me to glory.
Keep in view three lights: the light of nature, the light of grace, and the light of glory (this is a common and a good distinction). By the light of nature, it is inexplicable that it should be just for the good to be afflicted and the bad to prosper; but the light of grace explains it. By the light of grace, it is inexplicable how God can damn him who by his own strength can do nothing but sin and become guilty. Both the light of nature and the light of grace here insist that the fault lies not in the wretchedness of man, but in the injustice of God; nor can they judge otherwise of a God who crowns the ungodly freely, without merit, and does not crown, but damns another, who is perhaps less, and certainly not more, ungodly. But the light of glory insists otherwise, and will one day reveal God, to whom alone belongs a judgment whose justice is incomprehensible, as a God Whose justice is most righteous and evident - provided only that in the meanwhile we believe it, as we are instructed and encouraged to do by the example of the light of grace explaining what was a puzzle of the same order to the light of nature.