Reasons for Belief:
p 10-11
Is evidence helpful? Can you give some examples in how God used St. Paul who used evidence to bring people to Christ?
"Evidence does not save us", but God can and will use evidence to bring us to a knowledge of Christ
St. Paul preached at the Areopagus to various Greek philosophers and pagans (Acts 17:16-34) using the idea of the "unknown God" and made known to them proper understanding of divinity and the resurrection of the dead through Jesus Christ. He didn't convince everyone:
"32 And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, “We will hear you again on this matter.” 33 So Paul departed from among them. 34 However, some men joined him and believed, among them Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them."
St. Paul preached to Jews at Thesalonica for three sabbaths explaining from the Scriptures (17:2), and "some of them were persuaded" (17:4) that Jesus is the Christ who had to suffer and rise from the dead (17:3).
Give examples from the Bible ways in which God encourages you to seek Him?
"If you seek Him, He will be found by you." (1 Chronicles 28:9)
"You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:13)
How does the Bible encourage us to defend our faith?
"Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have...with gentleness and respect." (1 Peter 3:15)
p 13-14; Goal of this book:
Learning facts isn't the ultimate end. If you already believe, the aim of this book is to develop a deeper appreciation and love of God. "Pray that it will help you to love Him more with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And pray for opportunities to share the truth of God's Word with others."
Chapter 2:
What are the two views of "truth"? What is "truth" and "falsehood"?
1. Truth is what is true for you. It's subjective. "You have your truth and I have mine".
2. Truth is what matches facts. It's objective. "It's true whether or not you believe it."
The second view is the correct view. Truth matches reality. We no longer believe in a flat earth because the facts, the reality shows a spherical earth, no matter what your opinion is.
Truth is "telling it like it is". If you say you have $1000, and you only have $100, you're not "telling it like it is."
Believing in Santa Claus and reindeer does not match reality. That is "falsehood".
How can we know what is true?
1. Examining all the facts to see what matches reality
Documentations, eyewitness accounts, other evidence are all ways of collecting the facts.
2. Learning to think correctly (logically)
God has instituted certain unbreakable laws that operate throughout the universe, especially in math, science, and even music. God has also instituted certain unbreakable laws of right, or correct, thinking, which are called laws of logic. One law is called the law of non-contradiction, which states, "Two contradictory, or opposite, truth claims cannot both be true at the same time and in the same sense."
Personal addendum: The law of non-contradiction is true for all things physical. But when it comes to the divine nature, the law of non-contradiction collapses (you will read later how God is both far and yet near in His nature, please read Metropolitan Kallistos Ware's book "The Orthodox Way", Chapter 1.). Also, in the laws of physics, particularly deeper sciences of theoretical physics, there are contradictions that do drive scientists insane, such as "Schrodinger's cat".
What are some truths about truth?
1. We don't invent truth; we discover it.
2. Our understanding of the truth can change, but truth itself does not change.
3. Truth does not depend on how fervently or sincerely we believe something to be true. "Let God be true but every man a liar" (Romans 3:4). "That You may be justified in Your words, and may overcome when You are judged." (Psalm 51:4)
4. When something is true, it's true everywhere, for all people, at all times.
Three reasons why we need to have the right view of truth:
1. Truth affects our daily life, to avoid chaos, to be taken seriously, to be realistic.
2. Truth affects our eternal life. What happens after we die?
3. The Bible makes truth claims, and they need to be taken seriously. Either the Bible's truth claims are true or not.
What are some of the truth claims of the Bible? (memorize 3)
"Into Your hand I commit my spirit; You have redeemed me, O Lord God of truth." (Psalm 31:5)
"I have chosen the way of truth;
Your judgments I have laid before me.
...
And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth,
For I have hoped in Your ordinances."
(Psalm 119: 30, 43)
"I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6)
"But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me." (John 15:26)
"And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you may believe." (John 19:35)
"The Holy Spirit spoke rightly through Isaiah the prophet." (Acts 28:25)
"the truth of the gospel" (Galatians 2:14)
"But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God." (2 Corinthians 4:2)
Society says Christians are close-minded in making truth claims. How does one respond to this?
Every truth claim is narrow. Belief in the law of gravity is narrow. Belief that God does not exist is equally narrow-minded. All religious truth claims are narrow. Christians are open to all truth, since all truth is God's--all truth flows from His nature. We are truly close-minded only when it comes to accepting something that is untrue, does not match reality, or does not tell it like it is.
Personal addendum: Most atheists however do not make truth claims like "God does not exist", but make more agnostic claims like "I have not found anything that proves God's existence." So there is a nuance on this, making most atheists "less narrow" in their views. The way to answer this is they equate the divine nature with the five senses, and does not consider spiritual truths. This is why logic is limited to a point. Please read Metropolitan Kallistos Ware's book "The Orthodox Way", Chapter 1.
Chapter 3:
Personal addendum on p. 27: The author introduces a false dichotomy of "evolutionary processes" vs. "created by God". Replace "evolutionary processes" with embryology, and you will find the false dichotomy. "Are we a byproduct of sperm-egg fusion or are we created by God?"
The three big questions of worldviews:
Where do we come from?
Why are we here?
What happens after we die?
Summarize four key contradictory worldviews:
1. Atheism: The universe is eternal. There is no God, no miracles, no afterlife.
2. Deism: The God who created the universe is absent and inactive. There are no miracles (Thomas Jefferson).
3. Pantheism: God made the universe out of Himself. there are no miracles, since God is in all; all is part of God. (Hinduism, New Age Movement, Oprah Winfrey)
4. Theism: God created everything that is by speaking it into existence; He is an active God who has done, can do, and will do miracles.
Personal Addendum 1:Religions can overlap. For instance, Islam is theistic which believes in miracles and afterlife, but because there can never be any communion or direct communication between God and creation, it can also a form a deism. Some of these might essentially not contradict with each other, especially the first three views. Ready to get your mind blown? Deism is an atheist who believes in God or morality, and a pantheist is an atheist who believes everything that he can sense is God.
Personal Addendum 2:These are overly simplistic explanations. One can say it's not simple to just lump Christianity as "theistic", but much better than that. If Islam is "theistic", it's very weak. Some Protestants also believe there can not be a direct communion between God and man, which the Orthodox Church fathers calls "deification" or "theosis". Christianity can more specifically be considered a type of "panentheism", which is a belief that the uncreated and created are essentially distinct, but that the created is filled with God. As we pray in the third hour of the agpeya, "Oh heavenly King, the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, who is everywhere and fills all things." As is written in the book "The Orthodox Way", God is far and near; He is incomprehensible in His essence, but comprehensible in His energies or actions in all things. We cannot become as God is equally, but we God works in us, and unites us to Himself and fills us with Himself, which is grace.
How is God not Santa Claus?
God is not someone you pray on His lap, tell Him that you are "good", and then ask Him what you want Him to do for you. God is a Holy God, a high standard no one can meet. "ALLfall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). God doesn't give us what we deserve, and for that we can be eternally thankful. We pray to Him (and love Him and serve Him) becauseHEis good, not because we are.
Summarize the three basic arguments for God's existence:
1. There is evidence that the universe had a beginning. Something or Someone began it.
2. There is evidence that the universe has a design (based on the consistency of the laws of science). Something or Someone designed it.
3. There is evidence of a universal moral law. There must be a lawmaker.
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The Orthodox Way:
How is Christianity a journey? What was Christianity called? How can we discover the truth and live the life of Christianity?
In the story of the desert father St. Serapion the Sindonite, he asked a recluse woman who was sitting, "Why are you sitting here?" She replied, "I am not sitting, but on a journey." Christians are travelers (sojourners), always on a journey. We are spiritually on the move. The journey is not in a physical place, but in the heart. It's not measured in physical time, but into eternity.
Christ said "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life" (John 14:6).
1. The Way: The religion of Christianity used to be called "The Way". "There rose no little stir concerning the Way" (Acts 19:23). Felix had "a rather accurate knowledge of the Way" (Acts 24:22). Christianity is not just words of faith written on paper. It is a way of life.
2. The Truth: Because it is a journey, you cannot truly know or discover "the Truth" of Christianity unless you walk in it. Yes, we need directions, but directions means nothing if you did not use it. "The Creed" said Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow "does not belong to you unless you have lived it." God must be experienced directly for yourself after you receive the directions. "God has children, but He has no grandchildren."
3. The Life: We live the life of Orthodoxy in all aspects, such as the symbolic gesture of lighting the candle, the holy icons of the Church, the local parish and architecture of the Church, the prominence of holy martyrdom in the history of the Church. The Orthodox Church may be an "old tree" of antiquity, but there is also a vitality, a "perpetual resurrection" which matters. Christ did not say "I am a custom", but "I am the Life".
Prayers for journeying:
1. "O Saviour, who hast journeyed with Luke and Cleopas to Emmaus, journey with thy servants as they now set out upon their way, and defend them from all evil."
2. Coptic Morning Raising of Incense: "Those intending to travel anywhere facilitate their ways, whether by sea, rivers, lakes, roads, by air, or by any other means. Bring them back to a harbour of peace, a harbour of salvation. Graciously accompany them in their embarkation and their travel. Bring them back to their homes, in safety and joy. Participate with Your servants, in every good deed.
We also, O Lord, as foreigners in this world, preserve us without harm, tribulations, or worry until the end."
3. Coptic liturgy: "And we too who are sojourners in this place, keeps us in Your faith and establish us in Your peace unto the end."
Chapter 1:
In what contradictory ways can we describe God?
God is two poles. He is "unknown and yet well known" (2 Corinthians 6:9). The more we know God, the more we don't know Him. God dwells in "light unapproachable" (1 Timothy 6:16), yet we have a direct personal relationship with Him. God is the ending point and starting point. He is the end of our journey and our companion in the journey. He is "otherness" and "nearness":
1. God is "otherness", far from us,the farthestthan anything far from us. He is "wholly Other", invisible, inconceivable, radically transcendent, beyond all words, beyond all understanding.
"God cannot be grasped by the mind. If He could be grasped, He would not be God." (St. Evagrius of Pontus).
"The form of God is ineffable and indescribable, and cannot be seen with eyes of flesh. He is in glory uncontainable, in greatness incomprehensible, in strength incomparable, in wisdom inaccessible, in love inimitable, in beneficence inexpressible." (St. Theophilus of Antioch)
"O one and only true God, the lover of mankind; the ineffable; the unseen; the uncontainable; without beginning; the eternal ; the timeless; the limitless; the unsearchable; the unchanging; the Creator of all; the Saviour of everyone." (Coptic liturgy of St. Gregory)
He is infinitely beyond our reachby essence.
2. At the same time, God isnearestto us, more than anything near to us. He fills all things, present everywhere around us, and within us.
"Oh heavenly King, the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, who is everywhere and fills all things." (Third hour of Agpeya)
He reveals Himself to usas person, by a personal love relationship. As Nicholas Cabasilas wrote, God our King is "more affectionate than any friend, more just than any ruler, more loving than any father, more a part of us than our limbs, more necessary to us than our own heart."
In what way can God be considered mystery?
The more we journey to know God the more we don't know. It's like being in a dark room, and suddenly, a flash of light blinds us and causes us to stagger backwards (Symeon the New Theologian). We become dizzy (St. Gregory of Nyssa). All our normal assumptions shattered.
Our minds need to go through a "metanoia", which literally means "a change of mind". We need to throw away old habits of thinking. We need a spiritual conversion of the will and intellect. We need to turn the pyramid on its head.
The Greek word "mysterion" is linked with the verb "myein, meaning "to close the eyes or mouth". Mystery is not a puzzle. It is something that is revealed for our understanding, yet not understood fully or exhaustively. Our eyes are closed, but also opened.
The sayings of the Desert Fathers in the beginning of the Chapter, about St. Anthony challenging each monk on explaining a verse from the Scriptures, and each not giving sufficient answers. The last monk Abba Joseph said "I do not know" and finally St. Anthony replied, "Truly, Abba Joseph has found the way, for he said: I do not know".
What are some Old Testament symbols of God as mystery?
Abraham: "Go out from your country, and from your kindred, and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you" (Genesis 12:1) You leave the land of familiarity into unknown territory, with no clear conception of a final destination.
Moses: Three stages of visions of God:
1. The Light of the Burning Bush (Exodus 3:2)
2. Mingled Light and darkness in the "pillar of cloud and fire" (Exodus 13:21)
3. "thick darkness" at the top of Mt. Sinai (Exodus 20:21)
So we go from the light of partial knowledge to a knowledge so profound and deep, it can only be described as the "darkness of unknowing". (St. Dionysius the Areopagite)
Give a verse and a patristic quote of the wonder of God:
"O Lord, our Lord, how wonderful is thy Name in all the earth" (Psalm 8:1).
"God's name is not known; it is wondered at." (St. Gregory of Nyssa)
What is the "apophatic approach"?
"Anyone who tries to describe the ineffable Light in language is truly a liar--not because he hates the truth, but because of the inadequacy of the description." (St. Gregory of Nyssa--hyperbole)
Describing God by way of negation. What God is not rather than what He is. Recognizing that no words or symbols are enough to describe God. It balances out the opposite approach, the approach of affirmation (the "cataphatic approach") of what God is.
Examples:
Cataphatic: God is good or just; Apophatic: He is NOT good or just by human standards