Reason and ridicule
29 Feb 2012 6 Comments
in Apologetics Tags: apologetics, Atheism, Belief, christians, making disciples, persecution
Criticisms of christians and christian faith seem to be more widespread and trenchant than they used to be. And the main basis of the attack is that christianity is not reasonable, not based on evidence. Yet in my experience, the attacks that have greatest impact are not intellectual but emotional, built as much on ridicule as on reason.
What are we to make of this? And how should we deal with it?
Believing “by faith”
26 Feb 2012 3 Comments
in Apologetics Tags: apologetics, christianity, faith, making disciples, reason
In christianity, faith is a virtue. Many christians believe in Jesus because they have been taught to believe by people they trust. Is this good or bad?
Some people say, faith is the opposite of reason. So does this mean believing in Jesus is unreasonable? Why do we have faith anyway?
And how do these questions fit in with our current theme of helping disciples to stand against attack?
Reasons to believe 1 – Jesus
21 Feb 2012 3 Comments
in Apologetics Tags: apologetics, Belief, Bible, christianity, history, making disciples, New Testament
1 Peter 3:15: “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” Jesus is the centre of our faith, so we need to understand, and be able to explain clearly, why we believe in him.
This isn’t as easy as it used to be. (This post follows on from my discussion of Training disciples to stand and Apologetics for disciples.)
Apologetics for disciples
19 Feb 2012 4 Comments
in Apologetics Tags: apologetics, Belief, christianity, God, Jesus, making disciples
In Training disciples to stand I suggested that we need to develop our methods of evangelism and discipleship to include some apologetics. Young disciples need to be encouraged to better think through why they believe, and how to defend their belief against attack.
But what apologetics are important and relevant?
Urban Neighbours of Hope
11 Feb 2012 Leave a Comment
in Serving Tags: Change the world, christianity, christians, Good news, Hope, western society
I met Jon Owen at the Black Stump music festival. Over three days I listened to his stories and was impressed. I laughed a lot, but had the odd tear as well.
Jon and his wife Lisa live in one of Sydney’s most depressed suburbs as part of a community supported by Urban Neighbours of Hope, and try to bring hope to the many people who need it. I deeply admire them and their work, and I don’t think I could do it. I blogged about his book, Muddy Spirituality.
Here is an article from the Sydney Morning Herald about their life. It’s worth reading. (The photo above was taken from the article.)
Who’s afraid of Yahweh?
07 Feb 2012 1 Comment
in Doctrine Tags: apologetics, Atheism, Bible interpretation, christians, doctrine, ethics, God, Old Testament
It doesn’t take long before a thoughtful Bible reader comes across some rather odd and nasty things, especially in the Old Testament. And non-believers use the odd and nasty things as a weapon against christians: “How can you believe in a God who is genocidal?” they might say.
What are we to make of these things? Do they make it hard to maintain faith in Jesus? And how should we answer the critics?
Training disciples to stand
03 Feb 2012 5 Comments
in Making disciples Tags: Belief, christians, churches, making disciples
I have been looking at the problem of christians losing faith and turning away from following Jesus (see Making disciples is a new game these days, Why do some christians give up belief?, and Do christians believe for irrational reasons?).
So what should we do about it?
How do we help young christians to be prepared for attacks on their faith, to be able to grow through doubt and questioning, and after all, to stand (Ephesians 6:13)?
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