Looney Tunes

            Yesterday at my work I was able to share the Gospel with a coworker. It was simply an awesome experience that had me higher than the the Empire State Building (who needs drugs?). She was in the perfect position: questioning and receptive to anything. It’s also a dangerous time because she’s receptive to ANYTHING. I’m praying that our conversation is just one of many.

            But she said something gave me pause: the Bible contains some looney tunes.

            As a non-Christian, she gave some much needed perspective to a church kid (me). The Bible contains many details that, to this atheistic anti-religious culture, are hard to believe. For example, she mentioned the virgin birth. Whaaaaa? That’s not scientifically possible.

            I grew up in the church, so I’m used to the miracles in the Bible. I don’t bat an eye. But this was a real hurdle for her to jump over.

            Then it hit me: she didn’t have to accept the virgin birth, Jonah’s big fish, Judgement Day, Joshua’s still sun... any of it.

            All she had to do was accept the Resurrection.

HOLD UP!

            Now, before you burn me to the stake, hold up. I’m not saying that those events didn’t happen. I’m also not saying that, if she does accept the good news, she won’t eventually believe those events as a natural extension of believing the Bible is the Word of God.

            I’m saying that, as of now, all the other miracles in the Bible aren’t beneficial to me at the moment. Instead of scrambling to defend how every miracle could have happened, I simply have to jump to the Resurrection.

            It’s a bottom up approach. You start with the most foundational miracle, and if you can show that believing it is logical and rational, the rest will follow (think Dominoes).

            If my coworker accepts the Resurrection, what else must she believe?

1. God exists
2. God is extremely powerful* and omniscient
3. God intervenes in and cares about human events
4. Miracles are real and can happen and have happened

            Going back to the four miracles I mentioned earlier, are they that much of a stretch now? Now that you’ve accepted the four points above, accepting the four miracles (and all the others in the Bible) aren’t as hard.

            So when she mentioned all the crazy miracles in the Bible, I instantly knew that systematically explaining everything from the Creation to Eutychas’ resurrection would be unfruitful. I only need to convince her of the most important miracle (which, not so incidentally, is almost the easiest miracle to defend). The rest will follow if she accepts it.

Summary

            The Bible is hard to believe sometimes. I know this, and you can bet your grandma my friend knew it, too. But everything goes back to the Resurrection. If the Resurrection happened, several mind-blowing things follow.

1. Everything Jesus said is validated. He claimed to be God? Yessir, no doubt now. He claimed to be the Messiah? Definitely.
2. The Bible is validated as the Word of God. It was written over thousands of years, with Jesus approving the Old Testament and His disciples (with the power of Jesus Himself) approved the New Testament.
3. We are saved and can have hope that Jesus is coming back for us.
4. We will live for eternity in Heaven with God.

            My next post will expand on why the Resurrection is so important for apologetics and polemics (challenging other faiths). If the Resurrection happened, it’s game over for every other religion.

*I am going to stop using the term “omnipotent” because you get the smart alecks that ask, “Can God sin?” Or “can God create a square circle?” And so on and so forth. There are answers to those things, but the conversation just gets bogged down. I’m going to say “extremely powerful” instead or something like that.

Psalm 23

            “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.”

            So goes the first verse of Psalm 23. It’s been an unbelievable comfort for me recently. My life isn’t hard by any means, but when I’m drained and worried and irritated and everything else, this verse comes to me like a bug to light.

            Okay, that wasn’t very poetic.

            “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.”

            As I’m nearing graduation, what am I going to do? I want to be a pastor, but is that going to happen? What do I do for the four years before seminary? Where will I go?

            “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.”

            I’m tired and my work is getting on my nerves. The customers drive me crazy and I’m supposed to serve them with a smile? Like, as if I don’t want to eat the food I’m serving them?

            “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.”

            If the Lord is my shepherd, I am a sheep. If you’ve ever been on a farm with sheep for a little bit, you’d understand the same thing David did. Sheep are completely and utterly dependent on the shepherd. They can’t defend themselves. They can’t lead themselves. If their brains disappeared, they would probably get smarter.

            “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.”

            While the last part is often the focus (not desiring anything), that’s not actually the point. It’s the “why” behind the “what” that matters in this case. You don’t desire anything because the Lord is everything.

            “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.”

            The Lord is the focus of the verse. When I’m worried and irritated, I’m not letting God be my guide. I want something He isn’t leading me to at the moment. I want clarity. I want reasons. I want plans (or maybe a change of plans). But often He doesn’t allow me those things right away. I forget that as my shepherd, He is my everything.

            The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

            He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.

            He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.

            Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

            You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over.

            Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. (NKJV)

Defeating Doubt and Changing America (At the Same Time!… ok, not really)

            A long time ago, I decided to take on the world. I wanted to storm the Internet and defend the Bible, especially against atheists. I went on their blogs and responded to their attacks on my faith. But I stopped dead in my tracks.

            They had some pretty good arguments. Oh, I thought I was just going to encounter a bunch of dim-witted haters that spewed vitriol everywhere. But I found many former Christians. I found many conscientious, careful writers who were searching for truth also.

            And did I say they had good arguments? They did. In fact, their arguments were so good that I took a look at the foundations of my faith.

The Mistake We Made

            Apologetics is my hobby. I enjoy any book that has a detailed defense of Christian theology and history. I know it’s essential, not only to defend my faith against outsiders, but to defend my faith against my doubts.

            That’s precisely what happened when I explored atheist blogs. In particular, I was overwhelmed by their arguments against the existence of God. But God was using this time to wake me up.

            If I, an apologetics kinda guy, was caught off-guard with atheist arguments, what must it be like for other Christians who have never been taught to defend their faith?

            They go to sunday school and learn the Gospel. The whole “Jesus came down and died for the sins of the world” story. Then they go to school and hear that Jesus’ very existence is doubted. They hear that Evolution is everything that is needed; God is unnecessary. They hear that the Bible is unreliable.

            They come home “a little shook-up”, and ask their parents and pastors about it. They don’t really have answers because no one taught them, either. The kid is left thinking that the non-Christians have the answer to life’s questions, and so leaves the church when he is able. College is often the final nail in his faith's coffin.

            The mistake the church has made has been to let apologetics (defending the faith) and polemics (challenging other faiths) slide. As the American church has fallen towards emotionalism (feeding the heart), it has neglected rationalism (building the mind). It also doesn’t help that the rationalist Christians are often the wacko fundamentalists (I can say "wacko fundamentalist" because I’m on the “fundamentalist” side of things usually).

The Short Term Answer

            How do we fix this lack of rationalism in the church? On the church’s end, it is simple:

1. Spend money to get apologetical and polemical resources
2. Have classes using those resources, and involve EVERYONE (teens especially)
3. Attend conferences and host speakers (Q&A sessions are absolutely amazing ways of getting conversations going)

            On the individual’s end, it’s the same, except with one more point: 4) Start conversations with friends, coworkers, and other students. What’s the use of knowing how to defend the faith and challenge other faiths if you never get the chance to do so?

The Long Term Answer

            While the above is a good start, it can’t compete against the school systems. We go to church once a week and school five days a week. We can’t compete against an atheistic school system for long.

            We have to aim for the university.

            Whereas the church used to be the institution that shaped current thought, now it is the university. And it doesn’t look good, because there are three times more atheist professors to everyone else in colleges in proportion to the population.

            To take back the universities we have to flood graduate schools and get doctorates in history, philosophy, etc. Then, when today’s professors die off, Christians are hired to replace them. The cycle repeats after tomorrow’s professors pass away, and so on and so forth.

            When we take back the universities, we’ll change modern thought because the highest academic circles decide how everyone else thinks. For good, or for worse.

Summary

            Looking over this post, I realize I’m all over the place. That’s alright because everything I cover is somewhat related, but let me tie everything together:

            We have to be able to defend our faith and challenge other faiths. The way to do that is to become rational by studying these topics. But that will only affect those already in the church. To reach those outside of the church, we have to gain back the institution that determines current thought: the university.