Faith

[moonflower2]

Moon,

I suspect that you might want to do a little checking on the "documentation" of these claims before fully accepting them.  Did these folks cite peer-reviewed science or medical publications in evidence of their claims?  My guess would be no.  If I am wrong....enlighten me.

If this could be shown to be true, it would support Thomas Aquinas' teaching on inherent natures of entities.  Interesting.

Think about it though.  If a man receives a woman's heart, would he develop tendencies to crossdress?  Add a kidney and he turns into a homosexual?  Doesn't seem very likely to me.

Blessings,

Thomas Maddux

I heard them on a TV show. These people would even say things that they had never said before, some even had personality changes; they would do things that they had not done before. Check it out for yourself. I heard them myself on a weekly show(not Jerry Springer    )I don't need the medical profession for verification of truths.  I'll go with my own organs and an immune system, thank you.

[outdeep]

I heard them on a TV show. These people would even say things that they had never said before, some even had personality changes; they would do things that they had not done before. Check it out for yourself. I heard them myself on a weekly show(not Jerry Springer    )I don't need the medical profession for verification of truths.  I'll go with my own organs and an immune system, thank you.

This is indeed a personal decision.  It took me a couple of cycles to get over the emotional barrier before I was willing to put "organ donor" on my driver's license. 

I was just surprised because this was the first time ever I had heard a real clear sermon that addressed cremation.  (http://www.abfboone.org/Resources/messages.htm to listen.  It is the message on 1/15/06.  By the way, the earlier messages 1 Corinthians 12-14 helped me concerning the Charismatic gifts as well.  Hint:  Pastor is not a Charasmatic in a classical sense nor a Cessationist.)

I am convinced that there is nothing unbiblical about creamation or organ donation.  Since my dad was cremated three years ago Loretta and I have thought about it and I think I have come to Rick's conclusion - it is probably the best way to have a memorial that is respectful but is not expensive nor uses up a plot of land that could be used for something else.  And in some cases taking an organ and its side effects might be an alternative to premature dieing.

Others may have other reasons for not being comfortable with it and that's fine.

Anyway, I didn't mean to divert this discussion.  Somehow this was related to a question about faith, but I don't remember how.

[David Mauldin]

I think I found Faith again!  I believe that I will be in this Friday's Education Section of the Orange County Register!!!!!! I  believe, I believe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Oscar]

                                                                            PART I

Dave has told us that after he left the Assembly he could no longer maintain his faith in Christianity. (“the standard conservative view of the Bible”)  He then invited folks to “share their “current state of faith”.  So, that is what I will do.  I would describe the current state of my faith as healthy and growing.  In order to explain that, I will share with you my journey of faith.

I grew up in a nominal Christian home.  My folks believed in God, and we attended church regularly.  Our denomination was the Christian Church, a branch of the Campbellite movement closely related to the Church of Christ.  They taught me that Jesus had died for my sins.  They also gave an alter call at the close of every service.  I have probably sat through all the verses of “Softly and Tenderly” at least 500 times.  

They also observed the Lord’s Supper every week.  They referred to this as “taking Communion.”  When I was about 8 years old I asked my mother what it meant.  She told me that we did it to “have our sins forgiven.”  Theological sophistication was not part of my upbringing.

Neither was the discussion of Cosmology.  Nevertheless, I can remember my older brother telling me that “the universe goes on forever.”  This happened when I was about 8 years old.  I can remember lying in bed trying to picture an infinite universe.  I visualized passing through the blue sky going on and on.  But I kept seeing a brick wall!  Since it is now known that the universe is not infinite, it turns out I was right.  Why I came to that conclusion I have no idea.  What I do know is that I have, since childhood, tried to understand the world I live in.  I have always wanted to know why things are the way they are, and what is true.

I never doubted that I was a sinner.  Although my sins were unremarkable, they were real.  I committed most of the usual sins of childhood and adolescence.  Both my intellect and my conscience told me I was guilty of wrongdoing.

In 1959 at the age of 18 I left home and joined the Air Force.  During my first year I begin to try to find out who God was and how to know Him.  I began to read the New Testament.  Some of what I read was comforting.  Other parts were frightening.  I couldn’t make sense of it.

In April of 1961 I was transferred from my base in the UP of Michigan to Izmir, Turkey, (ancient Smyrna).  I flew down to Chicago and bought a ticket to Los Angeles on the Santa Fe. They let you take a leave before going overseas.  After buying my ticket, I had several hours before the train left.  I wandered into downtown Chicago, and spotted a sign that said “Victory Serviceman’s Center”.  Inside, a skilled Christian worker explained Ephesians 2:8-9 and Romans 10:9 to me.  Salvation, he said, is a gift, but it was to be found in Christ, who was my Lord.  The two came in a “package”.  I struggled with the idea of submitting to Christ for several minutes, but my heart was crying out, “DO IT!” so loud I prayed with him to receive Christ.  

I will never forget the wonderful peace and surety I felt that night as the train pulled out for LA.  I now know that I was having my first experience of peace with God and assurance of salvation.  The Holy Spirit was witnessing with my spirit that I was child of God.

About one month later I arrived in Izmir.  I quickly discovered that the word could be a perilous place for a new believer.  In Turkey the sins of the flesh are tolerated and indulged in quite openly.  The “old timers” invited the new guy, me, to go to town, hit the bars, and end up at the section of town cordoned off for the prostitutes.  I thought to myself, “I had better take a stand now or it’s over.”  So, by the grace of God, I did.  From then on, I was known as “Deacon”.

I soon discovered that many folks did not wish to believe in Christ. There were many, many hours of discussions about God and Christ in the barracks and at work.  I was presented with all the usual arguments, such as the psychological argument and the argument from evil.  I had a few resources to learn from, and learned how to reply to many of them.  A couple of examples follow:

1. You just believe in God because you fear death and have an infantile desire to avoid it.

This one has two big problems.  A. It is fallacious to argue that if someone wants something to be true, it therefore is not true.  When you take antibiotics you wish them to cure your illness.  Does that mean they cannot?  B. It is reversable.  “Your disbelief in God is grounded in your sense of sinfulness.  You therefore reject God out of an infantile desire not to be punished.”

2. A benevolent God would not allow evil to exist.

This is actually an argument in support of belief in God!  The skeptic acknowledges the reality of evil, and therefore of the existence of objective, universal morality.  Only a transcendent being is capable of making universal moral laws.  If there is no such being, morality is merely personal.  This “dumbs down” morality to being a matter of personal taste.  Adolph Hitler and Mother Theresa are moral equals.  

[Oscar]

                                                                             PART II


During this period I developed an interest in history and archeology.  I was living 40 miles from Ephesus, which I visited several times.  On a hill overlooking Izmir there is a fortress begun on the orders of Alexander the Great, enlarged by the Romans, and completed by the Crusaders. I only had to walk a hundred yards from the gate of my base to walk out on a Roman aqueduct!  I visited Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Jordan, (which in those days included Jerusalem and Bethlehem), Greece, and several other European countries. 

The downtown headquarters had an excellent library, with many books on History, Philosophy, Religion, and Archeology.  I read constantly, and soon discovered something about Archaeology.  Archaeologists interpret their finds according to their theological bias.  (no surprise)  They tend to come in three flavors: 1. No archeological finds support the Bible. 2. Many archeological finds corroborate the Bible.  3. Archeology proves the Bible to be true.  Later, when I took Archeology in graduate school, I found that the majority are of the #2 variety, including my professor.

When I was rotated back to the states I decided to deal with the issue of my own questions about Christianity.  Sometimes I would ask myself if, as wonderful as it seemed to me, I had not just believed something that was just wishful thinking.  So, I decided to put it to the test.  I would face the “big guns” of atheism and skepticism.  Accordingly, I read books such as Bertrand Russell’s, “Why I Am Not a Christian” and Eric Hoffer’s, “
The True Believer”.  I was shocked to find out that although they stated their arguments eloquently, they said basically the same things I had heard in the barracks!  I was not, and still am not, impressed.  Incredibly, these brilliant men make egregious logical and factual errors in order to support their skepticism.  Could it be that sin darkens the understanding?

In August of 1963 I was discharged from the USAF.  They let me out a few weeks early so I could enter college in the Fall semester.  As soon as I hit the classroom, I knew I was in an environment that was not very friendly to Christianity.  American culture was just entering the era of the “Sexual Revolution” and the Great Satan of the times was “Puritanism.”  Since the Puritans were Christians, they took them as representatives of Christianity and constantly railed against them.  It didn’t matter what the subject was.  Psychology, Philosophy, Mathematics, English Literature, every professor seemed to be able to work in a few shots.

One of the objections to Christianity that I encountered in college was the “Dying and Rising Gods” theory.  This  objection is still encountered from time to time.  The idea, first proposed in Fraser’s “Golden Bough” and popularized by Joseph Campbell, is that religion has evolved from myths concocted by primitive cultures to explain natural phenomena.  One of the myths found in many near-eastern agricultural societies was that some god, Baal, Tammuz, Adonis, Osiris etc. descends into the underworld as winter begins, then returns in the spring.  This corresponds to the change of seasons, and is believed to be an explanation by a primitive society of the change of seasons.

One problem this objection is that it commits a categorical fallacy.  The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus is nothing like these myths.  In the Osiris myth, for example, Osiris is a god.  He is tricked into climbing into a coffin by Set, his brother.  Set kills him by throwing him into the Nile.  Osiris’ wife, Isis, finds the body and brings it back.  So Set, gets it again and chops it up, then throws the pieces into the Nile.  Isis hunts down all the pieces and re-assembles them.  She then uses magic to restore Osiris to consciousness.  He is not really alive, though, and must dwell in the underworld as its king.  Not exactly the gospel of Matthew.

Another form of this objection is to claim that Greek mystery religions have many dying and rising savior gods who are then eaten in sacramental meals.  The problem with this one is that all the sources of information about these mystery cults come from around the third century AD.   It is therefore more likely that they were copying the very successful Christians rather than the other way around.

[Oscar]

                                                                        PART III


During the middle 60’s I went through  a deeply painful and emotionally depressing period.  My entire family died, one by one.  I dealt with this unwisely...men must be strong and support the womenfolks.  No grieving, no tears, stiff upper lip.  The emotional cost was heavy, and many negative thoughts about God and Christianity ran through my mind.  There was no “wonderful peace and joy” to lean on, and no one I knew had any answers.

When I was in Turkey I had read, “The Screwtape Letters” by C.S. Lewis. I had been impressed by his insightful treatment of the common temptations and doubts of believers. When I discovered his “Mere Christianity”and other books I began finding answers to my doubts and questions.  Then, after I  transferred to Cal State Northridge in 1966 I discovered the works of Francis Schaeffer.  “Escape From Reason” and “The God Who Is There” were tremendously encouraging to me.  I discovered that Christianity presented a coherent worldview, supported by clear reasoning in the areas of Epistemology, Metaphysics and Logic. 

During this period I learned to put alternate worldviews to the test. A worldview is a person’s view of what reality consists of and how all the aspects “fit”. One of the tests is simply to ask whether or not those who ascribe to a worldview can and do actually live as if it were true.  There are others as well, but I will just say that I am convinced that Christian Theism is the only defensible worldview.

It has always intrigued me that atheists and agnostics do not seem to realize what good Christians they are.  I do not mean that they are born again Christians.  I mean that they are deeply Christianized in their worldview.  To describe them  I coined the term, “Preaching Athiests”.  They strongly assert the non-existence of God.  In the next breath they begin to criticize anyone who does on the basis of Christian values!  They deny the truth of Christianity, but must think as if it were true!

War is wrong they tell us.   All those people suffering and dying.  Then they go on to condemn anyone who favors using military force.  The problem with this is that they have to borrow their values from Christians in order to criticize anything!

We should, they assure us, be merciful, tolerant, and compassionate.  I guess they never heard of Charles Darwin.  According to him we are just animals who compete for available resources.  The more of “them” who die, the more resources that remain for the rest of us.  If human beings are just purposless conglomerations of molecules shaped by the “toss” of the evolutionary dice, why should anyone care what happens to them?

I have never met an Atheist who had any answer to this dilemma.  When questioned, the usual tactic is to attempt to change the subject by appealing to Christian morality in even stronger terms.  Pathetic.

Christianity does not answer all the questions that can be asked.  But it does provide us with a reasonable worldview that is internally consistent, consistent with what we know of the world both past and present, and has tremendous explanatory power.  Atheism has to subsist on borrowed Christian capital.

Blessings,

Thomas Maddux