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.

Answering Objections - The Bible is Full of Errors

When you are out talking to people about Jesus and the Gospel it is not uncommon to come across questions and objections. Some are valid objections and an honest answer will help prepare the person's heart for the seed of the gospel.  Others are just smoke screens that people hide behind because the truth of God's existence and our accountability to Him for our actions would throw a wet blanket on their current lifestyle.

So, I wanted to address a common objection that you might come across along the way and offer some potential answers that I have found helpful when trying to respond. The next time you are talking with someone about the Bible and they throw an argument out there like: "the Bible is full of errors" here is a potential way you can respond.

1. Challenge them to show you 3 supposed errors by asking "Can you show me in the Bible some of the errors you are referring to?" Chances are they won't because they are just parroting out what they heard in some classroom, blog, movie, radio show, etc. If they give you something tangible and you don't have a good answer for it, go here to learn about supposed Bible Difficulties and how to respond to them. If you do not have an immediate explanation, then your starting assumption that the Bible is true must take precedence, and you just have to learn more. In every case, there is a logical explanation— we just have to clear up our own ignorance. The idea that God made an error is never a possibility.
2. Since they are affirming errors in the Bible ask them some questions to see how familiar they are with the Bible. If you can show that they don't know some of the most basic truths about the Bible then their argument will lose any credibility and you can counter with some positive truths about the infallibility of Scripture. One way to do this is to say "oh, so you are familiar with the Bible?" If they say no, then you can just say "well why should I believe you when you tell me there are errors if you yourself are not familiar with it." If they say yes they are familiar with the Bible then ask them some basic questions that anyone remotely familiar with the Bible should know.
1. Question 1: How many books are in the Bible? Answer: 66.
2. Question 2: What is the first book in the New Testament? Answer: Matthew.
3. Question 3: How many Gospels are in the New Testament? Answer 4.
4. Question 4: Who wrote the letter to the Philippians? Answer: The Apostle Paul
5. Question 5: What is the 2nd book of the Bible? Answer: Exodus
6. You really could ask any number of basic questions. The idea is to really see if the person is at all familiar with the Bible. If not, call their bluff and tell them that since they don't really know the Bible it makes no sense for me to take anything they say about the Bible seriously. Then you can reason with them from the Scriptures about why the Bible is reliable, trustworthy and true. See the following link for examples: Can we trust the Bible?
3. If they are sharp enough, they might call you out and say well how do you know that all other religious books and beliefs are not true, are you familiar with all of them? Below is a helpful response to this challenge thanks to my friend Tony over at Systematic Evangelism.
1. Your answer should be no, that's unnecessary and impossible, and here's why:  If I know that 1 + 1 = 2 and only 2, I do not have to check to see if 3, 4 , 5 or any other number are possible answers.  By knowing the correct answer and knowing that there is only one right answer, I can know for sure that all other answers are false.  In the same way, by knowing that Christianity is true, I do not have to investigate every false religion under the sun.  If Christianity is true, all other religions are false. And here are just a few of the reasons why I know Christianity is true...( see Can we trust the Bible?)

Hopefully, you find some of this information useful. The most important thing to remember is that you must be respectful and gentle when responding to any objection (1 Peter 3:15-16). Remember, lost people are deceived (2 Cor 4:4) therefore we should have compassion on them and pray for them. Our hope is that by answering intellectual objections it will help soften their heart to the truth of the Gospel. But don't spend all your time addressing their intellect, remember that it is the Law, not our arguments, that is the school master that will ultimately lead them to Christ (Galatians 3:24).