Life: Short and Unpredictable

Picture after the Boston Marathon bombing
Courtesy: Ben Thorndikehttp://www.cnn.com/2013/04/17/us/boston-blasts/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

Life's short and upredictable.

Last week we celebrated the life of Tim Pickle, buried in my hometown at the age of 38.  He died of a heart attack.  A beautiful six-year-old girl left fatherless.  Life is short.

In the middle of a day of celebrating my oldest daughter's 12th birthday, news reports shout of bombings at the Boston marathon.  People that gathered to congratulate runners become victims or survivors in the matter of seconds.  Life is unpredictable.

With reminders that life is brief and always changing, people react in different ways.  One classmate went to get his heart checked demonstrating physical life and health are important.

Others gather to pray for victims of the Boston marathon.  Sometimes crisis bring us to our knees.  God, our only help and comfort, is always near. 

Some people may ask more spiritual questions through tragedy.  As they realize they may not be promised tomorrow, they may ask themselves if they are ready for death. 

But today I had a different reaction.  I told my athiest friend about Tim's sudden death.  My friend could relate to heart problems with a history of open heart surgery and blood pressure issues.  His response, "I guess we all die sometime and turn to dirt."  Yes.  He's right.

As I began to ask him questions about what would happen to him after he died, he quickly jumped to evolution.  He tried to say there is no God.  He agreed it would take more faith to believe in evolution vs. creation, yet held his ground.  I asked him if his study of science gave him hope.  "No," he responded.

He didn't want to hear about the God-particle, evidence that nature couldn't happen by chance.

He began to ramble about the Bible as if it were fiction.  Sadly, he wouldn't listen to proof that the Bible is the Word of God given to share God's love story to us.

It came down to this, my friend didn't want to hear about the Bible.  He has hardened his heart against truth.  Of all the tragedies this week, this is the saddest for me.  If my friend were to die today, he would be separated from God forever and live in eternal punishment.  It makes my heart sad that he won't even listen.  

Because life is short and unpredictable, followers of Jesus, we can't keep our mouths shut about the promise of hope in the Bible.  Hope that helps people in tragedy.  Hope that gives us a reason to live.  And hope of eternal life when we die.

Do you have hope?    http://stacyneus.blogspot.com/2012/04/need-hope.html

What has been your reaction to the Boston Marathon bombing?

 

 



Truth: Part 3

This is the 3rd and final post about "Truth" (for now).  You may want to read Truth Part 1 and  Truth Part 2 before you read this part.  Truth Part 1 shares, "Truth promotes Logic". Truth Part 2 shares, "Truth promotes Law." And now,  

3)    Truth promotes LORD (had to have a "L" word for God)

 I agree with Nietzsche that we all have different perspectives (way we look at life, opinions).  Perspectives do not guide us to truth.  And, truth exists independent of all perspectives.  Either a person’s perspective is true or false.  An example I used with my daughter: we could both look at my purple cell phone and have different perspectives (opinions) of the color.  I could wrongly say, "It is black," She could disagree saying, "It's purple."  I asked her if the the phone has a true color.  She said, "Yes, it can only have one true color."  I agree with my nine-year-old.  Because the phone exists, it has a TRUE color.  What if we both decided to call the color of my phone, red?  Would that change the TRUE color?  No.  What if we agree on the color, does that mean it is correct?  Not necessarily.  The phone's true color is true because it is true.  True? (my daughter laughed at the last statement)   

Nietzsche denied God’s existence (his perspective).  Can God not exist for Nietzsche and others who deny God, and yet exist for those who do believe in God?  No.  Either God exists or he doesn’t.  Our perspectives do not change the truth.  Because we live in reality, we can believe the truth about who we are as people, who God is, and how we relate to God.

Many Christian philosophers offer several arguments for God's existence.  The editors of the book, "To Everyone an Answer: A Case for the Christian Worldview" include five different arguments:  the kalam cosmological argument, an argument from design, a Thomistic cosmological argument, a moral argument, and an ontological argument* (may simplify these in a future blog post).  Philosopher Paul Copan summarizes the moral argument in his chapter as:  If objective moral values exist, then God exists. Objective moral values do exist.  Therefore, God exists.*  Simply speaking:  "objective" defined as "measurable"; "moral values" defined as "what is right and wrong (true or false)" The moral argument bases this statement on the fact that truth exists.  Moral truth (right or wrong) must exist for objective moral values to exist.  Therefore, truth promotes the moral argument that God exists. 

Wow!  My brain hurts.  
   

*Francis J. Beckwith, William Lane Craig, and J.P. Moreland, To Everyone an Answer: A Case For the Christian Worldview , (Downers Grove, Illinois:IVP Academic, 2004) .