Introduction to Logic of God
This blog is designed to give people an inner look at a devotional life. Taking time each day to spend time with the Lord. The hope is if you travel on this journey with Rev. Jacob Shaw, you may be more inclined to spend time with the Lord as well. I encourage the use of a devotional, a scripture reading and prayer, then finally some form of artistic mark to tie it all together.
Today's
devotional is taken from: Zacharias, Ravi. The Logic of God: 52
Christian Essentials for the Heart and Mind. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2019.
[E-Book] Introduction
Opening Thought: The late Ravi Zacharias is a world-famous Christian apologist, who
sadly, for many of his followers, was named as the perpetrator in a number of
cases involving unwanted sexual contact, advances and other behaviours. I open
this devotional blog with this point to note that the use of Zacharias’
intellectual production does not in any way condone his bad behavior. That is
the first thing that must be clear.
The
reason I chose Zacharias’ book is because it was on my list prior to my
knowledge of his behavior. Zacharias’ work fell onto my lap one day when I was
struggling in my own internal debates on elements of Christian apologetics and despite his personal action, his religious work has made a difference in my life and countless others. As
much as I do not want Zacharias’ negative action to inspire, I want his good
action to inspire. I do not know what led to Zacharias’ bad choices but what I
do know is the other aspects of his life, his mind and faith did do good for
many, Christians and non-Christians alike. So I walk in the uncomfortable space of working with his material.
So
if working from the words of Zacharias makes you uncomfortable, I respect that,
no need to continue any further with the blog, check back in a few months after
this book is finished and you can see what book we tackle next. Otherwise,
let’s dive into The Logic of God.
The devotional begins with: Zacharias designed
this text to be partnered with a scripture reading. It seems that the book will
function as a guide to Christian apologetics and as a devotional source. This
should provide a unique perspective as it will offer the reader the ability to
defend their faith in conversation, but also to inspire their faith within
their own internal dialog. The idea of apologetics may be lost on a few of you,
so I will do my best to describe what apologetics is. Apologetics is a
theological and religious studies discipline by which one aims to defend
religious doctrines, arguments, and systematic in a variety of affiliated or
directly associated disciplines, like science, philosophy, theology, etc. Christians
apologetics can debate internally within the faith discipline, i.e., debate
between orthodoxy and contemporary, or between faith traditions or with secular worldviews i.e., atheism. The title of the book being The Logic of God, implies that Zacharias
is going to make a case that God exists, and it is logical to hold that
position. This should be an interesting read.
Continual Work: The work of apologetics is not something one enters into
lightly. It takes a strong faith to walk out into the world and welcome
challenge and adversity. So, this book may just be a point of casual interest,
but if you wish to look at apologetics deeper, make sure you study very hard
before thinking you know anything.
What Rev. Jacob is Working On: I personally felt disappointment when I heard
the news about Zacharias. I hadn’t followed him in his career much, but I heard
him speak a few times and one thing that always struck me was the love in his
voice when he spoke about his wife. I don’t know anything about their
relationship or what happened in his scandals either, but I am going to effort
to take this writing at face value, as much as I can, I know by skimming ahead
their will be references to his wife. It will be hard for me not to feel wary,
but I know people are far more complicated then just good or bad. So I will
struggle, but be hopeful that in God’s grace we can find wisdom in this work.
Rev. Jacob’s Scripture time: Romans 1:16
For I am not ashamed of the
Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to
the Jew first and also the Greek.
When I was young, high school age I believe, I was ashamed of having faith. No one I knew in high school was religious, and therefore I kind of hid my faith. A part of the reason I hid it was because I didn’t have confidence in my faith. Being young I didn’t know what it meant to me yet, and I had not studied it to the degree I have now. At the time I had spent more time learning about other faiths than Christianity.
Faith is the key to salvation for sure, but sometimes we need to
find something to help us get there, for me it was logic. My mind likes
systematics and I have an internal policy, if there isn’t a logical systematic foundation, I don’t believe it. In short, if it doesn’t make sense, I let
it go, at least until someone can change my mind. When I found my logic to
faith, it was because one of the basic arguments against God, the
traditional problem of evil, was clarified to me through my own experience
of suffering, and suddenly I could logically justify a belief in God, where I
did not feel I could before. (Clearly there is some back story here, but I’ll
save that for another time perhaps). When the logic clicked together, my faith
began to grow, strengthen and my internal defense for my faith increased.
Closing Words: I hope you enjoyed and were lifted by this devotional time; it
is truly important to take time for God each day. By doing so, you welcome God
into your life, and in turn you will be able to better see the world through
the eyes of God, rather than God through the world's eyes.
Artistic Close: One of Zacharias’ artistic gifts was his ability to tell a
story, I will leave a link to one of his talks, if it will help you understand
his style, voice and presence.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOyBe2ag1zs
I
have also post links to an open letter for the RZIM on the Investigation of
Zacharias’ action, it is only right that you readers have a fuller image of the
author, this may complicate things for your reading, use both the YouTube Link and
this link at your own discretion.
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