I believe – that truth transcends our feelings, outweighs our logic and is not determined by popular opinion. Truth is foundational and is constant. Truth cannot contradict itself.
I believe – that man above the animals is part of a moral agency which conforms to the tenets of a moral law. I believe that mankind knows by nature the difference from good and evil. Given that, I believe if a global moral law exists then there must be a supreme moral law maker who determines the very essence of good and evil.
I believe – That God is that supreme moral law maker and that he is the creator of all, positioned for his glory, according to his power and in unison with his ultimate purpose.
I believe– That the Bible, while subject to the minor scribal errors of the humans who transcribed it for generations, is the Word of God and that the overall message of God is untainted and clearly recorded for man. I believe that the Bible is unique among all religious writings and that if critically reviewed and compared to other religious books of history, will uniquely stand alone in its proof, its clarity and its power to deliver hope to mankind.
I believe – That mankind has purpose. I believe that we are not here as random products of primordial generation, and I believe that we can know our created purpose and our human response will ultimately determine our earthly fate as well as our eternal home.
Dan, I agree with all your “I believes”. Regarding what you wrote for “I believe” 2 & 3, I thought you might find the following interesting. I just posted this on Facebook today. It’s from a book I’ve been reading.
Every law has a lawgiver.
There is an objective moral law.
Therefore, there is an objective moral
lawgiver.
Only God, an unchanging, authoritative moral Being, has the attributes to be that lawgiver and enforcer. For this argument to be sound, we don’t need to know the morally right action for every
possible situation. Moral ambiguity in rare situations doesn’t negate moral clarity in many others. If there’s just one action that’s objectively right or wrong, then God exists. For example, if it’s objectively right to love one another, or if it’s objectively wrong to torture babies for fun or to rape and murder little girls, then God exists.
As we saw, Sam Harris tries to say that objective morality exists without God. But Harris addresses the wrong issue. He tries to explain how we know objective morality, rather than explaining the basis of objective morality. The issue isn’t how we know what’s Right, but why
an authoritative standard of Rightness exists in the first place. Harris has to steal an objective moral standard from God to get his atheistic system off the ground.
Turek, Frank (2014-12-18). Stealing from
God: Why Atheists Need God to Make Their Case