Examples of Cool photos, just to make this post seem longer...
This picture was taken by Chris LeCraw.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Photo Contest
We are hosting a photo contest on the website! It is free to join, and there are free prizes! Some very cool DVDs are up for grabs, so make sure you head on over to The Photo Contest Page and check it out! The contest ends December 16, so submit your photos now!
Examples of Cool photos, just to make this post seem longer...
This picture was taken by Chris LeCraw.
Examples of Cool photos, just to make this post seem longer...
This picture was taken by Chris LeCraw.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
The Proof of God in the Bad
This is part 2 of a blog entry on bad things happening under the rule of a good God. If you have not already, go back to the previous post and read that one first. Oh, and thanks for checking my blog out!
Outline of part two:
- Problem: Bad things are in the world, therefore a good God cannot exist.
- Response:
1) For something to be bad, it must have value
2) True value can only come from God
3) If God does not exist, than there is no value to anything. People, things, and events are all just a collection of atoms interacting in random way.
4) If we say that God does not exist, than we must also say that bad things are not bad, they are simply things. Any value given to something is imagined and misplaced.
5) The pain and sorrow we feel when bad things happen is to deep and real to be the result of imagined or misplaced value, it must be innate
6) Innate value can only come from one thing: A Creator (God)
Therefore, God must exist.
I argue that the very fact that there are bad things in this world is proof that God does exist. I know, this argument sounds paradoxical, but keep tracking with me here and maybe I can make it sound sensible.
Anytime an evil event or a bad thing happens, it hurts us. This pain is usually not physical, although it certainly could be, but the pain is felt much deeper than just the surface. We know that bad things are not right and should never have happened. We know that they are wrong and we can feel it in our bones.
For something to be wrong, however, there must be some kind of value to it. A negative thing, just like a positive, has some worth. If it had no value, it could be neither positive nor negative. It would simply be neutral. Since we claim there are negative events that happen, we must ponder where the value in life comes from.
Take, for example, a male high school student who dies in a car accident. Unfortunately, this is a problem far more common than anyone would hope for, and an event that happened several times when I was in school. The student’s death is so tragic because his life had such immense value. He still had much to live for, he had family and friends who cared deeply for him, and he was a human being.
It is during times like this when people most frequently ask, how could there be a God? Let’s suppose, for a moment, that there is no God. What then? The student’s death has absolutely no meaning or significance. Before he died, the student was nothing but a bunch of atoms piled up together. His death may cause a shift in their structure, but they are still only atoms (and therefore, he is mostly space). Without a God who created and gave all things meaning, his death is, quite frankly, 100% meaningless. His death was not a bad thing; it was only a thing.
Are we really prepared to accept this? No one can deny the sorrow they have felt at the loss of a loved one or the sight of social injustice. We can pretend to turn our emotions off, but deep down we (everyone) weep at the evils of this world. If this is our response, than is it not at all likely there is some inherent value to the things we are weeping for? There must be some deeper reason for our lamenting when bad things happen in the world.
This reason, I think, can only be God. If God does not exist, bad things simply do not happen. They have no value to them. The atheist may get upset at this argument because he or she undoubtedly values their family and other things and would feel sorrow for the bad things that happen to them. But, if there is no God, any value given to members of the human race is entirely made up, misplaced, and just plain false. The high school student has no greater significance or meaning in the world than a bush or a duck, he is simply a collection of atoms. People may choose to give him value, but if there is no God, that value is simply wrong.
If this point seems cold and callused, well then good. Because it is. There are few people who will admit that their son’s death is not a bad thing. The value we give to people is too strong, it cannot be made up and it cannot be a lie. Our sorrows at their loss is simply too deep. The pain cannot be denied or turned off and it can even be debilitating. Our sorrows are an innate quality and we cannot escape them. We come into the world with tears, and we will leave people in tears when we go out of the world.
So, if you must, ask how God could exist in a world that is full of broken things. There is nothing wrong with questioning, in fact I think it is a great thing to do. If you do not buy my “proof” that sorrows are innate and a result of God giving mankind value, well then fine. I am OK with that. But beware, if you decide to believe that there is no God, you must also admit that the terrible events that caused you to question His existence in the first place are not really terrible at all. They are simply events composed of atoms and relationships.
Some people are content with this worldview. They think the idea of a world without meaning is a good one and an excuse to never feel deep pain. If this is your ideal, well then go for it. But, I doubt very seriously that you will ever find a mother who has lost a child who will say there is no meaning and bad things do not happen. The pain is too deep and the sorrows are too real to ever be caused by a made-up and misplaced value.
Could our innate aversion and repulsion for the bad things in life be a sign that God gave all things value when He created the world and still holds them in esteem? Is it not possible, or even likely, that the reason we feel such pain when bad things happen is because God is weeping along side of us? Not because He lacks control, but because He loves us and has given us value?
Bad things happen. And the reason we can know they are bad and say they are bad is because we have such a good God who gives meaning and value to all things. If we deny God’s existence, we deny any legitimate reason to feel sorrows for the loss of anything. And now the big question, if God exists, than why does he let bad things happen? . If He can cause some good things to happen, then why does He not just make everything good? Since He does not stop all bad things from happening, does this mean He is not fully good or completely in control? After all, if God is inadequate, then He is no God at all. This question is another heavy one, so I think I will work on it more next time. Until then, have a great week and remember that despite all the bad in the world, there are still things in the world that are not yet broken.
Outline of part two:
- Problem: Bad things are in the world, therefore a good God cannot exist.
- Response:
1) For something to be bad, it must have value
2) True value can only come from God
3) If God does not exist, than there is no value to anything. People, things, and events are all just a collection of atoms interacting in random way.
4) If we say that God does not exist, than we must also say that bad things are not bad, they are simply things. Any value given to something is imagined and misplaced.
5) The pain and sorrow we feel when bad things happen is to deep and real to be the result of imagined or misplaced value, it must be innate
6) Innate value can only come from one thing: A Creator (God)
Therefore, God must exist.
I argue that the very fact that there are bad things in this world is proof that God does exist. I know, this argument sounds paradoxical, but keep tracking with me here and maybe I can make it sound sensible.
Anytime an evil event or a bad thing happens, it hurts us. This pain is usually not physical, although it certainly could be, but the pain is felt much deeper than just the surface. We know that bad things are not right and should never have happened. We know that they are wrong and we can feel it in our bones.
For something to be wrong, however, there must be some kind of value to it. A negative thing, just like a positive, has some worth. If it had no value, it could be neither positive nor negative. It would simply be neutral. Since we claim there are negative events that happen, we must ponder where the value in life comes from.
Take, for example, a male high school student who dies in a car accident. Unfortunately, this is a problem far more common than anyone would hope for, and an event that happened several times when I was in school. The student’s death is so tragic because his life had such immense value. He still had much to live for, he had family and friends who cared deeply for him, and he was a human being.
It is during times like this when people most frequently ask, how could there be a God? Let’s suppose, for a moment, that there is no God. What then? The student’s death has absolutely no meaning or significance. Before he died, the student was nothing but a bunch of atoms piled up together. His death may cause a shift in their structure, but they are still only atoms (and therefore, he is mostly space). Without a God who created and gave all things meaning, his death is, quite frankly, 100% meaningless. His death was not a bad thing; it was only a thing.
Are we really prepared to accept this? No one can deny the sorrow they have felt at the loss of a loved one or the sight of social injustice. We can pretend to turn our emotions off, but deep down we (everyone) weep at the evils of this world. If this is our response, than is it not at all likely there is some inherent value to the things we are weeping for? There must be some deeper reason for our lamenting when bad things happen in the world.
This reason, I think, can only be God. If God does not exist, bad things simply do not happen. They have no value to them. The atheist may get upset at this argument because he or she undoubtedly values their family and other things and would feel sorrow for the bad things that happen to them. But, if there is no God, any value given to members of the human race is entirely made up, misplaced, and just plain false. The high school student has no greater significance or meaning in the world than a bush or a duck, he is simply a collection of atoms. People may choose to give him value, but if there is no God, that value is simply wrong.
If this point seems cold and callused, well then good. Because it is. There are few people who will admit that their son’s death is not a bad thing. The value we give to people is too strong, it cannot be made up and it cannot be a lie. Our sorrows at their loss is simply too deep. The pain cannot be denied or turned off and it can even be debilitating. Our sorrows are an innate quality and we cannot escape them. We come into the world with tears, and we will leave people in tears when we go out of the world.
So, if you must, ask how God could exist in a world that is full of broken things. There is nothing wrong with questioning, in fact I think it is a great thing to do. If you do not buy my “proof” that sorrows are innate and a result of God giving mankind value, well then fine. I am OK with that. But beware, if you decide to believe that there is no God, you must also admit that the terrible events that caused you to question His existence in the first place are not really terrible at all. They are simply events composed of atoms and relationships.
Some people are content with this worldview. They think the idea of a world without meaning is a good one and an excuse to never feel deep pain. If this is your ideal, well then go for it. But, I doubt very seriously that you will ever find a mother who has lost a child who will say there is no meaning and bad things do not happen. The pain is too deep and the sorrows are too real to ever be caused by a made-up and misplaced value.
Could our innate aversion and repulsion for the bad things in life be a sign that God gave all things value when He created the world and still holds them in esteem? Is it not possible, or even likely, that the reason we feel such pain when bad things happen is because God is weeping along side of us? Not because He lacks control, but because He loves us and has given us value?
Bad things happen. And the reason we can know they are bad and say they are bad is because we have such a good God who gives meaning and value to all things. If we deny God’s existence, we deny any legitimate reason to feel sorrows for the loss of anything. And now the big question, if God exists, than why does he let bad things happen? . If He can cause some good things to happen, then why does He not just make everything good? Since He does not stop all bad things from happening, does this mean He is not fully good or completely in control? After all, if God is inadequate, then He is no God at all. This question is another heavy one, so I think I will work on it more next time. Until then, have a great week and remember that despite all the bad in the world, there are still things in the world that are not yet broken.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
How do we justify broken things?
There is a question and conclusion that everyone has either said, heard, or thought to themselves. The question people have often asked is, “How could there be a God with all of the bad things that happen in the world? The conclusion some people have given to the question is, “Because there are bad things in the world, there must be no God.” They are powerful thoughts and certainly merit some investigation.
I have two different answers to the challenge of a Divine being in the world. The first one I will give here, and the second will be in my next blog entry. I am not very creative so I need to squeeze as many posts out of one topic as I can. They are fairly deep answers so I have also included an outline version to each response that may be easier to follow and beneficial for the Cliff Notes/Digg/StumbleUpon crowds. So if you have issues with the outline or think it is interesting, make sure you read the whole article before arguing with my points or writing me off as a nutjob.
The Outline version of argument one:
Problem: Bad things are in the world, therefore a good God cannot exist.
Response:
1) But good things are in the world, so therefore a good God must exist.
2) God cannot both exist and not exist.
3) Since there are both good and bad things in the world, and since God cannot both exist and not exist, than the presence of bad things cannot disprove God's existence, nor can good things prove his existence.
4) Bad things actually prove God's existence. This will be covered in the next entry!
My first response to this is fairly simple. If someone were to ask me the question I would respond by saying, “Well, could you not also argue that because there are good things in the world, there must be a God?” If bad things are enough to disprove His existence, than you must also say that good things are enough to prove His existence. People can be really screwed up, and we have seen what evils our species is capable of doing. If we did not have a good God, than things could be far worse! Perhaps the only reason there are still things in the world that are not yet broken is because there is a God.
This first response should get people thinking, but I admit it is not a strong enough argument to convince the skeptic that God exists. There is good stuff and bad stuff, and what happens in your life is just luck of the draw. Just because there are good things in the world will not prove to most people that there is a God. There are plenty of other explanations they could give you. Proving God’s existence, however, is not the point of my first argument. It is simply to show that the existence of bad things is not enough to disprove God’s existence. For bad things to disprove His existence, good things would have to be allowed to prove his existence. God cannot both exist and not exist, so we simply cannot argue that God does not exist because of the bad things in the world, nor can we say that God exists because there are good things in the world. In my next entry, I will go in a different direction and attempt to show that it is actually the existence of bad things that prove God’s existence. So I hope you will check back in after a few days and see why.
I have two different answers to the challenge of a Divine being in the world. The first one I will give here, and the second will be in my next blog entry. I am not very creative so I need to squeeze as many posts out of one topic as I can. They are fairly deep answers so I have also included an outline version to each response that may be easier to follow and beneficial for the Cliff Notes/Digg/StumbleUpon crowds. So if you have issues with the outline or think it is interesting, make sure you read the whole article before arguing with my points or writing me off as a nutjob.
The Outline version of argument one:
Problem: Bad things are in the world, therefore a good God cannot exist.
Response:
1) But good things are in the world, so therefore a good God must exist.
2) God cannot both exist and not exist.
3) Since there are both good and bad things in the world, and since God cannot both exist and not exist, than the presence of bad things cannot disprove God's existence, nor can good things prove his existence.
4) Bad things actually prove God's existence. This will be covered in the next entry!
My first response to this is fairly simple. If someone were to ask me the question I would respond by saying, “Well, could you not also argue that because there are good things in the world, there must be a God?” If bad things are enough to disprove His existence, than you must also say that good things are enough to prove His existence. People can be really screwed up, and we have seen what evils our species is capable of doing. If we did not have a good God, than things could be far worse! Perhaps the only reason there are still things in the world that are not yet broken is because there is a God.
This first response should get people thinking, but I admit it is not a strong enough argument to convince the skeptic that God exists. There is good stuff and bad stuff, and what happens in your life is just luck of the draw. Just because there are good things in the world will not prove to most people that there is a God. There are plenty of other explanations they could give you. Proving God’s existence, however, is not the point of my first argument. It is simply to show that the existence of bad things is not enough to disprove God’s existence. For bad things to disprove His existence, good things would have to be allowed to prove his existence. God cannot both exist and not exist, so we simply cannot argue that God does not exist because of the bad things in the world, nor can we say that God exists because there are good things in the world. In my next entry, I will go in a different direction and attempt to show that it is actually the existence of bad things that prove God’s existence. So I hope you will check back in after a few days and see why.
Friday, November 14, 2008
Australia
Well I am finally posting again. Not like anyone actually reads this. Oh well, dare to dream. Today I have a few pictures from Australia up on the website, so check out Not Yet Broken for the full lineup. They were taken by Morgan McClure, Mallary Lattanze, and their dive instructor and are really quite fantastic. I think I might try and post here more often now though. I'll try anyway. And has anyone else noticed that this is the most beautiful fall ever? At least, it is in the fair state of Georgia. Hope all of your lives are blessed and as peaceful as the koala's, and if you love someone, you should tell them so now.
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Saturday, November 1, 2008
Images of Hope
To view all of the pictures visit Not Yet Broken!
I have updated the website with some new pictures and changed the format for how you find them. I really like these pictures because they are so beautiful and depict nature at its finest. The smiling faces in Africa are another reminder that joy can be found anywhere on Earth, even when life is really tough. I am posting a few of the images below, but again, you can see all of them by visiting Not Yet Broken. Have a good one folks!
I have updated the website with some new pictures and changed the format for how you find them. I really like these pictures because they are so beautiful and depict nature at its finest. The smiling faces in Africa are another reminder that joy can be found anywhere on Earth, even when life is really tough. I am posting a few of the images below, but again, you can see all of them by visiting Not Yet Broken. Have a good one folks!
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