|
K. Dean Reeves, M.D. Clinical Associate Professor Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Emphasis on Research in Use of Prolotherapy (Also called Regenerative Injection Therapy) ReevesOffice @ gmail.com Office Email DeanReevesMD @ gmail.com Personal email
|
        
|
Faith Encouragement Dear friends: I encourage each of you to think about the books of faith you trust to tell you about your purpose, the importance of prayer, and how to be confident of eternal life. Here are some questions I ask myself to consider whether I can have confidence in my books of faith. 1. Do I have reason, upon observing the natural world, to believe in an intelligent designer? I have researched growth factors, complex proteins that are responsible for the ability of cells to grow. Through this study, I have become aware of just how deadly small changes are in these proteins and how the design of these proteins is critical. A "partially evolved" growth factor system would be incompatible with life. This is just one of many examples demonstrating the necessity of intelligent design. For more information click here ---> Intelligent Design Evidence 2. How can we be confident that an intelligent designer inspired our book of faith rather than the book being conceived by well-meaning men? 2A. The Old Testament gives strong evidence for being inspired by an intelligent designer because it foretold specific modern medical disease prevention methods 3500 years before confirmation by medical science --->Advanced Medicine and made predictions with very small chance of coming true, and did so correctly. Here are two examples: 1) Isaiah predicted 160 years in advance that Jerusalem would be destroyed including the temple, and that a non-Jewish king named Cyrus would give a decree directing that Jerusalem and the temple be rebuilt. 2) Ezekiel predicted 250 years in advance that the city of Tyre would be conquered by a non-Jewish leader, its rocks would be thrown into the sea, the area would be scraped so clean such that fisherman could spread out their nets on the site, and that it would never be built again. --->Predictions in O.T. 2B. The New Testament gives strong evidence for being inspired by an intelligent designer because it also made predictions with a very small chance of coming true, and did so correctly. For example, Jesus predicted that Jerusalem would be utterly destroyed with not one stone of the temple left upon another (Matt 24:1-2), predicted that he would be killed in Jerusalem (rather than being attacked and stoned elsewhere) Matt 16:21), predicted that Peter would deny him three times within one 18 hour period (Luke 22:34), predicted that he would be crucified (Matt 26:1-2), predicted that he would be resurrected (Luke 16:21), and predicted that his words would not pass away. (Luke 21:33) -->Predictions in N.T. In addition Jesus fulfilled all Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah against very large odds. For example the Messiah will be born to a virgin (Isaiah 7:14). He will be male (Isaiah 7:14), be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), come when the temple is intact (Malachi 3:1, Daniel 9:26) and be from the tribe of Judah and line of David. (Ex: Jeremiah 23:5). The Messiah will be called "Almighty God" and "Everlasting Father" and "Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:7). His power will be through His words, not by military action. (Isaiah 11:4-5). He will be considered a priest although not from the priestly tribe (Psalm 110:1-7) and The messiah will be wounded and killed for our wrongdoing or sin and God is in control of this. (Isaiah 53:5-6) --->Predictions Messiah 3. Even if our book of faith was inspired by an intelligent designer, how can we trust that the original words have been accurately preserved from ancient times? The method of copying of manuscripts is key to prevent introduction of errors over time. The method of copying for the Old Testament and the New Testament was via scribes whose technique was unprecedented in its precision. Scribes used a method of counting syllables and letters, and immediately destroyed any copy with even a minor error. The Dead Sea Scrolls found in 1947 found Biblical texts dated 1000 years earlier than the 900 A.D. manuscripts of the Old Testament and yet comparison showed word for word correlation identical in >95% of text with the <5% variation consisting of obvious slips of pen and variations in spelling. No effect on the message occurred therefore over the 1000 year period. No other book had copying methods of such precision. For more information --->Copying Precision 4. Is there evidence of real power over death displayed in our book of faith to help us be assured of eternal life? Jesus not only raised others from the dead with many witnesses, (Luke 7:11-16) but did so after days in the grave beyond the point of early decomposition, (John 11:39) and was the only religious leader to conquer death Himself, with a resurrection that had more than 500 witnesses over 60 days. Jesus had a well known grave site. His grave was sealed under penalty of death by crucifixion if the grave was disturbed. More than 500 eyewitnesses saw Jesus alive in a number of settings and many touched his spear and nail marks that occurred during his crucifixion. The disciples, who were in hiding after Jesus' death, suddenly became bold, and each went to their death proclaiming the resurrection of Jesus. Dr Simon Greenleaf, Royal Professor of Law at Harvard University, one of two men responsible for the rise of Harvard Law School to its eminent position, wrote the following: "According to the laws of legal evidence used in the courts of law, there is more evidence for the historical fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ than for just about any other event in history." For more information --->Resurrection Evidence 5. Summary: There is strong evidence of an intelligent designer, strong evidence that this designer inspired the Bible (The Old and New Testament) in a unique and reliable way, strong evidence that the Bible contains the only preserved manuscripts from its era that could even hope to accurately transmit information from the intelligent designer, and strong evidence that Jesus was the Messiah spoken of in the Old Testament. Therefore, the most reliable information we can get about why we are here and how to be sure of eternal life will be from the Bible. 6. An Invitation: It is useful to know that the New Testament was written so that people of ALL countries and races can be confident about eternal life and at peace with God. If you are interested in what the New Testament (Jesus and apostles) says about how to be sure of eternal life with God, click here --->What Jesus Said Your comments are of course welcome at dreeves1@kc.rr.com.
Respectfully, Dr. Reeves
Links on Faith Encouragment: We are grateful in particular to the following organizations whose links will be helpful to the reader. http://www.icr.org- Institute of Creation Research http://www.josh.org- Josh McDowell Website
|
|
To contact us: General questions --> reevesoffice@gmail.com
Billing related questions --> reevesbilling@gmail.com
Research related questions --> DeanReevesMD@gmail.com
|
