Faith, Hope, and Love: The Reality and Beauty of Truth and Meaning

It is easy amidst the logic, philosophy, and arguments pro and con of theology and apologetics to lose sight of the sheer beauty, hope, and power of a Real Truth.  By that I mean a truth that is active, living, and powerful.  Not only so, but this Truth has desired a personal relationship with us, and He has called us no longer servants, but brothers.  How incredible is that?  As awesome (worthy of awe and fear) and glorious as God is, He is also the most beautiful and comforting.  No matter what goes wrong, God's glory protects us for his love.  John Piper explains it this way:

Nothing ugly is ever called glorious in the Bible. There is “great sin” (Genesis 20:9), but never “glorious sin.” The evil one has “cosmic power” (Ephesians 6:12), but not cosmic “glory.” The reason for this is that sin and evil are not beautiful. But glory includes beauty. Glory includes more, but never less. Nothing ugly is glorious.

Therefore, the beauty of God is as pervasive and practical as the glory of God. If we admire the glory of God, we are admiring God’s beauty. If the glory of God has an effect in our lives, God’s beauty is having an effect. If God acts to magnify this glory, he is acting to magnify his beauty.

 Thus, when God saves us and works in us, His beauty is having an effect on us, the effect to be able to believe.  C.S. Lewis explains this beautifully in his work of fiction The Silver Chair.

  In the book, Jill, Eustace, and Puddleglum have been captured and brought to an underground kingdom where they are enchanted and told their is no other world.

 "One word, Ma'am," he said, coming back from the fire; limping, because of the pain. "One word. All you've been saying is quite right, I shouldn't wonder. I'm a chap who always liked to know the worst and then put the best face I can on it. So I won't deny any of what you said. But there's one thing more to be said, even so. Suppose we have only dreamed, or made up, all those things - trees and grass and sun and moon and stars and Aslan himself. Suppose we have. Then all I can say is that, in that case, the made-up things seem a good deal more important than the real ones. Suppose this black pit of a kingdom of yours is the only world. Well, it strikes me as a pretty poor one. And that's a funny thing, when you come to think of it. We're just babies making up a game, if you're right. But four babies playing a game can make a playworld which licks your real world hollow. That's why I'm going to stand by the play-world. I'm on Aslan's side even if there isn't any Aslan to lead it. I'm going to live as like a Narnian as I can even if there isn't any Narnia. So, thanking you kindly for our supper, if these two gentlemen and the young lady are ready, we're leaving your court at once and setting out in the dark to spend our lives looking for Overland. Not that our lives will be very long, I should think; but that's a small loss if the world's as dull a place as you say."

An allegory, Lewis illustrates the hopelessness of a Godless world - the complete, awful, meaningless world rifled with pain and without "right" or "wrong."  It's not apparent that the superior quality of life in having faith qualifies as a good enough reason to believe, though. The brilliant French mathematician and philosopher, Blaise Pascal argued that once at this conclusion, a wager results.

Make religion attractive, make good men wish it were true, and then show that it is. Worthy of reverence because it really understands human nature. Attractive because it promises true good...Between us and heaven or hell there is only life, which is the frailest thing in the world...Yes; but you must wager. It is not optional. You are embarked. Which will you choose then? Let us see. Since you must choose, let us see which interests you least. You have two things to lose, the true and the good; and two things to stake, your reason and your will, your knowledge and your happiness; and your nature has two things to shun, error and misery. Your reason is no more shocked in choosing one rather than the other, since you must of necessity choose. This is one point settled. But your happiness? Let us weigh the gain and the loss in wagering that God is. Let us estimate these two chances. If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation that He is.

So we see from these two great men that we have good reason to wager in favor of faith - both because life's better with belief, but also because it's more probable it's (significantly) better after death.  The conjunction of these ideas from a powerful apologetic in our opinion.  God has not only made us in our image, giving us Faith, Hope, Love, and Meaning, but he has done it all despite our unfaithfulness toward him.  Rejoice!  Our God has blessed us beyond all imagination, and we have every reason to be joyful in even our worst hardships, for with God, we don't have to worry about any evil act going unpunished, any trial being in vain, or any person being worthless.  This means that no matter what, no matter how bad things appear to us, there will always be a better day ahead and the sun(and Son) will always rise again.  This is the grace and glory of God acting upon our lives.

Soli Deo Gloria!
Athanasius
Excelsior

P.S. We've made it a month, writing this blog. Praise God for his mercy!  If you've been following us this long, we'd like to say ('you' here being the strange English second person plural):

 

Apologetiception: An Apologetic for Apologetics (Part 2)

Disclaimer: We do not believe this sign depicts any official nor common stance of the Baptist church.

(This is a continuation of this post.)

Before I start this post, you, the reader, should know I just prayed that God would speak through me with wisdom and love.  I admit that I, Excelsior (such a great name, I know), really struggle with the appropriate approach to Christian Apologetics in practice.  In this post, I aim to show (giving Athanasius a break to read another dozen books) that Apologetics is Biblical, useful, and necessary, but only to a point.  I further aim to show where that point is. 

An "apology" is "a defense of."  Apologetics is a term almost always used in short meaning "Christian Apologetics" or "A defense of Christianity."  Thus it is in many ways an intellectual exercise, using reason as best one can to explain and make sense of all that Christianity teaches. 

In a previous post, Athanasius explained that above all else, love trumps.  This is the most important thing to keep in mind.  That any means one uses, it must be done with love to be of God and for God.  In that spirit, 1 Peter 3 (ESV)  commands a unique duty: "[13] Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? [14] But even if you should suffer for righteousness‘ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, [15] but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, [16] having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame."

This is a great starting point: we now know 1) We are called to always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks for a reason for the hope that is in you. I.e. we ought to know and depend on the spirit to provide adequate reason for all that we believe.  This doesn't mean you need to be a philosopher - I think a simple "I have hope because of the truth confirmed in my heart through my relationship with Jesus" would more than suffice as a logical reason to have hope.  The point is we should have a reason. 2) The second point is simple, and follows from the first: that "reason" isn't ungodly, but necessary in this respect. It's true, we are supposed to have the faith of a child, with no doubt (Matthew 18-19, Mark 10, James 1).  So if the "reason" isn't apparent for certain questions, follow James 1 and ask God for wisdom in faith, but do not doubt that the answer will come.  3) Do it with gentleness and respect - this is where Athanasius and I can sometimes go wrong, especially with each other.  Intellectualism aside, love is always most important, and supersede's one's desire to reason in any situation.

Does the Bible have any examples of apologetics?
OH yeah.
a) Isaiah 1:18 "Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord..." (Even God uses reason in his dealings with us)

b) Acts 17:2 "And Paul went in as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures."

c) Matthew 22:23-33 shows Jesus using arguments against the Sadducees, an inductive argument no less.

d) Luke 10:25-28 "And behold a lawyer stood up to put [Jesus] to the test, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" [Jesus] said to him, "What is written in the Law? How do your read it?"  And he answered, "You shall love he Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself."  And [Jesus] said to him, "You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live."
     This example is especially cool.  First of all, notice how Jesus cleverly speaks with this man Socratically, reasonably, and lovingly, - what a boss.  But furthermore, notice the four ways we should love he Lord - heart, soul, strength, and mind. It's actually sin to not worship God with your intellect.  I'm by no means an authoritative exegetitor (or someone who interprets scripture with few errors), but I think this implies that we always must have faith amidst doubt, and that we should seek the wisdom to satisfy our minds nonetheless.  James 1 would say to ask God for that wisdom.  Our last post mentioned the organization RZIM that proclaims "Helping the Thinker believe, helping the believer think."

e) Perhaps the best example of Apologetics in Scripture is found in Acts 17.  I encourage the reader to read this awesome chapter.  In verse 23, Paul uses reason to make an amazing point about the altar to "the unknown God" to the Men of Athens at the Areopagus (a forum for philosophical debate in Athens, Greece).  It's actually a pretty cool story.  Read it here.

There's other good biblical evidence to back-up this claim of using one's reason to find answers:
a) Philippians 4:5, "Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand;"

b) Isaiah 26:3, "You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you."

c) 2 Corinthians 10:5, "We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,"

d) Romans 14:5, "One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike.  Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind."
e) 2 Timothy 2:24-26, "And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness,  God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will."

Conclusion:
Reason and logic are not unimportant or sinful, but necessary aspects of evangelism and the Christian life, and are required to love God the way we ought to love Him, completely.  However, if any instance of providing a reason leads someone to quarrel, or be unloving, not gentle, or disrespectful in anyway, it is best to avoid the issue and simply love without bringing arguments into it.  We cannot with logic convince someone to believe in God (Romans 1:17), but God may use us  to dissuade their doubts in some way so that they are more open to seeking a loving relationship with our God.  All in all, talking about God's reasonableness is just another way we can show God's love, and through that, we will plant seeds for God.

Takeaway:
"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." Romans 12:2.

With love (Notice the English for once),
Excelisor.

P.S. please email us at theology.guys@gmail.com with any questions, concerns, or criticism!  We are not and do not believe that we are always right and simply hope that what we write somehow helps fellow believers in their eventful travels on the inter-webs.  God bless.

What is the Gospel Anyway?

We believe that in order to defend an idea, it must first be worth defending.  (aside from Athanasius: Please excuse me if this bit waxes a bit poetic.  The Gospel is the most beautiful thing in the world.)  The Greek word from which we get the term gospel is εὐαγγέλιον, which literally translates as "good news."  Eventually, I want to do a post on Old Testament prophecies of Jesus, but for now this must suffice.  The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light, upon them has marvelous light shone.  No more must life be lived apart from hope and full of fear.  For all those who know Christ, the end is clear and the way is open to eternal life.  (got that out of the way onto a more logical description)

An infinite eternal God stepped into time and space taking upon himself the form of a servant and his creation.  He came into his world to redeem those whom he called from every nation, tribe, and tongue.  Jesus Christ was born into the world to live a life which his people could never live so that they might enter Heaven, which they could never do without the perfect life.  He died the most gruesome death we can imagine and was raised again so that we have the sure hope of a glorious life eternally spent with him.  To this life, he invites freely anyone who will come and give up his life to attain it.  It is the life lived in pursuit of  holiness which is Jesus' nature.  We live our entire life in response to this beautiful free grace following our Lord to whatever place and through whatever times he would lead us.  This short clip by John Piper is a fantastic explanation as is this spoken word poem from Matt Papa.  

There are three aspects to the gospel. 
1) Justification- This is a one time act in which all of our sins are washed away and Christ's righteousness is given to us.  He died in our place so we receive the reward of his life.  

2) Sanctification- Our entire life is spent pursuing what God has laid out for us to accomplish, growing more holy and closer to him by his Grace.

3) Glorification- That we will be made like Christ.  As we suffer with him in this life we shall be made glorious with him in the next.

It may seem incredibly contradictory to suppose a loving God, and at the same time claim that God makes it incredibly difficult to achieve such a glorious salvation.  "I am the way, the truth, and the life.  Nobody comes to the Father except through me." ~ John 14:6-7.   These are unimaginably bold words.  Most usually the criticism is a general "how could authority be given to an individual, or just one individual path?  That seems incredibly cruel.  A loving God wouldn't do that."  So quickly, though, an inconsistency arises in this view.  What gives this particular skeptic the authority to say it is not restricted to an individual path?  Thus we start to understand why presuppositions are so important.  

The Christian claim is that the only way to Salvation (as described above) is by means of Jesus Christ.  The Bible teaches that we are a broken people, unimaginably outclassed by a Sovereign, Omnipotent, Uncaused Creator.  It can be described as nothing other than complete, absolute Love and Grace that this Being would even allow a means by which we could be reconciled so that we may know Him.  In this way, there must be a means to Salvation that in some way specifically resolves this dilemma.  This infinitely spanned gap between the perfect, and the ultimately undeserving.
By his love, Jesus came to Earth, as human, certifying his Holiness by way of miracles and teaching the message His Father recognized as necessary.  In a not so spectacular betrayal of the Sovereign, Jesus humbly atoned for each and every sin and transgression ever committed by living a perfect life, submitting himself besides His ability to bypass such a gruesome event, and consequently descending into hell to defeat evil, and rid humanity of our impossible struggle of self-accomplished perfection.  Through Jesus alone has any justification of such a transformation been proven and logically sufficient.  Jesus' death and resurrection are necessary and sufficient for the affirmation of the divine and the transformation of the fallen.  Praise God for a sufficient path.  

What should we write on next?  We have a couple of controversies in mind if no one suggests anything, but we welcome your ideas.  Email us: theology.guys@gmail.com

In Christ Alone,

Athanasius

 Excelsior