Filling Naturalism's Void - AVI 63 MB - by Gary R. Habermas

http://www.garyhabermas.com/video/Habermas_Filling-Naturalisms-Void.avi

Gary is the leading scholar on the planet today for the resurrection. When he speaks he speaks with authority, a wealth of knowledge and having read thousands of books concerning matters of faith and evidence. He knows the field and the most influential players.

I recommend after you watch this video come back to it after a couple days and watch it again so you really get what's being said.

In a nutshell the trend today, naturalism and atheism are dead. Very few people are atheists or even naturalists today. If anything they are agnostic. What has arisen is their new form of Christianity unlike the Judeo-Christian heritage (though I tend to think there's nothing new under the sun since what the populace is attempting to do is what was tried in the "other books" written centuries after the NT was already completed in the 1st century). Names have been given to this mentality called New Age or even Neural Buddhism with an attempt at scientific underpinnings. It is open to the supernatural, prayer and worship, God or a type of God, acceptance of religion of its own construction, even an after life.

Whereas Christianity maintains specific revealed doctrine for salvation and eternal life (the fundamentals): incarnation, resurrection, deity of Christ, God of the universe who first revealed Himself to the nation of Israel, a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, Daniel's final seven otherwise known as the Tribulation, heaven and hell, initial salvation by faith alone (not by works), the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in our spirit those of us whom are saved, and the Trinity or Triune God.

In response, the neural Buddhist new ager or nominal Christian (a false one) will say these are additions Christians have added onto the evolutionary development of mankind. They say if you want to add these doctrines then PROVE IT!

The proof, obviously, is the resurrection proof that nobody is able to find a naturalistic explanation to account for the eyewitness testimony of the Apostles in various group settings; therefore, the evidence leads us inextricably to the fact that Jesus rose Himself from the dead as only God can do proving He is the 2nd Person of the Trinity.

Wake up people! What's the problem?

So there are definitely miracles according to the evidence given in that video. A new life, a new spirit is itself a miracle.

Once saved, we grow in that new life through the dividing of our spirit, soul and body.

Read The Spiritual Man (CFP white cover) by Watchman Nee still to this day the best book ever written on the Bible of the dividing of our spirit, soul and body to walk after the spirit by the Holy Spirit.

As many Christians have testified they would not know what the deeper Christian life was like if they did not experience the dividing of their spirit, soul and body.

If you are not saved yet (born-again as in John 3.3,7), How to Become a Christian by John Ankerberg is quite helpful.

The Resurrection of Christ - 1 Corinthians 15

1 Let me now remind you, dear brothers and sisters, [fn1] of the Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then, and you still stand firm in it. 2 It is this Good News that saves you if you continue to believe the message I told you—unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place. [fn2]

3 I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. 4 He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said. 5 He was seen by Peter [fn3] and then by the Twelve. 6 After that, he was seen by more than 500 of his followers [fn4] at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. 7 Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as though I had been born at the wrong time, I also saw him. 9 For I am the least of all the apostles. In fact, I’m not even worthy to be called an apostle after the way I persecuted God’s church.

10 But whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out his special favor on me—and not without results. For I have worked harder than any of the other apostles; yet it was not I but God who was working through me by his grace. 11 So it makes no difference whether I preach or they preach, for we all preach the same message you have already believed.

The Resurrection of the Dead

12 But tell me this—since we preach that Christ rose from the dead, why are some of you saying there will be no resurrection of the dead? 13 For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless. 15 And we apostles would all be lying about God—for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave. But that can’t be true if there is no resurrection of the dead. 16 And if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins. 18 In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost! 19 And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world.

20 But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died.

21 So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. 22 Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life. 23 But there is an order to this resurrection: Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back.

24 After that the end will come, when he will turn the Kingdom over to God the Father, having destroyed every ruler and authority and power. 25 For Christ must reign until he humbles all his enemies beneath his feet. 26 And the last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27 For the Scriptures say, “God has put all things under his authority.” [fn5] (Of course, when it says “all things are under his authority,” that does not include God himself, who gave Christ his authority.) 28 Then, when all things are under his authority, the Son will put himself under God’s authority, so that God, who gave his Son authority over all things, will be utterly supreme over everything everywhere.

29 If the dead will not be raised, what point is there in people being baptized for those who are dead? Why do it unless the dead will someday rise again? [It should be noted Paul is not advocating baptizing for the dead, only that such practice indicates that people wake up from soul sleep by being resurrected bodily.]

30 And why should we ourselves risk our lives hour by hour? 31 For I swear, dear brothers and sisters, that I face death daily. This is as certain as my pride in what Christ Jesus our Lord has done in you. 32 And what value was there in fighting wild beasts—those people of Ephesus [fn6] —if there will be no resurrection from the dead? And if there is no resurrection, “Let’s feast and drink, for tomorrow we die!” [fn7] 33 Don’t be fooled by those who say such things, for “bad company corrupts good character.” 34a Think carefully about what is right, and stop sinning.

34b For to your shame I say that some of you don’t know God at all.

[To have eternal life is to know God. "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent" (John 17.3). Paul was speaking to mostly believers in this group, but today so far removed, most people don't know the One True Triune God given in God's word the 66 books of the Bible.]

The Resurrection Body

35 But someone may ask, “How will the dead be raised? What kind of bodies will they have?” 36 What a foolish question! When you put a seed into the ground, it doesn’t grow into a plant unless it dies first. 37 And what you put in the ground is not the plant that will grow, but only a bare seed of wheat or whatever you are planting. 38 Then God gives it the new body he wants it to have. A different plant grows from each kind of seed. 39 Similarly there are different kinds of flesh—one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. [Don't think this means that there will be animals, birds and fish in the New Earth. Paul is only saying man is unique with his body. Since there is no sea in the New Earth there will not be fish nor bowls or aquariums of fish. There are no animals in eternity future.]

40 There are also bodies in the heavens and bodies on the earth. The glory of the heavenly bodies is different from the glory of the earthly bodies. 41 The sun has one kind of glory, while the moon and stars each have another kind. And even the stars differ from each other in their glory.

42 It is the same way with the resurrection of the dead. Our earthly bodies are planted in the ground when we die, but they will be raised to live forever. 43 Our bodies are buried in brokenness, but they will be raised in glory. They are buried in weakness, but they will be raised in strength. 44 They are buried as natural human bodies, but they will be raised as spiritual bodies. For just as there are natural bodies, there are also spiritual bodies. [Our bodies though spiritual will still be physical as Jesus' body was able to be touched, but could also walk through walls.]

45 The Scriptures tell us, “The first man, Adam, became a living person.” [fn8] But the last Adam—that is, Christ—is a life-giving Spirit. [What does 'life-giving Spirit mean'? It refers to the fact that with Jesus at the right hand of the Father the Holy Spirit comes to indwell believers so Christ lives in us by the 3rd Person.] 46 What comes first is the natural body, then the spiritual body comes later. 47 Adam, the first man, was made from the dust of the earth, while Christ, the second man, came from heaven. 48 Earthly people [unregenerates] are like the earthly man, and heavenly people [Christians, i.e. born-again] are like the heavenly man. 49 Just as we are now like the earthly man [bodies of flesh and blood], we will someday be like [fn9] the heavenly man [Christians have that life now].

50 What I am saying, dear brothers and sisters, is that our physical bodies cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. These dying bodies cannot inherit what will last forever.

51 But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! 52 It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed. 53 For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies.

54 Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, [fn10] this Scripture will be fulfilled:
“Death is swallowed up in victory. [fn11]

55 O death, where is your victory?

O death, where is your sting? [fn12] ”56 For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. 57 But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.

58 So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.

Footnotes:
15:1	Greek brothers; also in 15:31, 50, 58.
15:2	Or unless you never believed it in the first place.
15:5	Greek Cephas.
15:6	Greek the brothers.
15:27	Ps 8:6.
15:32	Greek fighting wild beasts in Ephesus.
15:32	Isa 22:13.
15:45	Gen 2:7.
15:49	Some manuscripts read let us be like.
15:54	Some manuscripts add and our mortal bodies have been transformed into immortal bodies.
15:54	Isa 25:8.
15:55	Hos 13:14 (Greek version).

Christianity is well evidenced. See the 4 Step Proof for God and Minimal Facts Approach too. In fact, Jesus is has more sources written about him than any ten figures from antiquity combined. Tiberius who died 4 years after Jesus died had only 9 sources while Jesus had 45 sources (17 of which were non-Christian) documenting his life, death, burial, deity, resurrection and ascension.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNj4...89&index=1

Now let me show you what happens in an evil world in reaction to these proven facts how Christians are discriminated against and doublestandards imposed on us. Someone begins their religious hostility. For example, at the bottom of the Meet and Play Men's Professional Racquetball Forums (page 2) we see tonyh post a comment saying, "Judge ye not...." even though tonyh is himself judging (a doublestandard). He accuses by saying "Jesus sobs" and "Phony christians" to express his religious hostility in as vague an accusatory tone as possible when he doesn't even believe in Christ. Now he is the judge of what a Christian should or should not be?

As a Christian, should I be silent? Of course not. I was happy to give him the truth of his mistaken assumptions in the following post at the top of page 3. But look what happens next...

At the Meet and Play Forums when your reputation level drops below 0 you are not allowed to post anymore, effectively banned. The moderators do this in one fell swoop. Notice, carefully, I am discriminated against by being banned but tony is not. Why the doublestandard? is that ethical to target Christians?

Next hilario comments with his faith view saying that what I believe is "irrational and superstitious" and that I am "corrupting this thread" by simply responding. By hilario's own admission he is corrupting the thread since he is expressing his faith. That's one thing about non-Christians is they cherish their doublestandards, not wanting to be treated like they treat others. Again, should I be silent or speak the truth, not afraid to be martyred, like the first Apostles and Christians today who are ostracized because we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior?

Jesus said, "Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake" (Matt 5.11).

hilario continues, "As much as you want to make this a discussion about religion and your views on the subject this isn't the forum to do so. There are plenty of other forums for Christian apologetics elsewhere on the web. So for the sake of our discussion about RACQUETBALL leave your proselytism for a more appropriate arena."

hilario speaks to me while not addressing the person who brought up religion in the first place. Just my very presence causes non-Christians to bring up Christianity. I was just responding to tonyh's misunderstanding about God's way of doing things. I am accused of "proselytism" when I simply responded to his confusion. Why is the religious hostility of hilario and tonyh an acceptable form of communication in society and itself not proselytizing?

Do you see this is an unethical doublestandard? This is evil. If you can't see the evil in this, check your conscience. My conscience is clear before my Lord Christ Jesus.

What moderators will often do is set the Christian up. For example, a non-Christian will initiate aggression with some off-handed comment about Christianity. Naturally the Christian responds by speaking the truth. But that's enough for the moderator to impose an infraction for violating the forum rules not to discuss religion even though the moderator brought it up in the first place. And not being allowed to discuss religion is repression in society.

We see this in all avenues of society. For example, we see two individuals who are antichrist, John Halko and Barbara May, board members of the Alberta Racquetball Association, who have banned a Christian for life from playing in racquetball tournaments in Alberta (that's as far as their reach goes) who is a long standing member of the Alberta Racquetball Association, ranked 3rd in Alberta and 3rd in Canada 45+. The sad thing and most pathetic thing of all is they probably get off on it and all the attention they get for it. They are oblivious to the fact people don't think very highly of them for what they have done and continue to do. I know the people I talk to about this have no respect for them. Tyrants will be tyrants and could care less what others think.

I saved a copy of the Meet and Play Thread here.