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4.
Who is God?
 The
quest to find God has filled millions of volumes throughout history.
This quest for God translates into our search for meaning. Why do we
need to know who is God? Because, once we can find out who God is, we
might understand the meaning of our life. Is there life beyond this
life? What is our purpose? If we can find God, these questions are
answered. The question is can we find God?
Logically, we can prove
the greater probability of God’s existence. By reason and logic, we
know the universe is finite. We also know it was “Caused” in the past.
The depletion of energy (2nd law of Thermodynamics), the
Radiation Echo, Law of Relativity and universe expansion all point to a
finite universe. In addition, we can see the complexity of life
pointing to God’s existence. The complexity and infrastructure of the
cell, DNA and cellular communications defy all laws of probability logically
showing the need an intelligent designer. Evolution, the alternative to
design rules out based on lack of evidence and method (gene
transmutation). Logically we can conclude the probability of God; (The
First Cause) outweighs his non-existence.
Is it logical to think
man can find out who is God?
We may be able to see evidence of God’s existence and some of his
attributes by using reason, but unless God chooses to reveal Himself, we
will always be limited to our senses. If God created the Heavens with an
expanse measured as more then 15 billion light years,
and the smallest living thing, a cell, still beyond our understanding it
is only logical to assume our knowledge of God is limited to the extent
of His Revelation. If He made the eyes to see and the ears to hear,
unless he choose us to know Him we could not.
Has
God revealed Himself?
If
God revealed Himself, can we use logic find Him? Truth is that which
corresponds with reality. Again, it would be logical to think the facts
of reality correspond to God’s existence. Our understanding of God’s
identity is dependent on God’s revelation of Himself. If we examine the
faiths of the world, can we use reason and logic to discover the truth?
On the other hand, is faith separate from reason?
Is faith separate from
reason and logic?
To understand the connection between faith and reason we need to define
the terms, faith and reason. Faith means to trust in that which is
unseen. Reason translated in the Greek, as “Logos”, means plan or word.
Reason is the systematic assembling of facts, plan, to arrive at a
conclusion. Hebrews defines faith as, things unseen and not yet seen.
1Now
faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not
seen.
Hebrews 11:1
For many the term faith is strictly a religious, term while science
is associated reason and logic. However, someone does not need to be
religious to operate on faith. Faith is real for any living rational
being. Without faith, even the most ardent atheist could do no more
then stand in a corner and wait for reality. Let us look at some
examples of how faith operates.
Flying in an airplane
If Joe Atheist, wanted to leave Cleveland and go to Hawaii, Joe would
more then likely choose to go via an airline. Faith is means to put
trust in the unseen. Joe will use reason to understand that airplanes
fly. Joe will probably connect several points of reason.
-
He has seen planes
fly.
-
He has read about
how planes fly.
-
He has friends who
fly.
-
He has experienced
flight.
Using
this collection of facts Joe, believes that if he enters an airplane in
Cleveland he will be able to fly and land in Hawaii. Joe has faith he
will be able to fly to Hawaii, faith is confirmed when it becomes
reality. Joe does not know as fact he will make it to
Hawaii,
he has faith. The airplane could crash,
Hawaii might not have room for the plane, and Joe could die on the
plan before he gets to
Hawaii.
Joe is operating on probability, obtained from reasoning with the
facts. The high probability gives credence to his faith. This
probability with reason is the basis of his faith in his plan to fly to
Hawaii.
Belief in Santa
The child who believes in Santa Claus as the source of
gifts on Christmas is based on the credibility of the child’s parents.
The child reasons thus:
·
My parents tell me what is right and wrong
·
My parents words have become reality in the past
·
My parents tell me Santa is real and is going to
bring me presents.
·
I have presents therefore Santa must be real.
The child has faith that Santa exists and is real. This faith is from
on the parent’s credibility, and the experience of receiving presents.
The child has faith that is reasoned and logical. However, if the child
could examine the facts, (correspondence with reality) the child would
see his parents as the source of presents.
If we observe the different religions of the world, many claiming to
revelations from God, (First Cause) is there a logical way to determine
which is true. Not all religions can be true since they contradict each
other (Law of Non-contradiction). Truth is the correspondence to
facts. Since, truth corresponds to fact, logically if God would reveal
Himself, his revelation would also correspond to fact. This is in
contrast to the idea of blind-faith.
Blind faith is faith without evidence, which would be
superstition. The Bible does not call us to blind faith. The Bible calls
us to faith in evidence. Various truth claims, including Christianity,
should be evaluated on the evidence.
Types of Evidence
Encyclopedia Britannica defines evidence as,
Evidence
in law, any of the material items or assertions of fact that may be
submitted to a competent tribunal as a means of ascertaining the truth
of any alleged matter of fact under investigation before it.
The Depart of Justice defines evidence as,
Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to
persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side
or the other.
In
addition, The American Heritage Dictionary of the English language
defines evidence as
The data on which
a judgment or conclusion may be based, or by which proof or probability
may be established.
Evidence
comes from the word “Evident” which means easily recognizable or
perceived. Evidence is the data used to prove a case; the evidence
should correspond with reality (Truth).
We
could classify evidence for the existence of God into four main
classifications with several subcategories.
·
Objective Evidence:
is concerned with
material evidence as opposed to a mental concept idea or belief. This
type of evidence can be categorized into several categories
1. Historical:
Evidence, which is a part of history and verified through actual
locations, events, tombs, documents and witnesses.
Example; The Roman empire’s conquest of Jerusalem is documented Roman
history, verified in the Arch of Titus in Rome.
2. Archeology:
is systematic recovery by scientific methods of material evidence
remaining from man’s life and culture.
Example: The discovery of the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser which shows
Jehu, King of Israel bowing and paying tribute to the Assyrian King
Shalmaneser.
3. Documentary:
is anything serving as evidence or proof, as a material substance
bearing a revealing symbol or mark.
Example: The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls verified the textual
integrality of the oldest existing Hebrew manuscripts.
4. Scientific:
is the observation, identification, description, experimental
investigation, and theoretical explanation of natural phenomena.
Example: The radiation echo demonstrates the universe is finite
and therefore has a cause.
·
Eyewitness Accounts
Testimonies: this is often part of a documentary evidence since many
times eyewitness accounts become part of the written record.
Example: Jesus appeared to the 11 disciples after his resurrection,
their testimonies of this are recorded in the scripture.
·
Subjective Evidence:
Is concerned with
emotions and environment and takes place within a person’s mind. For
example to have a vision about is personal and subject to the
individual. Subjective evidence is not objectively verified.
1.
Emotions: Evidence based on a feelings and emotions.
Example: When I read the Bible, my spirit is calm.
2.
Experience: Evidence based on personal experience.
Example: I prayed that God would heal me of cancer, and my last doctor’s
visit showed the cancer was completely gone.
·
Super-natural Objective Evidence:
Pertaining to evidence,
which is outside the natural world; and especially not attributable to
natural forces.
Prophecy:
The foretelling of events before their occurrence demonstrates
super-natural knowledge about future events.
Example: The destruction of
Jerusalem and the
Temple was foretold in the book of Daniel (Daniel
9:27) over 600 years before the event.
Verified Miracles: are
Events
occurring outside the natural order of things, such as raising somebody
from the death. Naturally, people once they die do not come back to
life.
Example: The Resurrection of Jesus after He was crucified.
Basic information
on various religions:
|
Religion |
Date Founded |
Sacred Texts |
Membership |
% of World |
|
Christianity |
30 CE |
The Bible |
2,015
million |
33%
|
|
Islam |
622 CE |
Qur'an &
Hadith |
1,215
million |
20%
|
|
No
religion
* |
No date |
None |
925
million |
15%
|
|
Hinduism |
1,500 BCE |
The Veda |
786
million |
13%
|
|
Buddhism |
523 BCE |
The
Tripitaka |
362
million |
6%
|
|
Atheists |
No date |
None |
211
million |
4% |
|
Chinese
folk rel. |
270 BCE |
None |
188
million |
4% |
|
New Asian
rel. |
Various |
Various |
106
million |
2% |
|
Tribal
Religions, Animism |
Prehistory |
Oral
tradition |
91
million |
2% |
|
Other |
Various |
Various |
19
million |
<1% |
|
Judaism |
No
consensus |
Torah,
Talmud |
18
million |
<1% |
|
Sikhism |
1500 CE |
Guru
Granth Sahib |
16
million |
<1% |
|
Shamanists |
Prehistory |
Oral
Tradition |
12
million |
<1% |
|
Spiritism |
|
|
7 million |
<1% |
|
Confucianism |
520 BCE |
Lun Yu |
5 million |
<1% |
|
Baha'i Faith |
1863 CE |
Most Holy
Book |
4 million |
<1% |
|
Jainism |
570 BCE |
Siddhanta,
Pakrit |
3 million |
<1% |
|
Shinto |
500 CE |
Kojiki,
Nohon Shoki |
3 million |
<1% |
|
Wicca |
800 BCE,
1940 CE |
None |
500,000? |
<1% |
|
Zoroastrianism |
No
consensus |
Avesta |
0.2
million |
<1% |
What Tests could
we apply to discover the Truth?
The population of
the Earth is now well over 6 Billion people. There are over 20
major religions and hundreds of subsets, is there any way to use
reason, logic and evidence to find the truth?
Based on Logic, we
come to several conclusions;
·
We know we exit.
·
We are aware of our existence
·
We can logically deduce there is cause for the
universe.
·
We can logically deduce there is intelligent
design.
·
We can logically deduce that unless the
First Cause and Intelligent Designer wanted us to know about Him, we
could not.
Therefore, we can deduce knowledge about the First Cause,
God, is revealed in the world. To assume we cannot know God would
mean we know something about God.
Can
we use Logic, reason and evidence to discover who God is?
Characteristics
define who we are. Birds are identified by feathers and beaks, fish
by scales, fins and water, and man by intelligence, communication
and domination. We can logically deduce characteristics of God from
logic, Super-intelligent, Very powerful, and outside of the natural
order. If God were to reveal of Himself, it would be logical to
assume it would be outside of nature, in other words Super-natural.
Logically speaking
we should be able to compare the truth claims of “Reveled works”
to corresponding reality.
The
Test of A Prophet
A
prophet is someone who claims to speak for the “First Cause”, God.
Is there a logical test for such a claim? The Bible has a test, of
“Revealed” words that would not only apply to the Bible but to any
book, claiming “Super-natural” inspiration.
17“And
the LORD said to me: ‘What they have spoken is good. 18I
will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren,
and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all
that I command Him. 19And it shall be that whoever
will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require
it of him. 20But the prophet who presumes to speak
a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who
speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’ 21And
if you say in your heart, ‘How shall we know the word which the LORD
has not spoken?’— 22when a prophet speaks in the name
of the LORD, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that
is the thing which the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has
spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.
Deuteronomy 18:17-22
The logic is
simple, if God is the source of the revelation and God is beyond
nature then God does not make errors. Since God is inerrant, his
revealed words could also be expected to be without error. If
someone claims to speak for God, but his claimed revelation is not
fulfilled, then speaker is lying. The “prophets” words do not
correspond with reality. No fear, should be placed in the
false prophet's words.
|
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The future
foretold in the past
  Its
easier to claim to know the future then to prove the claim.
If someone told you the lottery number 3 days in advance and
gave the right number most people would acknowledge three
options are available.
-
You
guessed the right number
-
You
conspired with lottery
-
You
have super-natural information
If the feat
is repeated a 2nd and 3rd time without
deception, then it would be logical to accept a
super-natural cause to the information.
The
Bible claims super-natural evidence of inspiration,
separating it from any other book. The ability to
proclaim the future in the past.
If the
Bible is a revelation from God, then it should have
characteristics that can only be attributed to God. The
ability to proclaim details of future events is outside of
nature. Its super-natural, to proclaim what the future will
be, the ability is outside of nature.
|
6“Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel,
And his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts:
‘I am the First and I am the Last;
Besides Me there is no God.
7And who can proclaim as I do?
Then let him declare it and set it in order for
Me,Since I appointed the ancient people.And
the things that are coming and shall come,Let them
show these to them.
8Do
not fear, nor be afraid;Have I not told you from
that time, and declared it?You are My witnesses.Is
there a God besides Me?Indeed there is no other
Rock;I know not one.’” Isaiah 44:7-8
|
9Remember the former things of old,For I am God, and
there is no other;I
am God, and there is none like Me,
10Declaring the end from the beginning,And
from ancient times things that are not yet
done,Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,And I will do
all My pleasure,’ Isaiah 46:9-10
3“I
have declared the former things from the beginning; They went forth from My mouth, and I caused them to hear
it. Suddenly I did them, and they came to
pass.
4Because
I knew that you were obstinate,And your neck
was an iron sinew, And your brow bronze,
5Even
from the beginning I have declared it to
you;Before
it came to pass I proclaimed it to you,Lest
you should say, ‘My idol has done them,And my carved
image and my molded imageHave commanded them.’
Isaiah 48:3-5
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If the Bible is
God’s revealed word then we can look for characteristics fitting
only with God’s nature.
-
Revealed words
come to past (Super-natural objective evidence)
-
The ability to
proclaim the future in the past (Super-nature objective
evidence)
-
Correspondence
with reality (Truth)
Does the Bible past
the Test?
The
Bible is a book revolving around facts. We can compare what the
Bible says to what the
 corresponding
reality is. Was there a King Cyrus of Persia? Can we verify this
fact outside of the Bible? Yes, we can actually go and visit the
tomb of Cyrus of Persia, who is spoken about in 2 Chronicles,
Isaiah, Daniel and Ezra as an historical figure. This fact is
confirmed to correspond
with the Bible.
Cyrus’ Tomb can be classified, as “Objective Archeological” evidence
the Bible is true.The Bible records about the Assyrian invasion of
Jerusalem, (Isaiah 36-37, 2 Chronicles 32, 2 Kings 18-19) can this
fact be substantiated outside of the Bible? Yes, we have
Assyrian document known as the Sennacherib Prism that records
details of the invasion from the Assyrian viewpoint in 701 BC when
Hezekiah was King of Judah. This evidence would be an “Objective
Document” affirming “Objective Historical” evidence about Assyrian
interaction with nation of
Judah.
These are just a few instances which can be multiplied many hundreds
of times confirming the correspondence of historical and
archeological facts contained within the bible.
The facts of the matter are that the Bible is absolutely the most
reliable book of antiquity. And archaeological discoveries, which
have really come into prominence only in the last 25-40 years, have
persistently and consistently supported historical declarations of
the Scriptures. Nelson Gulik, a renowned Jewish archaeologist, has
made this statement: "No archaeological discovery has ever
controverted a biblical reference." It's just like scientific
fact! No scientific fact has ever controverted biblical
reference. Theories have, but not fact! A famous scholar at Yale
University has made this observation: "Archaeological work has
unquestionably strengthened confidence in the reliability of the
Scriptural record. On the whole, such evidence archaeology has
afforded thus far, especially by providing additional and older
manuscripts of the books of the Bible, strengthens our confidence in
the accuracy with which the text has been transmitted through the
centuries."
However, if the
Bible were just a history book this would be stupendous, but hardly
proof of inspiration, this is what is expected of what is true. The
Bible in fact goes beyond the claim of just being truthful on
historical information. The Bible makes the claim of
“Super-natural” objective evidence.
The
creation of the state of Israel, involved the gathering after almost
2000 of the Jewish people from all over the world. This is foretold
many times in the scriptures as a future part of Israel’s destiny,
along with the promise that
Israel
would be scattered first then gathered.
Promise of
Scattering and Gathering of Descendents of Jacob 1400 BC.
64“Then
the LORD will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the
earth to the other, and there you shall serve other gods, which
neither you nor your fathers have known—wood and stone. 65And
among those nations you shall find no rest, nor shall the sole of
your foot have a resting place; but there the LORD will give you
a trembling heart, failing eyes, and anguish of soul. 66Your
life shall hang in doubt before you; you shall fear day and night,
and have no assurance of life. 67In the morning you shall
say, ‘Oh, that it were evening!’ And at evening you shall say, ‘Oh,
that it were morning!’ because of the fear which terrifies your
heart, and because of the sight which your eyes see. Deuteronmy
28:64-67
3that
the LORD your God will bring you back from captivity, and
have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations
where the LORD your God has scattered you. 4If any
of you are driven out to the farthest parts under heaven,
from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there He will
bring you. 5Then the LORD your God will bring you to
the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it.
He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers.
Deuteronmy 30:3-5
Ezekiel writes the
Israel
will be gathered from many nations after a long period of time. 590
BC.
8After
many days you will be visited. In the latter years you will come
into the land of those brought back from the sword and
gathered from many people on the mountains of Israel, which
had long been desolate; they were brought out of the nations,
and now all of them dwell safely. Ezekiel 38:
The assembling of
Israel
from the nations after many years was a super-natural revelation
that was fulfilled 2500 to 3400 years after Ezekiel and Deuteronomy.
There were only two times in Israel’s history they were gathered
after they were scattered. The first time followed the Babylonian
captivity in 537 BC, and the second occurred in the 20th
century involving the founding of the State of Israel.
 This
is just one of many prophecies we could classify as “Super-natural
objective” evidence the Bible is revealed from God, the First Cause.
One of the more detailed prophecies, the Seventy weeks of Daniel
give us the exact day which The Messiah would be rejected by
Israel, and later be killed. Following His death, the city of
Jerusalem
and the Temple would be destroyed this occurred in 70 AD.
When we examine the
accuracy of the super-natural objective evidence along with the
historical, archeological and document evidence, we are forced to
the conclusion that the Bible is a revelation from God.
In the example of the airplane, you can know the airplane
flies, you can study how the airplane flies, you can talk to people
how have flown in airplanes but still need faith to believe the
airplane will take you to the desired location.
This
holds true for the Bible and our trusting its words. You can study
the Bible, visit the locations the Bible talks about, read the Bible
in the original languages but you still need to make a choice if you
will put your eternal destiny in the Revealed word of God.
Web sites of
interest
http://www.gospelcom.net/faithfacts/quest_blind_faith.html
http://www.christiananswers.net/archaeology/home.html
http://www.biblelight.org/arch1.htm
http://www.bib-arch.org/
http://www.israelmybeloved.com/history_prophecy/intro/index.htm
http://contenderministries.org/prophecy/endtimes.php
Super-Natural Objective Evidence
| Prophecy |
Fullfillment & Importance |
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| Mosaic Covenant Dispersion of
Israel Duetornomy 28:64 |
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