Finding Truth

by Nancy Pearcey in Finding Truth

What is being communicated [in the Bible] is an accurate description of reality, not a belief system about it.
This reality orientation is the positive intellectual climate in which the core propositions and events of the gospel live and breathe. It is a mentality in which people are liberated by verifiable truth to challenge traditional, question power, and fight for life and healing against death and decay.
Despite this auspicious heritage, many of our contemporaries find solace in what Francis Schaeffer describes as an "escape from reason." They accept polite society's dumbed-down redefinition of faith as something totally privatized--that is, a commitment so private and so personal that evaluation and evidence are irrelevant.
The biblical attitude is one of persuasion, a will to verify and know what is true and to respond accordingly.

Cosmos: Carl Sagan

In Carl Sagan’s famous book entitled Cosmos, based on his television series of the same title, he makes the following statement: “Cosmos is a Greek word for the order of the universe. It is, in a way, the opposite of chaos. It implies the deep interconnectedness of all things.” In this seemingly harmless definition of the entire structure of Sagan’s work, he assumes that the universe under investigation by science is a cosmos rather than a chaos. He speaks of cosmos “implying a deep interconnectedness of all things.” This is the grand presupposition of scientific inquiry, namely, that the universe we are seeking to know is coherent. There is an implied deep and profound interconnectedness of all things. The alternative to cosmos, as Sagan has indicated, is chaos. If the universe is at root chaotic, then the whole scientific enterprise collapses. If the universe is chaotic and disconnected, then no knowledge is possible at all. Even discreet bits of atomic data cannot be understood within the framework of utter chaos, so the presupposition of a coherent, rational order of all things is the screaming presupposition of scientists.

Do You Desire God above All Else?

Gary Habermas offers a thought experiment to help us examine our motives concerning what we’re asking God for in prayer:

Be Careful What You Claim

by Greg Koukl

The promises of God are both “precious and magnificent” (2 Peter 1:4).  But I think twice when people claim them.
Promises are frequently abused. A promise not carefully tethered to the details of the text becomes an empty exercise of relativistic wishful thinking.
A biblical promise is a binding pledge from God to do—or not do—something specific.  If the promise is made to you, you have a right to expect God to keep His word.  If you are not the rightful owner, though, you may not lay claim to it.  Those promises made to another can lead to disappointment and discouragement if unintended for you.

College Kids On Identity

Is God the Author of Sin?

by Ligonier Ministries

The God of Israel “is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he” (Deut. 32:4–5). In fact, James seems to have real people in mind when he cautions, “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God,’ for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one” (James 1:13). Sin and evil have their origin not in God or creation, but in the personal will and action of creatures.

True Love

By John MacArthur

“All you need is love.” So sang the Beatles. If they’d been singing about God’s love, the statement would have a grain of truth in it. But what usually goes by the name love in popular culture is not authentic love at all; it’s a deadly fraud. Far from being “all you need,” it’s something you desperately need to avoid.