VISITING
AGNOSTICS:
ARE
YOU REALLY SO SURE YOU CAN’T BE SURE?
Hello! If you
were an agnostic or atheist ten years ago, don’t blame yourself. Discovery in the fields of astrophysics and genetics was pitiful back
then compared to now. Even one of the world’s leading atheist scholars, Antony Flew, changed his mind after
examining recently uncovered evidence showing that only an Intelligent Designer
could have put into motion the infinitely intricate biology that goes into a
person.
For Flew, it was no longer conceivable that random chance, rather than an intelligent Creator, threw together the building blocks of life. Flew conceded that only an intelligent mind could be responsible for “the helix shape of the DNA molecule, its possession of the genetic code, the nucleotide strings that refute blind chance, the storage of encyclopedic quantities of information and many other striking findings have revealed that the structure and functions of this molecule were arranged for life with a special design.” (SOURCE: www.darwinism-watch.com/antony_flew0412.php)
Is
it feasible that the intricately coded instructions embedded in our DNA are
just the result of a random process that just happened to result in millions of
pieces of information that just happened to have been filed meticulously and
orderly into our human cells? Here are a few DNA
facts. Here is more on DNA.
Traveling down
a whole different vein of thought, consider your possession of a conscience or
inherent feeling about what is right and wrong. Chances are, you experience an
inner feeling that moves you toward good and upsets your stomach when you
consider doing wrong. Where did that come from? How did every human being
mysteriously become endowed with this type of discernment that has nothing to
do with genetics, as proven by Evil Twins all over?
It was the
existence of the human conscience that served as the kicker for atheist-convert
author C.S. Lewis. But philosophers like Thomas
Aquinas, Anselm of Canterbury, Rene
Descartes, Aristotle, mathematician Blaise
Pascal and calculus co-founder Gottfried
Leibniz offered some darn good points in the past
Their classic
proofs for the existence of God included the argument from design, the argument
from contingency, the argument from first cause, the argument from motion, the
argument from moral law.
Not to
mention, I have some photographs that prove everything….!
OK, just
teasing.
But neither do
we have photos of Hannibal’s invasion of Italy, or the first Olympic Games, or
the Declaration of Independence being signed in Philadelphia in 1776.
Yet we can
probably agree that the chance those things happened are 99 percent greater
than the chance they didn’t happen.
We know they
happened because witnesses recorded what they saw.
The likelihood that all recorded events of the first century, including
the Resurrection, really did occur are just as high, and even higher, than
those other events mentioned above.
In fact, the
reactions and changes in people who saw Christ after He rose do not make sense
in any branch of psychology or sociology unless the Resurrection really
happened.
Based on the
evidence and the corroborating accounts by people deemed to have no reason to
lie, the chances that the 500 people who reportedly saw and interacted with
Christ as He walked the Earth for 40 days, did not actually see Him would have
to be miniscule.
And what about
the 150 individuals who saw Christ ascend into heaven on the 40th
day after the Resurrection? With their own eyes, they saw him float up in the
air and finally be carried off on a cloud. One Bible account reads “…as they
were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight.”
(Acts 1:9)
Jesus had even
predicted his Ascension
earlier, saying "Does this offend you? Then how will you react when you
see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?" (Jn.6:61-62)
Mass
hallucinations do not make sense, and there is no evidence to regard the
witnesses to the events as anything but sincere and fact-conscious. If your mother came home and told you she
saw something, wouldn’t you believe it? Now imagine Mother Teresa coming to
your house and telling you what she saw. Well, accounts of Christ’s
Resurrection and Ascension (not to mention the countless miracles before His
death) came from witnesses who were just as revered for the holiness of their
lives.
If you believe
that there could be a God, and you’ve examined the events of the first century,
then I hope you’ll conclude, after perusing all facts, that the most rational
explanation for the long list of occurrences sides with a factual Resurrection.
I hope you’ll conclude that the evidence sides with a humble, simple and sane
Jesus telling the truth, that He was God, that he was fulfilling Scripture,
that he loved us so much He came to suffer and be slaughtered like a lamb so we
could be saved.
What else but
the events mentioned could have had such a profound affect on the
once-skeptical apostles and disciples, that after seeing the risen Christ they
were completely changed people …they were willing to be martyred for
proclaiming what they saw, and they were martyred. The odds that they
died for the sake of a joke, or for something they knew to be false, are nill
to none.
To dismiss the
matter-of-fact testimonies of Christ’s Resurrection and Ascension, and of the
countless miracles that Christ worked during his sinless life, I’d say, would
not be in the interest of a betting person.
You may recall
that the Bible records
the phenomenon of many dead people rising from their graves the day Christ
died. These guys walked around town, were seen by their relatives and friends,
and preached Christ’s message of salvation. (1)
When Christ
died, everybody felt the earthquake that split open the graves of these guys.
People saw their broken tombstones.
Before Christ
died, He told his apostles to stay in one place before dispersing around the
world to preach. He said they needed to wait for the Holy Spirit to come upon
them to guide them into truth until the end of time. Sure enough, when they and
Mary were all together, the house shook and they all saw the parted tongues of
fire come down and land on each one of them.(2) Again, there’s no such thing as a 12-way hallucination, and if
they made it up, they wouldn’t have been willing to die for it.
The guards at
the tomb would have been put to death if they had fallen asleep at this
important job. They were too scared to risk such punishment. They were even
more scared (actually they were “struck with terror and became like dead men”
according to the Bible account) when they saw a supernatural creature move the
heavy rock that closed the tombstone.
After
reporting to Roman authorities about the supernatural being (angel) that they
saw move the rock, the guards were paid to lie and say the body was stolen. (a claim
which was ruled out by all the people who saw Christ alive, including Thomas
who stuck his hand in his stab wound). Knowing the guards did not fall asleep,
Roman authorities never punished the guards, nor could they ever produce a
body, as much as they would have loved to.
The disciples
were hardly expecting Jesus to rise. They didn’t yet understand the prediction
in the Old Testament. St. Paul didn’t even believe Jesus was God prior to the
Resurrection. In fact, he was on his way to persecute Christians when Christ
made himself known to him. Paul understood that Christ loved him so much that
He underwent agony so his sins could be forgiven. St. Paul now understood that
He rose so that we too can rise after death.
Prior to the
death of Jesus, apostles Peter, James and John even saw Jesus talking to Elijah
and Moses, who were up in the sky, while Jesus’ face shined like the sun and
clothes became a dazzling white. (3) If
God does exist, this all makes total sense. If God does not, then no sense can
be made of this.
Because of
Jesus, our world was changed forever. Even the world’s calendar was changed.
Our holidays celebrate the true events of the first century. The thousands of
saints that mark our history could never have done the deeds they did or achieved
the holiness they achieved without supernatural graces that flow from God.
I may have
been joking before about having photos. But the truth is, many photos of God’s
miracles exist. If you go to the “Claire’s
Favorite Miracles” section of StillCatholic.com,
I have a link to a photo of the Miracle
of the Sun from 1917 (but better photos of this exist). Read
the newspaper accounts of how the sun danced in the air, plunged toward Earth
and rose, for 70,000 to 80,000 people in Portugal to see on the same day Mary
promised children she would perform a miracle. Even secular anti-Christian
newspapers reported it.
Read the book Raised
from the Dead: True Stories of 400 Resurrection Miracles
by Father Albert J Hebert. This book recounts the historical stories of people
who died, were buried for years, some of whom decayed partially or into
skeletons, and who then were raised from the dead.
I would say
get on a plane and examine some of the miracles yourself. Read about the Tilma
of Juan Diego in my web site’s Miracle
section, then fly to Guadalupe, Mexico this weekend and check it out. Read the
reports by nationally renowned scientists about the tilma.
Read about the Eucharistic Miracle of Lanciano in my Miracle
section, then fly to Italy and check it out.
If you are a
doctor or scientist of any nationality or belief, you are welcome to examine
the voluminous records of the miraculous healings at Lourdes, France. Just show
up at the medical bureau there. Nobel-prize winner and former skeptic Professor
Alex Carrel (1873-1944) went to
Lourdes precisely to research the false belief in miracles, and the role of
psychology. He witnessed a miracle with
his own eyes. A dying woman who had been on his train to Lourdes was cured
after water from the healing spring was poured on her.
Talk to the
scientists and surgeons who confirmed or saw Catholic miracles. Look at the
X-rays. Talk to the hundreds of people still walking the earth who have been
cured miraculously by God through the intercession of saints. Not one case can
be explained by psychology.
For me, the
lives of the saints, even more than the miracles of the saints, give the
greatest testimony to the love of Jesus. There are countless stories of
individuals, previously apathetic, who began receiving the Eucharist and
suddenly began undergoing a complete transformation from within. Their love for
God and others grew to the point they would accept any task, whether it be
serving the dying in the slums of a Third World nation to asking God for a
life-long painful illness that they could offer up to God for the conversion
and salvation of sinners.
God created
you because He wants you to be part of his loving family forever and ever. He
will give you the gift of faith if you ask for it.
By the way,
would you like to join the Atheist
Pro-Life League?
-Claire
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Back to StillCatholic.com
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FOOTNOTES (Bible
references):
1. BIBLICAL ACCOUNT
OF WHAT OCCURRED WHEN CHRIST DIED (INCLUDES STATEMENT OF THE ROMAN CENTURION
THAT JESUS WAS THE SON OF GOD)
“And
behold the veil of the temple was rent in two from the top even to the bottom:
and the earth quaked and the rocks were rent.
And
the graves were opened: and many bodies of the saints that had slept arose,
And
coming out of the tombs after his resurrection, came into the holy city and
appeared to many.
Now
the centurion and they that were with him watching Jesus, having seen the
earthquake and the things that were done, were sore afraid, saying: Indeed this
was the Son of God. [Matthew 27: 51-54]
2.
BIBLICAL ACOUNT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT COMING TO THE APOSTLES AND MARY, AN EVENT
PRE-ANNOUNCED BY JESUS (PENTECOST)
“And
when the days of the Pentecost were accomplished, they were all together in one
place:
And
suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a mighty wind coming: and it
filled the whole house where they were sitting.
And
there appeared to them parted tongues, as it were of fire: and it sat upon
every one of them.
And
they were all filled with the Holy Ghost: and they began to speak with divers
tongues, according as the Holy Ghost gave them to speak.
Now
there were dwelling at Jerusalem, Jews, devout men, out of every nation under
heaven.
And
when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded
in mind, because that every man heard them speak in his own tongue.
And
they were all amazed, and wondered, saying: Behold, are not all these that
speak Galilean?
And
how have we heard, every man our own tongue wherein we were born?
Parthians
and Medes and Elamites and inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia,
Pontus and Asia,
Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome,
Jews
also, and proselytes, Cretes, and Arabians: we have heard them speak in our own
tongues the wonderful works of God.
And
they were all astonished, and wondered, saying one to another: What meaneth
this?”
[Acts
2:1-12]
3. THE TRANSFIGURATION (Matthew
17:1-8)
After six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, and led them
up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them; his face
shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light.
And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, conversing with him.
Then Peter said to Jesus in reply, "Lord, it is good that we are
here. If you wish, I will make three tents 5 here, one for
you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."
While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud cast a shadow over
them, then from the cloud came a voice that said, "This is my beloved Son,
with whom I am well pleased; listen to him."
When the disciples heard this, they fell prostrate and were very much
afraid. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, "Rise, and do not be
afraid." And when the disciples raised their eyes, they saw no one else
but Jesus alone.
4. BIBLICAL ACCOUNT OF THE EMPTY TOMB
“And in the end of the sabbath, when it began to
dawn towards the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalen and the other Mary,
to see the sepulchre.
And
behold there was a great earthquake. For an angel of the Lord descended from
heaven and coming rolled back the stone and sat upon it.
And
his countenance was as lightning and his raiment as snow.
And
for fear of him, the guards were struck with terror and became as dead men.
And
the angel answering, said to the women: Fear not you: for I know that you seek
Jesus who was crucified.
He
is not here. For he is risen, as he said. Come, and see the place where the Lord
was laid.
And
going quickly, tell ye his disciples that he is risen. And behold he will go
before you into Galilee. There you shall see him. Lo, I have foretold it to
you.
And
they went out quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy, running to
tell his disciples.
And
behold, Jesus met them, saying: All hail. But they came up and took hold of his
feet and adored him.
Then
Jesus said to them: Fear not. Go, tell my brethren that they go into Galilee.
There they shall see me.
Who
when they were departed, behold, some of the guards came into the city and told
the chief priests all things that had been done.
And
they being assembled together with the ancients, taking counsel, gave a great
sum of money to the soldiers,
Saying:
Say you, His disciples came by night and stole him away when we were asleep.
And
if the governor shall hear of this, we will persuade him and secure you.
So
they taking the money, did as they were taught: and this word was spread abroad
among the Jews even unto this day.
And
the eleven disciples went into Galilee, unto the mountain where Jesus had
appointed them.
And
seeing him they adored: but some doubted.
And
Jesus coming, spoke to them, saying: All power is given to me in heaven and in
earth.
Going
therefore, teach ye all nations: baptizing them in the name of the Father and
of the Son and of the Holy Ghost
Teaching
them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And behold I am
with you all days, even to the consummation of the world.” (Matthew 28:1-20)
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OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECIES COME TRUE ABOUT THE CHRIST
I came across a beautiful article in The Rock magazine (April 2004 issue)
by Hebrew Catholic Rosalind Moss who lists some of the fulfilled prophecies.
She writes:
“……..he would be rejected by men (cf. Is 53:3), betrayed by a friend
(Ps 41:9), sold for 30 pieces of silver (Zech 11:12), silenced before his
accusers (Is. 53:7), MOCKED (Ps. 22:7-8), beaten (Is. 52:14), spit upon (Is.
50:6), pierced through his hands and feet (Ps.22:16), crucified with thieves
(Is. 53:12), given gall and vinegar to drink (Ps. 69:21), pierced through his
side (Zech. 12:10), that not a bone would be broken (Ps. 34:20), that lots
would be cast for his garments (Ps. 22:18)? And that beyond the Passion he
would be buried in a rich man’s tomb (cf. Is. 53:9), rise from the dead (Ps.
16:10), ascend into heaven (Ps. 68:18),
and sit down at the right hand of God (Ps. 110:1)? (It Was Sin That Killed
Our Savior: Reflections on Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ by
Rosalind Moss. This Rock magazine.)
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HELLO AGAIN! BELOW, I’VE PROVIDED A FEW PASSAGES FROM SOME WELL-KNOWN CHRISTIAN APOLOGETICS BOOKS YOU’LL WANT TO READ TO BE ON THE UP-AND-UP.
Here’s a famous quote from “Mere
Christianity” by atheist-turned-Christian C.S.
Lewis:
I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing
that people often say about Him: “I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral
teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.” That is the one thing we must
not say. A man who is merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would
not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic - on the level with the
man who says he is a poached egg - or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You
must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a
madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him
and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God.
But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human
teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. (Mere Christianity [New York:
Touchstone, 1996] 56).
Here’s a passage by the late Rev. William G. Most’s book:
“Men do not cling to mere fancies when
facing lions, torture and death. Second, Christianity was being confirmed by miracles
at that time. …..miracles still happen and are checked with scientific
strictness. In addition, as St. Augustine shrewdly observed, if the uneducated
and ignorant Apostles had been able to sell such a difficult and demanding
doctrine to sophisticated Greeks and Romans, without any miracles, that fact
itself would be a miracle.
“…….Quadratus, earliest of the Greek
apologists for Christianity, writing about 123 A.D., said, “The things done by
the Savior remained always, for they were true. Those cured, those who rose
from the dead were not only seen when they were being cured and raised, but
were constantly present, not only while the Savior was living, but also for
some time after He had gone, so that certain of them came down even to our own
time.”
This is remarkable. Quadratus says that
some who were healed by Christ or even raised by the dead lived until his own
time.”
(“Catholic Apologetics Today” by Rev.
William G. Most)
Here in the Bible, St. Paul (formerly Saul of Tarsus who persecuted
disciples of Christ) preaches on the Resurrection and all the people who
witnessed it:
“For I delivered unto you first of all, which I also
received: how that Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures: And
that he was buried: and that he rose again according to the scriptures: And
that he was seen by Cephas, and after that by the eleven. Then was he seen by
more than five hundred brethren at once: of whom many remain until this
present, and some are fallen asleep. After that, he was seen by James: then by
all the apostles. And last of all, he was seen also by me, as by one born out
of due tine. For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called
an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God, I
am what I am. And his grace in me hath not been void: but I have laboured more
abundantly than all they. Yet not I, but the grace of God with me: For whether
I or they, so we preach: and so you have believed. Now if Christ be preached,
that he arose again from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no
resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then
Christ is not risen again. And if Christ be not risen again, then is our
preaching vain: and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found false
witnesses of God: because we have given testimony against God, that he hath
raised up Christ, whom he hath not raised up, if the dead rise not again. For
if the dead rise not again, neither is Christ risen again. And if Christ be not
risen again, your faith is vain: for you are yet in your sins. Then they also
that are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have
hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. But now Christ is risen from
the dead, the firstfruits of them that sleep: For by a man came death: and by a
man the resurrection of the dead. And as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all
shall be made alive.” (1 Corinthians 15: 3-22)
Here are some quotes from Peter Kreeft in Chapter 9 of
“Miracles”
“Yes, modern science has explained away some of the things some of the
ancients thought miraculous, like thunderbolts. But it has not explained away
any of the miracles in the New Testament. Science has not made the Virgin Birth
or the Resurrection or the feeding of the five thousand one bit less
miraculous.”
“…..miracle stories were added later to many other religions, and even
contradict the original idea. For instance, the story of Mohammed flying to the
moon on his horse contradicts insistence that the Koran be his only miracle,
And Buddha taught that anyone who performed a miracle was not teaching his
dharma (doctrine) because a miracle would encourage belief in the illusion of
the separate, objective material world.
One of the greatest proofs that Christ is
the Messiah are specific prophecies from the Old Testament that came true to
the letter. In Lee Strobel’s book “The Case for Faith,” Christian theologian
Norm Geisler answers questions of Strobel, who had been an atheist.
The following is from “The Case for Faith.”
Geisler began with a sweeping sentence: “The Bible is the only book in
the world that has precise, specific predictions that were made hundreds of
years in advance and that were literally fulfilled.”
Gesturing toward one of the books packed into his shelves, he continued
by saying, “According to Barton Payne’s Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy,
there are 191 predictions in the Old Testament about the coming of Christ,
including the ancestry, the city in which he would be born, that he would be
born of a virgin, precisely the time in history when he would die, and so on.
“In fact, Psalm 22:16 says his hands and feet would be pierced; verse
14 says his bones would be out of joint; verse 18 talks about the casting of
lots for his garments; and Zechariah 12:10 says he would be pierced, as Jesus
was with a lance. That’s obviously a picture of his crucifixion – however, it
was written before the crucifixion was even implemented as a method of execution
by the Romans. The Jews stoned people to death back then.
“And, of course, Isaiah 53:2-12 has perhaps the most amazing
predictions about Christ in the entire Old Testament. It foretells twelve
aspects of his passion that were all fulfilled – he would be rejected, be a man
of sorrow, be smitten and afflicted by God, be pierced for our transgressions,
be wounded for our sins, would suffer like a lamb, would die with the wicked,
would be sinless, and would pray for others.”
I spoke up. “Wait a second,” I said. “If you talk to a rabbi, he’ll
tell you that passage refers symbolically to Israel, not to the Messiah..”
Geisler shook his head. “In the Old Testament times, the Jewish rabbis did consider this to be a prophecy
concerning the Messiah. That’s the opinion that’s really relevant,” he said..
“Only later, after Christians pointed out this was obviously pointing
to Jesus, did they begin saying it was really about the suffering Jewish
nation. But clearly that’s wrong. Isaiah customarily refers to the Jewish
people in the first-person plural, like ‘our’ or ‘we,’ but he always refers to
the Messiah in the third-person singular, like ‘he’ and ‘him’ –and that’s what
he did in Isaiah 53. Plus, anyone who reads it for themselves will readily see
it’s referring to Jesus.”
“………….How much more detailed can you get than accurately predicting
when Jesus would die, as Daniel 9:24-26 did? When you do the math, you find
that this passage pinpoints when Jesus would enter human history. And what
about predictions of his birth place or how he would suffer and die? The
specificity is astounding – and they have invariably proven to be true.”
(Lee Strobel The Case for Faith chapter 4,
ZondervanPublishingHouse)
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MORE OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECIES ABOUT JESUS (There are many, many others)
Isaiah 7:14 “Behold a virgin
shall conceive, and bear a son and his name shall be called Emmanuel.”
Micheas
5:2: And thou Bethlehem Ephrata, art a little one among the thousands of Juda,
out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be the ruler in Israel: and
his going forth is from the beginning, from the days of eternity.
Isaiah
53:2-12 “And he shall grow up as a tender plant before him, and as a root out
of a thirsty ground: there is no beauty in him, nor comeliness: and we have
seen him, and there was no sightliness, that we should be desirous of him:
Despised,
and the most abject of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with infirmity:
and his look was as it were hidden and despised, whereupon we esteemed him not.
Surely
he hath borne our infirmities and carried our sorrows: and we have thought him
as it were a leper, and as one struck by God and afflicted.
But
he was wounded for our iniquities, he was bruised for our sins: the
chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his bruises we are healed.
But
he was wounded for our iniquities, he was bruised for our sins: the
chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his bruises we are healed.
All
we like sheep have gone astray, every one hath turned aside into his own way:
and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
He
was offered because it was his own will, and he opened not his mouth: he shall
be led as a sheep to the slaughter, and shall be dumb as a lamb before his
shearer, and he shall not open his mouth.
He
was taken away from distress, and from judgment: who shall declare his
generation? because he is cut off out of the land of the living: for the
wickedness of my people have I struck him.
And
he shall give the ungodly for his burial, and the rich for his death: because
he hath done no iniquity, neither was there deceit in his mouth.
And
the Lord was pleased to bruise him in infirmity: if he shall lay down his life
for sin, he shall see a longlived seed, and the will of the Lord shall be
prosperous in his hand.
Because
his soul hath laboured, he shall see and be filled: by his knowledge shall this
my just servant justify many, and he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore
will I distribute to him very many, and he shall divide the spoils of the
strong, because he hath delivered his soul unto death, and was reputed with the
wicked: and he hath borne the sins of many, and hath prayed for the transgressors.
Zechariah 12:10 “And I will pour
out upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit
of grace, and of prayers: and they shall look upon me, whom they have pierced: and they shall mourn for him as one
mourneth for an only son, and they shall grieve over him, as the manner is to
grieve for the death of the firstborn.”
Psalm
22:18 “they divide my garments among them; for my clothing they cast
lots.”
Daniel 9: 24-26 “Seventy weeks
are shortened upon thy people, and upon thy holy city, that transgression may
be finished, and sin may have an end, and iniquity may be abolished; and
everlasting justice may be brought; and vision and prophecy may be fulfilled;
and the Saint of saints may be anointed.
Know
thou, therefore, and take notice: that from the going forth of the word, to
build up Jerusalem again, unto Christ, the prince, there shall be seven weeks,
and sixty-two weeks: and the street shall be built again, and the walls, in
straitness of times.
And
after sixty-two weeks Christ shall be slain: and the people that shall deny him
shall not be his. And a people, with their leader, that shall come, shall
destroy the city, and the sanctuary: and the end thereof shall be waste, and
after the end of the war the appointed desolation.”
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WEB
SITES ON EVIDENCE OF GOD
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06608b.htm
(Existence of God: Catholic Encyclopedia)
http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/apologetics/ap0149.html
(St. Thomas
Aquinas’ proofs of God)
http://jp.thomas.name/jesus/godsexistence.html
(Summary of arguments
for God)
http://www.ewtn.com/library/ANSWERS/GODIS.htm
(Summa Theologica
by St.
Thomas Aquinas)
http://ic.net/~erasmus/RAZ15.HTM
(Science, Design & the
Cosmological Argument)
http://ic.net/~erasmus/RAZ75.HTM
(Philosophy & Christianity)
http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/apologetics/ap0002.html
(Reasons
to Believe)
http://www.cwo.com/~pentrack/catholic/apolo.html
(Catholic
apologetics)
http://enotalone.com/books.php?mode=books&topic=Christianity+-+Theology+-+Apologetics
(lists books proving Christianity)
http://www.newadvent.org/summa/ (Summa Theologica: the theological
masterpiece of St. Thomas Aquinas)
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14663b.htm
(Life and Works of St. Thomas
Aquinas)
http://www.nd.edu/Departments/Maritain/etext/gc.htm
(Summa Contra
Gentiles by St. Thomas Aquinas)
http://www.diopitt.org/tea_design.php
(Intelligent Design or Mindless Evolution – 2005)
http://www.cathmed.org/publications/linacrequarterly/1998_02.html
(Two Lourdes miracles and a Nobel Laureate)
*****************************************************************
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12789a.htm
(facts of Christ’s
Resurrection)
http://www.a180.net/apologetics_articles.html
(Bunch of apologetics
articles)
http://www.scripturecatholic.com/messianic_prophecies.html
(Messianic
Prophecies Fulfilled by Christ)
http://www.leaderu.com/everystudent/easter/articles/josh2.html
(evidence
for resurrection)
http://www.catholicculture.org/docs/doc_view.cfm?recnum=5070
(If
Christ Had Not Been Raised)
http://www.silk.net/RelEd/creed12.htm
(articles on the Resurrection)
http://www.ad2000.com.au/articles/1999/apr1999p20_368.html
(skeptical
historians can’t deny events after Christ’s death)
http://www.greatbiblestore.com/cat.php?cat_id=7502
(list of books proving
Christianity)
http://www.christianarsenal.com/Apologetics/Resurrection.htm
(The Reasons
to Believe Christ Rose)
http://www.cin.org/kc8-4.html
(Resurrection in The Early Church)
http://apologetics.johndepoe.com/res.html
(The Resurrection)
http://cbn.com/SpiritualLife/Easter/Did_The_Resurrection_Really_Happen.asp
(Reasons
to Believe)
http://www.apologeticspress.org/faq/r&r9305a.htm
(Frequently Asked Questions About the Resurrection)
http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/religion/re0021.html
(answers questions from skeptics)
http://www.jesus-institute.org/life-of-jesus-ancient/jesus-supernatural_acts.shtml
(Recorded Miracles
of Jesus)
http://www.godonthe.net/evidence/messiah.htm
(More Messianic
Prophecies)
http://ic.net/~erasmus/RAZ186.HTM
(Jewish-Christian Dialogue on
whether the Servant of Isaiah 53 is the Messiah)
***********************************************************
The
Creator and the Cosmos: How the Greatest Scientific Discoveries of the Century
Reveal God (Hugh Ross,
NavPress, 1995, Colorado Springs, CO)
Mere
Christianity by C.S.
Lewis (focusing on evidence for Christianity)
The
Case for a Creator
by Lee
Strobel
The
Case for Christ by
Lee Strobel
(focusing on evidence for Christianity)
The
Case for Faith by
Lee Strobel (focusing on evidence for Christianity)
The
Life of Christ by Fulton
Sheen (focusing on evidence for Christianity)
The Old Riddle and the Newest
Answers by John GERARD
((London, 1904).
Essays on Un-natural History by John Gerard
THE
UNKNOWN GOD by Alfred Noyes
Apologetics and Christian Doctrine by Archbishop
John Sheehan
Principles
of Natural Theology by George Hayward Joyce, 1923
Apologetics
and Catholic Doctrine by Archbishop
Michael Sheehan
God
and the Supernatural by Father
Cuthbert
Voyage to Lourdes by Alexis Carrel, Nobel
Prize winner in medicine
The
Historical Jesus: Ancient Evidence for the Life of Christ by Gary R. Habermas,
The
Historical Reliability of the Gospels
by Craig L. Blomberg
New
Testament Documents: Are they Reliable?
by F.F. Bruce
http://www.ichrusa.com/saintsalive/florence.htm
(St. Juliana
Falconieri & St. Antoninus)
http://www.ichrusa.com/saintsalive/johnv.htm
(St. John Vianney)
http://www.ichrusa.com/saintsalive/bernad.htm
(St. Bernadette)
**************************************************************
Hi again! Before I go, I wanted to tell you about my
favorite argument for the existence of God: the argument of design. The argument
goes like this: Given the complex organization and arrangement of our eyes, our
heart, the reproductive system, our ecosystem, the sun, our solar system, well,
just about everything……and……given the fact these things are arranged for a
specific purpose and goal (to see, to pump blood, procreation, to keep food
growing, to keep us warm, to keep us from being yanked up into outer
space)….well then….there must be an intelligent designer, i.e. God.
In other words, if everything just happened randomly
during the Big Bang, things would be thrown all over the place. The world would
probably look like a pile of shattered glass and dirt, whirling around in any
which way. And we wouldn’t be able to see it either because there is no way in
heck that by some coincidence it would form an eye, much less a whole human
being, or any base creature that just “coincidentally” takes the direct path of
developing into a human being. And even if the explosion randomly resulted in a
human being (impossible), is it rational to think we might “coincidentally”
wind up with a man and a woman, which just “coincidentally” can procreate
together?
Think about it. If you had a bag filled with the
hundreds of components that make up a computer, and you threw them out the
window, the odds that they’d all come together by chance to form a computer, or
something that would start transforming into a computer, are about a billion to
one. The odds they would form two computers, that would start kissing and
procreating, is even further out there. (like this sentence)
Father Frank Chacon puts it this
way:
“Consider the human eye. It is an amazingly
complicated organ that is arranged for a clear purpose: to see. The development
of the eye from the first cells in the embryo to the fully mature organ
consists of countless steps in which many complex element came together
perfectly. Each complex step in the process could only proceed because a
previous complex step occurred perfectly. The chain of steps is extremely long,
as any microbiologist will confirm. This long, intricate process proceeds
toward a clear purpose: to form an organ capable of sight.
“Assembling a watch is relatively easy. But no one
thinks watches are made by chance. Assembling an eye is unbelievably
complicated. All the scientists of the world working together with the most
advanced technology cannot synthesize a human eye. Yet, atheists insist the
development of the human eye is the result of purely random, chaotic process.
The marvel of the human eye virtually screams: “intelligent design!”
Intelligent design demands an intelligent designer.
“…..With amazing new tools like the Hubble
telescope, we are discovering that the universe is more complicated than we
ever dreamed. At the same time, it is more perfectly organized than we ever
suspected.”
On Big Bang,
he writes, “This awesome blast had to be regulated within an extremely narrow
range in order for the universe to be formed. If the speed of the elements in
the explosion had moved just a hair faster or slower, there would have been
only chaos instead of the amazingly complex, perfectly organized universe we
know. Scientists tell us that events appeared to have been “guided” to bring
about a planet like earth, capable of sustaining intelligent life.
“Amazingly, the bodies and movements of the universe
appear to have been “deliberately” made to correspond to the operations of the
human mind and to be intelligible to it. Like the human eye, the processes of
the material universe seem to scream: “intelligent design!” Given the awesome
size and complexity of the universe, it is very easy to see that this
Intelligent Designer must be God.
“We can go even further and say the awesome power,
order, beauty, and majesty of the universe appear designed to reflect the
infinite power, order, beauty, and majesty of God.” (Father Frank Chacon &
Jim Burnham: Beginning Apologetics 4:
How to Answer Atheists and New Agers, San Juan Catholic Seminars)
*********************************************************************************************************************
“There are two ways to live your life.
One is as if nothing is a miracle and the other is as if everything was a
miracle.” - Albert Einstein
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