Ultimate Truth: The Foundation

Stay with Me

            This next series of posts will be about the Bible, science, and evolution. But you wouldn't know it by most of this post. Stay with me as I lead to my conclusions on the issue.

The Premise

            You know those really annoying kids that always ask "why?" to everything? Yeah, those kids. It eventually gets to the point where you either tell the brat to beat it (if he's yours), or you kindly say, "I don't know, let's change the subject."

            You eventually hit rock bottom with your answers. Your reasonings, knowledge, wisdom, and everything else has all been stripped to their irreducible components... and you just accept it. Why are you getting this surgery? Because the doctor said so. Why did you go to the grocery store? To get food.  Everything has it's basic answer.

            You are left with "I believe this because I think I have good reason to." Which can actually be further reduced to "I believe this because I want to."

            In philosophy/theology, I call this rock-bottom position your ultimate truth (or ultimate standard). It's what you appeal to when someone challenges your core beliefs.

            I believe Jesus rose from the dead. Why? Because the Word of God says so. 

            Now, that ignores all the evidence for believing in the reliability of the Bible. That also ignores all the failed explanations at naturally explaining Jesus' empty tomb. But in the end, the Bible is my ultimate truth. I believe that the Bible is true, and that is that.

            The atheist's ultimate standard contains a couple of world-views, namely naturalism (all things are the result of natural processes) and materialism (the material world is all there is). He will say that Jesus did not rise from the dead.

            Why? Because that is naturally impossible.

            Now, that bare-bones answer ignores all the evidence that people can't come back from the dead. It also ignores the fact that the first disciples of worldwide movements don't claim their mutilated, flayed criminal savior appeared to them and inspired them to then go on and die horrible deaths at the hands of psychos who hate their guts.

            But the simple answer is that the atheist doesn't believe in the resurrection because it contradicts his ultimate standard: naturalism/materialism. He believes atheism to be true, and that is that.

            My next couple of posts will be on why it is so important for Christians to have the correct ultimate standard.