Searching for God 5 Resolving Doubts. Renewing Purpose. Reasons for God

Did Jesus rise from the dead?

In their excellent book, The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus, Gary Habermas and Michael Licona offer a very readable and thoroughly researched argument for the publicly accessible, historical, bodily resurrection of Jesus. My goal in this post is to summarize their main argument as simply as possible.

Their argument has two key components:
1. The minimal facts that are widely agreed upon by nonChristian scholars.

2. There are only so many plausible theories to explain these facts, but the bodily resurrection of Jesus is the most reasonable explanation.

We All Want Love

There are a lot of unending processes in the world. Crops will always need rain. Cars need maintenance. Dishes have to be washed, clothes need to be cleaned, floors must be swept and mopped.

We all have similar, equally insatiable desires. Children will always need encouragement and opportunity. Spouses will always want appreciation and affection. Employees want to be respected and rewarded.

At the heart of this is the universal desire to be loved.

Enlightenment and the Bible

One of the responses to yesterday’s item was this insightful comment: “[A] lot of people have the impression that they would be different. They’ll say, “Sure, those silly Israelites made that mistake, but certainly I wouldn’t. *I* would listen to God and would never forsake Him if only I saw him once.” In other words, the interpretive question that must be answered about the narrative I shared from Deuteronomy is: are we similar to those “silly Israelites”?

Why Doesn’t God Reveal Himself To Me?

One of the more frustrating elements in the search for God’s existence, at least for some people, is this nagging question: why doesn’t God just shout “HELLO! YOU THERE! BELIEVE IN ME! I AM REAL!” On the face of it, this would be extremely easy for God to do – if He existed. After all, the idea is that God is good, loving, all-powerful, all-knowing. What’s the problem here? If marketers for major companies can send me personalized mail with the Postal Service, what’s keeping God from doing the same?

Searching for God: Monotheism, Polytheism, and Atheism

Debating between monotheism, polytheism, and atheism leads to one of those famous “stay-up-late-in-your-dorm-room-and-talk-for-hours” conversations. Typically these discussions bring in all kinds of off-the-cuff remarks, ranging from “well, what about aliens?” to “no, seriously, every scientist says so.” Is there a way to approach this question with a bit more careful attention and diligence?

Does God Exist?: Some Good Questions

“Does God exist?” is a huge, daunting question. When you’re trying to figure out the existence of God, you need to break the intellectual search down into smaller pieces.

Here are some good questions to consider as you work on the big question:

The Need for Humility

If you’re trying to find God, one thing you need is humility. What is humility?

First, humility is not thinking terrible, false thoughts about yourself. It is no virtue to believe harsh, negative lies about yourself. There is nothing humble about believing you are worthless, basically incapable, stupid, or any other variation upon these themes.

Searching for God: Community

One often neglected component that is essential, when conducting a thorough investigation for God’s existence, is participating in community.

Think about it: how did you learn math or chemistry or English? It was almost certainly in community – with a teacher, fellow students, and books written, edited, published, marketed and sold by others you never met. Almost all of our learning, in every discipline, depends upon participation in a community. If you want to learn math, you get to know the math professors; for chemistry, with others in the lab; for English, through reading and the English department. The same is true if you are looking to find God: you simply need to be around people who claim to know God!

The Importance of An Open Mind

One of the most important virtues, in a genuine search for truth, is open-mindedness. The Free Dictionary defines open-mindedness as, “Receptive to new and different ideas or the opinions of others.” Apart from this value, we will only listen to and learn from those who confirm our existing beliefs.

Early Christian Thinking: Can We Know God Exists?

Today we’re taking another close look at a statement from The Octavius of Minucius Felix. This writing comes from 160-250A.D. and includes a long section of objections to Christianity from a man named Caecilius. He says: