Apologetics Q&A Resources?

[theInquirer]

As an individual who is particularly prone to doubting things, I have often run up against doubt against my faith in God and my belief in His existence.  Whereas I thankfully have come through all my doubts so far, I have largely had to fight these doubts all on my own without much help from others (except, of course, from God).  I really don't mean to come across as arrogant, but most of my doubts have been such that nobody I know has had the knowledge to know how to help me, or at least not especially much, but I really do believe that having someone able to answer my questions would be very helpful.  With that in mind, I was wondering if anyone knows of any professional resources where I'd be able to ask my questions?  For example, Stand to Reason has a website str.org which is great, but doesn't really have too much of a place where I can ask my own questions.  

Any advice or thoughts are appreciated.  

[Deadworm]

Why don't you give us a chance to respond  to your issues?  Are you afraid our answers will be too complicated for you to understand?  

Edited September 20, 2019 by Deadworm

[theInquirer]

19 hours ago, Deadworm said:

Why don't you give us a chance to respond  to your issues?  Are you afraid our answers will be too complicated for you to understand?  

Not at all--in fact, I actually have posted several questions on here about various things I was wondering about--but that's just my point: I haven't found many answers here.  That's not to say that I don't appreciate people's effort, or that I think people are dumb, but rather that my thought process is just different from most others here.  Of course, if you're interested I'll gladly mention my questions to you, although they probably would seem rather strange and obscure (lol) and I very much doubt whether either of us would actually gain much from the discussion.  If you're interested, though, like I said I'll give you the scoop.

Regardless, though, I'm still interested in hearing about other sources as well.  After all, even if I do find answers here, more help is always good, no?

[Deadworm]

.Let's hear your questions.

Edited September 21, 2019 by Deadworm

[unworthyservant]

You mention no specific question here and upon a quick review of the topics on which you have posed questions in the past, I would start with a simple answer and that is to start with an understanding of Faith. Paul tells us in his Epistle to the Hebrews "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Hebrews 11:1. Faith is the first step to understanding.

With that as a start if you wish to research scholarly discourse on your more specific scientific questions, might I suggest you visit the folks at the Institute for Creation Research here;

https://www.icr.org/science

They are scientists from different branches of the Physical, Earth and Life sciences and have quite a variety of discourse on Creation based scientific topics as well as related subjects. Some pretty interesting theories with solid research and scholarly writing in plain language if you ask me.

[dhchristian]

On 9/19/2019 at 11:23 PM, theInquirer said:

As an individual who is particularly prone to doubting things, I have often run up against doubt against my faith in God and my belief in His existence.  Whereas I thankfully have come through all my doubts so far, I have largely had to fight these doubts all on my own without much help from others (except, of course, from God).  I really don't mean to come across as arrogant, but most of my doubts have been such that nobody I know has had the knowledge to know how to help me, or at least not especially much, but I really do believe that having someone able to answer my questions would be very helpful.  With that in mind, I was wondering if anyone knows of any professional resources where I'd be able to ask my questions?  For example, Stand to Reason has a website str.org which is great, but doesn't really have too much of a place where I can ask my own questions.  

Any advice or thoughts are appreciated.  

Go Watch some Ravi Zecharias videos on You tube, He is really thought provoking and deep. I do not know if he has a forum or anything like that though. David Wood is another Good one, His channel is acts 17 apologetics on youtube.

[theInquirer]

On 9/21/2019 at 6:08 PM, Deadworm said:

.Let's hear your questions.

All right!  Sorry for the delay, I'm sometimes bad at responding.

My main difficulty at present is a question of whether or not it is possible to believe a thing without proof or any other sort of basis for belief except for a desire to do so.  In investigating the nature of my existence (that is, of the subject, which refers to the subjective), I have come upon the phenomenon that there are some things that I do which I cannot help but do, namely, to be aware of the external world.  I cannot, merely by force of will, cause myself to become unaware of the material/external world, although it could be argued that I am capable of judging it to be an illusion.  But my point is, there are some things that I do which I really cannot help but be aware of.

The thing is this: am I in control of myself?  Whereas the question may sound rather strange, it becomes much more complex upon closer inspection, in which one firstly must note that at the very least, I am in implication of myself, by which I mean that if I do something, I do it.  In other words, I imply myself--but this is of not use to know since it tells me nothing.  How, then, can I know whether I really control myself and what I do?  What exactly do I mean by "I," "control," and "what I do?"  When I ask about what I can do or cause myself to do, I must remember that, essentially, what I do is different from what I am; note the difference between essence and act.  A thing can be a union of any number of things, including weight, extension, size, color, etc., but it can still be said of it that it does all sorts of other things, such as a brick hitting another thing and knocking it down.  It is said of the brick that it caused the other thing to fall down, and yet the conception of necessarily causing other things to fall down is not inherently contained within the definition of "brick."  

To bring all of these strands of thought back to my question, I ask whether I, though I may be any number of things, actually cause anything.  For this is really what I mean when I ask whether I determine what I do, since to "do" anything really means to cause.  If I do, then it would be much easier to argue that I am in control of whether or not I believe a thing or not based purely off of desire.  

What I really need to figure out is what exactly I am, and thereby determine whether I am a cause, and if so, what type of cause, and if the right type, what kind of effects I am capable of producing, and if the right type, whether or not I am capable of choosing to believe one thing or another based purely off of desire.

My above remarks would, I judge, summarize the gist of what I am currently considering, although I could probably round out portions of it.  I apologize for the likely presence of ambiguity and can only say that I'll gladly try and clear up any lack of clarity if it only be brought to my attention.  Thank you for your willingness to consider my questions. 

[Deadworm]

I checked and was amazed to see that you are still in high school (age 17).  You sound like a Philosophy major.  As a college undergrad, I was a Philosophy major and a Teaching Fellow in Logic.  Then I got my MDiv (Princeton) and my Doctorate in New Testament, Judaism, and Greco-Roman backgrounds (Harvard).  I was a Theology Professor for 12 years and then became a United Methodist pastor until my recent retirement.  I share all this simply to let you know where my answers are coming from.  You strike me as a prime candidate for seminary training.

Your burning  question would best be discussed under a new thread "The Mind-Body Problem."  I suggest you google search under that heading, looking for perspectives from Philosophy, Carl Jung's Collective Unconscious, and neurology.  An interesting place to start is to google "Larry Dossey One Mind YouTube and watch one or more of his video interviews, preferably the 51+ minute interview.  Then start a post or new thread based on the fruits of this research, and I will of course reply.  Let me know what you decide.

 

Edited September 25, 2019 by Deadworm

[choir loft]

On 9/19/2019 at 11:23 PM, theInquirer said:

As an individual who is particularly prone to doubting things, I have often run up against doubt against my faith in God and my belief in His existence.  Whereas I thankfully have come through all my doubts so far, I have largely had to fight these doubts all on my own without much help from others (except, of course, from God).  I really don't mean to come across as arrogant, but most of my doubts have been such that nobody I know has had the knowledge to know how to help me, or at least not especially much, but I really do believe that having someone able to answer my questions would be very helpful.  With that in mind, I was wondering if anyone knows of any professional resources where I'd be able to ask my questions?  For example, Stand to Reason has a website str.org which is great, but doesn't really have too much of a place where I can ask my own questions.  

Any advice or thoughts are appreciated.  

I spoke to a man after worship services recently.   He told me he had established a presence on FaceBook and that he had very many people visit it. I told him I don't do FaceBook.    I read books.

He responded, "how can you learn anything if you don't use FaceBook?"" 

In a recent poll 60% of adults get their news from FaceBook.   20% of that crowd believes every word of it. The educational level and scholastic ability of Americans has dropped below that of most third world countries due mostly to electronic addiction.

This is not to say that the information delivered onLine is always inaccurate or untrue.  I'm not implying that at all.  I am saying it is almost always misleading.  The solution of one-way information flow is the development of educational skills which include a great deal more than watching a video presentation.   They involve the development of skills to gather information, to sort it out  in a coherent order and to write out conclusions in a logical and persuasive format.  

It is this skill at gathering and sorting out which has been lost to the present generation of Americans.   Left with nothing except electronic presentations they can only respond to the material they're fed.

Consequently they are easily manipulated by anyone with an agenda to do so and who can make their presentations entertaining as well.

Most current Christian 'information' is distributed in the form of an apologetic, which is designed to manipulate the hearer to accept the point of view of the speaker.  

Case in point is the content of most educational courses offered by institutions of higher learning (Bible schools, seminaries and graduate courses in Theology) in the subject of apologetics.   The explanation given for application of the principles of apologetics are identical to the classic forms of secular propaganda; glittering generalities, repetition (of simple terms and phrases), identification (of the target audience with the subject), etc.  

It is easier to manipulate a gullible ignorant crowd by the use of apologetics than to teach them how to think/reason.   <--- This is openly admitted in classes by instructors of higher education as an axiom of apologetics.  

The purpose of apologetics is manipulation!

The question thus submitted to you is this;  Do you like being manipulated?

The solution to manipulation is the development of skills to gather, collate and effectively report on the subject at hand.  When an entire generation relies upon video sources for their information they abandon their ability to examine the truth of what they're being told.  They become like sheep who cannot or will not exert a minimal amount of energy and time to learn the quality of that which is being fed to them.   They can be manipulated to believe almost anything.  

Let me repeat that; they can be manipulated to believe almost anything - and as a corollary, to suppose what they've been taught is their own idea!

Hence our society today is being manipulated and persuaded to believe that good is evil and evil is good, that well established traditions that have built our great nation are obsolete and need to be exchanged for traditions and values that will eventually tear it to pieces.  These influences have crept into the church, thus making it apostate with regard to Biblical knowledge and understanding and application and obedience to God.

Do you like being manipulated?

that's me, hollering from the choir loft....

“The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country.” Edward Bernays, PROPAGANDA (1928), p. 10

Edited September 30, 2019 by choir loft

[Ruth Also]

As a mom who had several teens successfully launch from our typically dysfunctional home into self-financed degrees in sciences, technology, health care and human services, I too was impressed at your post - at age 17.  You've got a lot going with those brain cells up there, Friend.  Protect them!

But as you follow along your road, don't forget that you are what you do.  What you do defines who you are.  If you do rightly, you are a right-minded person.  If you do wrong, you are a wrong-minded person.  

With that basis, don't forget that the LORD God is interested in stacking the odds in your favor.  Get a Bible and study it.  The book of Proverbs has good wisdom for how to act.  In it you'll find things like:  1. stay out of lusts:  getting involved will derail your best intentions.  2. Act prudently:  it will always serve you well.  This includes minding what you say, minding your boundaries and those of others, showing appropriate respect to everyone, being diligent and having integrity.  The wisdom goes beyond Proverbs.  It's all there for our benefit.  We can live by every word from God.  The other stories show examples of what happens when people obeyed and when they didn't.  And they often didn't.   Jesus removed every barrier - you have access to this same LORD God through faith and all your past has been forgiven. 

Of course there is the temptation to prioritize the definition of your own life and define proofs about God before tackling what you choose to be doing with your life, but actually by studying what God says and walking in those wise things, you'll eventually see that the solidness you seek that was there all the time.  Not to spook you, but don't forget, God has an enemy and therefore all of us has that same enemy trying to derail us from the sensible path of walking in agreement with God.  

Can you imagine yourself at the end of your life?  What would you want to look back on and see about your character and the list of righteous behaviors and accomplishments you'd want to have as your legacy?  I'm not suggesting thinking about prosperity or wealth accumulation, but more like your "good deeds" list.  While good deeds don't save us, they form a kind of ruler at this point for you to measure what you'd need to do now to get to "there" and be able to look back on a good life.  It wouldn't hurt to get started on doing those good things now - along with continuing to study what God says to add wisdom.  Believe me, you'll need that Book for the whole of your life, no matter how many brain cells you have going for you.  His wisdom is higher.  

As a fellow-traveler on this spinning ball hurling into an unknown future now with grandkids your age, I would offer this short encouragement with a kindly cup of cocoa and some healthy whole grain cookies. 

Check out Matthew 21.28-32.    

May you make a difference in the world with your life - and you can.  It will depend on what you choose to do.  Best to you!  -Ruth