Posted on 10/13/2021 3:00:55 AM PDT by Kaslin
I am not an atheist, nor even an agnostic. Keep that in mind, because I am not saying the Bible promotes atheism. Quite the opposite, of course — but there is a passage in the Bible that helps us Jews and Christians to understand why some people are atheist/agnostic and why we cannot persuade them otherwise. The reason may humble us.
From 1 Corinthians 2:14 (King James Version):
[T]he natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
This passage rebukes atheism, but it also reveals to us the central difference between those of us who believe in God and those who do not. We are given no reason to hold ourselves above atheists, for we are not the authors of our own faith. We are, instead, the recipients of a free gift, having done nothing to earn it.
There may seem to be, at first, every reason to reject spiritual faith in God and to accept a purely material (i.e., natural) explanation of reality. Indeed, many a believer in God experiences doubt when confronted by the vast array of influences from physical science. Only when we further investigate the core of materialist science do we find at its center emptiness and futility.
Bear in mind that this is not a condemnation of science, but rather a rejection of the unscientific philosophy that underpins the beliefs of many modern scientists. That philosophy avers that the only explanation for physical reality is...well, physical reality.
That circular philosophy makes no mention of right or wrong, of good or evil, or of the inherent worth of humankind. It leaves no room for our spiritual nature.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
“We are, instead, the recipients of a free gift, having done nothing to earn it. “
The flaw in his logic is the free gift is not imposed on a person but they have to use thier free will to choose to accept it.
Yet it is God who makes you willing, and for which we can take zero credit - only for resisting God.
No one can come to God unless drawn by Him, (Jn. 6:44) and granted repentance unto life (Acts 11:18) by Him who convicts of sin, (Jn. 16:8) and opens hearts, and gives heart-purifying regenerating faith. (Eph. 2:8,9; Acts 10:43; 15:7-9) And who works to chasten wayward believers unto repentance so they will not be condemned with the world, (1 Co. 11:32) and warns the same against departing from the faith. (Heb. 3:12; 10:25-39; Gal. 5:1-4)
Conflating two different logic conditions.
Boolean logic condition 1: Can take credit for being made willing, (YES/NO) = NO.
Boolean logic condition 2: Can take credit for using free will to accept or reject/resist, (YES/NO) = YES.
What’s peculiar is the theories atheism champions, big bang cosmology and evolution need a higher intelligence (which is smuggled through the back door). Life at all levels is imbued with self organization. I believe that is evidence of Divine Spirit, of an overall consciousness in the universe that creates and sustains life.
NO.
" Boolean logic condition 2: Can take credit for using free will to accept or reject/resist, (YES/NO) = YES."
NO.
You would not even have the ability to choose, nor any alternative to choose btwn, nor the alternative of Christ, neither the willingness to choose Christ over sin unless God provided this. In conversion, the sinner is making a choice he could not and would not do left to himself, but he can resist God's drawing and offer, while responding to the grace of God results in more grace and truth being provided.
Well of course you don’t go to to 2 if you did not make it past 1, but then it is a YES. FREEWILL means exactly that.
Total horsecrap. Methodological naturalism is a convenience; which then over time was mistakenly believed to be a conclusion from experimental results.
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