Last night we had the pleasure of serving 14 homeless people a Christmas dinner that was graciously hosted by our good friends at Boulders on Broadway! We literally drove around Tempe and found 14 people that needed something to eat, and were also able to give them blankets and Bibles, as well as show them the love of Christ and share the Gospel with them! This was an event we did with the people of Apologia Church, and I just want to say how overly blessed and encouraged I was by their willingness to serve and love. Jeff and I took some time to just sit back and observe, and what we saw was awe inspiring. We saw our flock graciously serving, unselfishly loving, and faithfully sharing the Gospel from the Word; and they did this all on their own, without even the slightest prompt! Jeff and I are so incredibly blessed by Jehovah Jireh with such an amazing ministry at Apologia of an absolutely transparent group of people that are hungry to grow in and serve Jesus Christ! This is a blessing that cannot be accurately described with words.
Apologia Church, you are amazing; keep up the good work for the Gospel!
Here is some audio of a recent conversation Jeff had with a Mormon couple during some outreach we were doing at Christmas Lights at the LDS Temple in Mesa, AZ. We are planning on going a few more times before the end of December. If you are interested in going with us, please let us know.
Jeff and I recently had great conversation with an atheist on Facebook discussing whether or not the atheistic worldview can account for non-material things like the Laws of Logic. This atheist repeatedly asked me for, or at least remarked that there was no evidence for God. My response was that I do not need to show him any evidence and that he simply needed to look around him, because according to Romans Chapter 1, God has made Himself evident to everyone through creation.
I recently shot this video of my beautiful 3 week old daughter, Evie, smiling in her sleep, which she often does, and would like to show several things from it that prove God exists.
1) When I watch this video, my heart overflows with great joy and love for this beautiful little person that God knit together in my wife's womb and blessed us with. Now, I admit that those feelings are completely subjective to me, however, others may watch it and also have feelings of love, joy, or excitement. Someone may even have some twisted evil thoughts of hate or disgust. I can deduce a few things from this:
Why does a video like this incite such feelings? As a Christian, the answer is easy: God is Love, and I feel love, because I was created in His image! The atheistic worldview, however, has no objective source of love or joy. After all, this worldview claims that we are all simply matter in motion, or bags of biological goo. Everything is material, and nothing non-material exists.
That being said, are love and joy, or even hate material? Have you ever woke up in the morning and had a hot cup of love? Have you ever tripped on a dirty pile of pride? Again, as a Christian, this does not create any issues for me, because I submit that non-material things, such as love, joy, hate, or even God do indeed exist! The atheistic worldview, however, cannot account for any of these "feelings" without borrowing from the Christian worldview.
If I knew someone watched this video and had hate in their heart, I would be upset, as would most people. Again, why is this? As a Christian, I can be upset because of something called morality, which was created and is sustained by God, and which I know in my heart of hearts because God has again created me in His image. If we are all just matter in motion though, 1) morals are non-material and cannot be accounted for by the atheistic worldview, and 2) why does it matter if someone feels hate or joy? There is no objective ultimate truth then, and everything is just random, so who's to say whether or not my morals should be the same as yours?
2) Even at only 3 weeks old, some thought in her precious little head made her smile. And, no I do not believe it was just gas, as she smiles all the time, especially when she's sleeping and dreaming, all without passing gas. She is also already smiling at me as a reaction to something I said or did. Here is what I can deduce from this thought:
There is a chemical reaction going on her brain to make her smile. As a Christian, I can make sense of this because I can say there is more than just a chemical reaction involved. There is also a non-material thought of happiness that triggers the chemical reaction. The atheistic worldview would have to claim that there is only a chemical reaction going on. The only problem with this though, is that all of our minds then only work due to material chemical reactions. How then are we to determine whose chemical reaction is right and whose is wrong? I heard my friend and Christian Apologist, Sye TenBruggencate, give a great illustration in a recent debate. It goes like this: if I were to take a 2 liter of Coke and a 2 liter of Dr. Pepper, shake both of them up and then watch the chemical reaction that would result, how do we determine which chemical reaction is truth, or in this case with my daughter, how do we determine which chemical reaction is happy and which is sad? The point is that you can't! And if non-material things like happiness and sadness can't exist in the atheistic worldview, then why does it even matter, unless you are borrowing from the Christian worldview?
Although these few thoughts I've brought up are not exhaustive, they do show that apart from the Bible and a Christian Worldview, a person, specifically an atheist, cannot account for even some of the simplest emotions we take for granted every day, like love!
My wife, Cheryl, and I were recently just blessed by Sovereign God with the most beautifully precious and perfect baby girl! Our daughter Evangeline "Evie" Grace Pierson was born on 10/10/10 in Room 10 at 5:43 am. She weighed in at 6 lbs 12 oz and was 20 1/4 inches long. We had been trying to have a baby for over 5 years, and were prepared to take extra medical steps to aid in the process when we were surprised in February to find out Cheryl was pregnant. Jehovah Tsavah, the LORD of Hosts, by His grace, allowed the entire pregnancy and delivery to go smoothly! We are truly blessed by this amazing little person God has given us! We praise Him for His sovereignty in our lives, and give Him all the glory!
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