Hopeful Apologetics

We read through Romans 1-8 this weekend in church and it was a time of blessing. Hearing the pure Word of God and allowing it to minister to me and the rest of the people at our church was refreshing. God revealed many things to me during that time, two of which were somewhat related to evangelism so I wanted to write them down here before I forget them.

God's ExistenceOne of the simplest proofs for God’s existence is the building-builder, painting-painter, Creation-Creator analogy. If you are unfamiliar with that proof, check it out here under the heading “Does God Exist?”. This proof is powerfully summarized in Hebrews 3:4.

As we were reading through Romans we came across Romans 4:17: (as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did;

This Scripture states that everything that has come into existence has been called into existence by God. Most people realize the absurdity of an eternally existent universe and know that it cannot have existed forever. As a result, most everyone agrees that the universe came into existence at some time in the past. With this starting point, you can take someone to Romans 4:17 to show them that God, not some natural mechanism, is the One who calls things that do not exist into existence. It is a Scriptural support to the apologetic of trying to prove the existence of God to an atheist or non-believer.

Hope and Faith
Later on in Romans, we came to Romans 8:24-25: For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.

The way this can be helpful in evangelism is confronting atheists or those who believe that “faith” is something contrary to logic and reason and therefore distance themselves from having “faith” or believing in something they cannot see or analyze with their 5 senses. Most atheists are ready to defend their worldview when it comes to “faith” and explain why they don’t have the same type of “faith” as a religious person. However, this verse showed me an alternate approach to the idea of faith with an atheist; a backdoor, so to speak. Rather than trying to get them to admit they have faith, ask them if they have any hopes about their future or have ever hoped for anything in the past. They will undoubtedly say yes. But what is hope? It is a type of faith about a future event or circumstance that you cannot see and has not yet come to pass. We hope for good health, for a good job, for a long life, to get married, to fall in love, to be successful and much more. The truth is that the object of your hope, by definition, has to be something we have not yet seen or known otherwise it would not be hope. It is a type of faith we have in looking forward to a future event. Romans 8:24-25 brought this to my attention during my reading this weekend and I look forward to using this apologetic as necessary during conversations on the street with lost people.