Josh McDowell's Blog, page 18

What Happens to People Who Die Without Hearing the Gospel?

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Ephesians 2 tells us that we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. When we repent of our sin and accept Jesus as our savior, He restores our broken relationship with God, that we might live with Him forever.

But what about people who die without hearing about Jesus? Will they miss out?

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This important question goes back to the Bible itself

Consider Acts 17:26-28, in which the apostle Paul preaches, “From one man He [God] made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from any one of us. For in Him we live and move and have our being.”

Scripture appears to be saying that we are each ordained by God to be born exactly in the moment of history that gives us the opportunity to find Him. Some overlook this opportunity, some disregard it, and others eventually wholeheartedly accept Him.

Josh McDowell, for example, was brought up in an abusive family, which led to his pain … which led to his hate … which led to his quest to soundly disprove God … which backfired and led him to accept Christ as Lord. Josh had no idea he would make this about-face and step into his life’s purpose!

Because Josh chose to not cling to his wrong assumptions about God and Christ, God has used Josh over the past 50+ years to teach millions around the world about the historical and archeological evidence that supports the resurrection of Jesus and other claims of the Bible. 

Effectively sharing the Good News

No human really knows how God will deal with the souls of those who die without hearing about Jesus. So not a single one of us is qualified to judge or assert who will or won’t be in Heaven. (There are bound to be surprises!) But one thing we do know is that God is good and just, and will do what is just.

Our tension with this question should only serve to motivate us to readily share the Good News of Jesus.

Remember, patience and humility should be our default when we dialogue with people about Christ. Jesus never bullied, blamed, or shamed anyone into believing in Him or following Him. He was gentle and loving — even as He suffered on the cross.

If you find yourself angry at non-Christians because they won’t “see the light,” the attitude you need to adjust is yours. In His amazing grace, God offers each of us the complete freedom to accept or deny Him as Savior. We need to offer this same grace.

Some blog posts with helpful tips on sharing your faith with others, so they don’t die without hearing about God’s amazing love and grace:

Christians: Dialogue With Skeptics Part 1

Christians: Dialogue With Skeptics Part 2

5 Reasons Apologists Get a Bad Rap

NEXT STEPS

Want to watch the movie about Josh’s life? Click this link.
Interested in knowing God personally? Get started with this really good info.
Need prayer for more power in your faith? Contact us. We would love to pray for you!
We invite you to read Josh’s book, More Than a Carpenter. This short apologetics classic examines the historical evidence of Jesus. He died. He rose. He lives!

The post What Happens to People Who Die Without Hearing the Gospel? appeared first on Josh.org.

3 Reasons Suffering Serves a Purpose

Reading Time: 3 minutesHuman suffering is arguably the most common and difficult problem raised against the goodness of God. Why does God allow us to be hurt and wounded?

Isn’t suffering a bad thing? Doesn’t it point to an uncaring and distant God? Let’s look at three reasons that suggest that suffering may actually benefit us.

Bridging the Gap blog #hurthealedwhole

For 50+ years, Josh McDowell Ministry has been leading seekers into a deeper knowledge of God’s truth and power. We offer you our accumulated knowledge and research to help you find truth and encouragement to live a healthy and whole life in Christ.

3 Reasons We Might Suffer

1. In Genesis 3, we are told that humanity brought suffering into the world by rejecting God’s authority. As our just and good Father, God wants to protect us. But when we choose to sin, He honors the free will He graciously gives us. He may allow us to experience the consequences of our actions.

He does so not to rub our noses in our suffering, but to show us why living to His standard is good for us. And here’s the real good news: each time we repent, God is always faithful to dust us off and forgive us. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us! God doesn’t hold grudges; we get a fresh start every time. That alone should demonstrate the depth of love and grace God has for us.

2. Sometimes we experience suffering not because we have sin, but because we need to grow. Suffering is the classroom where deep growth can happen, if we buckle down and become good students. God wants us to mature, to consistently demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit: kindness, goodness, patience, love, joy, hope, self-control, etc. Learning to play nice with other messy, self-absorbed humans might require numerous trips to this classroom!

Remember that God isn’t focused on our perfection, but our improvement. He’s after committed hearts that quickly default to repentance and obedience. We can take joy in seeing our growth, knowing it pleases Him!

3. Sometimes we suffer because of the wrong choices — the free will — of others. Yet the Bible gives us this hope: that what others mean for evil, God will work out for our good. Remember what Joseph said to his brothers, after seeing them cower before him as the second-in-command of Egypt? “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”

Note that God was able to move Joseph from lowly slave to Pharaoh’s trusted advisor because Joesph held firm to his trust that God had a purpose for his years of suffering. Joseph’s attitude brought God glory. And the various skills and maturity that Joseph built up over the years as a slave and prisoner made him into the strong, resourceful man that the world would desperately need when the famine hit.

Friends, don’t assume that because you’re suffering that God does not care. Watch to see how He shows up. Watch to see your own growth. Watch to see how, like Joseph, you become the person God can use for big assignments! When we look at suffering in that perspective, we can view it as painful, but productive. 

God loves us unconditionally. So we can trust that whatever we’re going through, He is with us. But recognize this: if you continually question God’s goodness when you experience suffering, it might be because you don’t yet fully believe that God loves you.

Friend, without that trust as your firm foundation, your faith will always wobble. You will waste a lot of time not trusting God. And you just might miss out on seeing how He orchestrates your periods of difficulty and suffering to produce good and reflect His power and glory.

NEXT STEPS:

Submit a prayer request to us here . 
Do you want to have a relationship with Jesus? Start here.
We invite you to read Josh’s book, More Than a Carpenter. This short apologetics classic examines the historical evidence about Jesus. We can trust that He lived, died, rose, and walks with us daily!

The post 3 Reasons Suffering Serves a Purpose appeared first on Josh.org.

If God Loves Us, Why Do We Face Persecution?

Reading Time: 3 minutesReligious persecution is alive and well in our world.

While we see this happening against numerous religions, perhaps the most persecuted group are Christians. Countless believers have been tortured and killed for confessing Jesus as Lord. Even in the Western world where we have the Constitutional right to freedom of religion, we experience subtle forms of persecution. With every passing year, additional pressure is being put on churches and individual believers to abandon or compromise their convictions.

Our response is telling. Some of us feel betrayed by God because things aren’t going well for us. But despite what some Christian preachers say, the bible doesn’t promise a comfortable life. Many of are walking around feeling angry, weak, and defeated. Is God failing us, or could it be that we’ve bought into wrong Christian teaching?

If God really loves us, why do we experience persecution?

I can understand where this question comes from. Our diet in the Western world has been pleasure and comfort. When we divorce this privilege from our gratitude, we turn them into demands. So even the subtlest pricks of persecution sting like hornets.

We often connect God’s love with our own comfort. So when we follow God and discover that it actually costs us something, we question God’s love and start flirting with the idea that Christianity isn’t “working out” for us.

But the real issue is not a failure on God’s part. The real issue is a theological gap in our understanding of suffering. Consider the following verses:

Acts 5:41: “The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name [Jesus].”


Romans 5:3: “Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance.”


Romans 8:17b-8:18: “We share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”


2 Corinthians 1:5: “For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.”


Philippians 1:29: “For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him,”


Philippians 3:10: “I want to know Christ — yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,”


1 Thessalonians 1:6: “You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.”


2 Timothy 1:8: “So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God.”

These verses are remarkable! What we learn from them is that suffering takes a whole different perspective in the Bible. As bizarre as this may sound to the Western ear, Christians don’t experience persecution in sprite of God’s love. Rather, it is because of God’s love that by suffering we are privileged to share in the life of our glorious Savior who also suffered.

Many persecuted Christians assert that their closest moments with God came during their hardest times in life.

You might not like hearing this, but it appears that our spiritual sense of God’s love is heightened when we suffer for Him. It is a grace that God gives us to endure these difficult times. But we often miss this, because we feel entitled to comfort.

To be clear, we should stand up for justice, even when it’s an issue of religious persecution. But we also must learn to expect persecution as and form of grace in our lives as we become more like Jesus.

Let’s take to heart the words of the apostle Peter in his first epistle:

“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.” ~ 1 Peter 4:12-14

Next Steps:

We’d love to pray for you! Please send us a prayer request via this form.
Do you want to have a relationship with God? Start here.
Print out these Bible verses about God’s goodness! Read them. Believe them. Memorize some!


Matthew Tingblad is a communicator at Josh McDowell Ministry with a seminary education from Talbot School of Theology.

The post If God Loves Us, Why Do We Face Persecution? appeared first on Josh.org.

When Mother’s Day Hurts

Reading Time: 6 minutesAbraham Lincoln, our 16th president, is quoted as saying, “All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.” Well, good for him. No, great for him! He was blessed. But many of us can’t tie his sentiment to our own moms.

On this Mother’s Day, I hope you are celebrating that your mom is a positive influence in your life; an advocate that you can trust with your thoughts, difficulties, and even secrets. But if this Hallmark holiday fills you with dread, I understand.

What does God tell us to do with our hurt and anger at not having the respectful and loving relationship that every child should be able to count on having with their parents?

Bridging the Gap blog #hurthealedwhole

For 50+ years, Josh McDowell Ministry has been leading seekers into a deeper knowledge of God’s truth and power. We offer you our accumulated knowledge and research to help you find truth and encouragement to live a healthy and whole life in Christ.

Acknowledge the Pain

On Pinterest I noted a graphic that stabbed my heart: “Mom, I’m sorry I’m a disappointment to you. I’m sorry that I couldn’t make you prouder of me.”

Ugh. The finality of that statement hurts. But it is flat out wrong — and unhealthy — for us to make the mental jump that if we disappoint someone because of something we do (or don’t do), that we are defective people. Screw-ups. Losers. Failures. And that we deserve to be treated as such.

Don’t miss that in this quote the child internalized the burden of meeting the parental standard. But what if that standard was unhealthy? What if it was set to accommodate the parent’s needs and desires? What if it set the child up to fail?

If you have accepted that any negative labels pinned on you by your mom do define you, you need to back up the shame bus. And every time it circles back and invites you to take another ride, you need to shout, “NO!”

If you want to change how you feel, you have to change your thoughts. You must choose to think on what is true about you. What God says is true.

No person on this planet has the authority to assign your value. Not your friends. Not your teachers. Not your pastor. Not your boss. Not your parents. Not even YOU. God declared you precious and worthy and beloved the second He breathed life into you. Only God’s opinion of us matters.

God gave you personality quirks and talents that others might not appreciate to be used for His glory. Even if so far all you can see are your mistakes and bad choices and failings. Even if all you feel is shame.

As Christine Caine, international Bible teacher, author, and anti-human trafficking activist (who herself has overcome a childhood of sexual abuse and shame), says, “The Enemy will always try to shame you in the area that God wants to use you somewhere in your future.” Truth? I think so. The aspects of my personality that my mother shamed me for I am definitely now using as a writer and author for His glory.

Accept God’s Assessment

Our society asserts otherwise, but here’s the truth: we don’t have to “earn” the love of others. We don’t have to do or say what others want for us to be “acceptable.” We don’t have to think like others to be “good enough.” We don’t have to hold the same values (and prejudices) they hold to be considered “intelligent.”

Yes, we want to be our best selves — but other people don’t get to determine what our “best” is.

Christian speaker and author Joyce Meyer (“Mama Joyce”) has shared that she entered adulthood carrying a heavy load of shame — and chips on both shoulders.

Sexually abused by her father for years (her mother knew), Joyce saw herself as damaged goods with little value. When Joyce heard that God views her as having immense value, she smirked. What? And He unconditionally loved her, too? “Rigggggghhhhht.”

But one day Joyce used bright lipstick to scrawl “God loves me” on her bathroom mirror. She read the words for days, just rolling her eyes. She said the words aloud, and not a single syllable sounded true.

But slowly, over time, God used that inked message of love to jolt Joyce’s heart alive. One day she uttered those three words aloud — and realized she meant them. Because their truth got into her soul and stuck.

Healthy Actions To Start Today

Be reminded that the Maker of the sun and moon and the Milky Way didn’t create us to live small, under the weight of trying to please others. He made us to live large to echo the beauty of His glory. If your relationship with your mother is difficult right now, here are some healthy first steps:

>>> Let go of your desire to have a close relationship with your mom.

Is this easy? No. Because we want our mothers to like and love us. But we can waste years (and decades!) chasing after this approval, if we don’t release our expectation. In this article, a family relationship coach writes that when she began to stop seeking the acceptance, approval, kindness and love that her mother could never give her, her wounds began to heal as her frustration and disappointment faded.

With space, we can more clearly see where the negative messages projected onto us by our mothers aren’t really about us, but them. We don’t know all the factors and experiences that shaped our parents. I remember asking as a child and teen, “Why is she mean to me?” I now understand that my mom had unhealed childhood wounds of her own, which surfaced in her frustration at being a parent. As Dr. Henry Cloud wisely notes, “Hurting people hurt others.” Even when they don’t want or mean to.

>>> Offer grace, even if you don’t feel your mom deserves it.

It’s true that forgiveness is more for ourselves than it is for the other person(s). Forgiveness gives us freedom. This mantra helped me a lot with learning to forgive my mom: “She did the best she could.” Meaning she did the best she was capable of. People change, and when they do, we may decide to tentatively try again.

If we can find grace to give others, we don’t focus on judging them — and we judge ourselves less. Ah, yes, the ugly little detail of our own self-judgment. Yet another reason to learn to forgive as early as we can. Again, forgiveness does not mean condoning behavior. We’re not “letting someone off the hook” when we choose to offer them grace. We’re simply not allowing their influence to determine our future.

>>> Own your own junk.

If your own words and actions are fueling your difficult relationship with your mom, only you can stop them. You have to strive to bring your best self — again, at your current capability — if you want to request that others bring their best selves. If ugly, disrespectful communication has been the style in your home, you will have to do the work of unlearning those bad habits.

An excellent resource for this is Dr. Henry Cloud’s online Boundaries workshops. Dr. Cloud also hosts a private group on Facebook called Dr. Henry Cloud’s Boundaries with Parents Peer Group. Setting boundaries for yourself is a critical first step to creating a positive and respectful relationship with either parent.

No relationships is perfect, or always easy. The mom/child relationship is super complex. The way we have been parented has a lot to do with how our mothers were parented.

But if you feel unloved and unaccepted by your mom, don’t let that affect how you view God’s love for you. The two have absolutely no connection: God is perfect, and your mom, well, she’s a work in progress, just like you.

It has taken many years of my digging in deep with God for Him to convince me that His love for me is high, wide, deep, and endless. That there is NOTHING I can do to stop Him from offering me His love and grace every single minute. Even when I don’t deserve it.

My faults and weaknesses don’t both Him, and neither do yours. Because He made us and will use us, just as we are now, and as we grow into our best selves. I’m praying Ephesians 3:16-21 over you! Look up, Child!

NEXT STEPS:

Do you want to have a relationship with Jesus? Start here.
Read our How God Sees You blog series. 
Engage in our new initiative, Resolution Movement, which focuses on healthy wholeness.
Watch Undaunted , the powerful story of Josh’s own recovery from a difficult childhood.


Sheri writes and edits for Josh McDowell Ministry.

The post When Mother’s Day Hurts appeared first on Josh.org.

How Do We Count the Number of Fulfilled Biblical Prophecy?

Reading Time: 3 minutesHow many biblical prophecies have been fulfilled? Do we have an exact count?

In this post Matt Tingblad gives a brief overview of the two types of prophecies, answering the question of whether the Bible continues to prove itself reliable. Read on!

Prophecy: Several Factors to Consider

Calculating the number of fulfilled prophecies in the Bible is difficult for two reasons. Here’s what I mean:

1. Not all prophecy is the same.

When most people think of prophecy, they think of predictive prophecy. That is, they think of prophecy that foretells the future. The prophecy predicts what will happen. Another kind of prophecy is called forthtelling prophecy. Forthtelling prophecy is when God speaks a word concerning the present hour.

When we talk about the number of prophecies fulfilled, we are interested in predictive prophecies — prophecies that will be fulfilled in God’s timing.

Yet predictive prophecy is not always easy to identify. For instance, in Psalm 22:1 David writes, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?” This doesn’t initially sound like predictive prophecy, but we see Jesus alluding to its fulfillment when He cried these same words from the cross (Matthew 27:46).

Prophecy shows us that God has a plan for this world. By the foretelling of persons, places, and events — even hundreds of years before they are fulfilled — Scripture gives a strong testimony to its own inspiration.
2. Not all fulfillments are the same.

Some predictive prophecies concerning Jesus can be easily understood. But many predictive prophecies about events after Jesus are difficult to understand. So scholars continue to debate whether these prophecies were fulfilled in the events of the late first century, are progressively being fulfilled across history, or are yet to be fulfilled in a cataclysmic event immediately preceding the return of Christ.

Regardless, we can say that a lot of prophecies in the Bible have been fulfilled, with some of the clearest ones about the life and ministry of Jesus. The number of fulfilled messianic (Jesus-related) prophecies is over 300. This is truly remarkable, as Josh McDowell demonstrates in this video. Christians, as far back as the Bible authors themselves, have rightfully stressed these fulfilled prophecies to show Jesus to be the Messiah.

In addition to messianic prophecies, the Old Testament continually prophesies about events that have happened: Israel’s future into exile, nations that will be destroyed, Israel’s kingdom being restored, etc. These predictions further demonstrate that we can trust the Bible as truly inspired by God. 

The Bible itself gives the purpose of prophecy: “Remember the former things long past, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things which have not been done… ” (Isaiah 46:9-10, NASB).

NEXT STEPS

Interested in knowing God personally? Get started with this really good info.
Need prayer? Contact us. We would love to pray for you!
To grow your knowledge of the Bible, read 77 FAQs about God and the Bible  by Josh and Sean McDowell.
Also read Josh and Sean’s recently revised apologetics classic, Evidence That Demands a Verdict .


Matthew Tingblad is a communicator at Josh McDowell Ministry with a seminary education from Talbot School of Theology.

The post How Do We Count the Number of Fulfilled Biblical Prophecy? appeared first on Josh.org.

Who Recorded Events in the Bible?

Reading Time: 3 minutesWhen significant events happen in our world today, witnesses record the stories through writing and video. This raises questions about how the Bible was recorded. Take these three events, for example:

How was Moses able to write about creation, Adam and Eve, Abraham, Isaac, etc. when he was not there?
Who recorded the long dialogue between Job and his friends? Was there a scribe with them documenting their conversation?
How is it that we have a record of the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness? Wasn’t that a private meeting between him and Satan?

Let’s address these questions!

To understand the formation of the Bible, we have to understand the world of the Bible.
Question 1: How was Moses able to write about creation, Adam and Eve, Abraham, Isaac, etc., when he was not there?

The Ancient Near East was an oral culture; they passed down information through spoken word. Today we’re not good at this because we rely on print. But the ancients were very good at oral storytelling. Because of this, most books of the Bible simply used information that was passed down through the oral tradition.

For instance, Adam could have told his son Seth what it was like in the garden, and Seth passed it along to his son Enosh. Since the story was so significant and meaningful, it’s quite reasonable that an oral culture would preserve it until Moses committed the information into writing.

Question 2: Who recorded the long dialogue between Job and his friends? Was there a scribe with them documenting that conversation?

We don’t have much historical data on Job. The author and the date of writing of this text are unknown. But judging by the structure and message of the book, we understand that Job belongs in the category of “Wisdom Literature.” Thus, the narrator of Job is telling a lesson/story. This means we should read Job like a parable of Jesus. The story is created to teach us a lesson, not provide historical data. Even if the story of Job is a historical event, dialogue in the ancient Near East was understood as paraphrased conversation, not precise quotation. This would have made it easier for Job, or someone close to him, to recount the story and capture its essence.

Question 3: How is it that we have a record of the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness? Wasn’t that a private meeting between Him and Satan?

This may sound like a difficult question, but it’s not difficult to propose a solution. Jesus probably shared the event with His disciples. He was their teacher, after all, and he taught with stories. Why not use one of His own?

Let us not forget that with this story and the others we addressed earlier, God helped the authors of Scripture to convey His message. As it says in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

As you now understand how this works, you can apply it other questions of similar nature.

NEXT STEPS

For more information on how the Bible came to be, check out God Breathed by Josh McDowell.
To grow your knowledge of the Bible, read 77 FAQs about God and the Bible  by Josh and Sean McDowell.
Also read Josh and Sean’s recently revised apologetics classic, Evidence That Demands a Verdict .


Matthew Tingblad is a communicator at Josh McDowell Ministry with a seminary education from Talbot School of Theology.

The post Who Recorded Events in the Bible? appeared first on Josh.org.

Resolution: Reaching a Generation with Wholeness

Reading Time: 4 minutesSolutions For the Five Main Challenges Young People Currently Face
What Josh McDowell and Ben Bennett Have Discovered

Generation Z (those born between 1999 and 2015) are struggling today, and few understand why or what to do about it. Research reveals five common challenges, and though they’re nothing new, recent data shows that young people experience them in greater numbers than ever before:

Mental Health Issues
Shame and Emotional Wounds
Porn Use
Loneliness
Lack of a Biblical Worldview

At Resolution (a new initiative from Josh McDowell Ministry), Josh and I have started the Resolution Podcast to deal with these issues directly. We reexamine what God says in His Word, along with what we’ve learned from brain science, to find ways to help young people learn how to heal, thrive and live in wholeness.

Below are key takeaways from our first conversation. You can watch it here in this video, or listen to it wherever you like to listen to podcasts.

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Let’s look at the five issues and explore how they’re impacting Generation Z.
Issue #1: Mental Health Issues

Last year, Pew Research found that 70 percent of teens say anxiety and depression are major issues among their peers. Another study from JAMA Pediatrics reported that between 2007 and 2015, emergency room visits for suicidal thoughts and attempted suicide doubled among children and teens.

There’s no one root cause, but two things have happened that at least correlate with this statistic.

First, the introduction of the iPhone isolated children and gave them unfettered access to potentially damaging information. Second, kids with a disconnected father tend to have higher rates of depression. When taken together, the situation is potentially explosive.

Issue #2: Emotional Wounds

We recently asked close to three hundred pastors and leaders about common issues the teens in their ministries face. They told us, overwhelmingly, that these young people deal with emotional wounds, a negative self-image, and above all, shame.

As Josh began to see these trends, he spent an entire year thinking deeply about why young people experience so much shame. He saw that shame diminishes a child’s respect for authority, their desire to spend time with friends, and even the normal drive to connect with the opposite sex.

Issue #3: Porn Use

We’ve come to believe that, among other isolating factors, the pervasive use of porn drives these emotional wounds higher. Porn affects how young people view themselves, and increases the struggle for acceptance already prevalent during the teen years.

The majority of men and women — 91.5 percent of men and 60 percent of women — regularly seek out porn at least once monthly! When Josh and I spoke all over the world, we discovered that the majority of all teens, Christian or not, are caught in the grips of porn.

In our experience, too many parents and Christian leaders ignore the issue. Josh recalls, “Parents come to me and say, ‘Look, Josh, you don’t understand. My kids are good kids … they’re not going to look for porn.’”

But if kids have access to smartphones, porn can too easily find them! The porn industry is aggressively targeting our kids, even when our kids aren’t looking for it.

Issue #4: Loneliness

Cigna, a major health insurance company, recently found that members of Gen Z are lonelier and feel more left out than Millennials, Baby Boomers, and the Greatest Generation. Young people can connect freely through the Internet, yet they feel more isolated than ever. 

Compared with the youth of previous decades, today’s teens are socializing less in person. They are less likely to go to movies or parties, hang out with friends, or date. Instead, often they’re alone on a Friday night on their smartphone.

Issue #5: Lack of a Biblical Worldview

Finally, we learned that today’s youth are growing up with the least biblical worldview in American history. Barna Group found that only 4 percent of Generation Z have a truly Christian worldview.

As Josh says, “A worldview is simply how you view the world.” Our worldview, then, affects how we see ourselves and others. It affects every relationship we have. It affects how we behave and the choices we make.

And this generation doesn’t view truth as objective — but entirely subjective, based on every person and every situation. The result? What Josh calls “spiritual individualistic morality.”

Christians know that it is God, alone, who defines truth. We need His truth to operate effectively in this world. Living our lives from subjective truth will do us irreparable harm. We must correct our view to gain God’s perspective.

Parents and Leaders: You Can Help

Some believe Gen Z to be the most broken generation in American history. But brokenness isn’t a barrier for God — it’s a bridge to Jesus’ healing work. We must help this generation, through practical steps, to understand how Jesus brings healing. 

Parents and Christian leaders, intentionally engage with the young people in your life:

Listen to young people carefully and without judgment
Ask questions and let them respond
Stay involved in their lives
Find things to do together
Be a safe person and share truth in love

As you can see, these issues are huge. That’s why Josh McDowell Ministry has jumped into this arena to do something about it through Resolution. We need to help our youth to learn who God says they are, and to experience wholeness. We can help them to love God, themselves, and others. To develop healthy relationships.

We invite you to join us in the Resolution Movement!

Ben Bennett

Director, Resolution

Subscribe to the Resolution Podcast wherever you listen: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or YouTube. In the coming weeks we’ll be discussing healing through the Bible and brain science!

The post Resolution: Reaching a Generation with Wholeness appeared first on Josh.org.

Quote Test

Reading Time: 2 minutes

“Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nullam volutpat placerat turpis, quis iaculis dui dignissim eget. Donec in mattis ante, ac fermentum mi. Curabitur ornare tellus nec ipsum mollis, ac tristique dolor fermentum.”

– Lorem Ipsum

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– Lorem Ipsum

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– Lorem Ipsum

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How to Pray with God in our Pain

Reading Time: 3 minutesIt may seem odd to talk about pain in the modern Christian life. If you were to examine today’s preaching and worship music, you’d likely get the sense that the Christian life is supposed to be a perpetual state of happiness, or that happiness can be gained in five simple steps. 

Yet many believers are stuck in a perpetual state of pain. Perhaps that pain is loneliness, depression, anxiety, or a combination of these hurts. How should we understand these struggles, and how do we pray with God in the midst of pain?

Bridging the Gap blog #hurthealedwhole

What Happened to Lament?

First off, I want to be clear that the primary mode of existence for the Christian life ought to be one of joy, not the pain of a fallen world.

The subject of joy is all over Scripture, and it is presented as a blessing that God graciously gives to believers (Luke 1:14, John 15:11, Nehemiah 8:10, Psalm 16:11, 1 Peter 1:8, Philippians 4:4). Joy characterized the early Christians (Acts 8:7-8, Acts 16:34), even in periods of persecution or hardship (Acts 5:41, Romans 5:3, James 1:2). Joy is considered a fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22). 

The problem is when we have that nagging feeling that we should be happy all the time, or something is wrong with us.

Here’s the thing: The Bible recognizes that there is pain in the Christian life. When we read the Psalms, we see both prayers of praise and lament. In fact, the prayers of lament comprise the largest section of the Psalms! If you want to learn how to pray with God in your pain, try praying some of the laments. Examples include Psalms 22, 39, 59, 74, and 109.

Take note: You will struggle praying the laments, if you think you must present a cleaned-up version of yourself to God lest you offend Him. The prayers of the lament Psalms do not reflect this. The psalmist is giving himself in prayer to God; not a happy fake avatar of himself. He is expressing his honest feelings. He is being real.

Asking the Right Questions

When we experience pain in life, sometimes we just need to talk it out with someone. Many of us already do this with other people, as we should. But God is also available. Prayer is not a one-way conversation, but a dynamic engagement with the God who speaks.

Consider Psalm 139:23-24: “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts, See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” The psalmist is asking God to run a diagnostic on his heart and direct his way accordingly.

In light of this, we may find it helpful to ask God some questions and then spend time attending to His voice…

Lord, why was this so hard for me to deal with?
Lord, why am I downcast?
Lord, how do I process what just happened?
Lord, why do I feel this way about this person?
Lord, where are You in this situation?
Lord, how do I be with You in the midst of this?
Lord, what do You have for me here?

Give these questions time — perhaps 10 or 15 minutes for each question you choose to ask. If you don’t hear anything, don’t worry; just sit with God in silence. Either way, you are with God, and God can use that in powerful ways. If you do hear something in your mind, process those thoughts and use your own God-given wisdom to discern if your thoughts are good and biblical. It could be that God has just spoken to you, or that God brought something to your mind that was there all along.

Will this practice heal you of depression and anxiety? I expect it will help. But the purpose of this exercise is primarily to learn how to pray with God in your pain. It’s not about results; it’s about relationship. If you are with him, you are doing well.

Next Steps:

We’d love to pray for you! Please send us a prayer request via this form.
Do you want to have a relationship with God? Start here.
Print out these Bible verses about prayer! Read them. Memorize one or two that speak to you.
Catch up on our Bridging the Gap  posts. Experience God in a deeper way!


Matthew Tingblad is a communicator at Josh McDowell Ministry with a seminary education from Talbot School of Theology.

The post How to Pray with God in our Pain appeared first on Josh.org.

Is Apologetics Biblical?

Reading Time: 4 minutesWhat is “Christian apologetics”?

It’s the activity of providing a rational basis for belief in the Christian faith.When we seek to demonstrate that God exists, that the resurrection of Jesus actually happened, or that the Bible is historically reliable, we are doing the work of Christian apologetics.

Is Christian apologetics a good thing for Christians to be doing? If you’re reading this post and you know anything about what we do here at Josh McDowell Ministry, then you are safe to assume that we give a resounding “Yes!” Christian apologetics is good and important. But more than that, it is biblical.

The Word “Apologetics” In Scripture

The word apologetics comes from the Greek word apologia, which refers to a speech of defense, typically for one’s own self. The word appears eight times in the New Testament.

Sometimes it is used generally (Acts 22:1, 25:16; 1 Corinthians 9:3; 2 Corinthians 7:11, 2 Timothy 4:16), and other times it is explicitly connected to a defense of the Gospel (Philippians 1:7, 16; 1 Peter 3:15). Most notably in 1 Peter 3:15, when Peter says, “Always be prepared to give an answer [apologia] to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.”

In context, it is the means by which we honor Christ as Lord in the midst of holy suffering, and is demonstrated through our gentleness (1 Peter 3:13-18). Today, in a world where Christianity is viewed as intolerant and offensive, people are going to wonder why we continue to hold onto our faith. Are you and I ready to give them an apologia when they ask?

In 1 Corinthians 10:4-5, Paul seeks to clarify his mission with these words: “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedience to Christ.”

Evidently, the act of demolishing arguments against the knowledge of God, done rightly, is a holy endeavor of divine power. But what does this look like?

Apologetics in Acts

The book of Acts gives us a closer look at Christian apologetics in action within the early church. Acts 17:2-4 says, “As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. ‘This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah,’ he said. Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent women.” Verse 17 adds, “So [Paul] reasoned in the Synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there.”

The Bible mentions the value of public debate for the Gospel. In Acts 18:27-28, an evangelist by the name of Apollos “was a great help to those who by grace had believed. For he vigorously refuted his Jewish opponents in public debate, proving from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Messiah.”

Within these verses, we see the work of Christian apologetics as having evangelistic impact, as well as beneficial value for those who already believe. It is no wonder that Peter encourages Christians to always be prepared to give an apologia.

Apologetics in the Gospels

Jesus was always willing to help people believe, and occasionally used persuasive techniques to build His case as Messiah. For instance, Jesus used logical rigor against the Pharisees in Matthew 22:41-45, showing how their own views lead toward absurdity. Note that it was an argument He initiated.

In John 5, Jesus appealed to the testimony of John the Baptizer (verses 33-35), His own testimony expressed in miracle-working (verse 36), the testimony of the Father (verses 37-38), and the testimony of the Scriptures (verses 39-40), appealing to all of this “so that you may be saved” (5:34).

We see the resurrected Jesus helping all of His disciples — not just Thomas — to believe (John 20:19-20), inviting them to see the holes in His hands and feet, to touch His body, and observe Him eating physical food (Luke 24:37-43). Jesus was privy to the fact that His own resurrection carried enormous persuasive power to confirm His identity as God (John 20:27-28).

Further, As theologian D. A. Carson argues, Jesus’ response to “doubting” Thomas was probably not a rebuke, as some translations erroneously suggest, but a confirmation followed by a beatitude (See Carson’s treatment of John 20:26 in the Pillar New Testament Commentary).

In Matthew 13:21, Jesus explains the parable of the sower, saying that the seed that fell on rocky ground is the Word of God which people received with joy. Yet because they had no root, persecution came and they withered away. The text isn’t clear, but I suspect that this “root” has something to do with a confident knowledge of God. Christian apologetics can help get us there. May we never forget this important piece as we seek to proclaim the whole counsel of God.

NEXT STEPS

Many Christians have shied away from apologetics, concerned that the use of persuasive reason trivializes faith, or that it gets in the way of God’s work. These concerns do deserve attention, because they can have a level of truth to them, especially if we don’t recognize the limitations of what apologetics is able to do for evangelism and for our own spiritual wellness.

I encourage you to check out this post, in which I engage with those objections. 
Need some tips and creative ideas for sharing your faith? Check out this post.
Looking for a way to share Christianity with your friends? You can purchase Josh’s apologetics classic, More Than a Carpenter, from our online store.




Matthew Tingblad is a communicator at Josh McDowell Ministry with a seminary education from Talbot School of Theology.

The post Is Apologetics Biblical? appeared first on Josh.org.