How do you know that what's in the Bible is the truth?

"You base your answer on the Bible, but that is what I want to know: how do you know that what's in the Bible is the truth? For instance; you say that God cannot lie because it's in the Bible. But the Bible is God's Word, so God cannot lie because God Himself says He cannot lie.
But how do you know that in itself isn't a lie? Is God obliged to tell you the truth? After all, you're his creation and He can do with you as He pleases, right?" -- Taxandrian

Tax, I do not expect you to accept that our presuppositions regarding God and Scripture are true, that would be going against Scripture's teaching itself (1 Cor. 2.14). Instead, we consistently maintain that the things we are saying about God and Scripture are true despite what others choose to believe. We have argued from the impossibility of the contrary, it is not possible that God has not revealed Himself in Scripture. So for us, there could be no greater proof than that, the impossibility of the contrary. We argue that without presupposing Christian theistic knowledge (Biblical epistemology) your question, and truth itself would be unintelligible having no rational basis for meaningful predication concerning human experience at all.

We simply argue that the God of Scripture alone can provide the necessary preconditions of rational discourse and thus predication on reality itself, anything else would be self refuting and untenable philosophically speaking. God and His revelation are the necessary preconditions to all things logical, moral, and philosophical. This is called an infinite reference point. Anything less ends in infinite regress. God, like the laws of logic, must be presupposed to be denied, thus, attempting to deny Him is actually proving His exists as the basis of the denial in the first place.

So too if you attempt to deny the laws of logic you must operate within them to make such an illogical assertion to begin with, again you end in an infinite regress. God alone provides the necessary preconditions for rational logical discourse at all, God is the reason why your questions and objections (though untenable and untrue) can make sense in the first place. Logic works because they reflect the logical thinking of God Himself, in essence, God gives logic their law-like character. If you say there are no ultimate governing laws of logic which are universal abstract and invariant (i.e. fixed) than you are asserting the irrational nature of your own discourse and thus we can all go home. This may help,

Romans 1:18–23

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. 21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.

Please repent and trust in Christ in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Sincerely,

Emilio Ramos

No time to waste

Hat tip Elsy Carrero. Artwork by Abell

Michael Riddle Open Air Preaches for the 1st time

Michael is a wonderful brother. I met him a couple years ago in West Virginia - he and Jessica (his wife) helped to make Transformed in West Virginia a reality. Many of the Living Waters staff including Ray, Kirk, E.Z, Mark and myself have been to his home for dinner. He is a precious man of God.

He was at Deeper in Covington, KY this past weekend with his wife and he open aired for the first time! The pic, left, is of him with "The 500" (a group of folks that evangelize after Deeper - there were approx 200 people) who hit the streets of Cincinnati, OH for Oktoberfest.

Here's what he wrote to me the next evening...

"The Lord absolutely broke a girls heart and is doing a work in her for His glory! I think her name was Jenny. Please pray for her. Our team members were great and the Lord gave us all much strength. Our team leader Tim made a statement that I will keep forever and use often! He said remember, "I am a nobody preaching to anybody about the Somebody that can save everybody!!!! I attached a couple pictures that were taken of me without my knowing while preaching open air. My wife Jessica even sneaked into one of the shots and stood behind me. LOL. Anyway, it's always a humbling experience to be in an unworthy position to preach the Word of God to the dying world with fear and trembling... All we can do is throw the seed and let the Lord draw whom He will..." God bless, Michael Riddle

Maybe you've been contemplating open air preaching. If Michael did it, I thought maybe his testimony might spur one of you to go for the plunge and open air for yourself. What are you waiting for?

"The LORD is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid?" Psalm 27:1

"David also said to Solomon his son, 'Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you until all the work for the service of the temple of the LORD is finished.' " 1 Chronicles 28:20

"When I am afraid, I will trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me?" Psalm 56:3-4

"And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." Matthew 10:28

"Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong." 1 Corinthians 16:13

"The fear of man brings a snare, But he who trusts in the LORD will be exalted." Proverbs 29:25

Where can I buy this dog...

Greek and texual critic nerd Dan Wallace passes out tracts!

Listen to what Daniel Wallace had to say on his blog post yesterday that he titled, Halloween: A Missed Opportunity for Evangelicals

"When our boys were little tikes, we would take them to our church on All Hallows Eve for a fun-filled night of games and candy. We did this for years. I repent. We missed some major opportunities.

Halloween has become one of those holidays that evangelicals have shied away from. Another way for us to withdraw from the world. We are increasingly looking like our fundamentalist forefathers, whose cries of separation from the world marked them more than love.

How often do you get children to willingly come to your house—children you have never met before, children who are eager and willing to accept the gifts you have for them? What an opportunity for the gospel! Yet increasingly evangelical churches are having their own ‘Fall Fun Festival’ in place of Halloween. It’s certainly safer, but so is living in a cave.

Years ago, before we had children and before the Christian alternative to Halloween had become popular, my wife and I lived in the worst slums of Dallas. We bought a house for one dollar (yes, really), and lived there for almost four years. The first Halloween we erected a haunted house inside our home. Kids came from all over to enter the makeshift cardboard tunnel, scream as they encountered various amorphous ghoulish delights, and come out on the other end with their fears relieved. We then gave them a pack of candy (some primo stuff, guaranteed to rot their teeth), stapled in a small sack with a gospel tract attached. The next day, some parents came back to our house and wanted to know more about the gospel.

Regardless of what you think of our haunted house idea, at least recognize that Halloween offers us an engraved invitation to share the gospel. Nowadays, parents are too wary to let their kids go into a stranger’s home and crawl through the dark in a cardboard tube. But the opportunity is still there. We now give the kids in our neighborhood the very best candy (full candy bars, rather than the little bite-sized pieces). They remember us. We also don’t turn away kids from our neighborhood who are selling Girl Scout Cookies. And I stop at lemonade stands in the summertime when little girls are charging outrageous prices for sugar water. I pay full price and give them a tip. We want to be known as the ‘soft touch’ family. Anything we can do to make the gospel attractive and our home a place where children and their parents know that something here is different, that this is a place where love is truly felt. So, if you’re in the neighborhood, drop by this Halloween. Our lights will be on. Better yet, stay home and turn on your own lights. A golden opportunity awaits you."

As a side note, thanks to Jason Delgado for pointing the post by Daniel Wallace to me.

So what are you waiting for, gang?! There is still time to order tracts and share the Good News this Oct 31st with those that knock on your door. Below is a video I recorded last year giving you an idea of a few things that you may want to try with trick or treaters this year...watch this short 2 minute clip:

And if you'd like to order the Tombstone Tracts featured in my video, there is still time to place a tract order to receive them before Oct 31st, click HERE

You look like a million bucks

As I write this Emilio and I are in Covington, Kentucky. We had a wonderful time at the Deeper Conference - it was like a big family reunion. I can only imagine what heaven will be like.

Tonight Emilio and I went for a walk near the Ohio River around sunset. It was beautiful. I handed a million dollar gospel tract to a bridesmaid that was out on the boardwalk. She liked it so much she said, "Follow me...you need to hand one of these to the BRIDE". A minute later I was inside of a beautiful room with huge glass windows over looking the river and the wedding celebration was in full swing. I met the bride and said, "You don't know me, but...you look like a million bucks." Then handed her the tract. She gave me a huge hug. The rest of the bridal party stepped up and wanted one for themselves. You just never know where a tract is gonna lead you.

The fool has said in his heart "there is no God"

"Atheism is so senseless and odious to mankind that it never had many professors" Sir Isaac Newton

Brewster, Sir David. A Short Scheme of the True Religion, manuscript quoted in Memoirs of the Life, Writings and Discoveries of Sir Isaac Newton Edinburgh, 1850.

No "sugar-coated" messages from THIS sign changer!

Hat Tip: Rob A.

Stephen Hawking Breaks Atheist Rules

Contact: Trisha Ramos, livingwaters.com, 800-437-1893

MEDIA ADVISORY, Sept. 2 /Christian Newswire/ -- According to professor Stephen Hawking, God didn't create the universe. Instead, nothing created everything. However, according to the author of the book, Nothing Created Everything -- the scientific impossibility of atheistic evolution, Stephen Hawking has violated the basic laws of science. Ray Comfort created an international storm of angry protest from the atheist community in 2009, when he gave away 170,000 copies of Charles Darwin's On Origin of Species to 170,000 students at 100 of the top universities in the United States, as well as universities in England, Australia and New Zealand. The book contained a 50-page Foreword, in which Comfort gave the case for creationism.

An extract of Hawking's latest book, The Grand Design, was published in Eureka magazine in The Times, in which the professor said: "Because there is a law such as gravity, the Universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the Universe exists, why we exist." Comfort, said, "It is embarrassingly unscientific to speak of anything creating itself from nothing. Common sense says that if something possessed the ability to create itself from nothing, then that something wasn't nothing, it was something -- a very intelligent creative power of some sort."

The best-selling author and TV co-host, added, "Hawking has violated the unspoken rules of atheism. He isn't supposed to use words like 'create' or even 'made.' They necessitate a Creator and a Maker. Neither are you supposed to let out that the essence of atheism is to believe that nothing created everything, because it's unthinking. It confirms the title of another book I wrote, called, You Can Lead an Atheist to Evidence, but You Can't Make Him Think. Nor should an atheist speak of gravity as being a 'law,' because that also denotes the axiom of a Law-giver. Laws don't happen by themselves. But look at how careless the professor was, with his, 'The Big Bang was the result of the inevitable laws of physics and did not need God to spark the creation of the Universe.'"

It seems that Professor Hawking has changed his mind about the need for God. Back in 1988, in his book A Brief History of Time, he said, "If we discover a complete theory, it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason -- for then we should know the mind of God." Einstein said that he wanted to know the mind of God. Comfort maintains, "Both men can easily find the mind of God and through it see how we were created -- 'In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth' something of which we were reminded when the first manned mission to moon read from Genesis chapter one. We need to read it again."

Comfort is writing a series of books on men who, for good or evil, changed the course of history, and what they believed about God. It will include Einstein, Hitler, Churchill, Ghandi and The Beatles. He said, "This generation is having an atheist revival, because they have been fed the lie that atheism is intelligent when it's obviously not. We are hoping that this series of books will give them the perspective they are missing. No doubt there will be opposition to the series because atheists are afraid of their core beliefs being exposed. That's why they tried to stop us giving out Darwin's book, and flooded Amazon.com and gave my books low reviews. No one likes to be seen as a fool, but that's what they are." Ray Comfort is the president of livingwaters.com