Can a Christian Talk Philosophy Without Quoting the Bible?

Question:
Can a Christian have a philosophical conversation or debate without quoting the Bible?  Is it even possible for such a thing to happen?
For example, most atheists do not see the need to quote other atheists, the same way i don't need to quote George Washington Carver to tell you that I believe peanut butter is absolutely delicious.


My Answer:
Sure, a Christian could have a philosophical debate without quoting the Bible, that is, if the philosophical topic isn't about God, morals/ethics, or anything He created.

I'm not trying to be sarcastic here, but most famous philosophers are known for their takes on God. And no, you don't need Carver to tell you that peanut butter is delicious, but honestly, I haven't had a philosophical conversation with somebody who didn't either quote or bring up a theory that wasn't already thought up by another philosopher.  That's probably because it's also difficult to propose a theory about God, or almost anything really, that hasn't been thought up by these same philosophers.

So yeah, it's possible to not "quote" the Bible in a discussion or debate, but can we keep our faith and talks of what's in the Bible out? I say no, for such support the origin of our opinions and knowledge.

---Pastor Andy

Comprehending God?

Question:

I have 2 questions:

1) Does God love us?  And if God does love us, then can you answer my next question?
2) This question is quoted from Epicurus: "Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?" 

My Reply:

Interesting take...yet not original.

1) yes, God loves us.

2) Who can understand God's mind?  Author Brennan Manning once said that 'if we could fully comprehend God, then He couldn't be God, for no god can be fully comprehended. For millenniums, people have tried to put God into a box in order to be able to look at Him as one does a lightening bug in a jar. But God can't be put into a box.  If we could fully understand or comprehend God and why God does things (or doesn't do things), then God couldn't be God...we would be God or gods.

If you try to fully comprehend God, you'll fail. 

Plus, if somebody was to fully comprehend God, and thus become a god, then we should kill them, for no mortal shall be worshiped as a God.'

My point: There are some things about God that we can and will never know or understand. But that's one of the many qualification that makes God, and not us, God.

---Pastor Andy

Liars or Not-Liars, that is the question.

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Question:  If a chicken says, "All chickens are liars", is the chicken telling the truth?

My Reply:

Lol, this question reminds me of a song from Henry Rollins called "Liar". At the end he says, "I'm a liar, and I'll keep on lying...I promise." That makes my brain hurt trying to figure out, lol, but it's similar to your question, and still twists my brain around like a pretzel.

I'll say no, the chicken's not telling the truth.
I say this because truth's not relative. But the comment that the chicken's giving is a relative term (or an opinion).
It's like when somebody says that all people are liars. Not everybody lies, but because that person only knows liars, he assumes that everybody lies.
So what if the chicken is basing his assumption on what he knows, versus the truth? And since the chicken believes enough to say that all chickens are liars, his mind is made up, and so by not willing to believe otherwise, he closes off any other options or chances of hearing the truth, since it would be otherwise to his opinion, or relativity to the truth. :)

---Pastor Andy

Question of Creation

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Question:

Philosophically speaking, what (other than God) existed before everything came into existence?

My Reply:

Philosophically-speaking, Theologically-speaking, technically-speaking, and however else, nothing (other than God) existed before everything came into existence.  (John 1:3).


Added Oct. 25, 2010: I received a philosophical view from a friend on Facebook for this question.  He suggested that before anything existed (other than God), we existed.  Now, before you pull the New Age or Mormon cards, let me explain what he's saying: Jeremiah 1:5 gives reference to God knowing us before we were born.  Genesis also tells us that when God created, it wasn't a spur of the moment thing, but a well-thought out plan.  We also know that the Salvation plan with Jesus dying and being resurrected was not plan B, but plan A from before the days of creation. So philosophically and theologically speaking, in the mind and eyes of God, we existed before we were created.

Although we need to remember that we did NOT exist in the spirit or any other form before being born. Also, as Genesis 2:7 and Job 33:4 remind us, we are not actually "alive" until God breathes breath into us. So in our understanding of existence, the actual or physical existence, no, we did not exist before creation.

But now here's what's going through my brain as I type this:

• We did NOT exist before creation, for humans were the last to be created.
• Yes, we exist in God, and He had us in mind before creating, but it was not until He "breathed" into us that we were given life.
• I have to wonder about the part where God said, "let us create man in our own image..."  Not so much the image part, but the part about Him saying, "Let us create"...so humans didn't really exist then, either, pointing to my first answer.
• But yes, it's correct to say that we exist in God, and that the whole point of creation included humans, and so in that sense, we did exist.

Wow, my brain's starting to hurt. Maybe I should lay off from the philosophy-based questions for a bit, lol.

---Pastor Andy

God really isn't the "Ultimate Being" is he?

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Question:

God really isn't the "Ultimate Being", is He?  God is described as being all powerful, all seeing, all knowing. He is the ultimate being and is greater than everyone in any way imaginable.  Yet, I have a few religious friends who tell me that God cannot be around sin, which is why people who do not accept Jesus (who would cleanse them of their sins) go to hell - even though we know that apparently God LOVES US AND WOULD NEVER WANT HARM ON US.
OK, so if God has to live by this rule where he can't be around sins, he's not exactly the head Honcho, is he?  And while we're at that note, if God apparently loves us, why does he allow the creation of those who live only to hurt others? If he's all-knowing, he would have saw this from a light-year away and stopped it. Or maybe God is above "Logic" and what makes sense for him is to be a hypocrite.
What are the point of Midgets? Do you think God finds them hilarious also?

My Reply:

Actually, your friends are a little backwards...it's not that God couldn't approach us because of our sin, but that sin was preventing US from approaching God. We know this for many reasons, one being that it wasn't God that needed to be cleansed before approaching us, but us before entering the high holy place (Old Testament priests).
Second, God is all knowing, and does love us. But He allows creation to run its course...God's not going to force anybody to accept Him. Instead, He did what needed to be done, and left the decision up to us as to whether or not we want to be with Him for all eternity (in Heaven) or not. Real love doesn't force us to do anything...real love leaves it up to us to accept or not.
You're right to say that God is above logic. The scriptures tell us that the "wise" ones become fools when they try to understand the Gospel, since their logic can't understand it. But it's great wisdom for those of us who are being saved (I guess us stupid people) ;)

As for Midgets, I hear they like to be called "Little People"...and they're just as much a blessing as those of us tall (or average-sized) people, under just as much a curse as us, and offered the same salvation as the rest of us. If you want to ask about God's sense of humor, why not try figuring out God's "logic" for the platypus?

Summary: Yes, God is the ultimate being...heck, He created EVERYTHING that exists, and if it doesn't exist, He didn't make it.

---Pastor Andy

Why do atheists attack Christians without merit?

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Question: 

This was actually an answer to a post in Philosophy that surprised me: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;…

Atheists, not scientists, believe its time to end religion. Science never proves or disproves religious origin and all unbiased scientists will cop to that. Only the hard-core atheists use science as evidence for their claims, but they are irrational about it.
The above was a great lead in for:
http://www.deism.com/dogmatic%20atheism.…
Then, a leading atheist, based on science, changes his position.
http://www.biola.edu/antonyflew/flew-int…
There is room for a creator!

My Reply:
I honestly find it odd that Atheists want to get rid of religions altogether, for Atheism seems to have turned into a religion of its own.  Anyway, here's how I understand it all:

It's not that Atheists don't believe, but that they REFUSE to believe in the existence of God...they CHOOSE not to  believe, even when the evidences are staring them right in the face.  (Agnostics are those who just don't know).
But at the same time, we both (Christians and atheists) are out on a mission.
I heard a guy on the radio the other day who said, "When asked if there's anything better than going to heaven, most people say 'no'. But I say 'yes. The one thing that's better than going to heaven is bringing somebody there with you'."  So you see, we Christians are out to introduce people to Jesus, the only one who can save them from death, sin, hell, etc., while atheists are out trying to save them from...(foolishness?) believing in a God that they refuse to believe exists.
I guess you could also look at it in the way that we each witness to people of other faiths. We tell them not of our own opinions, but of Truth, thus trying to persuade them to realize their need to turn  to God and repent.  Atheism, on the other hand, has become a faith that witnesses to people of God-believing faiths with their own opinions about God, trying to persuade them to NOT believe in God at all.
So in the same way that we believe in the urgency of getting the Word out about Jesus, atheists believe in the urgency to "save" people from what they consider as the "foolishness" of believing that God exists.
And so this, I believe, is why they attack us so much...we're “competing” for souls.
In terms of science, I agree that it's mostly about theories. But in trying to prove or disprove God's existence, many scientists have actually become Christians due to the results of their research, especially archaeologists.  So as more and more discoveries are made about the evidences of God's existence, as well as events mentioned in the Bible, atheists may soon have to begin looking for a new source to back up their opinions.

---Pastor Andy