The Intellectual (Proof) and Faith (Believing God) - A Three Point Outline
Point Two - Faith (Believing God)
I. Step One
A. Thesis: From Adam on God has wanted man to Believe Him - the acting upon the fact that Christianity is true. Believe is an action verb here. The proof is there. There is no element of a leap of faith but we must believe God.
B. Example - Justification (becoming a Christian)
1. Bow #1 - Metaphysics: Not autonomous and Not a product of chance but a belief that God exists and that God made us.
2. Bow #2 - Morals: We must acknowledge that we have true moral guilt and accept Jesus as our Savior from sin.
3. Bow #3 - Epistemology: An ongoing subject/object relationship. We must believe god as He has told us about the universe and our relationship to it. Therefore we have a starting point in the subject/object relationship. God has made both the subject and the object. See last chapter of He Is There And He Is Not Silent.
4. Conclusion: You are not a Christian if you don't bow three times.
II. Step Two - Biblical Basis of Bowing Three Times
A. Example: Romans 1:18-20
1. Mannishness of Man (verse 19)
a. The truth is revealed in man (conscience covered in Romans 2)
b. We should know that our system is wrong, if we are not Christians, because we do not have an answer to the question of Who I Am?
2. The universe and its form (verse 20)
3. If man does not accept and live out what God has put in front of him, then he holds that truth in sin (verse 18).
(Go to the second side of the cassette tape at this point.)
B. Example: John 20:30-31
1. "Signs" = space-time proofs (modern terminology).
2. If you read the book of John honestly you will know that Christ is the Old Testament prophesied Messiah, that He is the Son of God, and that you can have life in His Name. (FAS has a tape that covers 50 or so proofs in the book of John.)
C. Conclusion: Both Bible passages show the Intellectual (Proof) and the Faith (Believing God).
III. Step Three: Keeping the Balance After We Become Christians
A. General Statements
1. We live in a cause and effect universe. We do not believe that we live in a random universe.
2. God can and does act into the universe.
B. Two dangers in facing this balance
1. Christian Humanism: if we leave out God, we just explain it all away experientially and intellectually
a. All we have is a little better attitude toward people.
b. Discussions only become intellectual games of chess.
2. The Reverse Danger: we see God as doing everything.
a. The cause and effect universe disappears.
b. We blame God for everything in anger and frustration.
c. We have no way of fighting evil.
d. Writers that hold this view:
(1) Fenelon - was in the Court of France and supported the writings of -
(2) Madame Guyon - believed that everything, including evil, comes from the hand of God.
(3) Spirituality, to these two writers, only means accepting everything that comes, like a cow lying under a fallen branch, but using man's words, "I accept."
e. Biblical Answer to Both Writers: Jesus standing in front of the tomb of Lazarus. He wept (sad) but He was also furious. He was furious at the abnormality of man (death since the Fall), but He was not furious at Himself even though He said He was God.
C. Conclusion
1. We must believe God moment by moment.
2. Example - Bible (David) - Psalm 102:1-13: I believe You God in what You tell me about Yourself. (FAS covers this in depth in Chapter One of True Spirituality where he writes about being thankful to God in the midst of life, including the hard times.)
IV. Step Four: Understanding the Three Sources of the Hard Times In Life
A. Source One - The Sludge of the Fall (Cause and Effect Universe): Everything that was under the dominion of man was made abnormal because of the Fall (sin of Adam/original sin). It falls out differently to different people, to each person in different amounts, at different times in their lives.
1. The physical: polio is an example
2. The psychological: depression is an example.
3. The intellectual: may read slower than others could be an example (*)
4. The moral: being more prone to homosexuality than others could be an example (*)
(*) Examples are those of the outliner not FAS.
B. Source Two - God Chastens Us For Our Peace (Hebrews 12:11)
C. Source Three - The Results of Our Part In the Battle in the Unseen World
1. The cause and effect relationship between the seen and the unseen world.
2. Example - Bible: The Old Testament book of Job
D. Actions For Us to Take
1. It is not always clear from which of the three sources the hard times come - therefore -
2. We must believe God in what He says about Himself. It is to the praise of God in the seen and the unseen world if we do this. Our personal peace also depends on it (also see Romans 15:13).