Tag: apologetics

What does the Lord require of you (and me)? Let’s talk about it on Deeper Waters.

I’ve done a lot of writing lately on why apologetics matters so much, but what does it mean to the individual apologist? How are we to live our lives in ministry? Are our callings different from those of others? To be an apologist is a serious responsibility and it is not one to be taken lightly. It is also one that we all fail at from time to time, like any other task, and need to remember the importance of.

To begin with, we need to remember that we are slaves of Christ. We are not our own. We are bought with a price. This means a dependence on Christ, and this is an area I will admit I am not the best at, though marriage has helped greatly. Prayer is something I do have a hard time with, but it is something I have been working on. When the wife and I pray together at night, I try to recall all the prayer requests from throughout the day and the recent past that I think need addressing. I also try to give thanks for what has happened. Prayers also become a review of the day where I try to see where God has been at work in our lives.

Why am I the one praying? This is the point where I bring forward a related duty. I do know there are female apologists out there, and thank God for them, but I am one who does believe a man leads the household, and that means spiritually as well. Of course, women pray on their own, but it’s my belief that a husband is in some ways to be a priest for his wife and come before God on her behalf.

Now to something then that will apply to men and women equally, love your family. What? What does that have to do with apologetics? It has everything to do with it. You are constantly defending the reality that Jesus is Lord of the universe, yet how can He be seen as Lord of the universe if He is not seen as Lord within your own household? If you are not living the life of a Christian spouse and a Christian parent, depending on your marital and parent status, you are not living a Christian life, period. This does not mean that you are non-Christian, but it does mean in your life, you have sin and you need to deal with it. Of course, I realize no one can be a perfect spouse or parent. There is always room for improvement. The only point is to make sure this is a priority.

In our world of apologetics, there are several of us. I belong to the Christian Apologetics Alliance online. With a quick check, I see that we have 1,816 member. This is a lot of people just on Facebook. None of us is standing alone. We have several people. The work you do is important. However, several other people are doing it as well so be willing to cut yourself some slack. Yet when it comes to your spouse, no one else can be a spouse to your spouse but you. When it comes to your children, only one other person can really be a parent to that child, but you don’t want that child to grow up with an absentee father or mother. They will regret it and they will not look happily at the work that you do. Do not expect God to bless your apologetics career if you are not being a blessing to your own family.

Thus, you must study of course, but always set aside time. When your wife wants to go out and do some shopping, don’t do it with complaining. Take that time for her. Trust that God can make your private time fruitful. In our home, I try to do activities regularly for Allie, but we also have some quiet time where she can do her own thing and I can read my book. She can be playing on the Wii, for instance, and I have my book out and I’m getting in my reading. I recently got a Kindle from a friend so after we go to bed, I can be lying next to her for awhile, but I have my Kindle out with the book light getting in some reading. She knows that I need to do a blog like this regularly, but when the work is done, I try to make sure it stays done. Remember, you are not married to your work. You are married to your spouse.

When that time of study comes, make it fruitful. Read good books that will encourage your mind. From time to time, read something lighthearted and fun as well. Of writing books there is no end and too much study will make you tired. When you read a book, try to make sure it is one you want to make an investment in. Remember that you cannot master every field out there so choose your battles wisely.

For instance, on this blog now, I try to avoid science debates. My position on this has changed over the years. In the past, I would have stood staunchly against the evolutionary position. Today, I don’t care. Why? Because I see it making no difference to if Jesus rose from the dead firstly. The second reason is that I am not a scientist. I realize I am speaking out of my field. I do not want Richard Dawkins speaking on theology or philosophy without proper study (And I see what an embarrassment it is when he does). Why should I then be speaking on his field without doing the proper study?

Now an objector out there is saying “But Nick, don’t you know about all the scientific problems with evolution?” I know about the scientific claims, but I cannot explain the problems. Now if you can and you think you can plant a rock in someone’s shoe that can get them to the gospel, more power to you. I’m not going to stop you, but I’m not going to argue with someone on it when I am not trained or read-up in that area. This is also why I do not use the first two arguments of William Lane Craig (I also think they’re inductive without a metaphysical backing) as I could not begin to explain the science behind them. When someone critiques them scientifically to me I’m of the opinion of “Go ahead and say what you will. It’s over my head and not my argument anyway.” Why would I want to rest my position on an argument I don’t understand. If you understand it, have at it. Realize there are areas you don’t understand as well and respect others in those areas.

Recognize the awesome responsibility you have. I see us often as the heroes in the front lines fighting the battles. Many of our brothers and sisters are not as intellectually equipped. This is no fault of theirs. This is not saying they’re stupid either. This is just saying some people are geared towards the academic side and some are not. Those that are not often have strengths in other areas where we fall short. They could excel at empathy for instance. We all have our gifts in the body and we need to respect that not everyone is an apologist. (Though everyone should know where to get the answers to the questions and everyone should respect our ministry as well)

That means that these people are depending on you to fight. You must realize that. What I often think with some of these people is what if they went after someone who was not as equipped as I am, such as my wife or my mother. How would I handle that? That is often why I can be tough as nails on some aggressive and antagonistic people, because I know they would be more than happy to do the same to the people that I love.

Be studied then. Be ready to take that challenge. Realize how often you might be the one that someone turns to for help and when they do, you want to be ready. Not everyone will know people in the Christian Apologetics Alliance, for instance, but they could know you. You could be the only local person they know and if you don’t know the answer, such as a question outside of your field, then make sure that you know a place that they can go to.

Take time for pleasures as well. All work and no play does have an affect. There is a point to play in your life. It is important to rest to recharge your intellectual batteries. What I tell people is what ever you do, do it seriously. When it comes time for work or study, you do it hard. When it comes time to play, you play hard. My friends who play me in games know that when it comes to ones like Scrabble or Super Smash Brothers, I take no prisoners.

When those times of play come, do make it a point to not beat yourself up for enjoying yourself. There are several apologists out there who are taking time to watch the big game. (Although not this one. I could care less) They might be reading during a commercial, but they do have their other interests and they’ve got to where they are as well. You do not want to be a workaholic.

Make sure you are living a holy life as well, and this gets us to the last great temptation, pride. Those of us intellectually gifted can have a great temptation to pride. You can marvel at God using you, but do so in humility. Realize that it is an honor to be used by God and you are but a servant doing your duty. Do not think that you are so special and that is why God is using you, but realize that you are being used by God and it could be because you in fact are not special, as 1 Cor. 1 indicates. God often likes to use the weak and lowly and shameful. Realize that for whatever reason, God has invited you to participate in the spreading of His Kingdom. He doesn’t need you. He could do it without you. You are not necessary to the plan. Still, you are used and that is a work of grace just as much as salvation is.

When someone comes along like your spouse and is concerned that you are getting puffed up, take it seriously. I have regularly told Allie that I am on guard as much as I can be against pride. I want to be humble and I have told her that this is a battle that I have to fight regularly. I must realize when temptation comes that my God is not honored when I am being prideful. Furthermore, Allie does not want a man who is prideful. That is not attractive to her at all (And keep that in mind fellow men. We want our wives to be attracted to us). Your God already thinks you’re worth sending His Son for. Your spouse already thought you were special enough to spend the rest of their life with.

Be willing to help your fellow apologist and to help the layman always. Recently, J. Warner Wallace of PleaseConvinceMe.com linked to a post I’d written on the importance of teaching, and I thank him for his correction. It is not teaching that is needed, but training. If you can, help build other people up so they can shine in the community. They are not your competition. The mission is not about you. When you meet a layman wanting to learn, train him up. When you meet a fellow apologist who could use some help, such as they might be just starting out, be willing to take a disciple if they are someone who is studying in your area. For those who are already established, your blessing on those climbing up the ladder can be highly instrumental.

We train because we’re not just building up people with facts, but we’re building up people who know how to use them. It is not enough to put a sword in a soldier’s hand. You must teach him how exactly he is to use that sword. It is not enough to just give a copy of “Case For Christ” to the interested layman. You must train him up on how he is to use that information and teach the art of debate.

We all have a serious task as slaves of Christ. Give it your all and remember as the Scripture says, that when you are finished, you are just servants doing what you have been told.

In Christ,
Nick Peters

Are we failing our youth? Let’s talk about it on Deeper Waters.

A recent comment on my post on Do Youth Need Apologetics was about how our youth are being entertained to keep them in the church more instead of being given substance. This is an increasing problem in our church as more and more are falling away and it is not because we lack the resources to help them. We have all we need to win the battles. We’re just not distributing our weapons properly.

Of course, there is something to be said about how we package our material. There is no need to be boring. As much as I love Aristotlean-Thomistic thought, I have said that if someone wants to get a good night’s sleep, then all they need to do is pick up some Aristotle and read it for a little while. His substance is great, but his presentation is incredibly boring. Some have even speculated that Aristotle’s books could be the class notes of those that studied under him.

So making the presentation one that people can pay attention to is important. This does not change the most important part that is being neglected. There is much in the delivery, but the problem is that we are not delivering anything. We are getting youth often caught up in an emotional high and that will only last as long as the emotions do, and we all know that emotions do not last forever.

Of course, this does not mean that emotions are bad. Emotions should be in accordance with our reason. Too often, we have the tail wagging the dog instead of the other way around. If a person no longer feels Christianity is true, then they start thinking it is no longer true, when this is something your emotions cannot tell you. Your emotions can tell you about your response to something, but they cannot tell you about the external something in itself.

Our solution to the apostasy problem is to go with the emotional route. Let’s give our youth even more entertainment! If this works so well, it is a question why we don’t do it in regular services.

Instead of having a sermon, let’s have a comedy show done regularly instead. Adults like to watch Sitcoms after all. Let’s give them a new episode every week. We can make videos of them and let new members to the church see what they missed in past seasons.

Or, we can just find the music the older people in the church will enjoy and put on concerts regularly. We can bring in the greatest names in Contemporary Christian Music. The great entertainment will make sure the adults still keep coming to church.

If that doesn’t work, we can always make sure that every church service has a grand meal to go with it and have everyone bring whatever they like to it.

Surely if we keep entertaining the people in the church, then they will grow into strong and battle-hardy Christians who are ready to go and win the world for Christ.

Or maybe not.

They might be laughing and enjoying themselves, but when they’re out in the battlefield, what are they going to be able to do. They cannot just laugh and expect the threat to go away. That is a great way to shield oneself, but it will not defeat the opposition. Unfortunately, this seems to be our modus operandi in the church. If we just ignore the atheist movement and focus on preaching the gospel, then the atheist movement will just die on its own.

The only problem with this great scenario is that it’s not true.

Non-Christian forces are fighting for our youth and they are having an impact. If we think that we’re going to win the battle on entertainment, let’s just consider a simple question. Which one will the average teenager who is not a Christian want more to go to? Will they want to go to that youth group meeting where they will have pizza and play board games and talk about the Bible, or, will they want to go to that party with loud music, beer, drugs, and wanton sex?

Heck. There are some Christians who could quite likely choose #2, and not for witnessing opportunities.

If we think we’re going to win the entertainment contest, we’re not. This is especially the case if our youth are told they will face great guilt if they drink, do drugs, or have pre-marital sex. The reality is a lot of them when they do this just don’t. They can have pre-marital sex and feel just fine and then wonder “Well this was no big deal despite what the church says. I wonder what else I can do? I also wonder what else the church is wrong about.” Of course, some will feel this guilt, but not all.

This does not mean of course the youth group should never do anything entertaining. I have no problem with pizza parties and CCM concerts per se. The problem is that all of our eggs are being placed in this basket and none of our eggs are being placed in the teaching basket. When our youth go off to college, they are not going to be able to handle the opposition that they face because entertainment will not do it.

The sad truth is that this warning has been raised before and it has been disregarded. We can only hope that the church will wake up and start doing what it needs to do. We have the resources. We have the means. We just aren’t following through.

In Christ,
Nick Peters

What role do good works play? Let’s talk about it on Deeper Waters.

My thanks yesterday to commenter David C. for this comment on my blog why every church should have apologetics.

“Thank you for bursting the overly large bubble of the sincerity myth.

“We need to be really loving to them and do as many good works as possible.” “If we do these, they will see the sincerity of our beliefs and repent.”

As stupid as that sounds, it is pretty much the common response of most pastors and other church leaders I have heard in my decade as a Christian. This is unnerving to me as a Christian, and I can only imagine how much it irritates professional apologists, like yourself. If this myth is not delt with, I fear how it may affect the children and adolescence. Especially the one in public education institutions, like public high schools and universities, where secularism runs rampant”

David is right about this. We have bought wholesale into the sincerity belief. Many of us can admire someone to holds sincerely to their beliefs, but not always. The reason the twin towers were hit in 2001 on 9/11 was because the terrorists flying the planes sincerely believed in Islam. Many of us could say Christians should have that level of devotion to their faith where they’d be willing to die for it, but we would not say that we greatly admire the sincerity of those people.

As has often been said with sincerity, someone can sincerely believe in their beliefs, but that sincerity is not enough. David’s comment speaks of the attitude that Christians just need to go out and do good works and that will be enough to get people to repent. Now note in saying this that no one is condemning good works. There is no outcry that says Christians should cease to be out there doing good. Everyone should agree that Christians should be doing good.

The problem is that good works are not going to lead someone to repentance alone. These people need the gospel, and our wanting to go straight to the gospel conclusion without meeting the person where they are in their doubt, is far more likely because of our hesitance to think that we are capable of defending the gospel, or that it is even defensible at all. It would be interesting to have a study done to see how many students in church youth groups would respond just at the possibility that there could be historical evidence that Jesus rose from the dead.

“But Nick!” someone is saying. “What about Saint Francis of Assisi? He was the one who said to preach the gospel and use words if necessary!”

Did he?

I contend that he did not.

The reality is just doing a good deed for someone might get them to second guess their perception of Christians, but not necessarily of Christianity. You are not going to get past a historical objection by one good deed. You are going to have to work and that will mean your study. You will need to learn something about the gospel in order to share it with someone. You can’t just go and do a good deed like you’re supposed to and think that by doing that, someone automatically entails that Jesus Christ is Lord of all. You are leaving the work to them that belongs to you. You are the one who is a slave of Christ. You are the one who is to study to show yourself approved.

The church has the resources it needs to counter the onslaught from all sides that is facing us today. The only reason it’s not winning the battles is because it’s not properly equipping itself. That is sloth on our part, it is sin, and we need to repent and seek the favor of God so we can go out and win the battles like we’re supposed to be doing.

In Christ,
Nick Peters

Do those young people in your church need apologetics? Let’s talk about it on Deeper Waters.

Yesterday, I wrote on apologetics and the layman. I was specifically focusing on adults, but what about the younger crowd in the church? I’m mainly thinking college age and teenage youth. Do they need equipped? Well let’s look at some scenarios.

Sean has graduated from high school and is getting ready to go to college. He has had excellent grades all his life and decides that he will go to Harvard. He applies and is happy to hear that he has been accepted. Sean has grown up in the church all his life, but he has received no training in apologetics. He would not even know what the word means. He is unaware at this point of how many of his professors are atheists, have been for years, and are ready to let his Sunday School faith be knocked down. Is he ready?

Bill is nineteen and out with his friends on a Saturday night. They decide to get some chips to get together for a night of video games at one of their houses. While at the store, Bill is told to step back as they prepare to go to the check-out line. When he asks why, Bill is told that the oldest member of their group, the only one who is 21, is going to be buying beer. They will be having a party tonight. Bill is a Christian and knows his friends underage should not be drinking, but he doesn’t know what to say. He doesn’t want to be embarrassed.

Rick is seventeen and is in his high school biology class. His teacher is teaching him about evolution and is saying “It is because of this that we know that evolution is true.” Bill has no real problem until Sunday when he’s in school and learns that God created the world in 6 24-hour days just 10,000 years ago. Bill doesn’t know what to do. He’s heard one thing in school and another in Sunday School. Science is such a powerful authority. What will he do?

Anne is sixteen and out with her friends shopping one day. They are going through the cosmetics section when Anne notices one of her friends is slipping some items into her purse. Anne tells her that that’s stealing and she shouldn’t do it. Her friend tells her that she’s being a prude and that all the other girls are doing it and unless she wants to get made fun of, she’d better keep quiet. Anne wants to keep her friendships, but she doesn’t know how to confront them.

Kyle is eighteen and he and Jennifer have been dating for two years. One day, they’re over at her house together when her parents say an emergency has taken place and they have to go out for awhile. They are on the couch together and kissing each other heavily when Jennifer starts to reach for Kyle’s pants. Kyle hesitates for a bit. She asks him what’s wrong. He says he’s a Christian and believes in waiting for marriage. Jennifer says she understands but that they’re in love and they’re surely going to get married someday. She knows that her parents have to have some “protection” around the house so it will be safe and no one will ever know. Kyle looks at her. He loves her deeply and his hormones are raging. He has often wondered what Jennifer looks like under all those clothes and what this great experience of sex would be like. He knows all his friends have mocked him for being a virgin after dating for so long. He hears somewhere in the back of his mind that marriage is to be honored by all and the marriage bed kept pure, but those hormones are overpowering him. Jennifer pulls him in for a long and passionate kiss and he wonders what he’s going to do.

Craig is a fourteen year old who has just returned from a church trip where he heard his favorite Christian band in concert. Unfortunately, he did not have enough money to buy a CD, so he decided to settle for the poor man’s version and get on YouTube and look up the song. While he is rocking his head to his favorite tune, he notices a video on the side called “Why the Bible is not the Word of God.” He wonders about that. He’s never heard that before. Maybe he should click it.

Eric is thirteen and is on the school bus heading back when he hears his friends talking amongst themselves, though somewhat quietly. He asks the guys what’s going on and finds that they’re passing around a magazine. He looks and sees a woman totally naked. His hormones start racing. He knows something from the Bible about not having lust, but these are his friends and he doesn’t want to look like a prude. What’s the harm in taking a little look?

Frank is eighteen and in high school and preparing for finals. He is incredibly stressed out and one of his friends notices and asks what the problem is. Frank says he’s just been studying hard and wants to get into a good college, but is just nervous about finals. His friend says he understands and suggests that he try some drugs that he has that have a really powerful way of clearing someone’s head. Frank is a Christian and doesn’t want to get involved in drugs, but he does realize he needs the edge. What’s the big deal if he did this?

Gary is nineteen and is in college and has been approached by someone asking him if he will join the group that is trying to give homosexuals the right to marry. Gary says he won’t. When asked why, Gary says that he’s a Christian and God’s Word is clear on the matter. The person looks at him and says “Dude. This is the 21st century. That’s an old and antiquated book. You need to get with the modern times. Why don’t you come to this seminar this weekend? We’ll be having a talk on atheism and why we know God doesn’t exist.” Gary doesn’t want to be afraid, but he is.

Eva is sixteen and has spent all her life in Sunday School. She’s been taught all the things she should do right. She doesn’t want to drink alcohol. She doesn’t spend time alone with boys in her house or their house. She wants to wait until she’s married for sex. She doesn’t do drugs. She doesn’t cheat on her classes at school. She is an all-around good girl. Unfortunately, she’s never been taught the rational side of her faith and why she believes what she believes. For her, Christianity is all about being a good person. She is unaware that the next good person she meets will be an atheist. This atheist will tell her it’s fine to keep all that good behavior if she wants to. She just needs to get rid of God. He’s not necessary for that after all.

These examples, again, could be multiplied. There are numerous problems facing our youth today and while they are in their formative years, we are wasting their time. There is more emphasis on going to concerts and having pizza parties than there is on learning the Scriptures and how to defend them. There is nothing wrong with concerts and pizza parties from time to time, and indeed our youth should know they can have fun as Christians. The problem is that we are making the basis for Christians be entertainment.

When our youth come to youth group, they are getting entertainment, and God is an add-on. The lesson that they are getting most often is simply ethical. I am not opposed to ethics of course, but ethics need a foundation. I think back to a time in Sunday School when I was in college and we were going through the book of Joshua and were told that the book was written so the Israelites would know to “obey God.”

Of course, the listing of kings who were killed and the division of the land and other such matters are necessary for that. Having all that history in there of what happened, the renewal of the covenant, the miraculous conquering of Jericho, and other such matters was all written just to make that one point. Of course, Joshua teaches us to obey God, but it certainly teaches us much more than that.

All we give people is years of entertainment. With this, we are also not preparing them to be slaves of Christ. We are giving them the idea that they should be always entertained and God will always be enjoyable. It would be worth noting that Paul was not probably thinking “I am having the time of my life” when he spent a night and a day on the open sea or when he was being given the 39 lashes with a whip.

This further feeds the self-serving tendency, the one we all naturally happen. What does that do when one gets the pressure to do something wrong so that one will appeal to friends instead of seeking the honor of God? What does that do when the person you love is really wanting to have sex, or heck, if you’re really wanting to have sex with the person you love, and you’re thinking “What’s the harm? It’s just sex.” For our youth, a few verses in Paul is not going to be enough to deter them when hormones are raging.

Our youth need to be prepared. Eighteen years of Sunday School will not prepare them to meet a professor who has twenty-five years of studied atheism under his belt. They will be more prone to see Christianity as just a set of ethics, and even then they will soon be shown to be outdated ethics, without any real connection to the external world. The youth are not taught what difference the doctrine of the Trinity makes or how they can know Jesus rose from the dead or what the purpose of saving sex for marriage is.

On that last one, I have a huge problem with too many even Christian leaders today using just the Bible. I have a stance on the Bible that says that something is not moral or immoral because the Bible says so. The Bible says so instead because it is describing an accurate state of affairs that exists independently of itself. You don’t need the Bible to know that sex is reserved for marriage. You don’t need it to know that homosexual behavior is wrong.

Yet so many Christians I know, and this includes the leadership, have as their only defense “The Bible says so.” If that is the case, what happens when the person decides to jettison the Bible? What happens when that person is in the public square and has to defend their views? They have to defend all of Christianity in total instead of just one point. Now of course, all of Christianity is defensible, but let’s not make more of a burden than we ought. When we argue for sexual ethics, we are not arguing Jesus rose from the dead, although that influences our ethics, we are focusing on that one battle right there. Let’s not think we have to win the war to win the battle. Let’s win the battles and let those lead up to the war.

Statistics show that around 80% of our young people lose their faith in college. This does not have to be. Why is it so? It is because the church is not doing its job. Our youth are the casualty and the next generation after them will have even more of a problem as a result. The answer to this problem is to start raising up our young people right now so that they can be equipped for the challenges that will face them.

We have several who could be leading the charge. Don’t let them fall in the name of entertainment.

What does the person in the pew have to do with apologetics? Let’s talk about it on Deeper Waters.

Yesterday, I wrote on why churches need apologetics. Unfortunately, I realize some readers are in areas where they cannot find churches that meet this need and will have to go it on their own. Why is it that the layman in the pew needs some training in apologetics? Let’s give some examples.

Tim is at work and is at the water cooler on his break when Bob comes up to him. Tim decides he’s going to share his faith in Jesus with Bob. His church has been doing a big series on evangelism and getting out there and sharing the Bible. Tim tells Bob about how Jesus came from Heaven, died, and rose again. Bob listens and says “I don’t follow copycats.” “What are you talking about?”, Tim asks. “Well,” Bob says. “If you’ll do some checking, you’ll find that Dionysus, Osiris, Attis, Mithra, and several others in antiquity did the exact same thing. You can also find books like Graves’s “The World’s Sixteen Crucified Saviors.”

Tim doesn’t know what to think. He goes home and gets on the internet that night and finds several web sites that say exactly what Bob said. He goes on Amazon and sees the book that Bob talked about. Well someone wrote a book and surely this is an educated author. Has Tim been misled all along?

Jake is on a business trip away from his wife and kids for a time and is having to stay at a hotel. Some of his co-workers tell him to come down to the local club with him for an evening. Jake tells them that he’s not really thirsty. They inform him that at this club, there are also going to be several strippers and he could have a really good time. Why not come? Jake tells them that he is married. They reply that he’s away from his home and his family will never know. Jake then tells them he just thinks sex is for a husband and wife. They tell him he can think that, strange as it is to them, but he’s not having sex. He’s just watching. What’s the harm? Jake says he doesn’t feel right about it. At this, he is laughed at by his friends, some ask if he is secretly gay, and they tell him what a prude he is.

Jake is confused as he closes the door and lies on his bed channel surfing and thinking about it. He knows the biblical mandate on sexuality, but why is he observing it when it is costing him so much? He doesn’t really know. He’s been told what not to do but not why. Besides, is this the kind of impression he wants to give to his co-workers? How willing are they going to be to listen to his Christianity when they think that it is all a joke?

Susan is a happy housewife with three beautiful children. Steven is 17. Mary is 12. Nathan is 5. She has been out enjoying her day and she comes back in from shopping with her friends to find out that there is a message on her answering machine. She listens and her face turns white. Steven had been out driving and there was an accident. A drunk driver hit him head-on. He is at the hospital. She drops everything and rushes over.

Susan is quite late however even though she came as soon as she could. She gets to hold her son, but the doctor tells her to say her good-byes. She prays, but nothing seems to happen. Steven dies as she hugs him. In tears, she goes to see her pastor. Her pastor tells her that everything that happens is God’s will and that it is just a mystery.

Susan leaves in tears. What kind of God has she been serving if he is willing to kill her son?

John is at work and is going through inventory. His manager comes to him and tells him to not record the goods that are damaged. They’ll lose money on it. Instead, treat them as if they’re just fine. John says that would be lying. He cannot do that. He is a Christian. His manager says “I understand, but I hope you also understand that I have to hire and keep around here people who are loyal to the company.”

Sherry is out with her friends talking about their husbands and one lady remarks about the same-sex couple that just moved in next door to her. Sherry remarks that she thinks marriage is only between a man and a woman. Her friend looks at her stunned and says “Are you some kind of bigot or something?” Sherry answers “I just think homosexuality is wrong.” “Why?” “Because the Bible says so.” “The Bible also says it’s wrong to eat shellfish and to wear mixed fabrics. Yet here we are having seafood and I bet your clothing is made of mixed material and you have no objections to that. Do you just pick and choose every time what you want to believe?”

Sherry doesn’t know what to say. Has she just been arbitrary? Most homosexuals she’s meet have been really good people. Is it really that big of a deal?

Edward and his wife Karen have just had a really big argument. Edward knows that many of the guys he works with have had the same kind of situation. Many of them are single now as well. He is told by them that he shouldn’t have to put up with the way Karen treats him. Just leave her and move on. Divorce is no big deal. Edwards knows that the Bible condemns divorce, but he’s just told that that was then. Times are different now. He needs to get with the modern age.

The cases could be multiplied. Many of us know of such examples. Especially when it comes to the problem of evil we can see more and more cases where that happens. Yes. I have heard of numerous pastors who have said that a tragedy that strikes is “God’s will.” We all know about the pastors who have gone on TV and said the same about national disasters being a judgment. No doubt, some are saying that about Hurricane Sandy right now.

If you are not getting a proper diet from your pastor of apologetics, and do not have a church in the area that will give it, then it is up to you to make sure you take care of yourself.

What are you supposed to do after all? You are a person with a full-time job. You have a family! You have kids! You also want to have time alone with your spouse, you want to enjoy your hobbies in life, you want to be with your friends. You can’t go off to school or spend all your time in study. You do not have it in you to be a full-time apologist.

That’s fine.

Really. It is.

Not everyone is meant for full-time apologetics, but you need some of it. Consider it with diet and exercise. You may not have time to learn how to be a fitness guru or a personal trainer, but you can do little things throughout the day to make sure that you have sufficient diet and exercise. You can avoid that extra candy bar at work. You can go and walk a mile around your neighborhood when you get home. You can make sure that you sleep well and go to bed at the proper time.

Here are some of my suggestions.

Get some good books that will familiarize you with the scholarly material. I recommend “Case for Christ” as the starting point. A number of apologists are now writing books for the layman. These include books like William Lane Craig’s “On Guard.” Some books are compilations with articles by several people in the field to give you a good and broad look at various issues under discussion.

In the age of the internet, make sure you are using good resources. Do not use sources like Wikipedia. If you go on YouTube, make sure you know who it is you are checking out. If you are viewing something like J.P. Moreland giving a talk on objective morality, that is something more reliable. If you are viewing a teenager in their parents’ house giving a talk on why Jesus never existed, that is more questionable. Of course, a teenager can be right, and I know many educated ones, but you want to sift through the arguments carefully.

In our digital age, we can get information pretty much anywhere. What about that commute to work? Consider instead of listening to music on the radio, listening to a podcast. If you go on ITunes, you can find several podcasts on apologetics. Furthermore, if you go to ITunes University, you can listen to podcasts from Seminaries where you can hear scholars give you information on theology, the Old Testament, the New Testament, church history, etc.

Maybe you don’t have an IPod, IPhone, or a similar device. That’s fine. Go to your local library and try to find a series on CD like Portable Professor or Modern Scholar and listen to them on your drive to and from work.

Try to take some time out for that book reading. If the Mrs. wants to go to bed early, I will often get out the booklight and just enjoy my reading. That can be some of my best time as it is quiet and there is no interruption from anything. After all, nothing else can be on or else it might wake her up. You might have to sacrifice some time, such as time watching TV, but no one is telling you to move into an ivory tower.

If you can, do some internet discussion. Don’t be afraid to put ideas out there and see what other people are saying. You can get your tail kicked from time to time. That’s fine. It could just show you where you need to study.

Also, try to find other people who want to do similar study with you. If the church will not establish a small group for you, then you do it on your own. If numerous people study different topics, you can share your findings with one another and reach conclusions that way so you can all benefit from one another’s study.

As you can see, there are numerous things you can do. However, the examples show that it is important. Without an informed Christianity, you are set to be caught flat-footed at any moment and you do not want that. None of us want to be embarrassed, especially for our Christianity. Remember if people see your Christianity as shameful, they will see Christ the same way. Be your best to be a witness for Him.

In Christ,
Nick Peters

Is apologetics a requirement for every church? Let’s talk about it on Deeper Waters.

This morning, I went out to the mailbox and found inside a note that was hand-written, but also looks like it was copied for everyone on my street. I first thought it was one of the neighbors but then opened it up and found something different. I am going to exclude names for personal safety of people involved, but I would like you all to know what it said. I will start by saying at the top in a larger print was the word “Revival.”

It starts on the upper left with saying “Please come and bring your lost loved ones so they may be saved at”, and then on the upper right next to “Revival” says “Time may be shorter than you think to get them saved before its too late.” (Yeah. I know the grammar is bad there. Don’t shoot the messenger my Grammar Nazi reading friends.) Going back to what was on the left, it reads as follows:

“at XYZ church starting on day A at time B nightly. Rev. C and D will be doing the preaching. The church is located at E, pastor F. Everyone is cordially invited and welcomed to an old-fashioned, country revival. We are just a small church, common people, saved by grace, trying to get the lost in and around the community saved.”

I thought about this while thinking about a post I wrote earlier on Why Apologetics Should Be A Requirement For Every Pastor I had planned to write today about apologetics for laymen, but this message I got in the mail is the perfect opening to why every church should have some apologetics in it.

I won’t deny that I highly admire the zeal of this church. I have no doubt these are good people who really are doing what they think is best. The fact that this was being hand-delivered rather than using the mail made me think a coordinated effort had been planned to reach the community, to which the community I live in is indeed a very small one. It would not be too hard to do, but it was still work.

Yet as I looked, the first big problem I had with what I saw was that it was assuming I was a Christian at the start. Fortunately, I am, but what if I had not been? I am quite skeptical in a community with a deep respect for religion like the one I live in, that there are people here who have honestly never heard the gospel. Now I realize that it is possible, but color me skeptical of it. The ones who have not heard it are those who disbelieve in it and I thought “If I was one of those people, what would I think of this message?”

Rightly or wrongly, I was sure I would think “Just a bunch of religious fundamentalists.” It would have been dismissed with a thought on how religion is the opiate of the masses and hopefully these people will pick up a book on science one day.

My second problem was with the emphasis on getting people saved. Now some of you are saying “But didn’t Paul have the same emphasis?” Yes he did. He was also a teacher who was writing regularly to churches making sure they were staying in line and setting up people who could teach the church after he was gone as well as having those who worked with him regularly go to churches and see how they were doing. Paul realized that he could not be everywhere and wanted to make sure a church had effective leadership when he left.

In our culture, we don’t do that. We place a big emphasis on conversion. I have shocked a number of Christians by telling them I have no interest in making converts. I don’t. The Bible never once tells me to go out and make converts. In the Great Commission, I am told to go forward and to make disciples. With what we do, it would be akin to Adam and Eve being told that since they were to go forth and multiply, that that means to have a kid, leave it there, and then go on their way to making the next one.

We do all that we can to get someone to the altar and then once the altar is passed, the work is done. We have won the battle! Let’s go on our way! At this point, I don’t care if you’re a Calvinist or an Arminian. Let’s consider that this person gets no training and then later on encounters those who are opposed to Christianity and then abandons their faith. If you’re a Calvinist, you would say it was not a real faith that they had to begin with. If you’re an Arminian, you’re going to say that they lost their salvation.

Either camp excludes you from the faith.

Getting them to the point of recognizing Jesus as Lord is important, but then we need to emphasize what it means to recognize Jesus as Lord. It is not just a simple proposition, but one that colors all of life. Imagine, for instance, how your life would be different if you believed that washing in water spread disease rather than removing germs. Your life would be drastically altered, and frankly so would the lives of everyone who had to be around you. Imagine still how much greater it would be if you thought all water was poisonous. At least those around you would not have to put up with the smell for too long!

Now take the proposition that Jesus is the Lord of all the universe. Surely it should affect your worldview even more than those beliefs! Here in America, we are about to have an election. Imagine how different this election might be if we realized that in some bizarre way, after the election, God would take our elected president and install him on His right hand to rule the cosmos. Frankly, as conservative as I am, I still would not like that prospect. The right hand of God already has Jesus sitting there. Let’s keep it that way.

If the scenario was the case, we would think even more about who we’re electing. This person is the ruler of the universe then. Do we want to make sure we know who that is? Do we want to make sure of what it means to have this person ruling over us? Many of us today will pay more attention to researching the candidates we are going to vote for to lead us for the next four years instead of studying who the person is who we claim is our Lord to lead us for the rest of our lives, even lives after death.

Once a person recognizes Jesus as Lord, we need to have them involved in learning what all that means for their daily life. What does it mean to say Jesus is Lord when the bills start pouring in and you don’t know how you’ll pay for them? What does it mean to say Jesus is Lord when you make your wedding vows to the person you love? What does it mean when you have a new child being born? What does it mean when you lose your job? What does it mean with how you budget the family income? Everything is touched by this first proposition.

It’s bad enough that most Christians don’t really know what they believe and why it matters, but they have even less knowledge usually of why they believe. This includes pastors. There are too many pastors out there who have no business being pastors because they have no clue why they believe.

I recently met one at a local concert going on here at a small baseball park, an outdoor one I used to play T-ball at. It was a simple event with a Christian group singing and food being given out. I was asking to find the pastor. Eventually, I found him and asked what the church was doing with apologetics and heard “Nothing now.”

“Why not?”

“Well we’re just preaching the Word of God.”

“And how do you defend that Word of God when it comes under attack?”

“It’s the Word of God. It can’t be refuted!”

“Muslims tell me the same thing about the Koran.”

“Well the difference is we serve a living God and they serve a dead one.”

“They say the same about you.”

“Well we’re right and they’re wrong.”

“They say the same about you.”

“Well I guess we’ll just see in the end who’s right and who’s wrong.”

At this point, I said something about the blind leading the blind and walked off.

This is a pastor who doesn’t know why he believes what he believes, but he wants everyone else to believe it. We would not tell someone to vote for a political candidate without having a reason. We would not tell them a TV show they should watch without having a reason. We would not tell them about a place that they should invest their money in without having a reason. We would not tell them about how to raise their children without having a reason. We would not tell them to marry or not marry someone without having a reason.

Yet we expect to do that with what we claim is the most important decision of all?

Now some of you will say that what you feel and experience is the reason. To which, I ask why aren’t you Mormon? They all claim to have an experience and a feeling, yet there are several who will say they know Jesus is real because they feel Him in their hearts, but will think the Mormon claims are obviously false and don’t buy into the burning in the bosom. With this, it is just special pleading. Why should your case automatically be the right one?

I wonder how many like this will talk about how foolish they think Muslims are for so blindly being willing to fly a plane into a tower and thinking how people will believe such bizarre things without stopping to realize that in many ways, we believe even more bizarre things. We are the faith that says the second person of the triune God took on the nature of humanity, died on a cross for the sins of the world, and then rose again.

What the church needs is to know what they believe and why they believe it and the presentation of “Just give them the gospel” doesn’t work the way it used to. People are no longer in a position where they already believe many things Christians believe and just need a little information about the claims. If anything, most people are in a position where they are opposed to the Christian faith even if they don’t realize it.

How about if the flier I got in the mail instead said something like this?

Come to church X tonight led by pastor Y to hear speaker Z who is going to be giving a talk on the historical case to demonstrate that Jesus rose from the dead. He will then be taking questions from the audience. Bring your skeptical friends to hear a presentation that is sure to give them something to think about.

I suspect that this would have much more interest as people generally do like to see something that is controversial and could think “I’ve never heard such a claim before. This is really intriguing. I need to go check it out.”

Consider another one.

“Come to church X tonight led by pastor Y to hear speaker Z on why marriage should be between a man and a woman. After making the case, Z will be taking questions from the audience. Bring those who are for and those who are opposed and come to hear an interesting presentation.”

In our day and age, this could be something that would attract even more people as this is really water cooler talk. The church needs to be talking about the issues that people are talking about.

Now some of you might think you won’t get as many numbers if you go that way. Possibly, but so what? Numbers are not everything. We have often turned churches into number games where you will have thousands of people in a church, but none of them know what they’re doing there. Instead, they are simply being sheep led to the slaughter. If you’re a shepherd and you have no means of defending your flock, it is actually worse for you to have a larger one. That is a flock where the wolves have even more targets they can go to.

When churches that have no defense face trouble, two things usually happen to the members. The first is that members can apostasize. Often, these apostate Christians are the hardest to talk to as they have a large chip on their shoulders that tells them that the Christian faith lied to them and they will not be duped again. The second that can happen is that the Christians will respond to intimidation by isolating themselves from the world. They’ll be very good at giving emotional assurance to themselves, but they will split themselves off intellectually from the world and will cease to be salt and light.

Only on the rarest of occasions will they actually seek to study their faith and learn how to defend it.

Here’s my suggestion.

First, every church needs apologetics. This does not mean that it has to be specifically mentioned, though I would have no problem with it, but it does mean that it needs to be brought up. The pastor in the midst of this sermon can give a historical background to a text and explain how we know some of what is said and even mention a book on the topic that someone can read if they want more information.

Second, the pastor should never ever discourage the life of the mind. The pastor needs to be clear that there is to be no separation between the Christian life and the intellectual life. What we feel and what we experience should work in tandem with what we think. The pastor should never reach a point where he says we have investigated a biblical claim enough or that we should not read such and such an author or that we should just ignore intellectual problems.

Third, the pastor should set up groups as well for those who are more interested. Not everyone in the church will have total interest in apologetics, but some will, some even more than the pastor. That’s fine. What he needs then is to set up a small group of some sort where these people can come together and learn and he should let everyone in the church know about this group. We have groups on learning how to budget your money, how to have a good marriage, how to raise your children, how to make a quilt, etc. We don’t usually have groups on understanding what you believe, why you believe it, and how to defend it, and this from an institution that claims to make an emphasis on belief.

Fourth, the pastor should have a well-stocked library for the church to use including books on apologetics and the church needs to know about this library. I can go to many church libraries that unfortunately I have to search high and low to find even one book on the topic of apologetics. I can find several good country novels or find the Left Behind series or books on dealing with your feelings and such, but to find a book that actually tells Christians about what they claim is the most important truth of all? Forget it.

Fifth, the pastor needs to be able to show the kind of lifestyle the church should have. The pastor should be a reading pastor seeking to study. The pastor should show in his sermons that he has done his homework and refer to experts and such that agree with him. The pastor should show involvement with the world around him and talk about the issues that are being talked about by his congregation and by the world at large.

Not everyone will be thrilled. That’s okay. We’re not out to please people but to please God by spreading His kingdom. Not everyone is ready for advanced material. That’s fine, but we need to get them started somewhere at least and the aware pastor will know all levels in his congregation and will include something for everyone. The pastor might not have as large a congregation, but he will have an effective one, and it will be better to have a dozen who know what they’re talking about and why than 1,000 who don’t.

A dozen is better? What can be done with such a small amount?

Perhaps we should ask Jesus. He spent three years training such a group and changed the world through them. Why can’t we train our Christians and change the world today?

In Christ,
Nick Peters

Are you fit to lead the flock? Let’s talk about it on Deeper Waters.

Imagine you live in the first century and you’re a shepherd. You are leading your flock to the water when lo and behold, you notice a wolf is coming. Being the good shepherd, you approach the wolf and say,

“Greetings friend. Come and let us understand your desires with the flock. Let us sit down and share a meal together. You may come and freely interact with my flock and I will allow you to do so.”

You seem puzzled later on when you notice that you have less sheep than you did before.

Or, picture this scenario.

This time you see the wolf and come up to him and get your rod and begin to chase him away. The flock is safe and the wolf knows to not come by.

Which shepherd is truly the good shepherd?

Now let’s talk about another flock, the church. In the church, there are people of all levels. There are some who are seniors and have been in church all their lives. There are youth who are just now getting to make their faith their own. There are the middle-aged who grew up in the church or have just decided to come to church after becoming parents. With them being parents, there are new children in the church who need someone to look out for them as well until they make their faith their own.

Over them is a man that we call the pastor who is to be a shepherd to the flock.

Now while they’re in the building, they could be safe from various threats, but you, the pastor cannot be a babysitter and watch your flock every day and this is one way the people differ from a literal flock of sheep. However, you can equip them so that they can be prepared. Prepared for what?

Well that twelve year-old boy you have in your audience? He’s going to be on YouTube looking up a favorite Christian song he learned in your church one day and on the side under related videos, he’s going to see something from a group like the Rational Response Squad telling him about all the errors in the Bible and why there is no God. Is that boy prepared if he happens to click that link?

That fifteen year-old boy? Well he’s thinking about getting his driver’s license soon and is already thinking about his freedom. While he’s on his computer, he’s not looking up music. He’s looking for ways to impress his girlfriend when lo and behold, here comes this email inviting him to come to a site so he can “understand” women all the more. Why not? His best buds in school are already starting to talk about their sexual exploits.

See that sixteen year-old girl? Well she’s being given permission to date now and is looking forward to it, but her friends at school are telling her that she needs to sleep with a guy so she can really understand if he loves her or not and hey, don’t worry about pregnancy. As long as he uses a condom it’s okay and if worse comes to worse, you can just get an abortion. Oh it’s not a life. Science has established that. It’s only those bigoted Christians who think that.

How about those eighteen year-olds? They’re graduating and have the whole world ahead of them and are getting ready to go off to college. After a lifetime of Sunday School, they will be put face to face with 25 years of atheism in the form of a professor and all they have is just being told what Jesus has done for them, which the professor will nicely dismiss as a delusion that they grew up with. They need to learn some critical thinking and realize feeling something doesn’t make it so.

How about that middle-aged couple? Their marriage is in trouble right now because he’s considering having an affair. What’s the big deal? If it feels right, do it. He’s just following his heart after all.

That other couple over there? He’s about to be put in a position where he will have to do something unethical at work in order to keep his job. Now sure, it will damage his Christian testimony and his reputation for life, but he has nowhere else to go because the church also has not been a bastion of help for people but has rather chose to focus only on their emotional needs and preaching the same feel-good message for years.

There’s yet another couple. Right now, they’re a bit confused. You see, Jehovah’s Witnesses have been visiting them and they’ve been learning some things that their pastor hasn’t taught them. They’ve learned that the word Trinity isn’t in the Bible and that the Greek scholars really know that John 1:1 doesn’t mean what they think it means. They’ve been invited to the Kingdom Hall and these people are so nice and loving, how can they not be Christians? Besides, who are we to judge?

That elderly woman over there? Her husband just passed away and thankfully, you consoled her through the funeral service but now she’s been watching this guy on TV who’s a preacher and he’s promising her that she will be provided for if she makes a faith donation. Now the church has always supported faith and surely she thinks the pastor will. She just needs to take that social security check she’s going to live on and mail it to this preacher. Surely God will reward her. That’s faith after all. Right?

This is only a start of what is going on in your church at this moment.

And you might not know any of these stories are happening.

It is essential that you learn apologetics for these situations. Why should that boy believe there is a God? Why should he not engage in pornography? Why should a girl not sleep around? As we go through the list we see questions of truth, ethics, the nature of faith, etc. No doubt I’ve only given a small subsection of all the problems that could take place in a church. There are myriads more that can and do happen.

Do you have that rod ready?

Pastor. You need apologetics. Now please understand I am not saying you need to be a specialist, but if you are told about apologetics and you answer “What’s that?” then I firmly believe you have no business leading the flock as you are unprepared to defend them and you’re just setting them up to be eaten by wolves.

I realize you’re a busy guy. You have to do your Bible Study to prepare a sermon as well as your own study for your own edification. You have to have a prayer life. You have to be on call for if a member of your congregation has a 3 A.M. emergency where they call you and need you to visit them at the hospital. You have to attend meetings on all manner of subjects at the church. You have to do counseling. Never mind you also have to have time for your own family be it dating your wife, watching your son’s football games, or attending your daughter’s piano recitals.

You have a busy and important job. I understand that.

Here are just two things to do.

First, get some basics. Once you have those basics, such as starting with the books Lee Strobel has written interviewing leading Christian scholars, then at least get the places where people can go to. Give them resources online and offline they can check out for information. This is assuming you don’t make this a specialist area. If you do, God bless you. If not, that’s fine. Not everyone can do that and God bless you as well, but know the basics.

Second, if you really can’t specialize here, then make sure you know someone who does. I think it would be great if every congregation had an apologetics go-to guy. You need someone who knows the information or knows the very best place to get the information. We have ministers of music and youth ministers and such today. It will be a blessed day in the church when congregations also set up ministers of apologetics.

Now suppose you reject this advice. You just want to give them the Bible alone.

Well when they get their Bible attacked and all they have to retreat to is a feeling, we’ll have several Christians that if they keep their faith even, will be of no use because they will not speak out about it and will not act on it out of sheer fear of the world around them. They will form a bifurcation between their faith and the way they live their lives and never shall the two meet. You’ll pretty much simply have a mutual support group that will be able to do nothing to win people over to Jesus Christ.

And when your congregation eventually dies from old age, that church will die with it.

This is a new age where people need more than “The Bible Says So” and “I feel Jesus in my heart.” If we were going to go on a mission to a foreign country, we would seek to learn the language and the culture of that country. Why is it that when we evangelize our neighbor who thinks differently than we do, we don’t seek to understand his language and culture? You need to know how to evangelize the man in China if you wish to speak to him. You need to know how to evangelize your next-door neighbor if you wish to speak to him and both can involve entering another culture.

Now if your opinion is along the lines of “Well I never” then you need to get rid of that pride. Having a strong feeling that you should preach is not reason enough that you should preach. If you think it is, then you’re in for a world of hurt when the Mormons visit your flock and they develop a strong feeling that the Book of Mormon is true. Be willing to humble yourself and learn about the defense of your flock. Their very souls could be on the line and you will be judged one day for how you lead them. You can complain here, but before God, there are no excuses.

Be prepared for the wolves, and then prepare your flock.

In Christ,
Nick Peters