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An Argument For Apologetics: Part II

December 20, 2015May 21, 2019Posted in TopicalTagged An Argument For Apologetics, Apologetics, Bible, Bible Study, books, Chris Cribari, Chris Cribari Blog, Christianity, Discipleship, God, Philosophy, TheologyLeave a comment

Photo Cred: (1) | Updated: 5/21/2019

Since this is apart of a blog-post series, let me briefly remind you of what I have already gone over in Part I of my argument for apologetics. In the first post in this series, I defined faith, described apologetics, and went over my first point on why we need apologetics in Christianity. That point being that it is pre-evangelism. The way I argued this was with a knight allegory, but I will instead use an expression used at the film school I attend to make the point clearer.

When it comes to film, it really boils down to 2 things: knowing your audience and knowing your story. Relating this back to the topic at hand, apologetics is about knowing your story, while evangelism is about knowing your audience. Let me quickly explain what I mean by that.

Apologetics is all about understanding on a logical and technical level who you’re, what you believe, and how to appropriately answer any objections to Christianity. Evangelism is all about understanding on a moral and spiritual level who someone is, what is holding them back from the cross, and how to appropriately guide them to the cross. Both are equally relevant and dependent on each other in outreaches to the world. Whether that’s a missions trip, feeding the homeless, street witnessing, etc. As my Dad once said, “Apologetics is pre-evangelism and if it’s not, you’re doing it wrong.”

2) Apologetics Saved the Church From Heresy

In A.D. 325, there was the Council of Nicaea and this meeting brought church leaders from the East and the West together to discuss a series of current Christian topics at hand. These topics included, but were not limited to the calendar date of Easter, defining the Trinity, and the nature of Jesus Christ. The latter being the most prominent topic of the meeting because it was debated by two opposing forces within the church at the time.

One side of this debate was Arius the priest who thought that Jesus was not eternal, but created. He was literally punched in the face for this heretical claim during the proceedings by Bishop Nicholas. The other side of the debate was led by Deacon Athanasius and Bishop Alexander who argued the biblical stance of Jesus being eternal like God the Father. The whole council, which consisted of hundreds of bishops and other prominent Christian leaders, watched as one of the most important debates in Christianity took place over one of the most central truths of Christianity: Jesus is God.

It was a debate that had so much riding on it: the future of Christianity, the foundation of the church, and so much more. The emperor of Rome, Constantine, resided over the proceedings looking to end the division in the church, which he thought would end political division within the Roman Empire, only added to the tension. It was the debate of the century. After much back and forth, a vote was taken and the vast majority agreed with Bishop Alexander and Deacon Athanasius that Jesus is God. Arius was eventually expelled as a heretic from the church, along with Arianism altogether.

Why do I bring this up? Because it is instances like this where large opposition has risen against the church, usually from within the church, and without the use of apologetics, would have destroyed the church. Another time where this has happened was the Protestant Reformation. This was when Martin Luther boldly left the Catholic church, which had seriously deviated from correct biblical truth, to bring them back from their heretical claims. Such as the Pope’s word was equal in measure to God’s Word (the Bible) in authority.

So the greatest Christian church split in history happened. It was a time when apologetics was absolutely necessary to defend the Christian faith from those who had twisted it. Other instances when apologetics saved the skin of the church from either destruction from the outside or manipulation from the inside were the following: the rise and fall of Gnosticism, the Enlightenment when the church was under attack from the intellectuals of the time, or even today with the rise of Prosperity Theology, otherwise known as the Faith Movement.

Every generation of the church body has had its heresies, cults, false religions, and worldly belief systems to deal with that help the body of Christ stay alert. This “always be ready” mentality of confronting heresies head-on with apologetics to protect the flock of God from falling away is essential to continual growth in Christ. Some notable apologists who defended the Christian worldview are Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (The Cosmological/Contingency Argument, invented binary language), Rene Descartes (The Origin of the Idea of God Argument, invented the cartesian coordinate system), and Blaise Pascal (Pascal’s Wager, invented the first working mechanical calculator).

These men were also the fathers of modern philosophy and science, who still impact the culture with their use of apologetics centuries later. As was once said in a lecture at Rice University by Professor John Lennox, “Far from being a hindrance to science, belief in God was the motor that drove it.” In short, without apologetics Christianity would not be where it is today because of those bold enough in the faith to protect others from the deceit of the Devil, the world, and even our own corrupt selves.

3) Apologetics Builds Up the Church

If you do not know why you believe what you believe, why believe? This is the motivating question behind my apologetics passion and why I care so much for it. I strongly believe in the fact that every believer needs to not only know what they believe, but to know why they believe it in the first place. Christianity is not led by blind faith, but is led by bold faith. But this faith is not bold because of blind passion like followers of other worldviews.

Rather, it is because we know what we believe to be true, which causes the believer to understand certain things like the fear of God, the compassion of Christ, and that there are billions of people living today who are not ready for the return of Christ. It’s an abundance of emotions to know God, while at the same time know how few know God. It’s sad and joyous all at the same time. It’s the motor that drives the believer to distant lands all across the globe or to local rough parts of town in our cities. We are driven by the burden of the broken to mend them with the good news of the Gospel.

But with this burden for the broken comes questions from the broken that wish to be built back up, yet are afraid of being broken again. How can the broken be reassured that what you have and offer from God is any different from say Islam, Buddhism, or any other belief system with the same exact claims? Claims of fulfilling meaning, purpose, and value? This is when apologetics is to be appropriately used in defending the Christian worldview by differentiating it from other worldviews. This in turn builds up the believer at the same time as reassuring their broken spirit.

Apologetics not only defends against outward opposition and intense inquiry, but also from inward doubts and fears. One fear that used to cloud my mind early in my faith was ‘How do I really know that God exists? Is what I am experiencing really a supernatural experience that I can personally interact with God or just my feelings overcoming my emptiness for relevance in life?’

Eventually, I came to the same conclusions that the late C.S. Lewis came to in his lifetime. That for every desire, there exists a satisfaction for these desires of ultimate meaning, purpose, and value. This is better known as The Desire Argument famously made by Lewis in his book, Mere Christianity.

There was also the fact that the universe screams for a necessary, intelligent, mindful, personal, first-cause that could conceive of the universe itself. This was my starting point as to why I believed in the existence of God and has helped me when going through times of doubt or times of spiritual struggle. Knowing God is always there is something that I always find comfort in and helps me cope with the harder times in life as I bet it does for other believers as well.

You see, apologetics builds up the church by reinforcing the spiritual connection the believer has with Jesus with logical and relevant facts to support such an ambitious relationship. I mean, how many people really understand the uniqueness of interacting with God on a day-to-day basis worldwide? Not many because it sounds too strange at first to accept, but in reality is far from it.

That dynamic with God really starts when we admit we are wrong and He is right. It’s so simple it boggles the minds of the greatest skeptics around the world! Lunacy to some to even consider they could be wrong or better yet, indebted to God.

The more you learn in the realm of apologetics, the more you appreciate and understand your relationship with God. Things like how the persons of the Trinity interact, essential doctrines that define the specifics of certain aspects to Christianity, and the list goes on. It’s encouraging to know that I know what I believe in and then to have even more joy when sharing that faith with others because I fully grasp what I am sharing. It’s logical substance fueled by fiery passion equaling a great servant of God. Apologetics is meant to build the body of Christ up, not tear it down.

Just as a mother tells their child to put on their coat to protect themselves from the weather, so too you ought to put on the shield of apologetic faith to protect yourself from the horrors of spiritual warfare. In so doing, the church in general is built up knowing that whatever comes opposing truth can be deflected with that same truth.

Basically, every Christian should know a little apologetics because God commands us to in 1 Peter 3:13-16, in order to further the Gospel. In that passage, the Apostle Peter writes that we should give a defense for the hope that is in us. So above all else, the believer needs to know apologetics and use apologetics because God commands us too in His Word, in order to further the expansion of the kingdom.

To end, here are some great resources in no particular order that you can use to sharpen your apologetics utility belt in furthering the message of the Gospel, as well as strengthen your own faith:

On Guard by William Lane Craig
Handbook of Christian Apologetics by Peter Kreeft and Ronald K. Tacelli
Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
Know What You Believe by Paul E. Little
Christian Apologetics by Norman L. Geisler
Essential Truths of the Christian Faith by R.C. Sproul
Jesus Among Other Gods by Ravi Zacharias

Of all of these resources, I recommend Paul E. Little’s book, Know What You Believe, the most because it covers everything the Christian absolutely needs to know in detail without the extra baggage. It’s short and covers everything the Christian absolutely needs to know about their faith. Highly recommended resource and it’s one book I turn to often to sharpen my faith. With that, Godspeed and Jesus bless!

Footnotes

An Argument For Apologetics: Part I

December 13, 2015May 21, 2019Posted in TopicalTagged An Argument For Apologetics, Apologetics, Bible, Bible Study, books, Chris Cribari, Chris Cribari Blog, Christianity, Discipleship, God, Philosophy, Theology1 Comment

Photo Cred: (1) | Updated: 5/21/2019

In recent years, there has been a rise in the claim that apologetics is no longer necessary in Christianity. Well, I disagree with that notion and here’s why: apologetics is a quintessential aspect to the life of every Christian. It is the shield, so to speak, that the believer stands behind and gives a defense of the faith from, with, and through. There is a reason that when Paul the Apostle mentions the armor of God (2), he refers to the shield, as a shield of faith. And that is exactly what apologetics is in the tool belt of the believer: a shield. As Professor John Lennox of Oxford University said in a dialogue with Richard Dawkins, “My faith is a faith of evidence.”

In another lecture he quipped that “Faith is a response to evidence, not a rejoicing in the absence of evidence.” Put succinctly, the Christian faith is on the higher ground right from the get go compared to every other belief system in world history. Apologetics is merely quintessential to the Christian faith because it a) reveals this higher ground and b) shows you how to defend this higher ground from all who look to capture the flag of victorious truth that rests on Calvary hill. Like the author of the book of Hebrews put it, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (3).”

The word apologetics is derived from the combination of the word ‘apologetic’ meaning to give “a formal defense” in Middle French and the suffix ‘ics’ for “nouns that denote a body of facts, knowledge, principles, etc.” (4). But to be more specific, apologetics is the “the branch of Christianity that deals with the defense and establishment of the Christian faith” (5). With all of this in mind, here are 3 reasons why apologetics is necessary for every Christian.

1) Apologetics Is Pre-Evangelism

Have you ever seen a medieval knight charge into battle against an opposing force? Put more bluntly, if an opposing knight is charging towards you with their sword preparing to strike you down, how would you counter their attack? With your sword or with your shield? The obvious answer should be to deflect the sword with the shield and then proceed with your own sword to strike back.

This analogy is the relationship of apologetics and evangelism in a nutshell: apologetics is the shield and evangelism is the sword of Christianity. But the problem with those who misuse apologetics is twofold: they either use the sword (evangelism) first or they just use the shield (apologetics) without using the sword (evangelism). Let me explain the problem with both of these tactics.

Let’s start with the first tactic: using the sword first. Now at first glance, going out to preach the gospel seems simple enough. I mean who really needs apologetics, right? Plenty can get done with just a sword! Well, let’s set the spiritual battleground with a simple story.

You’re on a train going to the big game tonight. There are hundreds of people on the train wearing their team’s jersey and excitingly talking about the game. Now you being a believer, overhear a heated conversation between a New Atheist and a devout Hindu who just so happen to be in the same section as you on the train.

The two are discussing the idea of God and whether or not belief in God, or as the Hindu would argue, many gods makes logical sense. In fact, there are about 330 million gods according to the devout Hindu. So you being an active believer, burdened with the work of the ministry, jump politely into the conversation in order to win them to the faith (6).

At first everything seems fine. You’ve prayed beforehand, you’re well versed in the Scriptures, and you’re humbly listening before engaging in the conversation. Hearing what the discussion is about before you present your worldview. Then it happens: your turn to speak. So you being a cheerful giver, give them the gospel, but there’s one problem. Neither see the need for the gospel. Now what do you do?

Well, you stumble a little over your words and begin to reiterate how much God loves them and has this wonderful plan for their life! How much Jesus loves them! Neither seem the least bit interested, laugh at your little love speech about a Middle Eastern man, and continue with their conversation without you.

Now what? You then in a fury, spew Bible verse after Bible verse of how Jesus is God! Yes, this must work! Nothing. Absolute zero attention is paid to your poetic spewing. So you, in utter defeat, walk away embarrassed and mad. What happened? Let me explain.

You see, using the knight analogy, you kept using your sword when you should have been using your shield. As a matter of fact, you were using your sword as both the shield and the sword, causing you to be spiritually exhausted because you had only offense as an option. No time to counter correctly or to pause on an important point like the existence of God, which was the original conversation the two were having in the first place. Remember, the New Atheist doesn’t believe in God and the devout Hindu believes in many gods, so without addressing that topic you have no firm footing in this fight.

Now let’s try a different option, using only the shield. So the same scenario, but you are an apologetics nut. You know every argument, every counter-argument, and every rebuttal. So you boldly go into the discussion without any fear because you know how to defend the faith. And after a little back and forth you finally convince both the New Atheist and the devout Hindu that there is only one God. But now you come across your first hurdle. Why does that matter?

Sure, they now believe in a single God, but where do you go from here? What was the point of proving that there was a God in the first place? So then the conversation quickly dies off and goes back to simple things like the big game tonight. What did you do? How did this happen? You knew everything! Or so you thought. Let’s go back to the knight analogy.

You’re going to war, but you decide to only take your shield and leave your sword behind. Do you see the problem? By only taking the shield, you can only survive the war intact, instead of ending the war intact. You can only deflect opposition without ending opposition. Eventually you’ll be too tired from blocking the opposing knight’s attacks that they will kill you by simply fighting until you are exhausted. Or in the case of the train story, you’ll eventually just go back to simpler things because you knew no way out.

How sad is this? That you can disarm your opponent, but cannot finish them? Yet that is the reality of those who only use apologetics in outreaches or ministry. They deflect the accusations of the mind, without getting to the heart of the issue. And the other tactic of just using the sword to cut to the heart of the issue without addressing the logical issues of the mind is also unuseful. Both are foolish ways to enter the spiritual battleground because a true knight of God is well equipped with a shield and a sword.

Now let’s see what happens when you bring both your shield and sword to the battle. Again, same scenario, but this time you’re prepared in all aspects that matter: spiritually, mentally, etc. First you use the shield, deflecting every fiery arrow with logical and truthful answers. It works and neither the New Atheist nor the devout Hindu has a shield anymore.

Now is the time to strike with the double edged sword. Their mind is ready, but the heart is not. This is the time to finish their seeds of doubt by driving the sword of spiritual truth through them. So you being a faithful steward, drive the point home with the sword of evangelism. The end result? Two new believers in Christ. Well, in this train story at least.

There will be times when people do not come to faith in Jesus. Not because you didn’t do your part in sharing the truth, but they didn’t do their part in accepting the truth. Your job as a believer is to share the truth with others, but how they react to the message is not up to you. That’s up to them and God from that point on. How exactly did this work? Because the tools at your disposal were used properly for what they were designed to do: reach the lost by sharing what has been found in Christ.

Although I use very blunt analogies with knights to describe the relationship between apologetics and evangelism, that does not mean that you should be mean or rude towards whoever you’re reaching out too. Far from it! I am speaking in spiritual terms when I speak of the war terminology and this shouldn’t actually spill over into actual witnessing. Just something to keep in mind to help with witnessing. Understanding that you’re in a spiritual war, not a physical or verbal war with the lost that you’re reaching.

Remember, these are tools that the believer should use together when at an outreach, but they do not always have to use them together. There will be times where simple evangelism will bring someone to the cross or vice versa with apologetics. The reason I argue that they should be used together is because most of the time people have a spiritual wall that is blocking them from a relationship with Jesus. So the walls need to come down before the real evangelism can work.

But the Holy Spirit works in mysterious ways, so don’t take this as factual, but more as suggested when outreaching to the world. Then again this approach can be seen used by Jesus (7), Paul the Apostle (8), Stephen (9), Peter (10), and so on. Usually this is a combination of apologetics and evangelism, not a simple one-two punch when outreaching. More of a back and forth dynamic when talking to others with civility and respect.

But without love, none of this information matters. You’ll be nothing but sounding brass speaking to the lost, yet not reaching the lost (11). As Ravi Zacharias once said, “Love is the greatest apologetic. It is the essential component in reaching the whole person in a fragmented world.” In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus is quoted saying “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets (12). “

You have to have a loving heart for the lost in order to be effective for the work of the ministry. It is the single greatest aspect in the life of the Christian. Just as Jesus did, you too have to have a heart for the harvest (13). So to put it sufficiently, apologetics is pre-evangelism and only works when done in love. Come back next time for Part 2 of this series, which delves into my second point: how apologetics saved the church from heresy. With that, Godspeed and Jesus bless!

Footnotes

https://www.deviantart.com/pandarice/art/knights-mounted-fight-32834504
Ephesians 6:16
Hebrews 11:1 (NKJV)
https://dictionary.reference.com
https://carm.org/apologetics
1 Corinthians 9:19-27
Luke 24:13-35
Acts 17:1-15
Acts 7:1-53
Acts 2:14-42
1 Corinthians 13:1-3
Matthew 22:35-40 (NASB)
Matthew 9:35-38
Disclaimer

The Fruits of Forgiveness

November 22, 2015May 21, 2019Posted in PersonalTagged Bible, Brother, Brothers, Chris Cribari, Chris Cribari Blog, Christianity, family, Friends, God, John Cribari, Love, The Fruits of Forgiveness1 Comment

Updated: 5/21/2019

It has been a year since my older brother John and I have forgiven each other the wrongs done to one another in the past. Within the past year, a lot of spiritual growth has happened in our lives as we have moved forward beyond that day of restoration and healing. In the span of a year, the harvest that we tended to for a mere 365 days has flourished with an abundance of spiritual fruit as opportunity after opportunity has arisen since we sowed that seed of reconciliation back in November of 2014.

Both of us have changed dramatically for the better as men of valor and virtue doing what we love. Doing what we dreamed of doing back when we were kids. For instance, the joy I find in storytelling and John’s knack for all things sports related has led us to pursue those passions for nearly a decade bringing us to a point when those childish fantasies are now vivid realities. Funny how some things never change. And who knows because maybe one day each of us will get to marry that special someone and have our own families in the near future. It’s strange to think back on what we wanted then and understand what we have now.

How if our younger versions of ourselves could see who we are today as grown men, I think they would be quite satisfied with the result. Like when I younger, I would wear my blue blanket as a cape and fight waves of imaginative evil forces attempting to crush the King’s castle with the aid of my younger brothers. Fast forward to now where I am in film school actually making those fantasies a reality through the art of visual storytelling. When John was younger, he too would play hours of street ball after school with the kids in our neighborhood, getting smothered in dirt from the pavement to now being the football star he aspired to be in his youth. Life truly is a constant reflection of the past and a redirection into the future.

It’s also interesting to note that now that we hit the reset button on our relationship as brothers and since the past is just the past, how we are really just starting from scratch. We kind of realized that because there was such division between us for so long, that now we don’t really know what the other is interested in or really anything about each other. It’s a bit odd and exciting to embark forward not knowing who we are exactly as we continue through as fellow friends. It’s pretty cool to rediscover who we are after years of friction and division that we built between each other.

Every time we talk we learn something new about each other. It’s strange because I would of figured as his closest brother age-wise, that I would be his closest brother relation-wise. I realize now after a year of sowing and reconstruction, how little I know about him and how little he knows about me. Yet it’s fun because we get to grow together in the next phase of our life, which is extremely exhilarating to enter: adulthood. To think we can now at this point in our lives get married, have kids, buy a home, start a family, and so on. It’s absolutely incredible!

Another aspect that has changed in our relational dynamic as siblings is the mutual respect for each other as men. It’s odd. For example, we both know that if we ever did physically fight now we would jack each other up. Although, I think he would win hands down. Plus, he’s athletic and I like Star Wars, so not much of a debate there. Then there is the way we treat each other as grown men, which I’m still getting used too and I bet he is too. How we don’t settle for the childish disputes that used to divide us, but engage in mature conversations on things that matter like God, manhood, healthy living, and so on. We have gone from constructing things with LEGOS to crushing iron.

Also, I find it interesting on God’s part how He has weaved our lives closely together,whether in times of division or in times of unification. Like how John plays in football games and I vend at football games. Or how we ask each other for nutrition and training advice, but have completely different philosophies when it comes to weightlifting in general. He lifts weights and eats right to improve his athleticism in football, in order to perform better during his football season. While I’ll eat half a dozen donuts before a workout and then proceed to lift Strongman implements like a log press or a farmer’s carry because being stupid strong is awesome.

Anyways, this dynamic of ours reminds me of Proverbs 27:17 (NASB) which says “Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” Because what happens in the process of sharpening iron with iron? Sparks fly. I believe this analogy perfectly describes our dynamite relationship as brotherly buds because whenever we interact sparks are flying like the clashing of swords. Yes, we clash a lot because we are polar opposites in a lot of ways, yet that’s the very reason we usually come to each other for help.

In short, this year has been quite blessed in the respect that a lot of growth has happened in all aspects of my life. Having Thanksgiving so close right now, it’s nice see to these changes for which I’m very thankful for and reflect on how John has been instrumental in my life. He is a good brother and friend. With that, Godspeed and Jesus bless!

Footnotes

Disclaimer

What Happened to the Dinosaurs?

October 25, 2015May 27, 2019Posted in TopicalTagged Bible, Bible Study, Chris Cribari, Chris Cribari Blog, Christianity, Dinosaur, Dinosaurs, Genesis, God, How Did the Dinosaurs Die, What Happened to the Dinosaurs2 Comments

Photo Cred: (1) | Updated: 5/21/2019

As long as I can remember, I have always loved dinosaurs. From having dinosaur toys to watching Jurassic Park at least a dozen times growing up, I have always loved dinosaurs. This huge interest that I’ve always had in dinosaurs has given me the inspiration to write a blog-post about what happened to the dinosaurs. But before I give my theory, first let me lay out the 5 most common theories, along with the most common stance held among scientists. So, what happened to the dinosaurs and why do we no longer see them on Earth anymore?

The Cretaceous–Paleogene Extinction Event Theory

According to some scientists (2), all the dinosaurs died from a cataclysmic event that wiped out every dinosaur from the face of the earth about 66-65 million years ago during the end of the Cretaceous period, hence the name. Admittedly, the article does go on to explain that there is no actual evidence for such a claim, but a lot of scientists adhere to this first theory. But there are some theories as well that use this cataclysmic event as a foundation for their answer to what happened to the dinosaurs like the following 5 major theories:

The Meteorite Theory: “A big meteorite crashed into Earth, changing the climatic conditions so dramatically that dinosaurs could not survive.”
The Volcano Theory: “Ash and gas spewing from volcanoes suffocated many of the dinosaurs.”
The Plague Theory: “Diseases wiped out entire populations of dinosaurs.”
The Drought Theory: “Food chain imbalances lead to the starvation of the dinosaurs.”
The Bird Theory: Some have come to the consensus that dinosaurs after millions of years of evolution became birds and are flying among us today.

Now although all of these theories are plausible, I propose my own theory after having done some of my own research. so without further exposition let me present to you my theory on what happened to the dinosaurs and where they are today.

My Theory

So there are a few factors that make up my theory that actually include some of the previously mentioned theories and some new ideas as well. My theory includes the following: lack of food, hunted by humans, different terrain, and migrated to isolated/unexplored land. Now in order to understand my perspective on the state of dinosaurs, you need to know a bit about my worldview.

As a Christian, my stance on the Creation debate is very loose. I used to be a YEC (Young Earth Creationist) when this was written, but I now affirm the Big Bang model and evolutionary creationism. At the same time, I am no scientist so I am very open to suggestion on this issue. Within that former YEC worldview was the belief that land dinosaurs were on Noah’s Ark with the other animals and lived after the events of the Flood recorded in Genesis chapters 6-9 respectively. So with that in mind, here are the 4 premises to my theory as to what happened to the dinosaurs.

1) Lack of Food

The first premise of my theory revolves around a lack of resources and this may have been caused by some imbalance in the environment that may have triggered a scarcity in food. Makes sense to me that after awhile the dinosaurs lacked the necessary amount of food to supplement their diet and slowly died off because of it. There is also the fact that the bigger the creature, the more health related problems could go wrong like the Square-Cube Law indicates (3). All health and dietary conditions considered, it seems likely that a few seasons of food shortage could significantly impact the dinosaurs as they would need more calories per day, in order to survive than most creatures.

2) Hunted By Humans

This point is rooted in the fables and fantasies of long ago where valiant warriors across multiple civilizations hunted these behemoths and dragons. Note that several world societies spanning hundreds, if not thousands of years all depict in some shape or form dragons. These societies range from Great Britain to China, displaying all sorts of terrible lizards. Dragons are a staple of many mythologies, but why?

Well, I theorize that they too were some form of dinosaurs that indeed roamed the earth at one point. They may have possibly been under the canopy of pterodactyls or something of that nature. Your guess is as good as mine when it comes to what type of dinosaurs dragons may have been, if they existed.

One may point out that dinosaurs and humans did not live during the same time period (the Cretaceous Period versus the Late Cretaceous Period), but from my worldview it may have been possible. There are even certain Scriptures that would lead one to believe that humans and dinosaurs coexisted together for a brief time (4).

Now these passages of Scripture are from the poetic and prophetic sections of the Bible, so it is hard to tell whether the original intent of the author was literal or figurative. Either way, I believe that at one point human society became advanced enough to hunt the dinosaurs and killed them for sport or survival of the fittest. In European mythology, killing a dragon was usually considered noble, so why not think that these “terrible lizards” were the dinosaurs? To me, it makes sense that if dinosaurs did coexist with humans, then humans would have hunted them for resources, sport, and/or survival of the fittest.

3) Different Terrain

During the days of Peleg, according to Genesis 10:25, the earth was divided. At first, this seems a little odd to add that detail into the text within this long list of genealogies, but under further examination this Scripture gives a clue as to what happened historically in those days. This dividing of the earth event happened sometime between the Flood mentioned previously and the events of the Tower of Babel, so this may have been a natural phenomenon like an earthquake or Pangea.

Then again an event like Pangea probably didn’t happen over night (5), so the most plausible answer is that the various people groups spread out and were divided because of the repercussions of the Tower of Babel. This could have affected not only humans, but all living creatures because what happens to one species can have a strong effect on another species within an ecosystem. With all of humanity spreading outward and beginning new civilizations across the Earth, it could have led to the dinosaurs being hunted for food and other resources.

4) Migrated to Isolated/Unexplored Land

Although humanity has discovered some of the most isolated parts of the world through exploration and expansion, there are still parts of the world that are hidden and isolated across the globe. Despite having such advanced map-making tools like Google Maps to chart the world, there are still aspects of our world that we have no idea exist. The BBC wrote a piece on this dilemma (6).

One point that the article mentioned was on the state of favoritism when it comes to map making. In the article, they point out that “This neglect [in properly mapping out certain regions due to a number of circumstances] means maps of remote regions can contain errors that go unnoticed for years.” In other words, certain areas are emphasized because the map-maker is either from there or knows of that area better, while other areas are completely ignored. For instance, an American map-maker would make America super huge compared to other countries.

This neglect has led to large portions of the world remaining unexplored entirely and only known to native tribes within the vicinity. With this in mind, there is still the possibility that dinosaurs that live on land could possibly be living in these very remote areas of the world, neglected by the map-maker’s own personal bias. Places such as Vale Do Javari, Brazil which is about the size of Austria and home to about 2,000 indigenous people scattered throughout the region could be the perfect habitat for dinosaurs.

There is also the Sakha Republic, Russia, which is one fifth of Russia and is largely untouched because of the extreme weather conditions. Although, large animals that can bare those conditions like reindeer do live in this remote region. For more on those unexplored areas of the world, Mental Floss has a good read on just fifteen places around the world (7).

What is most intriguing is the fact that sea dinosaurs are extremely more likely to still be roaming the Earth compared to land dinosaurs because according to the National Ocean Service, less than 5% of the ocean has been explored (8). Makes absolute sense to me that sea dinosaurs are still alive and living today if only such a small portion of the ocean has been explored. Something to consider for sure. Where are the dinosaurs and what happened to them?

Well, they could be living all over the world and we just don’t know it yet. So those are my thoughts on what happened to dinosaurs and where they are now, along with my theory as to why we do not see them today. With that, Godspeed and Jesus bless!

Footnotes

https://www.dinopit.com/5-awesome-pieces-of-cool-dinosaur-art-from-deviantart/
http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/why-did-all-dinosaurs-become-extinct
https://youtu.be/X5rb3Kis6eY
Job 7:12, 40:15-24, 41; Psalm 74:13, Psalm 104:25-26, Psalm 148:7, and Isaiah 27:1
http://www.icr.org/article/what-happened-days-peleg
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20141127-the-last-unmapped-places
http://mentalfloss.com/article/63902/15-unexplored-corners-earth
http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/exploration.html
Disclaimer

Bitterness and How It Broke Me

September 6, 2015May 21, 2019Posted in PersonalTagged Bible, Bitterness, Bitterness and How It Broke Me, Brother, Brotherhood, Brothers, Chris Cribari, Chris Cribari Blog, Christianity, family, Friends, God, Hate, John Cribari, Love, Man of Valor, Men of Valor, Reconciliation, Redemption, Testimony, TheismLeave a comment

Updated: 5/21/2019

I hate John Cribari. Well, I used too. Let me explain in detail what I mean by that statement. You see for the longest time I had a bitter hatred towards my older brother, John Cribari, and it nearly decimated me. But before I explain my personal story of bitterness, let me take you back to the beginning of this whole story.

My brother John and I at one point in our lives were like two peas in a pod who did everything together. We were the best of friends and loved playing with each other in our youth as boys usually play. Some days it would be a race in our grandparents backyard to see who was the fastest and other times we would play pretend at the apartments we lived in at Thousand Oaks, CA imagining that we were protecting Helm’s Deep from thousands of Uruk-Kai. He was usually Boromir or Aragorn, while I was usually Faramir or Gimli fighting off swarms of foes left and right.

The neighbors were never really fans of our imaginative adventures, so we would sometimes include them in the action and just pretend they too were Uruk-hai. That didn’t end too well most of the time, but then again how do you stomp the minds of children whose whole childhood was woven by the influences of mighty men of fiction and history? Men like Maximus Decimus Meridius, William Wallace, Joshua of the Bible, David’s Mighty Men, and so many more that inspired my brother and I to be men of valor who stood for something. Men that stood for the oppressed and fought against the oppressors of this world that meant nothing but harm to others. This is the way that our parents raised us during our childhood and into adulthood.

Yet, at a very early age our times in boyhood were not so squeaky clean like I wished they could have been. At the ages of 7 and 8, sometime in May of 2005, our old friend David from Thousand Oaks introduced us to pornography among other things that would forever leave a mark on us. For about a year, summer to summer, we would watch pornography at his house for hours and then return home all while under our parents noses. We quickly realized two things at the end of that year: we were not being the men of valor our parents raised us to be and that we needed to stop.

So at the end of the summer of 2006, we made an oath to each other and to God that we would stop swearing, watching pornography, and all the other junk that we did behind our parents backs. The way we sealed this oath was ironically by cursing as much as possible and as loud as possible for 60 seconds. No seriously. That’s how we sealed our oath with the one true God about changing our old ways by getting it all out of our system. So we thought at the time was the most logical decision. We were 8 and 9 at this time with our birthdays shortly coming up in June.

Shortly after our birthdays, I got saved at Calvary Chapel Oxnard’s VBS at the end of June in 2006 and to be honest I do not know when my brother got saved in his life, so you’ll have to ask him yourself if you ever have the pleasure of meeting him someday. But I can say that our lives did change from that point onward. We would study the Bible every night before bed for hours as we read of our favorite heroes like David, Gideon, and other Biblical men who were men of valor. It was in this great season of our lives that we went through 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings, and 1 & 2 Chronicles during a time of getting right with God. These studies were usually led by John who has always been the extrovert and initiator among the two of us when it comes down to it.

It was not until we moved to Colorado in July of 2007 that things began to change for the worse between us and inside of ourselves as we were entering middle school. We began to go back to our old ways even after having sworn to God to never return to those truly foolish ways. For me, it was during the second half of 5th grade that I slipped back into pornography and it was not until the second half of 8th grade that I truly stopped that godless habit. While this happened to me, John was badly influenced by the world in middle school and he even told my Dad not to let me go to public middle school due to how bad it was for him there. To put it bluntly, he got hurt and permanently marked by the world. For our family, it was really hard to watch him enter this prodigal son type of season where he dabbled in both the things of God and the things of the world.

Now as we both were slipping down the slope of sin during this time, everyone thought it was just John who was struggling with the influences of the world, but I too was struggling as well. The thing is that people only thought John was prodigal because they saw with their physical eyes, but if one were to look with spiritual eyes at this time, then they would have seen that we were both being prodigal sons. We were both sinning heavily, yet only one of us had outward symptoms that others could physically see. As my parents were scrambling to fix their eldest child, they never truly realized that they had another prodigal son: me.

So over that period of time I grew very bitter towards everyone, especially my brother John. I grew bitter towards my parents because they were trying to help John, but didn’t bat an eye to help me from my perspective. Being diagnosed with Autism at 1½ , asking for help from others has always been extremely hard. I have always felt like the “special needs” child who never could keep up with others my age and that I was always dependent on others for help.

The way I countered this emotionally painful aspect of my life was to never seek the help of others by being a “lone-wolf” of sorts because I thought that people were unreliable and were holding me back from being like all the other kids. So I taught myself a lot of things like how to ride a bike in 6th grade and how to write legibly. This is something that I still struggle with as a grown man who is still not like everyone else. I grew bitter towards others because it seemed like they had it all together which just reminded me that I didn’t have everything together.

While my bitterness grew for those people in my life, it never truly reached the amount of filthy bitterness I had towards John. I blamed him for leading me astray and alienating me from the world by being home schooled for all of middle school. I blamed him for breaking his oath to God, for hurting our family with his actions of outward rebellion, and in a sense for leaving me behind as I once followed his example when we were right with God.

I felt so isolated during those long 3 years and wanted to get back at him for all he did to me. So I ignored his existence, I brought up strife in our family in order to isolate him like I was isolated, and in a way made him the black sheep of our family. Sadly as I reflect on this period of time, it worked and he became the black sheep that our family was ashamed to be affiliated with for a long time.

It was not really until the summer after 8th grade that I rededicated my life to God and my sinful habits became past habits, but the one thing I did not let go of was the bitterness towards John. During the summer, I grew a lot as a Christian in my faith and went all in as far as learning the truth went, but the bitterness stunted my growth like an anchor to a sinking ship. I could have been so much stronger in my faith as I was entering public high school, yet like Jacob when he wrestled with God (1), I would not let go of this bitterness and instead clung to it even more than before.

As I attended Eaglecrest High School for 2 years, John was already going there and was very well known there. Every teacher I had would ask “Are you John’s brother?” or mistake me for John all the time because of our facial similarities. I wanted to deny it a lot of the time, but I always accepted my family relations with him. It was humiliating because I didn’t want anything to do with him during this season.

I find it ironic that as all of this was going on, I as a freshman in high school was anointed by God to lead the Christian club at our school called “First Priority” for those 2 years. Funny how God can use someone as flawed as me to reach people flawed like me. And use me He did as I became known as “Bible-Man” by my peers at school, relentlessly defending the faith and even had several debates at school in the courtyard. A courtyard I would later nickname “The King’s Court” because the Holy Spirit would do some crazy stuff through me during those debates.

Anyways, as freshman year was ending my bitterness was at its peaking point. Myself being clouded with my false assumptions, hatred, bitterness, and all out rage towards John led me to the decision that I had to stop him from hurting our family anymore. So I plotted to kill him and and had every intention to do so. That intention and desire grew and grew as the summer of 2013 came by when my bitterness had hit its absolute peak.

But God had other plans and on July 10th, 2013 God did something I never saw coming: He protected John from me and the intentions of my selfish heart. Similar to how God did the same for Israel (2) when He stood against the Egyptian armies as they hunted Israel down.

Before that day though, God had given me a series of 4 dreams that were exactly the same each time in May, June, and July of 2013. In the dream, I heard a voice say something of a warning and that I shouldn’t do something. It’s hard to remember the exact wording, but the message was quite clear: don’t hurt John.

Next in the dream, I was looking from a first person perspective and saw that I was lying in a hospital bed. Then I looked around and my entire family was in the room surrounding the bed I was laying on. After that I would wake up, but the message was clear and despite it I clearly disobeyed God because my heart still had the intention to kill John.

It was a late Wednesday night and the family was coming home from church, except John and my younger brother Nathan were home that night and didn’t go to church. As my family was pulling onto our street, we abruptly stopped because there was a large tree branch across the road in front of our house and our neighbors house. So we all jumped out of our truck to pitch in and move the branch from the road onto the sidewalk with our neighbors helping too.

After moving that branch, we helped move other branches that were scattered across the road because there was a windy storm that was brewing during church and was ending by the time we came to help that had nearly destroyed the cotton-wood tree right across the street from our house. Once the debris had been removed from the road there was one problem: there was a large, loose branch hanging in the cotton-wood and hovering over our neighbor’s car.

So our neighbor moved their car and my Dad pulled out his ladder to shake the branch down while everyone was clearing the area. It was at this moment that everything became complete chaos as the small branch was being shaken down by my Dad. The entire tree shook, the wind came back which caused it to shake more than before, and then one of the main branches, reportedly 20 to 25 feet in length, fell.

As the largest branch began to crack in the darkness of the night, everyone scrambled left and right. The scariest part was that no one could see it, so we all just fled in every direction from the tree hoping it would not hit us. As I looked up, I barely saw the top of the tree, so I sprinted from where I was standing in the street going full speed. Little did I know that the branch was falling directly my way.

Then everything went black, but I was fully conscious. It was just pure darkness for about a minute, yet it felt like forever. For a second, I thought to myself “Crap, the atheists were right. I’m dead and there’s nothing.” Soon my state of nothingness ended and I was awoken by the excruciating pain of the neighbors moving my broken body from the street and onto my driveway, but they soon just put me back onto the ground because there was not much they could do.

The emergency responders soon came and took me to the hospital where I stayed for several days. The morning after the accident I woke up and it played out just like the 4 dreams I had beforehand. I woke up in a hospital bed with my family surrounding me wanting to see how I was doing. It was absolutely mind-bending to know the dream and have it unfold before my very eyes because of the evil intentions of my heart. It was after this humiliating moment in time where my bitterness began to fade as I was deeply humbled by God. For about a month, I wore a neck brace and even for the first two days of school as a Sophomore in high school which only added to the embarrassment of it all. God had broken me along with my bitterness.

It took a long time for my bitterness to go away completely though and it would take almost 1½ years before my bitterness finally left completely. Although it was in that time that my bitterness for John was slowly, but surely being replaced with love for John. It was not until November 15th, 2014 after John and I got into an argument that I broke down. I couldn’t handle hating him anymore.

My only option was to love him at this point in my life because I was so hurt by my own bitterness that I grew weary after having had it for so long. It was this night where I told him everything and asked him for forgiveness for all that I had done. He did the same for his own mistakes and we after years of conflict were finally reconciled as brothers no longer at odds with one another. It truly was one of the greatest days of my life because the burden of bitterness that had been upon my shoulders was replaced by the security of forgiveness.

For the past 10 months our lives have both been on a resurgence since there is nothing holding us back now. John is currently in California playing college football at Moorpark college, pursuing a degree in Kinesiology, and working on receiving a certificate for Personal Training. I am currently pursuing my AAS in Directing/Writing at the Colorado Film School, preparing for my next Strongman competition, and hoping to become the Lecrae of Hollywood so to speak by making quality films that reflect the Creator. We even have a friendly competition between us to see who is the strongest whenever we workout. Now that it is love that binds us and not bitterness, we have the God-given opportunity to seek our passions as men of God, men of valor.

You see bitterness is a lot like raising your fist up in the air at someone you hate and then repeatedly punching yourself in the face. For one it looks really stupid and it accomplishes absolutely nothing. James, the brother of Jesus, once spoke about bitterness in his letter to Christians dispersed throughout the known world and said the following about the matter:

“Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.” (NASB James 3:13-18).

If there is bitterness in your heart then hear from me and let go of your bitterness. Don’t do what I did and try to solve problems in the feebleness of your mind. God is love and therefore I now strive to reflect that love as a “Little-Christ” in every relationship because it is God who abides in me. Molding me into the man of valor I have always desired to be in my life as I grow older and older.

To John I say this: thank you and I love you more than ever before as my big brother always watching out for me. You were never close to the perfect example, but neither was I or ever have been for that matter. But it is the very fact that you tried to be a man of valor like the ones we read of and pretended to be that matters.

Your boldness has helped me breakthrough my own shyness and introverted habits as I have grown older. You taught me many things in my life that I am truly grateful for like that one time we stood in a parking lot all day as you showed me how to catch a football. Always caring for others and not afraid to give it your all in whatever you do. Thank you for the wrestling smack downs, the brotherly pep talks, and especially for the consistency in your life as you strive to be as real as possible in every aspect of your life. I love John Cribari. Well, now I do. Until next time, Godspeed and Jesus bless!

Footnotes

Genesis 32:24-32
Exodus 14:19
Disclaimer

Legalism: Movies + Music

August 16, 2015May 21, 2019Posted in TopicalTagged Apologetics, Bible, Christianity, God, John Givez, Legalism, Movies, Music, Social Media, Theism1 Comment

Photo Cred: (1) | Updated: 5/21/2019

Although there are many global issues I could write about that are very prevalent in the world today, today I would like to talk about an issue that may seem minor, but can result in cataclysmic effects in Christianity. The issue I want to talk about is legalism. Since legalism is too large of a topic on its own, I am going to narrow down my discussion to two things: movies and music.

This post was inspired by a couple things and experiences from the past. Namely an open letter written by John Givez to Christian Hip Hop that was posted by Rapzilla (2) and a conversation I had with my good friend Jeremiah. In John Givez’ open letter to CHH, he touches on the stigma that is attached to him because everyone considers him to be so edgy that he has lost his spiritual edge, so to speak. That the way he operates and lives his life is not like the typical white, suburban, Evangelical-Christian. You know, that typical generalization and stereotype of every Christian in America. Take me for instance: the guy that looks like the 99 cent version of Leonardo Dicaprio, but who also always looks like he either just got back from the gym or is about to go to one.

Yet as Christians, we project these misconceptions of what a Christian should look, talk, and act like. These legalistic type and their keyboard warriors decided to call out John Givez for the way he lives his life and the way he goes about impacting the culture. So John Givez wrote a response letter to answer his skeptics. Then after reading the letter, I talked to my friend Jeremiah about legalism which led to a discussion on movies and music.

We talked about how we feel convicted by certain things that the other is not convicted to such an extreme degree. For instance, my friend is not comfortable watching an R-rated movie usually, but I on the other hand don’t mind depending on why it is rated R. Then when it comes to music we are again at opposite ends of the spectrum, but the positions are reversed. I cannot listen to music with foul language, but my friend is a lot more open to it then I am which is fine. I mean, I have no place to call out my friend for listening to music with foul language, if I watch movies with foul language. Right?

Now I am a film fanatic and I actually went to film school, so I am biased towards watching films over listening to music. I grew up watching war movies with my Dad and brothers late at night all throughout my childhood. War movies like Saving Private Ryan, Braveheart, We Were Soldiers, Gladiator, and so on that were very R-rated. When it comes to music on the other hand, I am a lot more cautious and skeptical to what I listen too.

In fact, I could count how many secular artists that I listen too off the top of my head on a regular basis. So now I ask myself, “Why is it that I am so restrictive towards music when it comes to whether or not it is Christian creators, but when it comes to my movie collection it is exclusively secular?” Why is that? Why do hold to this double-standard like a lot of other Christians?

I know for me personally that I honestly hate nearly every movie made by Christians because they are usually garbage, with the one exception being The Case For Christ movie which was actually pretty good. That may play a part in why I have more secular movies in my possession than secular music because there is a smaller supply of quality, Christian-oriented films that are also good. When comparing how many Christians are in the movie industry versus the music industry, it is pretty evident where the quality is best. In general, Christians in the movie industry are a joke compared to the Grammy-winning Christians in the movie industry.

Going back to legalism, when does someone go too far in what content they consume like movies or music? When is it okay for a fellow believer to correct another believer in love on what they are participating in? The best answer I can come to is that someone who has gone too far in whatever they are doing, is someone who is a) not glorifying God and b) is not reflecting Christ. If you can listen to secular music or watch secular movies, and not be hindered spiritually then go for it. If not, then you might want to reconsider what you are interested in as far as movies and music go.

For me, I have set up certain boundaries to ensure that I do not stumble into sin by going too far when it comes to these two mediums of art. This includes reading reviews from Common Sense Media (3), which is a website that tells you the content of most media and to what degree of content. For instance, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol has a 4 out of 5 stars for violence on Common Sense Media‘s review of the film, which means there is a lot of violence throughout the movie.

It could also be how you started your relationship with Jesus and became a Christian that influences what your specific borders for certain non-essential beliefs are going to be in your life. For example, I have these old family friends whose sons had such violent tendencies that just watching violent films would influence them to act extremely violently towards each other. So for that family, violent movies were not allowed because it tempted the two brothers into sinning towards each other.

Paul the Apostle wrote about legalism in two different places: Colossians 2:16-23 and Romans chapter 14. In the end, I could continue to discuss and try providing answers, but really I cannot truly say why I have certain standards for these two different mediums of entertainment. I will need to investigate and understand what pulls me away from God and draw borders accordingly on my own. One way you could go about finding safe boundaries for yourself is by studying these two passages in the Bible and understanding what hinders you or what doesn’t hinder you as a Christian. Like always, I hope this helps you if this is something that you struggle with in your life. With that, Godspeed and Jesus bless!

Footnotes

Why I Am Not A Calvinist

August 3, 2015May 21, 2019Posted in Why I AmTagged Apologetics, Arminianism, Bible, Bible Study, Calvinism, Chris Cribari, Chris Cribari Blog, Christianity, God, Jesus, Judeo-Christianity, Molinism, Open Theism, Philosophy, Theology, Wesley-Arminianism, Why I Am Not A Calvinist2 Comments

Photo Cred: (1) | Updated: 5/21/2019

In the first installment of my “Why I Am” series, I will be giving three brief reasons as to why I do not adhere to the Judeo-Christian school of thought known as Calvinism. As I have studied and read about Calvinism, there have been many sources I have used to write this blog-post. Some of these sources were Norman Geisler’s sermon called “Why I Am Not a 5 Point Calvinist” (2), George L. Bryson’s book on Calvinism (3), and Tim Stratton’s 4-part series “The Petals Drop” on his website (4). There were other resources, but these were the main three that inspired me to write this blog-post.

So what is Calvinism exactly? Calvinism is a type of Christian doctrine created in the 16th Century by the French Theologian John Calvin to answer how God’s Sovereignty and Humanity’s Free Will coexist together. There are five main parts to Calvinism. According to gotquestions.org (5), Calvinism can be summarized by the acronym TULIP and is defined as the following:

Total Depravity: “Every aspect of humanity is tainted by sin; therefore, human beings are unable to come to God on their own accord.”
Unconditional Election: “God elects individuals to salvation based entirely on His will, not on anything inherently worthy in the individual.”
Limited Atonement: “Jesus only died for the elect.”
Irresistible Grace: “When God calls a person to salvation, that person will inevitably come to salvation.”
Perseverance of the Saints: “A person who is elected by God will persevere in faith and will not permanently deny Christ or turn away from Him.”

In other words, a Calvinist is a Christian that sees everything with an over-emphasis on God’s Sovereignty, which entails either a deterministic or compatibilistic philosopical view of the world. Here is a quick illustration that I made to put into perspective where Calvinism stands in the grand spectrum of the issue of God’s Sovereignty vs. Humanity’s Free Will within Christianity:

One last thing is that when I refer to a Calvinist or Calvinism, I am referring to a 5-Point Calvinist. Not those that claim to be any combination that is short of a 5-Point Calvinist like a 4-Point Calvinist or a 2-Point Calvinist. But the whole point of the 5 points of Calvinism is that they are supposed to work together like the pillars to a building. By removing one point you fracture the legitimacy of the other four points and the foundation of Calvinism in general because they were designed by John Calvin to work together, not to work independently of each other. With that said, let’s look at my objections and see why I am not a Calvinist.

1) Calvinism is Great Exegesis Without Hermeneutics

In general, with the Calvinistic perspective on Scripture, there are massive misinterpretations of certain passages within the Bible. Most notably, Scriptures such as Romans chapters 9-11, John chapter 6, Ephesians 1:1-4, and the list goes on. In contrast, there are Scriptures like 1 John 2:2, Romans 1:16-17, or 1 Timothy 2:3-6 that explicitly go against Calvinism. Put simply, context is key and exegesis without context is like a madman with a sword.

2) Calvinism Makes Sharing the Gospel Logically Incoherent

If you think about the Gospel from the Calvinist perspective, Jesus only came to save the elect, only the elect will go to Heaven, and only the elect will get saved. So then sharing the Gospel becomes useless and pointless because those who are predestined to go to Heaven will go to Heaven and those who are predestined to go to Hell will go to Hell, while at the same time you have no say in the matter. As Bryson put it in his book, The Five Points of Calvinism, “You will be saved or damned for all eternity because you were saved or damned from all eternity.” (Bryson, 121). Although some of the most prominent preachers have been Calvinists like Charles Spurgeon, their actions are not logically consistent with determinism. It is the equivalent of preaching to tombstones because no matter what some people are just doomed to damnation because it somehow glorifies God.

3) Calvinism Makes God the Author of Evil

If God is completely sovereign, then from the Calvinistic perspective God is the author of evil because He brought it into existence. This goes against everything that characterizes God as worthy of worship and completely good. How can a perfect being bring about imperfection? Only through the Calvinistic perspective is this possible because God is the cause of everything that exists including evil, instead of Eve and Lucifer bringing sin into God’s creation by going against God in their own free will. Philosopher William Lane Craig on the subject of Calvinism once said “according to this view (causal determinism and compatibilism), the way in which God sovereignly controls everything that happens is by causing it to happen, and freedom is re-interpreted to be consistent with being causally determined by factors outside oneself (6).”

So since God is ultimately the first cause of everything, God is therefore the author of evil and good. Something that is completely contradictory to the Bible and Judeo-Christianity as a whole. There are even Calvinist’s that affirm that God is the author of evil. People like R.C. Sproul Jr. affirm this idea of God being the author of evil several times throughout his book (7) that deals with this issue.

Now these are just 3 of many objections I have to Calvinism and are just reasons as to why I do not affirm to be Calvinist. Other objections I have include sin being excusable or God lying to people in the Bible, but that would take awhile to explain every objection I have to Calvinism, so for the sake of time I only chose 3 objections. Hopefully, this helps you with understanding this issue and maybe one day you can decide where you stand on the issue of how God’s Sovereignty and Humanity’s Free Will interact together. My advice for those of you do not understand this issue quite yet is to just believe what the Bible affirms: 1) that God is Sovereign and 2) that humans have Free Will. This is the safest stance concerning this issue because it is strictly Biblical avoids the gridlock nature of philosophical schools of thought like Calvinism among others. With that, Godspeed and Jesus bless!

Footnotes

Waiting

July 16, 2015May 21, 2019Posted in PersonalTagged Bible, Chris Cribari, Chris Cribari Blog, Christianity, Eaglecrest High School, First Priority, God, Luke 16:10, Patience, Theism, Time, Waiting, Waiting on the Lord1 Comment

Photo Cred: (1) | Updated: 5/21/2019

This season of my life has been an interesting one. It has not been like previous seasons such as the time of intense spiritual warfare that lasted the duration of my first two years of high school. That was when I led a Christian club called “First Priority” at Eaglecrest High School.

On the other hand, it is also different than the season filled with teaching opportunities where God gave me the ability to lecture on why the Bible can be trusted, as well as teach in my church’s high school youth group on Titus 2:11-15. There was also the occasional spiritual small talk at work or school last year which was amazing to take part in with those who wrestled with certain concepts. Things like the Ontological Argument, “Is Catholicism Christian and can Christians be Catholic?”, and the small discussions concerning the existence of God.

But this season is different. It is different because in my life there is usually something huge I have to overcome and can only do so with the help of God. But this season does not have a mountain to conquer. It has no valley to explore or dark cavern of tribulation to go through, but is simply a time of waiting.

This season is significant because I have not had this much time to breath and look back at what I have gone through in my life. I do not like it that much either because I love to do things and accomplish great things that have purpose, but instead I am sitting on the sidelines as everyone else gets a turn at bat. I have friends who are getting married, having children, moving out, traveling the world, going on missions trips, and so much more. Then here I am just waiting for the next unexpected journey that God has for me.

Probably the funniest part of this season is that I do not know what I am waiting for or what lies ahead in my life! Is it marriage? No, God has told me to wait. Is it a missions trip? No, God has told me that that is neither my calling nor my purpose in life for now. Is it a career? No, God has told me that I am not ready and must first go to college to receive my education.

So what is it that I am so desperate to start? I have no idea. All I can do for now is wait. As I wait on the LORD, this passage comes to mind as I wait for my turn to hit a home run for the LORD:

Luke 16:10 (NKJV)

“He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is also unjust in much.”

Some other passages of scripture that come to mind are Acts 2:42 (NKJV), 1 Corinthians 16:13-14 (NASB), and Isaiah 40:29-31 (NKJV) during this season of preparing for my next adventure with the LORD my God. In the meantime, I have been keeping my mind, body, and most importantly, my spiritual state active. I have been studying and reading about the history of Christianity, working out to maintain my body which God has given me, and staying up to date on current events as the world gets closer to its dying day.

I have also spent a lot more time focused on the five basics of Christian living: reading the Bible, studying the Bible, memorizing portions of the Bible, praying, and sharing the gospel. So as I wait on the LORD during this time in my life, maybe this little blog-post can encourage you to stand strong and press on in your faith as maybe some of you wait on the LORD as well. With that, Godspeed and Jesus bless!

Footnotes

1 + 1 = 1: Entering Marriage in the Modern World

June 30, 2015May 21, 2019Posted in TopicalTagged Bible, Chris Cribari, Chris Cribari Blog, Christianity, entering marriage in the modern world, God, marriage, Theism1 Comment

Photo Cred: (1) | Updated: 5/21/2019

There are many out there that usually skip the marital vows and go straight to the sexually and emotionally appealing part of a marriage, but when this happens they lose sight of what a relationship is really all about. Known as modern day dating or “friends with benefits,” this structure for relationships removes the covenant of marriage because a couple may want to immediately jump right into the “good stuff.” These so called relationships should really be referred to as, “children pretending to be adults who allow their senses to guide their every decision.”

In reality, that is what most people do when it comes to relationships. We have thrown marriage out the window because marriage is the hardest thing anyone will participate in for the very fact that it lasts years, decades, and even entire lifetimes. Marriage seriously takes a lot of work from both in the relationship.

What you find in the Western World is a lack of doing anything God’s way among most in society. This way of pursuing a relationship is similar in the way people go shopping for clothes. They try on a bunch of t-shirts, pants, socks, and so on before eventually finding “the one” outfit. This ideology for relationships is flawed because if you truly wanted to know who “the one” was, then you would have no need to try everyone else, but could just wait for God to reveal them to you. You would save time, money, and a lot of unnecessary complications. As Pastor Chuck Smith once said, “keep it simple stupid.”

In Psychology, Dr. Jean Piaget has this theory that there are four main stages of cognitive development in humans. They include the sensori-motor stage (birth to 2yrs.), the pre-operational stage (2yrs. to 7yrs.), the concrete operational stage (7yrs. to 11yrs.), and the formal operational stage (11yrs. to death). Now when observing a typical relationship in the Western World, both individuals may very well cognitively be in the formal operational stage, but in their relationship together, the couple lives like they are stuck in the sensori-motor stage which consists of “exploring the environment and acquiring knowledge through sensing and manipulating objects” the way a child figures the world out (2).

Most couples display this type of thinking in a way when interacting together by manipulating each other for either sexual pleasure or emotional highs. This way of manipulation can only lead to disappointment because both are temporary solutions to a constant problem: unquenchable satisfaction and purpose. This is why God created marriage and the ability to interact with Him on a relational basis. Humanity strives to be surrounded by others that fulfill their needs.

Today, the covenant and institution of marriage is changing so rapidly to fulfill the demands of everyone in society that eventually the original intentions for marriage will vanish. Where marriage once was about the sacred union between one man and one woman that was God ordained, today you could marry anyone for any reason. Humanity has forgotten why marriage exists in the first place: to reflect “the union of one man and one woman for life” that started with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (3). God realized this predicament of Adam having no spouse and in that moment said “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him” (4). This is the origin of marriage and this is where anyone needs to start before thinking about beginning a marital relationship with someone else. But before someone should enter a marital relationship, here are five factors to consider.

The Biological Factor

This one is kind of easy to figure out. If you like someone, they will know. If someone likes you, you will know. Not to hard to figure out whether or not you like someone from a physical standpoint. This is also the first factor of the five that you may find out about one of your friends that you would like to pursue in a marital relationship, but nevertheless is still an essential factor to consider.

The Moral Factor

Does this person have morals? Are they morally upright? Marry someone who shares the worldview that you do. Where do morals come from? God. So marry a godly person and not someone ungodly. If you are a Christian, then by golly do not marry an Atheist! Go and marry someone with your worldview, not someone with views that collide with your own concerning the important stuff like “Who is Jesus?” or “What is the purpose of life?” Anyways, find someone aligned with what you believe.

King David once sang about the godly man in Psalm 1 where he said “Blessed is the man who walks not in the council of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the Law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night” (5). In life, your friends influence you and you influence your friends. So make sure that the friend that you pursue is a godly influence as you both walk together towards marriage. Whoever you begin to pursue, make sure they are someone who lives a life like the man from this psalm.

The Integrity Factor

Take into consideration who this person is on the inside, behind the masquerade that they may project when others are present. Who are they really when nobody is watching? These are questions you must contemplate to truly know what you are getting yourself into when you enter this marital relationship. Studies show that as couples grow old together they tend to become more and more like each other whether physically, emotionally, psychologically, etc. Is the person you pursue worth turning into as time goes on?

Several weeks ago, I was listening to a sermon from the pastor in my church’s high school youth group. While taking notes I suddenly heard a thought in my head that said, “when two trees grow next to each other, they either die or grow together.” Now this little thought had nothing to do with the teaching which really perplexed me and this thought suddenly pulled me right out of the sermon.

After the sermon was over I went to bed hours later still dwelling on this thought because it really did come from nowhere (i.e. it was Holy Spirit speaking internally to me). A day or two later after still thinking on this phrase, I finally went online, Googled the phrase, and came upon the scientific term called inosculation. In studies such as botany, bionomics, and dendrology, inosculation is a natural phenomenon where when two trees grow in a close proximity, they grow into each other either becoming one tree or killing each other.

Let me explain why this relates to marriage. This natural phenomenon is a great real life parallel of what happens over time when “two become one flesh” through marriage (6). A couple either becomes stronger together as “iron sharpens iron” or a couple ruins each other (7). With divorce rates always on the rise, the need to find someone of integrity should be a priority for things to look for in a future spouse.

The Spiritual Factor

This one is quite simple and does need much explanation. Find someone who is led by the Holy Spirit and knows the one true, triune God. Pursue someone who knows Jesus and has a relationship with Him. That person is worth the effort needed for a fulfilling marital relationship. I would rather marry a woman of character than the caricature of a woman. Sadly, most people settle for the caricature of a man or a woman because they either lack patience or the discernment to detect what a true man or a true woman really is in this world.

In order to find that special someone of interest, look for the directions found in the Bible and the breadcrumb clues that God leaves in the experiences within your friendships. When you find someone of interest, ask questions like: “Are they a passive believer or an active believer?” What may also help is setting up a standard as to what you want in a good partner. This may be anything like if a certain denomination is important to you or if no denomination is important to you, for example. One standard you may hold is that they have to be actively in the ministry and not just a CEO Christian (Christmas, Easter, & Other Holidays). The point is that you need to find the friend that will point you back to God and not themselves, which can be one of the highest expressions of love.

The Social Factor

What are they like in social settings when they are interacting in society? What are they like at church, work, school, and so on? Are they the same or do they change into someone else to hide who they really are because they fear scrutiny or judgment from others? These are the types of questions that should cross your mind as you seek the person you will one day wed in the future.

If you do not plan to marry the person you want to pursue then go home, turn off all the lights, light a candle, sit in a corner, and rethink your life. If the end goal of the relationship is not for marriage, then why the pineapple are you in a relationship?! Sex? Companionship? Social status? These things are temporary and do not sustain a long lasting relationship which are also not the point of one either.

The point of a marital relationship is becoming one flesh (the fun part) and to reflect the love that God has for the church (the serious part). Plus there is the part where you may want to raise children. Is the person you want to pursue the same person you want to raise a family with in the future after you get married? Society thrives because of the lessons from a previous generation passed onto the children of a new generation. Raising godly children is the key to sustaining culture, family heritage, and society as a whole. Just another thing to think about before getting into a relationship.

Once these five factors have been acknowledged and a consistent amount of prayer has been given by both people in the potential marital relationship, only then should someone move forward into a marital relationship because they have the necessary foundation to begin pursuing a marital relationship. Prayer is key because if God says no, then for goodness sake do not go! Since God is the necessary being that keeps everything going and created everything, His say in who you marry matters. If God tells you yes to pursue someone, then pursue them. The point is just listen to what God has to say to you first.

Another necessity needed before pursuing a marital relationship with someone is to be friends beforehand. This is probably the easiest thing to understand and something that I have already mentioned at least a few times, but is constantly underutilized. I have seen many people get into a relationship that does not work out simply because there was no friendship to start. Put simply, be friends then become “best friends with benefits” within the context of marriage.

Remember, this is your relationship with your special someone whoever it may be in the future. There is no outline on how to do this crazy thing called marriage. Some of the greatest couples learn the good stuff from going through the really bad stuff, only to find it was all worth it because the journey brought them closer to each other. The best advice I can give is twofold: a) start from the Bible; branch outwards from there concerning truth on relationships and b) go talk to old people that have been married for decades. Old married people know their stuff on how to have a fulfilling marriage. So when in doubt on how to enter a relationship, just remember: the Bible and old people. With that, Godspeed and Jesus bless!

Footnotes

https://howlingpixel.com/i-en/Inosculation
Hockenbury & Hockenbury, Discovering Psychology
www.gotquestions.org – What is the definition of marriage?
NASB Genesis 2:18
NKJV Psalm 1:1-2
HCSB Genesis 2:24
NASB Proverbs 27:17
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