On the corrilations between the conditions of and surrounding physical birth and spiritual birth.

     People will sometimes ask me how I know that God exists. When confronted with they query I could dive into the cosmological, teleological, or moral arguments, but while those are all solid arguments for the existence of a deity, none of them fully encompass who God really is, and none of them can really prove anything. Logic will only get you so far, after all as C.S. Lewis pointed out: "You cannot prove rational intuition by argument because argument depends on rational intuition." So therefore how can you know for sure that God exists?

     To answer this question let us think back to before you first were. While you were still in your mother's womb you could not prove that there was such a thing as "mom", nor could you prove that there was life after birth. All that you knew was darkness. When the time came for you to be born you were suddenly and gloriously transformed from the world of "darkness" (literally) to the world of light. Still you were not fully aware that your mom existed because you were too undeveloped to be capable of such high thought, but you knew that there was more. After just a few years of development had anyone asked you if your mom existed you would immediately say (were you capable of communication) "yes of course!" and how would you know? You experienced her on a daily basis. From there as you got more and more developed physically and mentally* you would become more and more sure that your mother exists because you know her. Not do you just see her, feel her, or communicate with her, you actually know her on a intimate level. You know what she wants, how she wants it, and why she wants it that way. You know her will. 

    Now the cool part of this is relating this to the Christian life. When we were still yet unsaved we could not prove anything beyond the physical. We floated in a world of darkness and despair. How could we know if there was such a thing as "God" and how could we know if there is life after birth? When we were born into saving faith (by the grace of God, not by work of our own, just like physical birth) we suddenly were moved from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. No longer were we blinded, but we also had no means of comprehending what we had just experienced. We could not even fully prove that God is real, we just knew there was something more. After we started to develop in the faith we could slowly begin to have full confidence that God exists because we experience him on a daily basis, were anyone to ask us if he exists we could not necessarily prove it, but we could know for sure that he did. From there as we became more and more developed in the knowledge of God and maturity of faith** we began to become more and more sure that God was real because we had begun a relationship with him. From that point until death takes away all barriers we will be in a process of getting to know God more and more deeply, and although we will always be progressing in this knowledge we will never reach the bottom of the well, there will be no end to what we can know about God. We will know what he wants, how he wants it, and why he wants it that way. We will know His will. 

    There is a reason that Jesus used birth as an analogy for salvation. What then is the point of all of this? We do not have to be afraid that someone will come along and prove to us that God does not exist because just as someone can't make me disbelieve that my mother exists, there is no way to disprove that God exists in my mind because I have relationship with him. If you get to know God through talking and listening to him in prayer and reading the 66 book love letter he wrote you you will have confidence. Know God. 

*This is not a choice that we can make (we will grow up), we just grow despite what we would desire, unless we intentionally destroy our body through deprivation of food. The extent to which we grow and the health of our growth is greatly affected by how we treat our body and what food and exercise we give it. 

**Again this is not a choice that we can make (we will be sanctified), we grow despite what we would desire, unless we intentionally destroy our soul though deprivation of spiritual food (like the Word, and fellowship). The extent to which we grow and the heath of our growth is greatly affected by how we treat our soul and what food and exercise we give it. 

Recommended reading on the topic: 

-A Quest for Godliness

-Fellowship with God

-The Transforming Power of the Gospel

Also though I haven't personally read it yet John Owen's Communion with God is supposed to be good. 

Five Reasons I Reject "Five Reasons I Reject Unconditional Atonement"

I stumbled across a article (http://redemptionpictures.com/2013/07/13/election/) the other day that left me disturbed. The reason for my concern will become aparent shortly, but in this article Micah Murray lays out five reasons he thinks unconditional atonement is wrong. 

Now, without attempting to refute what he said or promoting Calvinism (in so far as I am able) I will lay out five concerns I have with what he presented. Do me a favor and read the last two paragraphs if nothing else:

1. Murray never quotes the Bible. 

Micah's entire argument scheme is based on feelings about how God should be, he never even mentions the Bible except to casually mention it supossedly supports his point (he even claims not to be a theologian, or God-studier). 

Scripture to consider: 2 Tim 2:15, 2 Tim 3:16, 2 Tim 4:2, Psalm 18:30, Hebrews 4:12, 1 Peter 2:2. 

2. Murray claims that "if unconditional election is true God cannot be trusted". 

This flies directly in the face of Romans 9:13-15 which, even if it isn't speaking of salvation, shows God's ability to be just and fair and sti favor some people over others. 

Scriptures to consider: 1 Thess 1:4, Romans 9, Job 38:2.

3. He claims that salvation of a few would be "unfair" and "unloving" of God. 

God is just, this is clear in scripture, and should he choose to bless some and give others what they deserve is that unfair? Read the parable at Matt 20:13, God deals with people unequally. Job 40:2,8 clearly shows that God is soverign over suffering and cannot be acused of wrong (Romans 9:13-15 again) so should God choose to save some from damnation that is pure grace and mercy for those who are chosen; we cannot incure that God is in the wrong for something he does in the Bible often. 

Scriptures to consider: Ecclesiastes 11:5, Matt 20:13, Job 38:1ff; 40:2,8; Isaiah and 40:18. 

4. Murray makes the implication that if unconditional election is true then sharing the gospel is unnecessary because it doesn't affect the chance someone will be saved. 

This isn't just a false accusation of the implications of election, but its illogical, and poor theology/hermeneutics. False accusation because Calvinists have for years been preaching the gospel to the unsaved believing it was commanded and effective. Illogical because we do not know whether our witness will be what God uses to save our neighbor and we can only do all we can do for our neighbors. Poor theology because Romans 11:33-35 (also Isaiah 40:11-14) proclaims the fact that God's ways are not understandable by human finite minds (Ecc 11:5). We don't have the right to NOT do what he has clearly told us to do elsewhere in scripture (Acts 1:8, Matt 28:18-19). 

Scripture to consider: Romans 11:33-35, Isaiah 40:11-14, Ecclesastes 11:5, Acts 1:8, and Matt 28:18-19. 

5. In claiming that creation would be an act of cruelty with election he is condeming his own god, and forgetting the whole old testament. 

There are people now who have never heard of Jesus. Lots of people living now, and many more who died never having heard. You cannot say that a perfect God allowed all those people to die unsaved without having a chance and also say that God would be cruel to allow people to no have a choice about their own repentance. Throughout the whole Old Testament and especially Joshua people are being killed by God without ever having a witness to them except the rumors of Israel's God. God is totally just to punish whom he pleases because Romans 3:23 clearly shows the depravity of mankind and the necessity of a substitute. God has mercy on whom he has mercy, blessed be the name of the Lord. 

Scripture to consider: Exodus 7-12, Psalm 135:10, Romans 3:11, and Romans 3:23.

Finally the most crucial section of my response has come; I think that even if we all disagree on whether election is true we can agree that there is nothing in us which allows us to WANT to know God (Roman 3:11, Psalms 14:1-3) and even if we wanted to know God we cannot believe it by our own power (1 Corinthians 1:17-31; 3:6) so regardless of whether you believe in election or not you must allow for the fact that God is involved in the process so the very arguments that attack election or even free will can destroy our very assurance of salvation and cause divisivness and division (1 Corinthians 3:1-23) and therefore we should be very careful when accusing other people of such serious charges that Murray levels against Calvinists. 

Search the scriptures for yourself (Acts 17:10-15) and understand why you believe what you believe but don't let yourself oppose your brothers in such a way that causes you to lose fellowship (which is a different level of accusation for different people so be VERY careful, 1 Cor 3:18, 21-23) and lose sight of the MOST important thing, which is a personal relationship with Christ. 

Keep the main thing the main thing.