Monday, October 12, 2009

Come, Taste and See!

My Christian apologetics classes at Biola University are in full swing, and the rigorous studying is slowly corroding my writer's block. My mind is swimming with all sorts of Christian apologetics blogging material, so this post will kick off a series of apologetics-themed posts. But first, a few answers to a few common questions.

What in the world are Christian apologetics?

No, I'm not sorry I'm a Christian! The term "apologetics" comes from the Greek word "apologia" which means "a defense or justification". Christian apologetics is the field that offers thoughtful answers to the tough questions people ask about the claims of Christianity.

Why do we even need apologetics? No one ever got argued into the kingdom of heaven.

It's remarkable, really, how often I encounter this objection to apologetics. You would think the New Testament book of Acts doesn't chronicle the successful apologetic work of the Apostle Paul as he travels from synagogue to synagogue, debating the Jews and giving them good reasons to place their faith in Christ! Aside from the Apostle Paul's example however, there are other compelling reasons to add apologetics to our evangelistic tool belt.

Apologists believe that reality is iconoclastic --reality in its clearest, truest form has the power to shatter idols. When we truly understand the reality of God's goodness and love for us, our idols begin to crumble.

The work of the apologist then, is not always confrontational--it is often a shoulder-to-shoulder activity. The Christian apologist steps alongside people and begins to strip away any doubts or misconceptions that distort their vision of the reality of God's love by giving good answers to tough questions. Apologists invite others to, "Come step into my joy! Taste and see that God is good!" It's pretty tough to worship false gods when you've tasted the goodness of the one true God.

My goal as a Christian apologist is to invite others to step into my joy in Christ. I want to give them thoughtful answers to their questions. I want to challenge them to explore the knock-your-socks-off kind of life that Christ offers. And I want to help other Christians do the same. Because I'm convinced that the Truth sets people free.

8 comments:

  1. I have to say that I'm happy you are going to blog about Christian Apologetics. I look forward to reading your future posts.

    In the spirit of this post, I thought I would add a few questions that I would ask a Christian apologist.

    How can you feel free and joyful when you believe in the god of the bible? Aren't you submitting to an eternity of servitude? Did God really give man free will? Are you really free if you are threatened with eternity in hell?

    What has God done to deserve my love and adoration for eternity?

    My main question about Christian apologetics is: Why would the god that created the universe divinely inspire a book that could be interpreted in more than one way?

    I'm not trying to be antagonistic, I would really like to know you're opinion.

    If you want a thousand more questions, I would be happy to oblige.

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  2. Hey Matt,

    It’s good to hear from you again! Thanks for your questions. I enjoy dialoging with you and never feel like your questions are antagonistic. The scope of your questions, however, is so vast I’m just going to address your first question and your main question about Christianity. Also, I'm going to have to post my answer in several comments because it's so long!

    Your first question: How can you feel free and joyful when you believe in the god of the bible? Aren't you submitting to an eternity of servitude?

    This first part of my answer to this question is no, Christians are not submitting to an eternity of servitude. The Bible promises us that there is a glorious, pleasure-filled future awaiting us in heaven. The Bible also teaches that the way we love and live here on earth will reap eternal rewards in that we can look forward to in heaven.

    The cool thing about Christianity is that the process of living and loving (serving) others is not void of earthly pleasure—satisfaction and fulfillment invade every area of the Christian’s earthly life when we love other people, and that’s before we even get to experience the pleasures of heaven!

    The second part of my answer requires that we explore the idea of paradox: When two things seem to contradict each other but ultimately embody truth.

    Let’s explore the idea of paradox for a moment. Must we think of pain and pleasure as distinctly separate and contradictory? Is it possible to experience pleasure as a result of pain? Don’t we sometimes want to experience pain in order to gain the ultimate pleasure it brings?

    Here’s an example of the pain/pleasure paradox:

    When I ran track in college Olympic gold medalist Bryan Clay trained with my team. When Bryan was training for the 2008 Olympics he daily submitted his body to 8 hours of brutally painful training. In fact, he happily embraced the pain for the sake of the greater good that awaited him. But his strenuous training wasn’t all pain and no pleasure; I know he often experienced pleasure in the midst of his pain as he fixed his eyes on the reward that awaited him. There was pleasure woven throughout his journey as he aimed for the ultimate reward: an Olympic gold medal.

    (I know the analogy breaks down if you take it too far, but it does illustrate the way that two apparently opposing things can actually embody truth.)

    Christians believe the that pain (or more specifically, sacrifice) and pleasure are not mutually exclusive. In fact, pain can sometimes produce great pleasure. Don’t you think there is something about giving of yourself, about sacrifice, about helping someone in need, that feels good? A selfless existence is a pleasure-filled existence.

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  3. I guess your first question really addresses two other questions: for what purpose were humans made? And what will bring humans the greatest pleasure and fulfillment? People have been asking these question for all of history, but if you look at America’s growing consumerist appetite for more, it doesn’t seem like they’ve found what they’re looking for. Money, sex, success, power, and relationships—none of them seem to bring lasting pleasure.

    What if we’re looking for pleasure in all the wrong places? What if our self-serving existence is a half-hearted existence? What if the pleasure that self-centered decisions brings is pale and watered down compared to the pleasure God offers? What if God wired humans to experience the greatest possible pleasure when he fills us up with so much of his love that it spills out of our lives into the lives of the people we serve? The paradox of pleasure is that Christians will experience greatest personal pleasure when they look to the needs of others.

    Furthermore, the Christian believes that as we follow after Jesus he shapes our hearts, making us more like Jesus. The more we begin to resemble Jesus Christ in the way we love and live, the greater pleasure we will find when we do the things Jesus did—like serve others.

    That was a lengthy answer, but I think your question warranted it! Onward to your main question.

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  4. My main question about Christian apologetics is: Why would the god that created the universe divinely inspire a book that could be interpreted in more than one way?



    I’m wondering, what would you have God do? Create beings without the capacity to think and imagine? I guess in his omnipotence God could have removed our ability to think and imagine, thus creating robots (or animals), and could have programmed our brains so that we were all forced to come to the same conclusions about the Bible. But God wants something more. He wants to be in loving, authentic relationships with humans, and he does an awful lot to help people to see him. If we want to find God, he’s given us enough evidence to find him. But he’s not forcing us into anything.

    The God of the Bible is not some distant, uninvolved, malicious God, leaving Christians to duke out the meaning of scripture to no avail. He gives Christians a counselor and guide, the Holy Spirit, to help us navigate through scripture. He also gives us reason—something objective—to help us make sense of his Word. And yeah, different church denominations have different ideas about peripheral issues like speaking in tongues, but all protestants agree on the central, foundational message of scripture: We are all broken. We live for ourselves, we do things our way. And one look at the world shows us our selfish tendencies aren't improving the state of things. But fortunately God isn’t content to sit idly by and watch us self-destruct. He created us, and so he is the only one who can fix things--restore us--give us new life. We run away from God, the Giver of life, and in doing so we choose death and destruction. But God’s great love compelled him to give us a way back to him. He put skin on and lived among us to show us his unfathomable love for us. To everyone who surrenders their will to Christ and gives up their selfishness, God will give eternally satisfying life. He will transform us into a new creation.

    These are the fundamental truths of Christianity, about which all Christians agree. There are very effective methods of interpreting scripture called hermeneutics that I can tell you more about if you’re interested. But I’ll leave at this for now.

    I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts.
    -Sarah

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  5. Hey Sarah,

    I enjoy conversing with you as well. Most of my Christian friends loathe discussing theology, so this is a rare occurrence.

    First, I want to clarify my main question. If God really loves everyone, why doesn't everybody get a fair shot at life? Why are some people born into middle class, suburban comfort, while others are born into extreme poverty and abusive families. Seems cruel. The ambiguity of the bible has created many denominations, so what if you pick the wrong one or you are born into the wrong one?

    You said that God fills you up with love and that it results from living like Jesus. Why do you attribute the happiness you feel from helping others, to God? Speaking God's love, how can you have a close and personal relationship with God? The only contact you have with him is reading the bible and even that is somebody else's interpretation of what God supposedly told them. Here are a couple warning signs of an abusive relationship.

    You may be in an abusive relationship if your partner:

    - Is jealous or possesive toward you.

    God calls himself a "jealous God" in the bible.

    - Tries to control you by being bossy or demanding.

    - Is violent and loses their temper quickly.

    Read the old testament.

    - Blames you when he or she mistreats you.

    Most christians believe that God is testing their faith or punishing them when bad things happen in their lives.

    - Claims you are responsible for his or her emotional state.

    Again old testament.

    - You frequently worry about how they will react to things you do or say.

    Some christians get around this by saying that God forgives all sins, but how can you not feel guilty when you repeatedly sin against God? I would feel guilty if I kept breaking promises to a friend even if they kept forgiving me.

    - Your partner "rages" when they feel hurt, shame, fear or loss of control.

    Sodom and Gomorrah among others.



    I don't understand why you think that all non-christians are unhappy. I grew up attending church, so I have heard that idea many times. I know plenty of happy people that aren't christian. In fact, I have been immensely happy since ending my belief in the supernatural. Where do you think this idea comes from?

    =matt

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  6. Hey Matt,
    I've included your questions from your previous post in order to clarify the topics I am addressing with my responses.

    Your questions: First, I want to clarify my main question. If God really loves everyone, why doesn't everybody get a fair shot at life? Why are some people born into middle class, suburban comfort, while others are born into extreme poverty and abusive families. Seems cruel.

    My response: Your first question seems to address the problem of evil: if God is really good and loving, why does he allow so much suffering in his world? Again, God could have created robots without the ability to choose between right and wrong. This would have ensured that there was never pain or inequity of any sort. But he didn’t want robots. He wanted humans with the capacity to choose to love him in return. Would you rather force the girl of your dreams to love you, or have her choose to love you? Which love is more authentic, the forced love or the genuine love? God loves us so much he yearns for us to love him with a genuine love.

    The difficult thing about giving humans free will is that although there is enormous potential for good, there is also enormous potential for evil. And unfortunately, we’ve chosen evil. Our bent is to think of ourselves before we think about others, and as a result the world can be an ugly place. But the state of the world now is not the way God intended it. Maybe you’re wondering why God created humans if he knew we would make such a mess of things. I’m not sure--I can’t know the mind of God completely. But I do know that he loves humans fiercely, so maybe the potential of authentic, intimate relationship with humans made it worth it for him to create us.

    Your second question: “The ambiguity of the bible has created many denominations, so what if you pick the wrong one or you are born into the wrong one?”

    My response: Are you assuming that you must identify yourself with a particular denomination to become a Christian? Because Jesus said, “You may claim to know me, but if I don’t know you--if you haven’t said yes to my offer of restored relationship--then you haven’t chosen heaven and you are not my child.” It is our decision to follow after Jesus that makes us a Christian, not our decision to join a denomination. And like I mentioned earlier, most denominations agree on the fundamentals of Christianity. We disagree over the peripheral issues like tradition, church structure etc. So that there are certainly people in many different denominations who know Jesus and will all go to heaven to live with him.

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  7. Your question: You said that God fills you up with love and that it results from living like Jesus. Why do you attribute the happiness you feel from helping others, to God? Speaking God's love, how can you have a close and personal relationship with God? The only contact you have with him is reading the bible and even that is somebody else's interpretation of what God supposedly told them.

    My response: Our only contact with God is not through the scriptures, although the Bible declares that the Word of God is living and active; it penetrates the human heart and reveals to us God’s heart for humanity. But Christians also have the Holy Spirit, our counselor and guide who interacts with us daily, turning us into a new creation by empowering us to become more like Jesus Christ.

    Your objections: Here are a couple warning signs of an abusive relationship.

    You may be in an abusive relationship if your partner:

    - Is jealous or possesive toward you.

    God calls himself a "jealous God" in the bible.

    My response: I believe you’re referencing Exodus 34:14. If so, here is something about that passage from theologian John Piper that you may find interesting:
    “Verse 14 makes plain what the covenant demands from Israel and what image we should have in our mind. "For you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God." The demand of the covenant is for single-minded worship of God alone. And the image created in our mind by the word "jealous" is the picture of a lover or a husband who gets angry when someone else competes for the heart of his wife or when her heart goes away after other lovers.

    This picture is confirmed by verses 15 and 16 which warn Israel against playing the harlot with other gods. The demand of the covenant is: don't be a harlot. Don't commit adultery against God. Don't let your heart turn from him and go after other things. For your God, your husband, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.”

    To read the whole article check out http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByDate/1984/458_The_Lord_Whose_Name_Is_Jealous/


    Your objections: Tries to control you by being bossy or demanding.

    - Is violent and loses their temper quickly.

    Read the old testament.

    My response: I can’t respond to this. You are not examining a single instance in the Old Testament. The Old Testament has 39 books and a vast amount of material. I won't be able to respond until you substantiate your claims with specific biblical evidence.

    Your objections: Blames you when he or she mistreats you.

    Most christians believe that God is testing their faith or punishing them when bad things happen in their lives.

    My response: “Most Christians believe”—from where are you deriving this statement? Because every Christian I know believes that God uses difficult things to do good in our lives. He takes the bad that humanity brought about when we rebelled against God—against Love--and redeems it by using it for good.

    The Bible clearly states that humans have a tendency to self-destruct (just take a look at history to verify this truth) but God works all things together for the good of those that love him. The bible is the authority for all Christians—it will help you to look to scripture to see if God blames and mistreats his creation, rather than just looking at the people around you.

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  8. Your objections: Claims you are responsible for his or her emotional state.

    Again old testament.

    My response: Again, be more specific.

    Your objections: “You frequently worry about how they will react to things you do or say.

    Some christians get around this by saying that God forgives all sins, but how can you not feel guilty when you repeatedly sin against God? I would feel guilty if I kept breaking promises to a friend even if they kept forgiving me.”

    My response: It is our guilt that brings us to the foot of the cross, but when we surrender our lives to God and say yes to Jesus’ offer of freedom, God covers us with grace. We don’t deserve his offer of friendship or love, but he wants to give it to us anyway, and he gives us freely. In fact, the Bible tells us he lavishes us with his love. So that the experience of the Christian is such an overwhelming encounter with God’s infinite grace that the chains of guilt are broken, and we are free to be who God created us to be. There is life and freedom in Christ.

    Your objections: Your partner "rages" when they feel hurt, shame, fear or loss of control.

    Sodom and Gomorrah among others.

    My response: I’m a teacher, and I love my kids and want what’s best for them. When I see bullies that are hurting my kids, I want to protect them. I’ve also seen my dad get angry when men have mistreated me and my sister. I have been saddened by the way I see people hurt each other. If God is real, and he is perfect, don’t you think he is going to want the best for the people he created? And if he sees them hurting each other and wreaking havoc, don’t you think it’s going to sadden him, and even anger him? Love and anger often go hand in hand.

    I have had to grapple with Sodom and Gomorrah (among others—like the consequences of Achan’s sin) over the years also, and have begun to wonder if we just don’t take sin and its consequences seriously enough. Isn’t there some sin that is so atrocious it needs to be obliterated (think about the sex trade, the holocaust, slavery, genocide, terrorism etc.)?



    Your questions: I don't understand why you think that all non-christians are unhappy. I grew up attending church, so I have heard that idea many times. I know plenty of happy people that aren't christian. In fact, I have been immensely happy since ending my belief in the supernatural. Where do you think this idea comes from?

    My response: I’m not sure where you got the idea that I think all non-Christians are unhappy. That would be an absurd thing for a Christian to believe when you consider the Bible’s declaration that the goodness of God is felt everywhere, in some way or another. Even people who do not know and love God are recipients of some of his grace: Christians and non-Christians can enjoy a sunset, a romance, and a good laugh.

    What I did say is that perhaps we are too easily pleased. Perhaps we are happy to sit in the slums and make mud pies because we can’t fathom what it would be like to enjoy a holiday at the sea—this idea comes from C.S. Lewis who argues that earthly pleasures certainly bring happiness, but that this happiness, although it feels strong and satisfying, is just a reflection of what we COULD experience if we were living the way our Maker intended.

    Thanks for engaging me in dialogue. I’m interested to see what you think about all this.

    -Sarah

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