Jesus solves the problem of ontology

Jan 9

During an extended email conversation during the summer of 2003, an acquaintance and I discussed the nature of reality. He was a thoughtful and thoroughgoing materialist (one who believes that matter/energy is the extent of reality and that there is no spiritual realm) and was rather vexed by the nature of consciousness. I pressed him on this point to the extent that eventually he asserted that, since only matter and energy exist, he himself does not exist! This made continuing the conversation difficult, to say the least. And yet there was a kind of honesty in his assertion. How do we know we exist? How do we know that the universe exists? Are we just brains in vats? Are we nothing more than electrical impulses in our brains? Is there any such thing as I?

The Bible and Jesus offer answers to the basic ontological questions of existence and meaning. The existence of God and the reality of Jesus are fundamental tenets of the Bible. Meaning and existence flow from him. Humanity’s chief purpose, as the ancient creed says, is “to glorify God and enjoy him forever.” The implication is clear: there is meaning to life and existence because we human beings were created to enjoy our lives and to know and adore God. God, I believe, put these fundamental questions of existence into our hearts so we would seek him and know him.

Again, the Bible and Jesus demonstrate great explanatory power to basic questions of existence and meaning.

Edward Wolfe

Edward Wolfe has been a fan of Christian apologetics since his teenage years, when he began seriously to question the truth of the Bible and the reality of Jesus. About twenty years ago, he started noticing that Christian evidences roughly fell into five categories, the five featured on this website.
Although much of his professional life has been in Christian circles (12 years on the faculties of Pacific Christian College, now a part of Hope International University, and Manhattan Christian College and also 12 years at First Christian Church of Tempe), much of his professional life has been in public institutions (4 years at the University of Colorado and 19 years at Tempe Preparatory Academy).
His formal academic preparation has been in the field of music. His bachelor degree was in Church Music with a minor in Bible where he studied with Roger Koerner, Sue Magnusson, Russel Squire, and John Rowe; his master’s was in Choral Conducting where he studied with Howard Swan, Gordon Paine, and Roger Ardrey; and his doctorate was in Piano Performance, Pedagogy, and Literature, where he also studied group dynamics, humanistic psychology, and Gestalt theory with Guy Duckworth.
He and his wife Louise have four grown children and six grandchildren.

https://WolfeMusicEd.com

Jesus solves the problem of ontology

Songs in Modes

Types of Scales: Whole Tone and Octatonic scales

Edward Wolfe