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The Bible and History on the Resurrection of Jesus Christ - Is There a Conflict?

The cornerstone of Christianity is the doctrine of the resurrection of Jesus. In this article, I will try to examine the nature of this claim, break down both the metaphysical and the historical aspects of this claim, and will attempt to show that there is no conflict between the claim of the Bible and that of history. Is the resurrection of Jesus something that Christians can only believe in faith, or is it an actual historical event that happened? I will attempt to provide a reasonable answer to this question. Essentially, one of the core claims of Christianity is this – that God raised Jesus from the dead, thus proving to the world that Jesus is who He claimed to be: the Almighty God. This claim has two parts, a metaphysical part and a historical part. The metaphysical part of the claim is that God raised Jesus from the dead. The historical part of the claim is that Jesus is risen from the dead. Metaphysical part: God raised Jesus from the dead. Historical part: Jesus is r...

The Bible and science on the origin of the universe - Is There a Conflict?

Every existing worldview attempts to give some type of explanation of the origin of the universe. Many of these assertions are metaphysical in nature, sometimes with a material sub-claim. In this article, I will attempt to analyze the claim of the Biblical worldview on the origin of universe and see if it has any conflict with the science of today. The Biblical worldview makes a metaphysical claim about the origin of the universe, plus a material sub-claim. The metaphysical claim is that God created the universe in the beginning. The material sub-claim is that the universe had a beginning. Here is the breakdown: Metaphysical claim: God created the universe (all of time, space and matter) in the beginning (Genesis 1:1). Note that the Hebrew language doesn't have a specific word for ‘universe.’ The phrase 'Heavens and the earth' is used here instead to indicate 'all physical reality.' In Greek, the equivalent word is 'cosmos.' Sometimes other ph...

The Bible, Evolution, and Science - Is There a Conflict?

The purpose of this article is to clear up the misconception among believers of Judeo-Christian religions and scientists, regarding the relationship between scientific claims and religious claims with respect to Biological Evolution and the origin of human beings. For many on both sides, there exist a real conflict between science and faith when it comes to the origin of human beings. I will attempt to explain why I believe there is no conflict between the claims of the Judeo-Christian worldview (the Biblical worldview) and that of modern science regarding the origin of human beings. It is essential that we acknowledge certain self-evident truths in order to build this case: 1 - Science is the best tool to explore and understand the material realm, as it can explain how material things work. However, science is limited regarding the explanation of aspects in the immaterial realm, such as ethics, philosophy and morality. The following is an example that illustrates this tru...

Doctrine of the Trinity: Differences between Jehovah’s Witnesses, Christians, and Muslims

Jehovah’s Witnesses differ from Orthodox Christians in their belief on the doctrine of the Trinity; they take the position that Jesus (the Son) is not equal in nature with God (the Father). I have written this article with the intent of challenging this claim and showing that the Christian doctrine of the Trinity is logically sound and non-contradictory in such a way that it is viable for Jesus and the Father to be equal in nature. The claim of a Jehovah’s Witness that Jesus is not equal in nature with God hangs on the following assumption, which I believe is false: ‘A difference in function necessarily means a difference in nature.’ Based on this assumption, Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that God the Father has a different nature than Jesus the Son. This belief is derived primarily from the passage in John 14:28 in which Jesus says, “...the Father is greater than I.” Obviously, Jesus says in this passage that in some way, the Father is greater than He is. Notice, though, that...

Pillars of a coherent worldview

We all subscribe to some type of worldview through which we try to interpret reality. Our worldview helps us to navigate through our world. We can compare our worldview to a roof: a roof must always be supported by walls, otherwise the roof will collapse because it cannot stand on its own. So a good roof is one that is supported by several pillars. Here are some of the “pillars” that support worldviews that are coherent with reality. These are all fundamental facts or self-evident truths. Anyone denying these pillars is deliberately building a worldview incoherent with reality. 1.       Existence of absolutes. The claim is not that we human beings know all absolutes; rather, the claim is that absolutes DO exist. A “crooked line” doesn’t make any sense in the absence of the existence of such a concept as a “straight line”. In a recent discussion with a friend of mine who doesn’t believe in the existence of absolutes, he made the following statement:...

Islam and Christianity - Two religions that want to dominate the world.

 Islam and Christianity are two major religions that teach their adherents to dominate the world. But they differ drastically in their definition of “world domination” as well as the prescribed methodology of attaining that goal.  I will try to explain the differences below.  In Islam, world domination is a physical thing. They literally want the whole world to be ruled by Islamic principles. Islam prescribes laws on how a government, as well as a civil society, should operate. They do not see anything wrong with using force to attain this goal. In fact, this is clearly evident from the inception of Islam how it spread throughout the world by force. Muslims justify using violence as they believe that the goal (the whole world ruled by Islamic principles) justifies the methodology. This is why we see very little condemnation from Muslims when terrorist acts are committed in the name of Allah.  Another important thing to note is that if you are a Muslim and if ...

The Relationship Between Religion and Science in the Light of Cosmology and Biology in the 20th Century

The following two major scientific discoveries in the fields of Cosmology and Biology during the 20 th century have had huge philosophical and religious implications. Many people believe that Religion and Science are at opposing poles; however, these discoveries show that Religion and Science are actually complementary. 1 – Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory, which is one of the most established scientific theories of our time, postulates that the universe had a beginning. If the universe began to exist, there had to have been a cause for this universe. There is no faith (except faith in science and logic!) involved in this process; rather, this is all science and logic. We can show this as a valid logical argument: Premise 1 - Everything that begin to exist has a cause (The law of causality) Premise 2 - The universe began to exist (The Big Bang Theory as well as the Second Law of Thermodynamics establish this premise) Conclusion – Therefore, the universe has ...