Faith and Apologetics
Journal
1. Summary
This section was based on apologetics or defending one’s faith in Christianity by providing evidence from the natural world, the human person, one’s conscience, and the “natural law”. We began by discussing different teleological arguments. These are arguments that try to prove the universe was purposefully designed through logical evidence. The evidence that people seem to share a common set of desires and inclinations seem to offer evidence as well as the idea’s that everyone has a corresponding conscience. There is the evidence that which is morally right is conducive to the fulfillment of human nature. We finally ended the section by giving evidence that Jesus is the greatest object we have to understanding God.
2. Three Key Ideas
The first idea I want to remember is the Anthropic Principle. This is the teleological argument that uses the natural world as evidence for a Creator. The world has so many different factors in chemistry and physics that come together so perfectly in order to support life (e.g. if the nuclear weak force was 5% weaker, stars wouldn’t exist. It doesn’t seem that chance could have randomly made all these numbers so exact that we can now live.
Next I would like to remember the Five Inclination of Human Nature: to seek happiness, to preserve oneself in existence, to unite sexually, to live in community, and to use free will and knowledge to seek truth. These basic inclinations apply to everyone including myself. Also, these are often what the media tries to sell us in order to buy their product. These ideas are inescapable in all of our lives.
Finally I want to remember the argument for God from Conscience. Our conscience comes from knowledge, intuition, and personal experience. Every single person in this world has a conscience that seems to correspond with every other conscience. Almost everyone feels that it is morally wrong to kill, steal, rape, etc. It seems to peculiar for everyone to think the same way. This common idea seems to be programmed into us and that programmer is God.
3. Image
This picture I feel summarizes Jesus that way I like to picture Him. He is our suffering savior. He is the glorified being who made this life worthwhile by dieing on the cross in order to bring eternal life.
4. Who is Jesus?
I believe that Jesus is the messiah, the one who came upon this earth in order to save us. He is the greatest moral teacher, telling us the will of God and showing us how to be truly happy in life. He provided a message that has been accepted and kept for over 2000 years. It is message of love that changed the lives of millions. Jesus was a radical, changing lives across world with a message that doesn’t often correspond with our natural inclinations. We normally do not love our enemies but this life style is what will make us truly happy and give meaning to our existence. Jesus offers a message that will answer the basic questions of life where psychology and science fail. He answers questions that have meaning to out lives here and now.