Posted on Mar 11, 2014 in 2nd Look | Tags: 2nd Look, Apologetics, Atheist, Bible, Experiencing God, Faith, God, God's faithfulness, Gospel, Hope, Jesus, Lord's Prayer, questions, Salvation, Science, SNC, Sunland, Sunland Church, Sunland Neighborhood Church
Hello SNC friends!
Can you believe it? We finished our series on Tough Questions – Solid Answers. I had a great time discussion these things with you. This is a major area of passion for me although I would admit I am nowhere near as nuanced a philosopher and scientist as many of those who contribute to this discussion are. I’m a novice – but have deeply enjoyed this pursuit over the years. It was truly wonderful bringing this material to our Sunday mornings and really having this dialogue. My hope is that you can use it, return to it if you are wrestlying – or maybe ministering to a friend who has difficult questions. I’d like to take some time to share my answer to someone who asks me to explain why in the world I’ve decided to lose my mind and be a Christian! Here is my (hopefully short and clear) answer:
“Joe, thanks for asking me that question. I know it might seem crazy to you, but I have really thought about this and wrestled with it through the years. If you’ve got a few minutes, I’d love to share with you several reasons why I have decided to place my faith in Jesus Christ.
As I begin I’d like to say is that I am going to share multiple pieces of evidence that could point to the existence of a God and that Jesus is Him – but each piece may not be enough to prove God’s existence on its own – but when you line them up together it begins to look more and more compelling to me that Christianity is true. Now I just want to share these reasons with you and then we can discuss questions you may have for the reasons I gave.
Okay, first thing I’d like to point to is science. I know this is disputed but it seems to me that science has not disproven God’s existence, but rather it may actually point us to a creator. I see the vast scope of a universe that seems to have a design behind it – I see the brilliant design of a human being and find it hard to explain how we just got here on our own. To me, I look around me and am in awe of it all. To me – I’ve read and throughout a lot about this – it just seems to me the explanation of a God behind it all is just as compelling if not more than the explanation of God’s non existence.
Secondly, I think Christianity gives us the best explanation as to why we can define what evil is – and the best explanation for why it exists and it gives us the best hope for us in the midst of this evil.
Third, I see the Bible as an historically and archaeologically accurate and philosophically strong book that changes lives. I know the Bible has been scoffed at but every attack I’ve seen brought against it seems to fail. This lends credence to the words within it.
Fourth, I find Christianity to be the most compelling religion (atheism included), philosophically; morally; archaeologically; and to be honest – I find it to be the most hope and life-giving of all religions out there.
Fifth, the evidence for the existence, the crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus Christ is very powerful and compelling to me. Jesus was either raised from the dead – or He wasn’t. If He wasn’t then He is just a man and Christianity is just another religious system – but if He was raised from the dead – then Christianity is something else entirely.
Sixth, I’ve seen how my relationship with Jesus has changed my life and the lives of millions throughout history who claim they have not only had a relationship with God but they have seen Him move in powerful ways. To me – all these testimonies together is very powerful.
So these are my six major reasons for belief in God and in Jesus Christ.”
How would you describe why you believe in Jesus? You don’t have to use big philosophical words or concepts – but can you explain why you believe what you do? In 1 Peter 3:15 we are encouraged to always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks for a reason for the hope that is in you . . . My hope was to help you arrive at your reasons and be prepared at all times to share that if asked. So let me ask you – this week pull out a piece of paper and a pencil. And write down these questions:
- What do I find to be most convincing about the Christian faith?
- Why is it most convincing?
- How would I communicate this to others?
Have you ever thought about this? I have confessed that sometimes when I’m on long drives I pretend I’m in a discussion with a non-christian, and I try to answer questions that would be asked to me. I think about how I would answer questions: what I’d say and how I’d deliver it. As we move forward in our mission to make disciples, I can guarantee: you will be questioned. My hope is that you will be ready and it’s awesome because so many times, I find there will be points in the conversation where I’m not ready and yet God powerfully moves through me. These are very exciting tines because I’m reminded it’s not my intellect or persuasiveness that wins the day – but God’s Holy Spirit speaking to a heart and moving someone. May God bless you richly in your mission with Him!
Pastor Ryan
Posted on Mar 5, 2014 in 2nd Look | Tags: 2nd Look, Apologetics, Atheist, Bible, Blessing, Experiencing God, Failure, Faith, God, God's faithfulness, grace, holy, Hope, Jesus, Poison, Redemption, Salvation, SNC, Sunland, Sunland Church, Sunland Neighborhood Church, Toxic, Why, worship
Hello SNC friends!
If you remember last week we talked about the church. We spoke about how some people have pointed at the church as their reason for why they do not believe in God. I shared with you three toxic poisons (the three TPs) that can run in the veins of christians and churches; that make them become places that are hurtful; uninviting; uninspired; powerless places. They become toxic.
This is an area of strong interest for me because I’ve seen the toxic church. As a minister for over twenty years, I’ve been in some very toxic situations behind the scenes of church. I’ve seen deacons fist fighting over the issue of dancing. I’ve seen a pastor grab one of his staff members and yell in her face. I’ve seen gossip; and bitter feuding. I’ve seen pastors fall. I’ve seen churches drive pastors into retirement. There are many stories out there of the carnage that is left in the wake of a toxic church.
This was enough to bring me to the brink on several occasions; of giving up on the church. But no matter which way I could rationalize I couldn’t (and still cannot) escape God’s heart for His church written in the pages of the Bible. He loves his church!
I’ve heard people say: “I love Jesus but I don’t love the church. So it’s just Jesus and me!!!” Here’s the problem with that statement – you claim to love Jesus but you are attacking and writing off one of the things He is most passionate about. The church in all its imperfections and weaknesses is still the bride of Christ and He loves her!!!
So here’s my invitation to you this week. Open your Bible and find some passages where God is talking about his church. Go on google and start a web search on this. I think you’ll be amazed to see just how passionate Christ is about His church. As a church we need to fight the toxic poisons that can run in our veins. We need to be willing to ask tough questions because Jesus loves us and wants us to be a place that gives life and pursues a powerful vision. I think God wants to run rampant with us – to blow our minds – to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine for the sake of His kingdom! I believe Jesus wants us to look at our lives and be amazed at how God has allowed us to impact this world……
I don’t know where this church will be in 60 years – heck I don’t even know what we’ll look like in ten years – but darnit – my hope is we’ll look back and say – we saw what church could look like – powerful; passionate; purposeful; and we can point to how God used us in Sunland!
Take time this week to search the church. God loves us folks – and He believes in us – because He knows He is there to make us something extraordinary. The question is: do we believe?
Have a blessed week everyone!
Pastor Ryan
Posted on Feb 19, 2014 in 2nd Look | Tags: 2nd Look, Apologetics, Atheist, Bible, Faith, God, grace, holy, Hope, Science, SNC, Spiritual warfare, Sunland, Sunland Church, Sunland Neighborhood Church
“God, I really like some things about you but if I was honest, there are some things I see here that really don’t make sense.”
I have to be honest, this prayer has been mine on and off during my journey with God. I have especially struggled with some of the things I see God doing in the Old Testament. I’m not sure if any of these things have caused me to doubt God’s existence because I trust that He has a greater reason and that just because He doesn’t make sense doesn’t mean He doesn’t exist. While this issue hasn’t caused me to struggle in my belief – it has caused me to struggle in my trust of God – in my faith. It has caused me to wrestle with the goodness of God and that has been quite disillusioning at times.
A few years ago when I was working at Biola, I set up a lunch appointment between one of my students who was an atheist and two Biola philosophy professors. I even got to tag along and watch as these two brilliant men gently sought to have an open and constructive dialogue with this young man. They sat down over lunch and this young man began to ask questions. He was very well read with some of the new atheist literature and you could tell he was very bright. I already knew this – I had met with him several times. Now in retrospect – from the perspective of an outside observer – it seemed to me that the professors handled the young man’s questions although it was reported to me later that the young man was bragging to his friends that he had stumped the philosophy profs. It didn’t look that way to me at all – however one could fairly accuse me of seeing what I wanted to see in this.
During the luncheon – the young man began to address evil and God’s goodness. They began to really and deeply wrestle with the philosophical questions. At one point though they really challenged the young man and asked him: “Joe (not his real name) – how does the fact that evil exists – or that God seems to do evil things in the Old testament – really disprove His existence? Or rather – does it just prove to us that you don’t like or understand the way He does things?
This was a very powerful question for me; and it felt like a huge moment in the conversation. It seemed to me that Joe didn’t really have a compelling answer to this question. Since that luncheon that question has often stuck with me. I had a friend who heard an atheist speaker accuse God of being wasteful proclaiming that humanoids have existed on this planet for up to 150,000 years before we have records of them being fully realized humans. So what did God do with all the humanoids? The speaker accuses God of being incredibly wasteful in His plan – unless there was no God at all. But this is a big jump that one could make but it’s definitely not ironclad. If there were humanoids; (Which we still haven’t really found fossils for); then God would have a reason for how and why He dealt with them the way He did. How does this prove He doesn’t exist – but rather the speaker didn’t like the way it seems God does things? Unfortunately for my friend – this article opened the door for him to begin deeply questioning His belief in God and ultimately led him to abandon his trust in Jesus. When he shared this argument with me I was reminded of the two philosophy professors debating that brilliant young student in the Biola Burger Pit.
When we look at the questions leveled at God’s goodness; like we did last Sunday – this question is of vital importance. How does the fact that God doesn’t seem to make sense here – really disprove His existence – more than prove that you don’t like or understand the way He has done things?
In addition to this question has been recent scholarship – some of what I shared with you – that has been extremely helpful to fill in some of the blanks in this discussion and paint certain things in a different light. This is what has been so exciting for me – because as an inquisitive and skeptical man – I have found that the fact there are answers to these questions is something that frankly: feels good, like lifting a weight off my shoulders. It also amazes me – deepens my worship and trust of God.
I’d like to direct you as I close this 2nd look to several resources. If you enjoyed last week’s sermon and want to go deeper – here are some links I’d like to invite you to check out. The scholar I’d like to direct you to is Paul Copan. This guy is a hero to me. Below are links to his website and a couple of his books. There are other scholars out there but for now – I’d like to direct you to Paul because he has done a great deal addressing the questions that we brought up and discussed last Sunday.
http://www.paulcopan.com/articles/
http://www.amazon.com/God-Moral-Monster-Making-Testament/dp/0801072751/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1392771995&sr=1-1&keywords=paul+copan
http://www.amazon.com/When-God-Goes-Starbucks-Apologetics/dp/080106743X/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1392772021&sr=1-3&keywords=paul+copan
Have a wonderful week everybody!
Pastor Ryan
Posted on Feb 11, 2014 in 2nd Look | Tags: 2nd Look, Apologetics, Bible, Evil, God, God's faithfulness, grace, Hope, SNC, Suffering, Sunland, Sunland Church, Sunland Neighborhood Church
Posted on Jan 21, 2014 in 2nd Look | Tags: 2nd Look, Apologetics, Atheist, Bible, Blessing, Creation, Experiencing God, Faith, God, God's faithfulness, Jesus, Multiunversse, Salvation, Science, SNC, Sunland, Sunland Church, Sunland Neighborhood Church
Has Science buried God? Have we found enough evidence through the rigorous study of science – to sufficiently dismiss a need to look to a God for answers on why we are here – why the universe exists; what truly gives us meaning and purpose and so forth? There are some voices out there that would claim we have; that science has given us all we need to sufficiently and confidently leave our archaic faith in God behind. But has science really done this?
A few weeks back I had a very lengthy and pleasant conversation with a man who identifies himself as an atheist. He told me that he was not a religious person at all – but that he felt he was a man who placed his trust in science. The assumption he made in this statement was that the two are polar opposites. You either are a religious man – or a man of science – however, I find that this distinction between the two is not necessary. In other words – you don’t need to be one or the other as a matter of fact – I think there is no good reason why you cannot and should not be both.
This past weekend we discussed some scientific findings in the universe that seem to imply not only a cause behind the universe’s existence – but a designer. Now, to be fair – each of the “fine tuning” points I made in the sermon are debated although I still find these fine tuning arguments more compelling than the arguments against them and I’m not alone; many in the scientific community do. In fact a new theory has emerged called the “multiverse” and it is somewhat of an answer or response to how our universe could appear to be so specifically fine tuned. The theory states that maybe it’s because there are millions of universes out there – some universes exist without capability of supporting life and some universes do exist with this capability. So we just happen to live in one of those universes. It’s like saying: Yea we know the universe is fine tuned but it’s no big deal because there are millions of possible universes out there – this one just happens to work and so we live in this universe… The problem with this statement is that there seems to be no real hard evidence – no real evidence at all for the existence of a multiverse – nor an explanation for why there is such a multiverse and where it came from. In other words – it takes faith to believe in a multiverse – big time faith – I would propose even more blind faith than some have accused me of having for believing in a God who created everything and yet there are some scientists out there who believe in the multiverse. One scientist named Martin Rees concedes that he sees fine tuning in the universe – but he attributes it to the existence of a multiverse – here’s what he says: “If on does not believe in providential design, but still thinks the fine tuning needs some explanation, there is another explanation – a highly speculative one, so I should reiterate my health warning at this stage. It is the one I much prefer, however even in our present state of knowledge any such preference can be no more than a hunch…” What’s he saying? Basically he’s saying: “I know it’s no more than a hunch, this multiverse – but I prefer it anyway…” At the very least this is not scientific fact – it’s a highly speculative hunch that explains why we might see fine tuning without referring to a designer; but nevertheless; only a hunch it seems. Is it not fair at least to say someone needs to exercise some bit of “faith” to explain away a possible designer behind a universe with what appears to be… Design? And I must also add- there are new arguments arising that suggest that should we discover a multiverse – it wouldn’t necessarily disprove the existence of God even then.
Here’s my point:
We are asking the question – has science buried God. From what we have seen science has not seemed to bury God but on the contrary some could argue that science points us to God. This is very exciting when we consider this because we may find such a highly respected field of study like science – showing us divine fingerprints throughout the universe. For me – it fills my mind and heart with awe. And I am reminded of David’s words in Psalm 8: “What is man that you are mindful of him?”
Did you know that He is mindful of you? He is not only mindful of you – He has considered you a friend – an heir to his throne – an adopted child – His beloved. You don’t believe me? Go on google search and type in: “I am God’s friend” or “I am an heir to God’s throne” or “I am God’s beloved.” You’ll likely find a Scripture reference that talks about this. The God who made all of this – the God whose fingerprints we can see on this universe – who finely tuned it all – is not only aware of you – but loves you. My hope and prayer for you this week – is that you will be reminded of not only God’s amazing power – but His wonderful love.
I’d like to give you an assignment. It’s called a beauty project. For some time every day this week – take some time to enjoy nature. Maybe it means you get outside – or maybe you watch a movie; tv show – or look at beautiful pictures online. Take sometime to just marvel at the creation of God and let that bring you back to the reminder – you are loved by the same God who made all of this! You are loved by the same God who imagined colors – or wove the stars into space – the same God who conceived of Yosemite; the same God who can dip a finger in the ocean and stir a tidal wave; this same God – loves you. Be at peace this week for you are known and loved my friend.
Pastor Ryan
Posted on Jan 14, 2014 in 2nd Look | Tags: 2nd Look, Apologetics, Atheist, Bible, Blessing, Certainty, Doubt, Experiencing God, Faith, God, God's faithfulness, Gospel, grace, Hope, Jesus, Salvation, SNC, Sunland, Sunland Church, Sunland Neighborhood Church
Hello SNC friends-
You may remember on Sunday I spoke about some reasons to think Christianity is sound as a place we can put our trust in. You may notice that over the next ten weeks we will address each of these 7 areas I spoke about. Next week we will address the question: “Has Science Buried God?” I truly hope you can join us on Sunday morning.
Recently I’ve been reading a book titled: “Tough questions; Real Answers” by William Lane Craig. In the book he has a chapter on the issue of doubt in the life of a Christian. Is it ok to doubt the existence of God? Is doubt something we can eradicate completely from our lives? How do we deal with doubt? In my journey as a Christian I have wrestled with moments and seasons of doubt; and it has become clear to me that there may be places where we don’t have all our questions resolved – but can this lead us to doubt? Dr. Craig talks about the destructive nature of doubt and how we can combat it in our lives. He gives four ways to wage war against our doubts:
1) Recognize that doubt is never just a purely intellectual problem.
This was a powerful reminder to me. If God is truly there and everything we read in the Scriptures is true – then not only do we have a Savior – but we have an enemy, and if so – then we have someone devoted to the destruction of our faiths. Doubt may be a result of spiritual attack. If you are struggling with doubt – perhaps prayer is the first place to begin. To ask God to allow you to hear His voice and to silence the voice of the enemy.
In addition to this – our doubting may have more reasons than just intellectual problems. Many times I have found that doubts often arise in connection with other emotional reasons: grief; anger; bitterness; pain; health struggles; pride; even sin. I’m not saying this is purely the cause for our struggles and certainly we can doubt God’s existence for intellectual reasons – but I have often found those aren’t the only reasons. George Wald; winner of the nobel prize in physiology and medicine wrote this:
“There are only two possible explanations as to how life arose: Spontaneous generation arising to evolution or a supernatural creative act of God . . .There is no other possibility. Spontaneous generation was scientifically disproved 120 years ago by Louis Pasteur and others, but that just leaves us with only one other possibility . . . that life came as a supernatural act of creation by God, but I can’t accept that philosophy because I do not want to believe in God. Therefore I choose to believe in that which I know is scientifically impossible, spontaneous generation leading to evolution.”
I don’t think it’s unfair to say that Dr. Wald is making his decision to believe in the non-existence of a God for more reasons than just intellectual. Hey at least he’s honest. He just doesn’t want to believe in God. This shouldn’t be a surprise to us – the Scriptures are clear that we are unable to desire the Gospel with God’s Spirit moving in our hearts – opening our eyes, minds and souls to Him. In the heart of our doubts – I think it is accurate to say – intellectual difficulties aren’t the only reason. It may be helpful when you are dealing with doubt to recognize it’s not necessarily just about reading books or listening to seminars. There may be other things we need to look at.
2) When doubts arise – keep in mind the proper relationship between faith and reason
When we ask the question: Is my faith true? The truth is – our intellect doesn’t give us the answer to this. Dr. Craig’s point is that The Holy Spirit in our lives authenticates our faith. This is not to put our powers of reason down but to actually give them their rightful place in our lives. The counsel and voice of God need to be first in our lives and our reason needs to be second.
I was meeting with a friend of mine who is an atheist. We were talking with him and his wife about their marriage. At one point in the conversation he admitted that sometimes he relies too heavily on his powers of reason when trying to work on things with his wife. I responded: “I agree – but let me ask you this – don’t you think that perhaps you might be doing the same thing with God?” Wouldn’t it be possible that while you are willing to admit you may have gotten things wrong about your wife – a human being you see every day with your own two eyes; and while she is mysterious she is nothing compared to God. Wouldn’t it be somewhat reasonable to doubt your doubts about God?” Faith is active trust and sometimes we can trust even when we don’t have all the information or things don’t always make sense.
3) Remember the frailty of our limited intellects and knowledge.
I alluded to this on Sunday. Claiming absolute knowledge of something is highly difficult to defend, and yet there are many questions brought to Christianity that do just that. To make an absolute claim that there is no God – while you do not have absolute knowledge of the universe or even what is outside this universe – is simply not defensible. Our intellects have limits and is it possible there are things we do not understand simply because we just can’t? For those of us wrestling with doubts – it can be very comforting to note that even though somethings don’t make sense to us – to a higher intellect who has the advantage of foresight; hindsight; and any other sight; it might make sense to Him. Sometimes to battle doubt it’s helpful to remember we don’t have everything figured out.
4) Lastly, We need to wrestle this doubt to the ground
If you have a doubt – instead of just accepting it – perhaps it is an invitation to wrestle with this thing. Do some research. Explore what it is you are doubting, in particular the Christian response to this. See what others have written and said about this issue. Maybe it can help you resolve some of your questions. This has been hugely important for my journey with God. I have had many conversations; read books even sat down and listened to lectures on the areas of struggle that I’ve had. My friend Greg is another great example of this.
Greg has struggled with Hell. He has struggled with it emotionally; philosophically and Biblically. He has deeply wrestled with this issue and has done lots of research; debating; writing and thinking on the issue. He has done so much that he is now at a point where I think he can debate and hang in there with some of the most brilliant minds regarding this issue, and his doubts that have arisen with Hell – have been put to rest.
Sometimes we are too quick to accept that our doubt is unresolvable – or that it is just always going to be a dark spot on our Christian horizon. Wrestle that thing! Don’t let go! I knew a guy who was struggling with his faith. We gave him a ton of books to read. Hey he asked us for it! We met with him to discuss the books. Years later – when he had made his decision to abandon his faith he was giving his Christian books away because he wouldn’t be needing them anymore. So he offered me some of these great Christian books on philosophy and apologetics. I gratefully took them. As I was reading them I noticed they were brand new – looked like they’d never been cracked, and in knowing my friend; I know that he marks up everything he reads. He abuses books – littering them with his thoughts and reactions. Yet in these books? Nothing. Not a mark. It was so dismaying to me. It doesn’t look like he ever gave these books the time of day. This saddened me. He was so willing to read any atheist author out there but yet it seemed he wasn’t willing to balance it with a Christian response. If he didn’t; then he never really wrestled his doubts; he just accepted them. We don’t have to go down that road.
Doubt can be a very difficult and painful experience in the life of a believer – but it can be combatted and we can find victory there. Let me add this – please don’t go through doubt alone. If you have areas of doubt – seek out people you respect and see if they can help you – at least to discuss and verbally process; but also to maybe point you in the direction of answers. This is the beauty of being part of the family of God because we can support each other – but often we go through experiences like this alone; in isolation; because we do not want to admit that we are struggling.
My hope is that this series will help to give you some more foundation to the hope you have and maybe even serve to help combat doubt when it arises. Have a great week everybody and get ready – this Sunday we look at something called the “Kalam Cosmologial Argument.” It’s going to be awesome!!!
Have a great week my friends and may God fill you; and use you to build His kingdom,
Pastor Ryan
Posted on Jan 8, 2014 in 2nd Look, For Further Exploration | Tags: 2nd Look, Apologetics, Bible, Defending the Faith, Experiencing God, Faith, God, God's faithfulness, Gospel, grace, holy, Hope, Jesus, Redemption, Salvation, SNC, Sunland, Sunland Church, Sunland Neighborhood Church, worship
Lee Strobel: The Case For A Creator
Lee Strobel: The Case For Faith
Lee Strobel: The Case For Christ
Lee Strobel: The Case For The Real Jesus
Paul Copan: Is God a Moral Monster
Paul Copan: How Do You Know You’re Not Wrong
Paul Copan: When God Goes To Starbucks
John Lennox: Gunning For God- Why The New Atheists Are Missing The Mark
John Lennox: God And Stephen Hawking
John Lennox: God’s Undertaker- Has Science Buried God
Gary Habermas: The Case For The Resurrection Of Christ
Gregory Boyd: letter From A Skeptic
C. Stephen Layman: Letters To Doubting Thomas
William Lane Craig: Hard Questions Real Answers
Dr. Steve Kumar: Christianity For Skeptics
Tim Keller: The Reason For God
There are many, many more- I truly hope this can be helpful to you in the days ahead as we take a deeper look at the defense of Christianity!