Over the next three to four weeks, we will be discussing a variety of philosophical and evidential arguments for the existence of God. It’s important to understand that the Bible encourages us to believe purely on faith as well as from historical evidential facts and philosophical arguments.  After Jesus’ resurrections he appeared before Thomas the “doubter” and said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29). Jesus praises those who have no physical evidence and still believe, but only a few verses later John records that Jesus performed many more signs beyond what were recorded “so that [we] may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing [we] may have life in his name” John 20:30–31(ESV). Therefore, while evidential facts and signs should not be the sole basis for our faith, scripture encourages us to have a reason and hope for why we believe what we believe.

It is also important to mention that no amount of evidence or logical arguments can convince an individual that there is a God, that man is sinful, and that man is in desperate need of a savior, etc. It is only by the grace of God and the working of the Holy Spirit that awakens an individual’s heart to see the gospel truth and the need for Christ’s blood for the forgiveness of sins. While it is the grace of God that awakens the heart of an individual, our logical and evidential facts for the existence of God, Christ as savior, etc, can be a means by which Christ uses to draw a person to Himself.

This week we will be discussing the cosmological or first cause argument for the existence of God. The premise of this argument goes as follows:

• There exist things that are caused (created) by other things.
• Nothing can be the cause of itself (nothing can create itself.)
• There cannot be an endless string of objects causing other objects to exist.
• Therefore, there must be an uncaused first cause called God.

I’m looking forward to Thursday and am excited to see the direction our Lord takes us!

-Phil

These next two weeks, we will be discussing the topic, “decision making and the will of God.” We will be examining two of the most important and unfortunately misunderstood concepts of Christianity, how God speaks to an individual and how to discern God’s will for one’s life. These are two very important issues that every Christian needs to have a correct biblical understanding about. Understanding how God speaks and directs us has significant ramifications on how we live our life and make decisions. From my own personal experience, once I understood God’s will and how He communicates His will, it brought tremendous stability and confidence for decision making in my overall life. While this discussion may be challenging to what we believe, I encourage all our students to listen and consider the biblical evidence, rustle with the issues for themselves, and develop their own conclusion. I’m greatly looking forward to this time. Hope to see you there!

This Thursday we will be examining the statement “never read a Bible verse.” This concept comes from Greg Koukle of str.org. This phrase is not teaching to not read the Bible but rather when we read the Bible we should never read only one verse. When reading the Bible or any literature it is important to read the paragraph before and after to develop the background information and gain a better understanding of the author’s intent. Many Christians read one or two verses out of the Bible and come to their conclusion of what it means without trying to understand the author’s intent. Many Christians develop wrong theology because of this practice and often read the Bible through relativistic lenses. “What does this verse mean to you?” This Thursday, we examine in more detail how to study the Bible, as well as look at specific verses that Christians have used to develop wrong theology by not reading the surrounding paragraphs. Lastly, we will discuss how the concept, “never read a Bible verse”, fits into our overall Biblical worldview.

This Thursday we will conclude our systematic study on the five major parts of a worldview. This week we will be examining the source of truth, knowledge, and morality. Our goal will be to help our students develop a correct biblical worldview in these three areas and to show how what we believe about these concepts has an affect on our thoughts and behaviors.

While this week will be the last week that we have a formal study on this topic, all of our future discussion will help to develop and complete our biblical worldview. In these past five weeks we have constructed the skeleton of a biblical worldview now we will begin to add the flesh and muscle to our worldview skeleton.

This Thursday we will continue to study and develop our own biblical worldview.  Over the last two weeks we have discussed the importance of a biblical worldview as it is the source by which we speak, act, and make decisions.  In order to have a biblical worldview we must have a correct understanding of God, man, truth, knowledge, and morality. This week we will be studying the view of  man. We will examine four important questions about man: who is man? what is man’s nature? what is man’s purpose? And what is man’s destiny? We will spend time studying scripture to help form a correct biblical worldview to these questions. In addition, we will look at a few opposing worldviews to these questions and discuss how our belief about man has a tremendous affect on our speech, actions, and decisions in life.

This Thursday we will be examining the biblical worldview of God. We will be discussing what the Bible teaches about God to ensure that we understand and hold to a correct biblical worldview. In addition, we will contrast the correct biblical worldview of God with other common beliefs about God to help us understand how our beliefs differ from those around us.

This Thursday, we will examine the importance of a worldview. The American Heritage Dictionary defines a worldview as, “A collection of beliefs about life and the universe held by an individual or a group.” All that anyone says or does derives from their worldview. Jesus described it best in Luke 6:45, “The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” All of our thoughts and deeds are produced from our beliefs held deep within our heart. Therefore, it is extremely important that we have an accurate belief system that is aligned with reality. Over the next month, we will be examining the major components of a worldview: God, man, truth, knowledge, and morality. In this process we will be challenged to develop a stronger biblical worldview and learn how to tactfully and respectfully interact with others who hold to differing and inconsistent worldviews.

Our middle and high school students will be meeting on Thursday nights from 7:00-8:30 in the youth room at EV Free.  The campus is located at 341 North Lake Street, Hemet, CA 92544