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Adele convinces Spotify to remove shuffle from all albums. PS5 restock updates. Black Friday deals. Windows Windows. Most Popular. New Releases. Desktop Enhancements. Networking Software. Trending from CNET. Developer's Description By Relaxing Sounds. Full Specifications. What's new in version 1. Release May 8, He is a simple whole that is absolutely one. Thus there is no way God could have taken part of himself and made the world. God is infinite and the world is finite.

And no amount of finite parts can make an infinite, since no matter how many parts or pieces one has, there could always be one more. But there cannot be more than an infinite. Hence, no amount of parts would ever equal an infinite. So God could not have created the world out of part of himself i. The world came from God but is not of God.

He was its cause but not its substance. However, if the world was not created out of God ex Deo or out of something else ex materia existing alongside God, it must have been created out of nothing ex nihilo. There is no other alternative.

God made something that before he made it did not exist, either in him or in anything else. Just as a painter has an idea of his painting in his mind before he paints it, so God had an idea of the world before he made it. Another tough question often asked about God is this: What was God doing with all his time before he created? The famous fifth-century A. Christian teacher Augustine had two answers to this question, one humorous and one serious.

The first answer was that God was spending his time preparing hell for people who ask questions like this! Time began with creation. Before creation, time did not exist. So there was no time for God to have on his hands. The world did not begin by a creation in time but by a creation of time. But, you may think, if there was no time before time began, what was there? The answer is, eternity.

God is eternal, and the only thing prior to time was eternity. Boredom, however, is a sign of imperfection and dissatisfaction, and God is perfectly satisfied. Thus, there is no way God could be bored, even if he had long time periods on his hands. An infinitely creative mind can always find something interesting to do. Only finite minds that run out of interesting things to do get bored. Finally, the Christian God has three persons who are in perfect fellowship.

There is no way such a being could get bored or lonely. Boredom is impossible in such a being. How can God be three and yet one? It would seem that God could be one and not three, or three and not one. But he cannot be both three and one at the same time. It would be a violation of the most fundamental law of thought, namely, the law of noncontradiction.

First of all, the Christian belief in a Trinity of three persons in one God is not a contradiction. A contradiction occurs only when something is both A and non-A at the same time and in the same sense.

God is both three and one at the same time but not in the same sense. He is three persons but one in essence. He is three persons but only one in nature. It would be a contradiction to say that God had three natures in one nature or three persons in one person. God is like a triangle. At the same time it has three corners and yet it is only one triangle. Each corner is not the same as the whole triangle. Or, God is like one to the third power God is one God, manifested eternally and simultaneously in three distinct persons.

God is love 1 John But to have love, there must be a lover Father , a loved one Son , and a spirit of love Holy Spirit. So, love itself is a triunity. Another illustration of the Trinity is that God is like my mind, ideas, and words. There is a unity between them, yet they are distinct from each other. Of course, the Trinity is a mystery. It goes beyond reason without going against reason. We can apprehend it, but we cannot completely comprehend it.

This question assumes that God sends people to hell against their will. But this is not the case. God desires everyone to be saved see 2 Peter Those who are not saved do not will to be saved. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find. To those who knock it is opened.

For heaven is a place of constant praise and worship of God Revelation 4—5. But for unbelievers who do not enjoy one hour of worship a week on earth, it would be hell to force them to do this forever in heaven! But he is also love 1 John , and his love cannot force others to love him.

Love cannot work coercively but only persuasively. Forced love is a contradiction in terms. It would seem that love and justice are incompatible attributes. If God is just, he must punish sin. But if he is loving, he would forgive sin. How then can he be both? The attributes characteristics of God are not contradictory. He is both absolutely just and yet unconditionally loving.

Each attribute complements the other. In his love, God sent his Son to pay the penalty for our sins so that his justice could be satisfied and his love released.

And sin against the eternal God demands eternal death see Revelation — So when Christ died for our sins see Romans , the Just suffered for the unjust see 1 Peter that he might bring us to God. Thus, there is no contradiction between absolute justice and unconditional love. To illustrate, God is like the judge who, after passing out the punishment to the guilty defendant, laid aside his robe, stood alongside the convicted, and paid the fine for him.

Jesus did the same for us on Calvary. By the way, my grandson just graduated from college and is preparing to attend seminary to study apologetics defending the faith. Soon he will be prepared to answer the same kinds of questions he asked. One can only wonder what he would be doing if no one had answered his.

Read 1 Peter and Colossians Given that these verses are addressed to all believers, what can we do to put them into practice? When, if ever, should questions asked by unbelievers not be answered? Consider Proverbs and Matthew in your response. Chapter 2. And what does it say about God that such things occur? Just think what the friends and relatives of the almost three thousand people who lost their lives in the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington on September 11, , must have wrestled with.

Pollster George Barna was once commissioned to inquire of people what one question they would ask of God if they had the opportunity. I approach this subject with some hesitation in view of the fact that a proper treatment requires a full book, not just a short chapter.

Abbreviated treatments always run the risk of superficiality. I urge the reader to supplement my brief treatment with some of the more exhaustive works cited in the endnotes and in the suggested resources listed at the back of this book. Before getting to the questions, it may be good to record a few preliminary thoughts about evil. Evil is the absence or privation of something good.

Rot, for example, can exist only as long as the tree exists. Tooth decay can exist only as long as the tooth exists. Rust on a car and a decaying carcass illustrate the same point. Evil exists as a corruption of something good; it is a privation and does not have essence by itself. It exists only in another but not in itself.

Evil may not be an actual substance, but it involves an actual privation in good substances. It is one thing to understand what evil is. It is an entirely different thing to understand how such evil can exist in a world created by God. Common sense tells us that all three cannot be true at the same time. If God were limited in power so that he was not strong enough to withstand evil, the existence of evil would be easier to explain. But God does claim to be all-powerful.

But evil is not an illusion. It is real. God is good, God is all-powerful, yet evil exists. This is the problem of evil in its most basic form. Prominent thinkers like David Hume, H. Wells, and Bertrand Russell have concluded, on the basis of their observations of suffering and evil, that the God of the Bible does not exist. Then he is impotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.

Is he both able and willing: whence then is evil? Certainly Christians agree that what Hitler did to the Jews was a horrible crime. What is the moral measuring stick by which people and events are morally appraised? By what process is evil distinguished from good and vice versa? The reality is that it is impossible to distinguish evil from good unless one has an infinite reference point that is absolutely good. More specifically, if God does not exist, there is no ultimate basis to judge, for example, the crimes of Hitler.

Seen in this light, the reality of evil actually requires the existence of God rather than disproves it. There was no sin, no evil, no pain, and no death. Yet today the world is permeated with sin, evil, pain, and death. What brought these things about? The fact is, such a scenario would mean that we were not truly human. We would not have the capacity to make choices and to freely love. But who would want that? There would never be any love either. Love is voluntary.

God could have made us like robots, but we would have ceased to be men. God apparently thought it worth the risk of creating us as we are. God wanted Adam and all humanity to show love by freely choosing obedience. This is why God gave Adam and all other humans a free will. He will not do anything to coerce their decision.

God made evil possible; creatures make it actual. Even natural evil—involving earthquakes, tornadoes, floods, and the like—is rooted in our wrong use of free choice. We must not forget that we are living in a fallen world, and because of this, we are subject to disasters in the world of nature that would not have occurred had man not rebelled against God in the beginning see Romans — There will be no natural disasters or death in the new heavens and earth when God puts an end to evil once and for all see Revelation The fact that humans used God-given free choice to disobey God did not take God by surprise.

Freedom is preserved in that each person makes his own free choice to determine his destiny. Evil is overcome in that, once those who reject God are separated from the others, the decisions of all are made permanent.

Those who choose God will be confirmed in it, and sin will cease. Those who reject God are in eternal quarantine and cannot upset the perfect world that has come about. The ultimate goal of a perfect world with free creatures will have been achieved, but the way to get there requires that those who abuse their freedom be cast out.

A critically important factor involved in the suggestion that this may not be the best possible world but it is the best way to the best possible world is that God is not finished yet. Just because evil is not destroyed right now does not mean it never will be. In view of the above facts, the existence of evil in the world is seen to be compatible with the existence of an all-good and all-powerful God.

If God is all-good, he will defeat evil. If God is all-powerful, he can defeat evil. Evil is not yet defeated. Therefore, God can and will one day defeat evil. One day in the future, Christ will return, strip away power from the wicked, and hold all men and women accountable for the things they did during their time on earth see Matthew — 46; Revelation — Justice will ultimately prevail.

Those who enter eternity without having trusted in Jesus Christ for salvation will understand just how effectively God has dealt with the problem of evil. Some skeptics may be tempted to rebut that it should not take all of human history for an omnipotent God to deal with the problem of evil. God certainly has the option of doing away with all evil immediately—but choosing this option would have definite and fatal implications for each of us.

His action would have to include our lies and personal impurities, our lack of love, and our failure to do good. Suppose God were to decree that at midnight tonight all evil would be removed from the universe—who of us would still be here after midnight? Indeed, God has given us human government to withstand lawlessness see Romans —7. In his Word God has given us a moral standard to guide us and keep us on the right path see Psalm He has given us the family unit to bring stability to society e.

And much more! In wrestling with the premature death of his son, Kushner concluded that God wants the righteous to live happy lives, but sometimes he cannot bring it about.

God is good, but he is not powerful enough to bring about all the good things he desires. In short, God is finite. He is limited in what He can do by the laws of nature and by the evolution of human nature and human moral freedom. Such a God is not worthy of our worship. Nor is this God worthy of our trust, for there is no guarantee that he will be able to defeat evil in the future. As noted previously, the fact that God has not defeated evil today does not mean he is not eliminating it in the future see 2 Peter —12; Revelation 20— This is not the best of all possible worlds, but it is the best way to the best of all possible worlds.

Finitism clearly goes against the biblical testimony of God. Scripture portrays God as being omnipotent—meaning that he is all-powerful.

He has the power to do all that he desires and wills. Some fifty-six times Scripture declares that God is almighty e. Nothing is impossible with God see Matthew ; Mark ; Luke , and nothing is too difficult for him see Genesis ; Jeremiah , Some people, particularly those affiliated with the Mind Sciences, argue that evil is an illusion.

Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science, argued that matter, evil, sickness, and death are unreal and are illusions of the mortal mind. Pain, sickness, poverty, old age, and death are not real, and they have no power over me. If they do, ask them why. Do they leave their key in the ignition when the car is parked downtown on Main Street? If not, why not? Do they buckle their seat belts in the car?

Do they go to the dentist? Tooth pain is an illusion, right? Do they warn their little children not to get too close to the fire at the cookout?

Do they support laws against pedophiles? If evil is an illusion, then such things are completely unnecessary and should be of no concern to anyone. Simply denying that evil exists does not negate its reality. This explanation of evil is in itself delusional thinking at its worst. Jesus certainly believed in the reality of evil.

It is worth noting that Scripture often exhorts us to pay attention to empirical evidence by using our five senses. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have. I have a friend, Jim, who has read a few of my books on apologetics and the New Age movement. He developed a particular physical ailment one day and went to see a doctor who had been recommended to him. About halfway through the exam, Jim started to suspect that this doctor might be an advocate of New Age medicine.

Pantheism is the view that God is all and all is God. In pantheism all reality is viewed as being infused with divinity. The distinction between the Creator and the creation is completely obliterated in this view.

Everything is relative. Of course, philosophers have long pointed out the philosophical weakness of such a viewpoint, for it amounts to saying that it is an absolute truth that there are no absolutes. A major problem with the New Age pantheistic worldview is that it fails to adequately deal with the existence of real evil in the world.

If God is the essence of all life-forms in creation, one must conclude that both good and evil stem from the same essence God. The Bible, by contrast, teaches that God is good and not evil see 1 Chronicles ; Psalm ; ; —9; Matthew Habakkuk ; Matthew I had the opportunity to converse with former guru Rabi Maharaj, and he spoke at length of the ethical dissatisfaction he felt regarding a monistic, pantheistic worldview, especially as it pertained to the problem of evil.

My growing awareness of God as the Creator, separate and distinct from the universe he had made, contradicted the Hindu concept that God was everything, that the Creator and the Creation were one and the same. If there was only One Reality, then [God] was evil as well as good, death as well as life, hatred as well as love. That made everything meaningless, life an absurdity. Many New Agers believe that people create all their own realities—both good and bad—by the power of the mind.

Every belief we hold is shaping what we experience in our life. Similarly, one cannot condemn terrorists who blow up passenger jets, because the people on these jets create their own reality. Why cry? Many New Agers base their ethics on reincarnation and karma. The process of reincarnation continual rebirths is said to continue until the soul has reached a state of perfection and merges back with its source God or the Universal Soul. If one accumulates good karma, he or she will allegedly be reincarnated in a desirable state.

If one accumulates bad karma, he or she will be reincarnated in a less desirable state. Many New Agers explain the existence of evil in our world strictly in terms of karma.

Where is the divine and the sacred in this? There are numerous problems with the doctrine of reincarnation. Practically speaking, one must ask, Why does one get punished for something he or she cannot remember having done in a previous life?

Further, if as we are told the purpose of karma is to rid humanity of its selfish desires over many lifetimes, then why has there not been a noticeable improvement in human nature after all the millennia of reincarnations? Why has evil continued to grow?

Still further, if reincarnation and the law of karma are so beneficial on a practical level, as New Agers claim, then how do they explain the continued social and economic problems—including widespread poverty, starvation, disease, and horrible suffering —in India, where reincarnation has been systematically taught throughout its history? Certainly reincarnation is unbiblical, going against what Scripture teaches about death and the afterlife. Trusting God in a World of Suffering There are other inadequate explanations for the problem of evil we could examine, but they are not as prominent today, and space forbids further exploration.

Sometimes, as a parent, I have to make a decision for my son or daughter that may involve a little pain like paying a visit to the dentist. From their perspective, they may not fully understand why I insist on this visit. I assure them that, despite the discomfort and even pain , it is in their best interest to go to the dentist.

Sometimes we humans wonder why God allows us to go through certain painful circumstances. But just because we find it difficult to imagine what reasons God could have does not mean that no such reason exists. From our finite human perspective, we are often only able to see a few threads of the great tapestry of life and of the will of God.

We do not have the full picture. That is why God calls us to trust him see Hebrews God sees the full picture and does not make mistakes. He has a reason for allowing painful circumstances to come our way—even if we cannot grasp it. If finite humans can discover some good purposes for evil, then surely an infinitely wise God has a good purpose for all suffering.

Just as we evaluate a trip to the dentist in the light of the long-range benefits of such a visit, Scripture admonishes Christians to evaluate present sufferings in the light of eternity.

An example of this is the life of Joseph. His brothers were wrongly jealous of him see Genesis , hated him , 5, 8 , wanted to murder him , cast him into a pit , and sold him into slavery Even though evil things happened to Joseph, God had a providential purpose in allowing them.

Joni Eareckson Tada, who broke her neck in a swimming accident and became quadriplegic, said her tragedy drew her much closer to God. All this is said with a view to emphasizing the need for faith in the midst of this world of suffering. God is most assuredly working out his purpose in our midst, and we must trust him!

I like the way Gary Habermas and J. Moreland put it. And if we do, we will see how readily it can revolutionize our lives: daily anxieties, emotional hurts, tragedies, our responses and responsibilities to others, possessions, wealth, and even physical pain and death.

All of this and much more can be informed and influenced by the truths of heaven. I must tell you that the one thing that has sustained the entire family is a top-down perspective. He shows how it is there, "in the depths of our innermost being, That the work of God changes what we want to do. This is not an ethical system calling us to civility.

This is the transforming work of the grace of God, who calls us His children. Tolerance imagines all religions as spokes of one wheel, spinning everyone together in harmony with God. Christ Among Other gods shows how this wheel simply doesn't hold up.

Walking you through a study of Christ--from his birth to his promised second coming--pastor and scholar Erwin W. Lutzer presents Jesus as He is: the only way of salvation. Learn how to: Describe the uniqueness of Christ Defend the claims of Christianity Debunk the myths that many tout The tensions between tolerance and truth are growing, as are the challenges of representing Christ in today's world.

Christ Among Other gods will help you understand and navigate these challenges. It gives you the facts you need to counter the claims of false religions with the truth of Christ.

And what is more, it will help you fall more in love with Jesus, the only way, truth, and life. In a simple, Zacharias uses rich illustrations to celebrate the power of Jesus Christ to transform lives. Tolerance sees all religions as spokes of one wheel, spinning everyone together in harmony with God. Walking you through a study of Christ—from his birth to his promised second coming—pastor and scholar Erwin W.

Deliver Us From Evil: With clarity and insight, Zacharias shows how many of today's most popular ideas, thoughts, and beliefs are vandalizing our culture.

He shows how it is there, "in the depths of our innermost being, That the work of God changes what we want to do. This is not an ethical system calling us to civility. This is the transforming work of the grace of God, who calls us His children. In his most important work to date, apologetics scholar and popular speaker Ravi Zacharias shows how the blueprint for life and death itself is found in a true understanding of Jesus.

Tolerance sees all religions as spokes of one wheel, spinning everyone together in harmony with God. Walking you through a study of Christ—from his birth to his promised second coming—pastor and scholar Erwin W. Lutzer presents Jesus as He is: the only way of salvation.

Christ Among Other gods will help you understand and navigate these challenges. It gives you the facts you need to counter the claims of false religions with the truth of Christ.

And what is more, it will help you fall more in love with Jesus, the only way, truth, and life. Ravi Zacharias and Vince Vitale defend the absolute claims of Christ against modern belief in the "secular gods" of atheism, scientism, relativism, and more. The rise of these secular gods presents the most serious challenge to the absolute claims of Christ since the founding of Christianity itself. The Christian worldview has not only been devalued and dismissed by modern culture, but its believers are openly ridiculed as irrelevant.

This book is fresh, insightful, and important, and faces head on today's most urgent challenges to Christian faith. It will help seekers to explore the claims of Christ and will provide Christians with the knowledge to articulate why they believe that Jesus stands tall above all other gods.

In the quest for the truth, you need to know what you believe and why you believe it. Who Made God? Bringing together the best in evangelical apologists, this guide is standard equipment for Christians who want to understand and talk about their faith intelligently. Relevant stories, questions for reflection and discussion, and a comprehensive list of suggested resources help you dig deeper so you can be prepared to give careful answers that explain the reasons for your faith.

In this brilliant and compelling defense of the Christian faith, Ravi Zacharias shows how affirming the reality of God's existence matters urgently in our everyday lives. According to Zacharias, how you answer the questions of God's existence will impact your relationship with others, your commitment to integrity, your attitude toward morality, and your perception of truth. The author believes that over the past forty years movements like New Age spirituality and society's obsession with human potential have combined like a "perfect storm" to redefine for popular culture what has been for centuries the classic biblical definition of the person, work, and teaching of Jesus Christ.

Special attention will be given to the influence of Oprah Winfrey's media platform in reshaping society by introducing and promoting certain books and authors. Major new age and human potential tenets will be discussed like: the belief that we are all gods and have to discover our divinity; Jesus was only a good teacher; Christianity is but one among many ways to eternal life; reincarnation is real; Jesus was married; truth is relative; there is no sin; and perfection is possible.

The truth of and the arguments for the bodily resurrection of Jesus will be presented as the most important argument for the exclusive claims about Jesus and Christianity. Jesus Christ alone answers our deepest questions. We all have doubts that challenge our faith. We wonder whether the Bible still matters, or whether God is truly as loving and personal as we hope. In his first ever devotional, The Logic of God, apologist Ravi Zacharias offers 52 readings that explain how and why Christianity, the Bible, and God are still relevant, vital, and life-changing for us today.

To all our dilemmas Ravi says, "I am convinced that Jesus Christ alone uniquely answers the deepest questions of our hearts and minds. But The Logic of God is more than intellectual; it is also personal, offering thoughtful wisdom on: when Jesus draws especially near you. Ravi makes profound biblical truth easy to understand. And if your life is busy, this book is designed for you!

It addresses 52 topics that you can read over the course of one year or slowly digest at your own pace. Each entry includes a Scripture, questions for reflection, and some practical application steps. When you're struggling with questions and doubts, confused, curious, or just want a clearer way to express your faith The Logic of God has answers that satisfy the heart and the mind. They offer a refreshing picture of Jesus, one that appeals to Eastern readers and can penetrate the hearts and imaginations of postmodern Westerners.

In Seeing Jesus from the East, Ravi Zacharias and Abdu Murray show us why a broader view of Jesus is needed - one that recognizes the uniquely Eastern ways of thinking and communicating found in the pages of the Bible.



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