FAQ #10: Is there any compelling reason to worship Jesus as God?

Question: Is there any compelling reason to worship Jesus as God?

Answer:

1. In every source that describes the resurrected Jesus having conversation with people, he always accepts worship or some title of worship. In John, a disciple calls Jesus "my Lord and my God" and Jesus compliments him. In Matthew and Luke, it describes Jesus accepting worship, without showing resistance. (In Judaism, worship is strictly reserved for God alone.)
2. Of all the people God could resurrect, it would be very unusual for him to resurrect someone who would then go on to falsely claim to be God! God hates blasphemy, so the fact that Jesus accepts worship after a miracle of that magnitude is strong evidence that he actually is worthy of that worship. 
3. The things Jesus said and did in his ministry make the most sense when we realize he is acting as if he is God. (Unless otherwise mentioned, these examples are found throughout the gospels).
1. He revises Old Testament laws on his own authority. 
2. He commands demons out of people by his own authority.
3. He assigns a future role for himself that is reserved for God (i.e. judging the world). 
4. He says he is the only way to God.
5. By dying for our sins, He considers himself perfect and/or worthy enough for the sacrifice to cover the sins of everyone in the entire world.
6. Occasionally, publicly and privately, Jesus says He is God in very clear terms. (John 14:9, John 8:58)
7. He acted with extreme integrity, exemplifying love and truth everything he said and did. 

(Back to Christian Evidence Frequently Asked Questions Page)

FAQ #9: Does the resurrection of Jesus violate scientific laws of nature?

Question:  Does the resurrection of Jesus violate scientific laws of nature?

Answer: 

1. Imagine I live in a house on a deserted island. A pile of books is laying on the floor next to a bookshelf inside my house. I leave my house at 9 AM. I return home at 2 PM, only to discover that all of the books that were on the floor are now in the bookshelf. 
2. It is impossible for books to pick themselves up and arrange themselves in a bookshelf. That would violate the laws of nature. Nevertheless, when this situation occurs, I do not simply refuse to believe that the books are really on the shelf. It's easy enough to know if books are on a shelf.
3. This situation is called an "agent gap." It requires that an agent with the 1) power and 2) knowledge of how to assemble books on a bookshelf, entered my house and did that when I was gone.
4. I do not need to first prove that someone came to the deserted island in order for me to prove that the books are really on the shelf. The very fact that the books are on the shelf in the first place, proves that I am not alone on the island. 
5. We don't know if God exists. However, if we find our friend who is dead, then we talk to them the next day, a very serious "agent gap" is created. This is impossible through natural means. It requires that an agent 1) powerful enough and 2) smart enough to reassemble and reactivate the cells in a persons body, has actually done so in this case. 
6. Like the bookshelf example, we do not need to prove the existence of God to prove the existence of a resurrected man. It's easy enough to tell if your friend is dead or alive. The very fact there is a resurrected man in the first place proves we are not alone in the universe. 

(Back to Christian Evidence Frequently Asked Questions Page)

(Sorry. There was NO WAY I could do that in 250 words!) 

FAQ #8: Why should I believe the Bible if it is full of contradictions?

Question: Why should I believe the Bible (especially the four gospels) if they are full of contradictions?

Answer:

1. The existence of contradictions on secondary details does not invalidate the main story a source is trying to tell. For example, Roman histories are full of contradictions. The four accounts of Caesar's assassination are one example. Historians do not reject his assassination based on disagreements in the sources on details. In the same way, disagreement on the secondary details surrounding the death and resurrection of Christ does not invalidate his death and resurrection altogether. 
2. Disagreements on the details of an event are routine in our lives. News articles sometimes provide slightly different information than other news articles. Eyewitnesses of car accidents often report conflicting details. This is another reason that disagreements on minor details does not in any way cast doubt on the larger story that is being reported. 
3. Many supposed contradictions in the four Gospels are really not contradictions. They can be classified as differences between the accounts. Differences take place when there is no explicit disagreement between two sources, but one source omitted certain details that the other included. 
4. For the difficult passages, many attempts at harmonization have been made, with a great deal of success. Some apparent contradictions can be resolved with relatively simple explanations. 
5. Sometimes, existence of contradictions in secondary details actually serves to prove the larger story really happened. Contradictions in the details prove that the sources are somewhat independent, and are not conspiring to create false stories or rumors. 

(Back to Christian Evidence Frequently Asked Questions Page)

FAQ #7: What Do Christians Mean When They Say "Jesus Died for Our Sins?"

Question: What Do Christians Mean When They Say "Jesus died for my sins?"

Answer: 

1. God is a perfect Judge and cannot let any wrong doing go unpunished. Nevertheless, God unlimited in his love. When we humans regularly sin, God is faced with a dilemma. He has to punish every sin, or else he is an imperfect Judge. Nevertheless, God wants to show mercy to every human, or else he would no longer be unlimited in love. God resolves this dilemma by become human and allowing himself to be punished instead of us. He took the punishment for our sins by being crucified as a man.
2. Jesus (like Adam) is a representative for the entire human race. When he sacrifices himself, he provides forgiveness to the human race (or at least those who accept him as a representative). 
3. The arrangement is similar to if you committed a crime, and you received a very large fine as a result. Imagine that the judge issuing the fine were to pay it for you, at great cost to himself. This is very similar to what Jesus did when he died on the cross, paying the penalty for our sins. 
4. My uncle (an attorney) told me that an analogy in our legal system is that of "vicarious liability." This means that a "senior" person can hold themselves liable for the actions of the "junior" in the relationship. For example, employers are liable for the actions of employees. This is analogous to Jesus dying on the cross, where he voluntarily holds himself liable for our actions. 

Credits:

(Thanks to my uncle Kurt Anderson for some of the information in this post.)

(Back to Christian Evidence Frequently Asked Questions Page)

FAQ #6: If there are so many denominations, what is true Christianity?

Question: If there are so many denominations, what is true Christianity?

Answer:

1. The central message of Christianity is the "gospel." The gospel is the message Jesus' disciples and Paul preached to the world in order to gain converts. In the book of Acts, there are many recordings of these gospel speeches. Paul also defines the gospel in 1 Corinthians 15: 1-15 & in Romans 10:8-13.
2. Throughout the New Testament, underlying gospel remains the same. The message has three components: 1) Jesus is the Jewish Messiah 2) Jesus died and was buried to forgive our sins 3) Jesus was resurrected and appeared to many witnesses. Conversion takes place when a listener believes the message.
3. All other Christian beliefs branch off of these core beliefs. Here are a few important examples: 
1. The Jewish Messiah was a figure predicted in the Old Testament. This person was prophesied to conquer Israel's enemies and rule the entire world as King, bringing world peace. Christians believe this will take place at the Second Coming of Christ.
2. Furthermore, some Old Testament passages imply that the Messiah would be the Lord Himself. Hence, the central Christian belief is that the Messiah (Jesus) is both God and man. 
3. Jesus Himself also taught the doctrine of the Second Coming and his own Deity.
4. All other beliefs are connected to the gospel message in a similar way as the examples above. These beliefs come from Old Testament prophecy or Jesus' own teachings, but usually both. The main beliefs have been compiled in various Creeds, such as the Nicene Creed and Apostles Creed.

(Back to Christian Evidence Frequently Asked Questions Page)

ALL Sin Deprives Someone of Their Freedom

The FAQ series continues....but this is not one of them.

I think the concept of "deprivation of freedom" is essential to the concept of sin.

My friend Justin, said this to me once, and I thought it was wrong. After all, don't people who sin exercise lots of freedom to do whatever they want, regardless of morality?

Philosopher Richard Swinburne defines God as a person with only three attributes: perfect power, perfect knowledge....and surprisingly...perfect freedom.

Swinburne derives God's moral goodness from his freedom. According to Kantian ethics, unethical decisions are by nature irrational. God being perfectly free, is not constrained by irrational desires or other persons. This "frees" him up to make only rational decisions. Since God makes only rational decisions every time, he only makes morally good decisions every time.

I think this idea can be extended to people. I will draw a metaphor from political philosophy. According to libertarian political philosophy, depriving a person of their liberties (or freedoms), is the chief evil. If only the government (and people) let us alone, then this would be the ideal.

This makes sense. Any wrong we do to another person effectively deprives them of consent, or the freedom to choose whether or not it happens to them or not.

But what about all those seemingly arbitrary sexual rules in the New Testament that don't affect anyone else? What about various sexual sins, alcoholism, and even witchcraft? How does this relate to the deprivation of freedom?

It's very simple.

All sin hurts at least two parties: God and the offended party. In cases of interpersonal sins, the offended party is someone else. In the case of a "secret" or (so called) "victim-less" sin, the offended party is yourself...

In the case of interpersonal sins, you are depriving someone else of their consent (freedom). In a sin against yourself, you are depriving yourself of consent and becoming more deeply enslaved by it. The test is very simple to determine if a personal act is a sin. Here is the test:

"If, before I was born, I could choose to have or not have this desire or impulse, would I keep it and act on it?"

No one chooses to be an alcoholic someday. No wishes that one day they will become a porn addict or addicted to promiscuous sex. No one wishes that someday, they would be overcome by sexual desire for the same sex, or worse, a sexual desire for children or animals.

This reminds me of a verse on sexual immorality:

"“I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything." 1 Corinthians 6:12 (emphasis added)

This is where the deprivation of freedom comes in. "Victimless" sins actually victimize yourself, because you are becoming enslaved to desires you do not wish to become enslaved to. They deprive you of the freedom to choose what you do in your life. Giving into desires you do not want actually want causes you to become progressively impaired and mastered by them. This causes you to feel helpless and stuck serving something that even you would consider to be undesirable.

1 Corinthians 6 also implies that sinning sexually is in some way sinning against yourself.

Why is being deprived of freedom such a bad thing? First, it has a very negative effect on the person it affects. Depriving other people's freedom causes them much pain. Depriving yourself of freedom causes yourself a lot of pain, because you are enslaved by desires you don't want.

But depriving yourself or others of freedom has a a worse effect than either of these things. A perfectly rational being would voluntarily try to serve and worship God, the most beautiful and loving being in the universe, because they would find it to be the most satisfying and beneficial thing to do.

Sins entice a person to become slave to something other than God. My litmus test for sin in the Christian ethic can be applied to both interpersonal and isolated sins.


"If, before I was born, I could choose to have or not have this desire or impulse, would I keep it and act on it?"

No one wishes that one day, they would overreact to an insult. No one wishes that one day, money would become so important to them that armed robbery is an option. No one wishes that one day, they would have trouble controlling their temper. No one wishes that one day, other people's stuff would become so important they are consumed by wanting it. 

This comes full circle. Jesus says that everyone who sins is a slave to sin. But He says the Son can set you free. He specifically says he is a "humble" and "gentle" Master, because his "yoke is easy and burden is light."  Whatever other slave-masters we have to give up, Jesus says he is way easier to serve than all of them. They may shout at us to come back and serve them, but serving Jesus will always be less controlling than our sinful desires.

²⁸ “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.³⁰ For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

So basically, if doing something deprives you or anyone else of freedom, it is a sin. Sins don't just hurt you or other people. They hurt God, because sinful desires try to get you to serve a master less worthy than the most perfect, beautiful, and deserving being in the universe: God Himself. 

FAQ #5: Isn't it unfair to be born into a fallen world without our consent?

Question: Isn't it unfair to be born into a sinful and painful world without our consent?

Answer:

1. It isn't unfair for God to let us be born in a fallen and broken world without our consent, because we would have chosen it for ourselves if given the chance. Furthermore, every time we sin, we consent with Adam's choice to live in a fallen world. This is why God let Adam be the representative for the entire human race, instead of making each of us go through a fateful decision. 
2. God allows us to choose to spend eternity either with Him or away from him. However, he knows we will be extremely unhappy if we choose not to be with Him forever, because He is the most loving and beautiful Being in the universe. So when God lets us be born into a sinful condition, it helps us realize how bad and unsatisfying sin really is. It's painful to live in a cruel and violent world of sin separate from God. Furthermore, when we experience unwanted sinful desires and become slaves to sin instead of God, we realize how unsatisfying and controlling sin can be. Both of these things are God's way of persuading us to choose to worship Him forever, instead of being slaves to sin.
3. Being born into a fallen world is painful and seems unfair. Nevertheless, any pain we experience in this life is extremely small compared to an eternity with a loving God. Any unfairness we perceive in this life, God will compensate us for millions of times over in eternity.

(Back to Christian Evidence Frequently Asked Questions Page)