It may be argued that Stephen Hawking is the smartest man in the world. The Cambridge University professor, cosmologist, theoretical physicist and best-selling author recently wrote in his book “The Grand Design,” that the laws of physics can create the universe out of nothingness and that “God” is not necessary.
“Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing,” — Stephen Hawking
I am a mental midget compared to Professor Hawking, but even such as I can see a very serious flaw in this assertion. I’ll try to make myself sound more intelligent than I really am by saying it in Latin:
Ex nihilo nihil fit.
Out of nothing, nothing comes.
This very basic concept may have first been expressed by Greek philosopher Parmenides 500 years before the birth of Christ. It has endured for two millennia alongside the conflicting theory of spontaneous generation.
[Spontaneous generation (aka abiogenesis) is the erroneous theory that life arises from non-living things. For example, 16th Century Flemish scientist Jan Baptist van Helmont theorized that mice would spontaneously generate when a piece of soiled cloth was combined with wheat for three weeks and that scorpions would be created from a sprig of basil placed between two bricks and left in sunlight.]
This theory was ultimately disproven in the 19th Century by Louis Pasteur. Much more on this can be found here on Wikipedia.
Hawking’s claim is different from that of the ‘scientists’ of old only in that it is infinitely more absurd. At least the proponents of abiogenesis started with something! Hawking claims that nothing, combined with more nothing in the middle of nowhere after being acted upon by nobody for no amount of time resulted in everything.
A mathematical equation for such a theory would be 0+0=∞.
Utter nonsense.
Here’s what I think the Bible has to say on the matter:
“For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God.” — 1 Corinthians 3:19
“The LORD knows the thoughts of man, that they are a mere breath.” — Psalm 94:11
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. — Genesis 1:1
Not even the smartest man in the world can think his way out of these truths:
Ex nihilo nihil fit
and
Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? — 1 Cor 1:20
and
Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. — 1 Cor 1:25
Please join me in praying that if it is the will of God and if it will bring Him more glory, that the scales of worldly blindness would fall from Hawking’s eyes and perhaps he will turn to Christ in trust and repentance.
Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758) was a preacher, theologian, and a missionary to the American Indians. The Encyclopedia Britannica called him the greatest philosopher and theologian ever produced in America. His work is often associated with the defense of Reformed theology and the Puritan heritage, though he was not a Puritan in the strict sense of the word. Here are a few selected quotations:
Don’t talk of things of religion and matters of experience with an air of lightness and laughter, which is too much the manner in many places. In all your course, walk with God and follow Christ as a little, poor, helpless child, taking hold of Christ’s hand, keeping your eye on the mark of the wounds on his hands and side, whence came the blood that cleanses you from sin and hides your nakedness under the skirt of the white shining robe of his righteousness.
Unless you frequently think of it [hell], you will never take any considerable care or pains to escape it
Sinner, thou art this moment standing over the mouth of hell, upon a single plank, and that plank is rotten; thou art hanging over the jaws of perdition, by a solitary rope, and the strands of that rope are creaking now.
This one is often attributed to Edwards, but I can’t find a reliable source reference. Nonetheless, it is an excellent resolution.
Resolution One: I will live for God.
Resolution Two: If no one else does, I still will.
A few months ago, on a Wednesday, a storm blew down a tree in my yard and broke my cable television and internet line.
My wife called the company and they promised to be there the next day to fix it. The next day it wasn’t fixed so I called the company myself. They said they couldn’t do it as planned, but they’d be happy to come back in three days to fix it. I told the man that was unacceptable and that they needed to get it fixed tomorrow.
He insisted that it was impossible, that they were already overbooked for Friday. I asked to speak with his supervisor. He said that she was busy. I offered to hold as long as it took. After holding for about five minutes, he informed me that the supervisor was still busy and that she couldn’t schedule anything before Sunday either. It was impossible for them to come out Thursday, Sunday was the absolute earliest they could be there. I again told him that three days was unacceptable and that I expected it to be fixed tomorrow.
I also told him that I knew they had repairmen laid off in the area and they could call them in to work, or call up the guys they have sitting in Columbus or Toledo that don’t have anything to do. I reiterated that I would hold for as long as it took to speak with his supervisor to get my service back tomorrow.
He put me back on hold for ten or fifteen more minutes. When he returned to the line, he informed me that he had spoken with his supervisor and they would have a repair crew at my house the next day.
YES!! VICTORY!!!
Amazing what can happen when you refuse to take ‘no’ for an answer. But I had to appeal to a higher authority. In any large consumer-oriented business, there are scads of people whose job is to say ‘no’ to the customer as kindly and politely as possible; but there are very few people that have real authority who can say ‘yes.’ The key for the pushy consumer, like me, is to get through to the people in authority regardless of how insulated they may be.
In your own life, who has the ultimate authority? There are really only two answers to that question: You or God? Another way to ask it is, “What is the highest authority in my life, my own will, or God’s will?” (Hint: Matthew 28:18, Luke 9:23, Luke 12:5)
I have only two points to make.
Point one: God has ultimate authority over all Christians’ lives (and in everyone’s life for that matter).
Point two: God’s will can be known only through reading the Bible and praying in the spirit.(General or special revelation are not sufficient or reliable respectively).
If we claim the name of Christ, we must subject ourselves to God’s will and subjecting ourselves to God’s will means subjecting ourselves to his Word. We recognize God’s will as the highest authority in our lives and we recognize the Bible as the highest authority on God’s will. (Luke 6:46, John 14:15)
The authority of scripture and the authority of God are so closely related that they are inseparable. To question one is to question both and to doubt one is to doubt both. If you have a low view of scripture, you will have a low view of God.
Keep God’s will the highest authority in your life.
If you’re on twitter, here’s an interesting person to follow. http://twitter.com/biblesummary Basically, the author, Chris Juby, plans to post a ‘twitterized’ summary of each chapter in the bible, consecutively, every day. She started with Genesis 1 about two weeks ago and is on course to post a summary of Revelation 22 on November 9, 2013. God willing, of course.
Contrary to believing in imaginary feelings, Christianity believes in objective, historical, revealed, actual, rational truth from God. – John MacArthur
If you’ve ever talked to someone about your faith, or religion in general, you’ve probably heard the words, “Well, that’s not what I believe.” And when you prod the person who says this, you ultimately come to the understanding that their belief is based upon nothing but their own feelings. It is an illusion. The god they believe in is a fabrication, a mixture of truth, mythology and outright lies. Their god has been created in their own imagination. To put a sharper point on it, they have created a god in their own image.
On the other hand, you may have talked to someone who used the words, “Well, that’s not what the bible says.” This is a person that you should listen to because they are referring to an unimpeachable source of truth, rather than their own thoughts and feelings. But you still have to have discernment skills.
Fred Phelps can tell you that the bible says that God hates homosexuals so we should all go protest at the funerals of American soldiers . Joel Osteen can quote 3 John 1:1-2 and tell you that it means that God wants you to be rich, healthy and beautiful; and that your earthly happiness is God’s greatest goal. Both these men claim to be Christians, but their twisted theology contradicts the truth.
You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. – 2 Peter 3:17-18
But you, beloved, build yourself up in your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit.” – Jude 1:20
The only way to stay out of the snare of false teachers is to know the truth. Not ‘my’ truth or ‘your’ truth, but the ‘true truth.’ The truth of the Bible that comes from God. Pray for wisdom and discernment, spend time in the Word and in prayer.
I’ve been working on an essay about the inerrancy of the bible, but need to post this real quick instead.
Christopher Hitchens, polemicist extraordinaire, has been diagnosed with esophageal cancer. He has canceled his current book tour and will begin chemotherapy immediately. Read more here.
Hitchens is a devout atheist and would most certainly request that nobody waste their time praying for him. Hundreds of thousands of Christians will ignore his preference and pray for his full recovery anyway.
I’m going to stop short of encouraging anyone to pray for Hitchens’ full recovery. I think we should be praying for God to break his pride and do whatever is necessary for Hitchens to repent and believe. (Matthew 5:44) His recovery or death matters much less than the disposition of his eternal soul. (Luke 12:20)
I think we should be praying for whatever will reveal God’s glory in the greatest way possible. (Philippians 2:10-11) If that means that Christopher Hitchens dies of cancer, pray for it. If that means that he recovers fully, pray for it. If it means that you or I die tomorrow, pray for it. Whatever is the will of God and will bring Him the greatest glory, pray for it.
Believe it or not, she says she isn’t a sinner anymore. Listen for yourself.
My opinion really doesn’t matter (ever heard a blogger say that?!), so I’ll just quote scripture.
…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. – Romans 3:23
There is no one who does good, not even one. – Psalm 14:3
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. – 1 John 1:8
She says she’s righteous. She even lies and says that the Bible says that she is righteous. Scripture has something to say about that too.
But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; – Isaiah 64:6
As it is written, “THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE – Romans 3:10
She says she is not poor, miserable or a sinner. Here is what Jesus says.
‘Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. – Revelation 3:17
Methinks she needs to learn the meaning of the words, Simul Justus et Peccator. No. Scratch that. That is for believers, not wolves in sheep’s clothing.
I know just enough Latin (very little) to love the language. I’ve never been forced to take a Latin class, so that probably explains my affinity. The title of this article is taken from Martin Luther’s description of the justified sinner. R. C. Sproul wrote an excellent explanation for the phrase in his book, The Holiness of God.
Simul is the Latin, word from which our English word simultaneous is derived; it means “at one and the same time,” justus is the Latin from which our word justcomes, and et is the Latin word for and, The word peccator is probably least familiar to us. We derive the English words impeccable and peccadillo from it. It is the Latin word for sinner. Putting the words together, we get simul justus et peccator; “at the same time just and sinner.”
This is the singular point where Jesus and all saved people meet. This is the good news! This is the Gospel! This is the point where we can be described with exactly the same words as describe our Lord and Savior: Simul justus et peccator.
When Jesus went to the cross, He was at the same time just and sinner. 1 Corithians 5:21 explains this extraordinary statement, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Jesus was the only man to ever live a perfectly righteous life. He completely fulfilled the Law and in so doing, earned justification. “But the LORD was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief;” (Isaiah 53:10a) God looked at Jesus and saw all of our sins and let His blood be spilled for sins He did not commit.
When we repent and believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior, We are at that moment just and sinner. “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;” (Romans 3:23-24) Though we live completely unrighteous lives, God justifies us because of the blood of the Lamb of God. The only perfectly righteous man who ever lived bore our sins and now God looks at us and sees the righteousness of Jesus.
The sins of the saved go to Him; and His righteousness goes to the saved. He deserved justification and a place before the face of God, yet He received suffering and a death He did not deserve. We deserve suffering and death, but God clothes us in an alien righteousness and gives us a place before His throne that we do not deserve.
May His holy name ever be praised! For His lovingkindness is everlasting. (Psalm 136:1-26)
The word ‘but’ changes whatever comes right before it. A ‘but’ is not always pleasant, like when somebody says to you, “I think you have a good idea, but…” It doesn’t matter what comes after a but like that, it isn’t going to be good.
But a ‘but’ is beautiful when it changes a bad beginning into a good end. For example, “I was sick last week but I got better” or “I once was lost but now am found.”
Here are some of my favorite buts in the New Testament
Matthew 4:4 – But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’” (Quoting Deut. 8:3)
John 1:17 – For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
John 3:17 – For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.
Romans 5:8 – But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 11:22 – Behold then the kindness and severity of God ; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God’s kindness, if you continue in His kindness ; otherwise you also will be cut off.
1 Corinthians 15: 56-57 NKJV – The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 John 4:10 – In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Revelation 21:27 – and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
Each of these verses contrasts two different states of being. Death and Life. Romans 6:23 makes this clearer, perhaps, than any other verse in the bible. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. I think this is the most beautiful but in the Bible.
Here is where I usually spend time summing up the point, but my words are useless. Read God’s word through His servant Paul.
Ephesians 2:1-10 – And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. ButGod, beingrich in mercy, because of His greatlove with which He loved us, even when we were deadin our transgressions, made us alivetogetherwith Christ (by grace you have been saved ), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith ; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
For most Americans, a shower is a daily necessity. My wife and I have been married for 20 years and I know she has showered at least once, every single day we’ve been married. I don’t share her singular passion for cleanliness, so about once a month I go without a shower on a Saturday. These occasions are usually when I have nothing to do, nowhere to go and nobody to see. This doesn’t seem to bother anybody in my family because, quite honestly, it’s hard to get really smelly in just one day if you’re just hanging around the house.
Not long ago, I was enjoying a shower-free Saturday and working a little harder than usual in the basement. Just before dinner, I was sitting at the computer and I noticed an odd aroma. At first, I didn’t know what it was, and then it dawned on me that it was me. I immediately shuffled off to the shower before I spoiled my family’s dinner.
Until you smell yourself, you don’t even suspect that you might need a shower. The problem is, other people can smell you long before you can smell yourself. For some reason, we’re somewhat immune to our own scent and we don’t even suspect that we might reek until we’ve been really stinky for a really, really long time.
It is no different with our sin. We are somewhat immune to noticing the stench of our own sins until we’ve allowed them to pollute our lives almost completely. Before I was saved, I was great at comparing myself to other stinking, sinning people and convincing myself that I didn’t smell as bad as they did. Some people, some nominal Christians, go through their entire lives this way. They’re kind of like the ‘deadheads’ of old, thinking a little patchouli oil (good works) will cover up the smell.
God knew that I was rotten to the core and His Holy Spirit convicted me of my sins and let me smell myself for the first time. He put it into my mind (and my nostrils) that I definitely needed a shower. He did that through a preacher who could smell me and was bold enough to tell me that I stank. God also made it clear that no water on earth could wash me as clean as I needed to be. Only the blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God could wash my soul spotlessly clean. Revelation 7:14
Though I still enjoy a shower-free Saturday once in a while and like to think I don’t smell *that* bad, I am much more attuned to the smell of my own sins. Praise God that He rescued me from the patchouli-tainted works of my “carnal Christian” life and led me to trust completely in His Amazing Grace.
I am a mental midget compared to Professor Hawking, but even such as I can see a very serious flaw in this assertion. I’ll try to make myself sound more intelligent than I really am by saying it in Latin:
Hitchens is a devout atheist and would most certainly request that nobody waste their time praying for him. Hundreds of thousands of Christians will ignore his preference and pray for his full recovery anyway.
