The God-hypothesis

"And because they did not think it worthwhile to have God in their knowledge, God delivered them over to a worthless mind to do what is morally wrong" (Romans 1:28, HCSB.
"And since they did not like to retain God in their knowledge..."  (Rom. 1:28, NKJV).

Fools and infidels are seldom convinced by argument, though there are many "proofs" of God's existence, and you cannot argue someone into the kingdom!  God must do a work of regeneration and make a believing heart of flesh from the stubborn heart of stone.   Secularists have tried to rule God out of the universe by deifying man, and dethroning God, but God will not die!  God is real and alive since He can be found by those who seek!  God cannot be described, defined, nor put in a box and made one-dimensional; however, you can know Him, since He's a personal God that loves us.  It is misleading to say you can prove God, but certain arguments lead us in that direction; however, you cannot disprove God either, for that would be the logical impossibility of proving a universal negative. 

Modern scholars believe it's no longer necessary to invoke God to explain the cosmos since evolution gives them intellectual fulfillment and a way to understand nature apart from God or what they refer to as the God-hypothesis.  Actually, evolution was a working hypothesis at first, then it was championed as a scientific theory (actually it doesn't qualify as one); and finally, it's being touted as unquestioned scientific fact.  But there are reputable scientists who do not adhere to this theory.  God is more than a hypothesis, or working conclusion to account for a set of facts.

God can be experienced and seen with the spiritual eyes, once God opens them.  Love is real and changes lives and Christians experience the love of a personal God.  God invites the skeptic to "taste and see that the LORD is good" (cf. Psalm 34:8), and it's true because the proof of the pudding is in the eating.  There are no unsatisfied customers of Christ, those who have been regenerated unto new and more abundant eternal life.  How can one account for all the changed lives of those who experience Christ in a personal way, except by the fact that God is real, and not imagined?  It's not a matter of self-hypnosis, or being conditioned since people come to know him from all situations and backgrounds--anyone can be saved!

On the other hand, according to Sir Arthur Keith, "evolution has not been proven and is unprovable"--no one has witnessed it nor recorded it.  There is no fossil evidence of missing links or transitional forms.  It is simply a "fairy tale for adults" (Dr. Duane Gish), and a "time-honored, scientific tenet of faith" (Dr. David Allbrook).  Evolution has become a religion and the basis for the Secular Humanistic worldview.  By today's scientific standards, it doesn't even "qualify as a theory" (Dr. Karl Popper, scientist).

God is real and is the God who will not die, contrary to what Nietzsche said, "God is dead," meaning irrelevant.   Christianity is not just about the God who is there, but about God in us!  Christians experience a personal encounter with the Almighty but they must take the leap of faith first and then God will authenticate Himself to you.  He doesn't have the patience for triflers or for the insincere. God is no man's debtor and will make Himself known to those who earnestly seek Him, and it must be by faith because it's impossible to please God except by faith (cf. Heb. 11:6). Christianity is not just pie in the sky, nor wishful thinking, but based in history--if the fact of the resurrection were false or a hoax, the faith would fall apart.

"Christianity is Christ," according to John Stott, and we disembowel it by removing Him--in other religions, you can remove the founder and the faith remains intact (Islam remains the same, Buddhism the same, etc.). The ultimate proof of God is in His incarnation as the Son of God in a manger and dying on a cross, and rising from the dead to manifest His divinity and deity.  This bears witness of His claims, is consistent with them, and is evidence for them.

If Jesus is the Son of God, and this is who He claimed to be (and equal to the Father), then the existence of God is proved consequently.  But there is no final proof we can cite for the so-called theory of evolution--it remains a figment in the imagination of scientists who refuse to acknowledge God and are seeking some alternative worldview.    Soli Deo Gloria! 

The Kenosis Of Christ

The title refers to the "emptying" of Jesus (the kenosis in Koine or common,"vulgar" Greek) or when He "made Himself of no reputation," NKJV, in the sense of laying aside His glory and independent usage of divinity, as He functioned as a man with all the limitations that go with it.  Christ never stopped being God, nor did He lose His powers as God, but only did what the Father told Him to do, following the interposed will of the Father.  Philippians 2:7 (NLT) says, "Instead, he gave up his divine privileges...." Christ's glory is that He laid aside all His glory and humbled Himself, even to the death on a cross as a criminal.

Some may object to this ignominious death, (thinking that it's repugnant to have Christ "defeated" by man) but it was the pleasure of the Father to judge sin in this manner.  We all ought to learn a lesson in humility following His example.  Just to make a point about true service, Christ took a towel and washed the disciples feet, and they were all taken aback, Peter even objected, thinking this was not fit the Lord's dignity.  When Christ said that we also ought to wash each others' feet, we get the lesson that, in God's economy, the way up is down just like John the Baptist said, "He must increase, but I must decrease"  (cf. John 3:30).

Peter failed to see Christ as the servant of the Lord and that greatness is in how many people you serve, not how many serve you.  Christ himself said that he came, "not to be served, but to serve and to give [His] life a ransom for many" (cf. Mark 10:45).  This gesture of foot-washing showed that we must be willing to humble ourselves, for humility comes before exaltation.  There is no caste system nor superstar believer in the body, but all are "one in Christ" (cf. Col. 3:11; Gal. 3:28; 1 Cor. 12:13).  There are no "untouchables" and neither is anyone beyond redemption.

All believers are called to become  the servants of Christ; at the bema (or Judgment Seat of Christ) we all look forward to hearing Christ pronounce:  "Well done, thou good and faithful servant...."  Albert Schweitzer was right:  "The only happy people are those who have learned how to serve."   I call this humiliation of ourselves in Christ's service as the "order of the towel," and the question should not be how high we can aim, but how low we can go--nothing is literally "beneath" the believer.  Whosoever humbles himself as a child shall be great in God's kingdom (cf. Matt. 18:4).   Service is the keynote of Christ's ministry, for He went about doing good (cf. Acts 10:38).   Soli Deo Gloria!