Category: Theology

“Avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called” (1 Tim 6:20 KJV).

Carl Sagan once claimed that “The Cosmos is all that is or was or ever will be.” This is not a statement of fact but a statement of faith

First, he never tried to prove the statement. Which makes it a mere assertion. And just because a scientist says it doesn’t make it true. It is asserted without evidence, and it can be ignored without evidence.

Second, how did he know that “the Cosmos is all that is?” You would first have to know “all that is” before you could know that the Cosmos is it. The fact that physicists populated a multiverse means that many cosmos’.

Third, if Carl didn’t exist from the beginning of time, how could he know that the “Cosmos is all that… was.” This is very unscientific. He has no evidence to support it, no experiments to prove it, and no testimony to verify it. It is a mere assertion.

Fourth, unless he can predict the future, there is no way to be sure that the “Cosmos is all that… ever will be.” Again, this is pure guess work. Who knows what the future holds? Clearly this is “science falsely so called.”

The truth is that Carl Sagan bought into a belief system called materialism or naturalism. It is not science, it is philosophy. Technically, it is called a worldview. It is a set of beliefs that frame how you look at the world.

Naturalism is the belief that the natural world is all that exists. It is a statement of belief, not a statement of fact. As a belief, it is a claim that is accepted as true, which then becomes a rule of action.

It is important to make a clear distinction between a worldview and scientific theories. All scientific theories are individual hypotheses that are tested by experiments.

What experiment could you possibly run in order to prove that “The Cosmos is all that is or was or ever will be”? None. Because the statement is not a scientific hypothesis but a personal belief. It is a worldview, or more accurately, a doctoral tenant in a philosophy of life.

“and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free” (John 8:32).

A claim is a statement that is either true or false. If the statement is neither true nor false, it is not a claim. Truth is the description of the quality of a claim. A claim is true when the statement being made matches the way things actually are.

Truth refers to a claim or group of claims in which the statements of the claim correspond to reality. In other words, the statement really does express the reality of the matter. If someone makes the claim that I am a man, and I really am a man, then the claim is true. It is true because it matches or corresponds to the way things really are. Truth is the name of a claim that matches reality.

Truth is the correspondence between a claim and reality. All other attempted definitions must assume this one. All other definitions claim that their definition corresponds to reality, and therefore is true. Which means that all other definitions are false. You can’t assume the truth of one definition to prove another.

The essence of truth is the correspondence between a claim and reality. But the evidence that there is this correspondence includes the coherence of the system of claims and whether they are pragmatically verifiable. In other words, other definitions of truth are evidence of truth and not truth itself.

We must also note that truth can be incomplete, partial, and limited. A simple statement can only point to a very limited aspect of reality. You need a group of claims to fill things out. That is why, when I use the term truth, I am usually referring to a group of claims. This group of claims represents my view of Christianity.

A belief is a claim that is accepted as true, which then becomes a rule of action. A belief system is the acceptance of a group of these claims. Religions are beliefs system. We find belief systems in every culture, every group, and every individual. It is these belief systems, whether conscious or not, that direct our thoughts, feelings, and actions. They control our businesses, our churches, our governments, our families, and our lives.

Truth, in this context, is the correspondence between a belief system and reality. The belief system that best corresponds to reality is Christianity. And the best version of Christianity is the one I will share with you here. It is not the only version. It may not ultimately be the correct one. I only claim it is the best version I have found.

“The beginning of wisdom is this: get wisdom” (Prov. 4:7).

In order to get wisdom, you need to first know what wisdom is. Unfortunately, this is harder than you might think. There is no agreement on what wisdom is.

Wisdom is not knowledge. Knowledge is the acquisition of facts and information. Wisdom is not experience.

Wisdom is not the right use of knowledge, that’s prudence. Rather, wisdom is the proper perspective of reality. Experience is the practical application of knowledge in real-world situations. Wisdom is not understanding. Understanding is the ability to comprehend and interpret information. And wisdom is not prudence. Prudence is the right use of knowledge.

Wisdom is the proper perspective of Reality. It is the result of the skillful integration of knowledge, experience, and understanding. A proper perspective is God’s perspective. The closer we get to his perspective, the wiser we are.

Worldly wisdom is a distorted perspective of Reality. It is distorted by selfishness, personal bias, misinformation, and the misinterpretation of one’s experiences. Prejudice means to prejudge, and to prejudge is to misjudge.

I can give you answers, but I cannot give you wisdom. Wisdom is a result of a long process of integrating true knowledge with real experience to form a proper perspective of reality. That perspective is God’s perspective.

I’m going to give you answers to problems that you have not adequately struggled with. But I’m going to give them to you nonetheless. Hopefully you can appreciate them, if not now, maybe later. I think it is a true saying, “It takes more wisdom to receive advice than it does to give it.”

“Conversion is conversion from a self-centered person to a God-centered person.” – E. Stanley Jones

Conversion is not optional. Jesus was clear, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 18:3 NKJV). The Apostle Peter said the same thing, “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out” (Acts 3:19 NKJV).

Conversion means to turn around. We can illustrate it by imagining a person heading in one direction and then turning around and heading in a completely different direction. That is conversion. Repentance is changing your mind, conversion is changing your direction in life.

And this is what E. Stanley Jones is pointing to. Before conversion, everyone is self-centered. They are living their life on their own terms, they are doing what they want when they want. They are lord of their lives.

Conversion is turning from selfishness and surrendering to God. Now you are living your life on God’s terms, doing what God wants when God wants it done. You become a God-centered person. God is now the Lord of your life. That is what conversion is.

The Nicene Creed

We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven:
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary,
and was made man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.

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From the Book of Common Prayer According to the use of The Episcopal Church, “The Holy Eucharist: Rite Two.”