agnostics fear dealing in absolutes. therefore, an agnostic would never take an aggressive stance to defend their views - we literally have no views to defend.
i say you cant prove there is god. i say an athiest can not prove there is not a god. i understand you can not prove a negative...
I know I don't have all the answers. What I do know is there has been enough evidence for me to take God at His Word even though I may not know all things definitively.
There are many "proofs" to the Bible and one can look them up and go over them and evaluate the evidence. One however that is huge to me is how Jesus' disciples died for their faith.
I know as common citizens of America we are not faced with dangerous situations on a daily basis where our beliefs can mean our death. We can often toy with the idea of death as though it is a distant thing especially in our younger years.
It is easy to say yes, I would do this in this situation and would be willing to die for this or that, but truth be told we have no idea how we would react when truly faced with a decision that could keep us alive. At that point our beliefs are solidified or they are not. I imagine Opi and elcooksta and other vets can put a more realistic touch to this scenario of coming face to face with the possibility of death.
Anyway, these disciples of the Lord claimed to have seen Jesus resurrected from the dead. This is the hinge upon which all of Christianity rests and if it is untrue then Christianity has nothing. It is what all of the OT pointed to and is the entire point of the NT.
So they (the disciples) go out testifying of this truth (the resurrection of Jesus Christ) against tremendous opposition and threat of death. They believed so much in what they saw and heard of the Lord they suffered beatings, stonings, railings and accusations and for what? To be eventually put to death also.
I mean can you imagine allowing someone to inflict such physical pain and all you have to do is tell the "truth"? So the truth must be that it was not a lie, that they did see and witness the things they claimed to have seen and witnessed. All of the disciples except John died in a manner that had it been me, I don't know if I wouldn't deny my Lord save He strengthen me. Matter of fact I know I would unless He strengthened me.
Like I said there are many proofs but to me this one is huge. When I put myself in the position of the disciples and knowing how difficult it would have been to stand my ground in the face of verbal opposition and then add to that physical opposition as well - tough very tough. Especially tough to continue taking such abuse if I know for sure something is untrue, don't think I could it for a lie just like I don't think anyone else could. And to think we are not just speaking of one man but 11 disciples and many others who claimed to have seen Jesus resurrected also. This alone to me is great evidence.
I think many will die believing a lie is truth but I don't think any will die for a lie. If the disciples had died knowing the resurrection was not true they would have been giving up all that was precious in this world - their life, because there would have been no hope in death and they would have known that first hand.
on July 25, 2011, 12:51 pm