Faith Encouragement
Dear friends: I encourage each of you to think about the books of faith you trust to tell you about your purpose, the importance of prayer, and how to be confident of eternal life. Here are some questions that I hear about faith and some information which may help.
1.
Is evolution science? Is there evidence for intelligent designer? I have
researched growth factors, complex proteins that are responsible
for the ability of cells to grow. Through this study, I have
become aware of just how deadly small changes are in these proteins and
how the design of these proteins is critical. A "partially
evolved" growth factor system would be incompatible with life.
This is just one of many examples demonstrating the inadequacy of the
evolution theory. While neither evolution nor intelligent design are
"science" (since neither can be recreated by experimentation),
both are theories and their acceptance is based on
observing the natural world for the best fit of what we see.
Click either icon for more information.
2. Is there evidence that
an intelligent designer spoke to us through one particular person or one
particular faith? This
web page summarizes the evidence that religious leaders provided for
claims that they made. The evidence is compelling and those
that struggle with doubt will find this helpful.
3. How can we be confident that an
intelligent designer inspired the Old Testament rather than the book
being conceived by well-meaning men? The Old Testament gives strong evidence
for being inspired by an intelligent designer because it foretold
specific modern medical disease prevention methods 3500 years before
confirmation by medical science. Click for specifics.
4. The Old Testament prophets predicted many things. Were they correct, and what are the chances that their predictions may have come true by other means? Here are two examples: 1) Isaiah predicted 160 years in advance that Jerusalem would be destroyed, including the temple, and that a non-Jewish king named Cyrus would give a decree directing that Jerusalem and the temple be rebuilt. 2) Ezekiel predicted 250 years in advance that the city of Tyre would be conquered by a non-Jewish leader, its rocks would be thrown into the sea, the area would be scraped so clean such that fisherman could spread out their nets on the site, and that it would never be built again. Click for specifics.
4. How about evidence
that the New Testament was inspired by an intelligent designer? For example, Jesus predicted that
Jerusalem would be utterly destroyed with not one stone of the temple
left upon another (Matt 24:1-2), predicted that he
would be killed in Jerusalem (rather than being attacked and stoned elsewhere) Matt
16:21), predicted that Peter would deny him three
times within one 18 hour period (Luke 22:34), predicted that he
would be crucified (Matt 26:1-2), predicted that he
would be resurrected (Luke 16:21), and predicted that his
words would not pass away. (Luke 21:33) . Click
for specifics.
In addition Jesus fulfilled all Old
Testament prophecies about the Messiah
against very large odds.
9:26) and be from the
tribe of Judah and line of David. (Jeremiah 23:5). The Messiah will
be called "Almighty God" and "Everlasting Father"
and "Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:7). His power
will be through His words, not by military action. (Isaiah
11:4-5). He will be considered a priest although not from the
priestly tribe (Psalm 110:1-7) and The messiah will be wounded and killed for our wrongdoing or sin and God is in control of
this. (Isaiah 53:5-6) . Click for specifics.
5. Even if our book of faith was
inspired by an intelligent designer, how can we trust that the original
words have been accurately preserved from ancient times? The
method of copying of manuscripts is key to prevent introduction of
errors over time. The method of copying for the Old Testament
and the New Testament was via scribes whose technique was unprecedented
in its precision. Scribes used a method of counting syllables
and letters, and immediately destroyed any copy with even a minor error.
The Dead Sea Scrolls found in 1947 found Biblical texts dated
1000 years earlier than the 900 A.D. manuscripts of the Old Testament
and yet comparison showed word for word correlation identical
in >95% of text with the <5% variation consisting of obvious slips
of pen and variations in spelling. No effect on the message occurred
therefore over the 1000 year period.
No other book had
copying methods of such precision.
Click for specifics.
6. Is there
evidence of real power over death displayed in our book of faith to help
us be assured of eternal life? Jesus
not only raised others from the dead with many witnesses (Luke
7:11-16), but did so after days in the grave beyond the point of early
decomposition (John 11:39), and was the only religious leader to
conquer death Himself, with a resurrection that had more than 500
witnesses over 60 days.
Jesus had a well-known grave site. His
grave was sealed under penalty of death by crucifixion if the grave was
disturbed. More than 500 eyewitnesses saw Jesus alive in a number
of settings and many touched his spear and nail marks that occurred
during his crucifixion. The disciples, who were in hiding after
Jesus' death, suddenly became bold, and each went
to their death proclaiming the resurrection of Jesus. Dr
Simon Greenleaf, Royal Professor of Law at Harvard University, one of
two men responsible for the rise of Harvard Law School, wrote the following: "According to the laws of legal
evidence used in the courts of law, there is more evidence for the
historical fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ than for just about
any other event in history." Click for specifics.
7. Summary: There is compelling evidence for an intelligent designer, that this designer inspired the Bible (The Old and New Testament) in a unique and reliable way, that the Bible contains the only dependably preserved manuscripts from its era that could even hope to accurately transmit information from the intelligent designer, and that Jesus was the Messiah spoken of in the Old Testament. Therefore, there is no comparable source of information we can get about why we are here and how to be sure of eternal life will be from the Bible. There is compelling evidence that Jesus was divine in a way no one else has ever evidenced.
8. An Invitation: It is useful to know that the New Testament was written so that people of ALL countries and races can be confident about eternal life and at peace with God. If you are interested in what the New Testament (Jesus and apostles) says about how to be sure of eternal life with God, click here --->What Jesus Said
Your comments are of course welcome at DoctorReeves@gmail.com
Respectfully,
Dr. Reeves
Links on Faith Encouragement: We are grateful in particular to the following organizations whose links will be helpful to the reader.
http://www.icr.org- Institute of Creation Research
http://www.josh.org- Josh McDowell Website