Tag: Christian Apologetics

Posted on

We Need To Change How We Talk About The Bible

I like to win arguments. I like being right. I like showing people that I’m smart. I like using my knowledge and proving a point. It’s fun. I enjoy the rush it gives. And it may be one of the most destructive things I can do as a Christian.

“The defeat of the intellect is not the object in fighting with the sword of the Spirit, but the acceptance of the heart. In this case, therefore, I drew back.”

– George MacDonald

The mentor of the famous C. S. Lewis shares just what is wrong with Christians fighting, bickering, debating back and forth until there is one winner.

That isn’t the point.

The Bible isn’t somethign we use to defeat or destroy, belittle or beat  a brother or sister in Christ. It isn’t a weapon for us to weld to prove how excellent we are at exegesis. It isn’t a stool or an escalator we get on to elevate ourselves above the rest of the Body of Jesus.

If it is, we need to check ourself. Before we wreck a lot more than ourself.

The sword of the Spirit, the Word of God is not for destruction or defeat. While it does pierce through to the heart, dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow (Hebrews 4:12), the end goal of the Bible is not the demise of anyone.

The disciple Peter spoke well to this matter, when asked if he wanted to depart from Jesus,

“Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.“”

– John 6:68

While this first applies to the words of Jesus, it does extend to all the words of Scripture. They are words of life. They are words that do not destroy or defeat or diminish. They are words that encourage, strengthen, and build up.

After all,

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

– 1 Timothy 3:16-17

If we are discussing, digging, debating, theorizing, or theologizing with the intent to win, we have failed. And we need to step back.

MacDonald says, “I drew back.”

Like a retreat, a purpose full pause, a chance to reflect and re-evaluate what he was doing.

I think I need to do that more often. I’m sure a lot of Christians do, but I’m thinking about myself for a second.

I am smart, but I know there have been times I have used my knowledge, my wisdom to trounce other Christians, belittle them to elevate myself. I have argued people into corners, made them second guess what they believed just to prove I knew better than they did.

That’s not the point. That’s not what the Bible is supposed to be used for. And there is nothing about that kind of action or attitude that is Christ like.

I need to draw back a lot more often than I do.

This isn’t an anti-debate or anti-intellectual statement or quote either. The mentor of C.S. Lewis? How could a man that taught one of the greatest Christian thinkers be anti-intellectual?

No. MacDonald saw in himself, and I’m sure in others, that while debate and figuring things out is of great value, rightness isn’t the end goal.

A renewed mind and an upright spirit are. The repentant heart.

are your conversations, your debates, your theologizing changing hearts or earning you victory points?

One is in line with the heart of Scripture, the word of God.

The other may be the most destructive thing you can do as a Christian.

This article first appeared on Christian Thought Sandbox.

Posted on

Why Truth Matters: Biblical Truth for Rising Generations

What is Truth?

This question has echoed through the ages since Pilate asked it of Jesus the Christ. This is a good question today for some who, sadly, are “ever learning, but never coming to a knowledge of the truth.” We can only hope that at some point their prejudices may give way before the truth. Those seeking truth in the spacious towers of moral relativism will search in vain, because truth abides forever and ever, not subject to popular opinion, not based on trendy fads. Truth is absolute.

Why Are We Here?

Without truth, many wonders, “What is the purpose of life?” These are the ones who sincerely seek the truth, only to be kept from it, for they do not know where to find it.

So How Do We Find the Truth?

One ancient prophet said of his Creator: “He is a God of truth, and cannot lie.” Therefore, a logical place to start looking for truth is in the word of God. Saint John said, “it is the Spirit that beareth witness because the Spirit [of Christ] is truth.”

So, if we ask what is true, with a sincere heart, having faith in Christ, He will manifest the truth to us, by the power of the Holy Spirit. And by the power of the Holy Spirit, we may know the truth of all things.

But Why Does Truth Matter?

Not too long ago, Sean McDowell, Ph.D.,  a professor of Christian Apologetics,   was speaking at a youth event. Afterwards, a student came up to him and said, “You talked about truth a lot. What’s the big deal?  Why is truth even important?”

Why Does Truth Matter?

Why does truth matter? I would suggest to this young man: “At some point in time, in some real crisis, not an imagined one, perhaps you will even be faced with death. In that defining moment, real truth will be important.”

Dr. Peter Marshall, a beloved chaplain in the United States Senate in the 1940s, was invited to speak at the Naval Academy. He was prepared to address his concern about the loose morals of the young people at that time. But the Spirit gave him a different message.  He felt strongly impressed to speak to them about death. He said:

“But what is death?   Is it to be blown out, like a candle in the wind?   Is it a shivering void in which there is nothing that lives?   Is is a cold space into which we are launched to be evaporated, or to disappear?   Are we to believe that a half-mad eternal humorist tossed the worlds aloft and left their destiny to chance?   That a man’s life is the development of a nameless vagrancy?   That a hole in the ground six feet deep is his final heritage?   There are a thousand insane things easier to believe than these!   How can we believe that human personality will not survive when One who went into the grave and beyond came back to say, “Whosoever believeth in me shalt not perish, but have eternal life.”

He also told them about a young boy with a fatal illness. The boy asked his mother what it was like to die.   She reminded him of those days when he had come in from play, so exhausted that he had fallen asleep on his mother’s bed, without even changing his clothes. When he awoke in the morning, he was in his own bed. Daddy had lovingly lifted him up in his strong arms and carried him to the comfort of his own bed, where he belonged.

That is what death is like, his mother continued. You fall asleep and when you wake up in the morning, you find that the Heavenly Father has lifted you up and brought you home to the comfort of His loving arms, where you belong because the Lord Jesus has loved us and the little boy no longer feared death.

So the Spirit prompted Dr. Marshall to tell the truth about death to hundreds of bright young sailors at the Naval Academy. Shortly thereafter, Pearl Harbor was bombed, and many of those sailors faced death in the devastating war that followed.

Yes, truth matters. We need it to give meaning to our lives.

Saint John reminds us that the Spirit “will guide you into all truth.” And Jesus Christ is that way, that truth, and life eternal. At the end of the day, through Him, we can return home, where we belong.

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. ~ 3 John 1:4

Dr. Peter Marshall was Chaplain to the United States Senate from 1947, until his sudden death in 1949. He served as pastor of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C.   Born in Scotland, he traveled to New York in 1927 to follow his call to Christian ministry and attend Columbia Theological Seminary where he graduated with his doctorate in 1931.   He accepted an invitation to preach a morning sermon in the chapel of the United States Naval Academy, December 7, 1941.   Neither he, nor anyone in attendance at the chapel service that day was  aware that the Imperial Navy of Japan was attacking the U.S. military bases at Pearl Harbor.   Many of the young sailors in the chapel that morning were hearing their last sermon and would give their lives in defense of our nation in World War II.  

 

As seen on