Reasonable faith
•Download as PPTX, PDF•
0 likes•97 views
How do we know what is real and what is true?
Recommended
More Related Content
What's hot
What's hot (20)
Viewers also liked
Viewers also liked (20)
Recently uploaded
Recently uploaded (20)
Reasonable faith
- 4. Realistic Faith • 2Pe 1:16 For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. • 1Co 15:6 After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. • Luk 24:44 Then He said to them, "These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me."
- 5. Heb 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Substance = Hupstasis – a foundation Evidence = Elengchos – proof, confidence
- 6. Defining Reality through Faith
Editor's Notes
- How do we define reality without God? If we do not have a creator that defines reality and gives as a place in it we are left to define reality for ourselves and then we can only define reality by our own senses and reasoning. How can we be sure that anything we experience or know is real and true? Real being that does indeed exist and true in that how we experience it is really what it is. I mean I have had drams that appear real but are not, I have felt fear but it ended up being for no reason. This is why Descartes exclaimed “I think therefore I am”. He could only be certain of the fact that he was doubting, therefore at least the fact that he was doubting gave him a realistic reason to believe that he exists.
- Reality has to be defined by truth otherwise it is merely subjective experience that nay or may not be real, who knows. Our quest for reality has to be anchored in what is true. So how do we know what is true? For us as Christians truth is found in a person, Jesus Christ who said “I am the way truth and the life” John 14:6, He also said “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” Joh 8:32. But how do we know that we can put such trust in Jesus.
- The testimony of the Apostles – 1)The scripture reveals to us their sincere belief about the meaning of the events that centered around Christ. 2) They died for their belief in Jesus which showed they viewed their own lives as less important than their witness of Christ. Their lives and martyrs deaths are not doubted by Historians. 3) Their testimony is not only truthful and accurate is more than that, it is inspired by the Holy Spirit. http://www.slideshare.net/BibleAlive/bible-alive-jesus-christ-002-criteria-historical-foundations He appeared to many eye witnesses, Jesus life and resurrection are understood to be historical fact. 354 Prophecies Fulfilled in Jesus Christ from where he would be born to how and where He would die. We cannot prove the claims of the New Testament as true beyond a shadow of doubt. We can only show that the belief in such claims are not beyond reason and without merit. Anything beyond that would be rationalism and would make faith null and void.
- Heb 11:1 Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see. Many, both in the religious world and otherwise, have a gross misunderstanding of what constitutes faith. Contrary to scripture, many believe that faith is necessary to "fill in the gaps" in the absence of real, tangible evidence. Carl Sagan, the late and noted atheist and author, once said, "Faith is believing in something in the absence of evidence. Hebrews 11:1 answers and clarifies this misunderstanding. The verse: "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." The word translated "substance" comes from the Greek hupostasis (Strong's # 5287), which means "a placing or setting under, a substructure or foundation." This word appears elsewhere in the New Testament as "confident" or "confidence" (2 Corinthians 9:4; 11:17; Hebrews 3:14). The word translated "evidence" comes from the Greek word elengchos (Strong's #1650), meaning "a proof, or that by which a thing is proved or tested; conviction."
- You can desire as much as you want that this is Cape Town, you can call it cape town, you can support province and put up Cape Town signboards all over the place. Your reality may be that this is Cape town but the truth is that this is not Cape Town. The power of God’s word is that it enables us to know the truth so that our realities can be shaped by truth and not by desire, deception or delusion. Are you prepared to believe, are you prepared to walk by faith, to trust in God?