College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Butler's Commentary

SECTION 3

16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed every day. 17For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18because we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

2 Corinthians 4:16 Wasting: Paul looks back to the statements he made earlier about the life that is available in Jesus (2 Corinthians 4:6; 2 Corinthians 4:10). This life is verified by the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. This is the basis upon which Paul is able to say, So we do not lose heart. Without this historical basis depression and despair sets in when one contemplates his mortality.

One of the great problems which each of (including preachers) has to face is, I am going to die! Sooner or later, it strikes all of us that our outer nature is wasting away! Infirmity, disease, the death of loved ones or close friends, or even the knowledge of the death of those in our own neighborhoods or communities makes us ever aware that our turn at death is inevitable. We often make concerted effort to sublimate such thoughts, but they keep recurring nevertheless. And even Christians occasionally succumb to depression when contemplating their wasting away. Depression at the contemplation of death was most certainly a temptation to the saints of the Old Testament (see Isaiah 38:9-20; Job 17:1-16, etc.). Almost everyone, if they are completely honest, have moments of misgiving, fear, anxiety and discouragement knowing they must die.

But, says Paul, we need not lost heart. The Greek word Paul used was egkakoumen, from ek and kakos, literally, eviled out. In other words, there is no need for the Christian to be wiped out or completely devastated by the fact of his physical mortality. There are times when even Paul was at the point of despair over his mortality (see 2 Corinthians 1:8; 2 Timothy 1:15; 2 Timothy 4:9-16). But he always conquered that temptation by remembering the life that was his in Christ Jesus.

The outer nature is, in the Greek text, ho exo hemon anthropos; literally, the outer of us, mankind. Paul is speaking of the humanness or the fleshly part of our beingour mortal bodies. That part is wasting away (Gr. diaphtheiretai, being disabled). Our disabilities prove our mortality.

But while our body is decaying, our inner nature (Gr. ho eso hemon, lit. the inner of us) is being renewed (Gr. anakainoutai, lit. again made different). The Greek word anakainoutai does not mean renewed in the sense of recently, but in the sense of differently. It is best explained in Paul's statement in 2 Corinthians 3:18... being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another.. This renewal is not something that is determined emotionally or mystically. It is something that may be judged objectively by comparing the transformation that is taking place in our minds and wills and choices as we compare our lives with the life of Jesus Christ documented in the Bible. It is the process of sanctification. We are sanctified by the truth (see John 17:17) John wrote his first epistle to tell Christians that they may know when they are being renewed. John says we know it when we know we are keeping Christ's commandments. God created us and sent Christ to redeem us in order that we may be conformed to the image of his Son (Romans 8:28-29). And God works that conformity in our lives through disciplining our minds so we set them on the things of the Spirit (see Romans 8:1-25). Thus when our inner man (our spirit) is in agreement with His Spirit (according to His written word), (Romans 8:12-17) we know we are children of God and we know our inner man is being made different (renewed). The experience is not to be judged subjectively, but objectively.

This renewal is not something that only happens at mountain top moments of spirituality. The apostle says it occurs, hemera kai hemera, day after day. It happens in the every-day experiences of life. It takes place during the sufferings of this present time (Romans 8:18). It takes place when we share in his (Christ'S) sufferings (Philippians 3:10-11). It takes place during our earthly chastenings (Hebrews 12:1-17). Even the constant reminder of our wasting away contributes to it. But primarily, it happens in the every-day conformity of our minds and lives to the commandments of the Spirit of God in his word.

2 Corinthians 4:17 Weariness: Next Paul mentions the slight momentary affliction. It is slight and momentary, but it is affliction nevertheless! There is a depressing weariness about the constant afflictions reminding us of our wasting away. It haunts us and tires us out as it hounds us every day of our life on earth. It may come in many forms, but it is always there.

Paul was always in a strait betwixt the two (Philippians 1:23) when he contemplated his mortality. The Greek word sunechomai is translated strait in Philippians 1:23. It means, pressed together, pressurized. The thought of departing this life for the next bothered and pressured Paul.

And another pressing problem by all mortals (including preachers)surfaces in this text. What is waiting for me when I die? Most atheistic philosophies answer, Nothing! They believe (they believe because they have no empirical knowledge about after death) human beings perish or cease to exist after death. There is no life beyond death for the atheist. Such belief leads to hedonism (see 1 Corinthians 15:32-34) which leads to immorality and ultimately, to despair. Atheistic unbelief in eternal life has spawned the existential meaninglessness of life in our century which has produced so much despair, depression, civil disobedience, and suicide. (For illustrations, of this, see Special Studies, Evolution; Unscientific & Immoral; Unbelief Is Deliberate; and, God - Fact or Fiction at the end of this chapter.) On the other hand, the common philosophy of Main Street U.S.A. is that in the after-life, anything can happen! The possibilities are so multitudinous you simply live your life and take your choice (or your chances). This view is based on wishful thinking and the delusions of human self-righteousness. It is also kindled by uncertain and controversial experiences of people (perhaps demonic deception) who claim to have died and returned to life. Such experiences are so vague, contradictory and non-verifiable, they are not worth considering genuine. They are based on no objectivityonly the individual's subjective experience. The resurrection from the dead of Jesus Christ, on the other hand, was verified objectively and empirically by hundreds of eyewitnesses.

Because of Jesus-' historically verified resurrection, we believe his claims. We therefore believe the claims of his apostles that what they have written is divine revelation, inspired by God's Holy Spirit, and inerrantly delivered to mankind in human language. What the apostle Paul says about the existence of life after death and the nature of that life is acceptable as a reality. Faith (the Christian faith) is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1). The Christian faith in the nature of life after death is based on the teaching of the only man (Jesus Christ) who, as far as history records, has ever clearly, openly, and ultimately survived death. According to the eyewitnessed record of his life, this Jesus not only raised others from the dead, he completely conquered death himself. He sent his apostles to promise a glorious existence for all who believe in him and keep his commandments after the death of their bodies. They are promised paradise with him (see Luke 23:43).

We must never forget, however, that there is a direct tie between the afflictions of our wasting away in this physical life and the glory that is to be ours in the next life. The one is preparing for the other. No matter how great the trial may seem to us, compared with what is coming it is relatively slight. No trial, no pain, no isolation, no heartache, no loneliness, no weakness or failure, no sense of being put aside, is without significance. All of it is playing its part in accomplishing God's work in our lives and the lives of others. It is building for us an incomparable weight of glory. This one verse (2 Corinthians 4:17) is perhaps the most majestic verse in all the Bible! The hope of the Christian is a glory that has nothing on earth by which it may he compared! Gather together all the fame, riches, power, beauty, glory and capabilities ever experience in all of historyput all this in one huge pile, and it is not even worth comparing with the glory that shall belong to the Christian in the next life! It staggers the imagination! It is beyond human language, beyond human experiencenot even an apostle could find words to describe it (see 2 Corinthians 12:2-4).

The Greek verb katergazetai (is preparing or is achieving, accomplishing, producing, working) describes the action being done by the subject of the sentence which is to parautika elaphron tes thlipseos, the slight momentary affliction. It is the affliction of this present life which is producing for us the eternal weight of glory. The Greek verb katergazetai is present, active, indicative, meaning that the affliction is continuing, is constantly, working or preparing our glory. The preparation (affliction) never ceases so long as we are in this life.

Affliction, trial, testing can never defeat the faithful believer in Christ. God uses it all to work out ultimate good. That which seems bad and undesirable becomes man's servant through the merciful grace of God.
The believer's afflictions are working an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. That phrase, beyond all comparison, is in the Greek test: huperholen eis huperholen. The phrase might be translated, excessively unto excess. The word huperholen literally means, cast beyond. It is a magnificent sequence of Greek words to express the incomparablethe unimaginable, the incomprehensible. What God has laid up for the faithful believer is inexpressible. It is unsearchable (see Job 5:9; Psalms 145:3; Romans 11:33; Ephesians 3:8).

That literary giant, C.S. Lewis, has given perhaps the best human attempt (outside the Scriptures) to describe the eternal weight of glory. beyond all comparison in his book entitled, The Weight of Glory. Lewis says it is fame with God, approval or. appreciation by God. He continues:

... no one can enter heaven except as a child; and nothing is so obvious in a child. as its great and undisguised pleasure in being praised. and that is enough to raise our thoughts to what may happen when the redeemed soul, beyond all hope and nearly beyond belief, learns at last that she has pleased Him whom she was created to please. There will be no room for vanity then. She will be free from the miserable illusion that it is her doing. With no taint of what we should now call self-approval she will most innocently rejoice in the thing that God has made her to be, and the moment which heals her old inferiority complex forever will also drown her pride.. If God is satisfied with the work, the work may be satisfied with itself.. The promise of glory is the promise, almost incredible and only possible by the work of Christ, that some of us, that any of us who really chooses, shall actually survive that examination (the judgment), shall find approval, shall please God. To please God. to be a real ingredient in the divine happiness. to be loved by God, not merely pitied, but delighted in as an artist delights in his word or a father in a sonit seems impossible, a weight or burden of glory which our thoughts can hardly sustain. But so it is.
In another paragraph, C.S. Lewis waxes even more eloquently:
We are to shine as the sun, we are to be given the Morning Star. I think I begin to see what it means. In one way, of course, God has given us the Morning Star already. You can go and enjoy the gift on many fine mornings if you get up early enough. What more, you may ask, do we want? Ah, but we want so much moresomething the books on aesthetics take little notice of. But the poets and the mythologies know all about it. We do not want merely to see beauty, though, God knows, even that is bounty enough. We want something else which can hardly be put into wordsto be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become part of it. (And then he adds these words:) The door on which we have all been knocking all our lives will open at last.

The three apostles, Peter, James and John, were permitted to glimpse a veiled portion of that incomparable glory when they saw Jesus transfigured (Gr. metamorphothe, changed in form) (see Matthew 17:2; Mark 9:2; Luke 9:29). It will be, as nearly as human language can describe it, somewhat similar to John's description of the pre-existent Christ (John 1:1-18) and the risen, glorified Christ (Revelation 1:12-16; Revelation 5:14; Revelation 19:11-16). Peter describes his experience of Christ's transfiguration from mortality to immortality in 2 Peter 1:16-21. Paul describes what he experienced of the glory of Christ in Acts 9:3-9 - Acts 22:6-11; Acts 26:12-15; 2 Corinthians 12:2-4). And even those fall short. For our eternal weight of glory is, by definition, beyond comparison, outside human experience. All intelligible descriptions of it, however, must be of things within our experienceand all the while we must believe it is beyond that. If Heaven could tell me no more of my future glory than my own experience in this life would lead me to expect, then Heaven would be no higher and greater than my experience and no greater than this creation. But it is higher and greater. And that I trust on the word of God and his Son, Jesus Christ. And that is Paul's next point. There is a weariness while we suffer this slight momentary affliction. But we must not lose heart. We must believe that our labor is not in vain in the Lord.

2 Corinthians 4:18 Wistfulness: One of the problems preachers often face is a temptation to case a wistful (pensive, melancholic) eye on the things of the world. He is occasionally tempted to look back, after having put his hand to the plow, and wish he could find relief from his affliction by indulging in the things that are seen. This text (2 Corinthians 4:16-18) deals with that problem.

The Greek participle skopounton may be interpreted as having conditional force. The RSV clearly translates 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 as a conditional sentence when it separates the two verses with only a comma and connects them with the word because. 2 Corinthians 4:18 is the conditional clause (or, the protasis) which modifies the principle clause (or, the apodosis) of 2 Corinthians 4:17. In a conditional sentence, the conditional clause states a supposition and the principle clause states the result of the fulfillment of this supposition. In the sentence before us (2 Corinthians 4:17-18), the protasis is 2 Corinthians 4:18, and the apodosis is 2 Corinthians 4:17. In other words, the preparing of our eternal weight of glory is conditioned upon our looking not at the things that are seen but looking to the things that are unseen. It is not enough that believers suffer afflictionthis in itself does not work glory. Affliction works glory only if the believer focuses his mind's eye intently on the things that really matter. To keep from losing heart in the throes of affliction and mortalness, and to have the blessed hope of the incomparable glory, the believer must set his mind on the things of the Spirit (Romans 8:5 ff)on the things that are above (Colossians 3:1-4).

The Greek phrase, me skopounton hemon ta hlepomena, may be translated, ... because we are not contemplating the things being seen.. Both participles are present tense and active. The Christian, rather, looks to the things not being seen (Gr. ta me hlepomena). Does this mean the Christian is not to look at trees, stars, sky, houses, physical bodies or other natural objects? Not at all! It would be absurd to interpret Paul's statement into such a meaning. Paul means the Christian is not to set his mind on the values and standards of worldliness. Paul means the Christian must decide that the things of Heaven, the values and standards and promises of God (disavowed by the worldly mind-set) are the realities. What the carnal mind-set calls realities (materialism, sensuality, atheism) are not realities at all because they are transitory. All that is physical and material (although not unreal and not evil in itself) is not abiding. All of it, too, shall pass away. Paul calls all that is being seen transient (Gr. proskaira, temporaryPaul uses the same word in Hebrews 11:25 to speak of the fleeting pleasures of sin). Only that which is unseen by the physical eye, and of God, is real! Only what is in heaven last forever. All that is real is promised and described, as nearly as human language can describe the unseen, in the Bibleand in the Bible only! The unseen (and unseeable) things of Heaven are present realities to the Christian by faith (see Hebrews 11:1). And that faith is founded on empirically-verified evidence that such unseen powers and qualities do exist beyond the realm of the physical and empirical.

It has always been difficult for men to believe that there are unseen realities, invisible to human eye and investigation, but nevertheless very real and very important. The mind of man struggles with the descriptions of the supernatural and the promises of life beyond death (both as to its existence and its quality) because it all seems to be contrary to his experience. But man must learn not to trust his own presuppositions and limited experiences. Even the physical sciences (uninterpreted by evolutionism) teach man that there is a reality beyond that which is seen with the physical eye.
As man realizes his mortality, and as he approaches more surely the end of his existence in this life, these unseen realities become more and more significant to him. And nothing is more encouraging to a person with the problem of discouragement than to realize that when he believes the word of God he has found eternal reality. This is what life is all about.

Special Study

UNBELIEF IS DELIBERATE
by Paul T. Butler
Introduction

First of all you must understand this, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own passions and saying, `Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things have continued as they were from the beginning of creation.-' They deliberately ignore this fact, that by the word of God heavens existed long ago, and an earth formed out of water and by means of water, through which the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. 2 Peter 3:3-6

UNBELIEF ALMOST INCOMPREHENSIBLE

Faced by what seems so logical and reasonable, so sensible and so beneficial evidence. so true and right. we do not understand why there is unbelief.

Why do so many people who seem sensible, sincere, reasonable, not acknowledge the same truths we hold to be so self-evident?
Why, in a world of so many intelligent, relatively moral and upright people, is there so much unbelief?

Peter, in our text, I believe, shows the primary cause of unbeliefDELIBERATE IGNORANCE

The Bible has a great deal to say about this. we will discuss it in just a moment from the aspect of Peter's entire 3rd chapter of this 2nd epistle.

II.

SOME UNBELIEF IS DUE TO A SIMPLE LACK OF KNOWLEDGE

Faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes by the preaching of Christ. Romans 10:17

Often times children grow up, even in Christian homes, without ever having been given a faith with foundations in facts or evidence (cf. Deuteronomy 6:6-25)

The church has not fulfilled her mission until she has presented the good news founded on the evidences of factual history.

But even a lack of knowledge will not be accepted as an excuse by God since all men have had enough knowledge of God revealed to them that they stand condemned by God if they disbelieve (cf. Romans 1:18 ff)

SO, PRIMARILY SPEAKING, UNBELIEF IS MORAL REBELLION

Discussion

UNBELIEF IS DELIBERATE

For this they willingly are ignorant of. another translation says, They purposely ignore this fact. 2 Peter 3:5.

Unbelief comes to men because they deliberately choose to ignore the facts as these facts reveal a God to whom they have a moral responsibility

Romans 1:21 men. became futile in their thinking and their senseless minds were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man or birds or animals or reptiles. Romans 1:5, they exchanged the truth about God for a lie. Romans 1:28 they refused to have God in their knowledge.

But the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse. Romans 1:20

Men may deny the facts if they wish. but they are without excuse because God is so sufficiently revealed even in nature that unbelief condemns men. the evidence, the facts are so abundant that any man who says there is no God is a fool, for only a fool is willingly ignorant.
Dr. G.G. Simpson, famous Paleontologist from Harvard once said concerning some highly improbable evidence as to the origin of the horse, it is improbable as to be unacceptable unless we can find no hypothesis more likely to explain the facts. IN OTHER WORDS, HE IS WILLING TO ACCEPT AN UNACCEPTABLE EXPLANATION IF THERE IS, IN HIS ESTIMATION, NONE BETTER!

Jesus once made a most shocking accusation against the Pharisees, But because I say the truth, ye believe me not John 8:45

The very reason they would not believe Jesus was the fact that He told them the truth. There is hardly a worse state man can get himself into than this!

Those who hate the truth will be deceived and believe a lie (2 Thessalonians 2:10-12). These do not love the truth therefore they are not attracted to it and even when they see it, they hastily reject it and rationalize their reaction.

The god of this world has blinded the minds of those who believe not (2 Corinthians 4:3-4). These refuse to listen to the truth when it condemns the unrighteous things in which they find pleasure and which they are determined to continue.. Thus they seek for some message which will assure them that the unrighteous thing is right and thus permit them to continue in it without being rebuked by their conscience. God sends such people strong delusions. He has ordained the laws of man's heart and of morality, and that person who has no love for the truth and who lives in and takes pleasure in unrighteousness will unfit his heart for the reception of truth and fit it for the reception of strong delusions which comfort and assure him in his error and unrighteousness.

Dr. Henry Morris, when on the OBC campus for the 1966 Science & Scripture Forum, emphasizing the impact of the 2nd law of thermodynamics upon theories of evolution concluded that ANY SCIENTIST AWARE OF THIS LAW (AND ALL SHOULD BE) WHO REMAINS AN EVOLUTIONIST OR UNIFORMITARIAN, MUST DO SO BY DELIBERATELY IGNORING THIS FACT!

Jeremiah put it this way.. Behold their ears are closed, they cannot listen; behold, the word of the Lord is to them an object of scorn, they take no pleasure in it. Jeremiah 6:10 (see also Jeremiah 6:16-19).

scoffers. walking after their own lusts. 2 Peter 3:3.

Unbelief comes to men because they choose to walk after their own lusts (Romans 1:1-32). God gave them up to the lusts of their own hearts. unto vile affections. they not only do these things but even take pleasure in seeing others do them.

The people of Israel cried out to Moses as Pharaoh approached, It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness. would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate bread to the full. Exodus 14:10-12; Exodus 16:1-3.

Desire to satisfy the flesh chokes out the word. Matthew 13:13-23

Unbelief is due to the fact that men choose deliberately to have physical security, or sensual pleasure, or pride

Agrippa's lust for a woman not his own caused him to deliberately refuse to believe Paul, Acts 26:28

And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light lest his deeds should be reproved (exposed for what they really are). John 3:19-20

For the time will come when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander into myths.

One of man's lusts which causes him to deliberately disbelieve is PRIDE

Pride from wealth, Deuteronomy 8:1-20

Pride from power, Exodus 5:2; Daniel 4:30; Daniel 5:23

Pride from security, Obadiah 1:3

Pride from self-righteousness, Job 33:9; Luke 18:11; John 9:39-41; Revelation 3:17

Pride from self-sufficiency, James 4:13-17

Pride is man's desire for human autonomy over against the sovereignty of God. a proud man does not need a Provider, Protector, Guide and Saviour. BUT HE IS NOT FREE FOR HE HIDESONE WAY OR ANOTHER HE HIDES

ANIMAL LUSTS OF MEN DECEIVE THEM INTO DELIBERATELY DENYING GOD, THE BIBLE, HEAVEN AND HELL, BECAUSE THEY WANT TO SATISFY THEIR FLESHLY DESIRES.. THEY DO NOT NEED GOD FOR THEY ARE SELF-SUFFICIENT. THEREFORE THEY WANDER (deliberately) INTO THE MYTHS OF EVOLUTION, HUMANISM, COMMUNISM, AND JUST PLAIN STUBBORNNESS.
ALL OF US HAVE HEARD PEOPLE SAY, I KNOW THE BIBLE IS HISTORY AND IT'S TRUE AND I OUGHT TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT ITS DEMANDS, BUT I-'M NOT READY TO GIVE UP THIS AND THAT, AND SO ON. OR SOME WILL SAY, I CAN-'T BELIEVE THE BIBLE IS TRUE BECAUSE THERE ARE SO MANY THINGS IT CONDEMNS WHICH I FEEL ARE ALRIGHT.

they that are unlearned and unstable wrest the scriptures unto their own destruction 2 Peter 3:16

Unbelief comes to men when they wrest the scriptures

Satan, the father of unbelief, perverted the scripture at the temptation of Jesus (Matthew 4:5-6)

Paul had to contend with the Judaizers who corrupted (2 Corinthians 2:17) and dishonestly handled the word of God deceitfully (2 Corinthians 4:2).

The prejudiced and biased mind is a form of deliberate unbelief (cf. John 8:12; John 7:24) so also is the one who allows himself to be influenced by rumor or opinions of so-called intelligentsia (cf. John 7:12; John 7:40-43; James 1:6-7; Ephesians 4:13-14).

Cowardice or conformity also leads to deliberate unbelief (cf. John 12:41-43; John 9:1-41)

Liberalism, Modernisma result of men who have deceitfully and dishonestly handled the Word of God has infected hundreds of thousands of gullible people who feel they must conform in churches all around us and within the Restoration Movement.

Existentialism, by deceit, has duped many into unbelief

Men, by their traditions, have made void the word of God and led many unto belief.

THE WRESTING OF THE SCRIPTURES TO MAINTAIN DIVISION WITHIN CHRISTENDOM BRINGS UNBELIEF. JESUS PRAYED IN John 17:1-26. THAT THEY ALL MAY BE ONE, THAT THE WORLD MAY BELIEVE THAT THOU DIDST SEND ME!

WRESTING THE SCRIPTURES IS CERTAIN EVIDENCE OF DISRESPECT FOR GOD AND, ON THE OTHER HAND PRIDE IN SELF!
WHEN MEN EXCHANGE THE TRUTH OF GOD FOR A LIE, THEY BEGIN TO WORSHIP THE CREATURE RATHER THAN THE CREATOR. PERHAPS NOT FROGS AND CROCODILES LIKE THE EGYPTIANS. BUT MAN WORSHIPPING MAN IS JUST AS DESPICABLE FOR IT IS CREATURE WORSHIP!

The Jews of the Prophet's days wrested the scripture by interpreting the promise of the Messiah and His kingdom as one of fleshly indulgence. their hearts were filled with unbelief

10.

The Pharisees wrested the scriptures to declare their goods Corban. they deceitfully handled the Word of God to take oaths by the gold of the altar rather than the altar itself and robbed people and refused to pay pledges (Matthew 23:1-39)

THE SEEMING SLACKNESS OF GOD IN BRINGING JUDGMENT UPON DISOBEDIENCE OR PERVERSION OF GOD'S WORD, CAUSES MEN TO FEEL THEY CAN USURP GOD AND DO AS THEY PLEASE WITH HIS WORD. WRESTING IT TO SERVE THEIR LUSTS.
It is clear that the evidences for Christianity are of such nature that they bring to the surface what is in a man! If one is unwilling to follow Christbecause of the demand which such would make on his life he can think up reasons to justify his unwillingness. The real reasonhis unwillingnesswill be hidden from others by these rationalizations and finally even from himself because he does not think beyond these reasons.
The fact that one must love the truth indicates that the attitude of heart has something to do with whether or not one will believe. He who wants a careless, immoral life, will not want the faith which is a constant rebuke to such a life.

II.

BELIEF IS DELIBERATE

Saving faith is voluntary. Had the revelation of God been so strong that anyone beholding could not disbelieve, it would have overridden moral freedom and this would be evidence unsuitable to moral subjects

The true purpose of God is not to produce obedience by force, but to treat men as free moral agents.

Belief comes to an informed mind

Peter writes to stir up their mind and to call to remembrance the revealed word of God. 2 Peter 3:1

God's revelation was made intelligently and he expects man to apprehend it with the use of intelligence (Romans 10:17)

That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ 1 John 1:3

Paul reasoned with the Jews from the scriptures about the Christ (Acts 17:1-4; Acts 18:3; Acts 18:19).

WE MUST DELIBERATELY LEARN AND RECEIVE THE FACTS ABOUT GOD, JESUS, AND THE BIBLE, BEFORE WE CAN BELIEVE. PETER IS ONE WHO PUTS A PREMIUM ON KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST THROUGH THE WORD FOR HE KNOWS THAT BELIEF COMES THIS WAY! (1 Peter 1:22-25; 1 Peter 3:15; 2 Peter 1:3-21; 2 Peter 3:18)

Belief come to a submissive will

If any many will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself. John 7:17

The Pharisees of Jesus day were filled with unbelief because they would not let the word of Christ have free course in them. John 8:37

THIS SAME STUBBORN UNWILLINGNESS TO DO GOD'S WILL LED THE PHARISEES TO REJECT THE COUNSEL OF GOD, REFUSING TO BE BAPTIZED OF JOHN THE BAPTIST (Luke 7:29-30)

And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments 1 John 2:3

GOD GAVE MAN A WILL. HE GAVE HIM A FREE WILL. MAN IS FREE TO SURRENDER TO WHATEVER HE WISHES. BELIEF OR UNBELIEF

Belief comes to a pure heart

Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. Does not Jesus mean believe in God?

The honest and good heart is the soil upon which the seed (the word of God) falls and brings forth much fruit, Luke 8:1-56

But he that doeth the truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. John 3:21

A HEART CALLOUSED BY IMPURITY, GREED, LASCIVIOUSNESS, AND SIN IS HARDENED AGAINST ANY KIND OF BELIEF EXCEPT UNBELIEF! THE HEART THAT IS PURE, CLEAN, AND WHOLESOME IS MALLEABLE, SOFT, COMPASSIONATE, EASILY ENTREATED, RESPONSIVE TO THE HIGHEST AND NOBLEST. RESPONSIVE TO THE DIVINE LOVE LETTER. GOD'S BOOK OF LOVE!

Conclusion

HOW DOES MAN, SNARED IN THE TRAP OF THE DEVIL, BLINDED BY THE DEVIL, DECEIVED BY THE DEVIL INTO UNBELIEF, COME TO BELIEF??

There must be an a priori which must be admitted. Man must admit that he is rational and that there are objects and facts to be known. To deny he thinks he must think. Even to represent himself to irrational he must think rationally!

II.

Many facts (truths) are MORAL FACTS. That is they exhibit, form or display moral character or attributes. All of God's works (both natural and supernatural) exhibit His moral attributes and character. His wrath upon sin; His love for the sinner (cf. Romans 1:18-22; Acts 14:15-17; Acts 17:22-31; John 3:16, etc.)

III.

The Will or the Heart or the Mind of man must be changed or moved or transformed by a presentation of moral facts (cf. Romans 12:1-2; 2 Corinthians 10:3-5; Romans 10:17)

IV.

Man then makes a choice or gives assent to what he knows to be true and moral and right. An emotion is an experience brought about by the prospect of some value's being gained or lost. We become emotional about something after receiving the moral facts and reasoning on themthen we make a choice. WHICH IS MOST TO BE DESIRED. MATERIAL OR SPIRITUAL?

MAN THEN COMES TO FAITH. Faith is trust, love, obedience, commitment. Faith is an experiencebased squarely on the foregoing steps (See chart on page 123.)

The infamous Madalyn Murray O-'Hair, drop-out from humanity, speaking on the campus of Drake University, asked why she speaks on college campuses, replied, To corrupt the youth!
Mad-at-God-Madalyn says, I believe this would be the best of all possible worlds if everybody were an atheist or an agnostic or a humanist.
I don-'t think the church has ever contributed anything to anybody, any place, at any time. I can-'t pinpoint a period in history or a place in the universe where religion has actually helped the welfare of man.
There is absolutely no conclusive evidence that Jesus ever really existed, even as a mortal. I don-'t believe he was a historical figure at all. Until someone proves otherwise, therefore, these stories about him must be considered nothing more than folk tales consisting in equal parts of legend and wish fulfillment. But there is never going to be any way of verifying them one way or the other.
WOULD YOU SAY THIS WOMAN IS A FREE-THINKER. ALWAYS WILLING TO INVESTIGATE EVIDENCE. OPEN-MINDED. OBJECTIVE!!!?
Also, I reject the idea of a life hereafter on the same grounds. Do you know anybody who has come back with a first-hand report on heaven? If you do, let me know. Until then you-'ll pardon me if I don-'t

HOW DOES A PERSON BELIEVE IN GOD?

The central problem in today's theological scene lies in the area of epistemologythe truth questionJohn Warwick Montgomery in a book review in Eternity magazine, January, 1968.

buy it.

I agree with Mark Twain, who wrote about the hereafter, that there is no sex in it; you can-'t eat anything in it; there is absolutely nothing physical in it. You wouldn-'t have your brain, you wouldn-'t have any sensation, you wouldn-'t be able to enjoy anythingunless you were queer for hymn singing and harp playing. So who needs it? SPEAKING FOR MYSELF, I-'D RATHER GO TO HELL.

UNBELIEF CAN-'T GET ANY MORE DELIBERATE THAN THAT!
It is a matter of choice! Choose ye this day whom you will serve. Why go ye limping between the two sides if Baal be God worship himJesus depicted life as a choice between two waysnot three (no neutrality)

Special Study

GODFACT OR FICTION?

(Genesis 1:1)

In the beginning, God..

(Hebrews 11:6)

Introduction

THE HUMAN MIND IS ABLE TO COME TO REST IN A FIRST CAUSE

Some say we cannot argue at all about the First Cause which is Uncaused since we have no faculties for comprehending the Infinite

This may be true but it is only part of the truth. His nature and attributes are too great for any human mind to fully comprehend and for any human language to express completely

But the same is true of many finite things also

Man cannot even know himself in any ultimate sense

The forces of nature are all unseen and unknowable in themselves. simply for lack of knowledge of the ultimate essence of the force which holds the world in place we have called it gravity.

Reminds me of a discussion Dr. Harry Rimmer was having with a reknowned physicist who was criticizing the Bible for its unscientific nature. Dr. Rimmer asked the good Dr., What holds the world in place. Gravity, of course, came the erudite reply. Then what is gravity, said Dr. Rimmer. Well, I suppose the best answer I can give is it is that which holds the world in place, said the reknowned scientist.

Man is still at a loss to understand all he knows about the atom and the sub-atomic particles, and DNA, and RNA and LSD and on and on we could go. YET WE KNOW SOMETHING ABOUT ALL OF THIS FROM THE EFFECTS.. AND IN EACH CASE WHAT WE KNOW IS NOT INCORRECT BECAUSE IT IS YET INCOMPLETE OR INCOMPREHENSIBLE. IN MOST CASES EVEN THIS PARTIAL KNOWLEDGE IS SUFFICIENT FOR ALL PRACTICAL PURPOSES

And so, it is true that the existence of a person or a thing may be proved although its nature may not be perfectly understood. The great truth of the existence of God is capable of being established in the same rational certainty which assures all the great verities, duties and practical interests of human life and welfare.

II.

BELIEF IN GOD IS TIED TO RATIONALITY AND OBJECTIVITY

Some erroneous ideas of what faith is

Something mystical, indefinable and beyond grasping in any reasonable fashion.

Something that cannot be defined because it is something subjective, something you feel, and cannot be tied to anything objective.

Something that enables a person to go on in the face of all the evidence to the contrarya movement out of relationship to the known and into the unknown. a leap in the dark

The correct way to faith

Faith (trust, commitment) must, by its very nature, be tied directly to objectivity, to evidence, to knowledge. BY FAITH WE MAKE JUDGMENTS WHICH ARE BASED UPON KNOWLEDGE WHICH IS SUPPLIED BY EVIDENCE!

WHEN REASON PLAYS UPON THE EVIDENCE SUPPLIED BY GOD IN NATURE, HISTORY, THE BIBLE, MAN, IT IS PLAYING ON EVIDENCE EQUALLY OBJECTIVE TO THE EVIDENCE BROUGHT TO CONSIDERATION BY ANY BIOLOGIST, GEOLOGIST, ETC.

Edward J. Carnell says, ... all belief (faith) rests on authority. the authority can be direct or indirect. and what is authority if it is not the power of sufficient evidences to elicit assent?

CHRISTIAN SCHOLARSHIP AT ITS BEST IS THE APPLICATION OF THE METHODS OF SCIENCE TO THE EVIDENCE OF CHRISTIANITY, A SIFTING AND RESIFTING OF ALL THE EVIDENCE AND OBJECTIVE MATERIAL THAT CAN BE FOUND AND CONSIDERED.
IF WHAT A MAN BELIEVES IS NOT SUPPORTED BY OBJECTIVE EVIDENCE THEN WHAT HE BELIEVES IS UNWORTHY, AND HE MAY WELL BE LIVING IN A DREAM WORLD.

Discussion

GOD KNOWN FROM THE FACTS OF NATURE (cf. Romans 1:18 ff; Psalms 19:1-6; Acts 14:14-17; Acts 17:22-34)

Our judgment that God exists from reasoning upon the evidence supplied in nature begins with what we call the cosmological argument or reasoning from effect to cause.

For every effect there has to be an adequate cause

Effects are all about us. we are an effect. the universe is an effect. neither made themselves. each is dependent upon some higher cause.

Any given entity is either dependent or not dependent. If it is not dependent it is self-contained, self-caused and is therefore an Uncaused First Cause. If an entity is dependent then it is an effect from some extraneous force, which is again, either dependent or not. and so on to an Uncaused Cause

It is irrational and unreasonable to talk about an infinite regression of causes and effects.

The very statement of such a proposition is self-contradictory..

The observed 2nd law of thermodynamics proves the universe to be an effect. YOU CANNOT HAVE A RUNNING DOWN PROCESS UNLESS AT SOMETIME OR ANOTHER IT WAS WOUND UP OR BEGUN. AND WILL AT SOME FUTURE TIME RUN DOWN OR STOP!

Benjamin Franklin, in Paris, made a model planetary system showing the earth and the planets nearest it. Many astronomers copied it to use in their studies. One day an atheist friend saw it and asked, Who made it? No one made it, replied Franklin, it made itself, it just happened. What, cried the man, you-'re joking. And so is the man who says the universe just happened, without a cause, said Franklin.

Two friends slept in their tent on the desert. One put his head out the following morning, Some camels passed here last night. How do you know, did you see them, replied his friend. No, but I see their tracks. EVEN IF WE CANNOT SEE THE INVISIBLE GOD WE SEE HIS HANDIWORK AND KNOW HE HAS BEEN HERE!

Our judgment that God exists from reasoning upon the evidence supplied in nature comes secondly from what is called the teleological argument or the argument from design.

This argument is appealed to in scripture: He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? He that formed the eye shall he not see? Psalms 94:9

In other words, can we believe that the purposiveness of OUR sensory organs can be explained without an Intelligent Purposer or Designer who also hears and sees?

Nature, large and small, shows adaptation of means to endsit shows purpose, design, intelligence, balance

If there is no Intelligent purposive Mind as originator of both man and the universe, two unbelievable things happened: (1) Man developed an intelligence, sense of purpose, design from that which was nonintelligent, illogical, non-purposive, and (2) man, having thus miraculously gained intelligence from non-intelligence, was able to read in the cosmos vast and continuous meanings, rational to him, which had never been put into the universe by any mind or power whatever, and had never been thought at all until man discovered them or read them into that which was non-intelligent, non-purposive BUT REASON REJECTS BOTH PROPOSITIONS!!

And yet, Haeckel (an evolutionist) had the audacity to say, No where in the evolution of plants and animals do we find any trace of design..

Evidences of purposive design

The embryo of the hen makes provision for 2 ovaries and 2 oviducts, but only the left ovary and its duct reach maturity! Why? H.G. Wells was probably right when he said, Female birds have only one ovary and oviduct doubtless to provide against the accidents that might occur if two large and brittle eggs were to knock about simultaneously in their insides.

The Yucca moth and the yucca plant. each is dependent upon the other for its very existence in exclusive manner. the yucca plant is the only food the moth can survive on. while the yucca moth is the only insect which pollenizes the plant.

There are certain types of insects (wasps or bees) which alone can pollenize certain kinds of imported fig trees. these wasps had to be imported to bring the imported fig trees to bear fruit.

Another type of wasp stings the grasshopper in exactly the right spot so that it is paralyzed but not dead. In this way the meat is preserved. The wasp then buries it in the spot where she will lay her young later on. The larvae will then feed on this grasshopper. THINK, NOW, THE VERY FIRST WASPS MUST HAVE DONE THIS ON COMMAND FROM THEIR CREATOR OR THE WASPS WOULD HAVE CEASED TO EXIST.. IT WAS NOT A SLOW LEARNING PROCESS THROUGH TRIAL AND ERROR!

The Venus fly-trap. A carnivorous plant. When a fly alights upon the leaf it closes over it and sucks the fly dry. If a dead fly is dropped on the leaf, the plant closes and then reopens immediately having discovered it to be dead. The plant knows when it has had enough to eat to satisfy it for present, and will not close upon flies when it has had enough. The plant will not close in the rain. unless it is fooled by a drop of water when the sun is shining. It never closes when it is raining normally during cloudy weather because it would miss too many good meals.

The spider weaves the outer spiral portion of his web in a sticky substance and any insect alighting upon it is stuck. But the inner web is non-adhesive. Why? The spider needs a place to rest where he will not be trapped in his own sticky web. But if an insect is caught in the sticky portion, how does the spider get his meal? He has little glands in his legs which secrete just enough oil substance to allow him to do this without getting trapped. But too long a stay on the outer web would cause just enough of the adhesive material to cling to the spiders legs to hinder his work. so he weaves a non-sticky place to which he may retreat.

Statements by famous scientists:

Sir Isaac Newton: This admirably beautiful structure of sun, planets and comets could not have originated except in the wisdom and sovereignty of an Intelligent and Powerful Being.
Edwin B. Frost: In a purposeful creation, I find it not at all inconsistent to believe that there must be a Mind behind it developing the purpose.
Sir Oliver Lodge: ... there must be some Intelligence in all the processes of nature, for they are not random or purposeless, but organized and beautiful.
Sir James Jeans: If the universe is a universe of thought, then its creation must have been an act of Thought.

II.

MAN HIMSELF IS EVIDENCE THAT GOD EXISTS

Man's body (Alexis Carrel in Man, The Unknown.)

An organ builds itself by techniques very foreign to the human mind. It is not made of extraneous material, like a house. Neither is it a cellular construction, a mere assemblage of cells. It is, of course, composed of cells, as a house is of bricks. But it is born from a cell, as if the house originated from one brick, a magic brick that would set about manufacturing other bricks. Those bricks, without waiting for the architects drawings or the coming of the bricklayers, would assemble themselves and form the walls. They would also metamorphose into windowpanes, roofing slates, coal for heating, and water for the kitchen and bathroom. An organ develops by means such as have been attributed to this magic brick. It is engendered by cells which, to all appearances, have a knowledge of the future edifice and synthesize from substances contained in blood plasma, the building material, and even the workers. (DNA and RNA)

Man's moral nature bespeaks a Moral Creator (Romans 2:14 ff)

He has a sense of right and wrong. When he does what he thinks is wrong, his conscience condemns; when he does what he thinks is right, his conscience approves.

He believes justice will be done, some way, somewhere, sometime.

NOW IF WE HAVE THIS SENSE OF RIGHT AND WRONG, THERE MUST HAVE BEEN SOMEONE WHO MADE THIS SENSE IN MAN. THAT WHICH IS MORAL CANNOT ORIGINATE FROM THAT WHICH IS NON-MORAL OR AMORAL

Man is also placed in the midst of an environment that integrates with his moral nature, giving him a chance to choose between right and wrong and to develop and discipline moral character.

The red claw of nature is one of predators and prey. there is balance and design there. but nature knows nothing of justice or morality. TO DESTROY THE BELIEF THAT RIGHT WILL TRIUMPH, THAT THERE IS A GREAT MORAL RULER, GOD, WHO WILL SEE THAT TRUTH PREVAILS, IS TO REMOVE THE VERY FOUNDATIONS OF MORAL AND SOCIAL RECTITUDE IT IS UNTHINKABLE THAT ALL THE SPLENDID CHARACTERISTICS OF MAN SUCH AS JUSTICE, LOVE, FREEDOM AND OTHERS (MARRED BY SIN THOUGH THEY BE) SHOULD HAVE BEEN PRODUCED BY AN AMORAL ABSTRACTION OR BLIND, UNGUIDED, UNFEELING CHANCE!

Man is a person who enjoys and creates beauty. The ability of the human mind to perceive and appreciate beauty is not accidental but the purposeful plan of a Master Artist who made both for man's benefit.

WHEN ANYONE TRIES TO DENY MAN IS MORAL, ASK HIM IF OUR STATEMENT THAT MAN IS A MORAL BEING IS RIGHT OR WRONG, OF IF HIS DENIAL IS RIGHT OR WRONG!!

Man exhibits a universal belief in a Higher being or a Religious Instinct

No animal, not even the most intelligent, has ever been known to have built an altar or worshipped a higher being. but all histories of man, written or otherwise, speak of worship

When any group of people is discovered, it is always found that they have a god or a system of gods

When the communication lines with Helen Keller, the blind and deaf girl, were finally established and she was told that there was a God, she replied, I knew it all the time.

If there is no God, how could the idea of God ever have arisen in the human mind? Could a God-idea evolve of its own accord out of a non-God ground or basis?

The atheist occupies an untenable position. Over him there will always hang the possibility that there is a God. He alone claims there is no God. Before one can proclaim there is no God he must have made extensive explorations in every inch of heaven and earth, in every essence of both material and spiritual (including the realm of thought), in all time and eternity. Before a man can KNOW there is No God he would himself have to be Godomniscientor THE ONE THING HE DID NOT KNOW MIGHT BE THAT THERE IS A GOD. and omnipresent, or THE ONE PLACE WHERE HE WAS NOT, MIGHT BE THE PLACE WHERE GOD IS!

III.

GOD IS KNOWN BY HIS SPECIAL REVELATION OF HIMSELF

The abundance of evidence that leads to an unshakable faith in the Divine Being and in His Revelation of Himself is overwhelming.

Even more surely do we seek His handiwork in His special revelation in His Son, Jesus Christ, and His word, the Bible

Merely to believe in God is not enough, we need to know Him, His personality, His purpose, His will for our lives (Hebrews 11:6)

When we have definite evidence that God has spoken, do we need any further argument that God exists?

God has invaded the natural with the supernatural.. He has stepped into history in many ways and in many specific times to demonstrate to man His existence, His power, His wisdom, His will, His nature.

He has, in His Son, performed miracles (also in O.T. through angels)

The flood, passing through Red Sea, healings, resurrections, conquest of enemies (cf. Hebrews 11:1-40)

Jesus stilled tempest, walked on water, changed water into wine, fed 5000 from 5 loaves and 2 fish, healed all manner of diseases

Jesus raised at least three person from the dead in presence of both friends and enemies

Jesus commanded the spirit world, predicted His own death and resurrection, His betrayer was predicted, the destruction of Jerusalem was predicted

The Bible is its own best proof containing hundreds of fulfilled prophecies. history written 1000s of years before its fulfillment

History of the Jews, Deuteronomy 28:1-68

Destinies of Gentile nations, Daniel 2:1-49; Daniel 4:1-37; Daniel 9:1-27; Daniel 10:1-21; Daniel 11:1-45

Destinies of individuals before they were born, Isaiah 44:1-28; Isaiah 45:1-25

Life, birth, ministry, death, words, birthplace of Jesus. His whole life could be reproduced from O.T. prophecies

The church, beginning, nature, purpose predicted and fulfilled

THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST. THE BEST ESTABLISHED FACT IN ALL OF HISTORY

Conclusion
THE FOOL HATH SAID IN HIS HEART, THERE IS NO GOD!

No, we cannot prove Jehovah is the god for which the philosophers and scientists have searched, but we believe the evidence is sufficient to lead the honest philosopher, honest scientist, and ALL HONEST MEN AND WOMEN to believe Jehovah is God. We accept God by faith, but that faith IS BASED UPON THE INTELLIGENT CONSIDERATION OF AN OVERWHELMING ABUNDANCE OF EVIDENCE IN SUPPORT OF HIS EXISTENCE.

The unbeliever lives in the world of myth, make-believe, inconsistency. The unbeliever is the schizophrenic (withdrawing from reality) John 3:19-21. He lives in the darkness of ignorance and sin (in most cases willfully!) He does not find God for the same reason a thief does not find a policeman! BUT GOD HAS REVEALED HIMSELF TO ALL WHO WILL INVESTIGATE THE FACTS AND ACCEPT THE FACTS. The Bible is the record of God's intelligent revelation to the intelligent portion of His creationmankind.

GOD IS! HE CREATES, HE JUDGES, HE LOVES, HE FORGIVES, HE SAVES, HE SPEAKS
ONE OF THE GREAT DEMONSTRATIONS OF HIS EXISTENCE AND HIS POWER IS THE CHANGE HIS WORD WORKS IN THE HEARTS AND LIVES OF MEN.. HE WILL CHANGE YOUMAKE YOU A NEW MAN OR WOMANOLD WAYS, OLD FEARS, OLD ANXIETIES, OLD THOUGHTS, OLD INCONSISTENCIES, OLD FAILURES WILL BE DONE AWAY. GUILT WILL BE LIFTED. INSTEAD OF DARKNESS THERE WILL BE LIGHT. INSTEAD OF DESPAIR THERE WILL BE HOPE.
Henry R. Luce, founder of Time, Life, Sports Illustrated, Fortune Magazines, worth 106 million when he died in early 1967, said before his death when asked about the current God is dead theology, After all the argumentation is done, I believe that God revealed in the Scriptures is, quite simply, God; and therefore, not only living, but the creator and source of all life.
Contrast with this the statement of Russian Cosmonaut Gherman Titov, May 6, 1962 in Seattle, Washington, when proclaiming his disbelief in God he said, In my seventeen orbits of the earth I saw no God or angels. We seriously doubt that Mr. Titov could have seen every square inch of space in 17 orbits; furthermore, neither Mr. Titov nor anyone else can explain or understand everything they see; and last of all God is Spirit, so Mr. Titov could have orbited the earth 17 thousand times, 17 million light years out and still not have seen God with his physical eyes!
IT IS THE CONSISTENT, INTELLIGENT, RATIONAL, HONEST-HEARTED PERSON WHO BELIEVES IN GOD SO IT SEEMS THAT, IN LIGHT OF THE ABUNDANCE OF EVIDENCE, THE INCONSISTENT, UNINTELLIGENT, IRRATIONAL, SELF-DECEIVED PERSON WHO DISBELIEVES!

Special Study

EVOLUTION, UNSCIENTIFIC & IMMORAL
Introduction

THIS PSEUDO-KNOWLEDGE REPRESENTED BY EVOLUTION IS NOT SOMETHING NEW

Paul had to deal with it among the philosophers of the first century

Read Colossians 2:8 and 1 Timothy 6:20

A literal translation of Colossians 2:8 would go something like See to it that no one victimize you, or carry you off as his prey or booty, through philosophy or false, foundationless deception, according to traditionary assumptions of man by deceiving you into believing that the elementary, rudimentary things of the universe are the ultimate truths, denying that Christ is THE ULTIMATE

Paul told Timothy, literally, to Avoid, or, Turn Away from profane (polluted), false, foundationless discourses (babblings) and oppositions (antitheses) of pseudo-knowledge.

There were theories of uniformitarianism or evolutionism being proposed by men who walked in the darkness of sin long before Charles Darwin. Dr. Henry Morris says the Devil was the first evolutionist

Democritus and Aristotle were proposing such theories in the Greek civilization at least 300 years before Christ

Before them the Persians, the Babylonians, the Canaanites were all proposing such theories

II.

SCIENCE, PER SE, MAY BE USEFUL: A BLESSING TO MAN AND A GLORY TO GOD

Scientism, and all the other God-denying isms attached thereto is our enemy

Although I am not a scientist, I believe the information I shall present in attacking evolutionism is valid since

Many of the statements made are well-known and established findings and laws of science

Some of the statements and propositions may be verified by your own experience

Practically all the statements are quotations from widely recognized scientists, even by admitted evolutionists!

This presentation of the FOUNDATIONLESS, EMPTY, IMMORAL bases of evolution is to keep you from being victimized by the false, pseudo impractical, irrational, irrelevant, unreasonable, immoral claims of evolutionary doctrines!

III.

SOME WOULD OBJECT TO THIS TYPE OF DISCOURSE FROM THE PULPIT, DECLARING THAT IT IS NOT PREACHING THE GOSPEL

The apostles spent a great deal of time exposing vain philosophies

We are promised, The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds; casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought unto obedience to Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:4-5

If the church doesn-'t take up the battle against evolution, who shall? HOW MANY OF YOU ARE DOING SO? THE TELEVISION? THE NATIONAL MAGAZINES? IT SEEMS AS IF EVERY AVENUE OF EDUCATION AND COMMUNICATION (AND EVEN GREAT SEGMENTS OF SO-CALLED CHRISTENDOM) ARE BEING USED IN VERY ATTRACTIVE WAYS TO PROMOTE EVOLUTION!!

IV.

DEFINITIONS

Science: the search for, observation of, and recording of natural phenomena (facts)I recognize this may over simplify science but I insist that anything beyond this and one leaves the realm of pure science and gets in the realm of philosophy (especially when the scientist seeks to determine means and ends or meanings and values).

Evolution: a one-way process, irreversible in time, producing apparent novelties and greater variety, and leading to higher degrees of organization, more differentiated, more complex, but at the same time more integrated. Julian Huxley, evolution's chief present-day spokesman

With these definitions in mind, let us examine the question of whether there is any evidence that such a process as Huxley defined is NOW taking place or has ever taken place. As Dr. Henry Morris says, we shall find, in the evidence investigated, that the answer both Scripturally and Scientifically, is, unequivocally, NO, NO, NO!

THIS EVOLUTIONARY PROCESSLEADING TO HIGHER DEGREES OF ORGANIZATIONFROM SIMPLE TO COMPLEX HAS NEVER BEEN OBSERVED AND RECORDED AS A NATURAL FACT!!! IT IS NOT SCIENTIFIC. AND, AS WE SHALL SEE, THE DOCTRINES OF DARWINISM, IF APPLIED TO MANKIND LEAD TO WAR, CHEATING, BREAKDOWN OF ALL STANDARDS EXCEPT THAT MIGHT MAKES RIGHT!

Discussion

PHYSICS

There are three basic laws of science; no laws of science are more firmly fixed and established than these three laws. They hold priority over all other laws of science. They are so basic they are referred to as the first, second and third laws. THERE ARE NO KNOWN VIOLATIONS OF THESE LAWS!

They are; biogenesis1st law of thermodynamics2nd law of thermodynamics; we shall discuss the law of biogenesis in a later section on biology.

For now let us deal with the first law of thermodynamics which is the law of the conservation of energy.

Energy can be transformed in various ways, but it can be neither created or destroyed.

This universally observed and accepted law squarely contradicts the evolutionary theory that creation (i.e., increasing organization and complexity and development, or bringing something out of nothing which is really what creation is) is continually taking place in the present.

The creation of the physical universe must have preceded this observed first law and therefore scientific law testifies to creationnot evolution

Matter and energy cannot be created, while the 1st law of thermodynamics is valid. This law is observable. subjective whims or wishes or extralogical statements of the evolutionists cannot over-ride the cold facts of observed nature.

The Second Law of Thermodynamics: there is an irreversible tendency for processes in a self-contained system to go toward lower ordertoward decay, disorder, disintegration, a running down. Systems run down hillthey don-'t wind themselves up.

Dr. Morris says, It would hardly be possible to conceive of two more completely opposite principles than the one of the 2nd law of thermodynamics and the theory of evolution.

NOW IT IS A LAW OF LOGIC AND REASON THAT TWO CONTRADICTORY PROPOSITIONS CANNOT BOTH BE TRUE. BOTH MAY BE FALSE, BUT BOTH COULD NOT POSSIBLE, RATIONALLY BE TRUE! And yet the 2nd law of entropy is the best established law of science known to man! Even evolutionists are forced to admit its validity, Biologist Harold Blum says, One way of stating this law is to say that all real processes tend to go toward a condition of greater improbability (disorder).

It is hard to believe that evolutionary-minded scientists overlook this universal law through ignorance, yet in the great Darwinian Centennial in 1959, held in Chicago, in three volumes of scientific papers published from this meeting, it is almost impossible to find any mention of this problem at all!
SCIENCE ACTUALLY PROVES THE EVOLUTIONARY THEORY TO BE FALSE. EVOLUTION ACTUALLY CONTRADICTS THE THREE BEST KNOWN, UNIVERSALLY ACCEPTED LAWS OF SCIENCE!!! EVOLUTION IS NOT ONLY NOT SCIENTIFIC IT IS DISPROVED BY SCIENCE!

II.

BIOLOGY

Consider next the universally accepted law of Biogenesis which says, life comes from lifeevery living organism came from some other living organism. This is observed and demonstrated in every instance and there are no known violations of this lawso called spontaneous generation of life has never been observed.

In fact, Louis Pasteur demonstrated conclusively that there was no such thing as spontaneous generation of life by laboratory experiments

Prof. Geo. Wald (an evolutionist) says, ... there are only two possibilities: Either life arose by spontaneous generation, which the professor had just refuted: or it arose by supernatural creation, which he probably regarded as anti-scientific. for my part, I think the only tenable scientific view is that life originally did arise by spontaneous generation.. HE MIGHT AS WELL HAVE SAID, IT IS MY SUBJECTIVE OPINION. because that is all it is. the law of biogenesis says NO!

It used to be that evolutionists tried to prove man's biological and evolutionary descent from ape by comparing blood

In the first place all claims for the evolutionary process by comparing blood did not take place with tests of whole blood but with tests using blood serum (the watery substance of the blood) and this is far different from using whole blood.

In the second place the primary factors of heredity do not lie in the blood but in germ and sperm cells so evolution cannot be proved by blood.

Blood types are so different that there are two ladies (one in Canada and the other in the Philippines) who alone have the same type of blood in all the world. any other blood type injected would kill either one of them.

Variations

The minute variations between species and within species as observed by Darwin:

Kellogg says, The results of modern biological study have shown that many of these small variations are not inherited. They are merely fluctuations around a mean to which the offspring tend constantly to return.

A classic example of Darwin's foggy thinking: He cited the long neck of the giraffe as an outstanding example of natural selection. As a result of recurrent and extended droughts the supply of green leaves from the lower limbs of trees diminished so that the shorter animals died off and after centuries of natural selection, the long-necked giraffes survived, and grew long necks in stretching after remaining green leaves. BUT THE FEMALE GIRAFFE IS ABOUT 2 FT. SHORTER THAN THE MALE SO THAT ALL THE FEMALES WOULD HAVE PERISHED LONG BEFORE THE MALES. SO HOW ARE BABY GIRAFFES BORN!? AND EVEN IF THEY WERE BORN HOW DID THE LITTLE ONES SURVIVE?

Acquired characteristics

They are not inherited, consider the small feet of Chinese womenwhy are they bound generation after generationwhat about circumcision, scars, missing limbs?

Even if we suppose they might be inherited, no new kind or species has ever been known to have originated from such variation!

Mendel's Law

What Mendel has proven both as to animals and plants is that NO VARIATION OUTSIDE THE LIMITS OF SPECIES IS POSSIBLE

It is now a fixed law of biology that the factors which the individual receives and none other are those which he can transmit to his offspring.

Weismann, an evolutionist who experimented with mice cutting off their tails for 19 generations gave up in disgust for the tails of the last were just as long as the first.

There are no known violations of Mendel's law!!

Mutations (freaks, etc.) caused by mixing up of genes

Mutant forms are almost exclusively lethal. those that are not lethal offer no help to the specie for the struggle for survival.

In all mutations no genes can be shown to have originated or to have changed. mutations are simply mix-ups of genes transmitted from the parents (probably caused by radiation)

Experiments with fruit fly for 1000s of generations shows evolution from one species to another does not happen, even given many generations in which to occur

All mutations, even if inherited (and there is some question about this), are fully in line with the 2nd law of thermodynamics so a mutation is A DISORGANIZATION. NOT HEADED TOWARD ORGANIZATION OR COMPLEXITY. A MERE RESHUFFLING OF GENETIC FACTORS ALREADY PRESENT BY INDUCED RADIATION IS NOT EVOLUTION

Fixity of Kind

The species are fixed, rigid. Varieties do not pass beyond certain limits. They do not transform into species. There are no transitorial forms to be found. Evolutionists have never produced complete evidence of any one species from a preceding form unrelated to its successor!!

To the contrary, present species as far as all observable evidence thus far discovered, are identical with their oldest ancestors.

Furthermore, all present varieties within one species, left to natural breeding, will eventually revert to one species. This has been demonstrated by observed experiments.

Evolutionists are constantly vacillating between one line of alleged evidence and another. For awhile they appealed to paleontology as the most likely evidence to support their theories. now it seems the paleontologists are turning to biology to produce the best evidence. G.G. Simpson, reknowned paleontologist of Harvard wrote in the Ency. Brit. Yearbook, 1965, Molecular and organismal biologists are now beginning a cooperation that will surely prove fruitful. Numerous efforts have been initiated in the last year or so to interpret molecular biology in evolutionary terms. It is too early to say just what the results will be, but they are certainly promising.
Mr. Simpson is an ardent evolutionist and a world reknowned paleontologist and yet in 1965 he admits the fossil record does not prove evolution and cites us to the field of biology, hopeful it will soon bear fruit to prove evolution. Simpson even returns to the disproved theory of spontaneous generation hoping to save his theory, saying, The spontaneous generation of the first living things did occur. BUT WHAT PROOF DID HE OFFER? NONE! JUST AN EMPTY ASSERTION. Isn-'t it strange indeed that evolutionary scientists leave their own field and point the student to another for the proof of this theory of evolution?

III.

GEOLOGY (Paleontology)

The whole geological series as theorized and charted in textbooks by evolutionary geologists can be found intact in not ONE PLACE ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH SO FAR INVESTIGATED!

Literally any rock system in the so-called geologic series or column may be found lying directly on the oldest or youngest rocks or reversed, or in any combination of arrangements at any given location

In fact, in an area covering some 10,000 square mi. in north U.S. and Canada the geologic scale of evolution is found UPSIDE DOWN, COMPLETELY REVERSED! YOUNGEST ON THE BOTTOM AND MOST ANCIENT ON TOP!

Dr. Walter E. Lammerts, among others, have investigated thoroughly the various places where scientists have tried to explain these reversals by thrust faults and reports that there is absolutely no evidence for suchthe rock strata gives no evidence of any grinding, disturbing process but each strata lies conformably undisturbed on top of the other.

At least some paleontologists have been honest enough to admit the fallacy of the geological argument in a circle. R.H. Rastal of Cambridge U. says in Ency. Brit., 1956, Vol. 10, pg. 168, It cannot be denied that from a strictly philosophical standpoint geologists are here arguing in a circle. The succession of organisms has been determined by a study of their remains buried in the rocks, and the relative ages of the rocks are determined by the remains of the organisms they contain. THEY USE THE ROCKS TO PROVE THE AGE OF THE FOSSILS AND THEN SAY THE AGE OF THE FOSSILS PROVE THE AGE OF THE ROCKS.

Again from the famous paleontologist, Simpson, an evolutionist, Fossils are abundant only from the Cambrian onward.. The case at present must remain inexplicable; and may be truly urged as a valid argument against the views (evolution) here entertained. from Great Books of the Western World, pub. by Ency. Brit.

BESIDES ALL THIS, NORMAL RATES OF SEDIMENTATION AS POSTULATED BY THE UNIFORMITY PRINCIPLE ARE MEANINGLESS AS FAR AS THE FOSSIL RECORD IS CONCERNED BECAUSE FOSSILS ARE NOT FORMED BY NATURAL PROCESSES OVER LONG PERIOD OF TIME. BUT BY SUDDEN CATASTROPHIC EVENTS!

The geologic evidence observed thus far shows a sudden outburst of living forms exactly like the species we have today with a few minor exceptions.

Dr. Austin H. Clark, of U.S. National Museum, No matter how far back we go in the fossil record of previous animal life upon the earth, we find no trace of any animal forms which are intermediate between the various phyla.. Since we have not the slightest evidence, either among the living or the fossil animals, of any intergrading types following between major groups, it is a fair supposition that there never have been any such intergrading types. NO INTERMEDIATE FORMS MY FRIEND! LIVING OR DEAD!

AND THE PROBLEM IS NOT TO FIND ONE MISSING LINK, BUT TO FIND 1000s AND 1000s OF MISSING LINKS WHICH WILL CONNECT THE MANY FOSSILS SPECIES WITH ONE ANOTHER!

In 1938 deep-water fishermen, who were fishing off the coast of S. Africa, brought to the surface a fighting, threshing fish 5 ft. long and 127 lbs. such as they had never seen before. Scientists, being called to investigate, called it the Coelacanth, identical in every respect with the Coelacanths whose fossils are found in considerable numbers buried in the strata of the U.S., Germany, and elsewhere. These strata are said by evolutionists to have been formed in the Triassic Age, and the fish whose fossils these strata contain are said to have become extinct 90 million years ago! Another fish of the exact same type was caught off Madagascar in Dec. 1952.

IV.

THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN

When we examine the evidence upon which evolutionists have reconstructed the different pre-historic ape or pre-ape men we find things both ludicrous and dishonest.

In the first place their evidence is extremely fragmentary: only a scraps of skulls, bits of bone, teeth and sometimes a whole bone. yet whole men, whole races, whole civilizations have been constructed with a bone fragment or two and a wild, bizarre imagination!

Prof. E.A. Hooton of Harvard says, Some anatomists model reconstructions of fossil skulls by building up the soft parts of the head and face upon a skull case, and thus produce a bust purporting to represent the appearance of the fossil man in life. When, we recall the fragmentary condition of most of the skulls, the faces usually being missing, we can readily see that even the reconstruction of the facial skeleton leaves room for a good deal of doubt as to details.. To attempt to restore the soft parts is even more hazardous. The lips, the eyes, the ears, and the nasal tip leave no clue on the bony parts as to their appearance.. These alleged restorations of ancient types of man have very little, if any, scientific value, and are likely only to mislead the public.. We do not know anything of the minutiae of the appearance of the Pithecanthropus, Heidelberg, Neanderthal types. We have no knowledge of their form, hair distribution, pigmentation, and the detail of such features as have been mentioned.

Mistakes (the convincing finds of science)

Pithecanthropus Erectus, found in Java, 1891, consisting of a part of a skull cap, a fragment of a left thighbone and 3 molar teeth. NOT FOUND TOGETHER, SCATTERED 50 ft. apart, numerous other bones of animals found scattered among them. The skull unusually large and the thighbone too small for it proportionately, yet 7 eminent men pronounced it the skull of a man; 6 others that of an ape; 7 others divided between ape and man. undaunted by disagreements, they bundled up the bones, made a bronze bust of their imagination, put it in the American Museum of History and proclaimed that a whole race of ape-men had been discovered to exist half a million years ago

Second Java Man, found 1926, near same as first, a skull cap ONLY was found. Vouched for by 2 eminent English scientists and heralded all over the world as the most important discovery of the decade. THIS SUPPOSED MILLION YEAR OLD SKULL OF NEAR HUMAN TURNED OUT TO BE, AFTER SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION, THE KNEE CAP OF AN ELEPHANT!

Hesperopithecus: from a tooth found in 1922, in Nebraska and introduced into the famous Scopes Monkey Trial as evidence of a race of men who lived in No. Amer. millions of years ago, men discovered only a few short years after Darrow had tried to humiliate Bryan that the tooth was that of a species of extinct pigs!

Readers Digest, Oct. 1956 shows how the famous Piltdown Man regarded until recently as one of the 3 most important of the missing links in man's evolution, has now been formally declared to have been a clever hoax which fooled all the anthropological specialists for 40 years!!!! A DELIBERATE TRICK BY MANIPULATING THE BONES, ARTIFICIALLY AGING THEM ETC.

Byron C. Nelson, in After Its Kind, shows how the profile of Marquis de Lafayette, Rev. war hero could be placed in exact conformity, slanted forehead and all, right over a supposed Neanderthal skull fragment. The Cro-Magnon man's skull has an even higher and nobler forehead and larger brain capacity than the so-called brilliant Charles Darwin!
What do we have then when we sum up all the evidence: NOT ONLY IS THERE NO EVIDENCE TO SUBSTANTIATE THE THEORY, THERE IS, IN FACT, SCIENTIFIC, OBSERVED, DEMONSTRATED EVIDENCE THAT SUCH A THEORY IS FALSE. SUCH A THEORY IN NO WAY CONFORMS TO OBSERVED, PROVEN SCIENTIFIC PHENOMENA
JESUS SAID OF TEACHERS AND TEACHINGS. BY THEIR FRUITS SHALL YE KNOW THEM.. LET US LOOK AT THE FRUIT, THE CONSEQUENCES, THE RESULTS OF BELIEVING AND LIVING THE GREAT LIE. EVOLUTION! DOES IT BRING FORTH GOOD FRUIT OR EVIL FRUIT!?

THE FRUITS (CONSEQUENCES) OF EVOLUTION

Bernhardi and Nietzsche

War is a biological necessity of the first importance. War gives a biologically just decision. Might is at once the supreme right. Bernhardi

Man shall be trained for war, and woman for the recreation of the warrior: all else is folly. Nietzsche

Hitler (Nietzsche's follower) The whole of nature is a continuous struggle between strength and weakness, an eternal victory of the strong over the weak.

Clarence Darrow and Loeb and Leopold

In May, 1924 two youth, Loeb and Leopold, cruelly murdered a 14 year old boy, Bobby Franks, by name, in Chicago. At their trial in the following August these 2 young men were defended by the celebrated criminal lawyer (himself an evolutionist) Clarence Darrow. His speech is regarded as one of the greatest judicial materpieces in American history. During the course of his remarks in defense of Leopold, Darrow said, I will guarantee that you can go down to the Univ. of Chicago todayinto its big libraryand find over a 1000 volumes on Nietzsche, and I am sure I speak moderately. If this boy is to blame for this, where did he get it? Is there any blame attached because somebody took Nietzsche's philosophy seriously and fashioned his life on it? And there is no question in this case but what it is true. Then who is to blame? The University would be more to blame than he is. The scholars of the world would be more to blame than he is. The publishers of the worldand Nietzsche's books are published by one of the biggest publishers of the worldare more to blame than he. Your Honor, it is hardly fair to hang a 19 yr. old boy for the philosophy that was taught him at the university.

Bertrand Russell: Brief and powerless is man's life; on him and on his race the slow sure doom falls pitiless and dark. Blind to good and evil, reckless of destruction, omnipotent matter rolls on its rentless ways; for man condemned today to lose his dearest, tomorrow himself to pass through the gate of darkness, it remains only to cherish, ere the blow falls, the lofty thoughts that enoble his little days..

H.G. Wells: In spite of all my desperation to a brave looking optimism, I perceive that now the universe is bored with him (man), is turning a hard face to him, and I see him being carried less and less intelligently and more and more rapidly, suffering as every ill-adapted creature must suffer in gross and detail, along the stream of fate to degradation, suffering and death.

Will Durant: Life has become in that total perspective which is philosophy, a fitful population of human insects on the earth, a planetary eczema that may soon be cured; nothing is certain in it except defeat and deatha sleep from which, it seems, there is no awakening..

EVOLUTION BEARS FRUIT ALRIGHT. WAR, SLAVERY, MURDER, PESSIMISM, DESPAIR! IT BRINGS A PHILOSOPHY OF SUB-HUMAN MORALS. EVERYTHING IS RELATIVE TO THE INDIVIDUAL'S DESIRES. MAN CLAIMS HE CANNOT HELP BEING WHAT HE IS. FREEDOM MEANS DOING AS EACH ONE LIKES. IT BRINGS SENSUALITY, CRUELTY, IGNORANCE.

Life magazine, May 25, 1962, editorial of a reporter interviewing students in some of America's most prestigious Prep-schools heard them say to him: Nothing's solid; there are no values to depend upon. I have no values because there is no basis for them. I haven-'t any goals because I don-'t know what to aim for. Everything's gray; there aren-'t any values. WHERE DID THEY GET THESE STANDARDS? BY THEIR OWN MOUTH, CHARLES DARWIN, SIGMUND FRUED, SARTRE, CAMUS, ARTHUR MILLER, J.D. SALINGER. READ IT YOURSELF!

Evolution is IMPRACTICAL AND IMMORAL

It has no basis in fact or truth therefore it is a lie.

It is inconsistent with known fact and is therefore impractical.

It has never been a help but in every instance a hindrance.

Conclusion

THE WORD OF GOD, ON THE OTHER HAND.

Is a revelation of God, much of which took place in HISTORY, seen and heard by eyewitnesses and is FACTUAL AND DEPENDABLE

The propositions and truths which are not verifiable by experience in the Bible may therefore be trusted since it substantiates its claims to be a divinely revealed book from God.

The Bible does not ask us to formulate a philosophy of life based upon theories and assumed pre-historical happenings. BUT ON VERIFIED, OBSERVED EVIDENCES OF A SUPERNATURAL GOD AND CHRIST!

II.

Agrees with other true and pure scientific observables

Fixity of kind; Aqueous cataclysm forming fossils

Anthropological discoveries; Three basic laws of science

III.

Shown to be accurate in all its history by archaeological finds

IV.

Traceable to almost the very hands of the eyewitnesses who wrote it

No other literature of antiquity can make that statement

Preserved, believed in, proclaimed, practiced by millions, many of whom have gladly died to do so.

Supernaturally verified by fulfilled prophecies; hundreds of years of history written 1000s of years before it occurred, yet fulfilled to the very detail.

VI.

Is Practical

Promotes love, compassion, truth, justice, freedom, law & order

It is reasonable and consistent

Brings morality, hope, satisfaction, fulfillment, answers to life's perplexities

Billy Graham tells of a young college girl, just recently voted Queen of her campus here in America, who had been involved in a fatal automobile accident. The mother was summoned to the dying girl's side only to hear these heart-rending words, Mother, you taught me everything I needed to know to get by in college. You taught me how to light my cigarette, how to hold my cocktail glass and how to have intercourse safely. But Mother, you never taught me how to die. You better teach me quickly, Mother, because I-'m dying.
EVOLUTIONISM IS TEACHING YOUR SON OR DAUGHTER THAT THERE IS NO GOD. THEY ARE MERE ANIMALS. SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST. ALL MORALS ARE RELATIVE TO SATISFYING ANIMAL PASSIONS. WAR. MURDER!
MOTHER AND FATHER, YOU-'D BETTER BE TEACHING THEM HOW TO PREPARE FOR ETERNITY!

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