Evidence for God from Science

Thanks for the recommendations C.S. Lewis Lover.

cslewislover wrote:Holman QuickSource Guide to Christian Apologetics (by Doug Powell, 2006),

cslewislover wrote:The Popular Encyclopedia of Apologetics by Ed Hindson and Ergun Caner (general editors; Harvest House publishers). It has a discussion of the moral law too.

Which of these two would you recommend more for a high school student? I am in search for a good apologetic book to read.

Have you read the dawkins delusion? Is it any good? I heard it was a quick write up in response to the God Delusion?

cslewislover wrote: That's really neat about your paper and your success in talking with people about it.

Yeah it was a pretty awesome week. I even got to present it at FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) which is a school club.

JC333 wrote:That's really neat about your paper and your success in talking with people about it.

Yeah it was a pretty awesome week. I even got to present it at FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) which is a school club.[/quote]

Wow, very cool. But which book would I recommend to a high schooler? Those two books are very different from each other. The QuickSource Guide I would say is less quick than the encyclopedia! The Guide is divided into sections like a regular book and it has lots of colorful pictures and the font is bigger. So it's fun to look at and may be fun to show others. The Encyclopedia, however, has a lot more information in it. It's set-up like an encyclopedia with lots of articles in alphabetical order, for easy access. Harvest House, its publisher, keeps their books affordable. I think I would go with the encycolpedia but then keep your eyes open for the QuickSource (or any other apologetics book*) on sale or clearance. Where I live, there are quite a few Christian stores and they usually have coupons, too. Well, they used to; come to think of it I haven't gotten any lately (accept from the smaller stores)

So why is the board so slow today?

* Another one I have which is great to read, but not as detailed as the Encyclopedia is 5 Minute Apologist: Maximum Truth in Minimum Time, by Rick Cornish (Navpress 2005).

Thanks for the suggestions.

cslewislover wrote:So why is the board so slow today?

Something I noticed when i first joined (like 3 weeks ago) is that these boards aren't very "fast."

Cross.eyed wrote:In other words, evil must borrow from good to exist since evil cannot come into being on it's own.

JC333 wrote:Moral argument for existence of God? If evil exists, then good must exist. If good and evil exists then we must be able to differentiate between the two. We call this the moral law. If there is a moral law, there is a moral lawgiver (God).

Am I completely off? Or did I get it right (my friend explained something like this to me the other day, I just hope I remembered it right?)

You got it right. It concludes something like this; If there is no lawgiver, then there is no law. If there is no law, then there is no right or wrong. If there is no right or wrong, then there is no good or evil.

This isn't a quote, but what I could remember from one of R. Zacharias radio messages.
It's good to have someone your age spreading these truisms. Thanks for posting.

cslewislover wrote:JC333, you asked me if I read the Dawkin's Delusion and I didn't answer you. No, I haven't. Are you planning on reading it? It's amazing how many books are out on this subject (antiDarwinism).

And thanks cross.eyed!

I was thinking about reading both God Delusion and Dawkins delusion simultaneously, but I don't really want to expose myself to any doubt right now. So maybe in a couple of years.

I will attempt to respond to the previous post regarding the nature of sin from the perspective of a believing and practicing orthodox Christian, as that is my personal frame of reference and the foundation of my world view.

The difficulty in discussing sin arises as much in the definition as in the construct. Sin exists as a philosophical/theological concept, not as a tangible. Therefore, one can reasonably discuss its origin in terms of how it came about, its etiology if you will; but, contemplating its "creation" gives rise only to confusion and remains futile. That said, the question properly revolves around why a just, perfect, omniscient, omnipotent, eternal, and timeless God would allow or permit the mere potential, let alone the actual existence of sin in His Creation. The existence of evil follows a similar construct.

Which brings us backto definitions. One needs first to define both God and sin in order to develop a construct for the origin of sin, which lies in the purpose of creation. We define God, as best we can, by the characteristics of His nature, a few of which I've outlined above. It should be noted first of all that each characterisitic of His nature is Scripturally defined as perfect, complete, and immutable. The Bible tells us further that God is Love and that He exists co-equally, and co-eternally in relationship with the the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Rebellion against God, manifested in disobedience, defiance, disbelief in, and rejection of God, defines sin: the failure to love God, selfishly seeking our own will and desires, despite His perfect Love for us.

The Bible delineates three types of love: 1) erotic love(eros), 2) brotherly love (phileo) and 3) altruistic love (agape). The highest and purest form love reaches is altruism, which requires choice. Altruism epitomizes the perfection of love and choice defines altruism, so that consistency with His immutable nature required the allowance of free will, from which the potential for sin derives. Love is a choice, not an echo.

I submit that love and relationship form the purpose of God's creation. He created mankind to love Him, to remain in eternal relationship with Himself and others, and thus created and intended the universe to sustain mankind. Loving God in perfect relationship was, and indeed remains, our purpose from the beginning. This premise is, by definition, perfectly consistent with His revealed nature. God's perfect Love and perfect purpose inherently and inevitably present a conundrum, as they provide the etiology of sin, which can only be resolved by His perfect plan. God so loved the world that by His perfect Grace He gave His only begotten Son to become incarnate in flesh; live a perfect and sinless life, obedient unto death by crucifixion; so that, having fallen into sin, we can be justified in Him on the basis of Christ's atoning, altruistic, substitutionary, sacrifice and be reconciled to God through faith.

cslewislover wrote:Holman QuickSource Guide to Christian Apologetics (by Doug Powell, 2006)

Thanks for recommending this book to me. I read it a couple weeks ago while on vacation. Helped me understand my faith more and was fun to read as well.