Unchaining the Lion: A Defense and Explanation of the Claims of Christianity

By Brad Daniel and Caleb Eissler

Does God exist?

How can a good God allow pain and suffering?

Can we trust the Bible?

Is Jesus a copy of earlier pagan gods?

Is Jesus the only way to God?

What does the Bible actually say about

homosexuality, transgenderism, and abortion?

Did Jesus actually rise from the dead?

After living as a strong Christian for most of his life, Caleb Eissler began to seriously doubt the very beliefs he had so tightly held to. When he entered college, he began wrestling with these very questions. Eissler realized that Christianity had to answer these questions and more if it was to be taken seriously. Ready to walk away from his faith if Christianity was found to be false, he embarked on a journey to find the truth. After years of research, Eisslers faith wasnt just sustained, but transformed. He not only found the claims of Christianity to be true, but also to be even more amazing than he had ever imagined. Eisslers doubt, research, and soul-searching fueled a new passion to help others rationally think through the same questions he had encountered. Unchaining the Lion is the culmination of Eisslers research and passion. Unchaining the Lion sets out to bridge the gap of misunderstanding between Christianity and secular culture by laying out the claims and evidence for Christianity, while addressing countless objections and questions along the way. To non-believers, Eissler provides a coherent and easy-to-follow explanation of the beliefs and the defenses of Christianity, while challenging them on their presuppositions about the world, the Bible, and God. To Christians, he provides a solid and deep defense of the claims of their faith that will surely help any believer. Unchain yourself from the shackles of doubt towards Christianity as Eissler shares a truth that the world must hear.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Oct 16, 2015
• ISBN: 9781512714357

Brad Daniel

Caleb Eissler is a student at the University of Missouri-Columbia. He has been involved in youth and college ministry leadership for almost a decade. Eissler was an intern youth pastor for two years at Pleasant Valley Baptist Church, near Kansas City, Missouri. He has preached and taught apologetics classes at multiple churches.

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Copyright © 2015 Caleb Eissler.

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.

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

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

In regards to the John Piper quote from the chapter titled Transgenderism and Personal Autonomy: By John Piper. ©2015 Desiring God Foundation. Website: desiringGod.org

Disclaimer

I attempted to clearly differentiate quotes from other people from my own material. While this book is technically for profit, I’m not in it for the money, just to reach as large of an audience to spread the Gospel as possible. My knowledge of Christianity comes from many published authors, but also to many unpublished Christians who have taught me more than I could ever imagine. My knowledge of Christianity is a melting pot of what hundreds of people have taught me. My intent is to never cheat or steal any author in this book. As a first time writer with almost no legal knowledge outside of my own research, I’ve tried to hold to the legal copyright laws as well as possible. If anyone feels cheated, please contact me.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

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Bloomington, IN 47403

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.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-5127-1436-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-1435-7 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015916301

WestBow Press rev. date: 10/16/2015

Contents

Many Thanks

Acknowledgements

Foreword

Preface

A Note to the Non-Believer

31 Day Reading Plan

Introduction

My Story

Introduction Part 1

Introduction Part 2

Science and God

1. An Introduction to the Intersection of Science and Christianity

2. The Creation of the Universe and the Kalam Cosmological Argument

3. The Fine Tuning of the Universe

4. Age of the Earth

5. Miracles and Supernaturalism

Morality

6. Morality

The Bible

7. The Bible: An Overview

8. The Bible: Archaeology, Ancient Texts, and Accuracy in Translation

9. The Bible: Inspiration, Inerrancy, and Questions of Authorship

10. The Bible: How the Books of the Bible Were Determined (Canonization)

11. The Bible: The Laws and Their Distinctions

The Resurrection

12. The Resurrection

The Trinity

13. The Trinity: A Mysterious and Majestic Doctrine

14. The Trinity: Arguments From Its Existence

Similar Truths In Other Religions

15. Similar Truths

Pain, Suffering, and Slavery

16. Pain and Suffering

17. Slavery

Predominant Social Issues

18. Homosexuality

19. Transgenderism and Personal Autonomy

20. Abortion

Common Questions and Objections

21. Why Doesn’t God Just Physically Reveal Himself?

22. Why Couldn’t God Just Forgive Our Sins Instead of Crucifying Christ?

23. Can God Make a Rock Too Big For Him to Carry?

24. God and Mathematics

25. Aliens

26. I Can’t Believe in Christianity Because Of All of the Wars and Deaths It’s Caused

27. The Succulence of Secularism

28. True Christianity

Prophecy

29. The Power of Prophecy

The Gospel and Its Implications

30. The Greatest Story Ever Told

31. The Implications of Christianity

Sources and Resources

Recommended Resources

Small Group Questions

Appendix

Bibliography

Many Thanks

Joshua Mayfield

Josh is one of my best friends and an extremely talented designer. He did the cover work for this book. He’s great to work with and has a true eye for design. I’d whole-heartedly recommend him and his work to anyone. Here’s his contact information as well as copy right information for the cover design.

JM Design

Joshua Mayfield

[e-mail],

www. facebook.com/joshuamdesign

Francesco Formisano

Francesco took the picture used on the cover of this book. He and his company, Wildnis Photography, were incredible to work with. They were professional and accommodating. They do great work and are very kind people. Look through some of Francesco’s photography portfolio and you’ll be amazed. I couldn’t provide a rousing enough endorsement for him and his work. Here is Francesco’s copyright information for the cover image used for this book.

Lord of All I Survey

Francesco Formisano

Wildnis Photography

For the glory of God and God alone.

Acknowledgements

While on the surface this book is the culmination of a great deal of time, research, and effort, at its core it’s the culmination of the encouragement, love, ministry, and friendship of so many people dear to me. This book would have never been published without lots of people pushing me to do so. There are too many names to try and mention everyone I’m indebted to here, but I would be remiss if I didn’t mention some of them.

I want to thank the authors and speakers that let me use their material in this book to help shed light on the truth of the Gospel. They are far wiser and smarter than I am and have aided greatly in my education in apologetics and Christianity.

I want to thank my parents, Chuck and Dana, and my sister, Olivia, for the way they encouraged me every step of the way to not only serve others, but above all else to continue to pursue the Lord daily in a deeper way.

I want to thank Brad Daniel for pushing me in my walk with the Lord and giving me the opportunity to learn how to do real ministry (which ultimately sparked a good portion of this book).

I want to thank my grandparents Robert, Carolyn, Beverly, and Delbert for supporting me through the entire process and just life in general.

I want to thank my extended family for the way you all encouraged me through the entire process.

I want to thank the Pleasant Valley Youth Group (and really the entire church in general). They supported, challenged, taught, loved, and pushed me throughout this entire process. Without the PVBC youth group (students and leaders), none of this would have been written. I wish I could acknowledge everyone from that youth group and church, but that would be a book in itself.

I want to thank Jared Mellema and Clayton Small for doing ministry with me at PVBC. I learned so much from them that ultimately is incorporated in this book.

I want to thank Tim Gibson for the way he has inspired and challenged me in so many ways through our friendship.

I want to thank Scott Sullivan for his legal advice and wisdom when it came to contracts and publishing.

I also want to thank the guys from my small groups over the years, particularly from PVBC. Guys like Brandon, Josh, Tony, Joe, Aaron, Zach, Garrison, and Cody have sharpened and pushed me. The friendship we have is dear to me. I want to thank Veritas and the Veritas staff at Mizzou for your support and friendship.

I want to thank my Veritas guys small group for their friendship, laughter, and encouragement. So many of the conversations we had helped me articulate the defenses and beliefs in this book.

I want to specifically thank my accountability partners, and dear friends Jacob Sullivan, Cameron Helmuth, Michael Halford, Thomas Baack, Josh Johnson, Sam Bejzak and Jacob Steimer. Those guys have shaped and sharpened me and pushed me to tackle this project. I’m thankful I get to do life with those guys.

I want to thank the people God placed in my life that didn’t share my same beliefs and convictions. They challenged me to be able to actually defend the beliefs I have. This book would never have been written if it weren’t for them.

Above all else, I want to thank God for transforming my life and calling me to write this. I’m a worthless sinner and yet He’s allowed me to be an instrument used in furthering His Kingdom.

Foreword

When my wife, Stacy, and I were in the middle of our adoption journey to bring our youngest daughter, Emma, home from China, one of my key volunteers in our student ministry told me his son had written an essay and nominated me for an award. I was surprised and very humbled that our journey to adopt a little girl from China had marked a young middle school student in this way. Little did I know that that middle school student would mark my life in such a profound way. From that point forward, through our student leadership team, mission trips to Haiti and Thailand, extreme ping pong, nerf wars, weekly participation in our student ministry, weekly hangouts on early release Thursdays at McDonald’s, and countless moments doing life together, I don’t know that I know many students on the same level as I do Caleb Eissler. I have been able to watch his journey with Jesus up close and from a distance as he has engaged in ministry at the University of Missouri.

I have had the unbelievable privilege of being part of the student ministry at Pleasant Valley Baptist Church over the last 15 years. I started as a ministry volunteer while I was working as a Sales and Marketing Consultant at Shell Oil Company before God began to prepare me for a calling into full-time vocational ministry and for the last 13 years I have been on staff at Pleasant Valley in our student ministry. During my tenure, God has brought some outstanding young men and women to our ministry that I have had the pleasure of ministering to. Many of those young men and women are now in some kind of vocational ministry themselves. Whether it is leading a multi-site student ministry in Chicago, being a missionary in a closed country, leading worship at a church plant, being part of a parachurch ministry, or filling many other ministry positions, I have been blessed to lead these young men and women to wrestle and discover God’s calling on their life. The most rewarding part has been how they have shaped and grown me throughout my own journey.

Every summer, we put on our own camp for our students called Summerfest. It has been the catalyst for many decisions for Christ, baptisms, and for some students it has also been a huge part of seeing where God is calling them in life. I remember when Caleb was a junior in high school and watching what God was doing in his life at the time and thinking, This guy is going to be in vocational ministry some day. I didn’t know where but I sensed God’s hand upon Caleb and knew that eventually God would win as He always does! I also remember asking Caleb about ministry and he was honored I would think of him that way, but he was pursuing a different pathway by pursuing architecture at the University of Missouri. There were some other factors to Caleb not wanting to consider a calling into ministry and I completely understood where he was and just supported him with encouragement and prayer. There were times in high school that Caleb’s faith would be tested through his pursuit of different friends that didn’t know Jesus yet. I had the unbelievable privilege of watching Caleb and his friends relentlessly love their friend Garrison all the way to Jesus. Garrison giving his life to Christ in our room at Summerfest with all of his friends that had been so diligently praying for him is one of the many sweet memories I have from that group of young men.

Caleb always had some questions about different aspects of Christianity. Chuck and Dana, his parents and true friends of our family, were so good in doing family studies during the summer together that helped build a solid foundation of faith that Caleb was going to have to rely on when he went away to school. There would be times that Caleb would text or call me when he was at Mizzou about different questions and situations that began to dig deep into my apologetic knowledge. Because of the way I am wired, I never had times where I wondered how science and God fit together or how God and anything else fit together for that matter. I just knew with deep confidence that if God was the author of truth, which I affirm in the purest sense of the word, I didn’t need to be afraid of not knowing the answer because His truth would be made clear in due time. Caleb wasn’t like that, however. I began to see from a distance a young man that was doubting and questioning aspects of his faith journey, but he wasn’t letting that doubt paralyze him, he was doing the research and study to discover all that he could about scientific theories, biological wonders, and other faith systems so that he could come to own his faith like he never had before. What I saw as the tipping point was Caleb deciding to do a presentation in a class on the reliability of the Scriptures even though his professor told him that he would likely fail because there wasn’t evidence out there. I am pretty sure Caleb got an A on that presentation and a budding apologist was born.

Since that time, Caleb has served as a summer intern in our ministry for two summers and also co-led our college ministry summer program for one summer as a volunteer. He has taught summer bible studies on apologetics to our students and his post-camp apologetics study one summer was packed full because of Caleb’s humility in talking to people with questions about Christianity, his knowledge of the subject, and his follow up with people in prayer and encouragement to seek truth.

When Caleb asked me to write the foreword for his book, I was deeply honored. I remember encouraging him through the process, waiting for the decision from publishers, and celebrating with him as he moved forward with publishing. This book is really a road map of Caleb’s journey. As he would encounter situations or questions that many in this world have as well, he would do the tough work and search it out for himself. You are getting the benefit of his labor for truth and while it is not exhaustive, I am confident it will help any high school or college student as well as any person who is desiring to come with an open mind and heart to see who God is.

Caleb loves the church and this book is an exhibit of prayer, doubts, answered prayer, faith, tears, and joy that every fellow believer in Jesus can relate to and learn from. I hope you sense the care and love behind Caleb’s words but more than anything, I pray this book points you to King Jesus and you find Him to be wonderfully sufficient. I know I have and will continue to do so from my dear friend, faithful servant, and brother in Christ, Caleb Eissler.

Preface

This book is the culmination of years of research, the encouraging of others, the wisdom of some of the most influential people in my life, and a major spiritual journey and transformation in my life. Much like some of C.S. Lewis’ books (except nothing like C.S. Lewis because I’m not a world renown author or apologist and I don’t have awesome British diction) the following book is made up of my notes from various sermons and apologetics classes I have taught, as well pieces I wrote separately at the request of friends investigating Christianity.

I pray this book with be helpful for you as you investigate Christianity or how to defend it. If you have disagreements or questions about the information inside, feel free to ask your local pastor or a trusted adult. But also feel free to contact me. I would love to talk and interact with you. My cell phone number is (816)-536-3482. Many people that I didn’t previously know have already contacted me, asking questions about the content of this book, so I will not be alarmed if I do not recognize the number. I would love to talk with you about any questions about Christianity that you might have.

It is also important to understand (and will probably become pretty obvious) that I am no scholar. At the end of the book, I have included a list of books and articles for further reading if you want to learn more about a particular subject covered in this book. Some of my favorite apologists are Ravi Zacharias, William Lane Craig, John Lennox, Nabeel Qureshi, Lee Strobel, Michael Ramsden, G.K. Chesterton, Os Guinness, and C.S. Lewis. All of them, except Chesterton, have material on YouTube (yes, even Lewis) that is free and extremely helpful as well as hundreds of books and shorter pieces. These men (and many others) are far wiser, more knowledgeable, and better defenders of the faith than I am. Their work has had a major impact on my faith and ministry and they will surely help you as well.

This book won’t read like a seminary text book, and it shouldn’t. It’s not meant for professors, but for regular people like me. This book is the sum of a lot of research, time, effort, wrestling, praise, and soul searching. This book is the compilation of my thoughts and research as I set out to see if the beliefs I held so dearly to were actually true. This book is meant for the searching person, the believer, the strident atheist, people who put their faith in other religions, and everyone in between. I haven’t been to seminary (although I hope to go someday). Quite frankly, as of this moment, I haven’t even finished my undergraduate studies yet. This is proof that you don’t need a graduate level, or even undergrad level, education to research, wrestle with, and learn the evidences and truths surrounding the claims of Christianity. This book is meant to answer the tough questions you’ve always wanted to ask but were maybe too scared to. This book is meant to shed light on truths all around us. This book is meant to show that the claims of Christianity aren’t laughable, but reasonable; maybe more than any claims of other worldviews. There may be arguments in this book that you find lame and unconvincing, and that’s ok. On their own, some of these arguments and evidences may not amount to much. But, in concert with each other, I think they create a strong defense of the claims of Christianity.

While this book does set out to answer many tough questions about Christianity, it does not answer all of the tough questions about Christianity. While this book sets out to provide arguments and evidences for the claims of Christianity, it does not provide all of the arguments and evidences for the claims of Christianity. While this book sets out to explain many of the claims and teachings of Christianity, it does not explain all of the claims and teachings of Christianity. This book is meant to scratch the surface of the truth of the faith. There have been volumes written on topics that I’ve covered in single sentences in this book. If you aren’t satisfied with an argument or explanation I give, don’t assume that there’s no better source to learn from. There are much smarter and wiser people that have written on the topics included in this book. Go to those books and people to continue to seek truth and get answers. I’ve included a list of books and sources in the back of this book that have really helped me. Check out those books and sources if you want to learn more about a particular topic.

Finally, I tried to stay away from becoming too overtly theological unless absolutely necessary. This means that the material included in this book is fairly neutral and can be used within the approved range of virtually every denomination (Reformed and Non-Reformed), evangelical and Catholic.

May God use this in a fruitful way in your life and the lives of those you care for.

A Note to the Non-Believer

I’m so thankful that you are reading this book (or at least willing to give it a chance). You’re stepping out of your comfort zone to hear arguments for a set of beliefs that you don’t hold to. I commend that and absolutely respect that. Few people are really willing to do so, and because of that, I really appreciate you.

Inevitably, because this book is meant to defend the Christian worldview, there will be times I call into question atheist and secularist views to try and argue for the truth of Christianity. When I do so, I want you to understand that I do so in the most gracious way possible. At no point in this book have I set out to be rude, mean, or disrespectful. I promise. When someone speaks against something you believe, it’s hard to take; it can be even harder not to feel personally attacked. I totally acknowledge that the non-Christian views you hold are dear to your heart. When I argue against a worldview I promise I’m only speaking out against the worldview itself. I’m not speaking out against you personally. I want that to be clear. I don’t view you as a cerebral idea or philosophy to disprove, but rather as a fellow human being who needs the love of Jesus just as much as I do. My goal in this book is not to divide people, but to bring them together. I pray for you and other unbelievers often. I wouldn’t have written this book if it weren’t for you and others like yourself.

As you read this book, and as you and I go about life in general, let us not forget that intimately woven into disagreement is the idea that one cannot follow the logic of those he disagrees with. Christianity and secularism disagree on a good many things. I pray that Christians and non-Christians alike provide each other with a great level of respect while working out their differences and engaging in discussions about their disagreements. We must remember that our inability to follow someone else’s logic doesn’t immediately make them and their views wrong. We should work to understand the antithesis of our ideas (exactly what you’re doing by reading this book). We’ll all be better for it.

Another note that I want to bring to your attention: at times in this book, I will talk about how Christianity is under attack. You may not believe that to be true. I promise that when I talk about attacks on Christianity that I’m not trying to have a pity party. And in no way am I trying to play the victim card. I realize that much of America would label themselves as affiliated with Christianity (whether for social or legitimate religious reasons). But, whether or not you believe it, Christianity is very much under attack in particular arenas; not in all the arenas, but certainly the ones with the most power: the media, academia, and the government. This is important to note and can be seen every day, often in subtle (but sometime very obvious) ways.

Christianity may not be under much of an attack in the average lives of those in suburbia or your everyday life. In those arenas, atheism may be feeling more of the pressure as complaints have arisen from the secular community of the stigma behind atheism. This can be seen in the lack of politicians that proclaim their atheism when they run for office. Even in a nation that has been labelled post Christian, the general public still sees some light and morality behind the label Christian. But, because the media, academia, and the government are slowly chipping away at what Christian stronghold there was in America, this may soon change.

Speaking of stigmas (and also stereotypes), I hate labelling people or putting them in boxes. You, me, and everyone else is unique. That being said, for the most part, we all live under sets of assumptions about the world that can be somewhat accurately labelled as particular worldviews. Because I can’t possibly hope to speak to every unique view of every person, I will cover classically held worldviews in this book. I feel confident in saying that there is a worldview that you at least somewhat fit into. Because of that, some aspects of your personal beliefs will probably be covered in this book, while at the same time, others will not. I hope you find the material in this book relevant.

Another important thing I want to discuss in this opening note is the idea of open-mindedness. I know plenty of people who claim that they’re open minded, but in reality they just refuse to believe in a religion. That’s no more open minded that a religious person because they’re both disbelieving something. Believe it or not, you can be open minded and a Christian. For example, you can be a Christian and believe in God but still be open to evidence outside Christian circles. I’m a Christian, but if evidence surfaced that shattered the truth of the person of Jesus Christ (his death, deity, or resurrection) I would cease to be a Christian. I don’t call myself a Christian just because some of my friends and family are Christians. Rather, I call myself a Christian because I’ve done the hard and strenuous research to investigate the claims of multiple major belief systems, and after that research I came away with the conclusion that Christianity was the only belief system that contained complete truth. Because you’re reading this book, I know that I may very well be preaching to the choir because you’re actually investigating the claims of Christianity. Nonetheless, I think all of that is still an important to understand. By reading this book, you’re going on a similar journey as I did; a journey of investigation. I sincerely appreciate your openness. Serious investigation is a sign of open-mindedness. And even though I believe Christianity is the only completely true worldview, don’t just stop at researching Christianity. Continue your research by checking out other worldviews too. If Christianity is really true, and I believe it is, you’ll come to the same conclusion I did after all of your research.

On the note of open mindedness, there’s a similar sentiment that holds true for Christians. Until a Christian seriously investigates the claims of other worldviews and comes to the conclusion that Christianity is true only after that research, I don’t think that a Christian can claim to have a truly well-rounded belief in their own worldview. As you can see, open-mindedness is a two way street where Christians and non-Christians must be held to the same standard.

As I close this section, I want to go back to what I said at the beginning of this note. I want to thank you again for reading this book even though it doesn’t proclaim your worldview. Non-believers, like yourself, who can look more objectively at matters in Christianity, can help call out injustices and contradictions in the claims of the Christian faith. I can’t stress how important that is. Atheists have been a big blessing to Christians at times by helping open their eyes to injustices and helping Christians realize the need to correct and end them. Non-believers are the reason I’m the Christian I am today, and the reason I wrote this book. Thanks to non-Christians opening my eyes up to other worldviews and difficult questions within my own worldview, I began seriously researching the assumptions and claims of Christianity. This book and my renewed faith in Jesus Christ are attributed, in part, to them. Thanks for taking the time to read this book. I pray that you are challenged to take a hard look at the assumptions and claims of your worldview just as I was.

Finally, because of what the Bible says about you and the rest of humanity, I think you are more valuable than you will ever know. Jesus, someone I defend in this book, thinks you are so valuable that He thought you were worth dying for. With all of that being said, enjoy the book!

31 Day Reading Plan

This book is meant to glorify God and spread the great news and love of His Gospel. You and I were made to experience and enjoy the love of the Gospel. The Gospel is the ultimate solution to every problem. The Gospel is the message we were made to share. The Gospel, the message of God’s love sent as Jesus Christ who died on the cross to save us from our sins so that we could enter into a personal relationship with God, can have a healing an energizing impact on everyone; especially pursue it and share it daily.

I intentionally wrote this book in particular way so that it would have 31 chapters. For some, this book may be too much to get through in a single month and that’s ok. For others, reading this book in 31 days is realistic and reasonable. Wherever you fall on that spectrum, I tried to write this book so that it would be unashamedly and overwhelmingly centered around the Gospel. This book is meant to make you think, but more importantly to make you love the Lord more.

By using this book as a supplement to the Bible, I believe that your understanding, appreciation, and love for the Gospel will grow deeper. For Christians doing the one month reading plan, pair this book with the quiet time Bible reading you already do. For non-Christians, pair this book with a reading of the Gospel of John. For both groups, pray that you would experience the Lord in deep and undeniable way as you make your way through the plan. Pray that the Lord would reveal Himself to you in a powerful way. I pray that the Lord will use this book to bless your life!

Introduction

My Story

Introduction Part 1

Introduction Part 2

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My Story

As you read this book, I don’t want to come off as a cold guy sitting in an ivory tower spewing off facts and numbers. Rather, I want there to be a warmth and familiarity to my voice and writing. To help facilitate this, I want to share my story with you. Not only will this help my voice feel closer and more familiar, but it will also help set up the rest of the book. With that being said, let’s begin.

I was born into an incredible, loving Christian family on December 23rd, 1993. From the moment I was born, I was surrounded by a phenomenal Christian community. My amazing parents, Chuck and Dana, constantly covered me in their love. Never once did I question their love for me or their love for others. This was a direct outworking of their deep faith in Jesus Christ. For as long as I can remember, they have been involved in Bible studies, they’ve attended church, and selflessly served others. The vast majority of their friends were Christians, as were my grandparents and great-grandparents. As I grew older, I went to pre-school at my church, and most of the friends I began to meet were Christians. The same was true of my younger sister Olivia.

At age 5, I accepted Christ. Even though I was young, I truly believe that I had the proper saving knowledge and understanding of the Gospel. But, because I had grown up being surrounded by only Christians, and had behaved basically like those Christians, no real change was present in my life.

Even into elementary school and middle school, most of my friends were Christians. I was basically surrounded by a holy huddle. This isn’t necessarily a complaint at all, as it was an incredibly loving community, but I bring it up because I can see how this isolation impacted my life later on.

In the summer between my 7th and 8th grade year, I began serving with a team in our youth group called student leadership. This is story in itself, and an important one in regards to my testimony.

Earlier in the year, my mom had forced me to apply for student leadership, something I was furious about at the time. Public speaking was my biggest and deepest fear, and I knew I would have to do that if I took part in student leadership. I ended up lying to my mom about filling out and turning in the application. Nearly a month after the application process had ended, my youth pastor, Brad Daniel (who wrote the foreword for this book), approached my mom and asked her why I hadn’t turned in an application. Shocked because she realized I had lied about applying, she made me fill out and turn in the application for real, even though it was a month late. For some odd reason, a reason I can only explain through God’s sovereignty, Brad still accepted my application.

Immediately after being accepted into the leadership program, things got serious. Through unfortunate circumstances, Brad was left to lead the youth group by himself and had to rely on the student leadership team heavily. Pressing still was the fact that our youth group’s summer camp, known as Summerfest, was coming up in just a couple weeks. I was terrified about this because I was expected to lead a small group. As a kid who wasn’t even an 8th grader, I was going to be expected to help lead a group of guys from 7th to 12th grade. I was completely freaked and totally unprepared.

In the two week period between being accepted onto the student leadership team and Summerfest, my world was rocked. My great grandmother, who we called Great, because when I was little I couldn’t say great grandma, passed away. Great had lived with my family for 8 years. She had had Alzheimer’s and by the end of her life was nothing more than a vegetable, a beautiful and incredible woman trapped in a decaying and useless cage of a body. Great living with my family taught me more than I will ever be able to fathom. Because my family, primarily my parents, were her primary care givers, our schedules were dictated by when we would have to change her, feed her, give her medicine, turn her over, etc. But, amidst that hard work, I saw the love and sacrifice of my parents that has always put me in awe. Even though Great was nothing more than a vegetable by the end of her life, she was still part of our family. We loved her deeply. The night of her passing was like something out of a movie.

I’ll never forget when the ambulances were rushed to our house to take Great to the hospital. When she arrived at the hospital, they didn’t put her in an intensive care room or in the ER because they knew she would pass away that same night. They just gave us a room to be with her as she passed. I’ll never forget my family, grandparents, aunt, uncle, and cousin surrounding her and reading Proverbs 31 over her. Then, with a storm raging outside, we held hands and prayed over Great. As we stood around her, clasping hands, her heartbeat monitor when flat. It was a moment that will stick with me forever. But, what stuck out to me more than anything that night was the way people talked about Great. Since for most of my life she was only a shadow of her former self, I didn’t truly know what she was like pre-Alzheimer’s. All anyone could say about her was that she had been an incredibly Christian woman that had a deep love for the Lord. Person after person talked about how she was a leader and a person of great integrity. They talked about how more than anything else, her mission was to help further God’s Kingdom. As I walked out of the hospital late that night, I knew I wanted people to be able to say that about me someday. The convicting thing about that was that I didn’t know if they could say that about me with the way I had been living.

Fast forward a few days, and it was time to go Summerfest. I was terrified, and the following few days showed it. Here I was supposed to help lead a small group of guys, and I acted like a student. Worse still, I didn’t say a word in the group the entire week. A senior guy co-leading the group with me, named Wes, did all of the hard work. But, on the last night of camp things were different.

On that night, the juniors and seniors took part in a passing of the baton activity, so I was going to have to lead the group on my own. That reality didn’t set in for me until right before the small group was about to start. I remember walking out of a deeply moving worship experience heading over to the small group sobbing as I was emotionally raw from Great’s death and moved by God’s work at the camp, when fear slapped me right in the face. The moment I realized I would have to lead the group on my own, I became paralyzed in fear. But, something happened after that that I can’t explain. I don’t remember what happened over the next couple of hours, but 3 guys in my group accepted Christ. To be clear, they accepted Christ not because of anything I had done, but because of the work of the Holy Spirit. Those couple hours were key for me though, because it was God saying to me, I don’t care if you’re scared, I’m going to use you to further my Kingdom

I was a new person after that camp. I had a new confidence and new passion to serve the Lord. I became even more involved in my youth group and began leading extensively. Within a couple of years, I was chosen to be a core leader of the student leadership team. This leadership continued as I was asked to go on a leadership/vision casting mission trip to Mole St. Nicholas, Haiti.

Similar emotions as those at Summerfest arose I was terrified to go to Haiti. I had never travelled internationally and was terrified about what role I might have on the trip. In was in this terror that God showed me 2 Timothy 1:7 which says:

for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

This verse immediately became a life verse for me as I used it for encouragement time and time again. Even though I was terrified to go to Haiti, God used me anyways, just like He did at Summerfest.

This story ark of me being terrified and God saying, I don’t care if you’re scared, I’m going to use you could basically be used to sum up my story. Over and over and over this happened in my life whether with leading groups, going on mission trips, preaching, etc. You would have thought that I would have figured it out after a few times, but I never did. Every time something new would come up, I would get scared and completely forget about all God had previously done in my life, only to see Him work through the very fear I had to further His Kingdom.

By the time my senior year of high school rolled around, I was the guy in my youth group. All of my leadership gave way to me being the guy everyone looked up to. I was the go-to student leader. This was incredibly unhealthy for me. Even though I was legitimately seeking out and walking with the Lord, all acts of service I did in church had a sinful and selfish hidden motive: to make people think I was a super spiritual giant. This of course was not true of me. I was just a selfish high schooler using service to stroke my ego while attempting to walk with the Lord.

During my senior year of high school, something else began to happen in my life that was completely unexpected. For the first time in my life, I began to really engage deeply with people who weren’t Christians. I began to hear their thoughts and feelings and beliefs. As I did so, I began to encounter some really nice and kind people who truly didn’t believe in Christianity. They were smart and they posed some solid objections to the faith I had just blindly assumed to be true for the previous 18 years of my life. I had never really encountered legitimate objections to Christianity before, so needless to say, I was shocked. But, because I thought of myself as super spiritual Caleb, the guy that everyone looked up to, I blew the objections off.

The following summer between my senior year of high school and my freshman year of college, I went on a mission trip to Thailand where I saw God do incredible things. Because of that, I totally forgot about those objections.

As I began school at Mizzou, I did all of the right things a Christian college student is supposed to do. I go plugged into a great college ministry, I got involved in a small group, found a solid church, and I got involved in an accountability group. But, even amidst the great start to college, I began encountering things that completely combatted all that I had ever believed in. For the first time in my life, I