DO WE REALLY NEED THEISTIC PROOFS?

This question is highly relevant. This is because many churches teach that the mind and the fruits of mental inquiry simply get in the way of what we are called upon to do – to believe and to have faith. They reason that the more we depend upon reason, the less we depend upon faith, the mainstay of the Christian life.

However, this didn’t seem to reflect the Gospel Jesus taught. Instead, He discouraged blind faith:

·       “If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” (John 10:37-38; 5:31-38)

Jesus never hinted that we should quiet our mind, but rather use our mind in to serve the Lord:

·       And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. (Matthew 22:37-38)

Using our minds for godly service is part of the greatest commandment! However, our minds must first be convinced that the risen Christ is the truth. This was Jesus’ strategy when He encountered His two disheartened disciples on the Emmaus Road, who sadly confessed:

·       But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. (Luke 24:21)

Jesus then sought to fill their minds with confidence in the truth, the very thing that they required:

·       And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. (Luke 24:25-27)

First, they had to be humbled and shown that they had been taken captive by discouragement because they were not abiding in the Word. Then, He would provide them with tangible evidence – Himself.

·       And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. (Luke 24:31)

The assured knowledge of the truth energized these two disciples to immediately return to Jerusalem where they found the others. This illustrates the fact that we too need evidential reassurance.

After this, Jesus then appeared to His other disciples who were hiding in fear.

Let me now try to anticipate your challenge:

·       Jesus was able to provide the best proofs of all – miracles. We are not. Instead, theistic proofs can only provide us with a probability of the truths of God and not the assurance that we are to have.

This, of course, is true. The proofs that I will be presenting may not be able to do much more than show that Christianity is probably true or that it is superior to other worldviews. However, I think that this is very important. These proofs and apologetics, in general, serve as a protective shield surrounding the inner core of our faith. Without this defensive shield, we are defenseless to protect our assurance against the many arrows of doubt and uncertainty.

While many tell me, “I just know what I believe and nothing will change that,” I am troubled by this answer. It seems to suggest that they are able to stand without the full armor that our Lord is requiring us to wear. Instead, this answer seems to smack of self-trust. In contrast, Paul warned:

·       Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. (1 Corinthians 10:12)

He had directed this teaching against those who thought they didn’t need to learn from the Israelite failures, convinced that Israel’s sins couldn’t overtake them.

However, is weighing evidences and proofs part of the full armor that God has prescribed for us? Is apologetics and the arguments for the Christian worldview part of the “belt of truth” or the “shield of faith” (Ephesians 6:15-16)?

Some would argue that it is enough just to know the Gospel and not the challenges that come against it. However, this does not seem to be the Scriptural message. Instead, we find admonitions to be knowledgable of false teachings:

• "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.” (Matthew 7:15)

• Then He charged them, saying, "Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod." (Mark 8:15)

• Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. (Col. 2:8)

• Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. (1 John 4:1)

However, it is not enough to be knowledgeable about the viper’s venom after we have been bitten. We also have to understand it well enough to apply the right antidote. Likewise, it is not enough to simply avoid false teachings. Instead, we are to proactively engage them – any arguments that challenge the “knowledge of God,” in order to bring these challenges into conformity with Scripture:

·       For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. (Cor. 10:4-5)

For example, we are told that God doesn’t exist, and that we believe in an unnecessary and unsupportable myth, now made irrelevant by science, which is able to provide the answers that religion had once provided.

The above verses inform us that it is our duty to engage these arguments. Even if we don’t feel threatened by them, our children will feel threatened and will demand answers. When the church is unable to provide them, our children will conclude that there are no answers and that the atheists are correct and go elsewhere.

Even I need to reassure myself in times of doubt and spiritual attack that I am going in the right direction. Theistic proofs, although they are unable to conclude the deal, have reassured me that my beliefs and experiences are valid.

The limitations of these kinds of proofs should not discourage us. All proofs are limited. When I am dialoguing with an atheist who will not listen to any of the evidences that I provide, I simply turn the tables on him:

·       I would be glad to give you many proofs for the existence of God. However, since I don’t talk to machines and computers, first simply prove that you exist, and then I will tell you everything you want to know.

The thoughtful atheist will soon realize that he is unable to prove that he exists and, therefore, he is being unreasonable to demand that I prove God exists. However, this doesn’t mean that he will admit this to me. (Interestingly, many atheists believe that they are little more than wet machines, denying that we even have freewill. Sometimes, I chide them by saying, “I don’t talk to wet machines.”)

I don’t think that any of us are above doubting. John the Baptist, while in jail, began to doubt that Jesus was who even John had acknowledged Him to be – “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”

He therefore sent his disciples to Jesus to conform if He really is the promised Messiah. Jesus didn’t answer these seekers, as many might today, with, “Just tell John to believe.” Instead, He provided them with evidential proof for the struggling prophet:

·       And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. (Matthew 11:4-5)

We must be prepared to do the same, just as we have been instructed:

·       Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. (Jude 3)

To ignore such teachings is to refuse the provisions of God at our own expense.

APOLOGETICS IS PART OF THE FABRIC OF THE BIBLE

While theology answers the “what” question – What are we to believe? – apologetics answers the “why” question: Why do we believe what we believe? But is apologetics – the rational defense of the faith – biblical? It certainly is! In fact, we find apologetics in all of the evangelistic sermons of the Book of Acts!

Notice how Peter answered the “why” question. The crowds had heard the Apostles speaking with the supernatural gift of tongues. Some of the crowd concluded that they must be drunk. However, Peter used this phenomenon to demonstrate that this represented a fulfillment of prophecy and, consequently, a proof for the faith:

• “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: ‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day.’” (Acts 2:14-20; ESV) 

Peter understood that this fulfillment of the prophecy of the Prophet Joel was evidence supportive of the new Christian faith. However, Peter was on an apologetic role. He now centered his proof of the faith on the resurrection:

• “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. For David says concerning him, ‘I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken; therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in hope. For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption. You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’” (Acts 2:22-28)

First, Peter mentioned the miracles. They all knew about these, but didn’t the crucifixion put to death this Messianic hope? No! By quoting Psalm 16, Peter tried to prove that the resurrection had been prophesied and had turned everything around. Peter then explained the meaning of the Psalm and how it pointed to the resurrection:

• “Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. (Acts 2:29-31) 

Peter then offered testimonial evidence of the resurrection that anyone could ascertain by speaking to the many witnesses. Then, he cited another Psalm (110) that the Israelites also regarded as Messianic:

• This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, “The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.’ Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” (Acts 2:32-36) 

According to Peter, the evidence was enough to produce certainty.” What was the result of such apologetic preaching?

• So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. (Acts 2:41) 

Admittedly, argumentation alone does not save anyone, but neither does any salvation message. Both must be accompanied by the work of the Spirit in changing hearts.

During Paul’s first recorded evangelistic message, in Antioch in Pisidia, Paul also brought forward evidence to establish the Person of Jesus:

• Of this man’s [King David’s] offspring God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised. Before his coming, John had proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.  And as John was finishing his course, he said, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. No, but behold, after me one is coming, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.’ Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, to us has been sent the message of this salvation. For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him. And though they found in him no guilt worthy of death, they asked Pilate to have him executed. And when they had carried out all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead, and for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people. (Acts 13:23-31)

First, Paul identified Jesus as David’s promised offspring, in accordance with prophecy. Then he cited John the Baptist’s testimony, followed by allusions to prophecies of the death of the Messiah. This, of course, was followed by the evidence of the resurrection – eyewitness testimony of those who are still alive. He was now ready to provide the Scriptural evidence for the resurrection:

• And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus, as also it is written in the second Psalm, ‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you.’ And as for the fact that he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way, ‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.’ Therefore he says also in another psalm [16], ‘You will not let your Holy One see corruption.’ For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruption, but he whom God raised up did not see corruption. Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. (Acts 13:32-38)

Again, both of the quoted Psalms were regarded as Messianic. This would avoid any controversy as to whether or not prophecy was fulfilled by a Messiah. Meanwhile, God too had been providing His own evidence:

• So they remained for a long time, speaking boldly for the Lord, who bore witness to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands. (Acts 14:3)

If God provides reasons-to-believe, we should not be hesitant to also provide reasons.

In Athens, Paul reasoned with them as Gentiles. He appealed to argumentation and reasons that might make a difference to them. Therefore, it does not seem that he cited Scripture. Instead, he appealed to what they already knew and valued – their own thinkers:

• Yet he [God] is actually not far from each one of us, for “‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “‘For we are indeed his offspring.’ Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. (Acts 17:27-29)

Paul reasoned from what they knew to what they didn’t know – that the Athenians should not worship idols, their own creations. Even their own poets had asserted that we are His offspring. If this is so, then God cannot be “an image formed by the art and imagination of man.” Instead, He – the Cause – must be greater than we, the result of His work.

Apologetics, the “why” of belief, is woven into the very fabric of Scripture. It had also been integral to the Hebrew Scriptures and the experience of Israel, as Moses had reasoned 40 years after the Exodus:

• “For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether such a great thing as this has ever happened or was ever heard of. Did any people ever hear the voice of a god speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and still live?  Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, and by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great deeds of terror, all of which the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? To you it was shown, that you might know that the LORD is God; there is no other besides him. (Deuteronomy 4:32-35)

Israel had no reason for their unbelief and rebellion. They knew better. Jesus was also cognizant of our need for evidence and even evidential reassurances. After John the Baptist had been arrested, he underwent a crisis in faith. He had declared Jesus to be the Lamb of God:

• John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, “He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.” (John 1:15-16)

However, John now instructed his disciples to find out if Jesus is truly the One. When they found Him, Jesus could simply have told them, “Tell John to just believe.” However, He provided them with evidence to reassure John:

• And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. (Matthew 11:4-5)

We need food for both our hearts and our minds. Consequently, Jesus never instructed His followers to turn off their minds but instead to love Him with all their hearts, souls, and minds (Matthew 22:37). We too must love Him accordingly.

A CHRISTMAS MEDITATION

Where do we find true happiness? By rejoicing in God’s truth:

·       “True happiness is to rejoice in the truth, for to rejoice in the truth is to rejoice in you, O God, who are the truth… Man’s love of truth is such that when he loves something which is not the truth, he pretends to himself that what he loves is the truth, and because he hates to be proved wrong, he will not allow himself to be convinced that he is deceiving himself. So he hates the real truth for the sake of what he takes to his heart in its place.” (Augustine’s Confessions, Book 10:23)

How do we love God? We can’t cook for Him, clean His house, or launder His cloths.

Some believe that it is strictly about experiencing God by shutting down the mind. For Augustine, a relationship with God is a matter of abiding in His Word, His unalterable truth:

·       “Only a master who really teaches us really speaks to us: if he does not teach us, even though he may be speaking, it is not to us that he speaks. But who is our teacher except the Truth that never changes? Even when we learn from created things, which are subject to change, we are led to the Truth that does not change.” (Confessions, Book 11:8)

Is it proper then that we limit such a relationship to feelings and experiences without understanding? According to Augustine, the lack of wisdom is both darkness and a punishment:

·       “I am aglow with its fire. It is the light of Wisdom, Wisdom itself, which at times shines upon me, parting my clouds. But when I weakly fall away from its light, those clouds envelop me again in the dense mantle of darkness which I bear for my punishment.” (Confessions, Book 11:9)

Well, what does this have to do with Christmas? A friend called me today to say that he had been reprimanded for speaking out against a visiting pastor. At the end of her sermon, she called the youth of the church to come to the altar to commit themselves to the Babe in the manger, “whatever you might think about Him.”

Well, what we think about Him is all important and shouldn’t be designated as a “whatever.” Paul had insisted:

·       I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel… But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned! (Galatians 1:6-9)

Strong words, but these are Gospel words. My friend yelled out that who that Babe is does matter and was later reprimanded!

His conduct hadn’t been “nice,” but perhaps it glorified God. The children of Israel had sinned against God, having been tempted into sin by the Moabite women. Consequently, a plague broke out and was consuming Israel. Nevertheless, the Israelites continued in their sin, even to the point of bringing Moabite women to their tents, even in front of Moses. However, the priest Phinehas drove a spare through a couple in their sinful embrace and the plague ceased. What did the Lord think about such “un-nice” behavior?

·       The LORD said to Moses, "Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, has turned my anger away from the Israelites; for he was as zealous as I am for my honor among them, so that in my zeal I did not put an end to them.” (Numbers 25:10-11)

My friend had also been zealous about the Lord! But Phinehas had been a relic of Old Testament morality, right? Well it seems that confronting anti-Gospel messages is also a part of the NT. Peter had denied the Gospel when he withdrew from Gentile believers when the legalistic Jewish believers arrived from Jerusalem. However, Paul was convinced that his behavior actually denied the Gospel and our oneness in Christ. Therefore, he publicly opposed Peter in the midst of his hypocrisy (Gal. 2:11-14).

Perhaps we have become too “nice,” and perhaps Paul’s example should be a model for us? Perhaps we aren’t loving the Lord as we ought by failing to stand up for His truth? I suspect that Augustine wouldn’t have reprimanded my friend but would have honored him as the Lord had done for Phinehas, by honoring him with an enduring priesthood.

Answering Atheists

 Did you know that the atheists have their own bibles containing hundreds of alleged biblical contradictions? These “bibles” also point to an assortment of Old Testament moral teachings that they find highly distasteful and want to shame and silence you with them. Therefore, they will throw this overwhelming collection at you, knowing that you cannot even begin to answer them.

Of course, you will not be able to answer them all. Instead, you will be on the defensive. However, I try to keep an assortment of answers in my arsenal, if not for them, then for me and for other Christians who might feel threatened by this torrent.

Here is one of their favorites. These verses give Israelites the right to marry captive women from the nations they have defeated:

• When you go to war against your enemies and the LORD your God delivers them into your hands and you take captives, if you notice among the captives a beautiful woman and are attracted to her, you may take her as your wife. Bring her into your home and have her shave her head, trim her nails and put aside the clothes she was wearing when captured. After she has lived in your house and mourned her father and mother for a full month, then you may go to her and be her husband and she shall be your wife.  If you are not pleased with her, let her go wherever she wishes. You must not sell her or treat her as a slave, since you have dishonored her. (Deuteronomy 21:10-14)

Initially, you will find this teaching disturbing. We can simply answer it by claiming that we are no longer under the Old but the New Covenant. While this is certainly true, these verses are still the Word of God, and we should be able to defend them as reflecting God’s wisdom, at least for that particular time in history.

OLD TESTAMENT TEACHINGS WERE DIVINELY TAILORED FOR A PARTICULAR PEOPLE AND SITUATION. When asked about divorce, Jesus answered that God only gave permission to divorce because of the hardness of the hearts of the Israelites (Matthew 19:1-8). This principle of accommodation can be applied to many other OT teachings like polygamy. In other words, God gave moral/legal instructions to control sinful practices, not to promote them.

SOLDIERS WOULD OFTEN RAPE, KILL, AND SELL THEIR FEMALE CHATTEL. However, this wasn’t allowed in Israel. Instead of raping and selling their captive women, the Israelites were instructed that their only option was to marry these women. After their families had been killed in battle, this might have represented the best possible option for them. Perhaps a woman left in such a vulnerable situation could expect nothing better.

ISRAELITE SOLDIERS HAD TO RESPECT THESE CAPTIVE WOMEN. She had to be allowed to mourn for a month before the marriage could be consummated, even though the mourning was for the enemy of Israel. She wasn’t a mere sexual object to be used and abused.

THE SOLDIERS COULD NOT SELL THOSE THEY HAD MARRIED. Even if the soldier had tired of his wife, he could not pass her on to others or sell her as a slave or a sex slave. Instead, she was given complete freedom. Why, because the husband had treated her wrongly. He had “dishonored” her! Elsewhere, we learn that anyone had the option of becoming an Israelite to enjoy the complete rights of an Israaelite. What other nation had extended such protections to captive women!

We have nothing to be ashamed of regarding the teachings of the OT. In wisdom, our God had given them to a previously pagan people, still inculcated with the same tendencies. Although these teachings might not have matched God’s heavenly ideal, they were just what such a people at that time required, as even the NT asserts:

• So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good. (Romans 7:12)

Do not be surprised that such an exposition will not satisfy your atheist associates. They too have their own belief system and faith to which they are entirely committed.