Tuesday, November 17, 2009

SOMETHING FROM NOTHING?

In light of this week's Origin Into Schools project, below is a video clip from Living Waters that demonstrates the unintelligible, grasping-for-straws, position of those who do not believe in an all powerful, purposeful, designer and creator of the universe (God), yet at the same time, cannot align themselves with the argument that everything came from nothing. And that by pure chance.



This clip clearly demonstrates the Christian's need to put themselves in the business of proclaiming, defending and confirming the truth of God to those who say they do not believe when, indeed as the Bible points out in the book of Romans 1:18-21, they truly do believe, but choose to suppress that truth in order to justify their rebellion and sin.

Kim and I will be a part of the continent wide Origin Into Schools project at a local university here in Ottawa this week and are looking forward to sharing the gospel truth with those who are our future movers and shakers.
Posted by Paul Latour at 10:43 AM
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15 comments:

  1. Will keep you and Kim in prayer (as well as everyone else). God bless you for your faithfulness. (are you taking the cross?)
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  2. "below is a video clip from Living Waters that demonstrates"

    Sigh.

    "the unintelligible, grasping-for-straws, position"

    Paul, do you wonder why random people on the street are asked these questions, but not biologists or cosmologists?

    You know, the people who actually work on this stuff?

    Why do you think that is?

    I think that I could give intelligible, non-grasping-for-straws answers to this, but if you asked most of my friends, they'd probably stumble through their answers also. They just don't have the experiences with creationists that I do, so it's not something that they think about or investigate much.

    In short: consider the sample set in the video.

    "cannot align themselves with the argument that everything came from nothing."

    Because it's a rigged statement.

    The way that you guys use the word "nothing" is different than the way we use the word. Equivocation on the part of LW is the problem here.

    In short, no, no one who studies this stuff thinks "everything came from nothing"... the statement doesn't make sense.

    Paul, do you understand the following equation?

    E=mc^2

    When you can understand why that shows that the "they think everything came from nothing!" claim is a sham, then you'll understand why it annoys us.

    "And that by pure chance."

    And, as a probability and math geek myself, it's THIS claim that really rubs me the wrong way. No... that's not strong enough. I seriously cannot stand this claim.

    Paul, please understand:

    We.

    Do not.

    Think.

    It happened.

    By pure/random/accidental/whatever chance.

    This is a strawman, and it annoys me to no end.

    "You people" (er, sorry about that) seem to think that if it wasn't God, then it MUST be "pure chance" or "random chance" or "an accident".

    I don't remember if I had written this on your blog or not, but I'm BEGGING you to research the words "determinism" and "emergence".

    In short, you are using the words "pure chance" incorrectly, and it doesn't apply here.

    Paul, please understand the actual claims before arguing against them. And please get the actual claims from the people who do the work (i.e., the applicable scientists), not some people off the street who rarely, if ever, think about this stuff.

    If I grabbed someone off the street and started asking them detailed theological questions, do you think that they'd be able to answer well? Do you think it would be fair if I made of video of that and say, "look how silly Christians are! Look at the Christian theology!!" Without ever interviewing an actual theologian?

    Wouldn't you think that might be just SLIGHTLY rigged?
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  3. "they truly do believe, but choose to suppress that truth in order to justify their rebellion and sin."

    Quick question Paul:

    I'm telling you right now, I truly do not believe in your God, or any God, at the moment. I might later believe, but I do not currently believe.

    Paul, am I to understand that you think I just lied to you right now?

    What does acting like I don't believe, when I actually believe, gain me? A few years of sinning, compared to an eternity of hellfire?

    Do you think I'm really that idiotic?

    Paul, I understand that you believe that statement. All I can tell you is that it's wrong. I honestly do not believe in your God. I'm not supressing anything when I say that, because again, what's the point? What... I think I'm going to trick God?

    It doesn't make sense.
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  4. It's such a silly argument, "everything comes from nothing". At best, Christians can be accused of the same thing: everything requires a creator, but what created God?

    Nothing.
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  5. Romans 1:18-21, they truly do believe, but choose to suppress that truth in order to justify their rebellion and sin.

    In order to help you see how ridiculous this is, let me use that other great bastion of reason, Scientology:

    You Christian people believe in Xenu but choose to suppress your thetans in order to justify your rebellion and non operational status.
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  6. You know that evolution is pretty much accepted as fact by those in biological fields, right? Granted this is an argumentum ad populum, but there is something to be said about having the bulk of experts supporting evolutionary theory. :)
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  7. When you go to the YouTube page for that video, you will see:

    "Adding comments has been disabled for this video."

    Shocked, I am.

    Paul, the video is full of spin and leading language, asked of people who are not knowledgeable about the subject, prefaced by a bunch of quote-mining and misdirection from Kirk Cameron.

    In other words, it's rigged.

    From an outsider's viewpoint, I have to wonder why I should accept claims about things I don't know about from people who can't get claims correct about the things that I do know about, you know what I mean? If Kirk and Ray have The Truth, then why would they need to spin, quote-mine, selectively edit, use leading language, and so on to make their point?

    This was a major issue to me when I was an evangelist, because I saw other evangelists using these (dishonest, in my opinion) techniques.
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  8. Hi Paul,

    I realize that you haven't posted my previous comments yet, but I've been thinking of them and I think that it might appear that I was more on your case than intended.

    I apologize; I should put more consideration into comments that I make it 5 minute breaks at work, to better match my intended tone.

    I just ask you, Paul, to consider that I, at least, think that my viewpoints as a non-believer are being (unintentionally, I assume) malignantly distorted in your post. I would say the same to someone who was distorting your viewpoint to make a point.
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  9. "WWWHOA NELLIEEEE!"

    OK, folks! I appreciate your comments. Thank you.

    This is one response to all commentators. I need to make this clear:

    The Word Street Journal is a blogsite published by a Christian for Christians. As my homepage states, it's main goal is to encourage Christians who share their faith, motivate those who do not and, hopefully, glorify God in the process.

    And it is there where I must spend what little time and energy I have available for me to keep this blog alive and focused on the above mission at hand.

    I welcome and appreciate comments. Unfortunately, however, this site does not facilitate space or time for debate. As I'm sure you can understand, my offerings are from a Christian's perspective, written with a biblical bias for fellow Christians to read and consider for themselves.

    I have my personal opinions on some matters, but that does not mean I am always right. Far from it. Nor does it mean I am better than anyone who might disagree with me on certain issues found in my postings, be they atheist, agnostic, evolutionist, religious or even genuinely Christian for that matter.

    I respect other peoples' thoughts and opinions and welcome debate whenever possible. Just not here.

    There is a plethora of other Christian blogsites that non-Christians can debate with Christians on. Just not here.

    My reasons are simply twofold:

    1) my main purpose for this site as stated above and

    2) TIME

    Like most, I have a full time family, a full time house and a full time job. Add to that for me as a full time Christian, a full time faith, a full time ministry.

    Yes, life is full.

    This blog is a very small part of my ministry. It's small because it's small on my list of priorities in my daily life and responsibilities.

    I enjoy blogging. It is both a personal and a creative outlet for me at the same time. A sort of hobby, if you will. I try to give others good food for encouragement and thought and, at the same time, benefit from others' offerings.

    I have much, yet, to learn from others and from the Scriptures in matters of life and faith. The day I stop learning will be the day I die.

    But as much as I would enjoy respectful debate on many issues regarding my faith, I just simply cannot make it a priority on this blog. It would just take up too much time.

    I will, however, make it a priority to pray for all who write in and make it clear to me that they stand outside of the grace of God through His Son, the Savior, Jesus Christ. It would be negligible of me as a Christian not to love you enough to do so.

    Your eternal life, as it presently stands, is at peril, even though you may not to believe that. I know where you are. I was there for the first 43 years of my life.

    I pray that God would be merciful to grant you what He granted me even when I was trying to fight Him off: a regenerated heart that caused me to see that I was a sinner in need of a Savior, the gift of true repentance and the gift of faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of all my sins through His death on the cross for me, as my substitute,and His resurrection.

    And now, I can die, even at this moment, with ablsolute assurance that I will be granted eternal life in Heaven with God, not by anything good I had ever done, but solely by what Christ did for me. I have been rescued from a well deserved eternal damnation in hell and have been given what I truly do not deserve, eternal life in Heaven.

    Such grace, such mercy, such love has been made available through Christ. My prayer is that I will see you in Heaven one fine day.

    In closing, I will still welcome comments and publish them out of consideration, if they are not offensive. But, please, do not be offended if I do not take the time to respond.

    As it is right now, I gotta run out to rake the leaves off the lawn and head off for my afternoon shift at work. And that's only the beginning!

    Thanks for your understanding.
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  10. Well, to your credit Paul, you did "inspire" us.

    I'll admit that I'm annoyed when someone makes inflammatory and ultimately baseless statements, and then can't/wont discuss them afterwards. In internet-speak, it would make you appear to be a troll or a flamer (ie. one who likes to start trouble). Nonetheless, this is your blog, and you can choose avoid discussion for any reason whatsoever.

    I believe you're sincere in your explanation above. All invective aside here, thanks for replying. I understand and respect needing to "prioritize", in terms of where you spend your time & energy; I'm often forced to do the same.

    By way of constructive critique, it might be helpful if you explain (somewhere on your main page) that the blog isn't meant for discussion. The ability to post comments openly here had me fooled.

    Cheers, and best of luck to you.
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  11. Thanks Paul, completely understand your time constraints.

    While you pray for me, I'll share my hopes with you.

    I hope that one day you'll see that you don't need to waste your limited time on rituals so you can live the one life you've got.

    All the best to you and yours for the coming holidays.
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  12. Whateverman,

    Thanks so much for your understanding and respect. I agree with you about the flamer thing. Thats not a constructive nor considerate way of doing things.

    AI really appreciate your constructive critique. In no way was I trying to fool anybody. I apologize for that.

    I will gladly look into changing the wording on my homepage so readers may know that I am willing to recieve comments but choose not to respond in the realm of debate due to the two main reasons I stipulated in my last comment.

    Thanks for the tip and for your kind wishes.
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  13. Vagon,

    Thank you, as well, for your understanding. I do appreciate it.

    I will be my privilege to pray for you, sir. I take that duty seriously. I care for you and about where you will be spending eternity. That's my heart speaking. I'm not into rituals.

    Thank you for your kind wishes. Likewise, for sure...and then some. ;)
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  14. Dale in TX,

    Thanks for your prayers. Much appreciated, brother. And no...due to the nature of the project (and the fact I only have two hands) the cross will stay at home.
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  15. That’s awesome! It’s great to see more brothers and sisters out there today also.

    http://gospelforchico.blogspot.com/2009/11/origin-of-species-origin-into-schools.html
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