Postmodernism has crept into the world. It is a secular worldview that states there are no absolutes–only our own personal perception of reality. Everything is in question especially when it comes to worldview and morality. When one holds to this philosophy he or she will justify any behavior that makes them feel good.
On the other hand we have naturalism that assumes only natural law exists. A true scientist cannot even bring a supernatural factor into the equation. This makes religion a feel good fairy tale that gets us through the day.
Neither philosophy is compatible with Biblical Teaching.
The existence of God is a matter of history and not speculation. The entire bible does not need to be true in order to prove God. Only one credible historical reference is enough. An atheist cannot bring themselves to consider any evidence for God as credible. God could show up in their living room and they would say they were hallucinating.
Stephen Beagles (2023)
Spiritual Director, Gospel Adventist Ministries
“The existence of God is a matter of history and not speculation.” If that were true, the atheists would be the lunatic fringe (like flat-earthers and holocaust deniers). Obviously, we are not the fringe. The approach to historical study makes the difference, though. If you approach history studies by demanding the best possible evidence, it’s quite rigorous. If you approach the Bible as if it were reliable history, you place your search for evidence on a very precarious footing. You poison your well of evidence, and soon you will accept foolish claims as historical evidence. The Bible is the CLAIM, not the EVIDENCE.
“The entire bible does not need to be true in order to prove God.” This idea does damage to the Bible’s own rules of interpretation. Rev. 22:18-19 (For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.), Deuteronomy 4:2 (Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.)
“Only one credible historical reference is enough.” Credible to whom? Enough for whom? You cannot avoid the idea that our perception is all we have. How else do we see, hear, touch? Even if we allow some kind of ‘spiritual sixth sense,’ each individual is limited to their personal interpretation of what comes to them through it. Your problem is that the Bible discredits itself by its own rules of interpretation and the non-intervention of the God therein in either recorded human history or current events.