Nothing Created Everything: The Scientific Impossibility of Atheistic Evolution (9 page)

But how could God send a sweet elderly lady to Hell? Say you knew a ninety-five-year-old lady who was a wonderful person, who never said an unkind word to a soul. Then I have to ask how you knew that in her ninety-five years she never said a harsh word to a soul. Perhaps you are being charitable yourself and kindly giving your friend the benefit of the doubt. But let’s say that she was almost morally perfect, except for three slips a day. Just three times each twenty-four hours did she perhaps think a lustful thought, or fail to love God with her heart, mind, soul, and strength, or fail to love her neighbor (everyone) as much as she loved herself (which is the essence of the requirement of God’s Law). Maybe she became angry without cause, or was greedy, unthankful to God, or selfish. But she slipped only three times
each day. So she sins against God a thousand times a year. If we take a count from the age of ten, that’s eighty-five thousand sins (crimes against His Law) that God has seen and must punish because of His perfect holiness.

Most of us would sin ten times as much as that with our lustful, selfish, self-righteous, unthankful, and greedy thoughts, as well as our lying, stealing, blasphemy, and failing to do what we know we should. That’s why the Bible says that each of us has a “multitude” of sins (see James 5:20).

So if your elderly friend was as perfect as you say she was, she doesn’t need a Savior. She will be fine on Judgment Day. However, if she was like the rest of us, and she actually became pious in her old age because she was driven by a guilty conscience, she desperately needed God’s forgiveness. And she could have found that in the person of Jesus Christ.

God promised that He would liberate the human race from death and that He would do this through the suffering death of the Jewish Messiah (see Isaiah 53). The result would be peace with God for all who would humble themselves, repent, and trust the God-given Savior (see Isaiah 55:1-3). Peace with God would mean everlasting life for humanity.

The Old Testament said that the result of conversion would be a new heart with new desires—desires to please the God with Whom we were once at enmity (a “heart of stone” towards Him): “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them” (Ezekiel 36:25-27).

The salvation of God (eternal life) would be offered to all men: to the Jew first, then to the Greek, the Indian, as well as the Chinese, Russian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Kiwi, Aussie, and
even atheist—those who are red and yellow, black and white, all are precious in His sight. Anyone can be saved from death and Hell (see Romans 10:13). There is only one stipulation. They must come through the God-provided Savior, not through a man-made religion which cannot wash away sin. Jesus Christ is the only One who can forgive sin and give peace with God because He was God manifest in human form.

There is a big reason for this exclusivity. All man-made religions are “works righteous” religions. Their adherents think that they can get to Heaven by being good, praying, fasting, doing good works, repenting, etc. (see Romans 10:2-3). This is because they don’t understand one very important truth: God is utterly perfect. His Law therefore demands moral perfection. It says that lust is adultery in His eyes and hatred is murder. His Moral Law (the Ten Commandments) shows us that He is a Judge and that we are all desperate criminals in His sight. That changes everything. Now, anything we offer the Judge isn’t “good works,” but a despicable attempt to bribe Him, and that is an abomination in His sight (see Proverbs 21:27). The only thing that can save us is the mercy of the Judge.

Fortunately, we are told that God is “rich” in mercy. In His kindness He provided a Savior—someone to pay our fine in His life’s blood. That happened at the Cross.

This is what that Savior said about Himself: “I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father but through Me” (John 14:6). Old and New Testament Scripture is consistent:
“They shall be My people, and I will be their God; then I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for the good of them and their children after them” (Jeremiah 32:38), “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

Tragically, whoever dies in their sins will get fearful justice. Whoever dies in Christ will have mercy and thus have everlasting life. It’s very simple. See Romans 2:6-9.

So let’s not complain about God being unfair because people perish if they die in their sins. Instead, we should become missionaries and spend our lives telling this God-hating world the good news of eternal salvation for all humanity. I did.

A “
STRAW MAN
” argument is an informal fallacy based on misrepresentation of an opponent’s position. Here is an example of an argument containing four straw man fallacies:

All four points of this straw man argument misrepresent Christianity. When an evolutionist accuses someone of a straw man argument, however, the evolutionist has a problem. The theory of evolution is forever redefining itself, so he has no authoritative textbook to which he may refer. The Christian, however, has the unchanging Scriptures, making it very easy to blow over straw men created by skeptics.

First let’s look at the misrepresentation of the relationship of man to God by the use of the phrase “your child here on earth.” The people of the secular world are not God’s children. The Bible
says we are the devil’s children. Satan is the god of this world and it is his will we do (see 2 Corinthians 4:4). We are enemies of God, rebels, who hate Him without cause. We are unthankful for His kindness and our hearts are deceitfully wicked (see Jeremiah 17:9). The Bible says we drink evil like water, and we are not God’s children until we repent and trust the Savior. The moment we do that, we are born into His family and have the privilege of calling Him “Father.”

The second fallacy is the phrase “failed to trust in Jesus.” If a man jumps out of a plane and falls ten thousand feet to his death because he neglects to put on a parachute, he dies primarily because the force of gravity exerted weight upon the mass of his body. Had he put on a parachute he could have been saved from its unforgiving consequences, but again, he dies because by his own choice he caused the force of gravity to exert weight upon his body and spread him on the ground. The straw man argument is that it is unfair of God to punish someone for not doing something. However, “sin” according to the Bible is not a failure to trust Jesus, but “transgression of God’s Law”—the Ten Commandments (see 1 John 3:4). Those who have the sense to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ” will be saved from violation of God’s Law.

The third wording is also based on a lack of understanding. The straw man argument goes, “Would you torture them eternally or just forgive them?” When God’s Law is left out of the equation, justice makes no sense. However, the Moral Law is eternal, absolute, and perfect. Think for a moment how tenacious we are when civil law is violated. A man rapes and kills three women, is tried, and is given the death sentence. He escapes. What does the law do? It spends millions of dollars to bring him to justice. Why? It doesn’t bring the women back. Why doesn’t the law simply forgive him? Because justice must be done.

Every human being has violated God’s Law a multitude of times. We are unthankful and self-righteous. We lie, steal, and burn with lust. We are naturally selfish, hateful, and blasphemous fornicators. The Bible says that our eyes are “full of adultery,” and that we are “filthy dreamers.” We are more than worthy of the death sentence and damnation. So why doesn’t God simply forgive us? Because justice must be done. If sinful man goes to great lengths to see that justice is done, how much more will a perfect and holy God make sure that every murderer, rapist, thief, and liar gets what is due to him? Hell is God’s prison and those that go there will go there for life. There is no way out…not a hope in Hell.

Yet God (in His great mercy) has made a way for us to be freely forgiven for our wickedness. He became a Man in the person of Jesus of Nazareth and suffered and died on the cross. God’s wrath came down on Him so that it wouldn’t have to come down on us. He defeated death through the Resurrection and opened the door of everlasting life to all who would repent and trust in Him.

Is God’s Law “impossible” to keep? It is for guilty sinners. How can we “keep” a Law we have already violated? However, we “keep” the Law when we trust in Jesus. Its demands were satisfied in Christ. It is appeased because our fine was paid by the Savior. That means that God can legally dismiss our case and commute our death sentence. We are at peace with the Law.

The fourth and final straw man that broke the camel’s back also comes from a lack of understanding: It is “I love you and I understand your lack of faith.” A judge may love a criminal but he cannot allow his love to interfere with justice. He must do that which is right despite his feelings for a criminal. Our straw man maker wants to cling to his belief that sin is simply a lack of faith and that he shouldn’t be punished for not being able to believe
something. However there are times in Scripture when Jesus rebuked His disciples for a lack of faith in Him and in the Scriptures. He called them “fools” and “slow of heart” to believe all that the prophets have spoken (see Luke 24:25). Such words are appropriate. Any man who doubts the instructions that tell him how to be saved from a ten-thousand-foot jump, and then fails to put on a parachute because of his doubts, is definitely a fool.

There are those who say, “God is not based upon observable, testable evidence. He is based upon faith. With God we are unable to make predictions and test them to see whether they are correct.”

That is not true. Creation is “observable” evidence of the existence of God to all but a fool (again, the Bible says an atheist is a fool—See Psalm 14:1). God is not “based upon faith.” Such a thought is ridiculous. His existence or nonexistence has nothing to do with whether or not I have faith. As with human relationships, the means of exchange between God and mankind is based on trust.

Anyone can make the prediction that God will manifest Himself to them and then they can test the prediction to see if it is valid. But there are two stipulations when coming to God. First they must believe that He exists. That makes sense. Why would anyone come to God if they didn’t believe He existed? Again, in the light of creation, such a person would be a fool. And the second stipulation is that they have a humble heart. God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. If they are proud, they have already cut themselves off from God by their sins. However, all those who humble themselves, repent, and trust in Jesus Christ come to know Him who is “life eternal.” It’s that simple.

Jesus was Jewish. All the disciples were Jewish. The first eight thousand Christians were Jewish. I am Jewish. Christianity came from the home of the Jews. It went to “the Jew first,” and is now universal to both Jew and Gentile. It isn’t an American religion. It’s Jewish. And, because God is so gracious, His Word says that “whoever” repents and trusts alone in Jesus Christ for his salvation is Heaven-bound. He has eternal life! It is that simple.

I would like to know how atheists know what Ann Frank believed about the promised Jewish Messiah. I would like them to explain to me how they can make such a harsh judgment about her salvation and think that she went to Hell.

And how do they know so much about this “third world” of which they speak (I presume that they think that they are part of the first world)? Their understanding of biblical theology is sadly very lacking. If they had it correct, they would know that God saves whom He will, whether they are in your third, second, or
first world. He graciously saved me—a Jew, who lived at the uttermost part of the earth (fourth world country?).

The reason they don’t buy into a “hateful, ugly religion” is that they have created their own ugly, hateful view of Christianity. It is blinding them to the reality of the love and forgiveness of God. It is as blinding as racial prejudice and
much
more damning.