Gregory Koukl's Blog, page 95

"How To Train Your Kids" Live Q & A Event – Thursday, April 24th

It's no secret that many Christian parents struggle to effectively pass along their Christian convictions to their kids. That's why the large majority of our youth are completely inarticulate about the most basic tenets of Christianity. Sadly, many youth ministries don't offer much help in training our students. Of course, this is a serious challenge to the church as we watch the emerging generation head for the exits.

There are a number of factors that contribute to the problem: the aggressive false ideas of a secular culture and the resulting intellectual skepticism in our youth, insane levels of media saturation, biblical illiteracy among students, and a host of other reasons. And for good measure, here are a few more reasons (actually 10).

Faced with the daunting task of raising kids amidst such challenges, the parental impulse to over-protect is strong. "It's a big bad world out there, so hide the kids in the basement. For the rest of their lives." Yeah, that approach won't do. Even though we're not called to be of the world, we're still called to be in it. Hiding out is not an option, so let me suggest a different strategy: don't isolate your kids, inoculate them. Protection is appropriate at certain stages, but it can't be our overall strategy. Instead, we must be proactive. We must equip our kids with the truth so they're not taken captive by false ideas (Colossians 2:8). But how? What can we do? What practical steps do we need to take? 

Well, this Thursday night, April 24th, at 7:00 pm (Pacific Time), I'll try to help layout a practical strategy and answer your questions. "How To Train Your Kids" is a free online training event to help parents, youth leaders, pastors and Christian educators equip their students with the truth. You can join the discussion several different ways: 

Watch and ask questions on Google+
Watch and ask questions on YouTube
Watch and ask questions on the STR Blog
Ask questions via Twitter, using the hashtag #STRask

I'm in this battle right alongside you, have been for the last 20 years. I spent 11 years as a youth pastor in Southern California and in Colorado. I also have five kids of my own, ages 19, 12, 11, 6, and 2. I've made my share of mistakes, and I've also learned a lot along the way. I hope to offer some practical strategies that I've used with my youth groups and with my own kids. So let's talk this Thursday night. I hope you'll join us!

*Note: This live video event will take the place of our normal weekly challenge question.

Webcast Tuesday

Greg is live online today 4-7 p.m. PT. Give him a call with your question or comment at (855) 243-9975, outside the U.S. (562) 424-8229.  Michael Krueger will join Greg to discuss Bart Ehrman's latest book on how Jesus became God.

Listen live online. Join us on Twitter during the program @STRtweets #STRtalk.

Bart Ehrman's Latest Book – How Jesus Became God

I realized something about Bart Ehrman’s books reading his latest, How Jesus Became God. Most of his books are the same premise applied to different topics. Ehrman’s fundamental premise is that the New Testament documents, and most critically the Gospels, were written late, long after the eyewitnesses were gone. He thinks that they record oral tradition that changed over time before being committed to writing. So we have no authoritative or reliable record of Jesus. He touches on the reasoning for this briefly in this book, but he’s dealt with this in more depth in earlier books. But it really is the most important thing to know about this book and most of his books in the last several years. So if you want to understand Ehrman’s view about Jesus’ divinity in this book, you need to go back and understand his thinking on the New Testament in Misquoting Jesus. 

The power of his case for how the idea of Jesus’ divinity evolved long after Jesus’ life is really an argument that is just touched on in this book.The fundamental idea of this book, and really the most persuasive part of his case that Jesus never claimed to be divine, is how he dates the New Testament documents.Once you don’t think the New Testament is a reliable report of Jesus’ teachings then any theory about how people came to think Jesus was divine is more plausible than that He actually taught that, even if it’s not very plausible in and of itself.And Ehrman’s explanation for how Jesus’ divinity evolved is pretty implausible without his fundamental premise that the New Testament was not written by eyewitnesses.He goes into great detail and tells a good tale for how this idea could have entered Christian teaching.I can see the appeal of the case he builds if – if the New Testament wasn’t written by eyewitnesses.

This isn't a detailed or point-by-point review of Ehrman's new book. Rather, I'll highlight some of the major things to keep in mind when considering Ehrman's arguments in this book and most of his others.

Ehrman starts by pointing out that the dividing line between human and divine was not so clear in ancient times.He provides ample evidence of ancient Greek and Roman ideas of humans becoming divine, and the divine becoming human, and all along the spectrum.I think it’s fairly well known that the Greeks and Romans believed this.The key is how he was going to show first century Jews believed this, I wondered, so I started that chapter with anticipation – and was disappointed.Not disappointed that he made a good case; disappointed that it was so weak that he and others find it compelling.He cites examples of Jewish sects that believed that humans could and did become divine, and visa versa.But in every case, these were aberrant teachings held by very small groups of Jew and never were held by mainstream Judaism.And he never shows that anyone associated with Jesus or writing the New Testament believed this and how it shaped their beliefs about a man from Nazareth who never claimed to be God.He simply cites some aberrant teaching believed by some Jews at some time, and then in subsequent chapters, tells a tale of how this shaped what was taught by Jesus’ followers about Him.There’s no reason to think (and he doesn’t give any reason to think) that this was taught by the disciples, or Paul, or anyone else associated with early Christianity. So the gap he tries to fill between who Jesus actually was and what got written in the New Testament a long time later has no facts to get from there to here.

This chapter on what some ancient Jews thought about divinity and humanity made me realize that I think Ehrman doesn’t think that there’s any authoritative teaching in religions – at least not Judaism or Christianity.The reason that thought occurred to me is because it’s enough for Ehrman that some Jews somewhere believed the continuum between humanity and divinity as precedent for making his case.It’s irrelevant to him that these views were rejected by Judaism and were very unlikely to affect Jesus’ followers who were all devout Jews.He writes in this book and earlier ones what some who claimed to be Christian wrote about Jesus in gnostic writings, and he clearly thinks these have just as much claim to be “Christian teaching” as anything else other Christians claimed. There is no orthodox or authoritative teaching for Ehrman; there’s simply what Christians (or Jews) believed.And it was simply the usurpation of power by some Christians who claimed orthodoxy for itself.So as Ehrman cites various Jewish and Christian teachings in his book, none has any more authority than another, and much of his case consists simply of citing that some people believed things other than what the so-called orthodox believed.

So with the idea that the New Testament was written long after Jesus, which gave time for legend and error to slip into the stories that were told, and that ancient people and some ancient Jews believed that humans could become divine, he goes on to explain how Jesus became divine in Christian teaching.Jesus was a human like the rest of us who taught controversial things about challenging the political authorities and got killed for it.His followers were disappointed, and over time reinterpreted his teachings as claiming to be the Messiah and divine.As for the resurrection appearances, some of his followers had visions and interpreted these as resurrection appearances.And Paul really is the one responsible for developing the idea that Jesus was God, but he never knew Jesus, so he’s no authority.This is the basic explanation Ehrman gives for how Jesus became divine. 

It’s built on late dating the New Testament documents and citing precedents of such teachings.I found it implausible and completely unpersuasive.That doesn’t mean Ehrman’s book isn’t well-written and conceivable if you accept his fundamental premises.If you get tangled in the tale, it sounds rather plausible.

Ehrman dismisses details of the resurrection accounts because they’re reported by only one author or because they stray from what we know to have been standard practice for crucifixions.For example, Pilate granting the Jews’ request that the bodies be taken down by sunset, the beginning of the Sabbath.Ehrman says that this can’t be relied on since it’s unlikely a Roman official would care about the Jews' sensibilities about the Sabbath.But that’s hardly an argument that Pilate didn’t do it in this instance. 

The historical critical method of dating and interpreting the Bible views unique reports and unique events as unreliable.If the texts are not eyewitness reports, and if you think they are traditions that have been handed down for generations before being written down, it seems reasonable that unique events should be treated suspiciously. Events reported in only one Gospel most likely crept in along the oral tradition route.That’s if they’re late dated.But if the Gospels are eyewitness accounts, it’s reasonable that some reports will have unique details that aren’t found in other accounts. That happens all the time when different people report something they all witnessed.It’s also true that the Gospels were written for different audiences and by different authors so they’d choose to include different information.It’s not unusual that even one individual might recount a story with slightly different details depending on who they’re talking to, because different details will interest and be familiar to different listeners.So unique events are not automatically suspect; it all depends on how you date the Gospels in the first place. 

Ehrman makes the point more than once that historians can’t do theology.So, for instance, historians can’t conclude whether or not the Trinity is true.Fair enough.But he includes supernatural events in the theological category so that things like the resurrection can’t be determined to be historical events.But historians can consider unique events reported by eyewitnesses, and determine whether or not those eyewitnesses can be considered reliable.So it gets back to the dating of the documents again.The resurrection certainly has theological import, but it is first purportedly a historical event that witnesses claim to have seen evidence of – over 500 people, in fact.So it’s not as though these kinds of events are outside of the historians' reach and are therefore only matters of faith (i.e. blind faith).But it depends on whether or not we’re dealing with eyewitness accounts.

Much more can be said about the case Ehrman builds, but nothing else is any more persuasive than this.Much more can be said in response to many of Ehrman claims that sound plausible, and much has been written.I’ll link to some resources that go into more depth. 

The fundament thing is that Ehrman is wrong about dating the New Testament, and the tale he spins quite skillfully is not plausible – unless you believe, like him, that there has to be some explanation since we can’t believe the New Testament was written by eyewitnesses. 

Two more points. 

The strength of some of Ehrman’s points trades on equivocation and the lack of familiarity many Christians have with some technical points. 

In building his case for how things we think are clear teachings of Jesus’ divinity but aren’t, he goes into a lengthy demonstration of how the term “Son of Man” can be used in different ways that don’t connote divinity.This is true. The title “Son of Man” can be used in different ways in the Bible.But it seemed to me that Ehrman was trading on equivocation here for making his case.Because the term can be applied in different ways doesn’t mean when Jesus claimed this term (or those that put it in Jesus' mouth many decades later, according to Ehrman’s view) that He wasn’t self-consciously claiming it as a divine title.It’s a big step between showing that a term can mean various things and showing that it doesn’t mean what we think it means in application to Jesus.Ehrman also points out that Jesus uses the title in the third person so that he’s not referring to Himself.However, the context makes clear Jesus and his listeners understood he was applying the title to himself.

And here is something that I think has a lot of persuasive power in Ehrman’s writing.He often writes about problems and questions that are actually quite well known among scholars, pastors, and serious Bible students, but aren’t necessarily familiar to many Christians or non-Christians.For instance, much of the textual variations Ehrman has written about in previous books are known and have been known for a very long time – they’re often even noted in the margin notes in our Bibles.But he takes these variations that aren’t even problems and builds a case that the New Testament text is unreliable.If you’re not aware of how weak his starting point is, the rest seems quite compelling.He does the same thing with his chapter on the Son of Man.

The other point I want to bring up is the way Ehrman refers to scholars who aren’t part of his school of thought about the dating the New Testament.Throughout this book and others he often makes the point that the majority of scholars agree with his positions.He clearly means this to have persuasive power that authority and majorities often have on shaping our opinions.On occasion he refers to other scholars who believe the New Testament documents are dated early and authoritative.He doesn’t interact with their arguments; he seems only to mention them to dismiss them.The way he mentions them, he seems to imply they’re naive and haven’t caught up to modern scholarship.This isn’t true.There are plenty of well-regarded scholars who disagree with his views – including his professor and mentor Bruce Metzger.When I read these dismissive comments of Ehrman's, I wonder if he would really say that to Metzger were he still alive.

Along the same line, Ehrman says more than once that his views about the New Testament are widely taught in seminaries and believed by most pastors who don’t want to rock the boat by teaching it to their congregations.He accuses the majority of pastors of dishonesty because they won’t teach what they really think is true about the Bible.I’m sure there are some pastors like that, and there’s a shred of truth to his claim, just like with the textual variations and Son of Man.The historical critical method, which approaches the Bible in a hyper-skeptical way, is taught in most seminaries.But it’s not always taught as the best way of understanding the New Testament.It’s taught because it’s important for pastors to understand how some scholars will approach the Bible.It’s studied, analyzed, and rejected on the merits.Because it’s taught in seminaries doesn’t mean it’s recommended by all those seminaries or accepted by those who are instructed.So once again, there’s a huge gulf between Ehrman’s premise and conclusion. 

Ehrman is a scholar with good credentials who writes books that sound plausible, so it’s important to dig into the details of what he thinks about the New Testament and read the case other scholars make who disagree with him.To think that the New Testament was written by eyewitnesses shortly after Jesus’ ministry and that he taught He was God is rational and well founded.Here are a number of important resources to make that case.

Richard Bauckham – Jesus and the Eyewitnesses – makes a strong case that the Gospels are early accounts based on eyewitness testimony


Michael Krueger – The Question of Canon: Challenging the Status Quo in the New Testament Debate  – Krueger dismantles the view that the New Testament was a late creation based on tradition and imposed by the church to silence other traditions about Jesus


Michael Krueger has an excellent blog where he often posts on these topics.


How God Became Jesus – a response to Ehrman’s new book by various scholars


A Review of Bart Ehrman’s New Book by Rob Bowman 


Andreas Köstenberger reviews Bart Ehrman’s new book


Can We Still Believe the Bible? – a good book review by Dan Wallace of Craig L. Blomberg’s book that touches on important points to understand about textual criticism, which is fundamental to understanding Ehrman’s view of the Bible


New Testament Textual Criticism – course by Dan Wallace provided by Credo House (if you're not a member, you can purchase the course here)

Isn't Intelligent Design Just a God-of-the-Gaps Argument?

Alan responds to the claim that intelligent design is just used to fill in gaps that science can't explain. 

Please, Invest in a Summit Ministries Conference

As a parent of 5 kids, summer gets expensive. I have to pay for swim lessons, soccer camps, VBS, youth group trips, family vacations, and more. And these costs don't even include feeding my kids all summer!

If you're a parent, this might be pretty typical for your family as well. Summer provides all kind of opportunities, but they come with corresponding expenses. Still, most parents will make the investment. "My kid needs to attend summer football camp for his high school team?" No problem. "Pay for swim lessons?" Sure. "Academic tutoring?" Of course. I know parents willing to spend thousands of dollars on sports, academics, and other extracurricular activities. And I'm not saying that's a bad thing, but I want to know how many parents are willing to put the same investment of time and money into their children's spiritual training. I do a lot of training with parents and I challenge them on this very point. So, I've had to put my money where my mouth is.

During my oldest daughter's junior and senior year of high school, our biggest summer investment was a 2-week trip to Colorado. Altogether, each trip cost us about $1,300. Where did we send her? To Summit Ministries' Student Worldview Conference. Her flight from Orange County to Colorado Springs cost about $300. The conference was $895. She needed about $100 of spending money. That was a big chunk of change for our family. But it was worth every penny. It was an eternal investment.

We knew what Lexi was going to get at Summit: two weeks of intense worldview training, training more valuable than any basketball camp or swim lesson. She was forced to carefully examine the false ideas of this world that compete for her heart and mind every single day. Then she learned to analyze those ideas and expose them for the lies they are. She learned to think Christianly, discovering why Christianity is true and what difference it makes for every single area of her life. How do I know? Because I get to see firsthand what Summit does every summer, as one of their instructors. After teaching at my first session a few years ago, I was completely sold on Summit.

Did my daugther get that teaching at home as well? Of course. But I know that my kids need more than mom and me. They need other models. They need to hear the truth from other followers of Christ and see His truth lived out in their lives. Summit provided the kind of smart, intelligent, loving and winsome Christian ambassadors that I want my kids to emulate.

So parents and students, check out Summit's summer conferences. Not only do they host them in Colorado, they have a camp in Tennessee (July 6-18) and one in California (June 15-27). It's the best investment you can make this summer. (Use the discount code STR2014 to register!)

 

STR Resources for Understanding and Explaining Easter

Don’t let this Easter season pass you by without some reflection on what it means and why it matters. Here are some resources to help you do this:

Bible: What Happened?

Greg’s interview with Justin Taylor on The Final Days of Jesus (starts at 2:00:11)


The Crucifixion – Greg’s outline of the Gospels’ accounts of Jesus’ arrest, trial, and crucifixion.


The Resurrection – Greg’s outline of Jesus’ burial, resurrection, and appearances.

Theology: Why Did It Happen?

Three Passions – Greg explains, “[T]he Passion actually consists of three passions. The passionate intensity of God’s anger at us for our sins collides with the passionate intensity of God’s love for us, causing the passionate intensity of the agony of the cross to be shouldered by God Himself in human form: Jesus.”


The Christ of “The Passion”: What the Movie Couldn’t Show – An extended version of the above post, including two moving illustrations to help us understand what happened on the cross: “Hidden to all but the Father is another certificate nailed to that cross. In the darkness that shrouds Calvary from the sixth to the ninth hour, a divine transaction is taking place; Jesus makes a trade with the Father. The crimes of all of humanity, every murder, every theft, every lustful glance; every hidden act of vice, every modest moment of pride, and every monstrous deed of evil; every crime of every man who ever lived, these Jesus takes upon Himself as if guilty of all.”


Our Certificates of Debt – Melinda explains the concept of a “certificate of debt”: “In Roman times, this certificate was a list of crimes committed against the state that required ‘payment,’ much like an indictment in our legal system today. The Romans gave Jesus a certificate of debt when He was sentenced to die; it was nailed to the cross: ‘Jesus the Nazarene, the King of the Jews’ (John 19:19). When the crimes were paid for, the certificate was canceled and was stamped with the word tetelestai, meaning ‘paid in full.’ Paul says [in Colossians 2:14] that Jesus ‘canceled out’ (paid) our certificate of debt.”


What Does Christ’s Resurrection Mean for Us? – I respond to the question “Why is the resurrection so celebrated if our sins were paid for on the cross?”: “While there are a variety of responses to this (Jesus’ victory over death, an affirmation of His deity, a taste of the coming redemption of our bodies, etc.), in this post I’ll focus on what we learn about the work of Christ in Hebrews 7-10…. Not only was it necessary for Christ to enter heaven with the blood of His covenant on our behalf, but He also continues to intercede on our behalf…. Christ's intercession for us in heaven before the Father is necessary for our eternal salvation. Only Christ’s death could serve as our needed sacrifice, but only Christ’s resurrection could make Him our living priest.”

Apologetics: Reasons to Think It Happened

Did Jesus Really Rise from the Dead? – Brett gives arguments for the resurrection: “If the bones of Jesus were found tomorrow, would you walk away from Christianity? You should. Why? Because faith in a dead Jesus is worthless. Even the Apostle Paul says so.”


Why Should I Believe in the Resurrection? – Jim responds to arguments against the resurrection: “Over the centuries, many doubters have argued that the resurrection did NOT occur and they have taken one of two positions. They have either claimed that Jesus never died on the cross, or that Jesus never came back to life. Let’s look at the claims of the doubters and see if they hold up to careful scrutiny and reason.”


Two Miracles – A video of Greg speaking about Jesus’ miraculous death and resurrection: “The first miracle no one saw, because it couldn't be seen except by God Himself. The second miracle only a few saw, but multitudes actually experienced.”


Two Miracles – A written version of the ideas in Greg’s talk linked above.

He is risen!

Five Misconceptions about Holy Week

Andreas Köstenberger and Justin Taylor wrote about “Five Errors to Drop from Your Easter Sermon” in Christianity Today. Here's a quick summary:

1. Don't say Jesus died when he was 33 years old: "Jesus would have been 37 or 38 years old when he died in the spring of A.D. 33."

2. Don't explain the apparent absence of a lamb at the Last Supper by only saying Jesus is the ultimate Passover Lamb: "Even if it isn't specifically mentioned in the Gospel accounts, eating the paschal lamb was an important part of every Jewish Passover."

3. Don't say the same crowds worshiped Jesus on Palm Sunday and then cried out for his crucifixion on Good Friday: "First, it is not entirely clear that the 'Hosanna!' crowd acclaiming Jesus' triumphal entry is the same group of people as the 'Crucify him!' crowd gathered before Pontius Pilate…. Second, both crowds are expressing passion based on misunderstanding."

4. Don't bypass the role of the women as witnesses of the resurrected Christ: "First, it is a theological reminder that the kingdom of the Messiah turns the system of the world on its head…. Second, it is a powerful apologetic reminder of the historical accuracy of the resurrection accounts."

5. Don't focus on the suffering of Jesus to the extent that you neglect the glory of the Cross in and through the Resurrection: "It is, as the writer of Hebrews put it, 'for the joy that was set before him' that Jesus 'endured the cross, despising the shame' (12:2)…. Jesus' earthly work is indeed 'finished' (John 19:30), but his glorious work of ruling, reigning, and interceding continues to this day."

Read the details for each point in their article. And for more on #5, see “What Does Christ’s Resurrection Mean for Us?”: “Only Christ’s death could serve as our needed sacrifice, but only Christ’s resurrection could make Him our living priest.”

Dr. Rambo

Victor Rambo spent his career restoring sight to the blind in India, physically and spiritually. He was born to missionary parents, studied medicine in the U.S., and returned to India for the rest of his career. He trained students and developed mobile eye clinics that would go to the villages to help prevent blindness and restore sight. His success rate was comparable to that in the U.S. at the time. He told his patients before treatment that they were being healed in the name of Jesus.

Christ Is Still Renewing Cities Through His People

We’ve been posting about a lot of bad news lately, but that isn’t the whole story of what God is doing in this world. Lest you forget that, here’s some good news from Peter Leithart at First Things:

Years ago, members of a Boulder, Colorado, ministers’ association determined that they were responsible for Boulder’s civic health. Taking a cue from the early chapters of John’s Apocalypse, they resolved to serve as the guardian angels of the city.

They began to invite civil officials to address the pastoral association. Heads of city bureaus, the district attorney and police chief, and officials at the University of Colorado all visited. Each time, the pastors made the same offer: “Tell us,” they would say, “the problems you face for which there are no human solutions. We want to pray for solutions.” A pastor friend of mine who has been intimately involved with the group says that no one ever refused. No matter how secular or post-Christian, the politician sat tight as the pastors scrummed round to lay hands and pray.

My friend has countless accounts of answered prayer. Out of the meetings, the pastors developed close personal relationships with Boulder’s leaders. When crises hit, as they always do, city officials turned to the pastors for guidance, advice, prayer, encouragement, and friendship. Some of these officials converted or recommitted to their earlier faith. The pastors became, as my friend likes to put it, “advisors to the king,” prophet-pastors like Daniel to Nebuchadnezzar—and this in one of the most secular cities in the U.S.

At a conference in Florida a few years ago, my friend demonstrated how easy it is to replicate his work in Boulder. Before the end of the conference week, he had made contact with several local pastors, met city officials, and had a friendly chat with the mayor.

Every time I tell my friend’s story, someone comes back with a similar story about another part of the country.

During the 1990s, the murder rate in Aurora, Illinois, was higher than in Chicago. There was a murder every month in Aurora as recently as 2007. In 2012, there were no murders in the city. Police crackdowns on gangs have played an important role, as have efforts by community groups that work with troubled youth, but churches have also been a visible player.

We deal with worldview ideas here at Stand to Reason, so we’re usually far upstream from how those ideas play out in the lives and communities of the people we help. Everything starts with knowing and trusting Christ, and this is what we’re working towards here. Sometimes the battle of ideas isn’t pretty; sometimes there’s frustration, anguish, or even fear. Sometimes it’s hard to remember that even in our losses, we’re never losing; for what God wants most for us is to make us like Christ, and this He will do. Not in spite of the difficulties, but through the difficulties.

So we all need to hear news like Peter Leithart’s. As I said last week, goodness, truth, and beauty follow Christ wherever He goes because that is who He is. Seeing this happen always fuels my love and labor for Him by reminding me He’s worthy of it, and I hope it will do the same for you.

Links Mentioned on the 4/15/14 Show

The following are links that were either mentioned on this week's show or inspired by it, as posted live on the @STRtweets Twitter feed:

Online training event with Brett Kunkle on April 24th, 7:00–8:00 p.m. PT


Summit Ministries Student Conferences


Discount code for worldview training at Summit


Cruel Logic by Brian Godawa


To End All Wars


Five Sacred Crossings: A Novel by Craig Hazen


Love, Freedom, and Evil: Does Authentic Love Require Free Will? by Thaddeus Williams


Two Miracles – Greg's message at Watermark Community Church


Two Miracles – by Greg Koukl (Issue of Solid Ground)


Think of the Mosaic Covenant Like a State Law – by Amy Hall (quoting Greg's answer from a previous podcast)


Divine Simplicity by William Lane Craig 

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

To follow the Twitter conversation during the live show (Tuesdays 4:00–7:00 p.m. PT), use the hashtag #STRtalk.