Scaling the Mountain

I noticed a dichotomy in the approaches used, by the two opposing sides in this issue, of proving the existence of God. On the side of atheism/agnosticism is the demand to produce God for questioning, or, failing that, to at least give evidence for His passage. On the other side, represented by William Lane Craig, are only assertions of simple logic, the obvious ones that God must exist for philosophical or scientific reasons. This did not seem to answer the questions of unbelievers. There was no engagement of the minds, and therefore the issues presented had not been addressed. That's a whole mountain of questions that went unanswered!

I attempted to assay the foot of the mountain. It seems only logical that mere ignorance of history can be quickly allayed by the facts. We already know that the places named in the events of the new testament actually existed and still do today. We have the church's historian, Luke, writing of the first few years of the church in the Book of Acts. There are the letters of Paul from prison, to the churches he started in the Book of Acts. From there, many other letters from other church leaders, with quotes from the apostles, seamlessly flow, in their dozens, throughout the first 300 years of church existence. The bodies of most of the twelve apostles are well know to be buried in Saint Peter's Basilica because of the diligence of the church. The church has been copious in it's writings and diligent in it's record keeping, so as to insure it's legitimate inheritance. Even the later accounts which strayed into the error of mythologizing, were kept to reflect upon. Early on, there are two independent and adversarial admissions to the miracles of Jesus, one being in the Talmud in the second century, and the other being of a hostile Ceasar in the fourth century. These are only some of the facts touched upon in our discussion.

At each stride of my upward mental journey, my self defined opponent always took the critical high ground so as to maintain the strategic advantage. The advesary took up the posture of a skeptic, thereby conferring upon himself the titles of judge and jury, not only of the rules of evidence, but of the logic and reasoning with which to deduce the verdict for everyone. At every step, I was struck by the stinging rebuke of the desicated remains of abandoned intellectual integrity, driven by the screaming, adamant winds of universal denial. Periodically, between intermidable bouts of debate, I would pause to consider my course. Had I made any progress? The storm of doubt still raged around me, but I remained right where I had begun. It would never end. Apparently William Lane Craig had learned something critical, as to the true nature of this disagreement, long before I showed up on the scene. This was a perpetual, nonexistent, mountain. All there was, was the self deception of the refusal to see.

What was meant to be discouraging, instead secured for me more clarity. Truth is always an affirmation. That's why He called Himself, "I Am."  No amount of nulifying rhetoric can change addition to subtraction. There is no tactic used, however insidious or deceptive, which can void Who He Is, or what He has accomplished for us. Trying to hide The Fact that is Him is trying to obscure the actual issue. No matter how much knowledge we accumulate about Him, it still always comes back to faith! Will we ever get to the point where we just trust Him? That's the REAL mountain we must climb, right there! Can a self proclaimed critic even consent to us resting our weary bones of inquiry in the name of Jesus?