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Faith & Christianity

Faith & Christianity. Thesis Faith is an active trust in what you have good reason to believe is true. Faith & Christianity. Point #1 Popular view of faith: Faith is blind faith devoid of reason. Examples: 1) Upper story leap 2) Sam Harris. Faith & Christianity.

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Faith & Christianity

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  1. Faith & Christianity Thesis Faith is an active trust in what you have good reason to believe is true.

  2. Faith & Christianity Point #1 Popular view of faith: Faith is blind faith devoid of reason. Examples: 1) Upper story leap 2) Sam Harris

  3. Faith & Christianity “Tell a devout Christian that his wife is cheating on him, or that frozen yogurt can make a man invisible, and he is likely to require as much evidence as anyone else, and to be persuaded only to the extent that you give it. Tell him that the book he keeps by his bed was written by an invisible deity who will punish him with fire for eternity if he fails to accept every incredible claim about the universe, and he seems to require no evidence whatsoever.” -Sam Harris, The End of Faith

  4. Faith & Christianity Point #2 Faith is an active trust in what you have good reason to believe is true. Examples: 1) Everyday life 2) Scripture • Exodus 3-14 • Mark 2:1-12 • John 10:38 • Acts 1:1-3 • Romans 1:20 • 1 Corinthians 15

  5. Two-Minute Review • “Bringing Christianity to Our Culture” • Goals of the Class • To help others have a better understanding of Christianity. • To help us to become more like Christ. • Class #1 • “Religion is Nothing More Than Blind Faith” • Faith is an active trust in what you have good reason to believe is true.

  6. Bringing Christianity to Our Culture Class #2 • “There is no proof that God exists.” Main Point • The Biblical view of God provides the best explanation for the various features of the universe and human experience. • Theism vs. Naturalism Our Method/Approach • Abductive Reasoning • Inference to the Best Explanation

  7. Things We Recognize, Observe, or Experience: Christianity vs. Naturalism • The Universe • Life • Consciousness, Rationality, & Truth • Human beings are special • Human beings are broken • Free Will • Goodness • Beauty • Purpose & Meaning • Evil

  8. Things We Recognize, Assume, or Experience #1) The universe exists. #2) Life exists. • Genesis 1:1 • Psalm 104 • Job 38-41 • “The Universe is unlikely. Very unlikely. Deeply, shockingly unlikely.” -Brad Lemley, “Why is There Life?”, Discover Magazine, November 1, 2000.

  9. Things We Recognize, Assume, or Experience #3) Consciousness, Truth, & Reason • “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” -Matthew 22:37 • "The curiosity of Man, and the cunning of his Reason, have revealed much of what Nature held hidden. The structure of space-time, the constitution of matter, the many forms of energy, the nature of life itself; all of these mysteries have become open books to us. To be sure, deep questions remain unanswered and revolutions await us still, but it is difficult to exaggerate the explosion in scientific understanding we humans have fashioned over the past 500 years. Despite this general advance, a central mystery remains largely a mystery: the nature of conscious intelligence.” -Paul Churchland, Matter and Consciousness

  10. Things We Recognize, Assume, or Experience #4) Human beings are special...and broken. • Genesis 1-3 • Imago Dei • The Fall • "It is an unbroken torture to me that I am still so far from Him, Who as I fully know, governs every breath of my life, and Whose offspring I am. I know that it is the evil passions within that keep me so far from Him, and yet I cannot get away from them.” -Mahatma Gandhi

  11. Things We Recognize, Assume, or Experience #5) Free Will and Moral Responsibility • Revelation 20-21 #6) Goodness & Beauty • “For I am the Lord who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God; thus you shall be holy, for I am holy.” -Leviticus 11:45 • “One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek:That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to meditate in His temple.” -Psalm 27:4

  12. Things We Recognize, Assume, or Experience #7) Evil • “God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good.” -Genesis 1:31 #8) Purpose & Meaning • And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” -Matthew 22:37-40

  13. For Further Study Week#1 • Total Truth by Nancy Pearcey • The Universe Next Door by James Sire • Mind Your Faith by David A. Horner • A World of Difference by Kenneth Samples • Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions by Greg Koukl Week #2 • www.reasonablefaith.org • www.paulcopan.com • www.str.org • www.bethinking.org • www.apologetics315.com

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