Hi,

The first thing that makes Evangelical faith reasonable is, of course, the evidence
we have for the strong probability that the Resurrection of Christ is an actual historical event.

Dr. Gary Habermas did his doctoral dissertation in Philosophy at Michigan State on the
probability of the Resurrection. That was maybe 35 years ago. In the interim he has continued to study scholarly literature on that subject. He supports his thesis from data he has verified has been well accepted by most scholars who have written on the subject.

This is an important point to make because there are always those who take fringe positions.
Responsible scholarship acknwledges that Christ lived as an historical figure and actually
died by crucifixion. This is what most - 90% or better - of scholars admit to.

He had to submit his work to academics who were not Evangelical Christians.

It was judged on the quality of his research and thinking.

I can direct people to Dr. Gary Habermas's webpage.
http://www.garyhabermas.com/

(I had to temporarily disallow pop-ups for these URLs to work)

You can Google Gary Habermas.

There interested folk will find mp3 files of debates that have taken place at world class universities and articles Dr. Habermas has written over the years. Even his dissertation is posted there.

The second piece of evidence I would mention is that the more hard data we have from science, the more the Universe looks to be very fine tuned for the support of advanced life.

http://www.reasons.org/fine-tuning-life-universe-aug-2006

Or go to Reasons.org and search for "fine tuning."

I am just beginning to think about something called the Anthropic principle.

I think it is evidence for a designer ( God ).

The Big Bang seems to be a well accepted model for explaning the beginning of the Universe.
Well accepted by secular scientists and also by many of their Christian
colleagues.

From online research, it seems that the scientific world is abuzz with discussion on the fine tuning of constants and so forth. Many who do not believe in a Designer have posited the idea that a multiverse of an infinite number of universes might exist.

This seems to mitigate against the necessity of belief in such a Designer.

It is thought that given enough universes - you need an almost infinite number of them to make this argument work - that the odds of such a finely tuned one as ours is, could emerge as a statistical probability.


I think those who may be seeking an intellectually satisfying faith would do well to take a look at the webpages I am pointing to.

To these two evidences I would add five more arguments.

1) The Bible - both Old and New Testaments are reliable historical documents.

That is, that all of the data they present us with - much of it unself-consciously
narrated - fits well with the time and place the narration depicts. This is shown by archaeology.

2) The arguments that sceptical philosophers have advanced against the supernatural can
be countered by logical argumets. This is shown by a study of philosophy.

3) Judeo-Christian ideas were instrumental and intrinsic factors leading to the
scientific method. That is, to modern science. Others - the Greeks, Muslims,Chinese, and Romans made their contributions. But modern science has its roots and impetus in Western
culture. There are reasons for this, it can be argued. This is shown by a study of history.

4) Ditto for republican political theory. Again this is shown by a study of history.

5) The continued existence of the Jewish people and the reconstitution of the Jewish nation.
This is something that is unique in history. I believe it is a fulfillment of prophecy in our own time. Shown by a study of Old Testament passages and history.

It may be objected that none of these seven points can be made with such convincing
power as to force someone to believe.

I would answer that may be so. But I think these points can be well supported by reasoned and factual argument.

Taken together they provide me with a well justified faith. That faith provides a supporting motivation to try to live responsibly in - what seems to me, anyway - to be an increasingly chaotic world.

I am hoping that a few folks might be interested enough in these ideas to offer a post.

Because of the nature of any of the seven points and the research that will be required to support my assertions, I am admittedly not prepared to engage in a wild and furious exchange.

I am prepared to spend the time to do the research and thinking that will be required to have calm and patient discussions.

But, anyway, this is the project I am working on and expect to be for the foreseeable future.

I find that thinking along these lines and the reading and research that is going into it
is a challenge, albeit a satisfying one for me. It has been a real learning experience so far, and I have no doubt that it will continue to be so.

I have enjoyed posting here and hope that others have enjoyed some of the posts. I hope to
see others replying on this thread.


Larry A