Why?: A Believer's Introduction to Defending the Faith

By Doug Taylor

Why do Christians believe what they believe? What is it about Christianity that makes us believe we have the one and only way to heaven? After all, would a loving and caring God actually send somebody to hell just because they happened to follow a teacher who got a few facts wrong? What about the area of science? How can we claim with confidence that the universe had a beginning and will have an end when renowned scientists and physicists have claimed that the universe is eternal? If there is no God, where do ethics and morality come from, and on what do we base our concept of right and wrong?

In Why? A Believers Guide to Defending the Faith, author Doug Taylor helps Christians find the answers to those and other questions. This guide is divided into six main sections: understanding the Apologetics; determining if the Bible supports or prohibits us from looking for evidences of God and His work; basic differences between the occult, cults, and false religions; how the church and atheism are obstacles to Apologetics today; and a look at positive supports for the Christian worldview and Christianity at large. The final section is a recap and challenge to the reader moving forward.

Written in easy-to-understand, unintimidating language, Why? is designed for new and veteran Christians. It will help prepare all Christians to explain to others the truths of their faith.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Nov 5, 2015
• ISBN: 9781490899060

Doug Taylor

Doug Taylor was a Toronto historian who was a member of the faculty of Lakeshore Teachers’ College (York University). Through books including Toronto Theatres and the Golden Age of the Silver Screen and his history blog tayloronhistory.com, he explored the city’s past and documented its architectural heritage.

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Copyright © 2015 Doug Taylor.

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 author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible® Copyright © 2003, 2002, 2000, 1999 by Holman Bible Publishers. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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ISBN: 978-1-4908-9905-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-9906-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015916417

WestBow Press rev. date: 09/30/2015

Contents

Abstract

Apologetics

The Bible

Competing thoughts

False Religions

Obstacles to Apologetics

Supports for Christianity

Philosophical Arguments for Christianity

Where Do We Go From Here?

Appendix A

Appendix B

Works Cited

To the Friday Night Bible Study

I want to offer special thanks to three men – Todd Greene, Jesse Smith, and Rodney Welch, who helped me throughout the process of writing this book. Each, in their respective way, continued to encourage me to not only begin the work, but also to see it through to completion. Each was clear: The method may change, but the message is always the same, and If you are going to do this, then do it with excellence for Jesus. I have strived to meet this challenge.

I also want to thank my wife Kathryn and children, Kate and Rebecca, for allowing me the time to pursue my academic studies and subsequently the time to write this book. Were it not for their encouragement, support, and belief in me I would not have had the ability to try to make a difference.

Abstract

¹⁵ But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, ¹⁶ keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. ¹

The title of this book says it all. Why? Why do we believe Jesus is the Christ? Why do we hold that Jesus is the only way to Heaven? Why do we believe anything at all? If we believe that Jesus is God in the flesh, then why do we run and hide from cults? If Jesus is the promised Messiah, then why do we not live as though He is the Messiah? Why is every other religion and worldview wrong when compared to Christianity?

Why. Why. Why.

This book is not designed to be a submarine ride, rather my goal is to introduce you to Christian apologetics. The goal is to whet your appetite for the ability to explain why you believe what you believe and then to do so in a credible manner based on the facts. The goal is for the reader of this book to be equipped to take a stand for Jesus and to do so in a Christ-like manner. The goal is for us to learn what the Bible says about standing firm in the faith and pointing people to Jesus.

Apologetics

What it Is

A pologetics is perhaps one of the most misunderstood terms in Christianity today. I would personally rank it right up there with pneumatology and soteriology—great churchy words, but what do they really mean? I’m not just talking about what they mean to the Christian - I mean what do the words actually mean, and what do they mean when it comes to everyday life? ²

Apologetics is an unknown arena for most, and for many others it is simply misunderstood. People within the Church often do not know what the word means. This is evidenced when I begin to talk to people who claim to be Christians, and yet, when I tell them that I am an apologist, they immediately ask the question, So, what, you go around saying you’re sorry for being a Christian? These people mean well, and to be honest, many of them are simply using humor to cover their misunderstanding or lack of understanding about the subject.

People may think apologetics is about apologizing because Christianity has some things in its past for which Christians need to be sorry. Well, although the term apologetics does not apply here, I would agree that Christianity has had some darker moments and we need to understand the harm that we have inflicted in the name of the Church at points in history. The first one that comes to mind is the Crusades. We condemn Islam for its approach to conversion at the end of a sword, but what were the Crusades if not the very same thing? We also have events such as the Inquisitions, where people were tortured into making whatever profession was desired at the time. What about the people who died as a result of the Salem witch trials? I think you get the point here: we do have things to apologize for in Christianity’s past. Nevertheless, apologetics does not translate into being sorry that we are Christians or apologizing for Jesus or the cross. If apologetics is not about apologizing or being sorry, then what exactly is it?

Apologetics at its most basic level is simply the why behind what you do. This should not be a difficult concept to grasp because we already use and do apologetics on a daily basis. Let me try to give a couple of real-world examples to make the point clearer.

If you own or manage a business, you use apologetics. I have worked for a number of years with a major producer of petroleum lubricants. Each year budgets are written and financial goals are established. Why? Because this company exists to provide a service or product to the consumer and in turn generate a profit. The reason for establishing financial goals and budgets is to provide a map that shows where the money at the end of the year is going to come from. What this company does is produce lubricant oils. How it does business is driven to a large extent by the plans and goals that are established. Why it does all of this is to make money.

We could apply this to just about anything we do. We cook meat rather than eating it raw to prevent illness. We go to hospitals and doctors because we believe they have resources to help cure diseases and make us feel better. We go to work to make money so that we can pay for the things we need—and hopefully have a little left over in the end! We can explain the why behind so many things that we do, but when it comes to Christianity, we are so often unable to tell people why we believe what we believe. We so often lack the ability to clearly express what it is about Jesus that makes his story believable in the face of all competing world views.

One key component to Christian apologetics is that it involves logic. By logic I mean that Christians have a systematic way to explain the why of their belief system. A second key component to Christian apologetics is that when one uses logic, it forces a person to put their thoughts into an order that correctly reflects reality. The value for having such a tool at one’s disposal is priceless. For instance, when you are talking to someone who believes in God or even multiple gods, you might begin with presuppositional apologetics and frame your reasoning from the agreed belief that God exists. This is the exact approach that Paul took in Acts 17.

17 Then they traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia and came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. 2 As usual, Paul went to them, and on three Sabbath days reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and showing that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead, and saying: This is the Messiah, Jesus, whom I am proclaiming to you. 4 Then some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, including a great number of God-fearing Greeks, as well as a number of the leading women. ³

If you are having a conversation with an atheist or agnostic, you might begin with evidentiary apologetics, or presenting an apologetic defense based on the evidence, and frame your position from there. Paul also took such an approach.

16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, his spirit was troubled within him when he saw that the city was full of idols. 17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with those who worshiped God, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. 18 Then also, some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers argued with him. Some said, What is this pseudo-intellectual trying to say?

Others replied, He seems to be a preacher of foreign deities—because he was telling the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.

19 They took him and brought him to the Areopagus, and said, May we learn about this new teaching you’re speaking of? 20 For what you say sounds strange to us, and we want to know what these ideas mean. 21 Now all the Athenians and the foreigners residing there spent their time on nothing else but telling or hearing something new.

The Areopagus Address

22 Then Paul stood in the middle of the Areopagus and said: "Men of Athens! I see that you are extremely religious in every respect. 23 For as I was passing through and observing the objects of your worship, I even found an altar on which was inscribed:

TO AN UNKNOWN GOD

Therefore, what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and everything in it —He is Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in shrines made by hands. 25 Neither is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives everyone life and breath and all things. 26 From one man He has made every nation of men to live all over the earth and has determined their appointed times and the boundaries of where they live, 27 so that they might seek God, and perhaps they might reach out and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. 28 For in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring. ’ 29 Being God’s offspring, then, we shouldn’t think that the divine nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image fashioned by human art and imagination.

30 Therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance, God now commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because He has set a day on which He is going to judge the world in righteousness by the Man He has appointed. He has provided proof of this to everyone by raising Him from the dead.

32 When they heard about resurrection of the dead, some began to ridicule him. But others said, We will hear you about this again. 33 So Paul went out from their presence. 34 However, some men joined him and believed, among whom were Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.⁴

As Christians, most of us will readily admit that the Church has taught us a lot about what to believe. But why should we believe these teachings? Why should we believe the lady who taught us Sunday school when we were eight? Why should we believe anything the preacher says from the pulpit on any given Sunday? Most of us would readily admit that we need a little more to work with than just to believe because someone said so. After all, if Christianity is correct and the end of the story is true, then what we believe will have eternal consequences. If what we believe is true, then the question is whether or not we will be able to defend our faith in Jesus as the Son of God and as the only hope for the world. If what we believe is true, then we also need apologetics to help us not shrink in the face of opposition such as God being eliminated from the science classroom, discussions about the big bang, Darwinian evolution, relativism, pluralism, and tolerance. As with Stephen in Acts 7, understanding why you believe what you believe will help you stand firm in your faith even through the trials and tribulations of life.

One last point on what apologetics is—it is personal. I know what I believe and why I believe what I believe, but for most of you reading this book, when the Jehovah’s Witnesses knock on your door some Saturday, why I believe Christianity is true will not do anything to help you in that moment. You will need to be able to stand and defend what you believe and why, with conviction and in obedience to biblical commands. What you do and say in those moments will have eternal consequences. When you take the time to understand why you believe what you believe, and then articulate those reasons, you can have a tremendous impact for the kingdom of God!

What it is Not

Just as there are certain things that we can say apologetics is, there are also some issues that we need to clear up on the front end as to what apologetics is not. Remember what we said about the Crusades, Inquisition, and the Salem witch trials? We do not want to have to apologize because we used apologetics the wrong way.

First, this is not a time to try to demonstrate your intellectual superiority. There is a joke that I have heard repeatedly during my seminary studies about how you can tell when graduation has taken place. The very next Sunday the pulpits are filled with men quoting Greek and Hebrew words ad infinitum! This is not a call to dumb down the scriptures. This is not even a call to avoid languages. What I am saying here is that if it is not necessary to the conversation, leave the Greek and Hebrew out. If the inclusion of the Greek and Hebrew are appropriate (as you will see later when I address the deity of Christ), then by all means, bring them in. But remember the last part of 1 Peter 3:15? It says that we are to do this (apologetics) with gentleness and respect. When we try to show our intellectual superiority all we end up doing is building a wall between us and the one to whom we are supposed to be witnessing. Making someone feel inferior is not an effective witnessing technique.

The second point I would make is that this is not a time to pawn people off on your neighbor. You know what I’m talking about - the doorbell rings, the kids are fighting, the toddler has just learned that the dining room wall is a