Considering Christianity: Knowing God, Overcoming Addictions, and Beginning Your Future Journal Edition

Considering Christianity:

Knowing God, Overcoming Addictions, and Beginning Your Future

Journal Edition

Jeremy McCollum

Copyright Information

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE,

NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. ® 

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society.

Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.

Considering Christianity: Knowing God, Overcoming Addictions, and Beginning Your Future

Journal Edition

Copyright © 2013 by Jeremy McCollum

All Rights Reserved.

Printed in the USA.

ISBN: 978-1-300-77590-4

Dedication

If it were not for Pastor Greg Keylon, this curriculum would not have come about.  He approached me about updating the discipleship curriculum at Teen Challenge to something more relevant to adolescent boys struggling with their faith and overcoming life-controlling behaviors.  After discussing several ideas, I felt an urging of the Holy Spirit and took a big leap of faith; I asked Pastor Greg what he thought about just writing a new curriculum ourselves.  I expected a raised eyebrow and advice on where to look for more sources, but instead he not only supported the idea, he helped me develop the format.  After several months of researching, writing, revising, and developing exercises, Considering Christianity became the new Personal Studies for New Christians curriculum at Teen Challenge Prayer Mountain Boys Academy.  My sincere prayer is that God may use this work to reach beyond the Georgia campus and impact the faith and lives of young men all over the world.   

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

Unit 1: If God Does Exist, What does He have to do with Me?

Evolution, Creationism, and Intelligent Design

One of the most basic questions people have asked throughout history is where did we come from?  That’s a good question, and until the 1800’s, God made us was a perfectly satisfactory answer.  Now, in an age of science and technology, we want specifics.  This drive to discover where we came from has lead to three theories, and the debate over these theories has gone on from university research labs to public school classrooms to court rooms.  It can be confusing, but let’s take a look at the facts first, and then look at the theories.  Ultimately we all must decide if life is random and chaotic, or if God really is the Author of Life.

Many scientists today support the idea that our universe began with a Big Bang 13.7 billion years ago, where a super-dense and super-hot mass exploded, and created the Universe we know today.  The massive nuclear explosion caused the formation of the elements such as Hydrogen and Helium, and created masses of exploding gasses we know as stars as well as gravitational forces.  The Universe is believed to still be expanding today.  According to Radiometric Age Dating, the Earth is about 4.54 billion years old.  Radiometric Age Dating is generally accepted as quite reliable, and it is believed to provide an accurate way to date many natural and man-made materials.  There has been some criticism of Radiometric Age Dating, but the scientific community generally accepts it as reliable.  In fact, Radiometric Age Dating, or Carbon Dating as it is sometimes called, has determined the age and timeframe of many Biblical sites and confirmed Biblical accounts.

Evolution states that all life on Earth evolved from simpler life forms.  Over the billions of years since the Big Bang, life began in the ocean with single-cell organisms, and gradually evolved into higher life-forms.  Amoebas went through cell mutations that caused them to become more complex, and over billions of years they became the first fish and other sea creatures, then amphibians, then birds, and then various kinds of land animals including the ape-like creatures that eventually evolved into human beings. 

On the opposite side of the spectrum is the Creationist Theory. Creationists believe in the literal interpretation of the Bible, and believe the Earth was formed exactly as described in Genesis.  They believe the Universe and the Earth are approximately 6,000 years old according to the Biblical descriptions of genealogies and life spans from Adam to Jesus Christ.  Like Evolutionists, they believe creatures appeared first in the sea, then the air, then the land, and then in human form with Adam and Eve.  Unlike Evolutionists, however, they believe this took six days, not billions of years.

Finally, there is a growing movement of scientists and lay people that have been describing a new theory called Intelligent Design.  This theory has been called by some new creationism, but that is not quite accurate.  Intelligent Design, or ID, tries to fill in the big gaps that exist in other theories.  ID scientists start with the Big Bang, describing it as the moment of creation by an all-powerful intelligent being, and go on to explain many phenomena including evolution, adaptation, and even the laws of mathematics, physics, and astronomy.  ID scientists insist that God must be the force behind the creation of the Universe for many reasons that science alone has not yet or may not ever be able to explain.

All of these theories try to explain phenomena that have perplexed mankind for centuries.  First, Intelligent Design and Creation Scientists answer an obvious question: where did the materials come from for creating the Universe?  God always was, and created everything, including the very concept of time.  He also created the elements that make up the Universe, the laws of physics and mathematics that govern the Universe, and set it all in motion.  Some believe that the instant he set the Universe in motion was in fact the Big Bang.  Some ID Scientists and Evolutionists believe Genesis may have used days to describe distinct phases of creation or evolution, especially before the sun and moon were created and man was recording time.  Creationists believe that God created the world we know today in six days, and in fact the original Hebrew text uses a word for day that means a 24 hour period of time. 

Next, scientists generally agree that the order of evolution is correct, but many believe the method is not.  Life is not accidental; life is a reflection of a living, intelligent God.  Some Creationists and ID Scientists believe evolution is impossible because it completely contradicts the observable laws of physics and biological functions.  Never has one species ever given birth to another species; never has a mutation or physical injury been genetically passed on to offspring; and never, even if a species had adapted to their environment over generations, has any species become more complex and intelligent over any amount of time.

Finally, Creationists and Intelligent Design Scientists look to the laws of physics to explain God’s fingerprint on our world.  For example, the Law of Entropy states that if left alone, all physical elements in the Universe descend into chaos, which indicates all things start from a point of being intelligently designed.  These scientists point to many other phenomena such as the impossibility of an organism evolving a little at a time when it needs several parts at once, or a complete design, to survive.  The unraveling of DNA, the discovery and use of Calculus, and the very nature of the Universe itself point to an intelligent creator rather than a series of accidents and coincidences.

Critics of Intelligent Design and Creationism Theory say that they describe things that cannot be scientifically tested, such as the concept of God.  They say Creationism and ID uses God to fill in the gaps of what we do not know from scientific research without hard evidence.  Creationists and Intelligent Design Scientists use an analogy from archeology to explain the basis for their claims.  They say if you uncover an ancient sculpture in a field, even though you may never be able to scientifically prove who made it, it makes more sense to conclude that someone crafted the work of art than it does to say that it must have taken that shape over thousands of years of erosion.  We are God’s works of art; we bear his fingerprint, even if we may never be able to prove it scientifically.  This is where science stops and faith continues.   

Concepts to Consider

1.       If God created the Laws of Physics and the natural world, do you think we are bound to live only within these limits, or do you think there really is the possibility of the supernatural?

2.       Why do you think Genesis describes creation as taking place over six days?

3.       Do you have to touch or see something before you believe it exists?  Why?  If not, why would you believe in something you can’t feel or see?

4.       Explain why you think the world’s major religions (Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and Hindu) all believe in some concept of an all-powerful God who created the Universe.

Memorization

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27

Science vs. Faith

One of mankind’s biggest mistakes in this age of technology is to replace faith with science.  We have learned so much about how the world works, and we have put it to great use.  Technology allows us to be healthier, live with comfort and convenience, and communicate with almost anyone, anywhere, anytime (sometimes this is not a good thing!).  These achievements need to be celebrated, but as in the story of the Tower of Babel, we need to be careful before we start taking all the credit. 

God created man with a natural curiosity.  As a child, I used to get in trouble when I would take my toys apart to see how they worked, but could never figure out how to put them back together.  This frustrated my poor mom to no end!  We want to know how things work, and we want to know how to fix them.  God has allowed us to get a peek into the world he has created, and has allowed us to explore, discover, and develop technology that gives us the ability to do great things.  Unfortunately, we get so busy working in our world, we forget it is really God’s world.

How arrogant we can be!  Science can never replace faith.  Science encourages our faith.  The more we discover about the Universe, the more we know how God runs the show.  Imagine how much we probably don’t know!   To think we know enough to replace God is incredibly foolish.  It is difficult for many people, especially those who do a lot of research for a living, to grasp the concept of faith because their entire lives are spent finding the answers.  Having faith is not an option when you are working day and night to prove your theory.  Science requires proof, measurement, logic, and rational thinking; faith runs contrary to all of these things.  Does that mean having faith is ignorant?  Of course not!  It is not ignorant to have faith in the God who created the world we are just beginning to understand.  As any attorney can tell you, just because you cannot prove something, doesn't mean it is not true.  Having faith is not blind trust; it is understanding that many of the ways of God are beyond our understanding. 

God is not subject to our limited ability to understand.  He did create us with curiosity, however, and knows we long to discover his world and his ways.  He gives us pieces of evidence, fingerprints, and glimpses of himself that can fuel our faith.  Here are a few reasons faith in God is anything but blind:

·         The unique qualities of the Bible: The Bible stands up to literary criticism, confirms other historical accounts of events in ancient history, is proved accurate by extensive archeological evidence, and delivers a single, consistent, powerful message of redemption for mankind despite being written by 40 authors over 1500 years.  This is why we say The Bible is the divinely inspired Word of God. Man could never agree on anything that important for that long; these are God’s words.

·         The divinity of Jesus Christ: Jesus fulfilled every Messianic prophecy in the Old Testament; he had at least four historical accounts written about his life that testify to the miracles he performed, his death and his resurrection; and more than two thousand years after his life on earth people continue to follow him and give testimony to his miraculous power and presence in their lives.  Despite being made to look bad by politics, religious traditions, kings and empires, and selfish leaders, people continue to flock to Jesus for salvation, healing, comfort, and purpose.

Faith in God and Jesus Christ is anything but blind.  The more you see and study, the more clearly you can see God.  More people deny the existence of God or the divinity of Jesus Christ out of ignorance than