Gregory Koukl's Blog, page 6

Our Society Should Not Stifle Religious Dissent

Andrew Walker warns of our society���s need for allowing religious dissent and the danger of denying religious liberty:

Protecting religious dissent is at the foundation of America���s history and constitutional legacy. As Madison and Adams argued, religion is prior to the claims of the state. It provides the grounding for democracy necessary for ordered liberty. And if religion is prior to the state, its importance looms larger than the state���s reach. This understanding wasn���t a secondary feature to America: it was, arguably, its distinguishing feature. Seen in this light, the Constitution didn���t bequeath religious liberty. Rather, religious liberty helped bequeath a penumbra of other rights that are enshrined in our Constitution.

Two of the reasons why undermining religious liberty undermines our society: 1) Constricting debate by disallowing dissenting voices ���is the enemy of reason itself.��� 2) Removing the religious foundation of our society���s concept of human dignity and rights endangers everything that was built on that foundation:

Denying true religious liberty communicates that participation in civil society is conditioned exclusively by accepting contested categories for participation in communal life. This reality paves over the conscience by declaring some issues untouchable and beyond debate. Untouchable orthodoxies that are given official government sanction will treat any dissenting voice as an enemy to be vanquished. Secular progressivism isn���t only the enemy of religious liberty and civil society; it is the enemy of reason itself.

Religious liberty contributes to the diversity of civil society. By its very nature, civil society will be contested territory. Contested debate helps give rise to democratic order, and democratic governance relies on spirited debate. Societies, of which governments are but a reflection, consist of various voices, movements, and ideologies vying for acceptance. In the interest of advancing justice, prophetic difference and prophetic dissent are necessary ingredients if progress is to occur. Allowing citizens the freedom and space to appeal to transcendent duties forces reason to determine what is true or false. From our deepest understanding of truth, we order our lives accordingly, and our lives bear witness to whether our values benefit society. Signaling that Christians aren���t welcome in the public square undermines the public square by robbing it of the religious-ethical system responsible for fostering norms and values that protect individual rights and a humane public morality.

Read the rest of Walker���s article.

Links Mentioned on the 7/22/16 Show

The following is a rundown of today's podcast, annotated with links that were either mentioned on the show or inspired by it:

Interview: Wayne Rossiter ��� Theistic Evolution and the Absent God (0:00)

Shadow of Oz: Theistic Evolution and the Absent God by Wayne Rossiter
Wayne Rossiter's blog
Yes, the Evolutionary Process Does Depend on Randomness by Amy Hall (quoting Stephen Meyer)
Mind Over Matter: The Necessity of Metaphysics in a Material World by Wayne Rossiter
The Third Way ��� Scientists who argue against Neo-Darwinism. From their description: ���The vast majority of people believe that there are only two alternative ways to explain the origins of biological diversity. One way is Creationism that depends upon intervention by a divine Creator. That is clearly unscientific because it brings an arbitrary supernatural force into the evolution process. The commonly accepted alternative is Neo-Darwinism, which is clearly naturalistic science but ignores much contemporary molecular evidence and invokes a set of unsupported assumptions about the accidental nature of hereditary variation. Neo-Darwinism ignores important rapid evolutionary processes such as symbiogenesis, horizontal DNA transfer, action of mobile DNA and epigenetic modifications. Moreover, some Neo-Darwinists have elevated Natural Selection into a unique creative force that solves all the difficult evolutionary problems without a real empirical basis. Many scientists today see the need for a deeper and more complete exploration of all aspects of the evolutionary process.���
Drifting towards Darwin by Greg Koukl

��� Announcements:

Good Little Giants ��� Music mentioned on the show (see videos here)

Listen to today's show or download any archived show for free. (Find links from past shows here.)

To take part in the Twitter conversation during the live show (Tuesdays 4:00���6:00 p.m. PT), follow @STRtweets and use the hashtag #STRtalk.

The Question for Jehovah���s Witnesses: Who Is Jesus?

Tim Barnett wrote this month���s Solid Ground to help you prepare for conversations with Jehovah���s Witnesses. He says the best thing you can do is to focus on the most important question:

A host of issues can get you sidetracked with Jehovah���s Witnesses if you���re not careful���soul sleep, celebrating birthdays or Christmas, blood transfusions, Heaven, Hell, war, even the Holy Spirit. Don���t go there. None of these are the most important issue. The goal of your conversation is to answer only one question: Who is Jesus? How you answer this question changes everything.

Jehovah���s Witnesses believe that the archangel Michael was the very first being in the universe created by Jehovah-God. Michael was then used by God to create the rest of the universe. Later, at the appointed time, Michael was born to the virgin Mary as a human being, thus ceasing to be an angel. Then after His spiritual resurrection, Jesus resumes His identity as Michael. That is the Jehovah���s Witness answer to the question, ���Who is Jesus?��� Jesus, is the archangel Michael incarnate���.

The salvation of anyone, including Jehovah���s Witnesses, depends on an accurate understanding of and belief in God the Son. Jesus said, ���I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am He you will die in your sins��� (Jn. 8:24). Here Jesus is claiming to be the ���I AM��� recorded in Isa. 43. The irony is that Isa. 43 is the chapter where Jehovah���s Witnesses derive their name. Isaiah writes, ���You are my witnesses,��� declares the Lord, ���and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am He��� (Isa. 43:10).

Jehovah says His true witnesses will believe of Him that ���I am He.��� Yet, Jesus says true believers must believe of Him that ���I am He.��� In fact, this claim, coupled with Jn. 8:58 (������before Abraham was, I am���), was the reason the Jews tried to stone Jesus (Jn. 8:59). His point was clear: Rejecting Jesus��� deity is rejecting salvation itself. That���s why our question, ���Who is Jesus?��� is the only question we should focus on.

Tim goes on to explain how a simple comparison between Psalm 102 and Hebrews 1 can help you demonstrate to your Jehovah���s Witness friend that Jesus is Jehovah. Read the rest of this month���s Solid Ground here.

Are You Ready for What���s Waiting for You on Your College Campus?

Are you (or is your child) ready to stand firm in your trust in Jesus Christ on your college campus? Do you know what���s waiting for you there? Can you answer the challenges you will hear from professors and fellow students?

Brett discusses the need to be prepared in this motion graphics video:

We have resources for students that go along with the four questions Brett says students need to settle in their own minds before they go away to college:

Does truth exist, and can we know it?
Does God exist?
Does God act in the world?
Does God communicate with us in Scripture?

These resources can be found at STRNextGen.com. Remember that URL, and pass it along!

We also hope you���ll join us for one of our upcoming reTHINK Student Apologetics Conferences (in California, Texas, and Alabama) for more training.

Links Mentioned on the 7/20/16 Show

The following is a rundown of today's podcast, annotated with links that were either mentioned on the show or inspired by it:

Commentary: How Churches Can Support Christians Struggling with Same-Sex Attraction (0:00)

Sexuality, Identity, Sin, and Denying Ourselves to Follow Christ by Amy Hall (Includes a video of Sam Allberry. He tells some of his own story in this video.)
How Can Churches Support Christians Facing This Issue? by Sam Allberry
Is God Anti-Gay? by Sam Allberry
Living Out ��� Sam Allberry's website
The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert by Rosaria Butterfield
Be Willing to Submit to Our Good God on the Issue of Homosexuality by Amy Hall

Questions:

��� Announcements:

Good Little Giants ��� Music mentioned on the show (see videos here)

1. Why did God make it so hard to believe? (0:24)

Nancy Pearcey compares worldviews to reality in Finding Truth
Naturalism: Bumping into Reality ��� Audio by Greg Koukl
The Story of Reality: How the World Began, How It Ends, and Everything Important That Happens in Between by Greg Koukl
The Thomas Factor: Using Your Doubts to Draw Closer to God by Gary Habermas (free online book)
Dealing with Emotional Doubt ��� Video of Gary Habermas

2. Advice about going to seminary/studying apologetics (0:44)

How to Be a ���One Dollar Apologist��� by J. Warner Wallace
Bloom Where You're Planted by Greg Koukl
Advice on Becoming an Apologetics Speaker by Amy Hall
Biola's Online Certificate Program in Christian Apologetics
Biola's M.A. in Christian Apologetics (distance learning)

3. Should I choose the church with good fellowship or the one with good teaching? (0:51)

Listen to today's show or download any archived show for free. (Find links from past shows here.)

To take part in the Twitter conversation during the live show (Tuesdays 4:00���6:00 p.m. PT), follow @STRtweets and use the hashtag #STRtalk.

What���s the Price of Accepting the Idea We Worship the Same God as Muslims?

Some people claim Muslims and Christians worship the same God. I disagree. I���ve already written my rationale here. You can also watch my explanation here.

There���s another problem, though. Claiming that Muslims and Christians worship the same God is an expression of Islamic theology, not Christian theology. But why affirm an Islamic teaching? It���s the Qur���an that claims that the God of Islam is the same God in Christianity (Surah 2:139, 29:46). That means you affirm the Qur���an is correct when you claim Muslims and Christians worship the same God. Now, I���m not saying that everything the Qur���an teaches is false. It can certainly make true claims. But affirming it���s correct on this point leads to another problem.

You have to rewrite biblical history. Why? On Islam���s view, there has only been one true religion since the beginning of time: Islam. Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, and even Jesus are all prophets of Allah according to Islam. True followers of Moses (allegedly Allah���s prophet to the Jews) and true followers of Jesus (allegedly Allah���s prophet to the Christians) believed in and worshipped the God described in Islam. But that���s not biblical history. Jews and Christians never worshipped Islam���s God. You have to believe the Qur���an and its revision of biblical history to believe they did. This leads to yet another problem.

You have to believe the Muslim claim that the Bible has been corrupted. Why? As noted above, Islam claims that the original and true followers of Christ never worshipped Him, but instead worshiped Allah. That, of course, is blatantly contradicted by what the New Testament teaches. Early Christians never worshipped Allah, but did worship Jesus as God. Muslims get around this by claiming the parts of Scripture where Jesus claimed to be God or was worshipped have been corrupted. Therefore, in order to believe Christ���s original followers worshipped Allah, you have to accept the Bible is corrupted, as Muslims claim.

This is a big price to pay. To believe Muslims and Christians worship the same God, you have to accept a component of Islamic theology, believe a qur���anic teaching, accept the Muslim revision of biblical history, and believe their claim that the Bible is corrupt. Is that worth it? I think the answer is no.

How Much Temptation Is from Man's Nature as Opposed to Satan?

Greg explains who or what is responsible when we fall into temptation.

 

���Forced Love��� Is the Wrong Way to Look at It

I often hear the Calvinist view of salvation (i.e., that God gives spiritual life to those whom He chooses so that they will inevitably love and trust in Him) denigrated as a description of worthless ���forced love.��� This kind of analogy is a common one: If you were in love with someone who wasn���t in love with you, you wouldn't want to snap your fingers to force that person to love you, even if you had that capability. As one book I recently read said, ���[S]uch forced love is ultimately not worth pursuing.���

But the analogy is all wrong. The situation is actually more like this: Suppose a man who is naturally quite lovable loves a woman who doesn���t love him because her serious mental illness renders her incapable of loving others. In fact, she has no desire to love others and constantly dwells on her hatred for everyone, especially for the man. She will never change her mind, no matter what the man says or does to show her his love. But suppose he is also a doctor and is able to heal her illness. He heals her, and she immediately sees how lovable he is and deeply, freely loves him. When that happens, would anyone characterize what the doctor did as ���forcing��� her to love him? Would anyone say her love wasn���t real? Would anyone accuse him of not respecting her autonomy? Rather, would they not praise him as a gracious, kind, rescuing physician?

This more accurate analogy (though in an even more accurate analogy, the woman would be dead at the beginning of the story) might bring up other questions���such as, ���Why are we responsible for our sin if we didn���t choose our sinful nature?��� (a question anticipated in Romans 9:19) or, ���Why doesn���t God save everyone?��� (asked in Romans 9:14)���but it does show that the love produced by God���s giving undeserved spiritual life to a person who would otherwise have no desire for it is real, not worthless.

We were born children of wrath. What God does for us is not force, nor is it based on the goal of maintaining our autonomy above all. His work is mercy, grace, and healing, and it results in human beings functioning the way they were created to function in relation to their Creator. Without it, we would never choose Him.

If you���re interested in learning more about this view, see here or here. You may still disagree that this is what the Bible teaches (as I know many of you do), but if you want to characterize the view fairly, calling it ���forced love��� is not an accurate way to describe it.

Links Mentioned on the 7/15/16 Show

The following is a rundown of today's podcast, annotated with links that were either mentioned on the show or inspired by it:

Commentaries: Do Students Care about the Reasons for Christianity? (0:00) / Can an Atheist's Morality Be Absolute or Objective? (0:49)

Christian Heritage London
All Souls Church
The Life and Spirituality of John Newton: An Authentic Narrative by John Newton
Amazing Grace film
Biographical lecture on William Wilberforce by John Piper (Can be listened to or read)
reTHINK Student Apologetics Conferences ��� California (September 23���24), Texas (October 21���22), and Alabama (April 21���22, 2017)
Hume Lake Christian Camps
STR's YouTube channel
Everybody's Got the Same Problem by Greg Koukl (Both Christians and Atheists need to answer the problem of evil)
Evil as Evidence for God by Greg Koukl
God, Evolution, and Morality Part II by Greg Koukl (On the grounding problem)

Questions:

1. On a scale of 0���100, what's the chance God exists? (0:24)

2. Is the soul subject to biology and other physical factors? (0:36)

Listen to today's show or download any archived show for free. (Find links from past shows here.)

To take part in the Twitter conversation during the live show (Tuesdays 4:00���6:00 p.m. PT), follow @STRtweets and use the hashtag #STRtalk.

How to Persuade Your Pastor to Include Apologetics at Your Church

I recently heard Dr. Hugh Ross share some ideas he���s learned from long experience that I thought would be helpful because a lot of people ask about this.

There���s a new challenge to evangelism. In the past, evangelism assumed Hebrews 11:6 as a starting point for unbelievers (i.e., ���[W]hoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists���). But many people don���t even believe in God, and won���t even grant that He is good if He does exist. In addition, so many people live in cities now that they are out of touch with the book of nature and God���s revelation of His glories there. So apologetics is needed to fill in these foundational beliefs before even getting to the Gospel. As our society becomes more secularized, apologetics is going to be even more needed than before to make the case for fundamental things most people believed in the past but don���t anymore. Show your pastor the need all Christians have of being able to make a case for these things.

Here are a number of other tips. I���ve mixed in some of my own with Dr. Ross���s.

Establish God���s existence using arguments for the origin of the universe, origin of life, and fine-tuning���these are the issues that most commonly persuade atheists.


Show God is the biblical God���connect general evidence to the Bible.


Help pastors delegate expertise to others. Be a solution to this need in the congregation.


Help pastors see the opportunities of bringing new people into the church by addressing these questions. Use controversial topics to attract unbelievers. Host a discussion rather than debate. Answer questions and challenges. Demonstrate that the church takes these questions seriously and has reasonable answers.


Address controversy with grace, humility, gentleness, and respect in a biblical way.


Meet with concerned members ahead of time to allay their concerns.


Avoid triumphalism���a ���Beat the atheists!" attitude.


Invite Q&A within the church so believers can build their confidence by having their questions and doubts answered, and be open to questions from unbelievers.


Use events to attract unbelievers. Classes can draw more visitors than services. Midsize groups and classes are more effective at attracting visitors and giving them a chance to ask questions.


Plan Q&A forums for the kids in the congregation to build their confidence early.


Encourage, don���t scold, church leaders. Show compassion for pastors who have a lot of things on their plate.