Psalm 127: Unless the Lord Builds The house . . . .

Psalm 127: Unless the Lord Builds The house . . . .

Jan 20, 2023 | Apologetics

When I wrote my first book, The Persuasive Christian Parent, this short Psalm by Solomon was an inspiration, especially the first verse:

Unless the Lord builds the house,
the builders labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
the guards stand watch in vain.

Some people who read the book, or didn’t, accused me of arguing that I could guarantee my children maintaining their faith throughout life. As I said in the book itself, we are in control of nothing and can’t guarantee anything, but what we can and must do is be the best builders we can be. Not to mention God holding us accountable for how we raise our children. It’s not a dice game, a shot in the dark, but as my subtitle says, it is God’s provision for building an enduring faith in us and our children. He has given us everything we need, as Peter says, for life and Godliness through our knowledge of Him.

We see in Solomon’s wisdom a profound biblical truth: God builds and we build. These are not mutually exclusive but complimentary truths. It is my responsibility to build the best house I can possibly build. If I build a crappy house and it collapses in the storm, that is not God’s fault. It is mine! Some Christians are under the impression if they pray big, mountain moving prayers to God, that gets them off the hook for working their tail off. It doesn’t!

A good example is my current occupation. When I started building my business from scratch (on 100% commission), I was told if I make 50 to 60 calls a day, every day, I could not fail. And that is exactly what I did. I also prayed fervently to God because I desperately needed him to bless my efforts and establish the work of my hands. Me and God did some serious wrestling the first couple years because it was scary. It caused me to build my trust muscle in ways I’d never experienced before in my life, and as miserable as it was at times, the blessings have been incredible. In fact, I can hear my wife and granddaughter in the other room now as I type these words, and she is able to watch Eleanor when it’s needed because she doesn’t need to have a job anymore. That is an answer to prayer, all God, even as I worked my ever-living guts out to get it. So it’s both all me and all God—I work as if it depends on me, and pray because it depends on God.

These words of David in I Chronicles 29 were incredibly important in this difficult journey. They were in the church bulletin in the first or second church service we attended when we moved to Florida in June of 2017. I kept the bulletin and decided I was going to commit them to memory. Little did I know how much I would come to depend on them in the next several years:

11 Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power
and the glory and the majesty and the splendor,
for everything in heaven and earth is yours.
Yours, Lord, is the kingdom;
you are exalted as head over all.
12 Wealth and honor come from you;
you are the ruler of all things.
In your hands are strength and power
to exalt and give strength to all.
13 Now, our God, we give you thanks,
and praise your glorious name.

Wealth and honor come from Him even though we have to earn it, and knowing it is all him and all me makes it all the sweeter in fulfillment. It wasn’t God waving his magic wand, or me alone by the painful toil and the sweat of my brow. It has been real achievement in which I can take justifiable pride while at the same time giving God the glory because in a real way it all comes from him.

One of the practical applications for me is that I pray for things in the past I would just do without prayer in my business and daily life. So if I have a challenging situation I do everything within my power to do what I have to do. Then I commit the situation to the Lord and affirm whatever the results are, are up to him, and I trust him. It is this dynamic that has made Isaiah 26:3 one of my favorite verses:

You will keep in perfect peace him whose minds is steadfast, because he trusts in you.

Perfect peace is something I very much want and trusting in the sovereign Almighty God of the universe is the way to get it. Why is it that Jesus commands us not to worry? Because he wants us to experience perfect peace! Or why does Paul command us not to be anxious about anything? So that we can experience the peace of God “which transcends all understanding.” I want that! When I talk to friends and relatives who are worried and anxious about things I tell them: Repent!!! Worry and anxiety are sin. If we don’t have the peace Isaiah and Paul speak about, we are in sin. We are not trusting God, and we ought not to do that because God is worthy of our trust.

If it were only that simple, right? It actually is, but it takes practice like anything else. Deciding to trust God has to become the automatic reflex of our lives when “life happens.” And it happens all the time. We all know that “thorns and thistles” are a fact of existence, every single day, but every time they create challenges and adversities it’s an opportunity to trust God, or not. It doesn’t take long to realize the God David praises as the one who is “the ruler of all things,” is worthy of our trust in all things.

Does God Exist? A Conversation with Tom Holland, Stephen Meyer, and Douglas Murray

Does God Exist? A Conversation with Tom Holland, Stephen Meyer, and Douglas Murray

Jan 17, 2023 | Apologetics

If you’ve been around a while you’re no doubt familiar with the “New Atheists” who fleetingly crossed the cultural firmament for a decade early in this century. There was nothing “new” about these “New” atheists because their arguments, such as they were, were as old and stale as moldy bread. They were cliché driven anti-Christian fanatics who gained shooting star fame, and then were gone. It’s amazing to have witnessed how popular they were, then in very short order they weren’t. Non-Christian belief in the form of atheism and agnosticism still exists, obviously, but there is a breed of what we might call the New-New Atheists, and they are very important for the re-establishment of Christian Western civilization.

We’ve been programmed to think because of the onslaught of secularism over the last hundred plus years that secularism is ascendent never to retreat, and Christian civilization in the West is a spent force never to be seen again. For most people this is axiomatic, but I beg to differ. I use the Berlin Wall as a metaphor far too often, but it fits. In the ‘80s almost everyone thought Soviet communism was if not eternal, close to it. Then, like the New Atheists, it was gone. Secularism, alas, will not go so fast, and rebuilding Christian Western civilization will not be so easy, but I am convinced it will happen, as I am arguing in my next book. Our New-New Atheists are a big step in that direction.

In case you’re not familiar Uncommon Knowledge with Peter Robinson, he does interviews of interesting people on interesting topics, and he’s very good at it. Speak  ing of the Berlin Wall, he was a speech writer in the Reagan administration, and it was he who wrote Reagan’s tear down this wall speech, standing firm against all who said he should take that line out. Of the three gentlemen he’s interviewing about God’s existence, Stephen Myer is a Christian philosopher and author, and advocate for Intelligent Design. The other two are a couple of brilliant Brits. Douglas Murray is an author and political commentator, and Tom Holland is a scholar of the ancient world and the author of many books, his latest, Dominion argues that it is Christianity that gave us the modern world, and without it, a pagan world would be a very different and less hospitable place.

One of the things that stood out to me in the conversation was when Murray says, “I just don’t know.” And I think he repeats it several times. It’s a fascinating statement about the state of the man’s psychology. The issue, as it is for all atheists and agnostics, comes down to epistemology. In other words, how is it that we can “know” something. Is knowing even possible? He assumes he knows all kinds of things, but when it comes to God he just can’t “know.” This unnecessary dilemma so many face goes back to 17th century French Catholic philosopher Renes Descartes. He was trying to counter the growing skepticism of the age and attempted to prove that absolute certainty was possible. It is not! In fact, it is a fool’s errand, but his work put epistemology and the search for absolute certainty at the heart of intellectuals’ search for knowledge ever since.

Murray’s error, and Holland obviously suffers from it too, is that they believe they require some kind of knowing related to God that is different than all the other “knowing” of their lives. Any person who thinks clearly about these things (and given sin, that is not as easy as it sounds, Rom. 1:20) has to realize that all our knowledge requires faith, i.e., trust. I could prove this with one zillion examples, literally, but it isn’t necessary. Just think about it. Do we know anything with absolute certainty? Of course not. It isn’t even debatable. Which means faith, i.e., trust, is required for knowledge.

I use a phrase to make this point: there is no such thing as an unbeliever. You’ll notice throughout the conversation that Murray and Holland use faith as if it applies to other people but not them. The fact is every human being lives by faith, whether that is about metaphysical issues, like God’s existence, or should I trust the baby sitter with my child, or the doctor with my health, or the person selling me the car, and again, the examples are endless. Do I really know my wife loves me? I think I do, and there is plenty of evidence given she’s put up with me for 35 years, but I have to trust that she does. Or Do I even really know that I exist? Or do the solipsists have it right, that reality only exists in my brain? How do I know! Can I really be certain? Maybe my totally bizarre dreams I have every night are reality, and the daily mundane world I inhabit is the real dream. 

Knowing isn’t so obvious after all, but atheists and agnostics delude themselves in thinking it is. Thankfully, we don’t have to have absolute certainty to know God exists, and that Jesus of Nazareth lived, died, and rose from the dead that we might have life eternal. Stephen Meyer knows this, and he’s brilliant. He’s far more persuasive than his two agnostic interlocutors. 

 

“Unbelievable” Podcast, Apologetics, and Christian Conversions

“Unbelievable” Podcast, Apologetics, and Christian Conversions

Jan 11, 2023 | Apologetics, Uncategorized

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I had my biggest show biz break earlier this week appearing on the Unbelievable Podcast with Justin Brierly. Promoting a book as a “nobody” author without a “platform” is a formidable challenge. Zillions of people write books and are trying to get noticed, so not having a “name” makes the game especially difficult. I’m convinced Uninvented is unique enough to justify the attention of a “somebody,” and I’ve prayed and worked to that end. One prayer has been to have someone with a big platform appreciate the book and give it some attention. Unbelievable is certainly a big platform given it’s maybe the longest running apologetics podcast in existence. I think Justin told me he started in 2004, and in the podcasting world that’s positively ancient! In apologetics circles everyone knows Justin and Unbelievable.

(In case you’re not familiar with the reference of the podcast title, it comes from a catchy 1990 pop tune of the same name.)

The reason I’m writing about it now (before the episode comes out) is because it got me thinking about apologetics and Christian conversions. If you’re not familiar with the podcast, Justin created a niche by often having two people with different perspectives on things having a respectful dialogue. He’s a very good facilitator, doesn’t act like a cheerleader for the side he may be on, and asks solid questions. He certainly demonstrated this in our conversation. I’ve never been a fan of apologetics debates, whether it’s the atheist against the Christian, or the Calvinist verses the Arminian, etc., but Unbelievable never felt like a debate platform to me. Rather it’s more like two people who may disagree just having a conversation with someone helping it along. No wonder it’s lasted so long.

Regarding the topic of apologetics and converting people, and as I state in Uninvented, I don’t see apologetics primarily as something to convert non-Christians, although it is of course used by Christians to help people see the veracity of Christianity. Rather I see it as a ministry for building up the faith, i.e., trust, of the saints in their God and Savior. The verse from which we get the English word apologetics is I Peter 3:15,

But in your hearts set apart (sanctify) Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect . . .

The word reason in Greek, ἀπολογία-apologia, means a verbal defense, specifically like what a lawyer does in a court of law. The words, “everyone who asks you” has always stood out to me. There are several ways to take this, but at the least it assumes our Christian life is so apparent to those we interact with that they’re prompted so ask us about the reason for our hope. It doesn’t apply to incognito Christians. Our faith should be so apparent to those we interact with that they might be motivated to ask us why we’re different. To them there is something about us that doesn’t seem “normal.” I like to think of it as being a little annoying for Christ as I try to throw out hints to people I interact with. It all depends on the relationship and the situation, but our relationship with Jesus has to be something that compels us to want to do this.

What I know, though, whether it’s on the Unbelievable podcast, or in any other interaction with a non-Christian or a Christian, is that nothing I say in and of itself will make any difference whatsoever. The transformation of the human heart is God’s business, not the power or persuasiveness of my words. I’ve learned this lesson six ways from Sunday; meaning it takes me a lot of failure to learn my lessons, but God is patient with clueless sinners like me. As with all sanctification, it’s painful but gratifying beyond description. It’s hard to describe, especially for one who for many years was deluded in thinking my words did have the power to change another person, how freeing it is to know I have literally zero power. That it’s all God. And being a convinced Calvinist, I mean literally all. I have a printout of these words from Zachariah 4:6 pinned to my bulletin board to remind me that it’s all him in all things:

“Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,” says the Lord Almighty.

I can hear the non-sequitur forming in some of your minds: then doesn’t this mean what we do and say doesn’t matter? If it’s all God, some think, then what we do doesn’t matter. Oh yes it does! God’s sovereignty, his rule over all things, never precludes human agency and responsibility. I’ve found in knowing and trusting God’s sovereign power is incredibly freeing. The results are not up to me, but the work and obedience, that is. Thy will be done should always be our final prayer.

Regarding apologetics, few Christians are good at it, and I was one of those for much of my Christian life. I’ve always been zealous to want to spread and defend the faith, I just didn’t work at it. But in 2009 I had a turning point. In an encounter with a co-worker, I did a terrible a terrible apologetics job and I was embarrassed, although my interlocutor wouldn’t have seen it that way. I was ashamed of myself, so I decided to dive in and learn how to defend the faith. I was delighted to discover a wealth of resources were now available that were not there in the over two decades since I had studied apologetics. Podcasts were a growing phenomenon and I listened to everything I could find, and there was a seemingly endless supply of books and website articles as well. I was amazed how little I knew and set about to rectify that.

As the Lord commands us to defend the reason for the hope that we have, he has graciously provided us with a faith that can be defended with integrity; we have the advantage of knowing Christianity is true! It only requires a commitment on our part to put in the effort to acquire that knowledge and develop the skills to use it. It doesn’t mean we have to know everything, and often the best strategy isn’t transmitting knowledge but just asking questions. Most people we will interact with have no idea what they believe or why they believe it. When we do, God may use us to bless others to advance his kingdom and build his church.

 

Consideration of the Alternative: Putting Ourselves AND Non-Christians on the Defensive

Consideration of the Alternative: Putting Ourselves AND Non-Christians on the Defensive

Aug 27, 2022 | Apologetics, Uncategorized

I recently wrote a piece about a young man who “de-converted” from Christianity, and in it I made this assertion: “the burden of proof is on everybody!” Non-Christians attack Christianity while assuming Christians are the only ones who need to defend their beliefs. That has been the secular assumption for the last several hundred years, and by the 20th century it became the default position of secular Western culture. And we as Christians all too often play the part, accepting the assumption of the critics. We need to understand everyone, every single person, lives by faith. All people are fundamentally religious, which is one of the reasons I dislike referring to Christians as “believers” and non-Christians as “unbelievers.” There is no such thing as an unbeliever!

The question is, who’s faith is most credible, most plausible, makes the most sense, is most logical, and has the evidence to back up its claims. When secularism became the default plausibility structure of Western civilization, a world devoid of God became the most credible and plausible worldview, and made the most sense for most people (whether God exists or not is irrelevant because as I always say, there are very few philosophical atheists). Whatever they believe, most people are practical atheists, they live as if God didn’t exist.

Western culture in its many varied forms drives practical atheism, be it in education, media, entertainment, government, etc. One example from popular culture makes the point. In most of the shows and movies we watch, all in some way deal with the fallen human condition, which is why they can be so entertaining. However, most leave out the most important piece of the puzzle: God! It’s like going to the beach in the middle of the Sahara Desert; uh, there’s something missing. I can’t watch a TV show or movie where God is ignored without shouting, you’re missing the God part!!! They want me to believe human nature as we find it, as it’s being dramatized on screen, just is, no explanation required. I’m to believe, and assume, no higher answer exists to the continual conundrums that make up the human drama? Mere matter cannot explain it. As Blaise Pascal put it in his Pensées:

What kind of freak is man? What a novelty he is, how absurd he is, how chaotic and what a mass of contradictions, and yet what a prodigy! He is judge of all things, yet a feeble worm. He is repository of truth, and yet sinks into such doubt and error. He is the glory and the scum of the universe!

 

Man’s greatness and wretchedness are so evident that the true religion must necessarily teach us that there is in man some great principle of greatness and some great principle of wretchedness.

As Christians we believe man became a freak, and displays such greatness and wretchedness, because he rebelled against his Creator (Genesis 3). No other religion or worldview or philosophy can explain why human beings are the way they are, why we are the way we are. Most don’t even try. That man is “the glory and the scum of the universe” just is. Deal with it. No, I won’t. I want to know not just that we are the way we are, but why. What Paul describes in Romans 7 captures it perfectly: why do I do what I don’t want to do, and don’t do what I want? I know how Paul feels:

What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?

He gives us the answer:

Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!

We might call this the apologetic from human nature. I am more confident Christianity is true because human nature is what it is, exactly the way we’ve known it for thousands of years. 

As I wonder sometimes if my Christian faith is justified, if it’s true, and not a colossal multi-thousand-year scam, I always realize if it isn’t, some other alternative must be, has to be. Unlike agnostics and practical atheists, I can’t delude myself into thinking there is no non-religious sphere of existence. Some neutral place where faith is not required. So, doggone it, I need to know why man is such glory and scum, and how he get that way! Lucky dirt cannot explain Hamlet, for example, so please explain to me what can.

The beauty of the consideration of the alternative, is that in addition to being one of the most powerful strategies in Christian apologetics, it is essential for our own personal trust that Christianity is true and real and worth living and dying for. It forces us, and others, to defend the alternatives to Christianity, whatever the issue might be. We don’t just decide not to believe in Christian position X, and then believe in nothing. When we reject X, we must believe in Y, or A, B, C, D, or any other letter of the alphabet. And in case you weren’t aware, there are no in between letters in the alphabet.

It’s rather simple, really, and doesn’t require a theology degree, or masters in apologetics. If someone says they don’t believe in Christian letter R anymore (or Christianity), then we simply ask what they do believe. Then we ask, why do you believe that’s true? Then we wait. We’ll find most people have no idea why they believe what they believe, or that they even believe anything at all! They, like most every secular person, think belief is for religious folks, and since they’re not religious they’ll wonder, why you’re asking them what they believe.

For us, it works the same way. Doubt is a normal part of existence for finite creatures, and those who don’t doubt are not normal. Have you ever met someone who is six trillion on the certitude scale? It’s annoying. For instance, I might wonder if “nature” really is created by God, so I consider the alternatives. Atheistic materialism? Pantheism? Can you think of another alternative? Genesis 1 is far more plausible, especially as we continue to learn about the infinite complexity of creation. Another example is the Bible. Is it God’s inerrant, sufficient, authoritative Word to mankind? I wrote a book called Uninvented to argue that the only alternative, that it is made up, is not the least bit plausible. No matter what the topic is, the alternative to Christianity is not the least bit plausible. Ex-Atheist C.S. Lewis got it right:

I believe in Christianity like I believe the sun has risen not because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.

What a Book Review! I Think She Liked It

What a Book Review! I Think She Liked It

Oct 17, 2021 | Apologetics

Given I’m not a “somebody” with a big “platform,” getting book reviews is not easy. I finally did get one, and it was at a site that was instrumental in my journey back into apologetics, Apologetics315. It was worth the wait. The author’s final words are most gratifying:  I love this book!

I think you will too. So if you’d like to see why she thought so, get yourself a copy of The Persuasive Christian Parent and you can find out for yourself. Let me know what you think.

God’s Amazing Goodness and My Apologetics315 Interview

God’s Amazing Goodness and My Apologetics315 Interview

Jul 18, 2021 | Apologetics

I had an interview recently about my book with a website that has special meaning in my Christian journey,  Apologetics315. God, as he often does with his children, made this uniquely special for me as I’ll explain.

When I became a Christian at Arizona State University back in the fall of 1978, those who introduced me to the gospel were not much into apologetics. The focus was on “spiritual” things, so reading the Bible, prayer, evangelism, church, etc. The goal of discipleship was building your relationship with Jesus, and sharing that with others. That is of course good and necessary, but it is not enough, as I found out in my junior year when I came across Francis Schaeffer’s The God Who is There. It was an amazing discovery for me because I learned that God’s truth applied to all of reality, not just so called “spiritual” things. Contrary to a narrow view of spirituality, he helped me to understand that the spiritual was so expansive that it addressed all of reality. That includes art, politics, law, literature, architecture, education, movies, business, you name it. (more…)