The Story of Reality - Greg Koukl

What is Christianity? Is it a religious system? A relationship with God? A philosophy of life? A roadmap to Heaven? Actually, it’s much more than any of those. Christianity is a story, a drama about conflict, love, betrayal, rebellion, self-sacrifice, and redemption. But this story isn’t a make-believe story. It is a story about the way the world actually is. It is the story of reality. Greg Koukl will describe the basic concepts that form the cornerstones of all worldviews, and the five simple words needed to outline the plot of the Christian account of reality.
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[@courtneydaniel08]

Greg’s illustrative teaching is so so good.

[@ctreid87]

Love Greg's teaching.

[@lilminishlomit]

Thank you, and God bless!!

[@persguru]

This book was recommended to me by a pastor to talk to my son who happens to be an extremely intelligent new engineer and who knows God is there but has a problem with Jesus because of all the false religious out there. This video is very boring to me so I hope the book is better

[@classicsciencefictionhorro1665]

God is reality?

[@frankvilardo9520]

Time and space is created at the moment of creation itself...creation itself is outside of God so God was eternally with Himself until the moment when He decided to create...in the christian God the Triune God is with Himself and Happy and complete...the logos of God is already with God from the beginning of God Himself...the Holy Spirit is already with God...and the Father who is God is already within the Godhead...until the moment that they decide for whatever reason to initiate the act of creation itself and the big bang the beginning of the universe and with this action time and space come into existence ..prior to this there is no time ....there is only the eternity of the I Am ...the everlasting of everlasting ...the eternal....Listen carefully....the perfect triune God was perfectly pleased with Himself...He needed nothing...He had everything already and was Holy and filled with perfect love...filled with perfect Love because the trinity has 3 distinct persons within the one being of the Godhead and each of these individual persons loves the others completely ...this God is capable of perfect love since perfect love can only exist where two or more free individual souls chose to love each other without restriction and unconditionally....a unitary God like Allah is incapable of perfect love...allah would have to create someone who could love him back in order to have the attribute of perfect love...so allah is deficient and a false God....The trinity does not have this problem....Now God chose to create at some moment in his eternal existence he decides to create the creation we are currently within...the big bang...the sun earth solar system and Humans in His own image....He also creates paradise and the angels prior to creating Humans and the universe....and these heavenly beings had free will.....and they rebelled against God....and brought sin into the world through Adam and Eve....the important thing to remember here is that this holy and perfect God creates...and when he creates whatever is created...is less than Him...this is a crucial point...God decides to create (for whatever reason) and when He does the creation is in and of itself less than Him...and therefore open to the possibility of inequity and sin....All things in creation fall short of the Glory of God...angels....humans...all things....so from the very beginning of creation and before the initial act of creation by God He knew that at some point He and He alone would have to come into His creation in order to redeem it back to Himself...why...because sin would come as a natural consequence of free will and He knew this...but....He creates anyway...so He creates even knowing that the possibility of evil and sin would enter the creation...why...because being a created thing it is less that God and therefore open to the possibility of sin and evil....So while God is creating heaven and the universe the Word already knows ahead of time that He would be entering His creation at some point in Historical Time as a Human in order to redeem the entire creation back to Himself....Jesus knew this prior to the creation...and He and the Father and the Holy Spirit create anyway....there is a very special place for us in the mind of God ...angels and humans are very special and sanctified creatures to God....so much so that He sent His only son not to condemn the world but to save it...... sites.google.com/view/godanddemocrarcy/home Now this Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. Corinthians 3 17

[@sandytinky]

Mr Koukl, you are a Calvinist. A Calvinist believes God has already chosen who is saved, and who is lost - before time began. It makes no sense for you, or any Calvinist, to share the gospel. The fate of everyone is already a done deal. The saved will remain saved, and the lost will remain lost, no matter if a single person ever shares the gospel or not.

[@gummylens5465]

Hello, I don't have all the answers, but just wanted to point out that Christ clearly commands His followers to preach the good news to others yet also teaches that only those the Father who draws can come to Him. It's an interesting mindbender for sure, so I'm with you there. The way I came to understand was thinking about prayer... God already knows what we need and what we will ask and yet commands us to beseech Him for those things. Hope that was helpful. Shalom,

[@sandytinky]

@@gummylens5465 Yes, we are commanded to share the gospel, which is proof positive Calvinism is false. There would be no such command if the eternal fate of everyone was already decided by God before the creation. This one Bible verse destroys Calvinism completely: "For therefore we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, specially of those that believe." (1 Timothy 4:10) It proves salvation is offered to ALL men through Jesus, but that only those who believe in Jesus are saved.

[@gummylens5465]

@@sandytinky I used to be an Arminian, so I completely understand your frustration. I would suggest you check out Spurgeon and R.C. Sproul. They did a much better job than I do at explaining God's electing love. Signing off for now. Hope your day is peaceful today. Shalom,

[@sandytinky]

@@gummylens5465 I'm not "frustrated". I'm simply amazed that so many people fall for that Calvinist garbage. And dropping names doesn't help your case. Many church fathers were in error on many things. Kenneth Copeland has a huge following, but he's a heretical, demon possessed, money loving monster. The Bible should be our only authority - not any man. And that includes Spurgeon and Sproul. Are you prepared to admit that there are babies in hell? If God chose before time began who would go to heaven or hell, then any baby that dies that was not chosen for heaven must then be in hell. See how Calvinism is an abomination?

[@tylerscriven107]

Thank you for bringing us some more good news! John 17:17 ‭‭John 17:17 NLT‬‬ [17] Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth.

[@dagwould]

Why must we overuse 'absolutely'? It has become meaningless. 'So pleased' is fine; 'absolutely' as the only emphatic you use makes you sound like a freshman with an elementary school vocabulary.

[@LindeeLove]

But don't people with delusional beliefs also think their beliefs are reality?

[@dagwould]

Do you mean people who are clinically deluded or merely people who hold beliefs of convenience? Sure, they think they are real, at some level, but they fail to deal with the 'stub you toe' reality that we are actually in. Nor do they live in consistency with their espoused belief.

[@LindeeLove]

@@dagwould I don't know what you mean? Are Greg's religious beliefs a convenience or a delusion?