Brian and Cathy Gray Bible study

Without Excuse

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. Rom 1:18-20

Before we delve into why they are without excuse for their disbelief, we need to review how we establish proof of anything. For believers, this means identifying the reasons (arguments) for the hope that is within us. 1 Peter 3:15 Fair enough. Yet it also involves identifying the logical fallacies driving arguments that oppose God. Charismatics tend to cringe at the idea.  “Listen!” They say. “I already know that I know so who cares?!” While some believers are repelled by intellectual arguments, the fact that these arguments exist at all is in itself proof of God’s existence.

World View

While you may not have given it much thought, everyone has a worldview. It is a paradigm – a conceptual model of reality. This includes but is not limited to ideas about God, and the origins of life. Every worldview can be reduced to one or more empirically unprovable presuppositions. That the phone I am holding will fall to the ground if I let go is an empirically provable presupposition. In contrast, “God exists.” Or “God does not exist.” are empirically unprovable presuppositions. Hence both are statements of faith. The question that follows any two opposing statements of faith is,

Which of them has the most logical supporting evidence?

Some might view this as splitting hairs. However, millions of young people are being argued out of their faith by falsehoods framed as proven facts.

Please don’t misunderstand. I am not rejecting alternative forms of knowledge. Spiritual discernment, prophecy, revelation, dreams, visions, or any other supernatural encounter with God and His truth can be equally valid. Rather I am establishing what Paul means by

they are without excuse. 

God is the author of the laws of logic, mathematics, and science that govern His creation. It was the revelation that It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honor of kings is to search out a matter Prov 25:2 that drove mankind to discover science which means knowledge in the first place.

Presuppositionalism

If you are a 2 Tim 3:16-17 Bible-believing follower of  Christ then you are by definition a presuppositionalist.  The presupposition is that All scripture is God-breathed and therefore inerrant. Can we prove this empirically? No. Or at least not yet. We are being intellectually honest when we admit that we walk by faith, not by sight. 2 Cor 5:7

In contrast, Atheists normally claim intellectual superiority over those who walk by faith. Perhaps the most famous of these is Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins. When asked how atheists should respond to Christians he said, “Mock them!” Because “religion “subverts science and saps the intellect”.

Ironically, he calls himself a “cultural Christian” today. 🤔

Having listened to Dawkins for years I think this is hilarious. However, the most pertinent point to grasp is that ALL purely intellectual atheists are intellectually dishonest. Richard Dawkins is the perfect example in that he would never admit that his firmly held “there is no God” presupposition is in fact, a statement of faith. Even more important is that the above video illustrates the sleight of hand that so many atheists use in debating theists. Instead of making an argument for what they do believe, atheists redefine terms and argue for what they don’t. Here Dawkins arrogantly assumes the right to redefine the term Christian. Yet, only God and His word can define a follower of Christ.

Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. Mark 16:16

This narcissistic, self-aggrandizing nitwit has led countless students away from God. He is a quintessential representation of the spirit of anti-Christ. He actually believes that

he can claim to be Christian without believing in Christ.

If that sounds mean, consider this. I call Dawkins a nitwit because what Islamic extremists would do to him here on earth is nothing compared to what he will face in eternity if he doesn’t repent and believe.

Proof

Just as only God can define God. Only empirically proven facts can define empirical truth. Everything else amounts to faith in a presupposition.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Heb 11:1.

The good news is that genuine faith is backed by evidence such that it becomes evidence itself. The more evidence we gather, the stronger our faith and hope grow. People like Richard Dawkins listen to my subjective personal testimony then mock me and say I am nuts. But subjective does not mean untrue. As believers, we tend to confirm our subjective experiences by correlating them with similar experiences reported by others. That’s great if our faith increases. If frustration and confusion arise it is probably because we are treating subjective truth as if it were objective. Correlation is never proof of cause in itself.  Hence, an atheist might simply say it is expected that we would align with, and build consensus with other mentally ill people. Can Holy Spirit confirm our subjective truth claims in the hearts and minds of unbelievers? Certainly. Yet we must understand. The fact that someone debates our subjective truth is not what Paul said will leave them without excuse. 

We need to understand and acknowledge this if we claim to love unbelievers.

Those without excuse namely vehement atheists almost always validate their presupposition by using the subjective nature of our experiences against us. First, they point out the subjective nature of spiritual experience itself. We present what we think is supporting evidence but is really just more subjective truth. Then they claim we are delusional. If we take the bait, they trick us into arguing that we are not. The harder we try, the more frustrated we become. At that point, the atheist mocks us. We step into guilt, shame, and condemnation because we feel stupid. Or we get offended and warn them they are going to hell. We repeat the experience a few times until we give up and stop talking about God to strangers. If only we would grasp and understand that we plant and water. 1 Cor 3:5-9 That is all.  The best we can hope is that our subjective testimony and objective evidence we are about to present will inspire others to,

Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. Psalm 34:8

It’s important to think deeply about what Paul means when he says, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.

He is speaking specifically about the objective proof of God. That proof has grown exponentially since Paul’s day as Daniel so aptly predicted.

…Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase. Dan 12:4

Those who are without excuses are not accountable for rejecting our testimony. They are accountable for rejecting the proof that was in front of them the entire time. They are accountable for the sorcery and lies to which they cling because they love their sin and their rebellion. Those without excuse do not want God to be God. In the words of a very honest atheist Thomas Nagel,

“I want atheism to be true and am made uneasy by the fact that some of the most intelligent and well-informed people I know are religious believers. It isn’t just that I don’t believe in God and, naturally, hope that I’m right in my belief. It’s that I hope there is no God! I don’t want there to be a God; I don’t want the universe to be like that.”
 

–The Last Word – 1997

Thomas Nagel is a perfect example of what is in the heart of every committed atheist. These are those whom Paul says are without excuse. Any purely intellectual atheist will change their mind when faced with the objective proof of God that modern science provides. The problem is that many believers remain totally unaware of how much genuine scientific confirmation of our faith exists. 

What follows is a list of evidence for the reader to explore at their leisure. While not exhaustive, the list contains some of my favorite arguments and evidence for the truth that Holy Spirit has already confirmed in the hearts of genuine believers.

Cosmological Argument

Something can not come from nothing. Those claiming it can have yet to provide the smallest shred of supporting evidence. Hence it remains a bad presupposition – an unsupported statement of faith.

Whatever begins to exist has a cause. Once again, Newton’s Third Law of Thermodynamics which no atheist would dispute says for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Saying that things exist without a cause amounts to saying that reactions do not require a precipitating action.

The universe began to exist. No scientist anywhere would seriously postulate that the universe has always existed.  Finding and recreating the moment it began is the primary goal of the Hadron Collider known as CERN in Switzerland.

Therefore, the universe has a cause. That cause would have to be outside space and time otherwise known as creation. Because something can’t come from nothing and every reaction has a precipitating action or force outside itself that set it in motion.

At the end of the day, the Cosmological Argument is a bullet-pointed breakdown of what most people call common sense. Common sense is what Paul means by …clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. Here is another example.

Intelligent Design

Imagine you were an alien landing in a forest on Earth. Trees, plant life, and birds were all you saw as you walked for miles. Suddenly you found a wristwatch buried in the leaves. You investigate further by taking the back off and notice all the miniature circuitry, the battery that powers it, and the tiny LED display. Obviously, you conclude that the watch is an aberration, the product of a random act of nature. That sounds logical.

Right?

Of course not. Comonsense tells us that complexity always indicates design. Design requires an intelligent designer. Still, many reprobates continue to argue the point. None would dispute that if it takes 23,000 engineers and three billion lines of code to run Google, the largest repository of knowledge and information on earth, it would be dumb to dispute the existence of intelligent designers behind Google. If that is the case it is just as dumb to dispute the intelligent designer of a cell weighing less than several ten-thousandths of a gram and requiring what amounts to two billion lines of code using four amino acids, adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G) and thymine (T) to operate. 

Embrace the complexity…

Prayer

At this point, many might assume that prayer could only be relegated to the realm of subjective truth. While the impact of prayer on the external world remains subjective, there is some fairly solid objective evidence regarding prayer’s impact on the one who is praying.

Most will remember the geologic layers they learned about in junior high or Middle School Earth Science.

The layers allegedly proved the earth is millions of years old. The existence of coal was one major proof point. While you won’t hear about it from secular sources, coal was formed during the Mt Saint Helen’s eruption in 1980. In addition to the linked article above the YouTube channel Is Genesis History is a fantastic source for scientific evidence of the Biblical story of creation.

Fine Tuning

That the earth’s position just happened to be so perfectly fine-tuned to support life defies the laws of mathematical probability. In fact, the mathematical probability of fine-tuning being a random event is 1 times 10 to the minus sixty power. Just to add context, a mathematical impossibility begins at 10 to the minus fifty power.

In case you are confused by minus 50 – 60 powers.

To give you some perspective the odds of your being struck by lightning in the United States in your lifetime is 1.5 times 10 to the minus 4 power.

The Primordial Slime

The probability of life occurring randomly out of what Evolutionary Biologists call the primordial slime is in the same range of impossibility. John Lennox is an amazing scientific Christian apologist who has successfully debated the likes of Richard Dawkins and others on the mathematical and scientific accuracy of the Bible.

That’s a whole lot to chew on.

As believers, we know the ultimate proof that God exists is found amidst our relationship with Him and in all the mighty subjective confirmations He gives within our hearts where eternity is written. Ecc 3:11 Again, we don’t provide evidence to prove God exists. Rather we provide it so that those who have been sold a fake scientific narrative can see that the science that claims to prove the nonexistence of God is not science at all. True science beholds his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, which have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made and are awed by them. True science is worship. The evidence we present causes sincere truth seekers to question what they have been told such that they open their hearts and call out to God and He will answer. Isa 65:24  Then they can taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. Psalm 34:8

Those who reject God do so because they don’t want there to be a God; they don’t want the universe to be like that.” It is for this reason that they are

Without Excuse!

MARANATHA

Brian and Cathy Gray Bible study

What is Faith?

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.  For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” Rom 1:16-17

The question posed in the previous post was;

What exactly is faith? And how do we live by it?

Perhaps the most common scriptural response is, Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Heb 11:1 The rest of the chapter known as “The Hall of Faith”, describes major Old Testament players some of whom fell pretty hard along the way and were still able to please God through faith.

But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Heb 11:6

There is a fair amount of division in the body of Christ that is rooted in the subject of faith.  For example, those familiar with Catholic doctrine know that faith and works in James 2:14-26 are a salvation issue. Hence penance always follows the confession of sin to and through God’s intermediary, the Priest. Protestant Christianity which encompasses all other mainstream church denominations, tries to agree with what the Bible explicitly states. 

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Eph 2:8-9

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9

Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Heb 4:14-16

Whatever faith is, it is a gift from God, without which, we have no hope. Eph 2:8-10 It seems that our having it is in no way dependent on anything we do.  Jesus clearly stated.

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. John 6:44

The question does God draw us before we believe, or must we believe for God to draw us has been debated for centuries. At the end of the day, the  mere fact that anyone believes Jesus and has faith may be the ultimate demonstration of God’s power.

As for works, Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent. John 6:29

Still, the fracturing of our collective Protestant theology continues across ever growing denominations. Divisions in Protestant churches are mostly along the lines of Reformed Theology versus the younger Charismatic Movement.

The root of controversy is the existence of spiritual gifts as well the nature and role of faith in exercising them. Reformed believers tend to deny the gifts based on thier interpretation of scripture. This baffels Charasmatics who point out the plainly stated gifts in  1 Cor 12:4-11. What many charismatics misunderstand is that reformed believers regard the full canon of scripture from Genesis to Revelation as the fulfillment of but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 1 Cor 13:10.  Charasmatics see the fullment of the perfect in the future second coming of Jesus when we see him face to face and know Him as He knows us. 1 Cor 13:12 In the meantime these three remain, 

faith, hope, and love.

I say this because while they might deny it, all denominations ultimately equate thier perception with the fulfillment of walking by faith, not sight. 2 Cor 5:7  No one takes to heart what scripture says about our perception,

While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. 2 Cor 4:18

In the end, we argue and divide over what we think God does or does not do.  Charismatics may dismiss Reformed believers as “spiritually dead”, “Pharisaical “Legalistic”, or “religious spirited”. Reformed believers, view charismatics as heretics preaching doctrines of demons. 1 Tim 4:1-3 Everyone ignores that unity of the faith in the body of Christ is a vital benchmark that Satan has thus far successfully opposed.

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,  until we all attain to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. Eph 4:11-16

The devil is riddled with joy because he knows that if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand. Mark 3:25

But it’s not just reformed believers and Charismatics who are divided. There are myriad divisions over the nature and role of faith among Charismatics. For example, streams like the Word of Faith Movement, the and The Seven Mountains Mandate regard faith as a tool to recreate earth as it is in heaven. The overarching theme in this is that Jesus’ declaration “it is finished!” John 19:30 was not only the fulfillment of the gospel of salvation but also the gospel of the kingdom. They believe God wants everyone happy, healed, and prosperous NOW. Jesus is on the thrown and we are seated with Him in heavenly places. Eph 2:6 It is the responsibility of the church to transform the earth one institution at a time. Hence, believers have the power to speak things into existence and transform society according to their faith. Mat 9:29 More faith, means more power. After all, Jesus did say, according to their faith. The question is;

according to their faith in what?

The answer is found in the previous verse. Do you believe that I can do this? Once again the work of the believer is to believe God for whom nothing is impossible. Luke 1:37

Then we have the words of Jesus.

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do…John 4

The implication seems to be that if I am not getting what I ask from Jesus then I must not believe…enough. Yet we must not ignore an important qualifying part of the verse. that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.  John 4:12-14

Jesus is not a proverbial genie in a bottle who does what I want provided I believe He will. Jesus came, died and was resurrected to accomplish His Father’s will not mine. How prideful are we to assume that any desire of mine is synonymous with the Father’s?

The book of  James further addresses the motivation that drives our asking.

...You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? James 4:2-5

How do we ask rightly? By abiding in Jesus. Apart from Him we can do nothing. John 15:5 That includes the ability to ask rightly.

Apart from Jesus I can’t even ask the right questions!

The only condition I see Jesus setting on His doing whatever we ask in His name is that it glorifies the Father. Glorifying the Father begins with desiring His will, not ours. Even if it means we must suffer. 1 Pet 1:6-7 Our purpose and goal on earth is to align with the Father until we only say and do what He is doing.  John 5:19-20 Let’s be honest. How many of our prayers are prayed with a sincere and single-minded desire that the Father be glorified? Aren’t most of our prayers really self centered petitions that “my will be done in Jesus’ name?” I don’t know about you but I can rationalize and justify anything with a scripture taken out of context. The fact remains that God has always used hard situations 1 Peter 1:6-7 to purify His people and glorify Himself. We’ve covered this topic at length in previous posts. Suffice it to say that we can not be disciples of Jesus apart from a willingness and even an expectation of suffering. Mat 16:24, Rom 5:3-5, 2 Tim 3:12, James 1:2-4, 1 Pet 1:6-7  Confusion is gauranteed if we miss the first prerequisite for faith that allows discipleship to take place.

Deny self!

Mat 16:24-28

Let’s not forget that.

So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. Rom 10:17

The implication here is that faith can grow. Still, it does not say that we do anything beyond hearing and believing God which we have already established as the work of God.

Habakkuk

In the previous post, we mentioned the book of Habakkuk in the context of it’s being quoted in Romans 1:16-17, The Righteous Shall Live by Faith! Habakkuk’s frustration mirrors the frustration of so many believers today. 

It is within the context of such overwhelming hopelessness that the true meaning and manifestation of faith may be found.

Habakkuk concludes with the following.

I hear, and my body trembles; my lips quiver at the sound; rottenness enters into my bones; my legs tremble beneath me.Yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon people who invade us. Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength;
    he makes my feet like the deer’s;
    he makes me tread on my high places. Hab 3:16-19

The overarching message regarding the nature of faith and its application seems to be rooted in believing God in accordance with His word such that we seek Him for Himself not for what we think He does or does not want to do for us or through us. It seems to me that genuine faith pursues holiness. Faith is not the pursuit of power and prosperity to alter circumstances for the sake of our comfort and pleasure. Rather faith believes God is in control of all outcomes despite circumstances. Faith produces peace that passes understanding in the midst of circumstances regardless of how they appear to our minuscule earth-bound minds. Faith always prays like Jesus prayed at Gethsemane.

nevertheless, not as I will, but as YOU will. Mat 26:39

It seems to me that what so many call faith today is nothing more than spiritual pride in disguise. That we know in part 1Cor 13 is for everyone but us. We are right. They are wrong!  If the body of Christ could agree to abandon the pride and hubris that assumes the individual right and authority contradict God’s written word. If we would accept that we all see as in a glass darkly 1 Cor 13:12 and we see better when we see together, we’d be on our way to attaining to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.

Perhaps that’s why James further qualifies his declaration that we have not because we ask not with,

But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” James 4:6 

So what is faith and how do we walk in it? I think it is absolute trust in God in and through His living word, Holy Spirit who never contradicts His written word. Trust is produced by utter dependence. Dependence is produced when we run out of options. Options run out in the proverbial wilderness. It is in the wilderness that we learn to trust as Abraham trusted.

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. Heb 11:8

Maranatha!