One of the things the first chapter of the book brings to mind is that there really is nothing new under the sun (see Ecclesiastes). Intelligent design is sometimes criticized as being just another attempt at the design argument for the origin of life, i.e., there is a design to nature, therefore there must be a designer (i.e. God). I don't think that is a cogent criticism anyway, but it turns out that evolution itself is a recycled argument to some extent. The belief in atoms is not entirely new. And modern humanists haven't really come up with something new either. Protagoras' quote, "Man is the measure of all things," is a fair approximation of modern secular humanism.
This can give us some confidence to say to modern skeptics of Christianity, whatever their pet philosophy may be, "Been there, done that." There is one thing that happened in the ancient world, however, that had never occurred before and is truly unique in history. That is Christ.
There is a lot more to say about Chapter 1. I'll post more later, and I'll look forward to hearing from everyone else.
1 comment:
Christ is a good exception to the idea that "There is nothing new under the sun". This phrase to me reads "If there is one of something, there must be others"
What make him the exception is the combination of 2 things:
(1) his clearly defined identity. He loves the Father and all of us.
(2) he has access to all knowledge.
I argue that if there could be 2 entities exactly the same in item (1) and also possessing (2) they would be the same entity functionally and not just kindred spirits like we experience when we meet someone who loves similar things. There can be only one Christ.
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