Common Sense Apologetics: One God, One Book, One Way

By Dave Abell

While atheists and religious liberals purport themselves to be
enlightened intellectuals, what we find, upon deeper exploration,
is that their intellectualism is simply a facade. Conversely, many
believers are unable to defend their faith and shrink back when
confronted with tough questions, particularly those concerning
Jesus being the only way to Heaven. Whether out of fear, lack of
knowledge, or a spirit of compromise, the ability to express the
idea of one true Holy Book, and one true way to Heaven, seems
to escape far too many Christians. Common Sense Apologetics
will inspire Christians to drop this spirit of timidity, while
gaining confidence and loving boldness when sharing the faith.
Foundational, is the fact that God has not called Christians to
believe what is not believable nor defend what is indefensible.
The evidence for Gods existence and the truth of His Word is
abundant and accessible. Christians have Biblical directives
to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and lovingly contend for
the faith when it is perverted from within and attacked from
without. This book is uniquely constructed to present a practical
approach to learning why the Christian faith is true, and a better
method for defending that truth.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Oct 18, 2010
• ISBN: 9781449704742

Dave Abell

The Lord got my attention twelve years ago, when He pulled me from a listless, in name only Christianity. My new walk began with much joy, but that joy was stifled when I became burdened by doubt about the truth of my beliefs. However, this was a loving work of the Lord because it led me to an endeavor that has been a constant in my life for these past years, and that has been the study of Christian Apologetics. God has blessed us with great teachers—experts in their field—who have done seminal work in responding to skeptics, equipping Christians to defend the faith, and elucidating the wonderful evidence God has given us concerning His existence and the truth of His Word. Yet it seems that Christians fear that the task of Apologetics is too daunting. However, I’m living proof that a formal education is not a necessary pre-requisite to become a stronger defender of Christian truth. Understanding what we believe-- and why we believe it-- is not beyond our reach. Again, God has mightily used the experts and we can draw off of their knowledge. This does not mean, however, that we all need to be Seminary graduates to be effective witnesses for Christ. My contribution is to illustrate that; indeed, God can take an ordinary Christian and infuse great perspective and learning. Additionally, I learned that the Holy Spirit is the greatest Teacher. God has never let me down when I have come to Him with questions concerning any aspect of Christian Apologetics. Additionally, the answers God provided to me were ideas that I hadn’t previously come across in other resources. Since I’ve been able to successfully implement these fresh ideas in my own walk— as well as teaching and witnessing to others—I was inspired to offer these thoughts to a wider audience. Finally, I have a close friend who is an atheist. Mindful of what his objections to Christianity were in the past, and in anticipation of what he would raise in the future, I studied every possible angle. So that I would be prepared for any question, I took the objections far beyond what I’ve even heard the most hard-hearted atheist bring up. As to the Bible itself, I exhausted the accusations and doubts of the so-called “Higher Critics”. I envisioned scenarios of human concoction and hoaxes concerning the Gospels that even the most ardent skeptics haven’t broached. Perhaps this was overkill, and it was definitely painful at times. However, when I jettisoned the exclusive use of my own mind, and did these exercises in conjunction with prayer, that is when things really began to fire, and the fresh perspective and ideas came rolling in. Praise be to God that He not only has saved us through Jesus Christ, but has also not left us in the dark about the truth of that salvation. Currently, I am a member of the Elim Evangelical Free Church in Oak Lawn, IL, where I serve as the Deacon Board Chairman, as well as service in the Church’s Oversight Board. I’m 48 years old and am a native Illinoisan. Kristy and I have been married for almost 22 years, and we have three boys: Michael, age 13; Samuel, age 10; and Daniel, age 8.

Book preview

-Common Sense-

Apologetics

One God, One Book, One Way

Dave Abell

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Copyright © 2010 David M. Abell

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

WestBow Press books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson

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www.westbowpress.com

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any Web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

ISBN: 978-1-4497-0424-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-0422-3 (dj)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-0474-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2010934061

Printed in the United States of America

WestBow Press rev. date: 9/24/2010

Contents

Introduction:

Chapter 1: Setting the Stage

SECTION 1:

THE EXISTENCE OF GOD

Chapter 2: The Foundation

Chapter 3: Design in Life

Chapter 4: The Existence of God—Design in the Universe

Chapter 5: The Existence of God—The Logical Proof

Chapter 6: The Existence of God—The Moral Argument

Chapter 7: Religion

Chapter 8: Evil and Suffering

SECTION 2:

THE BIBLE: IS IT THE WORD OF GOD?

Chapter 9: Harsh Passages / God’s Holiness

Chapter 10: A Biblical Worldview: The Greatest Influence for Good

Chapter 11: Internal Design / Logical Cohesion / Prophecy as Proof

Chapter 12: A World Changer:

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ

Chapter 13: The Bridge

Chapter 14: Other Common Objections

SECTION 3:

JESUS CHRIST: IS HE THE ONLY WAY?

Chapter 15: Is Jesus the Only Way to Heaven? Part I

Chapter 16: Is Jesus the Only Way to Heaven? Part II

Chapter 17: Is Jesus the Only Way to Heaven? Part III

SECTION 4:

HOW TO CHANGE THE GAME

Chapter 18: How to Change the Game

Chapter 19: Conclusion

APPENDICES

Appendix A: Disclaimer

Appendix B: More Evidence to Explore:

Appendix C: Tools We Must Have:

Appendix D: The Bacterial Flagellum:

Appendix E: Recommended Resources

Appendix F: Another Disclaimer

Appendix G: Recommended Websites

End Notes and Other Works Cited

Introduction:

There’s really no point for Christians to tiptoe around these basic facts: God exists, the Bible is His unique and only written word to mankind, and eternal life in Heaven comes through Jesus Christ alone. I know full well that these statements give offense. They sound arrogant, narrow-minded, and exclusive. However, what I intend to argue is that these statements needn’t be taken with offense; they needn’t be inflammatory, arrogant, or narrow minded. On the contrary, my argument will be that these statements carry the greatest measure of love, logic, inclusion, and moral certainty.

For some, the Gospel of Jesus Christ will always be a source of offense because of the personal conviction it brings, but that is a subject for another time. While the Christian faith is clearly inclusive and open to all people, the truth of Christianity is clearly exclusive. However, truth—by definition—is exclusive. Far from being a negative idea, the exclusivity of truth, and the possibility that a true faith exists, should provide people with a great deal of comfort and confidence. Oddly enough, what has just been stated wasn’t completely aimed at non-believers. I’ll have more to say on this as we move along.

Unfortunately, many have been intimated into automatically assuming a weak position when attempting to discuss their faith with non-believers. Christians tend to freeze up when confronted with the question: Why should Jesus be the only way to Heaven? Too often, the Christian will cede the intellectual high ground with the mythical belief that the skeptic/atheist is operating from a standpoint of scientific and historical superiority. Since God has not called us to engage the world with that mentality, why continue on with the practice? God has not called us to believe what is not believable nor defend what is indefensible. We have an obligation to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ and lovingly contend for the faith when it is perverted from within and attacked from without. Sadly, Christians have gotten to the point where we think that faith means believing in something without evidence. But this kind of thinking is dead wrong and thoroughly un-biblical.

Let me offer some encouragement right now (and more as we move forward) by letting you know that having faith in Jesus Christ is a perfectly rational and reasonable thing to do. What atheists—and others—typically engage in, however, is a blustering, puffed-up ascent to science and intellect. Think about it this way: some politicians have done everything in their power to clear a ballot so that they can run unopposed. This is precisely what many atheists and skeptics have done. If they assume the intellectual high ground, they have, in a sense, cleared the ballot. If you own the intellectual debate at the start, who is there to argue against you?

Throughout the book, we will see that though the atheist tries to use intellect as a club, it—in the end—turns out to be more like a crutch. Further, believers in Christ should be confident that when all the evidence is assessed, it points to the truth of Christianity, not away from it. Let none of you who are believers in Jesus Christ be intimidated by anyone who purports that your faith must swim against the tide of intellectual pursuits. As I will argue, just the opposite is true.

Many believers and honest skeptics struggle with issues I try to address in a head-on fashion throughout the book. Among these issues are salvation in Christ alone, the reality of evil and suffering, harsh passages in the Old Testament, violence committed in the name of Christ, and a lot more. An important goal for the book (among others) is to illustrate that there is a unifying principle to the Christian faith; one that involves reference to God’s existence; His moral immutability; and His communication to us through conscience, nature, objective moral values, and the Bible. In understanding the harmonious and complementary blend of these areas, and by starting with God’s existence and moral purity, we will see the emergence of a wonderful clarity. In other words, we too often try to defend the faith by starting with a bottom-up approach, rather than a top-down (God first) approach.

Well, what do we believe—and is it true? If that which we believe is indeed true, then it is exclusive. For example, if it is true that George Washington was the first president of the United States, it excludes the possibility that anyone else was the first president of the United States. Needless to say, the above statement is to the point and is logically sound. With that in mind, if it is true that Jesus Christ is the only way to Heaven, that would preclude any other person or system from being able to get us there. If no one is intellectually offended by the soundness of exclusive truth with the George Washington example, why should anyone be offended by the same possibility with Jesus Christ? Therefore, believers in Christ should not worry about giving offense where none should be taken. Personal offense is always a possibility, but something we can do little about. However, when people reject the truth of God, they rarely—if ever—state that it’s due to personal feelings. While that may certainly be the true, overriding reason, my experience has been that people usually couch their rejection of God on the basis of some stated intellectual position.

Not surprisingly, one of my purposes with this book is to show that these intellectual barriers are quite unreasonable in light of the evidence. Now, we are called by God to contend for the faith (Jude 1:3), but we cannot do that if we don’t know what we believe or why we believe it. Contending for the faith requires more than just knowing the information; we have to be able to share and defend that truth. My sincere prayer is that this book will inspire Christians to take up this endeavor from a position of strength, confidence, and practicality.

I had the recent privilege of attending a lecture delivered by Dr. John Lennox of Oxford University. During his talk, Dr. Lennox mentioned something that I took great encouragement from, and it was a reminder to Christians that our lives have great importance. When all is said and done, the decisions we make and how we act on those decisions really do matter. At first blush, this may not seem like a groundbreaking nugget of wisdom, but notice I said it was a reminder. Many Christians (and I definitely include myself) can drift and get distracted. We can become discouraged, lazy, and at times forgetful of the fact that God put us on this earth with jobs to do. With those jobs come responsibilities, and with those responsibilities come accountability. If God had created us as sophisticated, pre-programmed robots, our existence and actions would not matter or count for anything. But because God has endowed us with a true capability of making decisions, making choices, and acting on those decisions and choices, the things we do matter, count, and are indeed meaningful. One of the jobs we have as Christians is the responsibility of understanding our faith, as well as sharing and defending it.

To be sure, there are many great minds who have communicated wonderful information to us throughout the years, and it will be my pleasure to highlight and recommend some of these great works and great teachers to you. That said, this book attempts to offer some unique perspective and application into the practice of knowing what we believe and why we believe it. One of the toughest questions that Christians are asked is, Why is Jesus Christ the only way to heaven? I’ve heard many people give a less-than-convincing response when skeptics raise that issue. Many Christians will punt that question, give responses that sound evasive, or simply respond in an un-biblical manner. It troubles me when I hear some of those tepid answers because a spirit of timidity is not helpful, nor is it needed. The same holds for the other questions that go hand in hand with the one listed above. For example: So if you don’t believe in Jesus, you’re going to hell, right? What about people who have never heard of Jesus, are they doomed as well? Why are you Christians so exclusive? etc.

But what if it turns out that life is indeed eternal? Further, what if it turns out that there is an eternal place of perfect joy, peace, love, and fellowship, but also one of darkness, despair, and pain? What if both of the above questions can be answered with a yes? What if there is a God who possesses an unchanging character of perfect love, but also of perfect holiness, and demands justice because of our sin, yet extends mercy through His Son—and only through His Son? What if our response to God’s offer of mercy in this life, has consequences which result in either eternal happiness, or eternal darkness? From the standpoint of truth—not opinion, culture, or personal bias—should these what ifs be answered with a yes or a no? Isn’t it reasonable to at least ask these questions of ourselves at some point? And whether we say yes or no, what evidence do we utilize to back up our answer? Part of the purpose of this book is to demonstrate that these questions can be answered with an unequivocal, yes!

At one time, I would have argued very little against the mindset that God uses many ways and religions to bring people to Himself. However, when I actually made a profession of faith in Jesus Christ, the reality of Him being the only way was inescapable. Still, I wasn’t comfortable engaging anyone in conversations regarding it. In fact, whenever questions about the integrity of the Bible came up, or whether God even exists, I would sit on my hands, just sort of clinging to blind faith. Occasionally, I would offer a stab at trying to defend my beliefs, but for the most part, I was content to talk about sports and movies.

This, I believe, is one of the problems within the Church. We can know a lot about our jobs, sports, etc…but when it comes to offering reasons for what we believe as Christians, too often, we have nothing to say. With all love, I must pointedly say that this is unacceptable. One of the reasons I can so easily recognize this is because I was so guilty of it in the past. Many years ago, I could tell you everything there was to know about movies: writers, directors, actors, Oscar nominations (going all the way back to the 1920’s), box office totals, and knowledge of what every major film critic had to say about a particular movie. I could even offer my own detailed, critical analysis of the movies I saw.

The reason I was able to know all those things is because I made it my business to know. Here’s the point; I had long been a Christian, yet, what did I know? Was there ever a time back then where I had the opportunity to explain the evidence for God’s existence? How often was I presented with a chance to defend the truth of the Bible? How many times did a clear path arise for me to explain the historical certainty concerning the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ? Of course, the answer to above questions is, several. Yet, I remained silent (or offered up something totally idiotic). So while I could speak intelligently about movies, I could not do the same for the very Savior who bled and died on a cross to save me into eternal life. To say that this was unacceptable is putting it mildly. The lack of effort in my Christian life at that time was evident, and it led me away from the Lord. It wasn’t until twelve years ago that the Lord pulled me back and thrust me into a search to find out about the truth of His existence, the truth about the Bible being His word, and the reality of Jesus Christ being Lord and Savior.

What I found in my search was nothing short of amazing. Faith in God is not rooted in a blind leap in the dark. It’s not a wishin and a hopin set of beliefs. Nevertheless, there are those who try to charge that the concepts of faith and logic, or faith and reason, are polar opposites. These charges, however, are the epitome of the straw man argument. Christians can have the assurance that the faith we possess is completely logical, reasonable, rational, and evidential. Another popular red herring offered by the skeptic is this faith vs. science canard. Somehow, we’ve had it drummed into our heads that faith and science have a fixed gulf between them. Too many Christians have fallen for this nonsense. But the good news is, beloved, there is no gulf! We have nothing to fear from evidence; it’s actually quite the contrary.

Another problem that exists when trying to share and defend your faith may not always come from the skeptic/atheist. This has to do with resistance you may get from someone who acknowledges belief in God and is possibly even a churchgoer. Many people simply relegate faith to that of a personal belief, a matter of opinion, or some kind of cultural identification. I may make a comment about a particular aspect of the Christian faith and the retort could come back; I don’t agree. Not agreeing is, of course, perfectly legitimate but the question is: why is there disagreement? Is it because there is a set of facts which would overturn the statement I made in the first place? Let’s put it another way; is the statement, George Washington was the first President of the United States, a statement of fact, personal faith, or opinion? Fact, opinion, or personal faith: John F. Kennedy while serving as the President of the United States was assassinated in November 1963.

Obviously, there are many things that people typically understand as being matters of fact or matters of opinion. Too many people, however, adopt what is sheer opinion and apply it to religion. And the way they apply it is interesting because not only do people have their own opinions about religion, but, further, they believe that religion should be just a matter of personal opinion. And even more startling is that this idea can often come from people who have religious beliefs! Is the Christian faith just true for me because I happen to believe it and it works for me? Or does it even matter what I believe as long as I believe in something and am sincere about it? In truth, sincerity for the sake of sincerity is an illogical worldview, and one that people hypocritically apply to matters of faith. I can sincerely believe anything I want, but that sincerity won’t make it true if in reality it is false. By the same token, if something is true, my sincere belief it is false will not in reality, make it false.

The hypocritical part comes into play in that, people will in everyday life act on things, not on the basis of blind sincerity, but rather on reality. If someone were to have their car stall on a railroad track with a train bearing down on them, are they going to get out of the car as fast as possible, or are they just going to sincerely believe the train will stop on a dime and not crush them? Yet, when it comes to the acknowledgement of God, where eternity will be spent etc…many people will simply throw caution to the wind and chalk up religion as simply a personal, private thing. However, belief in God and the Bible is not a matter of preference or personal taste.

Still another goal of this book—and the others I hopefully lead you to (including the Bible itself)—is to illustrate that, indeed, the Christian faith is true, not just because of personal preference but, rather, because it is true in reality.1 We are indeed blessed because of the abundance of positive evidence to demonstrate the truth about what we believe as Christians, and a lot of negative evidence for the people who try to undermine what we believe. When you look at conclusions drawn from the evidence, it actually serves to allow, to an ever greater extent, a joyful response from the Christian because everything is on the table; nothing is hidden; nothing is esoteric; and nothing is mysterious. But when we hear the conclusions drawn by the skeptic from all this available evidence, we can see who is engaging in blind faith. Christians do not have to jump through hoops to make the evidence fit their beliefs. On the other hand, what we see from the non-believer are the type of responses that if employed by Christians, would be mocked, and thought to be nothing more than straw grasping.

Before we go on, we should define our terms here a little bit. I will use the terms: atheist, skeptic, non-believer, etc…These may or may not be interchangeable terms. For example: an atheist is someone who states that God does not exist. Skeptics and non-believers could be atheists, but on the other hand, they could have some loose belief in a higher power, but not be committed to a personal God or Biblical Christianity. In any case, the subjects we tackle in this book will cover all the various states of non-belief people have toward God and the Bible.

During the course of this book, I will—from time to time—comment on the fact that when Christians have the opportunity to talk with a non-believer about the existence of God and the truth of the Bible, we need to be patient and loving. This is the right thing to do for many reasons, not the least of which is that God commands it. You’ll also notice that I get somewhat confrontational about the subject of atheism. These two notions, patience and confrontation, are not in contradiction, however. If an opportunity arises to have a discussion with an atheist, skeptic, etc…my hope is that because they are willing to have the discussion, they have questions they would like to ask and at least a general willingness to talk. This is not to say the discussion won’t get heated, but Christians should never resort to name calling, personal attacks, or arrogance.

When I engage in a confrontational tone in the book, I am responding in a general way to the basic constructs and systematic thought concerning atheism. But I’m also responding to some particular atheists who have made it their life’s pursuit to attack and mock the very God we love and worship, along with grossly misleading people about the character of God, the content of the Bible, and the positive role the true Church has played in the world. Again, there is a big difference between aggressively taking on an establishment of militant atheism and its adherents, while on the other side, patiently and lovingly engaging in discussion with individuals who are non-believers.

Even after learning a great deal about the existence of God, and the reliability of the Bible, I still was not altogether prepared to answer the tough questions about Jesus being the only way to Heaven. However, after a lot of prayer, research, and studying the Bible, I went from someone who wanted that above question to be the last one anyone would ask, to someone who now hopes that this question is asked the most often. Why was I hesitant about this question? Because I always thought it was the toughest to answer. Is Jesus the only way? It was tough because, after all, there are a lot of sincerely religious people out there who don’t believe in Jesus; are they really going to be condemned? What about those who have never heard of Jesus? Would God really allow them to perish because of a technicality? You see the difficulties here I’m sure. The reason I now love to answer these questions is because, what used to seem exclusionary and perfunctory as a response, I now rejoice because the answer actually contains the opposite message.

In addition to the primary goal—which is giving glory to God—I also want this book to provide a user-friendly, or, if you will, common sense perspective to defending our faith. Certainly, I will get into some details, but I also hope to point you in the direction of the real experts who can provide a greater level of understanding of those details. As an example, there are scholars like Gary Habermas who can really get into the nitty-gritty of the New Testament documents and explain the early dating of these manuscripts. In doing so, Dr. Habermas completely debunks the out of date charge that the New Testament was written hundreds of years after Jesus. He will employ details concerning history, archaeology, language study (Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic), and all manner of textual analysis to prove the accuracy and reliability of the New Testament.

My approach in this book is to come at these types of subjects with some overall workaday application. When you are trying to teach another believer, or provide answers for the skeptic, is there a way to infuse some overall perspective that sets the logical boundaries of the discussion in a clearer way? To give you a flavor of what I’m talking about, imagine someone arguing with you about the validity of miracles that take place in the Bible. To be sure, there are a lot of legitimate ways to pursue defending the truth of these miracles. However, I discovered that it was very effective to simply go for the larger perspective. If you can prove that God does not exist, then you have gone a long way in also disproving biblical miracles. But if God does exist and can create the universe and all of life, how hard would it be for Him to walk on water or part the Red Sea? Now, what does the skeptic want to argue about—miracles or the existence of God? In