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©Jim Sutton
THE LOGICAL INEVITABILITY OF
JESUS CHRIST
(A Christian Apologetic)
Did you know that logical reasoning confirms that
Jesus Christ, as the only God-incarnate, was inevitable in human history ?
Read this Bible based apologetic argument to find out how.
The supremacy of faith over reason is a basic Christian tenet. But Christian faith is also most reasonable. This Christian apologetic is humbly submitted as a confirmation of the Christian faith.
1 There is a great deal of complexity and ordered information in the Universe.
A simple example of ordered information would be the DNA sequence that carries the genetic code in the cells of living entities. This code specifies the physiological characteristics of that entity. Complex code structures like the DNA necessitate marshaling and ordering of information that simply cannot have happened without intelligence behind it.*
Therefore the Universe should have had an intelligent Creator.
2 In any system, there cannot be an infinite regression of causes (for effects produced or observed) as it begs the question of the ultimate cause.
There has to be an Ultimate Cause.
Applying this to (1) , we conclude that the Ultimate Cause should also be the Ultimate intelligent Creator of the Universe.
3 The Ultimate intelligent Creator has obviously acted with a very definite purpose and will in creating the Universe which has so much purpose in it.To will is to exercise a quality that is exclusive to beings with a personality and not to automatons. We therefore conclude that the Ultimate Being that acted benignly with a definite will and purpose in bringing the Universe into existence is God with a definite character or personality.
Image by BeautifulFreePictures.com
4 Plurality of Ultimate Cause is an illogicality. 'Ultimate' denotes finality. Causal finality has to rest in one entity.
So, God, the Ultimate Creator obviously has to be one.
5 Finiteness implies a restricting principle behind it that caused the finiteness.
For example, a tree grows to specific dimensions because of the combined effects of genetic restraints and environmental factors (including gravity). If such restraining factors were not operative the tree would, in theory, grow limitlessly !
The ultimate intelligent Creator - God - as the initiator of such principles of limitations is obviously beyond such limiting factors.
God is therefore beyond the finite.
God is infinite.
6 It follows that the infinite God has infinite power and capacity, and exists in an infinite realm.
Any quality of God is also of infinite magnitude.
7 Infinite good and infinite bad cannot exist simultaneously. And this certainly is true in the case of the infinite God because any quality in/of God is of infinite magnitude.
In other words, God cannot be both infinitely good and infinitely bad.
Also, the possiblity that God is bad (and by necessity, infinitely so) does not exist because such a God would not be capable of anything good !
Therefore the only possibility is that God can only be good - and infinitely so!
Another way of saying this is that God is and can only be holy.
8 We have established that the Ultimate Being - God - can only be good.
It follows that God, being all good, cannot have enabled evil.
Note that though evil cannot have been enabled by God, knowledge of the possibility of evil should however have been in the consciousness of God.
9 We can therefore conclude that evil should first have been enabled by a being that cannot have been God; but nevertheless this being ought to have been created by God.
Since this being was created by God, it should have been created good originally but subsequently chose to enable evil for the first time.
Also, this creature should therefore have had the will to choose even against God.
[So, it is the conclusion that the capacity of free-will, to choose good or against good, has been enabled by God in some categories of his creatures.
Evil and its original enabler are the opposite of, and always inferior and subject to the infinitely good God (see 7 and 8).]
10 Creation of the Universe and humans are manifestations of God's creative power.
Space and time, both of which are perceived, also ought to have had their origin in God.
11 As creatures of the eternal God inhabiting the physical Universe, all humans have a physical body. Apart from the physical being, every human also has an intellectual aspect and an emotional aspect.
A dead human is neither able to exercise the intellect nor feel or exhibit any emotion.
We conclude therefore that there has to be another aspect that animates the physical body of the human being and enables it to exercise the intellect and experience emotions.
This aspect that integrates the physical with the intellectual and emotional and brings the human being to life, we shall call the spirit.
12 It is only logical that when humans were created by the holy God, they were created totally good, even in their spirit.
13 But humans, in the natural, are obviously far from being perfectly good.
It is the logical conclusion that after their creation, a significant something happened, to make the first humans and their progeny corrupted, making them sinful.
It is also the conclusion that the first human parents were influenced at the level of their will to go against God and become sinful by a being that first enabled evil ( see 9). And that being was not human but ought to have been a supernatural being created by God.
14 Humans in the natural, being therefore sinful are obviously in a state of estrangement from the holy God, and are only objects of a just dealing for their sinfulness.
15 A just dealing for a sinful human who does not recognise his/her sinfulness even till the last breath comes into effect after physical death ends earthly existence wherein the sinful life was lived without acknowledgement of the holy God.
By this logic , the spirits of all sinful humans are bound for eternity without the goodness of God after their earthly existence because they have become corrupted and anathema to the holiness of God by choosing evil through an exercise of their free-will, and so cannot exist forever in the presence of the perfect, holy God.
16 But the holy God is naturally constrained by absolute goodness and love to reveal their hopeless state to humans and also provide a way out of the consequences of their sinful predicament.
(This means that humans have in their possession an extremely important, definitive , comprehensive and accessible revelation from the loving God revealing their sinful state and a plan to save them from eternal separation from God.)
17 It is obvious that any solution from God to rescue sinful humanity from a Godless eternity must involve a passing over (forgiveness) of the sin of humans.
Further, such a solution should also be most efficient, without parallel, without ambiguity and contradiction, and effective for all humans for all time.
18 A just forgiveness for human sin must involve censure of sin.
The only just alternate option to humans bearing censure for their sins and going off to a Godless eternity is for someone suitably representative to bear it on behalf of all humanity thus meeting the demands of justice, and so make available forgiveness for humans.
19 The only one who can representatively take the place of all of sinful humanity is their Creator - God.
20 God simply cannot take on the penalty that only humans deserve unless God too became incarnate as a human i.e., both God and human in one being.
Such an incarnation would enable the incarnate God to representatively take on the punishment for sin on behalf of all humanity - past, present and future.
21 The incarnate God, on account of the human dimension of the incarnation, can representatively experience physical death and separation from the presence of God (spiritual death) as punishment for human sin just as a human in the natural would experience.
But being all good and the source of life itself, God,in his incarnation as human, cannot be held down in censure, in a state of spiritual death, forever.
The God-incarnate will therefore go through such a chastisement because of His humanity, but will come through victorious because of His divinity.
The justice demands of the holy God would be satisfied in such a transaction.
22 Only such a process can make forgiveness of sin of all humanity authentic, authoritative and universally effective and available.
23 A most effective and efficient plan of salvation necessitates that this forgiveness be accessible at any time and even instantaneously by humans and involve them at the level of the will.
Further, this is forgiveness should necessarily be accessible only on recognition of personal sin, repentance for such and acceptance of and trust in the redemptive act of the incarnate God.
24 It can be seen that there is a strong, interconnecting logic uniting all the points described above (which is largely based on the Bible). The Bible stands up to logical scrutiny and has to be of supernatural authorship.
25 From the above, we confirm that:
JESUS CHRIST IS GOD INCARNATE, THE AUTHOR OF ALL CREATION, THE ONLY PERFECT REVELATION OF GOD, THE ONLY SAVIOUR OF HUMANKIND; AND WAS INEVITABLE IN HISTORY !
Only repentance for sin and a personal faith (trust) in Jesus Christ and in His redemptive work for humanity can rescue humans from a Godless eternity and give humans eternal life with God. This is the central message of God to every human being as revealed through the Bible.
Hallelujah! Glory to God !
-------------------
NOTES:
*See Lee Strobel's book 'THE CASE FOR A CREATOR' for the information argument against evolution.
The graphic at the top of the page depicts the ICTHUS (meaning 'fish' in the Greek language). It also stands for an acrostic meaning 'Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour'.
AN IMPORTANT, PERSONAL APPEAL.......
Dear Friend, Jesus Christ is for real ! He is nothing less than God Himself !
He loves you with an everlasting love. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.
It is not His will that you perish forever in your sins .
He has done His part in offering Himself up as a substitute to pay for the sins of all of humanity; even yours and mine.
It is upto each one of us to accept that forgiving love in repentance through faith (trust) in His finished work for us.
Your eternal destiny depends on how you respond to this offer of God's love to you.
This is the most important descision you will ever make in your life.
It will mean, according to the Bible, whether you spend eternity with God or without Him in Hell.
It is God who can help you overcome problems in this life. You only stand to gain by putting your trust in Jesus Christ - the most perfect revelation of God.
May the Lord Jesus Christ be gracious unto you!
(There is a link to a prayer request site below)
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SOME SUPPORTIVE PASSAGES FROM THE BIBLE :
GOD IS CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE :
" Ever since God created the world, his invisible qualities,both his eternal power and his divine nature have been clearly seen; they are perceived in the things that God has made."
ROMANS 1:20
" How clearly the sky reveals God's glory!
How plainly it shows what he has done !"
PSALMS 19:1
" In the beginning when God created the Universe, the earth was formless and desolate."
GENESIS 1:1
THE ULTIMATE SUPREMACY AND UNITY OF THE CREATOR GOD :
God says:
"I alone am the Lord your God."
ISAIAH 42:8
" I am God and will always be."
ISAIAH 43:13
" The Lord, who rules and protects Israel, the Lord Almighty,has this to say: " I am the first, the last, the only God; there is no other god but me. "
ISAIAH: 44:6
" I am the Lord, the Creator of all things..."
ISAIAH 44:24
" I am God, the first, the last, the only God! My hands made the earth's foundations and spread the heaven's out." ISAIAH 48:12
" The Lord alone is God"
PSALMS 18:31
GOD IS JUST AND HOLY :
" The Lord is king...he rules with righteousness and justice."
PSALMS 97:1,2
" The Lord is good; his love is eternal and his faithfulness lasts for ever."
PSALMS 100:5
" Holy,Holy,Holy! The Lord Almighty is Holy! His glory fills the world."
ISAIAH 6:3
HUMANS ARE SINFUL IN THE NATURAL.
CONSEQUENCES OF SUCH SIN:
" Sin came into the world through one man, and his sin brought death with it. As a result, death has spread to the whole human race because everyone has sinned." ROMANS 5:12
" For sin pays its wage - death " ROMANS 6:23
GOD IN HIS HOLY LOVE WANTS PEOPLE TO BE RESCUED FROM A GODLESS ETERNITY :
" God...wants everyone to be saved..."
1 TIMOTHY 2:3,4
JESUS' VIRGIN BIRTH AS GOD INCARNATE :
" A young woman who is pregnant will have a son and will name him 'Immanuel' "
ISAIAH 7:14 (Immanuel means 'God is with us')
" A child is born to us ! A son is given to us ! And he will be our ruler. He will be called, 'Wonderful Counsellor', 'Mighty God', 'Eternal Father', 'Prince of Peace'."
ISAIAH 9:6
" This was how the birth of Jesus Christ took place. His mother Mary was engaged to Joseph, but before they were married, she found out that she was going to have a baby by the Holy Spirit."
MATTHEW : 1:18
©2006 Jim Sutton
WHY DID JESUS COME INTO THE WORLD ?
" This is a true saying, to be completely accepted and believed : Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners."
1 TIMOTHY 1:15
"Christ...appeared once and for all, to remove sin through the sacrifice of himself."
HEBREWS 9: 25,26
AN 8TH CENTURY B.C. PROPHECY ABOUT JESUS' REPRESENTATIVE SUFFERING:
"...because of our sins he was wounded, beaten because of the evil we did. We are healed by the punishment he suffered, made whole by the blows he received."
ISAIAH: 53:5
WHAT JESUS CHRIST SAID ABOUT HIMSELF AND HIS MISSION :
"I am the way, the truth and the life."
JOHN 14:6
"The Father and I are one."
JOHN 10:30
" ...my blood poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." MATTHEW 26:28
SAVED THROUGH FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST :
"For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life."
JOHN 3.16
" God puts people right through their faith in Jesus Christ. God does this to all who believe in Christ, because there is no difference at all: everyone has sinned and is far away from God's saving presence. But by the free gift of God's grace all are put right with him through Christ Jesus who sets them free. God offered him so that by his blood he should become the means by which people's sins are forgiven through their faith in him."
ROMANS 3:22-26
©2006 Jim Sutton
All glory be to the trinitarian God
- the Father; the Son (Jesus Christ); and the Holy Spirit !
(Page last edited on 21st Jan. 2012)
©2006 Jim Sutton
(The article above is Christian Apologetic in nature and is based on the Holy Bible. As such, it is a defense of the Christian Faith. No offence whatsoever is meant. The article is subject to further editions.
Permission is required to reproduce contents of this article, be it in part or in whole.
Bible quotations are from the Good News Bible, Australian usage text - Revised Edition 1994, Copyright of American Bible Society.)
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