8/7/2019 MMW Wheres Your Proof
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Wheres Your Proof?
I dont know how many of us have thought about it but if we were
asked what wouldbe our answer? It isnt just a Christian issue, the
scientist must be able to prove histheory, the police must be able
to prove a crime otherwise there was no offence.
For many of us, I feel, would fail the criminal code if
Christianity was a crime, and wewould cite an ancient book as our
justification for our proof. The problem with that isthat the
Muslims use the same book, as do the Jews. What makes our faith
differentto them is that we claim Jesus as Lord and Son of God
while the Muslims will acceptHim as a prophet, and the Jews Bible
ends with the end of our Old Testament.
To complicate matters even more, it takes an accepting belief
that attributes the Bibleas Gods Word. Other areas where proof may
be required have the benefit ofreproducibility.
With some basic science it is reasonably easy to prove a theory,
the fact that it worksdoes not explain why it is so. For example if
you have a pile of rock beside anotherpile of rock you have two
piles of rock (1+1=2) but if instead you move the first pileon to
the second you get instead (1+1=1). The fact that the pile is
bigger not beingsignificant to the equation.
So then what is our proof? God is and Gods word are statements
of belief, wetake a position of faith to build our position on.
This is not to say that God is likesome hypothetical concept who we
invent, or rationalize. Our experience of God inour life is the
proof we have and that is aligned with claims that are included in
Godsword, the Bible, or uttered by Gods Word Jesus.
The problem is that our proof is our proof, it is an
internalized statement. For
someone else our proof must be accepted by that person before it
becomes true forthem, or as I demonstrated with the mathematical
equation reject as untrue, folly orwhatever. Karl Marx, who has
been quoted as writing religion is the opiate of thepeople. What he
actually said was:
Religious distress is at the same time the expression of real
distress and the protest againstreal distress. Religion is the sigh
of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world,
just as it is the spirit of a spiritless situation. It is the
opium of the people. The abolition of
religion as the illusory happiness of the people is required for
their real happiness. Thedemand to give up the illusion about its
condition is the demand to give up a condition which
needs illusions. ~ Karl Marx, Critique of Hegels Philosophy of
Right
We as Christians reject the claims that Marx makes because we
believe differently to
Karl Marx.
We need a new proof if we are to speak to other peoples
experience and questions,to be able to provide a proof that others
can accept. Personal integrity andinterpersonal relationships
provide a good basis for our claims of faith, based ontheir
observations of us. But this is only a partial solution because
other people havedifferent observations to us and we need to
remember this. We wont always beasked for proof. We may be asked
about things that others believe about us or thechurch and we may
need an answer to these issues if we are to have an influencewith
them.
I dont intend for this to be a downer. This question really is
about having a influencein the world. I am about equipping others,
you the reader, with tools that will helpyou to have the answer to
the questions of the world. This is not of the total solution
