Consistency

Introduction

Logic must be consistent. Sometimes it's easy to refute a string of thought, sometimes it's harder, and sometimes it's impossible. As Hikmat Hanna said, logic can even be used legitimately to get to an evil conclusion. I agree. Still, logic can be useful for good and either way it must be consistent, for better or worse.

More important is Biblical consistency, an oft-made point of unbelievers. Biblical Consistency by Joseph Cook is good for answering those questions and as a support material for believers. He also brings up some good points: is consistency faith-breaking in (whatever case)? This is a good point. If there's a small error in name, does it matter? Even if a connection is made that two historical figures probably shared different names between cultures, is it truly important that it's not 100% sure? The overarching idea is that many points are just a smokescreen for unbelievers; it's easy to tell who wants answers and who wants arguments.

Finally, there's consistency in faith. There are a lot of angles that can be discussed here, but I'll narrow my focus to Christianity and CINOs, that being Christians In Name Only. Let's see what the Bible says about consistency:

Revelation and Consistency

John the Apostle is called to write in Revelation to seven churches. To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: "The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Originator of God's creations says: I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I am going to spit you out of My Mouth."  Rev 3:14-16

Looks like the church of Laodicea was consistent at being middling! Likened to water, God would spit Laodicea out. As verse 22 says "Anyone who has an ear should listen to what the Spirit says to the churches." Looks like the church wasn't too keen on going "by the Book," pun intended.

Ephesians 5:15-17 echoes this as well as our world today: Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk -not as unwise people but as wise- making the most of time, because the days are evil. So don't be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is.

Christians who adopt the ways of the world are not walking in accord with God's will. As much as anyone else, I have difficulty with this. The consistency I want to hit on is when people actively, continuously go against God but claiming fellowship with Him. They've deluded themselves and while much less important, they've given compassionate Christians a bad public image. I'm not so concerned with my image, it's that it affects our ability to reach people.

Closing

That digression aside, I wrote this article because of recent interactions with a friend. I'm not sure he realizes how his worldview is not harmonious within itself, let alone with God. Rather than bring him down, I'd like to use our interactions for this post as an example. Far from attacking him, I want to remind him and those like him that having one's cake and eating it too is a worldly deficit creeping into our lives today. We can't ignore God or tell Him off and then expect His blessing.

All verses are taken from the NASB version, which I recommend. Mine is a Holmans' The Apologetic's Study Bible, courtesy of my wonderful mother. I recommend it because it has many commentaries and food for thought sections inserted throughout. Sadly, yours won't come with the notes my mother wrote. Make your own and pass them on to accomplish this feat.

A "Quick" Note

I decided to keep this separate from any other post, and it was too long to simply tweet. Two things are often posed to me in conversation and I figured it'd be good to list them here. One is use of Scripture and the is church attendance.

I think I mentioned it in an earlier post, but I'll repeat myself here. The point of this blog is to make arguments for Christianity, morality, and so on in a secular manner to show that the Bible is correct. Rather than do what many Christians do, my aim is to give unbelievers a reason to see consistency in Christianity. In terms of the faith, it's good to use the Bible to prove itself. However, if someone has no reason to find the Bible or the faith valid, then they'll need something else to do so. That's my aim here. The worst that happens is non-Christian people agree with me and Christians tell me Scripture I could use. Bombarding a nonbeliever with Scripture won't magically make them convert. Intellectualism will always attempt to be a substitute for Jesus Christ; my use or non-use of Scripture is not going to change that.

Secondly, church attendance. Nearly every ministry that I've spoken to a member of in the past few years will ask me what I believe, if I'm a Christian, and if I attend a church. Personal feelings aside, the big issue I see here is some "mustache growing." For unfamiliar readers, it's something I say instead of another male comparison. Anyways, I find that many ministries are interested more in numbers than anything else. With so many apostate churches, it's hard for me to take seriously very many claims by ministries.

This addition is mainly for Christians and "Christians": Asking me, or anyone else, what we believe, listening, and then asking if we have accepted Jesus when at least I, personally, already said I have in response to the first question, is a complete insult. Yes, some of us are intellectuals. We've all tried to be "normal" at some point (though I digress from that word now). We aren't going to want to attend your church if you undermine our entire thought process by assuming we're like the "intellectuals" that reject Christ. Never mind that many of us who scrutinize every detail won't attend a church with even a hint of apostasy.

I think you all get the picture, and I'm sure some of you, believers and nonbelievers alike, can relate. If something doesn't make sense to us who think in our way (mathematically in my case), we'll never get to the faith part. Ministries around the world are losing numbers by apostasy and limiting new numbers by alienating those of us who go intellectual->faith process rather than the opposite.

Arguments for God: Part 2

Disclaimer: Before I even continue with my arguments and proofs, there is something that must be made absolutely clear. There can be no question of it. There is a massive difference between acknowledging God or even that He might exist, and actually following Him and putting yourself in the service of Christ. Without reception of the Holy Spirit, there is no change. This is why so-called Christians, yes, even if Hitler said he was, are not indicative of actual Followers of Christ. And such a change must be out of sincerity, the true reconciliation that you know what the Truth is and how to correct your fallen condition. As such, these proofs are not fool-proof. No matter how air-tight my cases, they will not suddenly make someone hard of heart into a believer as suddenly if they had been exposed to a frosty wind. Let us continue.

This second argument starts where the first left off. From my first argument we see that is logically necessary for a Creating Force. This proof used to be much longer being a list of deductions from non-Christian faiths. However, I have condensed it and changed partially to a proof by induction.

Premise 1: The Force must exist outside of creation, otherwise it presents a paradox.
Premise 2: The Force must be able to create the universe as we know it (logically, orderly, etc).

Point 1: The Force must be self-sufficient and uncreated. Thus we can discount the following:

Aboriginal "Dreamtime" and other "guiding ancestor" types can be discounted because it does not speak of creation's ultimate beginnings. The Force, Baiame, is not sufficient to create and rather teaches man through the use of ancestors.

Taoist use of yin and yang, because they are created (as are other things)  are without logical explanation. The elements that would form the universe already existed without explanation.

Hinduism fails because it describes the universe as eternal or an illusion. Since we have already seen that the universe cannot be eternal, it must be an illusion. If the universe is an illusion, then it cannot be eternal but only appear to be eternal. Thus, the universe cannot be eternal or an illusion.

Islam fails due to logical inconsistencies in the Quran See here for examples. Thus the Force, Allah, is either mistaken in his book or is not logical.

Other religions, particularly polytheist ones, rely on various deities that exist within creation and cannot account for each other. There is no order, even among those with the power, let alone the paradox of existing in creation. This is essentially the same as  the guiding ancestor type.

Point 2: By previous result, we know that the universe requires a creator. By previous result, we have deduced the potential list. By induction, we see that God, in Christianity, fits the requirements. He exists outside of creation, He has the capacity to create(unlike other deities) and He is orderly thus creating the universe in a certain way with certain laws for its function.

Conclusion:  This proof and the first show that God is able to, by definition, be the Creator. However, just because He does, doesn't suddenly mean people will change their hearts. This logic only serves to show that the conclusion is logical. In other words, this is a tool for those at a certain point in their journey.  Please do not use this or my other posts as a beating stick.

An Issue with Jesus' Parables?

Today a fellow named Tom Short and his ministry came by Purdue and basically did a Q&A on Christianity. During this time of five or six hours, one of the observers brought up a point. He stated that Jesus' parables were just redactions of Greek myth. Or perhaps of mythology in general, his phrasing was vague. This made me think for a moment: What's the point?

Indeed, what does that accusation accomplish? As someone who's dabbled in logic and is becoming a teacher, I don't see how this claim doesn't seem to harm Christ's message or Christianity as a whole. First remember the cultural context. By being culturally sensitive and using familiar stories, Christ made His work more relatable. This is a simple tool used in teaching; we take something students are familiar with and frame the new material within it.

Logically, this neither confirms nor denies Christ's existence, His work, or the Bible. You know, as someone who was an intellectual and not a true believer for awhile, I almost didn't include this. But then it hit me: in many cases, a complaint like this is exactly what it sounds like, a nitpick.

There are legitimate skeptical questions. How do we know the Bible is accurate? Where does it come from? Is it historically accurate? Sometimes it doesn't even take a Christian to see when a skeptic has a legitimate question or simply a  complaint, as I've shown above.

On the Prop 8 Lawyer and "Evolving Views"

Introduction

Attorney Charles Cooper was the one to argue Prop 8 all the way to the Supreme Court. As it stands now, he says his views are changing. This post aims to use this man and his views to make a contrast between oft-confused points while not slamming him or his views.

Why is this News?

First and foremost, his views changing comes from his step-daughter being a lesbian and her future marriage. That is his business and I don't even know what his worldview is. However, the issue in a Christian sense is the difference between loving someone and endorsing what they do. I no more tell a gay to continue in his ways anymore than I endorse the personal use of pornography, or something nonsexual like stealing. On the flip side, we Christians are called to be loving, not discounting anyone since we all have fallen short of the glory of God. Love your neighbor as yourself: your gay neighbor, your neighbor from a broken household, your wealthy neighbor, and the list continues.

The second important point is about standing one's ground. The people closest to use affect us the most. Sadly, many change their morality due to this. I get that people don't want to shake or shatter their family by not being fully supportive. Indeed, it takes a sense of maturity for both people involved to resolve the difference between who they are, how they act, and what morality surrounds them. Again, I cannot stress enough that love /= changing one's morals or approving of something that breaks your worldview.

Closing

By now there are dozens of posts on this matter. Posts making parallels, posts without a loving tone, posts that are about recontextualizing the Bible. I'd like to address that last part. "Evolving," in this case, entails that you are improving in some capacity. If this means you adopt a more loving attitude and actually show it, great! I advise caution on the other hand. If "evolving" means moving past God's Word and what it commands, then quite simply you are no longer following God's commands. In fact, such an "evolution" tends to be humanistic, focusing on the people as opposed to the morality involved or even love. It isn't necessarily a slippery slope, but it is still a breaking of a whole that should remain as it is. "You can't have your cake and eat it too."

TL;DR Version: Love thy neighbor, regardless. Christ didn't use modifiers to describe this. Love /= changing one's morals. "Evolving" views must makes sense in the context of one's worldview.