The Most Important Decision We Ever Make Michael G. Houts, PhD houts315@gmail.com Additional Information: www.apologeticspress.org www.answersingenesis.org

The Most Important Decision We Ever Make is Where to Put Our faith Joshua 24:15 And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Temporal and eternal consequences! The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language Sooner we make the decision the better. Many prisoners become Christians. From an eternal perspective that’s all that matters, but they are still suffering severe consequences from their bad decisions while on earth.

The Most Important Decision We Make – Stay Focused on Eternity! Matthew 16:26 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? Matthew 6:33 But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Romans 10:17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. 100 years is a very long life on earth, but zero compared to eternity. Avoid activities that interfere with spiritual development.

How Can We Make Choices? If we were purely material, i.e. a complex assembly of several trillion, trillion atoms, we could not make choices. The only way any of us can make even the simplest choice is because God gave us a spirit. Log on bonfire is sophisticated chemical reaction, but can’t choose where it burns.

We All Get to Choose Where We Put Our Faith “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment. ” Hebrews 9:27 or “When the body dies, the brain ceases to function. At that moment, all of your thoughts, feelings, memories and emotions cease to exist. As we do not believe in a soul, we do not believe that any of these things survive beyond the moment of death.” gotatheism.com Atheists can’t have free will

Atheistic View of “Free Will” Interdisciplinary Workshop October, 2012 “Moving Naturalism Forward” (Richard Dawkins, other leading atheists in attendance) Representative Quote (originally from Francis Crick): “ ‘You,’ your joys and your sorrows, your memories and your ambitions, your sense of personal identity and free will, are in fact no more than the behavior of a vast assembly of nerve cells and their associated molecules. Who you are is nothing but a pack of neurons.”  Mention Saul’s conversion “The Heretic, ” Weekly Standard, March 25, 2013, Vol 18, No. 27

Atheistic View of “Free Will” This view is the “naturalism” that the workshoppers in the Berkshires were trying to move forward. Naturalism is also called “materialism,” the view that only matter exists; or “reductionism,” the view that all life, from tables to daydreams, is ultimately reducible to pure physics; or “determinism,” the view that every phenomenon, including our own actions, is determined by a preexisting cause, which was itself determined by another cause, and so on back to the Big Bang. Mention Saul’s conversion “The Heretic, ” Weekly Standard, March 25, 2013, Vol 18, No. 27

Atheistic View of “Free Will” “Daniel Dennett took a different view. While it is true that materialism tells us a human being is nothing more than a “moist robot”—a phrase Dennett took from a Dilbert comic—we run a risk when we let this cat, or robot, out of the bag. If we repeatedly tell folks that their sense of free will or belief in objective morality is essentially an illusion, such knowledge has the potential to undermine civilization itself, Dennett believes. Civil order requires the general acceptance of personal responsibility, which is closely linked to the notion of free will. Better, said Dennett, if the public were told that “for general purposes” the self and free will and objective morality do indeed exist—that colors and sounds exist, too—“just not in the way they think.” They “exist in a special way,” which is to say, ultimately, not at all.” People that essentially control all of our public institutions feel that if they succeeded in convincing us of what they really believe it could undermine civilization “The Heretic, ” Weekly Standard, March 25, 2013, Vol 18, No. 27

Don’t Base Decision on What’s Culturally in Vogue – Decide for Yourself! 1 Kings 18:17-21 17 Then it happened, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said to him, “Is that you, O troubler of Israel?” 18 And he answered, “I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father’s house have, in that you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and have followed the Baals. 19 Now therefore, send and gather all Israel to me on Mount Carmel, the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.” 20 So Ahab sent for all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together on Mount Carmel. 21 And Elijah came to all the people, and said, “How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” But the people answered him not a word. Dawkins insults Christians, Ahab insulted Elijah Important, educated people amongst Israelites (eat at queens table) promoting false religion People became confused (like today). Don’t underestimate power of false religion.

Don’t Base Decision on What’s Culturally in Vogue – Decide for Yourself! 1 Kings 18:17-21 17 Then it happened, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said to him, “Is that you, O troubler of Israel?” Isaiah 5:20 20 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! 21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, And prudent in their own sight! 22 Woe to men mighty at drinking wine, Woe to men valiant for mixing intoxicating drink, 23 Who justify the wicked for a bribe, And take away justice from the righteous man! http://www.apologeticspress.org/apcontent.aspx?category=9&article=2842 Note: The people who put us on the moon were educated when the US still taught the Bible in public schools Dawkins insults Christians, Ahab insulted Elijah Important, educated people amongst Israelites (eat at queens table) promoting false religion People became confused (like today). Don’t underestimate power of false religion.

Don’t Base Decision on What’s Culturally in Vogue – Decide for Yourself! 1 Kings 18:17-21 19 Now therefore, send and gather all Israel to me on Mount Carmel, the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.” Many of the most important people in Israel promoted worship of Baal and Asherah. Many of the most important people (and institutions) in the United States promote evolution. Dawkins insults Christians, Ahab insulted Elijah Important, educated people amongst Israelites (eat at queens table) promoting false religion People became confused (like today). Don’t underestimate power of false religion.

Decide for Yourself! Don’t be Intimidated by False Religions – they have Plagued Mankind Since Near the Beginning of Time Does it make sense to cut a log in two, use half of it to bake bread and roast meat, and then use the other half to make an idol that one pretends is a god who can deliver them (Isaiah 44:15-20)? Don’t underestimate power of false religion.

Decide for Yourself! Don’t be Intimidated by False Religions – they have Plagued Mankind Since Near the Beginning of Time Does it make sense to pretend that the universe could create itself and that life could spontaneously arise from non-living chemicals? Only now getting to point where can even effectively manipulate life. Hundreds of billions of dollars, smartest PhDs, best laboratories

Don’t Base Decision on What’s Culturally in Vogue – Decide for Yourself! 1 Kings 18:17-21 21 And Elijah came to all the people, and said, “How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” But the people answered him not a word. 12/30/13 Pew Research Center analysis 33% “humans and other living things have existed in their present form since the beginning of time.” 24% “a supreme being guided the evolution of living things for the purpose of creating humans and other life in the form it exists today.” 32% “evolution is “due to natural processes such as natural selection”” 7% “Don’t know” 92% “Believe in God” (May, 2011 Gallup Poll) http://www.pewforum.org/2013/12/30/publics-views-on-human-evolution/

Don’t Base Decision on What’s Culturally in Vogue – Decide for Yourself! http://www.gallup.com/poll/21814/evolution-creationism-intelligent-design.aspx http://www.gallup.com/poll/147887/americans-continue-believe-god.aspx

God Provides Tremendous Evidence 1 Kings 18:38-39   Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench. 39 Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, “The Lord, He is God! The Lord, He is God!”

When Making Our Decision, We Need to Stay Focused on Eternity! Mark 8:36 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 100 years is zero compared to eternity! The most important decision we’ll ever make is deciding where we should put our faith.

Where Should We Put Our Faith Where Should We Put Our Faith? A Straightforward Reading of the Bible Provides God’s Plan of Salvation Mark 16:16  He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. Examples of people being saved: Acts 2:36-47; Acts 8:4-13; Acts 8:26-40; Acts 9:1-20; Acts 10:1– 11:18; Acts 16:13-15; Acts 16:23-34; Acts 18:8; Acts 22:6-16 The most important decision we’ll ever make is deciding where we should put our faith.