Today's thought:
Psalm 114:2-8, "Why do the nations say, "Where is their God?" Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him. But their idols are silver and gold, made by human hands. They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but cannot see. They have ears, but cannot hear, noses, but cannot smell. They have hands, but cannot feel, feet, but cannot walk, nor can they utter a sound with their throats. Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them."
I sat down with my teenaged son and watched the movie, "God's Not Dead." The plot is very plausible. I had been reading various accounts of simular occurrences in higher education for many years now. Josh Wheaton (Shane Harper), a Christian college student, enrolls in a philosophy class taught by Professor Jeffrey Radisson (Kevin Sorbo), an atheist, who demands that his students sign a declaration that "God is dead" to get a passing grade. Josh is the only student in the class who refuses to sign and is then required by Radisson to debate the topic with him, with the class members deciding who wins.
Though the movie is not entirely intended to be an apologetic (defense) for the existence of God it does pull together some important points with one of the main points being that Atheism (compound of "a" meaning "no" and "theism" meaning "God") is not an intellectual position as much as it is a heart position. The only rational position for someone denying the existence of God is agnosticism ("a" meaning "no" and "gnostic" meaning "knowledge") for to deny absolutely that there is no God would require one to be god, having the ability to be at all places and times and have all knowledge. Though the secular humanist is in essence saying that they are god they are finite and do not have the qualities aforementioned.
It was Friedrich Nietzsche who first coined the phrase "God is Dead." He said, “God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?” He thought that once society became more technologically advanced the need for God would diminish and the idea of God be completely extinguished. The facts show he was very wrong. The arguments of Theists show that to eliminate the idea of a designer God is to leave one with no rational explanation to the beginning of the universe, atheists saying that everything came from nothing and by accident and chance the fine tuning of the universe (those parameters that allow for life on our planet which are infinitesimally small) came into being.
The bottom line, and what the movie also left me and my teenaged son with, is that you cannot prove or disprove the existence of God. It is not a matter of emperically verifiable science but of faith. One must choose a side not based on facts but on faith. The question then becomes which faith is more reasonable, which faith best explains reality as we can know it. Many are coming to the conclusion that a Theistic view is more rational and the resurgence of God has begun. As Paul said, "...since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse." Two thousand years has not changed that fact nor will two thousand more. Sorry Nietzsche, as you now know, and others will come to discover too late, God is most certainly not dead.
Prayer: Father the heavens declare Your wonders and power. We are in awe of You because of Your incredible design and the beauty, complexity and the vastness of what You have made. We declare to the nations that You were, are and ever will be. All praise, glory and honor go to Your name! In the name of Jesus, amen.