As we get ready to celebrate Easter 2020, we know that most churches will be empty with the exception of staff and a worship team. Most of us will be watching services online or maybe on television. People are beginning to realize that church is not a building we enter once a week but every believer. Jesus tells us in Matthew 18:20 “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” Yes, it is comforting to be in an overflowing building with other believers, but real comfort is to know Jesus Christ and what He did for each of us.
But there is a problem today. More people than ever before do not believe in Jesus. They do not believe that God exists. Even those who might come to belief have questions that unfortunately most Christians are not equipped to answer. Today it is harder than ever to fulfill the great Commission that Jesus gave us in Matthew 028:19 to “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,”.
When I was growing up in the 50’s and 60’s that wasn’t that hard. Most people believed in God and believed Jesus existed. They were by and large open to the Gospel message. Today however people are bombarded with reasons not to believe. Universities for the most part care mor about political correctness than training students to evaluate the evidence and think for themselves. Rather than healthy debate they allow and sometimes even encourage shouting down those who one disagrees with.
Add to this the fact that young Christians are unprepared to answer the unbeliever’s questions about why we believe and when confronted by an atheist hostile to all religions tend to either withdraw from the fray or start to question their own beliefs. The sad thing is that of all the worlds religions Christianity is the most prepared to answer the unbeliever’s questions. The evidence is on our side.
Over the next few weeks, I plan to revisit how we can defend Christianity to the world. What I hope to accomplish is to get each of you to dig deeper in Christian apologetics and be able to answer both the seeker’s questions but also answer the skeptic. To do this we have to start with the basic question, is there absolute truths are is everything relative. We will look at proofs for God’s existence. Is the Bible reliable? Did Jesus exist and did He actually rise from the tomb.
Okay, who am I to do this. I am not a minister or a theologian, just a lay person with a great interest in Christian apologetic. The interest started in the 90’s when I was asked by the person in charge of the adult Sunday school at our church to teach a class on apologetics. I must admit I had no idea why we needed to apologize for Christianity. Turns out I wasn’t apologizing but defending the faith. Suddenly a whole new world opened up to me. I had no ides there was so much evidence for my faith. Turns out Christianity is not just a religion of faith but one of intellect and evidence.
A few years later I enrolled in the apologetics master’s program at the Southern Evangelical Seminary. While not completing the degree program due to a health issue I was able to take classes from Norman Geisler, Gary Habermas and Ron Rhodes. These classes gave me a deeper understanding of why Christianity is true. Over the years I have continued my self-education and hopefully have been able to teach others.
So, as we get ready to celebrate toe resurrection of our Lord and Savior in a slightly different way that usual pleas join me in learning more of how each of us can answer the questions and objections of the unbeliever and the seeker.
Have a blessed day, a blessed Resurrection Sunday and remember He is Risen.
David
Reasons For The Hope Blog 