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Knowledge of God and His Will

March 21, 2011     Time: 00:19:12
Knowledge of God and His Will

Transcript Knowledge of God and His Will

 

Kevin Harris: This is Reasonable Faith. Welcome to the podcast. Kevin Harris in the studio with Dr. William Lane Craig. We have lots of questions that we get at ReasonableFaith.org, and the question of the week so often encompasses many of the questions that we get. And so be sure that you go to the archives of the question of the week, and keep up with the question each week. Let me go over a few here, Bill, that we've also received that are worthy of discussion, I think. And they're on a variety of issues. So here we go.

Dr. Craig, thank you for your outstanding equipping ministry. Please don't use my name on this, and you'll understand why. I'm a minister and professor of theology at an evangelical seminary. Last Easter my twenty-six year old son let us know that he no longer believes in God. Falling prey to the spate of New Atheist books, he says that there's no convincing reason to believe. Of course, I agree with your recent answer to Wagner from Brazil regarding the culpability of unbelief. My question, as I'm carrying on a dialogue with my son, is this: Would you speak as bluntly about this with an atheist as you did with Wagner? You see, I don't want my son to take offense, and bring our discussion to an abrupt end. Though, as far as I can tell, nothing I've said over the last several months has made a dent in his unbelief—confirming the very point that it is his stubborn will power, not lack of evidence, that is his problem. Any insight for a heart broken dad would be appreciated.

Dr. Craig: Boy, well I try to give Wagner a straight-forward answer in the question of the week. When we're dealing with people in a counseling situation, however, a straight-forward answer is not always the most tactful. Paul says that we should speak the truth in love. And so in dealing with a delicate situation like this one, where a father is talking with his own son, it may be that one doesn't unload with the straight-forward truth, but one attempts to ask questions or to elicit what the other person is feeling. And I would say, in a case like this, the young man is a twenty-six year-old adult. We're not dealing here anymore with a teenager. And so he needs to be treated as such. And I suppose I would only tell him that his unbelief is culpable, which is what I said to Wagner, if he asks me straightforwardly, 'is unbelief going to be judged by God? Is unbelief a sin?' I would say, well, yes it is according to the Bible; unbelief is a serious sin and it will be judged by God. But the real question for his son is 'are there good reasons to believe in God?' 'Are there persuasive reasons to disbelieve in God?' And I think he could focus with the son on those questions rather than on the culpability of the son's unbelief. I would only answer that question if the son brought it up. I wouldn't lead with that. What I would lead with would be questions about the source of the son's unbelief. What is it that prompts him to abandon what his parents have taught him and raised him in? What arguments of the so-called New Atheists does he find convincing? And then attempt to deal with those, and of course all the time keep the son in prayer.

Kevin Harris: Yes. This is a difficult situation. You have the possibility of what is often called PK syndrome – preacher's kid syndrome – the attempt of a young person to forge their own identity apart from their parents who are in the ministry. Missionaries and people in church staff often suffer with this. It takes a lot of patience to go through this. I notice the father says, “I don't want to get into this heated debate where the discussion is ended abruptly.” All these New Atheist books that he fell prey to, I hope to equip my sons to the extent that when they're twenty-six years old, if they were to read one of these books, that they could read it with confidence.

Dr. Craig: That may be the lesson that most of us can take away from this tragic situation, is that before this happens, when the kids are still young, begin to teach them answers to the tough questions that they will encounter so that when those questions are raised they'll be ready for them and not blindsided by them.

Kevin Harris: We're certainly not saying for this man to beat himself up; maybe he attempted to do that.

Dr. Craig: Sure.

Kevin Harris: But to be so overturned by the New Atheist books is kind of a tragedy, and we wish that it hadn't happened. Along the same lines we had another question about that question of the week. This writer says,

I was somewhat disturbed, Dr. Craig, by your response to the question 'is belief culpable?' in the most recent question of the week. While I agree with you that the biblical perspective seems quite straightforward – and I can't think of a more appropriate interpretation of the passage in Romans – I think it raises a whole slew of other issues. [1]First of all, your claim “God has provided a revelation of himself in nature that is sufficiently clear for all cognitively normal persons to know that God exists” seems wanting of qualification and support. The term 'cognitively normal' is not at all clear. Who falls into this category?

Dr. Craig: Right. That is not very clear, and I introduce that qualification deliberately because I'm sure when Paul says that therefore all men are without excuse, he's thinking of normal people—he's not thinking, for example, of two year-olds or three year-olds who haven't yet come to maturity, or someone who's mentally retarded and doesn't have the IQ to comprehend these things. So that is simply to say that what Paul is talking about is someone who has normal intellectual reasoning abilities, and only God knows that—it's not up to us to judge. God will judge people fairly, and so for someone who's able to apprehend his general revelation in nature and yet ignores it and suppresses it, that person will be culpable for doing so. And that seems to me to be not only a straightforward interpretation of what Paul is saying, but quite reasonable.

Kevin Harris: He says,

Furthermore, many Christians, including myself, have both the desire to believe and the will to look at the evidence for or against Christianity, and yet honestly struggle with doubt. I personally find it hard to see how God's deity and omnipotence should be patently obvious by the observation of nature. Your own arguments for the existence, deity, and omnipotence of God seem to indicate that this issue is not quite so simple. They require careful defense and qualification, rest on some debatable points, are not agreed on by all Christian scholars, and are not obviously valid to some people that I consider cognitively normal.

Dr. Craig: A number of things can be said in response to this question. First of all, I did not assert, nor does Paul assert, that God's general revelation in nature makes it certain that God exists. Rather it provides a sufficient revelation of God's existence such that all persons are held morally accountable for responding to that. It's sufficient to recognize that there is an eternally powerful creator of the universe. But that's not to say that it makes God's existence certain. And therefore belief in God's general revelation in nature is quite compatible with struggles with personal doubt. I would in no way suggest that the person who is responsive to God's general revelation will not struggle with personal doubt—that is consistent with both special and general revelation, that it would be something that could be occasioned by doubt and struggle and questioning. But at the end of the day it is sufficient to give a knowledge of God's existence and for people to be held responsible for it.

Secondly, it needs to be emphasized that God's general revelation in nature is not identical with the arguments from natural theology. My arguments that I offer are not general revelation. These are human constructs with which people can agree or disagree, that are revised over time and hopefully improved as other people think about them. They are defenses of God's general revelation in nature. They're an attempt to put into the form of arguments what God has revealed about himself in his handiwork. So God's general revelation in nature is the fingerprints of the creator, as it were, in his created work. It's like looking at a painting and recognizing “that is a Rembrandt.” You can see the traits in this painting that that is a Rembrandt. Or that one is a Cezanne. You can tell the author or the artist by his handiwork. And similarly I think what Paul is saying is that in the created world around us we have a revelation of the existence and character of its creator. And then we natural theologians, in response to persons who are skeptical about this, can develop arguments which attempt to demonstrate the existence of such a creator and designer of the universe. But our arguments are not identical with general revelation itself. So I think that when we make that distinction, again, that's quite consistent with saying that the arguments of general revelation are based upon premises that can be disputed, are subject to revision, and so forth, and yet to hold that God has revealed himself in the world in such a way so as to hold all persons accountable. [2]

Kevin Harris: Yeah, and I kind of recognize a biblical principle, Bill, that seems to make a lot of sense to me, and that is: if you seek God you'll get more. I mean, if you reject even general revelation you're really in a mess at that point, and that's what so many people do. But if you respond to God's general revelation, you respond to the light of nature, and so on, that person tends to get more and more and more. If you're faithful with a little you'll be given much more Jesus said. And that's true in the business world, it's true in relationships.

Dr. Craig: And on the other hand if one turns away from God's revelation and turns toward darkness Paul, at least in Romans, seemed to suggest that that results in a kind of callousness or a darkened intellect that then is even more impervious to God's revelation around one, so that you turn your back on the light, and it makes it all the more difficult to discern further light. Whereas if you move in the direction of the light, as you say, then it may grow even brighter.

Kevin Harris: He says:

Finally you're claim about the role of the Holy Spirit needs some unpacking. It seems to me that the concept of the Holy Spirit actually makes many Christians prone to a rationalization of a different sort. Often urges attributed to the influence of the Holy Spirit have allowed Christians to deceive themselves into acting on their own desires, rather than God's. How does an individual discern between Holy Spirit, personal desire, or even demonic influence?

I'm going to stop right there because that's kind of a different aspect of the ministry and work of the Holy Spirit than you're talking about.

Dr. Craig: Well, then that's exactly the point. I don't claim that the Holy Spirit is going to give you some sort of an internal message or knowledge, for example, that you should become a doctor, or that your neighbor needs you to go knock on the door, and he's in trouble and you should speak to him. What I'm talking about is what Paul calls the witness of the Holy Spirit to the great truths of the Christian faith. Paul says, “when we cry 'Abba', Father, the Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and therefore heirs of God.” And it's that fundamental truth of the Christian faith that the Holy Spirit bears witness to and provides adequate grounds for a knowledge of the truth of Christianity. But beyond that, spurious claims of Christians to have been led by the Holy Spirit to have, say, a fundraising campaign, or to build a huge chapel on their university campus, or something of that sort, those sorts of spurious claims do nothing to invalidate the veridicality of these genuine witnesses of the Holy Spirit to the truth of the Christian faith.

Kevin Harris: Yeah, we've all been on some wild goose chases, and attributed it to the Holy Spirit. That is kind of beyond the scope of what we're talking about here, dealing with Holy Spirit epistemology. But I would recommend that this writer and others read a book called Decision Making and The Will of God by Gary Freissen from Dallas Seminary. Just spectacular book on the role and ministry of the Holy Spirit, and how to really stay off of these wild goose chases, or potential wild goose chases, that this guy is complaining about here.

Dr. Craig: The only caveat that I'd want to add at that point, Kevin, if I understand Freissen's view, is I do not agree with him in his claim that God does not have a specific will for your life. He has this sort of view that God's will is a sort of general will that you be conformed to the image of Christ, become a virtuous person, and lead a good Christian life. But that he doesn't have a specific will that you should marry this particular person, or you should have this particular job. And it seems to me that that's a very defective view of divine providence. As a Molinist who believes that God has middle knowledge about how every person would freely chose in whatever circumstances they're in, I think that God does have a meticulous plan for our lives and for the universe, but that does not mean that the Holy Spirit is therefore going to operate like an inner speaker telling you where to go. You should still follow the principles Freissen talks about in decision making and trusting that God will guide you as you make the decisions, but that doesn't mean that God is indifferent about the outcome of those decisions and doesn't have a preferred path that he would want you to take.

Kevin Harris: I think that is a good analysis. I've made some really poor decisions, Bill, in my life as a young Christian. And God honored my desires – you know – follow him, he ultimately blesses those. But I've done some really dumb things thinking that it was God's will. I left school . . .

Dr. Craig: Really?

Kevin Harris: . . . to be in a band that didn't go anywhere after three days, [3] and I left school , and things like that. And I thought that that's what I was supposed to do. And I wish I hadn't done it.

Dr. Craig: It's for that reason that I am very cautious about this language that you often hear Christians use: “God told me to do such and such,' or 'this is the vision that God has given me.” When I talk about, for example, wanting by 2020 to be drawing a million unique visitors per month to Reasonable Faith, I don't say, “God has laid this on my heart,” or “this is the vision that God has given me.”

Kevin Harris: Well, you're not very spiritual, then, because you're supposed to say that. [laughter]

Dr. Craig: Well, I know you're supposed to say it, but I prefer to say, “This is the vision that I have for Reasonable Faith; this is the burden that is on my heart.” I hope it's from God. I trust it is, but I recognize that I don't have a hotline to God where the Holy Spirit communicates those things to me. And so I prefer to be more cautious about it, and say, “This is the vision I have that I would think that we ought to strive for, and God-willing, this is what we'll do.”

Kevin Harris: I agree with that so much because it's really – if you think about it, ultimately – blasphemous to attribute something to God that he didn't say. I mean, isn't it more modest to say “I think that this is what I should do?”

Dr. Craig: Yes, and you do it in prayer, in trust that God will guide you, and that as you're filled with the Holy Spirit you'll move in the center of his providential plan for you. But you may not often know that. The proverb says that a man's mind plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps. And that direction may well be secret and unknown to you and unconscious to you – what is in your consciousness is you're planning your way in the power of the Holy Spirit and with prayer – and secretly it is God who is then orchestrating and guiding things providentially toward his previsioned ends.

Kevin Harris: Sure. I remember when I was eleven years-old I read an article in a major Baptist publication, and it had a guest, an editorial, and the lady said, the first line was: 'God told me to have a garage sale. And I handed out tracts, and I put them on the tables, and we invited people to church,' and things like that. And I was eleven years-old and I said to my mom, I said: “Mom, that's kind of a bold statement.” I mean, it rubbed me the wrong way even as a child, even though I didn't deny that God could do anything he wants and tell us anything he wants and communicate however he wants. But I said, “you think God would be kind of upset if he didn’t tell her to have a garage sale, yet she's saying that he did?”

But in conclusion today, Bill, I think what he's trying to get at is the role of the Holy Spirit in drawing the unbeliever to God. And also the inner witness of the Holy Spirit as an objective experience that we can have, and not after you're a follower of Christ, the role of the Holy Spirit and the sanctification process. Isn't there a distinction there?

Dr. Craig: Well, I would see the ministry of the Holy Spirit both as geared toward the unbeliever in convicting him of sin and righteousness and judgment, as Jesus said, in drawing people to a conviction of Christianity's truth. But then in the life of the Christian believer there is this assurance of salvation that the Holy Spirit gives. And that's basically what I'm talking about when I speak of the witness of the Holy Spirit—it's assurance of salvation, the assurance that one is rightly related to God, that one's sins are forgiven through Jesus Christ. And that entails that certain truths hold, like God exists, Jesus Christ has reconciled me to God, I am a sinner forgiven by God, and so forth. So on the basis of this witness of the Holy Spirit I can know the great truths of the Gospel.

Kevin Harris: We appreciate it, Dr. Craig. Next week we'll look at some questions we've been getting on cosmology. That's on the next Reasonable Faith podcast. We'll see you then. [4]