Journal: Faith and Apologetics
SUMMARY
In apologietics, a defense of the Faith showing that evidence favors Christianity, knowledge of God can be put in (more or less) two categories: knowledge through the natural world and knowledge through the human person. In looking at the natural world, we question whether the world was created by God or not. In looking for an answer to this "teological" question, William Paley used the analogy that a watch cannot be created without a designer, and neither can the world. Secondly, many organisms share the golden ratio in their proportions, a suggestion of a designer. Also, it seems very unlikely that intelligent life could be formed without a creator, a higher being with purpose. Even the point that the world began suggests that it must have a cause outside of itself. Lastly, since there are degrees of perfection in the world that are noticeable when comparing a rock, an animal, and a human, it seems logical that there is something more perfect that a human: God.
When looking at the human person for knowledge of God, we inspect religious experience, which includes man's need for meaning, the mystery of death, the thirst for happiness, and the pain of loneliness. We also inspect the argument from conscience, one's sense of right and wrong which comes from knowledge, intuition, and personal experience. Lastly, natural law, or the theory that humans should fulfill human nature, presents a case for morality. Since we are inclined to act in certain ways and fill certain niches, we also have an inclination to be morally sound people.
THREE THINGS TO REMEMBER:
1. The first person Jesus appeared to after his Resurrection was a woman, Mary Magdaline. This presents evidence of Jesus' radical overturning of the social structure of the time and gives evidence of God's view of equality upon mankind.
2. Conscience comes from knowledge, intuition, and personal experience. I really found this statement to clarify my perspective on conscience. It's true that without knowledge, one's conscience cannot steer one away from acting a certain way because we may either not know what that way will bring us or we may not know what that way is. I also agree that conscience is partly intrinsic: we feel guilty about certain things, even if others tell us they're all right. Lastly, when you've felt the pain from an act against you, you should feel more pressure on yourself to not do that same act.
3. Jesus taught with authority; he didn't use "footnotes." Although I've heard this many times, it really hit me as significant this past week. To defy the pattern of all other learned men and scholars that relied on the insights of their predacessors is quite powerful and bold. Jesus had confidence. He knew what he was doing.
"Who is Jesus?"
I think Jesus was most definitely a very real and human person. I also believe that Jesus was either the source or the very entity of God. He cannot be defined as "teacher." He was more than that, and to name him solely by this one aspect of his person is an embarrasment. He suffered the learning of childhood, the pains of adolescence, and the maturity and sadness of adulthood, but He was also divine in some respect, tearing down outdated notions of God and instilling a new, energetic vigor in spirituality through his LIFE, not merely his teachings. Sharing in the divinity of God, his death and resurrection brought and brings forgiveness and comfort even now.
I, and hopefully everyone, can feel something greater in life than the physical realities. This divine presence, I say, is Jesus.