Tiny Tablet Provides Proof for Old Testament

Here’s a very interesting archaeological find that I thought I’d share.

Research into the Book of Abraham

Here’s a video, posted on Youtube.com about the Book of Abraham. Mormons have a significantly larger set of holy books that do most Christians. Not only do they hold to the Old and New Testaments of the word of God (“insofar as they are translated correctly”), but in addition they hold to the Book of Mormon, Doctrines and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price.

The supposed Book of Abraham is one of the texts that make up the Pearl of Great Price. Founder of the Latter-day Saints (LDS), Joseph Smith, claimed to have translated this document from an ancient Egyptian scroll.

The evidence against Joseph Smith as a legit translator (and prophet of God) are seriously called into question by this documentary. It’s an hour well sent.

Evangelism, Apologetics, and the Sovereignty of God

As witnesses to Christ in this world we must remember that worldview shifts normally do not occur overnight. In fact, they almost never do. The more common ways a person adopts a new worldview are, for instance:

1. Through a series of smaller changes in their thought that in time causes substantial restructuring of how they view the world.

2. By persuasion through the lives of those in the worldview community that the person is ”converting” to.

3. The responsibility of godly living coupled with a godly apologetic/witness.

Each of these points is crucial. The first reminders us not to fret when we do not see instant results. After all these are people, and not machines, we are dealing with. Though we do not present and defend our faith piecemeal, in actual real-time, we can only speak of one thing at a time. A proper understanding of the faith, and the counting of the cost of discipleship (Lk.14:26-29) takes time. And if God is leading that person to Himself, it is time well spent.

The second and third points place a great responsibility upon the Christian evangelist. As stated throughout this work, we are not simply disembodied, mental beings. Therefore how we live and speak to unbelievers conveys a lot. The church is Christ’s body on this earth. Do we reflect His character? Unbelievers are not naive, they notice insincerity and pride. Let us not tell them with our actions this is what God is like.

Creation and Corruption

In an earlier post, I made the passing comment that since God has created the world and designed it to testify to His wisdom, therefore all things in the created universe serve as “evidence” for the Christian worldview. Now i’d like to point to how scripture helps to make sense of the wonder of creation and the brokenness of the world.

The Christian worldview makes sense of our deepest feelings about the world in which we live. Anyone who has traveled to mountain tops, viewed their native landscape from an airplane, or watched an early morning sunrise has directly, and non-discursively (i.e. not through rigorous logical exercises), experienced the wonder, design, and beauty of creation. The wide-spreading vistas, clear blue oceans and skies, and stunning moonlit nights tell us that this world was made for a greater purpose than our mere, finite, dog-eat-dog existence.

The marvels of the human mind, the wonders of the imagination, and the reality of lasting, passionate, self-sacrificing love also tell us that humankind is something great, more than the beasts of the field.

Unfortunately, this is not the only voice we hear. Often it seems as if creation speaks with a forked tongue. The human heart likewise acts schizophrenic. We see nature revolting against those who try to subdue it. Famine, plagues, tsunamis, and earthquakes strike when we least expect it, taking multitudes in their wake. And the evils of the human heart are too numerous to recall. Examples abound of the deceit, cheating, violence, betrayal, and self-centeredness that we all experience. Something is terribly wrong with the world, and deep down we all know it.

How do we make sense of this chaos? How do we make sense of creation’s grandeur? Do Christians have an answer? Do non-Christians have any answer?

The Christian response. Once again, we find that Christians should have no difficulty making sense out of the world. Within the first several chapters of scripture we learn that creation is both designed and fashion by God and that humankind is also His handiwork, created in His own image. This makes intelligible the wonder and beauty of creation as well as the value, worth, dignity and creativity of man. Yet, scripture does not only address this aspect of creation. We find also that, because of a true, space-time Fall, humankind is also in moral rebellion from God primarily, as well as ourselves and others. Romans 8:20-23 likewise speaks of creation being “subject to futility.”

No longer are man and his environment in harmony. Why? Because man and his Creator are no longer in natural harmony.

A Valuable Lesson from Nietzsche

An utterly insightful quotation relating the Christian understanding of God to the foundations of ethical behavior in one from the notorious critic of Christianity, Friedrich Nietzsche. Nietzsche states:

When one gives up Christian belief one thereby deprives oneself of the right to Christian morality. Christianity is a system, a consistently thought out and complete view of things. If one breaks out of it a fundamental idea, the belief in God, one thereby breaks the whole thing to pieces: one has nothing of any consequence left in one’s hands. Christian morality is a command: its origin is transcendental, it possesses truth only if God is truth-it stands or falls with belief in God.

[Quoted in Cornelius Plantinga Jr., Engaging God's World: A Christian Vision of Faith, Learning, and Living (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002), 74.]

Christian morality, in Nietzsche’s understanding, is the general ethical code than tends to reign in the western world. His point is that if one who does not believe in God is to live consistently, they must renounce any semblance of traditional morality.

The finest of Christian apologists couldn’t have stated the case any better!

For a thorough examination of Nietzsche’s critique of Christianity see, 

Is the Bible Reliable?

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