Attempts at Honesty

Reflections on the interplay of the Bible and Culture

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What Nehemiah can tell us about apologetics in the church

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Brick and TrowelI have heard that there are those in the church who do not feel that apologetics should be part of the discipleship process for believers. While I find it hard to believe that anyone would articulate such a position, I must admit that for a large part of my Christian experience, there was very little content that taught me how to answer the questions that arise from those who do not believe.

This statement in the book of Nehemiah got me thinking about defending our faith and the need for such defense.

“Those who were rebuilding the wall and those who carried burdens took their load with one hand doing the work and the other holding a weapon. As for the builders, each wore his sword girded at his side as he built, while the trumpeter stood near me.” (Nehemiah 4:17–18, NASB)

The fact that they could be under attack at any moment did not deter Nehemiah and the Israelites from completing the work that they had begun. They kept focused on building the wall, but were ready to defend themselves if attacked.

I believe this is a fitting challenge to those who do not think that being able to defend our beliefs is an important part of Christian discipleship. The truth will always have enemies. There will be those who refuse to submit to God and His Word. They will not be content to allow us to continue on without a battle. They will try to win the hearts and minds of those who attend our churches.

This is especially true of the young people that are raised in the church. In high school and university, they will encounter those who seek to undermine or destroy their faith. In some colleges that are considered “Christian” this is also a danger. What should be a safe environment may not be so. We must be on our guard.

It is not enough to just be on guard, we must know how to respond to the attack. It is one thing to have the weapons available, but they do no good if we do not know how to use them.

Let us learn from Nehemiah that we should be able to wield our weapons in defense, but we should not get distracted from our main objective which is to build up the body of Christ. Nehemiah and his crew continued to build while being vigilant to dispel any attack that might come at them.

The ability to defend our faith helps in accomplishing our mission. But keep in mind that apologetics is not the goal, it is a tool to be used in achieving the goal of making disciples.

That pesky sense of oughtness

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Science has done an admirable job of exploring and describing the processes and functions of the things I see around me. I am not an astrophysicist but because of advances in science, it is possible for me to know more about the composition and operation of stars than the best scientist of several hundred years ago. We have made tremendous progress in our understanding of the physical universe.

Is and oughtSimilarly, we have also progressed in our understanding of the human body. Medical science has improved our quality and length of life. For advances in medicine I am grateful.

Yet what science does not do very well is tell us what ought to be and why. So many of the people I meet and talk with express disappointment with the way things are. We are not satisfied with who we are and what we have. There is often a sense that something is missing or that something is wrong with the world. They express a sense that the world ought to be different than it is.

If the material world is all that there is, where does this sense of oughtness come from? If our life is determined by our genetics, why do we strive to be something different? Where do we get a sense of beauty? If everything we see is the product of chance, why would a mountain be considered majestic or a sunset considered sublime? Why should loving my neighbor be better than hurting him? If survival of the fittest is the rule by which we live, why should I care about posterity or the environment? On what basis should I value tolerance of others if I make my own rules or if my life is determined by my DNA?

I cannot find adequate answers to these questions from within the materialist viewpoint. But I have yet to find a person who does not have some sense of oughtness. What is the source of a longing for something better?

I believe it was C. S. Lewis who first pointed out to me that not only does man not live up to God’s standard, he does not even live up to his own. Most men would acknowledge that lying is wrong, but the honest ones will tell you that they have uttered falsehoods. Most men would say that it is wrong to steal but would then turn around and admit that at one time or another they have taken something that does not rightfully belong to them.

What becomes apparent is that those who proclaim morality as being fluid and relative are selective in which morals they treat this way. I assume that those who take this philosophical position will call the police if they are being robbed. How is it that those who say there should be no constraints on expression of sexuality get upset when their partner “cheats” on them?

That pesky sense of oughtness seems to keep creeping in, even in those who say it doesn’t exist. This is the dilemma of the materialist. It is this sense of right and wrong that has caused many to explore the claims of Jesus Christ.

Jesus did, after all, claim to be The Truth (John 14:6).

It’s a matter of perspective – reaction to the angry atheists

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It is an over simplification, but the work of some popular atheist writers can be summed up in the phrase, “God does not exist and I hate him.” The God they deny is presented as a vengeful and capricious dictator along the lines of Nero. Passages from the Old Testament are pulled from their context to support the notion that God is a monster and should be hated. The tone of these writers is often one of anger or disgust.

This is a very different view from the way that Jesus represented his Father. In Luke 15, Jesus presents an image of God as a loving father who is watching and waiting for his wayward son to return. When the son eventually comes back, the father greets him with rejoicing rather than reproach. The son comes home expecting a tongue lashing but instead finds himself the focus of celebration.

Perspective

The church can unwittingly reinforce the negative view of God by presenting the Christian life as one of rule keeping. When Christianity is reduced to a set of do’s and don’ts, the implication is that God is watching and keeping score. When in reality, God does not keep score and it is the church members that are watching.

The primary thing that believers can do in response to the claims of the angry atheists is to continue to walk in relationship to God and live out the claims of the Gospel.

Paul tells us in Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.” (NASB) The salvation to which Paul refers is not a one-time event such as buying a lifetime membership to a shopping club. Salvation is an ongoing process of reclaiming the territory lost to the Enemy in the fall. Elsewhere Paul uses the analogy of clothing to describe this; we are to put off the old man and put on Christ, like we put on and take off garments.

Living out the claims of the Gospel means being loving when attacked. It means being patient with those who are irreverent toward God. It may mean that we suffer real persecution for our beliefs. In short, it means that we respond to the world around us the way we see Jesus responding to it in the Gospels.

Recently, a commentor on this blog correctly pointed out that we cannot argue anyone into the Kingdom of God. Those who have the perception of God as an angry and vengeful bully will not be persuaded by quoting Scripture or well reasoned arguments. The only thing that may break through is a life lived in imitation of Jesus.

A line that I heard a while back comes to mind, “you may be the only gospel that your neighbor reads.” It is by living out the truth of the Gospel that we can provide the correct perspective on who God is. We are called to represent him well, as did our example, Jesus.

Churches for Apologetics – Please sign the petition

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CAA LogoImagine an army that never trained and was poorly equipped. Without training, the soldiers would not know how to use the weapons in their possession  Such an army would be decimated by the enemy.

Or, imagine a football team whose training table consisted entirely of Twinkies, Ding Dongs, and other junk food. Instead of lifting weights they play video games. Instead of watching game film, they watch soap operas. This is not a team that will gain anything except a larger waist.

In the same way, for the Church to accomplish her mission, we need to train our people to understand and defend their faith. We need to be able to explain to our children not only what we believe but on what basis we believe it.

To encourage us in this endeavor, the Christian Apologetics Alliance has produced a petition. I encourage those who are committed to building up the church, defending their faith and willing to teach others to do so, to sign the petition.

Knowing that two thirds of our children leave the church, many to never return, the importance of this work should be obvious. There are many churches who struggle to know what they believe and what comes from those pulpits is the verbal equivalent of pureed peas. It is no wonder that children raised in this environment reject the nonsense that they’ve been taught.

But I have seen teens who have grown up in solid churches where the Gospel is clearly taught from the pulpit also walk away. While training them and their parents about what we believe and why would not prevent all these departures, I wonder if many or even most of them could be avoided.

We have good reason to believe as we do. The arguments used by the “new” atheists can be answered. We need to do a better job of knowing and teaching those answers.

To read and sign the petition, click on the CAA logo in this post or click on this link.

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