The Problem Of Finding Spiritual Truth
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Introduction to the Six Steps to Spiritual Truth
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The Problem Of Finding Spiritual Truth
- 2. Does Truth Spiritual Can it be Found? An impossible exercise?
- 3. Truth Spiritual Can it be Found? Can you truly find absolute spiritual truth? Do consequences exist if you don’t? © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org
- 4. Truth Spiritual Can it be Found? © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org
- 5. Truth Spiritual Can it be Found? © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org
- 6. Truth Spiritual Can it be Found? The Questions/Assertions… Why so many religions? All religions teach the same thing… Belief in God means checking your brains at the door… © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org
- 7. Truth Spiritual Can it be Found? The most common belief systems: • Agnosticism (Hard and Soft) • Atheism • Cultic systems (Mormon, etc.) • Deism • Finite Godism • Pantheism (Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, New Age, etc.) • Pluralism • Polytheism • Postmodernism • Skepticism • Theism (Judaism, Islam, Christianity) Which, if any, are really true? © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org
- 8. Truth Spiritual Can it be Found? A look at the oldest (bad) analogy of spiritual truth Six blind men approach an elephant. One believes it to be a snake (grabs the trunk), one believes it to be a fan (grabs an ear), another thinks it’s a tree (grabs a leg), and so on. Notice… • They were all wrong. • Someone knows enough to know it was an elephant to tell the story. • The absolute truth is known and it exists (it’s an elephant). © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org
- 9. Truth Spiritual Can it be Found? All religions have similarities, right…? Yes, but so does a counterfeit and real $50 bill • Just because something looks right on the surface doesn’t mean it is the real thing. • Differences matter and must be uncovered to find the truth. • Fakes aren’t acceptable. How do spiritual claims differ – just in the small stuff? © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org
- 10. Truth Spiritual Can it be Found? Some voices claim no God and others many gods… Some similarities but they differ in areas of… • The person of God. • The person of Christ. • Areas of personal morality. • The way of salvation. • What happens after you die. They differ in the things that matter – and matter greatly © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org
- 11. Truth Spiritual Can it be Found? Are there consequences for making a wrong choice? © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org
- 12. Truth Spiritual Can it be Found? So if differences exist, and those differences matter, then all roads cannot lead to the top of the mountain. Bottom line: Spiritual truth exists – we need to find it. But how? • From Culture? Some cultures act kindly toward their neighbor, but other cultures they eat them. • From Majority Rule? The majority can be wrong. • From each Individual? We call people crazy who lose touch with what reality really is and just invent their own. © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org
- 13. Truth Spiritual Can it be Found? The Importance of a Systematic Methodology Does the scientist go into the lab and haphazardly throw stuff together in the pursuit of scientific truth? Why think the pursuit of spiritual truth should be treated any differently? The study of God – Theology – must be approached in a systematic way. © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org
- 14. Truth Spiritual Can it be Found? Arriving at error does not mean the truth does not exist Sit a group of students down and give them a challenging math problem – it’s a fair bet that many will get the answer wrong. But that doesn’t mean a correct answer doesn’t exist. Just because many faiths may have different answers to the question of God doesn’t mean that one true answer doesn’t exist. © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org
- 15. Truth Spiritual Can it be Found? Navigating the worldview maze to spiritual truth requires: • Asking the right questions • Thinking logically • Examining converging lines of evidence • Excluding what is false • Embracing what remains And just what are the right questions…? © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org
- 16. Truth Spiritual Can it be Found? Steps/questions that lead to spiritual truth: 1. Does absolute truth exist? 2. Do reason and religion mix? 3. Does God exist? 4. Can we know God? 5. Is Jesus God? 6. Does God care about me? The end result is a coherent set of answers to the big four areas of life: origin, ethics, meaning, and destiny. © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org
- 17. Truth Spiritual Can it be Found? Finding spiritual truth answers the big four questions • Origins – where did I come from? • Ethics – how should I live? • Meaning – what is the purpose of my life? • Destiny – where am I going when I did? © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org
- 18. Truth Spiritual Can it be Found? 1. Does absolute truth exist? If it doesn’t, then we can be sure of nothing and cannot go any further. But if it does, then we can continue through the maze… © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org
- 19. Truth Spiritual Can it be Found? 2. Do reason and religion mix? 1. Law of non-contradiction – something cannot be “A” and “non-A” at the same time and in the same sense. 2. Law of the excluded middle – something is either “A” or “non-A”. 3. Law of rational inference – e.g. All men are mortal, John is a man, therefore John is mortal. 4. Law of identity – “A” is really “A”. Logic is critical in rational thinking – recognizing that the opposite of true is false. © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org
- 20. Truth Spiritual Can it be Found? 3. Does God exist? If a supernatural Creator does not exist, then atheism is true and we can stop. But if we can show that a Creator does exist, then we need to find out what that Creator is like. © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org
- 21. Truth Spiritual Can it be Found? 4. Can we know God? Can we discover what God is like? What kind of God exists? Has He revealed Himself to us in some way? If not, then we can stop. © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org
- 22. Truth Spiritual Can it be Found? 5. Is Jesus God? Jesus stands as the central spiritual figure in all of history (no matter the faith). Who is Jesus? Is He just a man, a prophet of God, or is He God Himself? © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org
- 23. Truth Spiritual Can it be Found? 6. Does God care about me? If God exists, then does He actually care about me? Does this supernatural Creator have a plan and purpose for my existence? © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org
- 24. Truth Spiritual Can it be Found? Working through the maze: Christianity Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Reason/ Absolute God Know Jesus God Religion? Truth? Exist? God? God? Care? No No No No No No Agnosticism Agnosticism Atheism Various Deism Pluralism Deism © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org
- 25. Truth Spiritual Can it be Found? Answering Life’s Questions: Meaning Origin Ethics Destiny Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Reason/ Absolute God Know Jesus God Religion? Truth? Exist? God? God? Care? No No No No No No Agnosticism Agnosticism Uncertainty Various Deism Pluralism Deism © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org
- 26. Truth Spiritual Can it be Found? Hard question: Do you want to know the truth? “You take the blue pill, the story ends. You wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes. I’m only offering you The Truth… Nothing more.” “It is our preference that decides against Christianity, not arguments.” - Nietzsche © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org
- 27. Truth Spiritual Can it be Found? Why spiritual truth matters Simply because… Eternity is an awfully long time to be wrong. “For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied. ”- The Apostle Paul © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org
- 28. Truth Spiritual Can it be Found? Do all roads lead to God? … Actually, they do… © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org
- 29. Truth Spiritual Can it be Found? Because God exists, when you die you will meet Him. Whatever road you’re currently on… Whatever path you’ve chosen… You will meet God. But what then? Yes, all roads lead to God. But only one road leads to His forgiveness and eternal life – Christianity – whereas all the other roads lead to His judgment and eternal separation from Him. © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org
- 30. Does Truth Spiritual Can it be Found? Yes, it can.