52 Apologetics: 52 Faith-Building Devotions Defending Christianity (I am set to defend the gospel, give an answer for my hope, and fight for the faith: Philippians 1:17; 1 Peter 3:15; Jude 3).

By Michael D. Finney

Is the Bible God’s Word? Yes. Is Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, and the only Mediator between a sinful people and a perfect, holy, and righteous God? Yes! Is the Christian faith supported by reasonable, provable, historical, archaeological, and philosophical evidence? Yes, yes, and yes!

The word apologetics comes from two Greek words, apo (out from) and logos (logic), and it literally means to give out a logical defense (apologia). In Christianity, it means to give out logical reasons for our faith, to defend the truth of Scripture, and to give reasons for believing in Christ.

Like Paul, I am “set for the defense (apologia) of the gospel” (Philippians 1:17). Like Peter, I am “ready always to give an answer (apologia)” to everyone who asks why I trust Christ (1 Peter 3:15). Like Jude, I am prepared to earnestly contend (epi-agnízomai: agonize, fight) for the faith (Jude 3).

I have written this book to defend and contend for the Christian faith; I want to let others know why I believe the Bible is God’s Word and Jesus is God’s Son (2 Timothy 3:16; John 1:34).

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Dec 6, 2023
• ISBN: 9798385012343

Michael D. Finney

Michael is a retired mailman with a ThD in Theology and an MA in Christian Apologetics. Although a trained theologian and apologist, Michael speaks and writes in a language and style that everyone can understand. Consequently, he has filled in as a guest speaker at Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal, Congregational, Independent, Freewill Baptist, and Southern Baptist churches. —Barbara Benfield, Counselor at Bethel Colony of Mercy, BA Christian Counselling, MA Christian Apologetics Michael is very knowledgeable and a consummate communicator. In the spirit of C.S. Lewis, Michael exhibits a knack for making the complex simple. He writes in a personal and conversational manner, which makes it easy to read and understand. I think you will find that, after each chapter, you will feel as though you have just finished an enjoyable conversation with an old friend and come away with a better understanding of, and confidence in, the Christian faith. —Joseph Martin, Book Editor, GotQuestions.org Staff Writer A timely study to fill a great need in the body of Christ. This book will prepare and encourage the novice and the scholar to be more eager to defend their faith with the utmost confidence. No matter how controversial the subject, you can feel the author’s unashamed trust in the veracity of the Scriptures and truly believe that the Creator of the Universe has conveyed His will to humanity throughout its holy pages. —Rev. Dr. John Mark Horrell, Senior Pastor of First Pentecostal Holiness Church

Book preview

Copyright © 2023 Michael D. Finney.

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.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

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Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible: Authorized King James Version (KJV) ©1999 by Thomas Nelson Publishers.

Scripture quotations marked (YLT) are taken from the 1898 Young’s Literal Translation of the Holy Bible by J.N. Young, public domain.

ISBN: 979-8-3850-1235-0 (sc)

ISBN: 979-8-3850-1236-7 (hc)

ISBN: 979-8-3850-1234-3 (e)

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WestBow Press rev. date: 12/04/2023

Quotation Information

Books, magazines, and academic journals are referenced solely to show critical agreements or disagreements among other sources. Footnotes (i, ii, iii, etc.) with additional, relevant information will appear at the bottom of the page. Endnotes (¹, ², ³, etc.) containing source material from books, journals, magazines, newspapers, and other sources will be referenced in Chicago and Turabian format at the end of the book.

Sources are sometimes quoted and occasionally paraphrased; however, readers are encouraged to do their own research and read the source materials themselves (2 Timothy 2:15). The assessments, criticisms, and views contained in this book are the opinions and conclusions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher or anyone cited in the text.

Dedications, Honor,

Thanks, and Credit

Dedication:

This book is dedicated to my three terrific children, Mike, Matthew, and Mie Jean. I love all three of you very much.

Honor:

This book is written in honor of my parents, George M. Finney and Doris Eanes Finney. I miss them every day.

Thanks:

I want to thank my brother and sister, George Finney, Jr. and Barbara Finney Benfield, and my three children, Mike, Matthew, and Mie Jean, for all their support and help. Additionally, I would like to acknowledge BMMBC, C&L, C&P, C&S, EM, GG, HB, J&B, J&S, JW, KR, MB, ML, MSW, N&B, SR, and WF for their love, encouragement, friendship, and support. Thanks also to the book’s editor, Joseph Martin, who read and re-read, edited and re-edited, and argued with me throughout the writing process (just kidding about that last part).

Credit:

Most of all, I would like to give all the credit for any of the book’s success to the Lord of Glory, my Savior, Jesus, the Messiah. If you learn any spiritual truths from this book, it is because of Him. If you run across errors, it is because I am still learning.

Contents

Part 1: Reasonable Apologetics

Logical, Philosophical, Theological, Moral, and Personal

Plus, Israel’s Incredible Witness to the World

1.    Apologetics: Serving God with All Your Mind

2.    Logic: The God of Reason

3.    Love: The God of Love

4.    Law: Transcendent Objective Moral Laws

5.    Law: Moral and Philosophical Hypocrisy

6.    Miracles: Mom Healed

7.    Theodicy: Defending Christian Suffering

8.    Matthew: A Miraculous Gift from God

9.    Homo Sapiens: The Wise Ape

10.  Israel: God’s Covenant with Abraham

11.  Israel: Ezekiel’s Valley of Dry Bones (538)

12.  Israel: Another Scattering and Regathering (1948)

13.  Israel: Let Us Cut Them off from Being a Nation

Part 2: Biblical Apologetics

Defined, Exemplified, Characterized, and Canonized

Paul’s Apologetics, Apologetic Types, Biblical Manuscripts, and a Biblical Manual

1.   Apologetics: Defending the Faith

2.   Paul’s Defense, Part 1: Paul’s Apologia

3.   Paul’s Defense, Part 2: A Changed Life

4.   Paul’s Defense, Part 3: Objective Justice

5.   Paul’s Defense, Part 4: Appeal to Caesar

6.   Paul’s Defense, Part 5: Messianic Prophecies

7.   Paul’s Defense, Part 6: Not Done in a Corner

8.   Paul’s Defense, Part 7: Heart of an Apologist and Prayer

9.   Apologetic Types: Different Methods

10.  Apologetic Types: Presuppositional Apologetics, Part 1

11.  Apologetic Types: Presuppositional Apologetics, Part 2

12.  Canon: Biblical Manuscript Preservation

13.  Bible: God’s Owner’s Manual

Part 3: Jesus’s Apologetics

The Promised Seed, Sacrifice, Prophet, and Resurrection

His Genealogy, Suffering, Miracles, Prophecies, and Resurrection

1.   Prophecy: The Seed of David

2.   Prophecy: The Seed of a Woman

3.   Suffering Messiah: Cumulative Evidence

4.   Suffering Messiah: Isaiah 53

5.   Miracles: Confirmed the Word

6.   Contradiction: Two Different Genealogies?

7.   Jesus: THE Prophesied Prophet, Part 1: Miracles

8.   Jesus: THE Prophesied Prophet, Part 2: Prophecies

9.   Resurrection: The Babbling Gallop and Alleged Contradictions

10.  Resurrection: An Empty Tomb

11.  Resurrection: A Female Tale

12.  Resurrection: A Historical Investigation of the Fundamental Facts

13.  Resurrection: False Theories

Part 4: Miscellaneous Apologetics

Inspiration, Creation, Prediction, DNA Information, and Summation

Includes Daniel’s Prophecies, Prophecies about the Church, and Questions about the Lost, NDEs, ODEs, Slavery, and the Age of the Earth

1.   Apologetics: Encouragement to Believers

2.   Creation: Proof of a Supernatural Creator

3.   Prophecy: Daniel’s World Empires

4.   Prophecy: Daniel’s Seventy Weeks

5.   Prophecy: Daniel’s Increase in Knowledge

6.   Prophecy: The Church, Part 1

7.   Prophecy: The Church, Part 2

8.   DNA Information: In the Beginning

9.   Questions: What About Those Who Have Never Heard?

10.  Questions: What About Near-Death Experiences

11.  Questions: What About Slavery in the Bible?

12.  Questions: What About the Age of the Earth?

13.  Summary: Quick Apologetics

Charts

Miracles in the Old Testament

Age of the Earth Calculations

PART 1

REASONABLE APOLOGETICS

LOGICAL, PHILOSOPHICAL, THEOLOGICAL, MORAL, AND PERSONAL

Plus, Israel’s Incredible Witness to the World

Isaiah 1:18

Come now,

and let us reason together,

saith the LORD:

1. Apologetics: Serving God with All Your Mind

2. Logic: The God of Reason

3. Love: The God of Love

4. Law: Transcendent Objective Moral Laws

5. Law: Moral and Philosophical Hypocrisy

6. Miracles: Mom Healed

7. Theodicy: Defending Christian Suffering

8. Matthew: A Miraculous Gift from God

9. Homo Sapiens: The Wise Ape

10. Israel: God’s Covenant with Abraham

11. Israel: Ezekiel’s Valley of Dry Bones (538 BC)

12. Israel: Another Scattering and Regathering (1948)

13. Israel: Let Us Cut Them Off from Being a Nation

1

Apologetics: Serving God with All Your Mind

Jesus said unto him,

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God

with all thy heart,

and with all thy soul,

and with all thy mind.

Matthew 22:37

Apologetics Defined

What is apologetics? It comes from two Greek words, apo (out from) and logos (logic), and it literally means to give out a logical defense (apologia). When used with the Bible or Christianity, it means to give out logical reasons for our faith, to defend the truth of Scripture, and to give reasons for believing in Christ. Apologetics is the area of biblical study specializing in defending the Christian faith.

When I tell people that I study and teach apologetics, they sometimes ask if I think I need to apologize for being a Christian. No, I do not apologize for being a Christian, nor do I apologize for defending my faith. Like Paul, I am "set for the defense (apologia) of the gospel" (Philippians 1:17).¹-i Like Peter, I am "ready always to give an answer (apologia)" to everyone who asks why I trust Christ and only Christ for my salvation (1 Peter 3:15; John 14:6; Acts 4:12; 1 Timothy 2:5). Like Jude, I am prepared to earnestly contend (epi-agōnízomai: agonize, fight) for the faith (Jude 3).

Consequently, I have authored this book to defend and contend for my faith; I want to let others know why I believe the Bible is God’s word and Jesus is God’s Son (2 Timothy 3:16; John 1:34). I also hope to teach Christians how to defend their faith. However, learning how to defend your faith requires study. For some of us, studying is hard mental work (2 Timothy 2:15). Nonetheless, God desires that believers worship Him with their hearts, souls, and minds (Matthew 22:37).

Unfortunately, many professing believers have abandoned any desire to use their minds to defend their faith. They seem to agree with atheist George Smith in Atheism: The Case Against God when he argued, Reason and faith are opposites, two mutually exclusive terms.² Smith was wrong; faith is the opposite of works, not reason. Nevertheless, if it is real, faith is followed by works (Revelation 14:13). Likewise, reason alone may not produce faith, but it often accompanies it (John 20:27–31). After all, our faith is in Jesus, God in the flesh, the Word, Logic, and Reason incarnate (the Greek word logos is usually translated as word, but it can also mean logic or reason; John 1:1, 14). In the words of Charles Hodge, our faith is in "the infinite and absolute reason, which dwelt in Him bodily" (emphasis added).³

The Blind Faith of Darwinian Evolution

Nonetheless, some believers agree with atheists and argue that Christianity is based on blind faith. However, they have it backward; it is Darwinian evolution that is built on blind faith. Darwin had rejected God, but not his faith; he merely placed his faith in something new; he placed his "faith in natural selection" (emphasis added).⁴ Darwin admitted that there should be "innumerable intermediate links and the number of [these] intermediate varieties should be truly enormous" (emphasis added). ⁵ However, not only were these links missing in Darwin’s day, but they are still missing; in fact, the whole chain is missing.⁶

The theory of evolution is the belief that the universe and matter itself (miraculously) popped into existence from nothing. Then, these inanimate molecules suddenly (and miraculously) formed a living one-cell being with a complete set of DNA blueprints to reproduce itself. Next, after billions of years, zillions of accidents, and repeated violations of the laws of thermodynamics, this cell evolved into every known life form, each with new and improved DNA blueprints. How did it happen? What power guided and moved each transition? Pure irrational chaos and blind chance. Darwinian evolution is based on blind faith. Christianity is based on a God who says, "Come now, and let us reason together" (Isaiah 1:18).

Surrendering the Minds of Our Children to Satan

Furthermore, Jesus commands us to love God with our entire being, including "with all [our] mind (Matthew 22:37). However, once again, Christians have willingly abandoned the mind and reason to secularists. Recognizing that liberal academia has taken over the area of rational thinking and logic, we have said, Okay, you can have that. In other words, Christians have said, Okay, devil, you can have the minds of our children and grandchildren; we just want their hearts. Is it any wonder that many Christian children walk away from the faith once they get to college? Jesus said, Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind" (Mark 12:30).

Christians are to worship God in every area of their lives. Believers should not surrender any part of their being to Satan and the secular world: not the heart, not the soul, and not the mind. Consider the command to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17). This means that the believer is to be in constant communion with God. That means Christians are to pray in and out of the church; we are to talk to God on Sundays and every other day that ends in y (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday). Likewise, believers are to act and think like Christians in church, at home alone, and when they are out in the world (i.e., without ceasing; 1 Thessalonians 5:17). Furthermore, since worship includes actions as well as thoughts, Christians should worship God "with all [their] mind, and with all [their] strength" all the time (Mark 12:30).

Lazy-Thinking Christians

Laziness is not just a physical phenomenon; it can also be intellectual. Some lazy thinkers do not want to push their minds and work at thinking. Paul told Timothy to "Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman (2 Timothy 2:15). Paul also told the Colossians (and it applies to believers today as well) that all that they did in word or deed, they were to do as to the Lord" (Colossians 3:23). Studying, learning, and using the mind can be hard work. Still, many in the church today, from the pulpit to the pew, are slothful workers when it comes to the mind.

Unfortunately, the church and the Christian West, for years now, have had an attitude of anti-intellectualism.⁷ Secular curriculums of science and Darwinism have eliminated any idea of God from even being considered, but it does not end there. This same attitude of anti-intellectualism has trickled down to the local churches. Preachers deliver watered-down sermons, evangelistic pleas for easy-believism, or feel-good sermonettes. These messages are often self-centered how-to sermons on self-improvement. They are brief and require very little use of the mind of either the pastor or congregation members. Somehow, they missed the fact that the ministry of Jesus and Paul included preaching and teaching (Matthew 4:23; Acts 15:35). Paul told Timothy and Titus that the preacher should be able to teach "every man in all wisdom" (1 Timothy 3:2; 2 Timothy 2:24; Titus 2:4; Colossians 1:28).

Intellectually Working for the Lord

If Christians are to be taught, they are to learn; if they are to learn, they are to use their intellect and reason. Since everything we do is to be done "heartily, as to the Lord," then we are to work intellectually and physically as if we are working for the Lord (Colossians 3:23). This includes heartily using our minds to learn about God, Christ, God’s creation, and the Christian faith. And learning about God’s creation involves learning biology, chemistry, and math! It is all part of His creation. I am not saying that older Christians should go back to school; nonetheless, they should never stop learning, and they should certainly not be averse to studying Scripture and other related subjects. As Charles Spurgeon, the prince of preachers, once said, "Read the books, by all manner of means, but especially the parchments" (2 Timothy 4:13, emphasis added).⁸ In other words, read and study "human literature and especially stand fast by that Book," the Bible (emphasis added).⁹

Christians who are in school should learn all that they can "heartily, as to the Lord (Colossians 3:23). And all Christians, regardless of age, should be using their minds learning to defend what they believe so that they can earnestly contend for the faith" (Acts 9:22; Philippians 1:17; 1 Peter 3:15; Jude 1:3). We have given up too much territory to the devil; let us take it back. Let us love God with all our hearts, and with all our souls, and with all our minds (Matthew 22:37).

2

Logic: The God of Reason

Come now,

and let us reason together,

saith the Lord.

Isaiah 1:18

Who Created Your Mind and Gave You Choices?

Imagine, if you will, that you are in the Garden of Eden, and you get to meet your Creator personally. You walk and talk with God Himself (Genesis 3:8). The Creator of the universe has a personal relationship with you. He created your eyes, ears, mouth, and mind. He also gives you the freedom to make your own choices, and He tells you that you can eat any fruit in the garden (of which there are hundreds); however, you must not eat one specific fruit, or you will die (Genesis 2:15–17). Then along comes an agitator, and he tells you that the Creator is lying: "You will not die" (Genesis 3:4).ii

Who is telling the truth? Is it the Creator or this agitator? You decide not to trust either one but to investigate for yourself. Like Eve, you will use your God-given mind to collect and analyze data to make an informed, rational decision based on empirical observations. You will decide whether or not the Creator is telling you the truth. As C. S. Lewis once said, you will put God in the dock, and you will judge Him.¹⁰ You will make up your own mind. So, you eat the forbidden fruit.

What have you just done? You have decided that you trust your mind more than you trust the One who created your mind. But if the One who made your mind is not trustworthy, how can you trust the mind that He created?¹¹ Let that sink in. If you cannot trust the One who created your mind, how can you trust your mind? You cannot. You can only trust your mind if you can trust the Creator. Christians believe in rational thinking based on logical reasons because we can trust the God who created our minds.

On the other hand, if there is no Creator and everything that exists is the result of accidental random chance and chaos, then your brain is the result of confusion and disorder. How can you trust a mind based on random chance, chaos, confusion, and disorder? You cannot. Even Darwin recognized this innate contradiction within any humanistic philosophy that rejected God, including his theory of the Origin of the Species. Consequently, Darwin asked the rhetorical and unanswerable question: Can the mind of man, which has, as I fully believe, been developed from a mind as low as that possessed by the lowest animals, be trusted when it draws such grand conclusions?¹² No, Charles, only a mind created by an intelligent God can be trusted to make rational decisions.

The Evolutionist Has No Mind and No Free Will

In fact, if evolution is correct, there is no such thing as free will or the mind. Historian, author, lecturer at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and evolutionist Yuval Noah Harari rejects the God of Creation. Like most devoted evolutionists, he believes that physical matter is all there is; there is no soul and no free will; there is no human spirit with a God-given uniquely human spiritual quality.¹³ He believes that free will and individual freedom are illusions that will eventually, like religion, be exposed as a myth.¹⁴ Instead, human choice is simply the result of biochemical mechanisms.¹⁵

Consequently, when the evolutionist denies the existence of God, the rejection is simply the result of these encoded biological machine-like processes. Skeptics claim to use reason, logic, and their minds to deny the existence of God; however, they cannot trust their minds to arrive at the truth any more than they can trust the roll of dice.

The true devotee of evolution believes that there is no mind; if there is, then it is simply synonymous with the brain. This brain was not created by a Creator who gave the skeptic the ability to make rational choices, but it is merely the product of random chance. The mind is not separate from the brain; instead, every thought is simply the result of chemical reactions in the brain. Each idea is a biological process based on how that person has been programmed.

However, there is no Programmer; there is only random chance. Somehow, chaos and millions of years of evolution have resulted in organic machines we call humans that make every decision based on biochemical algorithms.¹⁶ These algorithms are not based on any divine being, a supreme code writer, or an intelligent designer.

Although evolutionists like Harari reject the intelligent design of creation, preferring creation out of nothing from unintentional random processes, they do believe in intelligent design. Harari told CNN that there is no God or intelligence behind the universe; however, human ingenuity will master intelligent design because technological corporations are learning how to hack the brain and program humans.¹⁷ Harari said, After 4 billion years of organic life evolving by natural selection, science is ushering in the era of inorganic life shaped by intelligent design.¹⁸ He believes that homo sapiens, the only intelligence in the universe, have almost evolved enough to be able to program other human brains. Harari thinks that corporations using technological innovations will eventually take away even the pretense of free will.¹⁹ Consider the absurdity of this worldview, technologically advanced homo sapiens with no free will (i.e., they have no real freedom of choice) will choose to take away your choice (i.e., they will choose to take away your free will, which you already do not have) by hacking into your brain and programming you. In other words, we do not have free will (we cannot freely choose); nonetheless, academic intellectuals have figured out how to control our choices and program us to do what they choose for us to do.

However, if the evolutionist is correct, then every thought that the academic elite, the technological corporations, and the skeptics have ever had, and I mean every thought, resulted from random electrochemical currents bouncing back and forth between neurons in their brains. Does the skeptic believe in evolution? Then, it is not because of his rational mind. Instead, his evolutionary beliefs resulted from his internal DNA, the added environmental external input, and the chemical reactions they produced in his brain. In other words, the skeptic does not reject God because of any rational argument; the cynic does not reject a Creator because of his own mind. He has no mind, just a cold, wet biological computer called a brain.

Evolutionists, materialists, and atheists like Harari believe that "our choices of everything," including our choice to reject or trust God, do not result "from mysterious free will, but rather from billions of neurons" bouncing around in our brains (emphasis added).²⁰ According to Harari, Christians and skeptics "enjoy the illusion" that they make their own decisions (emphasis added).²¹ Consequently, Harari, like every other skeptic who denies God, thinks that only his decision is rational, but in actuality, it is the result of evolutionary chance. To use Harari’s own terminology, he is under the illusion that he is thinking for himself.²²

Do You Have a Mind and the Ability to Choose?

On the other hand, if you believe you have free will and the ability to think for yourself, then someone gave you that free will. If you believe you are a rational being capable of making your own choices, then someone chose to provide you with that choice. Only irrational chaos can result from a world based purely on chance. A rational, orderly world requires a rational God.

Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord (Isaiah 1:18). The ability to reason requires a Creator. God has created you, and He has given you the ability to think and make choices. Choose you this day whom ye will serve (Joshua 24:15). You can deny Him if you choose, but if so, you reject the very One who gave you that choice. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord (Joshua 24:15).

3

Love: The God of Love

For the Father loveth the Son

John 5:20.

These words spake Jesus

Father, … thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.

John 17:1, 24

God is love; We love him because he first loved us.

1 John 4:16, 19

Love Is Sacrificial

I still remember the first time I told my future wife I loved her. It was on a warm Friday evening back in September of 1985. I thought she was the sexiest, sweetest, and smartest girl I had ever met. She was also my best friend, and I could not imagine life without her. I had never loved anyone as much as I loved her, and I thought I never would. Then came my three beautiful children: Mike, Matthew, and Mie Jean. My love for them was just as real but different, yet it had one crucial similarity. I would be willing to sacrifice my own life to save theirs (Ephesians 5:25). That is what love is; it is putting others ahead of yourself.

Sacrificial love cannot be explained by evolution and survival of the fittest. Sure, lust might explain the sexual desire for a spouse, and the instinct for the species to survive might explain the protective care for your offspring; however, that would not be real love; it would not be a choice but rather a chemical reaction in the body. Besides, there are times when love goes beyond saving, protecting, and providing for your immediate family.

Sometimes, people are willing to sacrifice their lives for those they barely know, even complete strangers. That is what the Four Chaplains did when a German submarine fired torpedoes that struck the renovated luxury liner called the Dorchester on February 3, 1943.²³ Despite orders to the contrary, many military passengers were not wearing their lifejackets when the ship began to go down. The chaplains, who were wearing their preservers, refused to board the lifeboats so that they could stay and help the wounded. When last seen by the survivors, the chaplains, no longer wearing the lifejackets because they had ordered others to wear them, were locked arm in arm aboard the sinking, burning ship and praying for their fellow Americans. Again, this type of sacrificial love cannot be explained by the survival of the fittest.

These men did not survive, nor would they be around to protect their families and promote the survival of their offspring. In other words, no evolutionary theory can explain the sacrificial love of the Four Chaplains for total strangers. Furthermore, Christian apologists (to appear neutral) sometimes lean left and give the skeptical materialist the benefit of the doubt by allowing evolution to redefine some types of love; however, it is a stretch to let evolution explain any love because you end up with a meaningless word. Even Richard Dawkins admitted as much when he wrote, "Much as we might wish to believe otherwise, universal love and the welfare of the species as a whole are concepts that simply do not make evolutionary sense" (emphasis added).²⁴

Love Is Not Composed of Matter

Love goes beyond a Darwinian evolutionary material explanation if it is genuine and not just a cold chemical process. Love is not composed of a material substance and cannot be held in your hand. Love is proof that something exists that is not made up of matter. Love is immaterial; therefore, it is spiritual.

Love of the Father

Consequently, love requires the presence of something supernatural; it requires God (John 4:24). This supernatural, immaterial Being cannot be just any God because love necessitates someone to love. So, who did God love before He created Adam and Eve? Who did this immutable, changeless, loving God love before creation (Malachi 3:6; 1 John 4:8)? Jesus said of the Father, Thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world (John 17:24). God the Father, the first person of the Trinity, loved God the Son, the second person of the Trinity.

Scripture gives us all kinds of biblical names for God, from Elohim (Creator), to Adonai (the Sovereign Lord), to Yahweh (the Living Eternal God), to El Shaddai (God Almighty).iii My favorite name for God the Father before this study (and yes, I am still learning) was Elohim or Creator. In other words, I thought of the three Persons of the Trinity as God the Creator (Elohim), God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. However, Elohim is plural and can refer to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That is hardly a distinct name for the Father. Besides, all three persons of the Trinity participated in the creation, so once again, the title, Creator, can describe each person of the Trinity.iv

On the other hand, even before God created, He was a Father (John 17:24). This is such a critical point that John 17:24 must be quoted again: Jesus said of the "Father, … thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world" (John 17:24, emphasis added). Before He was Creator, He was a loving Father. Father is the name that emphasizes the first member of the Trinity more than any other. More importantly, Father emphasizes the love of God more than any other name for God.

Love Requires a Trinitarian God

Imagine God, but assume there is no Trinity, and He is not the Father. We would have an Almighty, Eternal, Sovereign, Creator God. We would have a powerful, sovereign ruler that created us, but there would be no love. There would be no love because there was no one to love. If the Father did not first love the Son in eternity past, then He must have been lonely, distant, and unapproachable.²⁵ In fact, He would have been so lonely that He had to create us in order to become a loving God.²⁶ Therefore, as Michael Reeves wrote in Delighting in the Trinity, we would feel pity for the Father, and we would think, Poor old God, He had to create us in order to be who he is, and "we would be giving him life" (italics in the original).²⁷

But the first member of the Trinity