Short(ish) Thoughts: Recent Episodes
Scott Buck
Is there a God?
This podcast is the followup to the second week of "Answer for the Hope."
Topics:
Gospel Worldview
Pre-suppositions
Cosmological Argument
Kalam Argument
Genetic Fallacies
o The basic structure of this argument:
§ Everything with a beginning have been caused by something outside of itself..
§ The Universe had a beginning.
§ Therefore, the universe must have an outside cause.
§ That which caused the universe is God.
https://www.reasonablefaith.org/writings/popular-writings/existence-nature-of-god/has-the-multiverse-replaced-god
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A quick look at what it means to have a rational faith.
JP Moreland “Love God with all your mind”
o In this way, Jesus and Paul were continuing a style of persuasion peppered throughout the Old Testament prophets. Regularly, the prophets appealed to evidence to justify belief in the biblical God or in the divine authority of their inspired message: fulfilled prophecy, the historical fact of miracles, the inadequacy of finite pagan deities to be a cause of such a large, well-ordered universe compared to the God of the Bible, and so forth. They did not say, "God said it, that settles it, you should believe it!" They provided a rational defense for their claims.
John 20:31 but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that by believing you may have life in His name.
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Tattoo or not Tattoo? Tat is the question.
This question came from someone on Facebook as a topic for a Podcast. If you have something that you would like me to discuss, feel free to shoot it my way.
Some notes
Lev. 19:28
Rev. 19:16-
1 Cor. 13:31-33
Tattooing is a Sin if:
You are doing it out of pride.
You are doing it out of rebellion of how you were raised.
You tattoo something profane
You tattoo something blasphemous.
https://www.thetorah.com/article/tattoos-what-exactly-is-prohibited
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This podcast is a quick rant/talk about the 4 basic arguments for a Theistic position.
Links for books mentioned in the podcast:
Reasonable Faith
Reasonable Faith Website
When Skeptics Ask
Christian Apologetics
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When to leave a church?
What is a church? (Universal and local)
- Local body of believers carrying out the ministry of the gospel.
o Romans 12 and 1 Cor 12 (Many parts, one body)
o 1 cor 12:27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.
o Gal 1:1-2 (Churches is plural)
§ - Paul, an apostle—not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— and all the brothers who are with me, To the churches of Galatia:
- Membership?
o Implied in scripture
§ that the elders would have known who they were responsible for.
· Phil 1:1 Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all God’s holy people in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons:
· 1 Peter 1:5
· 1 Cor 5 – Putting out the unrepentant
§ They met in a house
· Romans 16:5 Greet also the church in their house. Greet my beloved Epaenetus, who was the first convert to Christ in Asia.
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- Do you just go to a church because …
o Eph 4:15-16
SO When do you leave?
- Proper reasons - Moving… given
o Improper Teaching
o Difference of mission
§ Acts 15
o Unqualified leadership
§ 1 Peter 5:2-3 shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. (Rise and Fall of Mars Hill)
§ 1 Tim 3:1-7, Titus 1:5-9
- Not good reasons
o Not when you get your feelings hurt
§ Eph 4:32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
§ 1 Cor 13 - Don’t ascribe intent
· (Joshua 22 Gad, Reuban offensive alter.)
o Not when you don’t get your way
§ Eye says to the hand – We need differences
How to leave?
With grace that reflects the Gospel.
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Why Church Membership
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What is church
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What are the qualifications for a pastor?
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Why Do You believe what you believe?
Claims of culture and Primacy
§ Culture – You believe it because you live in a Christian Culture
· Deconstructionists
· Cultural Atheists
· Has a sense of arrogance.
§ Litigation
· Primacy – You believe it because you heard it first.[1]
o 1925 Lund’s (Primacy)
§ Recency – You believe it because you heard it last
· 1950 Cromwell
o The Problem of Santa Claus (Parental WARNING)
§ Culture celebrates
§ You may have heard that he existed before you heard that he didn’t
§ Ultimately, you forsake the belief in Santa based on reason.
§ Unfortunate case of many Christians they suppose that Jesus=Santa Claus
o Overall state of culture – Death by Amusement
o To linger
§ Remind of google theology
o The unexamined life is not worth living. – Socrates (Plato’s Apology)
§ Benefit and truth of this thought.
§ Applied examination to this quote
· Socrates may have not even said it (Aristotle notes a time when Plato over played the Socrates taught card)[3]
· How do even know what Plato wrote?[4]
o Sharon R. Hoover
§ Plato’s works on Socrates were written between 427-347 B.C.
§ The earliest copy of his manuscript is from 900 A.D., representing a staggering 1,200 year time span of lost earlier versions.
§ Seven copies of this ancient manuscript remain in existence today and can be comparatively studied. Manuscript.
o All that to say – We should examine what we believe.
§ Is Jesus different than Socrates and Santa Claus?
o Christianity is truth claim. (High view Christianity – Not differences expressed by cultural differences)
§ Truth Claims are independent of our belief
§ Anti Thought Christians
· Guy during the Lost Tomb of Jesus (2007)
· Amos Kloner (Secular Prof. at Tel Aviv)
§ From Scripture
· John 14:6
· 1 Cor 1516:-20
o Vs 6 500 still alive
· Acts 17 bereans
§ But how do you trust that the Bible is accurate
· The spread of Christianity (Jerusalem)
· Years – Partial manuscripts about 100 years of Christ
· JP Moreland Approximately 5,000 Greek manuscripts (including codex Vaticanus and codex Sinaiticus), containing all or part of the New Testament, exist. There are 8,000 manuscript copies of the Vulgate (a Latin translation of the Bible done by Jerome from 382-405) and more than 350 copies of Syriac (Christian Aramaic) versions of the New Testament (these originated from 150-250; most of the copies are from the 400s).” (J.P. Moreland, Scaling the Secular City).
o You should have Examined faith that goes beyond just what you heard about Jesus as a kid.
[1] https://www.litigationgroup.com/2015/03/01/winter-2015/
[2] https://www.etymonline.com/word/amuse
[3] https://www.scribd.com/read/309485673/Rhetoric#__search-menu_516879
[4] http://sharonrhoover.com/2011/12/24/socrates-and-jesus-proof-across-the-millenium/
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Have you ever heard someone describe Christianity as being good? Well, that and 4 other ideas are what many people boil down their theology to. But is that enough? And how do we respond to and think critically about this moralistic theology.
Podcast: Questions Episode 1
Just Be Good??
Moralistic Therapeutic Deism
Set the scene:
2005 Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Eyes of American Teenagers by Christian Smith with Melinda Lundquist Denton,
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"A god exists who created and ordered the world and watches over human life on earth."
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"God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions."
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"The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about ones self."
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"God does not need to be particularly involved in one's life except when God is needed to resolve a problem."
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- "Good people go to heaven when they die."
So what does biblical Christianity say:
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God does exsist, he did create the world, but he interacts with the world (Most fully in the incarnation)
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God does desire goodness, but none of us are. Hence Jesus, and therefore very different than all other religions. (Do vs done)
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Chief end of man is to glorify God – Westminster Shorter Catechism
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We are totally reliant on God’s present involvement.
a. Flipping of Romans 8:28 (As if, God is called to our purposes)
b. He sustains all things. (Not Deistic)
i. Colossians 1:17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
ii. Hebrews 12:2 -Jesus as perfecter of our faith
- Good people don’t go to heaven, reborn ones do.
a. John 3:16-Romans 6:23
Notes:
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Michael Horton https://www.ligonier.org/learn/conferences/christless-christianity-2010-west-coast/moralistic-therapeutic-deism
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Al Mohler https://albertmohler.com/2005/04/11/moralistic-therapeutic-deism-the-new-american-religion-2
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I posted asking for topics, and people responded! I thought it would be helpful to create an intro to help people know what to expect in the coming weeks/months. If you have a question that you would like dealt with, please send it to scottbuck@graceplacechurch.org Thanks!
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What we believe is what we model.
What we model is what our kids will know we believe.
What are you and I modeling when it comes to our belief about church.
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