The existence of God is a question which has attracted different attention and intense discussion among the believers and the non-believers in a different part of the world. Does God exist? Was the claim that Jesus as God True? These are the questions whose answers have led to a debate between the believers and the Atheism in the world. This discussion is critical since the fact is that even you; you have one day sat somewhere and thought about this question especially if there is a strange thing which has happened in your life. The answer to this question seems to have been found when the ex-journalist by the name Lee Strobel come up with a well-researched document which had the details of why God is real, and the document is "The Case for Christ." This document is a summary of the interview carried out by Strobel with many Christian evangelists with the aim of proving that God do exist and has control over the human nature. Since its release, The Case of Christians has received mixed reactions from both Christians and the nonbelievers. It is also important to note at this point that not only these two groups comment on this issue, other groups have even aired different arguments and views on the same issues ( Strobel, 2010). Both sides have strong points which they use to defend their allegations and also cite different weaknesses and strength of this work which make them think that it is either viable or is a crap. Those who are against this book or the documents’ allegation cite different reasons which they claim are evidence which shows that God does not exist and has less or no control over the universe and the human nature.
They claim that in many instances, young and innocent children have been killed and maimed without any apparent reasons; they point at the existence of evil and claim that if evil exist, then God does not and has no control over the nature. The opponents also claim that there is a lot of contradiction between science and the Biblical literature and circumstances and these are all enough proves that God doesn’t exist and much more. However, where is the truth? This is the question which can be any person who is interested in getting something out of this discussion and tense debate. Fortunately, this is the main discussion in this article. The author of this article holds an opinion that what the opponents of Lee's worksite cannot be ignored and they are very paramount in contributing to and further strengthening the arguments on the existence of God. However, the author remains firm that despite all these critics, Strobel presents factual information on the existence of God which cannot be blanketed by the issues which are raised by the critics. According to the author of this article, the facts presented by Strobel are enough to prove that God does exist and He has power and control over the Universe
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First, God make sense of the Origin of the universe. The Critiques argue that God does not exist and has no control over the world. They claim that there are many issues which prove that this is true. First, they argue that a good God as Strobel claims to exist cannot and will never allow good people to suffer. They claim that in many instances, people have been killed by terrors, hunger, disaster and many other catastrophes which if God would have been so powerful and had control of the nature, our life and universe, would have averted. In their argument they point at a white America woman on a picture who was carrying her dead child who was killed due to lack of food. They claim that if God really exists and also have power and control over human being’s life, then why would the good God abandoned such a women and such a kid? This allegation or the point is very important and can easily makes some change their mind and make them also to believe that God does not exist and also has no power or control over the nature and human being. However, a close examination of this kind of allegations seems very naive and also very hypocritical. The fact is that Most of the critics are only concerns with negative view of the issues. This sounds more of hypocritical than reality. A neutral critic ought also to consider the positive side of the story. For instance, the critics ought to have told us what they think about God in the events that a good thing happens to them. They need to tell us what they think of God when they run into a lack and get a job when they had no hope of getting any. These are some of the questions which the critics are not addressing. This aside, the critics cannot explain the complexity of the Universe. The Universe is so complicated with a human being, animal's insects and many others which are made perfectly and given life and air to breathe. The origin of the Universe as claimed by the opposers of the existence of God cannot be well explained even by science. Everything in it is an excellent Mystery, and it is very naive for any critic just to claim that everything just happens alone or by accident and it becomes as perfect as we are. Take example the mystery of human being. The perfect creation on earth, this is enough to explain the nature is under control of a mysterious being which in this case, Lee Calls God. In explaining or answering the critic on the women who was carrying her dead baby, Lee explained that we are too infinite to understand what the God plan for us and in many occasion, we cannot have the deep understanding of this issues even if we stand upside down. To counter this critic's Lee and Peter Kreeft liken the situation of the women with a trapped bear and a hunter who due to the sympathy he or she has for the bear tries to liberate the bear from the pain ( Eisenberg, 2016). The Hunter tries to win the Bears' confidence that it is not the intention of the Hunter to harm the Bear, but the bear cannot understand and sees or views the hunter's intention as an attack. The Bear doesn't realize that the action of the hunter shooting it with drugs is merely an action out of sympathy and compassion and is an action done with intent to help the bear. This is what we are according to Lee. The Human being is like Bear and the God is like the hunter in this situation. In many occasion, we as human being cannot comprehend or understand what God hold for us. We tend not to see the good things which are behind the suffering and pain which we feel. The fact is that He had made the Universe and has come out perfectly. This gives him power to control the universe and our life inclusive according to Lee.
The next evidence which is presented by Lee is that God makes sense of the Objective Morality. The critics are constantly claiming that God has no moral authority of Existence if He kills innocent children and other innocent creatures in the world. They claim that this is not a story of the normality, but it is a story which has been justified by the same Biblical Texts which tries to suggest that God indeed exists and fights for the human generation to believe that the universe is under control of God. They claim that there are many incidences in both Old and New Testaments in the Bible where killing was just like an everyday and normal activity. The claim that "Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and tortuous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness, with which more than half the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we call it the work of a demon, than the word of God." Geisler responds: "Too bad [Paine] didn't have a Bible.... Paine is just factually wrong. The Bible doesn't have any cruel and tortuous executions that God commanded" In fact, this is the introduction of Strobel Books, and the states with it to grasp the attention of the critics. The critics further, on the same point, claim that even with this histories and documentation of immorality and massacre of innocent children and people as well as animals in the Bible, it also seems to suggest that God had His side and also protected certain Group than the other. The critics give an example of the fights between the Israelites and Philistines, Egyptians and many other wars which were dominant in larger part of the Old Testament writing. They claim that apart from enhancing this kind of violence, it seems that God took side with other special group and ignored others. A good argument which Critics raise concerning the issue of immorality is that God himself some time started this fights or pushed for them. They give several examples in the Bible to justify these claims. They claim that the Account of Joshua for instance, God himself pushed for war with an intention to show His power over the Israelites enemies and many others. Where is the truth in all, these allegations?
It is worthy to note that these points which are being aired by the opposition are very strong and even if you go through your Bible, they are noticeable with a lot of ease. However, as Lee puts it in his book after interviewing with Geisler, "a biblical account of some event doesn't imply that God condones that event." It should not be taken or assumed by the critics that since the Bible account on some immoral issues such as Killing, God was immoral. This is entirely wrong. God had reasons why at a time, such kind of issues which are seen as immorality had, to happens. In fact, at this time it is not even clear if such kind of actions were being termed as immorality ( Schul, Pressley & Seminary, 2015). What we have to get rights before we proceed with the discussion is that as years roll on, words changes in meaning. The word morality may be introduced in the current years and may be meant another thing when such kind of issues was being recorded. Let leave this aside, we have to get it right at this point that God had a purpose for every action or account which happened and documented in the Bible. The same question is answered well by Geisler when Lee posted it to her. The Lee's question was as follows; "merciful God could order the genocide of the Canaanites, and put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys. Geisler responds that the mission of the Canaanites was the genocide of the Jews, and that "the destruction of their nation was necessitated by the gravity of their sin." The main argument which is present in response to this allegation makes a lot of sense. It is very important, especially when explaining or answering the critics why Israelites were being favored than other tribes. The truth is that there were some communities which were too immoral beyond repair ( Strobel, 2017). The examples in this case which could be noticed even by a Sunday school kid who is keen while reading the Bible is the Philippines which were an inconstant struggle to wage war with the Israelites and conquer them. God sense that since such individuals were already immoral, there were high chances that if God let then control the Israelite, they risk infecting the Israelites with this kind of immorality and this was risky since the immorality would have clouded the entire Earth. They had to be eliminated or diminished for the purpose immorality reduction and the prevalence of peaceful coexistence. This is very clear and should not be misinterpreted as being immoral.
To answer the critics further on the issue of killing children, it also very clear in the Bible that God was merely merciful on moral to terminate the life of some kids during the war and many others places where such kids suffered. It is written in the book of Isaiah in the Bible that God would give a direct ticket to Heaven for any Kid who dies before reaching the age of accountability. The age of accountability, in this case, is where a kid can know the right from the wrong. It is true that such kind of children should not have been executed during this war; however, it is also true that such kind of children need not suffer from the fact that their parents were not there to take care of them. The best option is to have them all killed so that the children are taken to the Kingdom of God as their parents face consequences of their actions. This is very clear and easy to understand. This is what happened during this time. This also is just a justification that God exist and also have the power to control the human and also nature. These are also evidence that the facts which are being mentioned by the critics are mere allegations which seems not have the critical meaning which can justify the claim that God exists and have power over nature and also morality upright.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it has been argued time and again on the issue of the existence of God and also his ability and power to have the entire Universe under his arm. However, the arguments seem to have to take a different toll after Lee Strobel did an excellent job on the researching intensely on this questions and has revealed some truth of the matters. What has been presented in this book, “The Case of Christ” is well-researched documents with a lot of evidence which shows that God indeed exists and has power and, control over the universe. On this issues, many critics have aired their voices claiming and citing many issues which they claim justify the nonexistence of God, however, it should be noted that these allegation though necessary in this case, are too weak to blanket the fact that God exists and has power and control over the Earth.
References
Eisenberg, L. I. (2016). A New Natural Interpretation of the Empty Tomb. International Journal for Philosophy of Religion , 80 (2), 133-143.
Schulz, B. A., Pressley, D. J., & Seminary, C. B. (2015). A Study Of Jesus Christ Of Nazareth: Legend, Liar, Lunatic, Or Lord? . Routledge.
Strobel, L. (2010). The case for Christ/Case for Faith Compilation . Harper Collins.
Strobel, L. (2017). The case for Christ Movie Edition: Solving the Biggest Mystery of All Time . HarperCollins Christian Publishing.
