# articles

title: But What if God Did Do It?
topic: Science
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 09/28/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/but-what-if-god-did-do-it-
content:
            <div> 
		<p>Recently, I heard yet again that “saying ’God did it’&nbsp;short-circuits thinking and curiosity.”</p>

<p>It doesn’t make sense to make that blanket statement. What if God <em>did</em> do it? Do true answers short-circuit thinking? Is the goal of thinking to find true answers or just to keep considering the question forever?</p>

<p>What a person who says such a statement really means is, <em>false</em> answers short-circuit thinking. He’s <em>assuming</em> God did <em>not</em> do it; therefore, he concludes that positing He <em>did</em> do it prevents us from finding the <em>true</em> answer. But of course, by assuming a naturalistic answer is the <em>real</em> answer (and that any explanation that involves God is illegitimate), he’s assuming God <em>didn’t</em> do it before the evidence is even in - or worse, he’s assuming it <em>against</em> the evidence.</p>

<p>Here’s a scenario <a href="http://www.str.org/blog/philosophical-naturalism-limits-science#.V-xQIpMrJR0" target="_blank">I’ve described</a> in the past to illustrate this:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Imagine a geologist is in a jungle, collecting rock samples. He comes across a very strange rock with pictures carved into it. “By Jove!”&nbsp;he says. “I’ve discovered a new type of rock formation! Let’s get to work determining which natural process produced this.”&nbsp;His guide laughs and tells him that, clearly, some intelligent person purposely carved the pictures into the rock. The geologist scoffs at the suggestion, carefully explaining that if geologists answered difficult questions about appearances of design by simply saying “some guy did it”&nbsp;they would never discover the real truth...</p>

<p>Not only is this geologist extremely foolish and unscientific by allowing his philosophy to prevent him from following the physical evidence where it leads, but he will also waste the rest of his life fruitlessly trying to discover the natural, random process that created the “unusual rock formation.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>In the case of Intelligent Design, it’s not that we lack naturalistic explanations and therefore assume “God did it.”&nbsp;Rather, there is <a href="http://www.str.org/blog/how-to-test-for-intelligent-design#.V-xUppMrJR0" target="_blank">positive</a> evidence that a rational agent is behind the intricate design of the universe. To reason from positive evidence to a conclusion isn’t to short-circuit thinking. It’s just good reasoning.</p>
</div>

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title: When I Read This, It Stopped Me Cold...—Mentoring Letter October 2016
topic: Christian Living
author: Greg Koukl
date: 10/03/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/when-i-read-this-it-stopped-me-cold-mentoring-letter-october-2016
content:
            <div> 
		<p>Prepping for my radio interview with Os Guinness on his new book, <em>Impossible People</em>, I read something that stopped me in my tracks:</p>

<p>The truth is that the world, as Christians have known it for many centuries, has gone—and gone for good. Gone so decisively, any simple return or reclamation is out of the question...Christian culture warring has been in vain. [p. 45]</p>

<p>Though I did not expect to read those words, as I let them sink in I realized that this same conviction had been growing deep inside me for some time now. I didn’t want to admit it. I did not want to concede that we wouldn’t be able to turn the clock back to the days when the Christian view of the world was the foundation for our understanding of the good, the true, and the beautiful. I did not want to acknowledge the world I grew up in was “gone for good.”&nbsp;But I think Os is right.</p>

<p>Think about it. Have you noticed how aggressive the resistance to our entire worldview has been since the Supreme Court passed its ruling on same-sex marriage last year? Emboldened, I think, by that legal decision, the opposition has moved forward forcefully—both socially and politically—all around the country.</p>

<p>The challenge is broader, though, than what Jay Wesley Richards calls “the pelvic issues”—homosexuality, same-sex marriage, the gender “bathroom battles,”&nbsp;the hook-up culture, etc. Indeed, there is not a single issue dear to us as faithful followers of Christ and critical to our Christian convictions that is not being vigorously challenged: the existence of God, the authority and reliability of the Bible, the singular role of Jesus in the salvation of the world, morality grounded in God and not our personal preferences, what it means to be human, even our fundamental liberty to express our views without fear of reproach, censure, or government interference. And the list goes on.</p>

<p>We are facing a full-court press against everything we cherish and value. And I am convinced things are going to get much more difficult in the near-term, and probably for a long-term, as well. The easy days are behind us now. Yes, gone for good.</p>

<p>As Guinness has observed, this is no time for cowards or for fence sitters. It is no time for going with the flow, or for compromising our message to make it look more palatable. Christ’s words are hard and brash and daring and divisive, and the world will never accept anyone who is faithful to them.</p>

<p>The days are over when any Christian can quietly coexist with the culture without being able to “give an answer for the hope that is in them”&nbsp;(1 Pet. 3:15). Believers who have been on the sidelines in the past will not be able to hide. They will be forced by the opposition to actively choose sides.</p>

<p>For myself, I am doing two things, and I encourage you to do the same.</p>

<p>First, I have been adjusting my expectations. Of course, the Lord can do whatever He wants, but I no longer look to the next election cycle or even a fresh movement of the Spirit to blow across our land to rescue us from being aliens in our own country. The fact is, we have always been foreigners in this world. Though relatively easy times for us as Christians in the West have made us forget that, our brothers and sisters in other regions have always known otherwise. Maybe God is “giving our culture over”&nbsp;(Rom. 1:24, 26, 28) for a season to remind us what realm we truly belong to.</p>

<p>Second, I am fortifying my resolve to be true to Christ, by God’s grace, no matter what hostilities or obstacles confront me, no matter what cost I am asked to pay. I want to be prepared so that, having done everything, my family and I can “stand firm”&nbsp;(Eph. 6:13) regardless of the opposition. Things may get easier or they may get much more difficult. Only God knows. The old, easier days may be “gone for good,”&nbsp;as Guinness put it, but that should not matter to Christ followers.</p>

<p>What matters most can be summed up in words carefully painted on two little stones—one for each pocket—that were given to Os as a young lad by his missionary parents when they sent him from Nanjing to boarding school in Shanghai. The stones simply said, “Found Faithful,”&nbsp;and “Please Him.”</p>

<p>That is my resolve. I encourage you to make it yours, as well. And at Stand to Reason, as God allows, we will always be working for you and with you helping you be true to those words.</p>

<p>To help you stand firm, I’d like to send you a new DVD, <em>No Other Name,</em> when you <a href="http://store.str.org/donate.asp">support STR with a gift this month</a>. In it, I answer two of the most hotly debated questions you and I face as Christian Ambassadors.</p>

<p>First, “Does the Bible teach that Jesus is the only way to salvation?”&nbsp;And second, “Why is Jesus the only way of salvation?”&nbsp;In this relativistic age, you need a compelling answer and I give you that answer in <em>No Other Name</em>. It’s our thanks to you when you send a generous and much-needed gift this month.</p>

<p><strong>Can I count on your support today? Your generosity now is crucial to help you and others stand in competent defense of Christianity.</strong> And be sure to request <em>No Other Name</em> as you give.</p>

<p>Thank you for partnering with me as we stand together for the truth of God’s Word.</p>

<p>Standing firm with you,</p>

<p>Gregory Koukl</p>
</div>

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title: Do You Love Your Reputation More than Christ?
topic: Christian Living
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 09/17/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/do-you-love-your-reputation-more-than-christ-
content:
            <div> 
		<p>John the Baptist was willing to follow the truth to His death. You will likely never face death for the truth, but are you willing to face derision? Jared Wilson exhorts us to “<a href="http://ftc.co/resource-library/1/675" target="_blank">Be Bold Enough to Follow the Truth as Far as It Takes You</a>”:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Given what is taking place in the world today, do we have any indications that to follow Christ will become more and more comfortable? The Bible Belt, long the cultural bastion of “biblical values,”&nbsp;has long been heading toward the spiritual ruins of post-Christendom. Cultural Christianity is wasting away. And the outside world is becoming more and more hostile to the things of faith. Even some professing Christians are becoming hostile to those who will not move according to the shifting winds of the culture. And if God is doing anything in ordaining these cultural shifts to come to pass, it <em>may</em> be this: We are finding out who the real Christians are. (Even today, some are announcing in anger and embarrassment that they will never again call themselves <em>evangelical</em>, to which we must respond with all sincerity and soberness, “Thank you.”)</p>

<p>Maybe he is sifting out his churches that his Church might rise up...</p>

<p>[John the Baptist] was willing to follow the truth no matter where it took him, even to his death. Faithful Christians in the West do not face death but hatred, perhaps simply the death of esteem, respect. Okay, then. Gird your emotional loins, then.</p>

<p>What we need are bold Christians - Christians bold enough to disappoint anybody necessary for the contending of the faith. What we need are Christians so in worshipful awe of Jesus Christ, that they can spot counterfeit gospels (and counterfeit arguments) in seconds and call them out. What the world needs are Christians who love their reputations not, even unto derision. What we need are Christians so committed to Christ, that they will go to their crosses to affirm <em>all</em> that he said, not just the popular parts.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Read the rest of <a href="http://ftc.co/resource-library/1/675" target="_blank">his post</a>.</p>
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title: How Persecution Points People to Jesus
topic: Christian Living
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 10/12/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/how-persecution-points-people-to-jesus
content:
            <div> 
		<p>I wrote last week about our need to demonstrate the <a href="http://www.str.org/blog/do-you-convey-sense-your-love-jesus-your-apologetics#.V_6EW5MrJR0" target="_blank">reality, centrality, and desirability of Jesus</a> as part of a life of evangelism and apologetics. One of the ways to do this is simply to not give up on Him when our society pressures us to. David Yeghnazar reminds us of this in his post on “<a href="https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/5-ways-persecution-in-iran-has-backfired?utm_content=bufferc266c&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=twitter.com&amp;utm_campaign=buffer" target="_blank">5 Ways Persecution in Iran Has Backfired</a>”:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Persecution is intended to instill fear and paralyze the church. Instead, seeing Christians willing to suffer often draws unbelievers closer to Christ. They ask, <em>Who is this Jesus that people are so willing to suffer for?</em></p>

<p>One recently baptized man began his journey to Christ when he heard on the news that Iranian Christians had been arrested for their faith. Their willingness to go to prison for their beliefs made him curious, and so he googled “Christianity.”&nbsp;The Lord used that internet search to eventually lead him to surrender his life to King Jesus.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Don’t be tempted to fear what you might encounter in the future as a Christian. Look to our Christian brothers and sisters throughout history who have found Jesus to be faithful to His promise to <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=hebrews+13%3A5-6&amp;version=NASB" target="_blank">be with us</a> and continue to build His kingdom, even as we’re suffering and things look bleak. When you trust Him this way, the world will see it and ask, “Who is this Jesus?”</p>
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title: The Church Should Take the Lead in Fighting Porn
topic: Christian Living
author: Brett Kunkle
date: 09/24/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/the-church-should-take-the-lead-in-fighting-porn
content:
            <div> 
		<p>Porn isn’t a problem, it’s an epidemic. Even celebrities like <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kvzamjQW9M" target="_blank">Russell Brand</a>, <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/24/entertainment/terry-crews-porn-addition-feat/" target="_blank">Terry Crews</a>, and <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/take-the-pledge-no-more-indulging-porn-1472684658" target="_blank">Pamela Anderson</a> (yes, <em>that</em> Pamela Anderson, the former Playboy model) are speaking out. So, where’s the church in this battle? Shouldn’t we be leading the fight against this immense social evil?</p>

<p>According to the <a href="https://www.barna.com/the-porn-phenomenon/#.V-QWmzt0zIM" target="_blank">latest research by Barna</a>, the vast majority of Christian leaders believe porn is a bigger problem than it was two decades ago. Here’s just a sampling of what Barna found in <a href="https://barna-resources.myshopify.com/products/porn-phenomenon" target="_blank">The Porn Phenomenon</a> study:</p>

<ul>
	<li>93% of pastors and 94% of youth pastors say it is a much bigger or somewhat bigger problem than it was in the past.</li>
	<li>More than half of youth pastors have had at least one teen come to them for help in dealing with porn in the past 12 months.</li>
	<li>Although teens seeking help are mainly teen boys, there is still a significant amount of teen girls seeking help from youth pastors.</li>
	<li>Most Americans believe porn is “bad for society,”&nbsp;but those attitudes are shifting toward neutrality or “good for society”&nbsp;among younger generations.</li>
	<li>Only one in 20 young adults and one in 10 teens say their friends think viewing pornography is a bad thing.</li>
	<li>Nearly half of young adults say they come across porn at least once a week—even when they aren’t seeking it out.</li>
	<li>More than half of women 25 and younger seek out porn (56%) and one-third seek it out at least monthly (33%).</li>
	<li>Men of all ages and stages, but especially married men, are coming to pastors for help with pornography struggles.</li>
	<li>Despite the awareness of the problem, most churches do not have programs specifically designed to assist those struggling with porn use.</li>
</ul>

<p>Not only do most churches having nothing designed to deal with porn use, many church leaders admitted not knowing what to do about the problem. So let me suggest at least three steps for the church to take:</p>

<p><strong>(1) Know the extent of the problem.</strong> This is the first step. When your eyes are opened to the breadth and depth of destruction and evil that porn brings, it will motivate your church and leadership to action. Specifically, read the following:</p>

<ul>
	<li><a href="http://endsexualexploitation.org/publichealth/" target="_blank">Pornography: A Public Health Crisis</a></li>
	<li><a href="http://fightthenewdrug.org/?ddownload=584" target="_blank">Get the Facts</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Wired-Intimacy-Pornography-Hijacks-Brain/dp/0830837000/" target="_blank">Wired for Intimacy: How Pornography Hijacks the Male Brain</a></li>
</ul>

<p>Pastors and leaders need to be teaching about this topic and laying out the specific details about porn access and addiction, the connection between porn and sexual exploitation and sex trafficking, and the tremendous personal and social consequences of porn. We need to wake up the church on this issue.</p>

<p><strong>(2) Set up protection immediately.</strong> There is no good reason why every family in the church doesn’t have internet protection software. No, this will not solve all of our porn problems, but it’s an important starting place. There’s a reason why armies build walls—to keep out the bad guys. “But walls don’t work 100% of the time, so why even build them?”&nbsp;asked no one ever. We all know that prevention is much better than recovery. Here are just a few internet filtering options:</p>

<ul>
	<li><a href="http://www.covenanteyes.com/" target="_blank">Covenant Eyes</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://www.netnanny.com/" target="_blank">Net Nanny</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://meetcircle.com/" target="_blank">Disney’s Circle</a></li>
	<li>And here’s a list of more <a href="http://endexploitationmovement.com/category/internet-safety/" target="_blank">internet safety resources</a></li>
</ul>

<p>So lead a campaign at your church to set up internet filtering in every home.</p>

<p><strong>(3) Build strong families.</strong> <a href="http://www.frc.org/issuebrief/the-effects-of-pornography-on-individuals-marriage-family-and-community" target="_blank">According to the FRC</a> (and common sense!), “The main defenses against pornography are close family life, a good marriage and good relations between parents and children, coupled with deliberate parental monitoring of Internet use.”&nbsp;Yes, this is a long-term strategy but it’s the one thing that will help secure future generations. Strong fathers and mothers in strong marriages and in loving relationships with their children are the best protection against pornography.</p>

<p>Of course, these suggestions are not exhaustive, just a starting point to get us moving. Here are two final resources. Get the book <em><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Finally-Free-Fighting-Purity-Power/dp/0310499232/" target="_blank">Finally Free: Fighting for Purity With the Power of Grace</a></em>. Heath Lambert points us to the power of the Gospel and offers a number of practical strategies that can be implemented in our homes and churches. Also, Covenant Eyes has put together a resource to help you <a href="http://www.covenanteyes.com/fight-porn-in-your-church/" target="_blank">Fight Porn in Your Church</a>.</p>

<p>With the power of the gospel—its redemption in Christ and the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit—available to us, the church should be on the front lines of this battle.</p>

<p><em>*Please share your stories, suggestions and strategies in the comments section below!</em></p>
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title: How Do You Explain to a Child Why God Asked Abraham to Sacrifice His Son?
topic: Tactics and Tools
author: Brett Kunkle
date: 10/10/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/how-do-you-explain-to-a-child-why-god-asked-abraham-to-sacrifice-his-son-
content:
            <div> 
		<p>Why did God ask Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac? Brett shares how to explain this well-known biblical account to a child.</p>

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title: Archaeologists Find A Piece of History from King Hezekiah’s Reign
topic: History
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 10/01/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/archaeologists-find-a-piece-of-history-from-king-hezekiah-s-reign
content:
            <div> 
		<p>An ancient toilet has turned out to be an interesting <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3811712/The-wrong-kind-throne-Toilet-discovered-2-800-year-old-shrine-reveals-Biblical-tale-desecration-religious-sites-King-Hezekiah.html?ITO=1490&amp;ns_mchannel=rss&amp;ns_campaign=1490" target="_blank">discovery</a>:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>[E]vidence of the reforms implemented by King Hezekiah, which are described in the Old Testament, around 2,800 years ago have surfaced in a surprising form.</p>

<p>Archaeologists digging at the site of an ancient gate to the ruined city of Tel Lachish in Israel have uncovered the remains of a shrine that was desecrated during the purges in the 8th century BC...</p>

<p>According to the narrative given in the book of Kings in the Bible, King Hezekiah oversaw a widespread effort to abolish the religious cults and idol worship that had sprung up in Judah...</p>

<p>[P]erhaps the greatest sign that the shrine had been the site of one of King Hezekiah’s crackdowns was the installation of the toilet within the inner sanctum of the shrine...</p>

<p>Tests at the site showed that while the toilet stone appears to have been installed to desecrate the shrine, it was never actually used.</p>

<p>Archaeologists instead believe it had been placed there symbolically and the inner sanctum of the shrine was sealed shut.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>The article explains further:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Putting a latrine at a holy site was considered to be sacrilege as it soiled a religious location that was to be respected.</p>

<p>Evidence of abolishing cultic locations by installing a toilet in them is known in the Bible.</p>

<p>In the case of Jehu destroying the cult of Baʽal in Samaria, the Bible states: “And they demolished the pillar of Baʽal, and demolished the house of Baʽal, and made it a latrine to this day”&nbsp;(II Kings 10:27).</p>

<p>The discovery at Tel Lachish, however, is the first time that an archaeological find confirms this practice.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Read the rest of the article and see photos <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3811712/The-wrong-kind-throne-Toilet-discovered-2-800-year-old-shrine-reveals-Biblical-tale-desecration-religious-sites-King-Hezekiah.html?ITO=1490&amp;ns_mchannel=rss&amp;ns_campaign=1490" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>
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title: The Deity of Christ in the Gospel of Mark
topic: Theology
author: Tim Barnett
date: 09/21/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/the-deity-of-christ-in-the-gospel-of-mark
content:
            <div> 
		<p>There are some who think the deity of Christ was a later invention that developed by the end of the first century. As evidence for this position, they assert that the Gospel written first—the Gospel of Mark—has a low view of Jesus, while the Gospel written last—the Gospel of John—has a high view of Jesus. Therefore, Jesus started out as a man in Mark’s Gospel but <em>became</em> God by the time John’s Gospel was written.</p>

<p>This challenge rests on the <em>assumption</em> that the Gospel of Mark has a low view of Jesus. But is this true? Does Mark’s Gospel present Jesus as a mere man, or is the deity of Christ presented even in the earliest Gospel?</p>

<p>In one of his many debates with Muslim apologist Shabir Ally, James White lays out sixteen places in the Gospel of Mark that point persuasively to Jesus’&nbsp;deity when taken together.</p>

<ol>
	<li><em>Mark calls Jesus the Son of God.</em>

	<p>“The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, <em>the Son of God”</em>&nbsp;(1:1).</p>
	</li>
	<li><em>John the Baptist applies Isaiah 40:3 (which is about Yahweh) to Jesus.</em>
	<p>“...the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ’<em>Prepare the way of the Lord</em>, make his paths straight’”&nbsp;(1:3).</p>
	</li>
	<li><em>God the Father calls Jesus His beloved Son.</em>
	<p>“In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, ’<em>You are my beloved Son;</em> with you I am well pleased’”&nbsp;(1:9-11).</p>
	</li>
	<li><em>The unclean spirits recognize Jesus as the Holy One of God, who has the power to destroy them.</em>
	<p>“And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, ’What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—<em>the Holy One of God’”</em>(1:23-24).</p>
	</li>
	<li><em>Jesus is able to forgive sins committed against God.</em>
	<p>“And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ’<em>Son, your sins are forgiven’”</em>&nbsp;(2:5).</p>
	</li>
	<li><em>Jesus claimed to be the Son of Man of Daniel 7, who is the Lord of the Sabbath.</em>
	<p>“And he said to them, ’The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. <em>So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath’”</em>&nbsp;(2:27-28).</p>
	</li>
	<li><em>Demons fall down before Jesus and recognize Him as the Son of God.</em>
	<p>“And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they <em>fell down before him</em> and cried out, ’<em>You are the Son of God’”</em>&nbsp;(3:11).</p>
	</li>
	<li><em>Again, a demon possessed man recognizes Jesus’&nbsp;authority and power.</em>
	<p>“And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him. And crying out with a loud voice, he said, ’What have you to do with me, Jesus, <em>Son of the Most High God?</em> I adjure you by God, do not torment me’”&nbsp;(5:6-7).</p>
	</li>
	<li><em>Jesus has the authority to change God’s law.</em>
	<p>“And he said to them, ’Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?’&nbsp;<em>(Thus he declared all foods clean)”</em>&nbsp;(7:18-19).</p>
	</li>
	<li><em>Jesus called people not to be ashamed of Him, but rather to give their lives for Him.</em>
	<p>“And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, ’If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life <em>for my sake and the gospel’s will save it</em>... For whoever is ashamed of <em>me</em> and of <em>my</em> words in this adulterous and sinful generation, <em>of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels’”</em>&nbsp;(8:34-38).</p>
	</li>
	<li><em>Jesus is called the Father’s beloved Son, not one son among many sons.</em>
	<p>“And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, ’<em>This is my beloved Son; listen to him’”</em>&nbsp;(9:7).</p>
	</li>
	<li><em>Jesus asks the rich young ruler if he realizes the implications of calling Him good.</em>
	<p>“And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, ’Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ And Jesus said to him, ’<em>Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone’”</em>&nbsp;(10:17-18).</p>
	</li>
	<li><em>The elect people of God are called Jesus’&nbsp;elect people.</em>
	<p>“And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And then he will send out the angels and gather <em>his elect</em> from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven”&nbsp;(13:26-27).</p>
	</li>
	<li><em>Jesus’&nbsp;words are put at the same level as God’s words.</em>
	<p>“Heaven and earth will pass away, but <em>my words will not pass away”</em>&nbsp;(13:31).</p>
	</li>
	<li><em>Jesus places Himself above men and angels in His relationship to the Father.</em>
	<p>“But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father”&nbsp;(13:32).</p>
	</li>
	<li><em>Jesus identifies Himself as the Son of Man in Daniel 7:13-14.</em>
	<p>“But he remained silent and made no answer. Again the high priest asked him, ’Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?’&nbsp;And Jesus said, ’<em>I am</em>, and <em>you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.’</em>&nbsp;And the high priest tore his garments and said, ’What further witnesses do we need? You have heard his blasphemy’”&nbsp;(14:61-64).</p>
	</li>
</ol>

<p><strong>You can watch Dr. White present these texts in his opening statement <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StX81To97dY" target="_blank">here</a>.</strong></p>
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title: Bart Ehrman on the Existence of Jesus
topic: History
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 09/27/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/bart-ehrman-on-the-existence-of-jesus
content:
            <div> 
		<p>Greg mentioned this quote from skeptic Bart Ehrman a couple of weeks ago on the <a href="/w/greg-and-tom-gilson-talk-about-the-accusation-that-christians-are-intolerant" target="_blank">podcast</a>, and I was able to find a video. Here’s what Ehrman said in response to the idea that Jesus never existed:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>This is not even an issue for scholars of antiquity...The reason for thinking Jesus existed is because he is abundantly attested in early sources...If you want to go where the evidence goes, I think that atheists have done themselves a disservice by jumping on the bandwagon of mythicism, because frankly, it makes you look foolish to the outside world. If that’s what you’re going to believe, you just look foolish.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>For a response to Ehrman’s radically skeptical view of the New Testament, see Greg’s “<a href="/w/-misquoting-jesus-answering-bart-ehrman" target="_blank">’Misquoting’&nbsp;Jesus? Answering Bart Ehrman</a>”&nbsp;and this <a href="/w/can-we-trust-the-text-of-the-new-testament-" target="_blank">summary</a> of a debate Ehrman had with Dan Wallace.</p>

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title: Podcast Bumper Music: Good Little Giants
topic: Announcements
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 09/23/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/podcast-bumper-music-good-little-giants
content:
            <div> 
		<p>I’ve been asked about some of the bumper music we’ve been using on the podcast - songs from the album “<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/arrows/id1108710127" target="_blank">Arrows</a>”&nbsp;by <a href="https://www.reverbnation.com/goodlittlegiants" target="_blank">Good Little Giants</a>. I love what lead singer Scott Phillips has to say about suffering in this video (and not just because he mentions Greg!):</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Who was Jesus? If you read in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=isaiah+53&amp;version=NASB" target="_blank">Isaiah</a>, it says He was “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.”&nbsp;If we’re going to be conformed to that image, then we’re going to be people who are acquainted with grief. We’re going to be people of sorrows from time to time.</p>
</blockquote>

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<p>Here’s a video of one of their songs from <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Its-Ocean-Good-Little-Giants/dp/B00C9VN7AI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1473720360&amp;sr=8-2&amp;keywords=good+little+giants" target="_blank">a different album</a>. Enjoy!</p>

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title: Is Beauty in the Eye of the Beholder?
topic: Philosophy
author: Brett Kunkle
date: 09/19/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/is-beauty-in-the-eye-of-the-beholder-
content:
            <div> 
		<p>As an apologist, I never envisioned sharing the stage with rappers, hip hop artists, and spoken word poets. But that’s what happened last month at the Canvas Conference in Portland, Oregon. A collaboration between Humble Beast Records and Western Seminary, the conference brought together thinkers and creatives, theologians and artists, in order to work out a theology of art and creativity. Creative expression was interspersed throughout the teaching sessions, as artists performed songs and poetry, and each night of the conference culminated with a multi-artist concert. It was unlike any speaking event I’ve been a part of.</p>

<p>But can apologetics really bring anything helpful to a conference on art and creativity? As I prepped my talks, I was reminded that apologetics actually offers the foundation for art and, in particular, carefully deals with one concept that underwrites the entire artistic enterprise intellectually: objective truth.</p>

<p>Certainly you’ve heard the cultural mantra “Beauty is in the eye (or ear) of the beholder.”&nbsp;It seems to entail the view that art is a realm of mere subjectivism, where a painting, song, or film is merely beautiful because an individual thinks it so. This is the dominant view of Americans. But as I told the Canvas Conference audience, this statement actually confuses the issue. Is beauty in the eye of the beholder? The answer is yes...and no. Yes, the <em>experience</em> of beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Our ability to perceive beauty does involve subjective elements. It is conditioned by our own views and personal tastes. And that explains why we can actually develop tastes for not only beautiful works of art, but also for ugliness.</p>

<p>However, beauty itself is <em>not</em> subjective. The colors, tones, and hues of a magnificent sunset are real properties, independent of what you or I think. Have you ever been struck by a magnificent snow-capped mountain? Has a cascading waterfall ever taken your breath away? Such spontaneous expressions of wonder and admiration bear witness to the objective beauty we behold. These things are not beautiful because I, as a subject, declare them to be. The object—the sunset, the mountain, the waterfall—is beautiful in and of itself. Thus, we mustn’t confuse the perceiving subject with the perceived object.* (*I’m grateful to one of my philosophy instructors, Dr. David Horner, for shaping my views on beauty.)</p>

<p>Indeed, if beauty itself is merely subjective, then ultimately there is no difference between the works of Rembrandt, Da Vinci, Van Gogh, Picasso, or Monet and an artist who smears feces on a canvas. If beauty is subjective, then Beethoven’s 9th Symphony is no different from Rebecca Black’s song “Friday”&nbsp;(if you’re not familiar with this reference, look it up on YouTube). In the end, there are no objective distinctions to be made. There are no masters or masterpieces.</p>

<p>If there is objective beauty, a significant question follows: Where does it come from? How is beauty grounded? It’s grounded in an objectively beautiful God. Just like God’s rational nature grounds rational truth and His moral nature grounds moral truth, God’s aesthetic nature is the grounding of aesthetic truth. Objective beauty finds its basis in the nature of the Supremely Beautiful Person. The psalmist affirms this: “One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, <em>to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord</em> and to inquire in His temple”&nbsp;(Psalm 27:4).</p>

<p>In this way, beauty becomes an apologetic for God. It’s a powerful argument for His existence. Beauty points beyond the physical material world. It points beyond the musical instruments, beyond the paint, the brush, and the canvas, and beyond the camera and screen. Beauty points beyond the physical cosmos to the Creator of the cosmos. Beauty points beyond our art to the Divine Artist. Objective beauty reveals the objective source of beauty, God Himself.</p>

<p>I closed my talk with an exhortation to those artists in attendance: The body of Christ needs you to get good at your craft. Work hard to become better painters, musicians, and filmmakers. When you create objectively beautiful art, it exemplifies God’s nature and declares His glory. Thus Christians, connected to the source of all beauty, should produce the best art in the world. I want our culture to move from “That was done by a Christian?!”&nbsp;to “<em>That</em> was done by a Christian.”&nbsp;If the body of Christ can harness not just its thinkers but also its artists, we will have another powerful evidence for the truth of Christianity.</p>
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title: How Unfulfilled Desire Points Us to God
topic: Christian Living
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 10/07/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/how-unfulfilled-desire-points-us-to-god
content:
            <div> 
		<p>C.S. Lewis expert Jerry Root <a href="http://foclonline.org/answer/how-does-cs-lewis-connect-human-longings-need-god" target="_blank">explains</a> how experiences and earthly loves awaken desires in us that will ultimately point us to God:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Lewis also writes in several of his books about what he calls the dialectic of desire. So I take my desire that’s awakened by something, and I connect it to that thing. I find out in time that thing doesn’t ultimately satisfy. And so, in disappointment, I disconnect and connect to something else. It doesn’t satisfy. I disconnect and connect to something else. And he calls it the dialectic of desire. And if I find nothing on this earth will satisfy it, it begins to point me towards the transcendent...</p>

<p>I may begin from a realm of not being enchanted at all. Now something awakens in me this sense of enchantment. I move from enchantment to disenchantment because the thing that the desire’s tethered to can’t fulfill me. And in that disenchantment, I start on this dialectic of desire, until finally, I find that the real object of my longing is God, and I come to the place of re-enchantment, with the proper understanding of the right object...</p>

<p>God gives gifts to awaken desire, but the gifts that He gives are those things that moth and rust destroy and thieves break in and steal. They can’t ultimately satisfy. And so, consequently, these <em>mutable</em> gifts awaken in me a desire for the ultimate <em>immutable</em> gift, the unchanging gift, the gift of God Himself.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Watch the rest of the video below, and see more videos by Jerry Root on this subject at the <a href="http://foclonline.org/answer/how-does-cs-lewis-connect-human-longings-need-god" target="_blank">Forum of Christian Leaders website</a>.</p>

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title: You Don’t Need to Believe in God to Know What’s Right and Wrong, But…
topic: Philosophy
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 10/13/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/you-don-t-need-to-believe-in-god-to-know-what-s-right-and-wrong-but-
content:
            <div> 
		<p>Atheists sometimes think Christians are claiming a person can’t know what’s right and wrong if he doesn’t believe in God, but that’s usually not the claim being made. Tim Barnett gives a great illustration to help explain the nature of the problem with atheism and objective morality in the clip below.</p>

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title: What’s Wrong with Religious Pluralism?
topic: Philosophy
author: Tim Barnett
date: 09/29/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/what-s-wrong-with-religious-pluralism-
content:
            <div> 
		<p>Are all religions equally true? Many people think so. This belief is referred to as <em>religious pluralism</em>. It is the idea that all religions are each, on their own terms, legitimate roads to God. Moreover, God has somehow ordained various paths for various people and cultures. Therefore, no one is within his rights to say that his religion is better than anyone else’s. All ways to God are equally valid. Jesus is the path for Christians, but others have legitimate paths of their own.</p>

<p>In this video clip, I show why religious pluralism cannot possibly be true. (You can watch a video of the entire talk, “Is One Way the Only Way,”&nbsp;<a href="http://www.str.org/blog/is-one-way-the-only-way#.V-2EwZMrKL8" target="_blank">here</a>.)</p>

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title: How Pro-Gay Theology Is Undermined in One Step
topic: Sexuality and Gender
author: Alan Shlemon
date: 10/05/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/how-pro-gay-theology-is-undermined-in-one-step
content:
            <div> 
		<p>Two thousand years ago, Paul sounded a warning to his protégé Timothy. He said that a time will come when people will no longer “endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths”&nbsp;(2 Tim. 4:3-4).</p>

<p>Paul’s warning 2,000 years ago is still relevant today. Many Christians are turning to the myth of pro-gay theology, the belief that Scripture can be interpreted to be gay-affirming.</p>

<p>Early advocates of pro-gay theology invented arguments that were easily refuted. They claimed that David and Jonathan were gay, that Jesus and John (the “disciple whom Jesus loved”) were homosexual lovers, and that according to Isaiah 53:8 Jesus was a eunuch (“cut off,”&nbsp;castrated). These types of claims have been abandoned in favor of more modern arguments.</p>

<p>The new approach is to claim that the Bible <em>does</em> condemn homosexuality, but only abusive or exploitive homosexual acts. Scripture, they say, prohibits homosexual gang rape (i.e. Sodom and Gomorrah), pederasty (men who have sex with boys), master-slave sodomy, and other coercive same-sex acts. Since homosexuals today don’t engage in those kinds of abusive behaviors, the biblical prohibitions of homosexuality don’t apply to them.</p>

<p>That <em>sounds</em> clever, and unfortunately, many believers are buying it. This reinterpretive approach, though, is undermined in one step.</p>

<p>If you can show that <em>any</em> biblical passage categorically condemns <em>all forms of homosexual sex</em> (and not just abusive forms), then this new approach to pro-gay theology is mistaken. It turns out that <em>all five passages</em> that directly address homosexuality (Lev. 18:22, 20:13; Rom. 1:26-27; 1 Cor. 6:9; 1 Tim. 1:10) entail a wholesale prohibition of all forms of homosexual sex.</p>

<p>Take Leviticus 18:22, for example. It simply reads, “You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination.”&nbsp;The verse before it condemns child sacrifice, and the verse after it condemns bestiality. Nowhere in the context is there an indication that any particular type of homosexual sex is in view, and no exception is made for loving, consensual homosexual relationships. The verse categorically condemns <em>all</em> same-sex sexual behavior.</p>

<p>The same is true with the almost identical verse in Leviticus 20:13, which says, “If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act; they shall surely be put to death. Their bloodguiltiness is upon them.”&nbsp;Notice that both participants are punished, which indicates this is a consensual act, not coercive.</p>

<p>Had Leviticus been referring to homosexual gang rape, master-slave sodomy, or some other coercive act, only one of the men would have been punished. In Deuteronomy 22:25-26, for example, if a man rapes a woman, then the aggressor alone is put to death. Since he is forcing himself on another person, this instance of sexual activity <em>is</em> coercive. In the case of homosexual sex in Leviticus, though, both men are punished because they mutually engage in the act.</p>

<p>Don’t misunderstand me, though. I’m not claiming homosexual sex is a sin <em>today</em> because it’s forbidden in Leviticus. The Mosaic Law was written for Israel’s theocracy, which we are no longer under. My point is to show that the attempt to reinterpret the Bible in this way is mistaken. Besides, the prohibition of homosexual sex is carried over into the New Testament and under the New Covenant of Christ in three of Paul’s epistles.</p>

<p>In Romans 1:26-27, for example, the Bible teaches a wholesale prohibition of all forms of homosexual sex. Starting in verse 18, Paul places his comments about same-sex behavior in the context of a creation narrative. He doesn’t specify the type of homosexual sex that’s in view here, though. On the contrary, he points out that <em>all</em> homosexual sex abandons the male-female complementarity God established in the Genesis creation account. “Men,”&nbsp;Paul writes, “abandoned the natural function of women and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts...”&nbsp;They rejected the women God designed for them. Homosexual sex exchanges the natural male-female sex for unnatural male-male or female-female sex - what Paul called an “indecent act.”</p>

<p>It’s worth noting that the behavior Paul describes is “toward one another, men with men,”&nbsp;indicating mutual, consensual, non-exploitive, reciprocal affection. Also, verse 26 mentions lesbianism, which was not exploitive in Paul’s time. Indeed, by listing both males and females as violating this complementarity, Paul condemns <em>all</em> homosexual behavior.</p>

<p>Of course, 1 Corinthians 6 and 1 Timothy 1 also categorically reject all types of homosexual sex. All that’s needed, though, is to show that <em>just one passage</em> makes that point clear, which we’ve shown at least three do. Therefore, the modern case for pro-gay theology fails. It’s an example of how people “turn away their ears from the truth”&nbsp;and reinterpret the Bible to fit their desires.</p>
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title: Jesus Built Western Civilization
topic: History
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 10/05/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/jesus-built-western-civilization
content:
            <div> 
		<p>Tom Holland says in an <a href="http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/religion/2016/09/tom-holland-why-i-was-wrong-about-christianity" target="_blank">article</a> in the <em>New Statesman</em> that he was wrong about Christianity. It doesn’t seem he’s changed his mind about it being false; rather, it’s Christianity’s power and beauty he no longer denies, saying, “It took me a long time to realise my morals are not Greek or Roman, but thoroughly, and proudly, Christian.”</p>

<blockquote>
<p>The longer I spent immersed in the study of classical antiquity, the more alien and unsettling I came to find it. The values of Leonidas, whose people had practised a peculiarly murderous form of eugenics, and trained their young to kill uppity <em>Untermenschen</em> by night, were nothing that I recognised as my own; nor were those of Caesar, who was reported to have killed a million Gauls and enslaved a million more. It was not just the extremes of callousness that I came to find shocking, but the lack of a sense that the poor or the weak might have any intrinsic value. As such, the founding conviction of the Enlightenment - that it owed nothing to the faith into which most of its greatest figures had been born - increasingly came to seem to me unsustainable...</p>

<p>Familiarity with the biblical narrative of the Crucifixion has dulled our sense of just how completely novel a deity Christ was. In the ancient world, it was the role of gods who laid claim to ruling the universe to uphold its order by inflicting punishment - not to suffer it themselves.</p>

<p>Today, even as belief in God fades across the West, the countries that were once collectively known as Christendom continue to bear the stamp of the two-millennia-old revolution that Christianity represents. It is the principal reason why, by and large, most of us who live in post-Christian societies still take for granted that it is nobler to suffer than to inflict suffering. It is why we generally assume that every human life is of equal value. In my morals and ethics, I have learned to accept that I am not Greek or Roman at all, but thoroughly and proudly Christian.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>When I speak to atheists who say that morals such as helping the weak are “obvious,”&nbsp;I know they’re wrong about this. If they were so obvious to everyone, Western civilization would not be as unique in history as it is. They are obvious to us because we’re a product of our culture, and our culture is a product of Christianity, and Christianity is the worship of Jesus.</p>

<p>Jesus was the one who, “although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=phil+2%3A1-11&amp;version=NASB" target="_blank">emptied Himself</a>, taking the form of a bond-servant,”&nbsp;leaving His perfect comfort to suffer and die for us. Us! Jesus was the one who <a href="/w/how-can-you-use-your-knowledge-to-serve-others-" target="_blank">washed His disciples’&nbsp;feet</a> and said, “[T]he one who is the <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+22:25-27&amp;version=NASB" target="_blank">greatest</a> among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like the servant...I am among you as the one who serves.”&nbsp;Jesus was the one who invited <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+18:15-17&amp;version=NASB" target="_blank">little children</a> and <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+18%3A35-43&amp;version=NASB" target="_blank">blind people</a> to come to Him, even as others tried to shoo them away as a waste of His time.</p>

<p>Jesus radically changed the world. We take the ideas of our society for granted, and we assume they’ll always be there. But the most beautiful ideas of our culture came from Jesus, and they won’t survive here for long without Him.</p>

<p>Read the rest of Tom Holland’s article, “<a href="http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/religion/2016/09/tom-holland-why-i-was-wrong-about-christianity" target="_blank">Why I Was Wrong about Christianity</a>.”</p>
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title: How Can I Believe Incredible Stories in the Bible?
topic: History
author: Alan Shlemon
date: 10/11/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/how-can-i-believe-incredible-stories-in-the-bible-
content:
            <div> 
		<p>I’m often asked how I can believe incredible biblical stories in which the sun stands still, a man survives inside a sea creature, a donkey speaks, or the Red Sea is parted. Sure, these events sound incredible. In the world we live in, those aren’t everyday happenings.</p>

<p>As an apologist, what evidence do I have, for example, that a man survived inside a fish for three days? Frankly, I don’t have any evidence of Jonah’s miraculous tale of survival other than the report itself.</p>

<p>So, here’s my thinking. I don’t stress out trying to provide independent evidence for every single claim, event, or miracle in the Bible. If there’s a God who is powerful enough to make a trillion stars, craft a trillion planets, and create all of space-time <em>out of nothing</em>, then believing that same God can move the water He made, control the donkeys He made, and stop the sun He made is on the level of ho-hum...yawn.</p>

<p>This doesn’t mean I believe there’s no evidence for <em>any</em> miraculous stories in the Bible. For example, I believe there’s good evidence for the resurrection of Jesus and many other events. Some miracles, like Balaam’s donkey speaking for example, are extremely difficult to evaluate because it’s almost impossible to get data regarding the event. I don’t worry too much about that, though, because I believe in a God who can make amazing things happen.</p>

<p>Sure, making the sun stand still <em>is</em> an incredible feat, but it’s un-incredible to a God who made the sun and every star.</p>

<p>Sure, parting the Red Sea <em>is</em> an incredible feat, but it’s un-incredible to a God who made matter out of nothing.</p>

<p>My belief that the sun stood still, that a donkey spoke, or that any other amazing event in the Bible happened is based on my prior belief of God’s existence, for which I <em>do</em> have evidence.</p>
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title: To the Christian Who Is Being Tempted by a Relationship
topic: Christian Living
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 09/30/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/to-the-christian-who-is-being-tempted-by-a-relationship
content:
            <div> 
		<p>My dear fellow Christian,</p>

<p>I’ve always said that the temptation I fear the most is a relationship I shouldn’t be in. The possibility of being loved is excruciatingly compelling, and it can make us all stupid. I know how it works. Suddenly, it doesn’t seem like such a big deal if he isn’t a Christian or he wants to sleep over. We’re experts at rationalizing and ignoring the danger.</p>

<p>I understand the pull of that temptation, but I’ve also lived long enough to see the heartbreaking tears of pain, and grief, and regret of people who have had past relationships that were not in God’s will, and so I’m compelled to write to you to plead with you to seek God first above all things.</p>

<p>You have the right to make the decisions in your life. But you also have the right to know all the facts plainly first. I am writing, not necessarily to convince you of something (although if that were to happen, I would be happy!), but to clarify the situation as much as possible for you so you can see your choice as it truly stands. Make the choice that you must, but you must make that choice based on truth and an understanding of the cost. If, when you make your choice, you are deluding yourself on any point involved, you are doing yourself a disservice. Let there be no foolishness of believing that you can have everything and there is no <a href="/w/gay-or-straight-we-all-must-decide-if-we-love-jesus-above-all-else" target="_blank">choice to be made</a>. Will you follow Jesus or the relationship? For whom do you have the greater love? My responsibility ends at making your choice clear for you. After this, it is in your hands. Then, with full knowledge of what you are deciding, with nothing disguised or hidden from yourself, you must make your choice, squarely facing the results, taking full responsibility for the pain (for there will be pain and cost no matter which you choose), knowing that you entered into your decision with your eyes open.</p>

<p><strong>Trust in the LORD with all your heart</strong></p>

<p>and lean not on your own understanding;</p>

<p>in all your ways acknowledge Him,</p>

<p>and He will make your paths straight.</p>

<p>Do not be wise in your own eyes;</p>

<p>fear the LORD and shun evil.</p>

<p>This will bring health to your body</p>

<p>and nourishment to your bones...</p>

<p><strong>Blessed is the man who finds wisdom,</strong></p>

<p><strong>the man who gains understanding,</strong></p>

<p><strong>for she is more profitable than silver</strong></p>

<p><strong>and yields better returns than gold.</strong></p>

<p><strong>She is more precious than rubies;</strong></p>

<p><strong>nothing you desire can compare with her.</strong></p>

<p>Long life is in her right hand;</p>

<p>in her left hand are riches and honor.</p>

<p>Her ways are pleasant ways,</p>

<p>and all her paths are peace.</p>

<p>She is a tree of life to those who embrace her;</p>

<p>those who lay hold of her will be blessed...</p>

<p>My son, preserve sound judgment and discernment,</p>

<p>do not let them out of your sight;</p>

<p>they will be life for you,</p>

<p>an ornament to grace your neck.</p>

<p>Then you will go on your way in safety,</p>

<p>and your foot will not stumble;</p>

<p>when you lie down, you will not be afraid;</p>

<p>when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.</p>

<p>Have no fear of sudden disaster</p>

<p>or of the ruin that overtakes the wicked,</p>

<p>for the LORD will be your confidence</p>

<p>and will keep your foot from being snared. (Proverbs 3:5-26)</p>

<p><span style="display: none;">&nbsp;</span>ON THE REWARDS OF HEARING THE WORDS OF GOD:</p>

<ul>
	<li>Proverbs 27:6: <strong>Wounds from a friend can be trusted</strong>, but an enemy multiplies kisses.</li>
	<li>Proverbs 3:11-12: My son, do not despise the LORD’s discipline and <strong>do not resent his rebuke</strong>, because the LORD disciplines those He loves, as a father the son he delights in.</li>
	<li>Proverbs 15:32-33: <strong>He who ignores discipline despises himself</strong>, but whoever heeds correction gains understanding. The fear of the LORD teaches a man wisdom, and humility comes before honor.</li>
	<li>Proverbs 9:12: If you are wise, <strong>your wisdom will reward you</strong>; if you are a mocker, you alone will suffer.</li>
</ul>

<p>ON SPECIFIC COMMANDS IN QUESTION:</p>

<ul>
	<li>2 Corinthians 6:14-15: <strong>Do not be bound together with unbelievers</strong>; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever?</li>
	<li>1 Corinthians 7:39: A woman is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, but <strong>he must belong to the Lord</strong>.</li>
	<li>Acts 15:19-20 (the commands that the Council at Jerusalem decided the incoming Gentiles ought to follow): It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Instead we should write to them, telling them to <strong>abstain</strong> from food polluted by idols, <strong>from sexual immorality</strong>, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood.</li>
	<li>1 Corinthians 6:18-20: Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? <strong>You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.</strong></li>
	<li>Matthew 6:33: But <strong>seek first His kingdom</strong> and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.</li>
</ul>

<p>ON THE SERIOUSNESS OF REJECTING GOD’S INSTRUCTION:</p>

<ul>
	<li>1 Thessalonians 4:3-8: It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God; and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you. For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. <strong>Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.</strong></li>
	<li>1 John 2:3-4: We know that we have come to know Him if we obey His commands. <strong>The man who says, “I know Him,”&nbsp;but does not do what He commands is a liar</strong>, and the truth is not in him.</li>
	<li>1 John 1:6-7: <strong>If we claim to have fellowship with Him yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth</strong>. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.</li>
	<li>1 John 3:4-6: Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. But you know that He appeared so that He might take away our sins. And in Him is no sin. No one who lives in Him keeps on sinning. <strong>No one who continues to sin has either seen Him or known Him</strong>.</li>
	<li>Romans 6:1-4: What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! <strong>We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?</strong> Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may <a href="/w/answering-an-objection-to-grace-why-not-sin-" target="_blank">live a new life</a>.</li>
</ul>

<p>ON THE NEED TO DECIDE IF YOU WILL FOLLOW JESUS <em>OR</em> YOUR OWN DESIRES:</p>

<ul>
	<li>1 Kings 18:21: Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? <strong>If the LORD is God, follow him;</strong> but if Baal is God, follow him.”</li>
	<li>Matthew 10:37-39: Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is <strong>not worthy of me</strong>: anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and <strong>whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.</strong></li>
	<li>Luke 14:26-27: If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—<strong>he cannot be my disciple</strong>. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.</li>
	<li>Luke 9:57-62: As they were walking along the road, a man said to Him “I will follow you wherever you go.”&nbsp;Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”&nbsp;He said to another man, “Follow me.”&nbsp;But the man replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”&nbsp;Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”&nbsp;Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.”&nbsp;Jesus replied, “<strong>No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”</strong></li>
	<li>Revelation 3:15-16: I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—<strong>I am about to spit you out of my mouth</strong>.</li>
</ul>

<p>ON SALVATION AND THE DANGER IN WHICH YOU PLACE YOURSELF:</p>

<ul>
	<li>Luke 8:5-13: A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed...some fell on rock, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture...This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God...Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. <strong>They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away</strong>.</li>
	<li>1 Timothy 1:18-19:...[F]ight the good fight, holding on to faith and a good conscience. <strong>Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith</strong>.</li>
	<li>Hebrews 3:7-11: So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert, where your fathers tested and tried me and for forty years saw what I did. That is why I was angry with that generation, and I said, ’Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.’&nbsp;So I declared on oath in my anger, ’<strong>They shall never enter my rest</strong>.’”</li>
	<li>Hebrews 6:4-6: It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because <strong>to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting Him to public disgrace</strong>.</li>
	<li>2 Corinthians 13:5: <strong>Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith</strong>; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?</li>
</ul>

<p>ON SEEKING GOD FIRST, REJECTING EVERYTHING THAT SEPARATES US FROM HIM BECAUSE HE IS BEAUTIFUL, AND WONDERFUL, AND WORTHY:</p>

<ul>
	<li>Hebrews 12:1-2: Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses<strong>, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles</strong>, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.</li>
	<li>Philippians 3:7-8: But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider <strong>everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord</strong>, for whose sake I have lost all things.</li>
	<li>Psalm 73:25-26: Whom have I in heaven but you? And <strong>earth has nothing I desire besides you</strong>. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.</li>
	<li>Psalm 16:7-11: I will praise the LORD, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. I have set the LORD always before me. Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay. <strong>You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.</strong></li>
</ul>

<blockquote>
<p>I will exalt you, my God the King;</p>

<p>I will praise your name for ever and ever.</p>

<p>Every day I will praise you</p>

<p>and extol your name for ever and ever.</p>

<p>Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise;</p>

<p>His greatness no one can fathom.</p>

<p>One generation will commend your works to another;</p>

<p>they will tell of your mighty acts.</p>

<p>They will speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty,</p>

<p>and I will meditate on your wonderful works.</p>

<p>They will tell of the power of your awesome works,</p>

<p>and I will proclaim your great deeds.</p>

<p>They will celebrate your abundant goodness</p>

<p>and joyfully sing of your righteousness.</p>

<p>The LORD is gracious and compassionate,</p>

<p>slow to anger and rich in love.</p>

<p>The LORD is good to all;</p>

<p>He has compassion on all He has made.</p>

<p>All you have made will praise you, O LORD;</p>

<p>your saints will extol you.</p>

<p>They will tell of the glory of your kingdom</p>

<p>and speak of your might,</p>

<p>so that all men may know of your mighty acts</p>

<p>and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.</p>

<p>Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,</p>

<p>and your dominion endures through all generations.</p>

<p><strong>The LORD is faithful to all his promises</strong></p>

<p><strong>and loving toward all He has made.</strong></p>

<p><strong>The LORD upholds all those who fall</strong></p>

<p><strong>and lifts up all who are bowed down.</strong></p>

<p><strong>The eyes of all look to you,</strong></p>

<p><strong>and you give them their food at the proper time.</strong></p>

<p><strong>You open your hand</strong></p>

<p><strong>and satisfy the desires of every living thing.</strong></p>

<p>The LORD is righteous in all His ways</p>

<p>and loving toward all He has made.</p>

<p>The LORD is near to all who call on Him,</p>

<p>to all who call on Him in truth.</p>

<p>He fulfills the desires of those who fear Him;</p>

<p>He hears their cry and saves them.</p>

<p>The LORD watches over all who love Him,</p>

<p>but all the wicked He will destroy.</p>

<p>My mouth will speak in praise of the LORD.</p>

<p>Let every creature praise His holy name for ever and ever. (Psalm 145)</p>
</blockquote>

<p>He may not feed you the kind of food you want, when you want it, but <a href="/w/how-can-i-know-which-bible-promises-apply-to-me-" target="_blank">He will feed you</a>.</p>

<p>Jesus is better. Please believe it. Run to Him now, and He will welcome you without shame. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”&nbsp;(1 John 1:9).</p>

<p>With love, tears, and pleading from your faithful friend and sister,</p>

<p>Amy</p>
</div>

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title: Know Your Audience
topic: Tactics and Tools
author: Alan Shlemon
date: 08/16/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/know-your-audience
content:
            <div> 
		<p>I made a mistake. I should have known better. It’s something I’ve learned to avoid when speaking to an audience. This time, though, I didn’t pay attention. Perhaps I got comfortable, lazy, and sloppy. I didn’t follow a basic public speaking rule: know your audience.</p>

<p>I’ve been traveling to the Middle East and speaking there for six years now. I know the importance of adapting my material, modifying my jokes, and finding relevant illustrations. Perhaps, though, that’s exactly why I made the mistake. I got comfortable speaking to a similar type of foreign audience and then got sloppy. It wasn’t a horrible mistake, but nonetheless a bit embarrassing.</p>

<p>I was asked to teach on the problem of evil to an Egyptian audience outside of Cairo, Egypt. It was my first time teaching this material in Egypt and, in the interest of time, I planned to just adapt my material on the fly. Most of the presentation went well. I addressed how God and evil can both exist, where most evil comes from, why God might allow evil, and what His plans are to destroy evil one day.</p>

<p>It was my final comments that got me into trouble. I wanted to answer what God is currently doing about evil. I explained that God has given humanity three institutions to mitigate the impact of evil in this world: the family, the church, and the government.</p>

<p>The family is the fundamental unity of society. It civilizes men, protects women, and produces a healthy environment to raise and nurture healthy children. That’s why when families disintegrate through death, divorce, or other things, then people are hurt.</p>

<p>God has also given us the Church. Christians are responsible for rescuing and repairing a broken world. I don’t mean it’s their sole responsibility or they’re the only ones who do anything to help. The Church, though, is called to care for the poor and homeless, to serve the widow, and to protect children and orphans. Christians have often built hospitals around the world, started schools, and fought to abolish slavery.</p>

<p>Finally, I told them God has given the institution of the government, whose chief responsibility is justice. The government is supposed to protect innocent people and punish evildoers (Romans 13:1-4, 1 Peter 2:13-14). When government fails to do its job, evil flourishes.</p>

<p>Maybe you can see the problem. Apparently, I didn’t see it when those words tumbled out of my mouth. My Egyptian brothers and sisters, though, kindly helped me to see why my point didn’t make a lot of sense.</p>

<p>In Egypt, they told me, families aren’t healthy. Marriage doesn’t civilize men, especially Muslim men, who often treat their wives poorly. Consequently, women <em>aren’t</em> protected and children <em>aren’t</em> given a healthy environment to grow.</p>

<p>Churches in Egypt struggle to make a difference outside of their congregations. They’re stifled by the dominant Islamic culture and find it too difficult to repair and rescue their broken culture.</p>

<p>And the government? Well, that’s a joke, they told me. The Egyptian government doesn’t even have its own house in order, let alone have the ability to protect innocent people or punish evildoers. There’s been a lot of corruption within the government, and as a result, it isn’t effective at mitigating the impact of evil. Rather, it’s often a source of evil.</p>

<p>You can probably see why my comments fell flat. I should have known better. In fact, I knew each of the points they made about Egyptian culture. I simply forgot them when it came to my teaching material. I didn’t consider my audience.</p>

<p>Now, are my points about the three institutions still valid? Yes, God still has given us these ways to mitigate the impact of evil. In Egypt’s case, though, there are problems with how these institutions function. What I should have done is adapt my material by stating the institutions but then explaining how they are specifically being undermined in their culture. That would have demonstrated that I knew my audience.</p>

<p>Well, you live and, hopefully, learn from your mistakes.</p>
</div>

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title: What Can’t Science Account For?
topic: Science
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 08/20/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/what-can-t-science-account-for-
content:
            <div> 
		<p>I’m helping out at <a href="http://crossexamined.org/what-is-cia/" target="_blank">CrossExamined Instructor Academy</a> this weekend, and Frank Turek played this great two-minute <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuDReCqkNRs" target="_blank">clip</a> from a discussion between William Lane Craig and Peter Atkins, wherein Craig lists five rational beliefs that can’t be scientifically proven:</p>

<ol>
	<li>Logical and mathematical truths—science <em>presupposes</em> logic and math.</li>
	<li>Metaphysical truths—e.g., the idea that the external world is real.</li>
	<li>Ethical truths—e.g., you can’t prove by science that the Nazis were wrong to experiment on Jews.</li>
	<li>Aesthetic truths��beauty can’t be scientifically proven.</li>
	<li>Science itself—science can’t be justified by the scientific method.</li>
</ol>

<div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9" data-embed-id="RuDReCqkNRs" data-styles="{&quot;width&quot;:&quot;100%&quot;}" style="width:100%"><iframe allow="encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" class="embed-responsive-item" frameborder="0" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/RuDReCqkNRs?rel=0" tabindex="0"></iframe></div>
</div>

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title: You’ll Never Outgrow Your Need to Meet with God
topic: Christian Living
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 09/07/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/you-ll-never-outgrow-your-need-to-meet-with-god
content:
            <div> 
		<p>This <a href="http://www.ligonier.org/blog/spiritual-disciplines-and-sinkhole-syndrome/" target="_blank">article</a> by Donald Whitney on the danger of drifting away from a daily time of communion with God through Bible reading and prayer is true and scary, but also strangely motivating and encouraging. It’s a reminder that something real is happening when you meet with God daily. An excerpt from “<a href="http://www.ligonier.org/blog/spiritual-disciplines-and-sinkhole-syndrome/" target="_blank">Spiritual Disciplines and the Sinkhole Syndrome</a>”:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>As the pressures of life increase and more deadlines loom, it becomes harder to maintain time for the devotional life. And herein is where the erosion begins.</p>

<p>At the outset it’s likely that very few will know when the hidden part of your spiritual life begins crumbling. Just as imperceptible movements of water underground can carry away the earth beneath long before anyone on the surface perceives it, so the pressures of life can secretly displace the soil of our private spiritual disciplines long before the impact of their absence is visible to others. The more public parts of a Christian’s life, such as church involvement and various forms of ministry, can often continue with little observable change right up until the awful moment of collapse and the hypocrisy is revealed...</p>

<p>Never be deceived by the temptation to think that with the increasing spiritual maturity you expect to come with age, the less you will need to feast your soul on Christ through the Bible and prayer. What Jesus prayed in John 17:17 for all His followers—“Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth”—applies to us all throughout our lives.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>I just finished Matt Papa’s <em><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Look-Live-Behold-Soul-Thrilling-Sin-Destroying/dp/0764212516/ref=sr_1_1_twi_pap_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1473300146&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=look+and+live" target="_blank">Look and Live</a></em>, and I recommend it to you if you need a jump start for your devotional time.</p>
</div>

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title: Treat Transgender People with Kindness
topic: Sexuality and Gender
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 09/15/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/treat-transgender-people-with-kindness
content:
            <div> 
		<p>Alan Shlemon wrote this month’s issue of <em>Solid Ground</em>: “<a href="http://www.str.org/publications/solid-ground-september-2016-transgender-truth-and-compassion#.V9cHq5MrKL8" target="_blank">Transgender: Truth and Compassion</a>”:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Imagine a woman telling you, “I’m transgender. Please call me Michael.”&nbsp;It’s obvious she’s female, but she’s asking you to call her by a man’s name. What do you do?...</p>

<p>As you learn the truth about transgender people from both Scripture and science, it will help you have compassion for them. Jesus knew that those around Him were lost and hurting. That’s what led Him to act with kindness and good will towards them.</p>

<p>Following in the footsteps of Christ, the new kind of apologist integrates both truth and compassion in his response. Knowing truth requires knowing what Scripture says, what science says, and understanding the experience of transgender people. If we are steeped in this truth, it will change the way we feel about transgender people and it will change the way we treat them.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Read the rest <a href="http://www.str.org/publications/solid-ground-september-2016-transgender-truth-and-compassion#.V9cHq5MrKL8" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>
</div>

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title: God Is an Artist (Or, Why God Didn’t Just Download Information into Our Minds)
topic: Theology
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 09/13/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/god-is-an-artist-or-why-god-didn-t-just-download-information-into-our-minds-
content:
            <div> 
		<p>God is an artist. An atheist once said to me that God should never have created a world with a history full of pain and suffering just for the purpose of fully revealing Himself to us. Rather, he said, God could have just downloaded all of the information about Himself right into our minds. But that’s not how God works. God is an artist. God doesn’t just give us a list of informative statements; He uses images, parables, stories (such as history itself) to communicate with a richness, depth, and beauty that could never be matched by bare information.</p>

<p>The instructional words “God is gracious” can’t compare to, “There was a man named John Newton, and he was a dreadful man. He mocked God. He was a slave trader. He led such a wretched life that he ended up living as a servant of slaves on an island off the coast of Africa. And Christ came down from a place of perfect comfort and splendor to suffer and die in that man’s place so that he could be adopted and welcomed into God’s very family. To John Newton’s astonishment, God saved him and changed his life. And at the end of his life, Newton said, ’My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things: That I am a great sinner and that Christ is a great Savior.’”</p>

<p>God isn’t just a master author; He’s also a painter. Baptism is a visual representation of our union with Christ in His death and resurrection. Communion is an image of the Gospel and our identity as one body of Christ. God created an entire sacrificial system with a temple to show us what it means for Him to be holy, what our sin costs, and what Christ would come to do for us. He created marriage to depict the relationship between Christ and His bride, the church: “Husbands, <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=ephesians+5%3A22-33&amp;version=NASB" target="_blank">love your wives</a> just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her.... He who loves his own wife loves himself; for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, because we are members of His body.... [A]nd the wife must see to it that she respects her husband.”&nbsp;He created shadows of Christ throughout history to illuminate the reality He most wanted us to know—Christ Himself, “the radiance of His glory and the <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=hebrews+1%3A1-4&amp;version=NASB" target="_blank">exact representation</a> of His nature.”</p>

<p>Because of His artistry, just as there are layers of meaning in a painting, there is an unfathomable depth to the world He created and the words He revealed, and the deeper we go, the more we see of Him and the more beautiful it all becomes.</p>

<p>I was reminded of God’s artistry yet again when I saw what <a href="https://corechristianity.com/resource-library/articles/why-sunday-should-be-a-day-of-rest" target="_blank">Nicholas Davis</a> had to say about the change from worshiping on the Sabbath (the last day of the week) to the Lord’s Day (the first day of the week, the day of His resurrection) and what that visual ritual declares to the world:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>There is one significant difference between the Jewish Sabbath and the Christian Sabbath (or Lord’s Day) that is important to note. The Jewish Sabbath mirrors the creation account in Genesis 1–2, where God worked for six days and rested on the seventh. Interestingly though, the Lord’s Day reverses this pattern entirely.</p>

<p>According to the Law, we are to work first, and then we are granted rest. Jesus reversed this pattern for us when he perfectly obeyed all of the Ten Commandments and kept the law on our behalf. By living the perfect life, Jesus has met God’s perfect standard.</p>

<p>According to the gospel, we are gifted with rest; and then out of gratitude, we actually want to work. Now, we don’t have to try to earn God’s favor—he is already favorable toward us in his Son. Because of Jesus’&nbsp;work, we start each week with rest—mirroring that eternal Sabbath rest that is already our inheritance in the new creation (Heb. 4:9–10). Giving thanks to God, we return to our workweek refreshed and thankful for what God has done for us in Christ.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Just by worshiping and resting on Sunday instead of Saturday, we are acting out a picture of the Gospel! This is the kind of world God designed—a world full of His imagery, where all of His people can experience and see Him in everyday ways. It’s a world of beauty, rich in meaning, created by an Artist.</p>

<p>(HT: <a href="http://www.challies.com/a-la-carte/weekend-a-la-carte-september-10" target="_blank">Tim Challies</a>)</p>
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title: Why Believe the Holy Spirit Is a Person?
topic: Theology
author: Tim Barnett
date: 08/31/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/why-believe-the-holy-spirit-is-a-person-
content:
            <div> 
		<p>A week ago I had two friendly Jehovah’s Witnesses over for what turned out to be a two-hour conversation. You can read more about that experience <a href="/w/being-tactical-with-jehovah-s-witnesses" target="_blank">here</a>. One of the topics that my Witness guests kept coming back to was the Holy Spirit. Jehovah’s Witnesses do not believe that the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Godhead. Instead, they believe that the Holy Spirit is an impersonal active force.</p>

<p>In our conversation, they were adamant about talking about the Holy Spirit. They repeatedly told me that the Holy Spirit is <em>never</em> referred to as a distinct person. This led me to ask a question, what <em>attributes</em> would distinguish a person from an impersonal force? Or, to ask the question a different way, does the Holy Spirit have the <em>attributes</em> of personhood?</p>

<p>There are <em>three</em> primary characteristics of personhood: will, mind, and emotions. It should be obvious that a force, like gravity or electromagnetism, cannot possess these properties. However, the New Testament demonstrates that the Holy Spirit has a will, a mind, and emotions. For simplicity, I walked through one example of each with my guests.</p>

<p><strong>The Holy Spirit has a will.</strong> Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 12:11 that the Holy Spirit distributes spiritual gifts as He wills. Paul writes, “All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, <em>who apportions to each one individually as He wills</em>.”&nbsp;It is clear from the context that it is the Holy Spirit who <em>makes the decision</em> about what gift each respective Christian receives. An impersonal force does not have the ability to make decisions. This is an attribute of persons, not impersonal forces.</p>

<p><strong>The Holy Spirit has a mind.</strong> In Romans 8, Paul describes how the Holy Spirit intercedes (or prays) for believers. He says, “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And He who searches hearts knows <em>what is the mind of the Spirit</em>, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God”&nbsp;(Rom. 8:26-27). In verse 27, we are told that God the Father knows the mind of the Spirit. An impersonal force does not have a mind and, therefore, could not intercede for believers. This passage only makes sense if the Holy Spirit is a person.</p>

<p><strong>The Holy Spirit has emotions.</strong> Probably the most conclusive passage on this point is Ephesians 4:30. Paul states, “And <em>do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God</em>, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”&nbsp;How does one grieve an impersonal force? Grief is an emotion that is experienced by a person, not a force. Yet, Paul tells us explicitly that we cause the Holy Spirit to grieve when we commit sins.</p>

<p>After going through these three clear passages, I had one question. If the Holy Spirit has a will that decides (1 Cor. 12:11), a mind that thinks (Rom. 8:27), and emotions that feel (Eph. 4:30), how can anyone rationally claim the Holy Spirit is an impersonal force?</p>

<p>What happened next is very telling. Rather than deal with the argument that I presented, my Witness guests offered three challenges by way of response. In my next post, I will walk through their three responses that I received to this argument and how I responded.</p>

<p>If you want to learn more about witnessing to Jehovah’s Witnesses, read my Solid Ground article titled “<a href="/w/ready-for-the-knock-on-your-door" target="_blank">Ready for the Knock on Your Door</a>.”&nbsp;You may also want to <a href="http://store.str.org/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=DVD055" target="_blank">watch this video</a> on the same subject.</p>
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title: We’re Seeing a Clash of Worldviews, Not an Inevitable Force of Progress
topic: Philosophy
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 08/26/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/we-re-seeing-a-clash-of-worldviews-not-an-inevitable-force-of-progress
content:
            <div> 
		<p>In his <a href="https://mereorthodoxy.com/persistent-dishonesty-progressive-evangelicals-religious-liberty-debates/" target="_blank">analysis</a> of <a href="http://religionnews.com/2016/08/22/on-lgbt-equality-middle-ground-is-disappearing/" target="_blank">David Gushee’s recent article</a> exhorting Christians to not be “left behind”&nbsp;by all of the other American people and institutions on the issue of homosexuality and same-sex marriage, Jake Meador calls attention to (and argues against) the idea that this revolutionary change in our society is the result of some kind of inevitable force:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>To read Gushee is to be told that we aren’t seeing a fight between two fundamentally different visions of reality with competing claims about the nature of human beings, sexuality, and family life. We’re simply seeing a fight between the inevitable forces of progress objectively understood and those backwards people who would oppose it.</p>

<p>The trouble here is that this completely misrepresents what is <strong>actually</strong> happening. What we are witnessing is the triumph of one understanding of reality over another. As <a href="https://mereorthodoxy.com/francis-schaeffer-and-christian-intellectualism/" target="_blank">I noted last week</a>, market-enabled, government-backed individualism is ascendant; Christianity is in decline...</p>

<p>And here’s the thing: If we’re honest about the fact of the conflict playing out in front of us, we can be honest about the stakes of the debate, which are enormous: Either we are completely autonomous, self-defining human individuals and the government has an obligation to protect our right to self-definition <strong>or</strong> we enter into a world given to us in a certain condition, shaped by certain factors outside our control, and filled with norms, rules, and laws we are powerless to change and can only submit to. Gushee’s attempts to obscure this fact do nothing to change it...</p>

<p>The fact that a huge number of people, including Gushee and his friends, absolutely refuse to see this point doesn’t change the facts of the debate. We either have a right to define our own concept of existence—in which case we should just be done with Christianity altogether—or we do not. There can be no attempt to pretend that our current social revolution is simply the natural progression of history happily moving toward climax as those awful, backwards bigots die off in its wake. Such claims are not only dishonest; they are cowardly.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Meador explains how distorting the conflict in this way damages our society:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Here’s the truly awful thing about all this: This sort of framing makes both real debate and real pluralism impossible. If we recognize the radical nature of our dispute, we might also be able to recognize ways of living together peaceably in the midst of those differences. Consider the many examples of close friends who are fierce ideological opposites. But as long as we insist on this absurd idea that one side is simply going along with history and the other is bitterly clinging to their bigoted religious beliefs, there can be no understanding of the other. And where there is no understanding, there can be no functioning <em>polis</em>.</p>
</blockquote>

<p><a href="https://mereorthodoxy.com/persistent-dishonesty-progressive-evangelicals-religious-liberty-debates/" target="_blank">Meador’s whole piece</a> is worth reading. I’ve been pointing for a while to the fact that this societal conflict comes down to our opposing views on what it means to be human (see <a href="http://str.typepad.com/weblog/2014/04/its-about-the-difference-between-men-and-women.html" target="_blank">here</a>, <a href="http://str.typepad.com/weblog/2014/06/slate-dont-let-the-doctor-assign-a-gender-to-your-newborn.html" target="_blank">here</a>, and <a href="http://str.typepad.com/weblog/2014/04/sexual-expression-is-a-worldview-issue.html" target="_blank">here</a>). This is yet another reminder that, as Christians, we need to be rock solid on basic worldview issues. The existence of the Christian God, the Creator of reality, affects our understanding of <em>every aspect</em> of that reality, so think deeply and carefully about the implications of being created by and for our good God. Otherwise, our secular culture will be happy to do your thinking for you.</p>
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title: Discussing “17 Points of the True Church” with Mormons
topic: Other Worldviews
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 08/30/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/discussing-17-points-of-the-true-church-with-mormons
content:
            <div> 
		<p>If you’ve ever spent time speaking with a Mormon missionary before, you may have been handed a card listing the “<a href="http://www.mormonwiki.org/17_Points_of_the_True_Church.html" target="_blank">17 Points of the True Church</a>.”&nbsp;Here are the points many Mormons think ought to determine for us which church is the true one:</p>

<ol>
	<li>Christ organized the Church. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=eph%204:11-14&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">Eph 4:11-14</a>)</li>
	<li>The true church must bear the name of Jesus Christ. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=eph%205:23&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">Eph 5:23</a>)</li>
	<li>The true church must have a foundation of Apostles and Prophets. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=eph%202:19-20&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">Eph 2:19-20</a>)</li>
	<li>The true church must have the same organization as Christ’s Church. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=eph%204:11-14&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">Eph 4:11-14</a>)</li>
	<li>The true church must claim divine authority. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=heb%205:4-10&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">Heb 5:4-10</a>)</li>
	<li>The true church must have no paid ministry. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts%2020:33-34&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">Acts 20:33-34</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%2010:11-13&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">John 10:11-13</a>)</li>
	<li>The true church must baptize by immersion. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matt%203:13-16&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">Matt 3:13-16</a>)</li>
	<li>The true church must bestow the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts%208:14-17&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">Acts 8:14-17</a>)</li>
	<li>The true church must practice divine healing. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%203:14-15&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">Mark 3:14-15</a>)</li>
	<li>The true church must teach that God and Jesus are separate and distinct individuals. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%2017:11&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">John 17:11</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%2020:17&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">20:17</a>)</li>
	<li>The true church must teach that God and Jesus have bodies of flesh and bone. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=luke%2023:36-39&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">Luke 23:36-39</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts%201:9-11&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">Acts 1:9-11</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=heb%201:1-3&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">Heb 1:1-3</a>)</li>
	<li>The officers must be called by God. (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=heb+5%3A4&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">Heb 5:4</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=ex%2028:1&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">Ex 28:1</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=ex%2040:13-16&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">40:13-16</a>)</li>
	<li>The true church must claim revelation from God. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=amos%203:7&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">Amos 3:7</a>)</li>
	<li>The true church must be a missionary church. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matt%2028:19-20&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">Matt 28:19-20</a>)</li>
	<li>The true church must be a restored church. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts%203:19-20&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">Acts 3:19-20</a>)</li>
	<li>The true church must practice baptism for the dead. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20cor%2015:16-29&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">1Cor 15:16, 29</a>)</li>
	<li>“By their fruits ye shall know them.”&nbsp;(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matt%207:20&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">Matt 7:20</a>)</li>
</ol>

<p>To help people use this LDS list as a starting point for discussions, I created a second list of 17 points. Some of the points are direct responses to their numerical counterparts on the LDS list, and some bring in ideas not mentioned on the LDS list that are unique to Christianity and not shared by Mormons. Since each list includes aspects of the unique theology of its group, by going through their list and ours and examining the context of the verses cited, you can quickly move into deep and meaningful conversations with your LDS friends. (Download a card-sized version to print and cut out <a href="http://str.typepad.com/files/seventeen-points-3.docx">here</a>.)</p>

<ol>
	<li>The true church must base its doctrine on what the Bible teaches. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20tim%203:16-17&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">2 Tim 3:16-17</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20pet%201:21&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">2 Pet 1:21</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=ps%2012:6&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">Ps 12:6</a>)</li>
	<li>The true church must teach there is only one God. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=is%2043:10&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">Isa 43:10</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=is%2044:6&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">Isa 44:6</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=is%2044:8&amp;version=NIV" target="_blank">Isa 44:8</a>)</li>
	<li>The true church must teach that God has been God from all eternity. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=ps%2090:2&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">Ps 90:2</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mal%203:6&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">Mal 3:6</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=jas%201:17&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">Jas 1:17</a>)</li>
	<li>The true church must worship only one God (the LORD, Jehovah). (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=ex%2034:14&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">Ex 34:14</a>)</li>
	<li>The true church must teach that God does not have a physical body. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%204:24&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">John 4:24</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=luke%2024:39&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">Luke 24:39</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20kings%208:27&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">1 Kings 8:27</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%201:18&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">John 1:18</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20tim%201:17&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">1 Tim 1:17</a>)</li>
	<li>The church must teach that within the one being of God there are three Persons. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matt%203:16-17&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">Matt 3:16-17</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matt%2028:19-20&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">Matt 28:19-20</a>)</li>
	<li>The true church must teach that the eternal, fully divine person of Jesus took on a human nature when He came to Earth. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=phil%202:5-8&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">Phil 2:5-8</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%201:14&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">John 1:14</a>)</li>
	<li>The true church must worship Jesus. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matt%2028:9&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">Matt 28:9</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matt%202:11&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">Matt 2:11</a>)</li>
	<li>The true church teaches that the Gospel is: Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again on the third day. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20cor%2015:1-4&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">1 Cor 15:1-4</a>)</li>
	<li>The true church teaches that when you believe the Gospel, you receive the Holy Spirit, you are born again, and He makes you into a new creation. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts%2010:36-45&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">Acts 10:36-45</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%203:1-8&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">John 3:1-8</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20cor%205:17&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">2 Cor 5:17</a>)</li>
	<li>The true church teaches that a trusting belief in Christ is all one needs to be saved to eternal life with God. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts%2016:30-31&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">Acts 16:30-31</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%206:28-29&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">John 6:28-29</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20john%205:11-12&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">1 John 5:11-12</a>)</li>
	<li>The true church must not teach that eternal life with the Father can be reached only after doing certain works. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=eph%202:8-9&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">Eph 2:8-9</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=rom%2011:6&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">Rom 11:6</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=gal%203:2-3&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">Gal 3:2-3</a>)</li>
	<li>The true church must not make the issue of what we eat or drink a requirement of the Gospel. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%207:18-20&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">Mark 7:18-20</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=rom%2014:14-18&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">Rom 14:14-18</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=col%202:13-17&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">Col 2:13-17</a>)</li>
	<li>The true chruch must teach that we are forgiven of our sins when we confess them. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20john%201:9&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">1 John 1:9</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=heb%2010:10&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">Heb 10:10</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=heb%2010:14-18&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">14-18</a>)</li>
	<li>The LORD commands his people to financially support those devoted to ministry. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=num%2018:8-24&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">Num 18:8-24</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=luke%2010:2-7&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">Luke 10:2-7</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20cor%209:7-14&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">1 Cor 9:7-14</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20tim%205:17-18&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">1 Tim 5:17-18</a>)</li>
	<li>The true Church was established by Jesus, has never been overcome, but has existed on the earth throughout all generations since Jesus. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matt%2016:18&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">Matt 16:18</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=eph%203:21&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">Eph 3:21</a>)</li>
	<li>The true church must compare all new revelation with the Bible and reject whatever disagrees. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=deut%2013:1-3&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">Deut 13:1-3</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=gal%201:8&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">Gal 1:8</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=is%208:19-20&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">Isa 8:19-20</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20thes%205:21&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">1 Thes 5:21</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts%2017:11&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">Acts 17:11</a>)</li>
</ol>

<p>For more discussion of the LDS 17 points, see <a href="http://vintage.aomin.org/17Points.html" target="_blank">Alpha and Omega Ministries</a> and <a href="http://mrm.org/17-points" target="_blank">Mormonism Research Ministry</a>. See also these related articles on the differences between LDS and Christian doctrine:</p>

<ul>
	<li><a href="http://str.typepad.com/weblog/2007/09/lds-view-of-sal.html" target="_blank">LDS View of Atonement Clarified</a></li>
	<li><a href="http://str.typepad.com/weblog/2011/06/is-god-an-exalted-man.html" target="_blank">Is God an Exalted Man?</a></li>
	<li><a href="http://str.typepad.com/weblog/2008/01/lds-test-is-nec.html" target="_blank">LDS Test Is Necessary, Not Sufficient</a></li>
	<li><a href="/w/is-mormonism-just-another-christian-denomination-" target="_blank">Is Mormonism Just Another Christian Denomination?</a></li>
	<li><a href="http://str.typepad.com/weblog/2011/10/mormons-arent-christians-is-not-an-epithet.html" target="_blank">“Mormons Aren’t Christians”&nbsp;Is Not an Epithet</a></li>
</ul>
</div>

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title: Why We Need to Learn to Die
topic: History
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 08/18/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/why-we-need-to-learn-to-die
content:
            <div> 
		<p>Jesus <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+16%3A21-25&amp;version=NASB" target="_blank">said</a>, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.”&nbsp;In <em><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Look-Live-Behold-Soul-Thrilling-Sin-Destroying/dp/0764212516/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1471494282&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=look+and+live" target="_blank">Look and Live</a></em>, Matt Papa explains one reason why we need to learn to die:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>[B]eholding the Lord’s glory changes us to be more like Him. We become loving, joyful, peaceful.</p>

<p>But that’s not all...</p>

<p>Becoming like Jesus is not merely about gaining greater emotional stability. It is about learning to die. It is about sacrifice for the good of others. Suffering for the joy of others. In this, God’s glory will be seen.</p>

<p>We behold the glory of the Lord by thinking—by meditating on the gospel—but we also behold by <em>doing</em>. We see the glory of the Lord through giving, serving, sharing. All of these are a means of letting our eyes adjust...</p>

<p>Every time we inconvenience ourselves to achieve the happiness of someone else, we understand the love of God a little more. The cross comes into focus.</p>

<p>If you adopt a child, you are letting your eyes adjust to the glory of God’s Father-heart—His predestining you and adopting you into His family. You are seeing the cost He paid for your soul. How patient He was to wait for you. How helpless and alone you were and how gentle and kind He is.</p>

<p>If you choose to live overseas to do mission work, you are letting your eyes adjust to the glory of God’s willingness to come to our world, to make himself a stranger for your sake. You are understanding what it is to be misunderstood, to be persecuted for the sake of love and righteousness. You are beholding Glory...</p>

<p>If you befriend someone who doesn’t deserve your friendship, or perhaps someone who doesn���t have very many friends, what are you doing? Beholding Glory. You are seeing the glory of the One who loved His enemies enough to bleed for them.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>I wrote a <a href="http://str.typepad.com/weblog/2016/07/the-third-mission-to-the-west.html" target="_blank">post</a> a couple of weeks ago about how a life conformed to Jesus’&nbsp;humility and sacrificial love is a powerful testimony of His beauty to those who don’t know Him. Now we’re right back to that idea, with one thing added: Not only do the everyday opportunities you take to love people sacrificially show <em>other</em> people the glory of God, but they also reveal more of God’s glory to <em>you</em>.</p>

<p>In our culture, we’re constantly being pushed to think “bigger”&nbsp;regarding what we can do for the Kingdom, but I’m becoming more and more convicted of the need for all of us to think <em>smaller</em>. It’s the small act of sacrifice right in front of you today that will reveal to someone the beauty of Christ. Don’t let the opportunity pass you by.</p>
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title: Sometimes We Suffer Like Lazarus, Not Job
topic: Christian Living
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 09/02/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/sometimes-we-suffer-like-lazarus-not-job
content:
            <div> 
		<p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Seeking-Allah-Finding-Jesus-Christianity/dp/0310527236/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1472671683&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=seeking+allah" target="_blank">Author</a> and apologist Nabeel Qureshi asked for our prayers when he <a href="https://www.facebook.com/NabeelQureshi.org/posts/1237220232965468" target="_blank">announced</a> this week that he has advanced stomach cancer. This is difficult news. Soon after I heard, I came across “<a href="http://credohouse.org/blog/waiting-to-die" target="_blank">Waiting to Die</a>,” a deeply honest post written by Michael Patton of Credo House when it seemed his own death was imminent, reminding us that sometimes we suffer like Lazarus (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+16%3A19-31&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">the one in Jesus’ parable</a>), not Job, without restoration or any humanly discernible good resulting. As he says, “God sometimes does kill us.”</p>

<blockquote>
<p>So many times we see our suffering through the lens of Job and not Lazarus. Job lost everything but eventually got it all back, and more. We think to ourselves that what God has taken he will restore or use it mightily for his kingdom. We have seen it a thousand times. God turns so much water into wine. He takes our lives of anguish and uses it to lift others up (2 Cor. 1:4). I don’t know how many times that I have turned to the suffering of Job to be encouraged. David’s time in the mire of doubt, lifts me out of the mire. John the Baptist asking if Jesus was <em>really</em> the Christ lets me know I am not alone. I have always gravitated toward other Christians who spoke about their dark side with openness. It brings purpose to their pain. That is the Job story. It is very real. God does often bring us through trials so that we can, once restored, display the fortitude and resilience of our faith to others.</p>

<p>However, there is also pitiful Lazarus. He was thrown at the gate of the rich man (probably because his friends did not know what else to do with him), begging for food, and watching as the dogs lick his sores. In the eyes of the Jewish people of the day, he was one who God had abandoned. He was never healed. He was not restored. We find nothing in the story about him using his pain to help others. He wrote no books about how to deal with suffering. He did not blog daily about how he was keeping the faith. He just died. He was waiting to die and then died. Alone, with the dogs licking his sores, he assumed room temperature. And most shocking of all, his name (a rhetorical device in the parable) means “God helps.” The rich man (at whose gate he was thrown) had everything: money, honor, and respect. And he was even a splendidly happy guy. He was the one everyone thought God was helping, but he remains unnamed (another rhetorical device). “God helps” died at the gate without ever preaching one sermon….</p>

<p>[S]ometimes we do suffer, endure, go through trials and then we simply die. This does not mean our suffering was gratuitous in any way. God holds closely his secret council in which he allows for pain and kills <em>for his sake</em> his children. We don’t have to know the reason why. We just keep the faith.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>We keep the faith because of the cross. <a href="http://str.typepad.com/weblog/2016/05/the-gospels-answer-to-the-problem-of-evil.html" target="_blank">On the cross</a>, God showed His great love for us—the Father by giving His son, the Son by sacrificing His life and suffering the Father’s wrath, the Spirit by graciously applying this work to us, turning God’s undeserving, rebellious enemies into His children. God showed His wisdom and sovereignty by bringing history to that intended point. He showed His power by raising Jesus from the dead.</p>

<p>He had a purpose for the evil Jesus suffered at the hands of men. He has <a href="http://str.typepad.com/weblog/2015/08/dont-trust-god-to-protect-you-from-pain.html" target="_blank">a purpose for all that you suffer</a>, even if, like Lazarus, you suffer and then die without restoration in this life, without understanding why.</p>

<p>We keep the faith through suffering because of all that God revealed of Himself on the cross. Look to the cross.</p>
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title: Three Things You Need to Reach Muslims
topic: Other Worldviews
author: Alan Shlemon
date: 09/09/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/three-things-you-need-to-reach-muslims
content:
            <div> 
		<p>Some people think that since I’m an apologist, I always lead with an apologetic point when talking to a person who doesn’t share my faith. That’s not true. I don’t believe apologetics is an end in itself. Rather, it’s a means to an end. The end is the Gospel and that’s the first thing I present to someone when I share my faith. Sometimes, though, people don’t accept the Gospel for various reasons. Only when they reject it do I try to discover the reason or cause. I start asking questions to try to find out, as Francis Schaeffer said, “what is troubling their heart and mind.”</p>

<p>When I talk to Muslims, then, I don’t begin by presenting apologetic arguments, reasons, or defenses. Instead, I try to clearly communicate God’s message. That’s why I often say you only need three things to reach Muslims: the Bible (the message of God), the Holy Spirit (the power of God), and a meaningful relationship (requiring you to be the ambassador of God).</p>

<ol>
	<li>You need the Bible to reach Muslims. I don’t mean you need an actual Bible in hand. I’m simply saying you need to present the Gospel of Jesus Christ that’s found in Scripture. Sure, having a Bible on hand is great, but the key is to clearly explain the pardon that God offers to all people for committing crimes against Him.</li>
	<li>You need the Holy Spirit to reach Muslims. We are in a spiritual battle (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+cor+10%3A3-5&amp;version=NASB" target="_blank">2 Corinthians 10:3-5</a>), and no one comes to faith in Jesus apart from the work of the Holy Spirit. That’s why prayer is essential before, during, and after talking with non-Christians.</li>
	<li>You need a meaningful relationship to reach Muslims. Certainly Muslims can come to Christ without a relationship with a believer (and they do quite often, in fact). God can bring people into His kingdom in all kinds of ways. Relationships, though, are the bridge by which we can show love, communicate the truth, and share the Gospel. Muslims are typically very relational people, and your ability to have an influence in the life of a Muslim will likely be a function of your relationship with them.</li>
</ol>

<p>God typically uses an ambassador of Christ—you—to bring people to Himself. It’s not only your <em>identity</em> to be His representative, but it’s also your <em>mission</em> to proclaim His message of reconciliation (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+cor+5%3A18-20&amp;version=NASB" target="_blank">2 Corinthians 5:18-20</a>). That means any believer who knows the Gospel can be used by God to bring Muslims to the Truth.</p>
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title: Three Common Objections to the Personhood of the Holy Spirit
topic: Theology
author: Tim Barnett
date: 09/01/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/three-common-objections-to-the-personhood-of-the-holy-spirit
content:
            <div> 
		<p>In my <a href="http://str.typepad.com/weblog/2016/08/why-believe-the-holy-spirit-is-a-person.html" target="_blank">last post</a>, I outlined a straightforward and concise argument for why Christians believe the Holy Spirit is a person. Namely, I demonstrated from Scripture that the Holy Spirit has a will, a mind, and emotions. Since these are the attributes of persons, not impersonal forces, it is better to understand the Holy Spirit as a person.</p>

<p>Let’s now turn to the three objections that were offered to me in response to my case.</p>

<p><strong>The Holy Spirit language is a personification.</strong> My Witness guests did not attempt to <em>deal</em> with the specific texts that I presented; rather, they <em>dismissed</em> these verses as personifications. A <em>personification</em> is when personal qualities are attributed to something impersonal. They admitted that some passages <em>appear</em> to portray the Holy Spirit as a person, but said this is merely a literary device.</p>

<p>There are many problems with this response. First, it is a blanket assertion that <em>ignores</em> the specific context of the personhood passages. This response does not even attempt to honestly exegete each passage.</p>

<p>Second, it <em>assumes</em> what needs to be proved. When a Jehovah’s Witness comes to a straightforward personhood passage (e.g. <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+cor+12%3A11&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">1 Cor. 12:11</a>; <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=rom+8%3A27&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">Rom. 8:27</a>; and <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=eph+4%3A30&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">Eph. 4:30</a>), they assert that it must be a personification. But how do they know it’s a personification? Because they have already <em>assumed</em> the Holy Spirit is an impersonal force. This is reasoning in a circle. Jehovah’s Witnesses need to show that the Holy Spirit is an impersonal force <em>before</em> they can even begin talking about supposed personifications. But this is exactly what they cannot do.</p>

<p>Third, there are many instances that cannot be explained away by a personification. For example, what does it mean to grieve (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=eph+4%3A30&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">Eph. 4:30</a>), or to blaspheme (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matt+12%3A32&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">Matt. 12:32</a>), or to lie to (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts+5%3A3&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">Acts 5:3</a>), a personified impersonal force? In addition, the Holy Spirit speaks to individuals at historical events. For example, in a meeting at the church at Antioch, the Holy Spirit says, “Set apart for <em>me</em> Barnabas and Saul for the work to which <em>I</em> have called them”&nbsp;(<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts+13%3A2&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">Acts 13:2</a>). This is the Holy Spirit using person pronouns of Himself. It appears the Spirit thought Himself to be a person, not a personification.</p>

<p><strong>The Holy Spirit lacks a name.</strong> My Witness guests were adamant that if the Holy Spirit is a person, then He would have a name. They stated, “Since no name is mentioned, the Holy Spirit is not a person.”</p>

<p>This is a deeply fallacious argument. Just because the Holy Spirit is not given a personal name in the New Testament, that does not mean He isn’t a person. Spiritual beings are not usually named in the Bible, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t persons. For example, at the beginning of Jesus’&nbsp;earthly ministry, Jesus heals a man with an unclean spirit (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=luke+4%3A31-36&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">Luke 4:31-36</a>). Notice that this demon is both unnamed <em>and</em> a person. Furthermore, spirits are routinely identified by a particular characteristic. This was an <em>unclean</em> spirit.</p>

<p>In the same way, the Holy Spirit is identified by His chief characteristic: <em>holiness</em>. If the Holy Spirit can’t be a person because we don’t know His personal name, then all the angels and demons in the Bible who are unnamed can’t be persons either.</p>

<p><strong>The Holy Spirit fills people</strong>. My Witness guests offered one last argument. If people are filled with the Holy Spirit, then the Holy Spirit cannot be a person. “How can one person be filled with another person?”&nbsp;they asked. “It makes more sense to be filled with an impersonal force.”</p>

<p>Again, this argument is demonstrably false. As already discussed, undisputed spiritual persons, like unclean spirits, have the ability to enter into human persons. This doesn’t disqualify them as persons, so why would it disqualify the Holy Spirit?</p>

<p>Moreover, our personal God is said to fill things. If God’s presence can fill the temple (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+chron+5%3A14&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">2 Chron. 5:14</a>), or fill the whole earth (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=num+14%3A21&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">Num. 14:21</a>), then why is it so hard to believe that the Holy Spirit could fill believers? In fact, Paul calls our bodies the “the temple of the Holy Spirit”&nbsp;(<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+cor+6%3A19&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">1 Cor. 6:19</a>).</p>

<p>These responses were very instructive. Rather than address explicit texts raised against their view, the Jehovah’s Witnesses I spoke to relied on circular reasoning and demonstrably false argumentation. The Watchtower position that the Holy Spirit is an impersonal force simply cannot be supported by the testimony of Scripture.</p>
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title: Transgender: Truth and Compassion
topic: Sexuality and Gender
author: Alan Shlemon
date: 08/24/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/transgender-truth-and-compassion
content:
            <div> 
		<p>Imagine a woman telling you, “I’m transgender. Please call me Michael.”&nbsp;It’s obvious she’s female, but she’s asking you to call her by a man’s name. What do you do?</p>

<p>Many people today reject the notion that gender is a fixed trait based on biology. Rather, they believe gender is a flexible trait based on society. As feminist and social theorist Simone de Beauvoir wrote, “One is not born, but rather becomes, woman.”<sup id="fnref:1"><a href="#fn:1">1</a></sup> Anatomy, therefore, is not destiny. One can choose what gender one wants to be.</p>

<p>Though this sounds counterintuitive, the culture is buying it. They are sympathetic to the plight of transgender people. They believe “Michael”&nbsp;is a man trapped in a woman’s body and they’re willing to accommodate the transgender perception.</p>

<p>Recently, a woman complained to the management of a fitness gym after she was startled to see a man in the women’s locker room. The public relations department responded by saying, “Guests may use all gym facilities based on their sincere self-reported gender identity.”<sup id="fnref:2"><a href="#fn:2">2</a></sup> In other words, if you’re a man but believe you’re a woman, you can use the women’s locker room. Concerned by the gym’s policy, the woman warned other women at the gym about the transgender person. Management asked her to stop. When she refused, the gym cancelled her membership.</p>

<p>It’s not surprising, then, that <em>Time Magazine</em> called transgender the next civil rights movement.<sup id="fnref:3"><a href="#fn:3">3</a></sup> They predict a cultural shift as significant as that toward African-Americans and (though not parallel) homosexuals.</p>

<p>Christians, then, face another great challenge. The culture thinks they’re backward-thinking on moral issues, bigoted about homosexuality, and probably biased against transgender people. How do we respond?</p>

<p>We need to move forward with truth and grace, the way Jesus did. This requires becoming a new kind of apologist. We can’t simply quote what Scripture says because most of our culture rejects biblical authority. Instead, science is king in today’s world. Apologists need to be savvy enough to know the truth revealed in Scripture (special revelation) <em>and</em> in science (general revelation). Both sources of knowledge come from God and, as a result, conform to each other.</p>

<p>As you learn the truth about transgender people from both Scripture and science, it will help you have compassion for them. Jesus knew that those around Him were lost and hurting. That’s what led Him to act with kindness and good will towards them.</p>

<p>Following in the footsteps of Christ, the new kind of apologist integrates both truth and compassion in his response. Knowing truth requires knowing what Scripture says, what science says, and understanding the experience of transgender people. If we are steeped in this truth, it will change the way we feel about transgender people and it will change the way we treat them.</p>

<h2>Know the Truth</h2>

<p>Although Scripture is largely silent about transgender, it does speak directly to the broader question of the created order, gender, and sexual behavior. It turns out we have a biblical grounding for the gender roles we intuitively know to be true.</p>

<p>In the beginning, God followed a pattern of creating and separating. He created the universe and separated the heavens from the earth. He created the light and separated it from the night. He created the waters and separated it from the ground. He created creatures and separated humans from animals.</p>

<p>When God made humanity, He made two sexes: male and female. Though separate, they come together to create something more whole than by themselves. That’s why God ordained a man to leave his parents and join his wife in a one-flesh union (Gen. 2:24). By following the gender role that correlates with your biological sex, a man and a woman can begin a family, the fundamental unit of society.</p>

<p>There’s no scriptural indication that a person’s perceived gender should differ from his biological sex. <em>Anatomy is intended to denote gender identity.</em></p>

<p>Though gender complementarity is explicitly taught in Scripture, it is also evident from science. Even a non-Christian is hard-pressed to deny the obvious anatomical and physiological reality. Men and women are, by virtue of their anatomy, physiological complements to one another. The male and female sex organs not only fit together, they <em>function</em> together. Their shape, size, fluids, tissue type—everything about their anatomy and physiology—tells us they are made to work together. Simply put, men and women are fashioned by God for each other.</p>

<p>What evidence do we have that humans are made for heterosexual sex? When a couple engages in a conjugal act, they <em>can create another human being</em>. In fact, the sex organ is the only body part that <em>requires another human being of the opposite sex</em> to fulfill its ultimate function. Sperm and egg never actualize their full potential until they unite. The only way that’s possible is through male-female sex. Biology and gender identity go together. Male-female complementarity is the only way humans can achieve their reproductive purpose.</p>

<h2>What Is Transgender?</h2>

<p>In order to understand the transgender person, it’s critical to understand the relationship between biology and gender identity. Your biological sex is a <em>physical</em> trait that’s determined at conception. Gender identity is a <em>nonphysical</em> trait that develops from birth through young adulthood. It’s the part of your personality that contains your beliefs about whether you are male or female. A person has both a conscious and subconscious gender identity.</p>

<p>In most cases, your gender identity follows your biological sex. A boy usually develops a conscious and a subconscious male gender identity. A girl usually develops a female gender identity. When gender identity matches biology, this results in heterosexuality.</p>

<p>It is possible, though, for a person to develop a gender identity that is different from his or her biological sex. Male homosexuals have a <em>conscious</em> gender identity that’s male, but most (though not all) have a <em>subconscious</em> gender identity that’s female.</p>

<p>A transgender man has a female subconscious gender identity too, similar to a homosexual, but also <em>consciously</em> thinks of himself as female. That’s why (unlike a homosexual man) he might say he feels like a woman trapped in a man’s body. The converse would be true with a female transgender person. The reality is more nuanced than this, but these charts summarize this concept.</p>

<p><img class="img-fluid" src="/documents/20123/0/genderidentitychart.png/d5bb8b0e-1457-22c5-aaee-8958e1a96210?t=1564763778347"></p>

<p>Transgender people feel like they are trapped inside a body that is the opposite of their perceived gender. As you can imagine, this leads to a tremendous amount of psychological and emotional distress. Many of them are also stigmatized by society. Sadly, 41 percent of transgender people attempt suicide (compared to 1.6 percent of the general population).<sup id="fnref:4"><a href="#fn:4">4</a></sup></p>

<p>They are deeply hurting inside. That’s why many of them attempt to change their bodies with hormones, drugs, and sex-change surgery. Instead of working to change their gender identity to match their biology, they want to change their biology to match their gender identity. An obvious concern with the latter approach is that while it’s not possible to mistake your biological sex, it is possible to mistake your perceived gender.</p>

<p>The notable exception is someone who is born intersex (formerly called hermaphrodite). They have malformed or sexually ambiguous genitals, and it’s not immediately clear whether they are male or female. Doctors encourage the parents to decide on a gender, with their counsel, but it’s possible the choice they make leads to gender confusion in later life.</p>

<p>For example, a genetically male child can be born with a severe phallic defect. The doctors surgically resect what’s left of the male sex organs and attempt to make his genitals look more female. The doctors and parents hope that by raising the child as a girl, the child will become one.</p>

<p>This approach assumes that gender is wholly a social construction. You can’t make a girl, though, by altering a boy’s body, infusing him with female hormones, and treating him like a girl. Genetically male children who are born intersex still have a Y chromosome that drives their development into a male child. They also lack ovaries and the accompanying female hormones.</p>

<p>One study followed boys who were “reassigned”&nbsp;as girls shortly after birth. Years later, they all engaged in male-typical behaviors including aggressiveness, rough-and-tumble play, and sexual arousal by females. Despite being surgically, socially, and legally reassigned as females, the fact is they were still boys. Most of them who learned later in life that they were genetically male wished to become men again.<sup id="fnref:5"><a href="#fn:5">5</a></sup> Why? <em>Because gender is not merely a social construct, but innately tied to one’s biological sex.</em></p>

<p>Transgender adults who get sex-change operations (transsexuals) fare no better. Although some will say they are content with their new gender, most still have the same emotional and psychological problems they had prior to surgery.<sup id="fnref:6"><a href="#fn:6">6</a></sup> Dr. Paul McHugh, former director of the department of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Hospital, candidly regrets his institution’s complicity with sex-change surgeries. He believes, as the field of medicine has known for a century, that being transgender is not a healthy state. “We psychiatrists...would do better to concentrate on trying to fix their minds and not their genitalia,”&nbsp;he writes. “We have wasted scientific and technical resources and damaged our professional credibility by collaborating with madness rather than trying to study, cure, and ultimately prevent it.”<sup id="fnref:7"><a href="#fn:7">7</a></sup></p>

<p>Though Dr. McHugh and others recognize the problem with transgender people is not with their bodies, but with their minds, many health professionals still don’t. According to modern medicine, it’s inaccurate (and politically incorrect) to say something is wrong with a transgender person. Therefore, their psychological problems are left untreated. They think sex reassignment surgery will solve their psychological problems, but they are mystified when their symptoms persist.</p>

<p>That’s why many transsexuals regret their surgeries.<sup id="fnref:8"><a href="#fn:8">8</a></sup> They have irreversibly changed their bodies, yet their psychological distress is not relieved. This is an indication that the transgender impulse and subsequent surgery are mistakes. That, however, doesn’t fit the cultural narrative that you <em>are</em> whatever gender you believe yourself to be. The LGBT community that once supported those who have transition surgery no longer accepts those who regret it. They vilify and intimidate transsexuals who speak out and warn others.<sup id="fnref:9"><a href="#fn:9">9</a></sup> So, whether the person becomes transsexual by surgically changing their sex, or does not have surgery and stays transgender, either way they still remain broken and hurt, longing for hope and healing.</p>

<p>As a result, many transgender people believe they will secure some comfort by behaving according to their perceived gender. To secure that end, our culture is now demanding we allow transgender people access to bathrooms, locker rooms, and changing rooms that correspond to their perceived gender identity. If a man identifies as a woman, for example, he should be allowed to use a women’s facility. Let me offer three quick thoughts about this idea.</p>

<p>First, every public policy should consider both its immediate and secondary effect. Allowing a biological male who perceives he’s female to use a women’s facility has the immediate effect of providing satisfaction to a transgender individual. The problem, though, is the secondary effect, which allows men with malicious intent to exploit this policy. They can disrobe in the presence of women and girls who are also disrobing or simply gain access to locations where females undress. In other words, this policy jeopardizes the safety of women and children. We should find a solution that considers everyone’s best interest, not just a minority’s.</p>

<p>Second, we need to lower our expectations, but not our standards. We shouldn’t be surprised when the world denies common-sense notions like the belief that men shouldn’t be allowed in women’s facilities. People are blind to the truth and are driven by politically correct ideologies. If we expect or hope that secular culture will make sound decisions, we’ll often be disappointed.</p>

<p>Although lowering our expectations can prepare us for this fallen world, we should not lower our standards. Never compromise biblical truth to go along with cultural trends. The Bible is clear that God created man and woman and made them to be sexual complements to each other. No matter the pressure to deny this simple truth, we should remain faithful to what God says.</p>

<p>Third, do what is necessary to protect yourself and your family. If you feel unsafe about using a bathroom or changing room, then avoid it. Use good judgment and common sense. Don’t be pressured into making an unwise decision in order to go along with the culture or accommodate the world’s values.</p>

<p>Remember, the enemies are the ideas of the world, not transgender people who need compassion.</p>

<h2>Treat Them with Compassion</h2>

<p>The new kind of apologist who is aware of the transgender person’s brokenness finds that this knowledge changes the way he responds. He’s touched by compassion for transgender people, and his kindness towards them tempers his apologetic approach.<sup id="fnref:10"><a href="#fn:10">10</a></sup> If not, what he says will not matter or, worse, will come off callous and harsh.</p>

<p>The truth and compassion approach is the one Jesus, the perfect apologist, took. He understood people better than anyone else. His knowledge was perfect and, consequently, His compassion flowed freely.</p>

<p>The truth we’ve learned about transgender people is a sober reminder that we live in a fallen world. These people have been hurt. The culture has lied to them and medical professionals have been complicit in their gender-identity confusion. We need to speak truth to them, but it must be motivated by compassion. Here’s what we can do.</p>

<p>First, make your relationship with transgender people a top priority. It doesn’t have to be <em>the</em> top priority, but put it high on the list. Relationships are the bridge we use to communicate with each other, especially about things that are difficult to say. Your ability to speak the truth in love will be a function of your relationship with them. By knowing them personally, you’ll discover their unique situation. This should evoke the compassion so you can speak with precision and care. <em>Therefore, build your friendship first and make your arguments second.</em></p>

<p>If you’re not close to them, consider that you might not be the right person to speak frankly about their life. This chapter began with a hypothetical conversation with a transgender person, a woman whose gender identity is male. How would you respond if she asks you to call her Michael? The answer depends on your relationship with her. If you’re a friend or family member, then speak the truth with compassion. If she is a casual acquaintance or you just met, speaking truth will seem presumptive or out of place. It might be better to choose the language she prefers so you don’t come across mean-spirited.</p>

<p>Second, Christian family rules apply only to those inside the Christian family.<sup id="fnref:11"><a href="#fn:11">11</a></sup> It’s possible you have a transgender friend who claims to be Christian. Scripture calls them to live according to the commands of Christ. It also authorizes believers to oversee each other’s behavior to see if it lines up with the biblical standard (1 Cor. 5:12-13). That means your relationship with them should be similar to relationships with other Christians. You’re not making special rules for your transgender friend. You’re holding all people who identify as Christian to the same Christ-like standard. In this case, their pursuit of a transgender identity rejects their God-given identity. Your prayer and goal is to “restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness”&nbsp;(Gal. 6:1-2 nasb). You would expect them to do the same for you. That’s because Christian friends spur one another on toward godly living (Heb. 10:24).</p>

<p>On the other hand, if your transgender friend doesn’t claim to be a Christian, family rules don’t apply. We can’t expect non-Christians to live like Christians. Of course we want transgender people to recognize their perceived gender is not correct. We also want them to make safe choices. That means we should set proper expectations for ourselves about them. Even though we might ask someone to change how they live because we know their lives will be better in the long run, we have to realize they are not motivated to act according to God’s commands. If we want them to live like Christ, they need Christ to live in them first.</p>

<p>Third, focus on the Gospel. Though apologists can craft clever arguments in defense of their views, a wise Christian recognizes that apologetics is a means to an end and not an end in itself. My initial motivation with a nonbeliever is to present the Gospel of Jesus—an offer of pardon for their crimes against God. Only when they reject it or want clarification do I offer an apologetic response.</p>

<p>That’s the approach I take with everyone: a Muslim, an atheist, a homosexual, or a transgender. In most cases where a nonbeliever has changed how he lived, it was because he first committed his life to Christ. Then the Holy Spirit transformed him from the inside out. The Spirit changed his heart and his desires, and then changed his life. As the saying goes, God catches His fish first, and then He cleans them. We want our transgender friend or family member to turn to God first. Then, the other changes come more easily over time.</p>

<h2>Transformed</h2>

<p>Transgender people are beguiled by a false belief. They don’t think their biology determines their gender. The culture is complicit in this deception. Like the emperor’s new clothes, the truth is obvious, but few people are willing to point it out.</p>

<p>The challenge transgender people face is not with their bodies. That’s why a physical solution will not be able to resolve their problem. Their only hope for lasting satisfaction and peace is not by mutilating perfectly healthy bodies, but a transformation of their broken souls. Only the Great Physician can do that.</p>

<p>[This article is excerpted from <a href="http://store.str.org/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=BK409"><em>A New Kind of Apologist</em></a>, edited by Sean McDowell.]</p>

<aside class="footnotes">
<hr>
<ol>
	<li id="fn:1">Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex (New York: Vintage Books, 2011), 283.<a class="reversefootnote" href="#fnref:1">&nbsp;↩</a></li>
	<li id="fn:2">William Bigelow, “Planet Fitness Bans Woman for Protesting Man in Locker Room,”&nbsp;Breitbart, March 8, 2015, www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/03/08/planet-fitness-bans-woman-for-protesting-man-in-locker-room/. Accessed April 1, 2015.<a class="reversefootnote" href="#fnref:2">&nbsp;↩</a></li>
	<li id="fn:3">Katy Steinmetz, “The Transgender Tipping Point: America’s Next Civil Rights Frontier,”&nbsp;Time, June 9, 2014.<a class="reversefootnote" href="#fnref:3">&nbsp;↩</a></li>
	<li id="fn:4">Jaime Grant et al, Injustice at Every Turn: A Report of the National Transgender Discrimination Survey, Washington: National Center for Transgender Equality and National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, 2011.<a class="reversefootnote" href="#fnref:4">&nbsp;↩</a></li>
	<li id="fn:5">William G. Reiner and John P. Gearhart, “Discordant Sexual Identity in Some Genetic Males with Cloacal Exstrophy Assigned to Female Sex at Birth,”&nbsp;New England Journal of Medicine 350 (2004): 333-41.<a class="reversefootnote" href="#fnref:5">&nbsp;↩</a></li>
	<li id="fn:6">John Meyer and Donna Reter, “Sex Reassignment. Follow-up,”&nbsp;Archives of General Psychiatry 36 (1979): 1010-1015.<a class="reversefootnote" href="#fnref:6">&nbsp;↩</a></li>
	<li id="fn:7">Paul McHugh, “Surgical Sex,”&nbsp;First Things 147 (2004): 34-38.<a class="reversefootnote" href="#fnref:7">&nbsp;↩</a></li>
	<li id="fn:8">Stella Morabito, “Trouble in Transtopia: Murmurs of Sex Change Regret,”&nbsp;The Federalist, November 11, 2014, http://thefederalist.com/2014/11/11/trouble-in-transtopia-murmurs-of-sex-change-regret/. Accessed April 1, 2015.<a class="reversefootnote" href="#fnref:8">&nbsp;↩</a></li>
	<li id="fn:9">Ibid.<a class="reversefootnote" href="#fnref:9">&nbsp;↩</a></li>
	<li id="fn:10">I’m referring to the classical sense of an “argument,”&nbsp;a point of view with reasons to back it up. I don’t mean being argumentative.<a class="reversefootnote" href="#fnref:10">&nbsp;↩</a></li>
	<li id="fn:11">I owe this way of putting this principle to my pastor, Larry Osborne.<a class="reversefootnote" href="#fnref:11">&nbsp;↩</a></li>
</ol>
</aside>
</div>

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title: The Romans 12:2 Approach to Knowing God’s Will
topic: Theology
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 08/24/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/the-romans-12-2-approach-to-knowing-god-s-will
content:
            <div> 
		<p>The Kindle version of Garry Friesen’s <em><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Decision-Making-Will-God-Alternative-ebook/dp/B002RLBKEA/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1472064056&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=decision+making+and+the+will+of+god#nav-subnav" target="_blank">Decision Making and the Will of God</a></em> is only $1.99 today, and it’s worth getting. (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/digital/fiona/kcp-landing-page" target="_blank">You don’t need a Kindle</a> to read it.) It’s an in-depth biblical defense of the wisdom model for making decisions (as opposed to the model where we learn to hear special messages from God as to what we should do in any given situation).</p>

<p>John Piper describes this approach in his <a href="http://www.desiringgod.org/messages/what-is-the-will-of-god-and-how-do-we-know-it" target="_blank">sermon</a> on <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans+12%3A1-2&amp;version=NASB" target="_blank">Romans 12:1-2</a>, the passage that instructs us to “not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”</p>

<blockquote>
<p>If you want to know the future details of God’s will of decree, you don’t want a renewed mind, you want a crystal ball. This is not called transformation and obedience; it’s called divination, soothsaying...</p>

<p>The Bible does not tell you which person to marry, or which car to drive, or whether to own a home, where you take your vacation, what cell phone plan to buy, or which brand of orange juice to drink. Or a thousand other choices you must make.</p>

<p>What is necessary is that we have a renewed mind, that is so shaped and so governed by the revealed will of God in the Bible, that we see and assess all relevant factors with the mind of Christ, and discern what God is calling us to do. This is very different from constantly trying to hear God’s voice saying do this and do that. People who try to lead their lives by hearing voices are not in sync with <a href="http://biblia.com/bible/esv/Rom%2012.2" target="_blank">Romans 12:2</a>.</p>

<p>There is a world of difference between praying and laboring for a renewed mind that discerns how to apply God’s Word, on the one hand, and the habit of asking God to give you new revelation of what to do, on the other hand. Divination does not require transformation. God’s aim is a new mind, a new way of thinking and judging, not just new information. His aim is that we be transformed, sanctified, freed by the truth of his revealed Word (<a href="http://biblia.com/bible/esv/John%208.32" target="_blank">John 8:32</a>; <a href="http://biblia.com/bible/esv/John%2017.17" target="_blank">17:17</a>). So the second stage of God’s will of command is the discerning application of the Scriptures to new situations in life by means of a renewed mind.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>If you’re unfamiliar with this understanding of decision making, I recommend starting with Greg’s “Does God Whisper?”&nbsp;<a href="/w/does-god-whisper-part-1" target="_blank">Part 1</a>, <a href="/w/does-god-whisper-part-2" target="_blank">Part 2</a>, and <a href="/w/does-god-whisper-part-3" target="_blank">Part 3</a>.</p>
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title: New Report Examines Scientific Studies on Sexuality and Gender
topic: Science
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 08/27/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/new-report-examines-scientific-studies-on-sexuality-and-gender
content:
            <div> 
		<p>The journal <em>The New Atlantis</em> has <a href="http://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/executive-summary-sexuality-and-gender" target="_blank">published</a>&nbsp;“a careful summary and an up-to-date explanation of research—from the biological, psychological, and social sciences—related to sexual orientation and gender identity.”</p>

<p>From <a href="http://dailysignal.com/2016/08/22/almost-everything-the-media-tells-you-about-sexual-orientation-and-gender-identity-is-wrong/" target="_blank">Ryan Anderson</a>:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>A major new report, <a href="http://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/number-50-fall-2016" target="_blank">published today in the journal The New Atlantis</a>, challenges the leading narratives that the media has pushed regarding sexual orientation and gender identity.</p>

<p>Co-authored by two of the nation’s leading scholars on mental health and sexuality, the 143-page report discusses over 200 peer-reviewed studies in the biological, psychological, and social sciences, painstakingly documenting what scientific research shows <em>and does not show</em> about sexuality and gender.</p>

<p>The major takeaway, as the editor of the journal explains, is that “some of the most frequently heard claims about sexuality and gender are not supported by scientific evidence.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Read Anderson’s <a href="http://dailysignal.com/2016/08/22/almost-everything-the-media-tells-you-about-sexual-orientation-and-gender-identity-is-wrong/" target="_blank">summary</a> of four major conclusions of the study, or read the report’s executive summary (or the full report) <a href="http://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/executive-summary-sexuality-and-gender" target="_blank">here</a>. We will surely see pushback against this study. Watch to see if those arguing against it refute its analysis of the available evidence or merely attack its writers. Anything that falls into the first category should be carefully considered.</p>
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title: How Can I Know Which Bible Promises Apply to Me?
topic: Theology
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 09/10/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/how-can-i-know-which-bible-promises-apply-to-me-
content:
            <div> 
		<p>Because of two recent posts on wrongly applying biblical promises to ourselves (<a href="/w/does-jeremiah-29-11-apply-to-us-today-" target="_blank">Jeremiah 29:11</a> and <a href="/w/putting-words-in-god-s-mouth" target="_blank">Exodus 14:14</a>), we’ve been receiving questions about how to determine which promises <em>do</em> apply to us.</p>

<p>The most basic place to start is to look at what is said to New Covenant believers versus those who were under the specific terms of the Mosaic Covenant with its promised <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy+28&amp;version=NASB" target="_blank">blessings and curses</a>. If a <em>promise</em> was made as a term of the Mosaic Covenant (for example, that they would have good crops if they obeyed the Covenant’s commands), then that is <a href="/w/how-does-the-old-testament-law-apply-to-christians-today-" target="_blank">not part of our Covenant</a>. <em>However</em>, we can learn much about who God is from how He dealt with people in the Mosaic Covenant, and His character does not change. From His dealings with people in the Old Testament, we learn that He is just, that He is gracious, that He loves undeservedly, that He’s trustworthy and faithful to those He’s covenanted with, that He has their ultimate good in mind, that He’s working everything together for His plan to glorify Himself and redeem the world. God doesn’t change, so what we learn about Him in the Old Testament is still true of Him today. The only question is about how He promises to act <em>today</em> on those characteristics of love, grace, etc.</p>

<p>When we get to the New Covenant, we see these same characteristics of God play out in terms of the New Covenant. For example, “because of His great love with which He loved us,” and by His grace, we’re reconciled to God through Christ’s death on the cross and are made alive with Him; we are given the Holy Spirit as a secure pledge of God’s faithful covenant with us (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=eph+1-2&amp;version=NASB" target="_blank">Ephesians 1–2</a>). (All who are united to Christ are also heirs of the promises made by grace to Abraham—<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=galatians+3%3A15-29&amp;version=NASB" target="_blank">Galatians 3:15–29</a>.) The particular promises and commands of this Covenant may be different, but His character is the same. We know specifically that His love, grace, wisdom, and purpose are directed towards making His people like Christ (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans+8%3A28-29&amp;version=NASB" target="_blank">Romans 8:29</a>), and that <em><a href="/w/what-easter-says-to-those-who-are-suffering" target="_blank">everything</a></em> in our lives is working towards that end good (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans+8%3A28-29&amp;version=NASB" target="_blank">Romans 8:28</a>). It’s the trustworthy character of God that we cling to throughout this difficult life, regardless of whether He heals us or increases our “crops.”</p>

<p>So when reading the Old Testament, we look to see what we can learn about <em>God</em> in any given passage. Who is He? What is He like? How does He treat His people? In terms of promises, the biggest promise of the Bible is the promise of who God <em>is</em>. This is the promise we depend on. We find we have cancer? We trust the promise that God is good, that He’s sovereign over history, that He loves us, and that He seeks the good of His people. We can’t trust that He’ll heal us (that isn’t always the greatest good for us and for God’s kingdom), but we can trust that God is good and sovereign, and that <a href="/w/don-t-trust-god-to-protect-you-from-pain" target="_blank">our suffering has a purpose</a>.</p>

<p>Always look for what you can learn about God through His dealings with human beings throughout the Bible. When God makes promises about who He is, that always applies. When God promises to <em>give</em> something specific, look more closely at the context to see if He’s promising it in a unique situation (or under the terms of the Mosaic Covenant).</p>

<p>Here’s how I would apply that approach in the case of <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=jeremiah+29%3A1-14&amp;version=NASB" target="_blank">Jeremiah 29:11</a>. In Jeremiah 29:11, we learn that God cares for His people and doesn’t abandon them, and that He hasn’t abandoned them even if it seems everything has gone wrong in their lives. We see that His good purposes are still moving forward, even when everything looks grim. This, we can cling to, because it’s an understanding of God’s <em>character</em>, which doesn’t change. What we <em>can’t</em> cling to is the specific outworking of God’s character in that unique biblical situation. That is, in that particular situation, God’s goodness and wisdom decreed that He would bring back those who were exiled to Babylon, saying, “I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations.” But in a different situation, God’s goodness and wisdom <a href="/w/sometimes-we-suffer-like-lazarus-not-job" target="_blank">may decree something different</a>. John the Baptist was beheaded, not released from jail (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew+14%3A1-12&amp;version=NASB" target="_blank">Matthew 14:1–12</a>). Stephen was stoned, not saved (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts+7%3A54-60&amp;version=NASB" target="_blank">Acts 7:54–60</a>).</p>

<p>We can’t trust that things will work out the way we hope they will. However, throughout any and every situation, we trust in <em>God—</em>that He is loving, powerful, wise, and committed to the good of His people—and we trust His promise that everything is working towards the good of making us more like Christ. For these reasons, we take whatever comes our way, and we depend on Him <a href="/w/christians-you-will-suffer" target="_blank">when we go through suffering</a>.</p>

<p>If you’d like to learn more about how to read and interpret the Bible, <em><a href="http://store.str.org/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=BK141" target="_blank">How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth</a></em> and <em><a href="http://store.str.org/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=BK171" target="_blank">Playing with Fire: How the Bible Ignites Change in Your Soul</a></em> are great places to start.</p>
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title: Being Tactical with Jehovah’s Witnesses
topic: Other Worldviews
author: Tim Barnett
date: 08/22/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/being-tactical-with-jehovah-s-witnesses
content:
            <div> 
		<p>A couple of days ago, Robin and Jack were sitting on the sofa across from me. We all had our Bibles open and were intent on using Scripture to defend our respective theological positions. However, this was no ordinary Bible study. These were Jehovah’s Witnesses, and I was doing my best to articulate and defend classical Christianity.</p>

<p>At the end of our spirited two-hour conversation, I couldn’t help but feel a little frustrated. I wasn’t frustrated because they disagreed with me. I’m fine with disagreement. I wasn’t frustrated because they hadn’t converted to Christianity. I knew that was very unlikely.</p>

<p>What frustrated me was an illicit tactic that my Witness friends were employing throughout our conversation. Whenever I would raise a Bible passage that they couldn’t respond to, they would immediately jump to a different passage or a different subject. In logic, this is called the <em>red herring fallacy</em>. Specifically, this is when someone diverts the attention from the original argument. It’s a habit many critics of Christianity have in conversation, not just Jehovah’s Witnesses. You’ve probably had a similarly frustrating conversation trying to answer a question, only to have them hop to another question.</p>

<p>For example, my Witness guests began our conversation on the person and work of Jesus by claiming that Jesus is <em>never</em> called God in the Bible. I immediately asked them what they thought of Thomas calling Jesus, “My Lord and my God”&nbsp;(John 20:28).</p>

<p>What happened next is really significant. Rather than taking the time to look directly at Thomas’s confession, they launched into a rehearsed list of passages they believe teaches that Jesus cannot be God. What’s worse, they would simply read their chosen passages in rapid secession and then assume that they answered my original question. This was deeply frustrating.</p>

<p>And not only were they jumping from verse to verse, but this led to jumping from topic to topic. In the course of our discussion, they brought up the Holy Spirit as an active force, the pagan origins of the Trinity, the spiritual resurrection of Jesus, the archangel Michael, and Jesus as a created being. This may not sound like a big deal, but I had specifically invited them over to talk about the person of Jesus. And they knew that.</p>

<p>In our discussions with Jehovah’s Witnesses, we need to be tactical. That is, we need to anticipate their typical maneuvers to better guide the conversation. This will give us the best opportunity to be effective in making a lasting impact.</p>

<h2>Set the Terms</h2>

<p>It is better to pick one issue to focus on. It is very easy to spend your time bouncing around from verse to verse and from topic to topic <em>without</em> looking at any of them thoroughly. This approach works to their advantage since you can make the Bible say almost anything by pulling verses (and partial verses) out of context.</p>

<p>It’s important to <em>set the terms</em> of the discussion from the outset in order to stay on point. I had invited my Witness guests over to talk specifically about the person and work of Jesus. The problem is, they were not honoring those terms. Instead, they wanted to jump around to many different topics.</p>

<h2>Stay on Topic</h2>

<p>When my Witness guests moved to a <em>different</em> subject, it was my responsibility to remind them of the agreed upon terms. I’ll be honest, this can be a little awkward, but it’s absolutely necessary. Here’s what I said to them,</p>

<blockquote>
<p>I’d love to talk about some of these <em>other topics</em> with you, but we have much more to discuss on this issue before we move on. If you want to come back another time, we could talk about the Holy Spirit, or the nature of the resurrection, or anything else you would like. This will also give me time to research these other topics. However, since we already all agreed that we would be discussing the person and work of Jesus, I think we should stay on topic.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Unfortunately, I had to <em>repeatedly</em> ask them to stay on topic. They were determined to bring up these other issues, but be persistent. Don’t let them take the conversation to a new subject that you are not prepared to discuss.</p>

<h2>Slow Them Down</h2>

<p>Even if your guests stay on topic, they will likely still try to dodge passages that don’t fit the Watchtower doctrine. One way they do this is by piling on proof-texts that they think agree with their view.</p>

<p>Jehovah’s Witnesses are notorious for laying out an endless string of proof-texts without any concern for context. As long as the verse (or verse fragment) supports their theological position, they think they have proven their point. In fact, this happened numerous times during our discussion. Let me give you just one example. They asked me to read 1 Corinthians 11:3. It says, “But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, <em>and the head of Christ is God</em>.”&nbsp;(Emphasis added.)</p>

<p>Next they asked me what the word “head”&nbsp;means in this verse. Once I agreed that “head”&nbsp;means authority, they responded, “See, Jesus can’t be God because the Bible says He is inferior to God.”&nbsp;Of course, I had a response, but they weren’t interested in hearing it. Moreover, before I could offer a rejoinder, they were quoting 1 Corinthians 15:28 (“the Son Himself will also be subjected to Him”) and John 14:28 (“for the Father is greater than I”) to make the same point.</p>

<p>I believe each of these passages can be answered. My Witness guests mistakenly assumed that passages where the Son submits to the Father mean the Son is <em>inferior</em> to the Father. But difference <em>in roles</em> does not indicate inferiority <em>in nature</em>. In fact, this was Paul’s point in 1 Corinthians 11:3. The head of Christ is God <em>in the same way</em> the head of the wife is the husband. Although there is an authority structure between husbands and wives, they are still equal in nature. In the same way, the Son submits to the Father while sharing the same divine nature.</p>

<p>When verses start flying like this, it is imperative that you <em>slow your guests down</em>. Turn to them and say, “Let’s make sure we have thoroughly discussed each passage <em>before</em> moving on to another passage.”&nbsp;This will allow for a responsible handling of Scripture.</p>

<p>This encounter is typical of what many of you have probably experienced. You have probably left a conversation with Jehovah’s Witnesses and critics with other convictions feeling the same frustration I did. I have to admit that some of the frustration I felt was my own fault. I didn’t do a great job following my own advice. But I’ll do better next time. And my hope is that you will tactfully employ these principles in your own encounters with Jehovah’s Witnesses.</p>
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title: Putting Words in God’s Mouth
topic: Theology
author: Alan Shlemon
date: 09/01/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/putting-words-in-god-s-mouth
content:
            <div> 
		<p>Who taught you how to interpret the Bible? I bet I can guess your answer: no one. Chances are, you were never discipled by a mentor, never took a class on biblical interpretation, and never studied a book on the subject. Like many believers (including myself), you probably adopted your own approach to interpreting the Bible. It’s almost a matter of chance whether or not we develop a good system. When it comes to God’s Word, though, isn’t it critical we strive to correctly understand it?</p>

<p>Let me put it plainly: Every Christian has a system of biblical interpretation, whether we know it or not. The only question is whether that system <em>helps</em> or <em>hinders</em> our ability to understand what God is saying in His Word.</p>

<p>This issue came up last month when I was in Cairo, Egypt. I was training up-and-coming leaders in the Egyptian church in theology and apologetics. As is often the case when I teach on hermeneutics (the study of how to interpret the Bible), I got a lot of pushback. That’s a common response among all Christians, not just Egyptian believers. Christians are generally resistant to accepting new principles of biblical interpretation, especially when those principles affect a prior interpretation of a verse they’ve cherished for years.</p>

<p>I understand why that’s the case. The Bible is deeply personal to us. It can be hard and painful to be told we’re misinterpreting a passage that has been meaningful to us.</p>

<p>That’s exactly what happened while teaching my Egyptian brothers and sisters. I was offering a warning not to claim a promise from God when it’s directed exclusively to someone else. For example, we can’t claim the promise to Abraham and expect God to make <em>us</em>&nbsp;“into a great nation”&nbsp;and “bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you”&nbsp;(Gen. 12:2-3). That’s a promise only for Abraham.</p>

<p>A few of my Egyptian friends, suspicious that one of their interpretations was in jeopardy, asked me about a promise they’ve claimed. They turned to Exodus 14:14 and told me they hold on to this promise from God: “The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.”&nbsp;The church in Egypt, they explained, is often persecuted and Christians find it difficult to stand up for their faith against a dominant Muslim culture. Instead, many Egyptian believers find solace in the Exodus 14:14 promise that not only will God fight for them, but that they don’t need to do anything but be still.</p>

<p>I knew the next few minutes would be painful for everyone in that room. It would be painful to them because they were going to be told that verse is not a promise to them. It would be painful for me because I would feel like the bad guy taking away a deeply cherished interpretation they’d held on to for hope. Fidelity to the inspired words in Scripture, though, is more important than making people feel comfortable.</p>

<p>That’s when I told them the “bad”&nbsp;news: Exodus 14:14 is not a promise they or anyone today can claim. It’s exclusively a promise God made the Israelites during a very unique situation: God’s people are trapped. On one side is the Red Sea. On the other side are their former captors racing at them with chariots and weapons. Fearing for their lives, Moses assures the Israelites with the promise that God will fight for them and they need only to be still. God, of course, delivered on that promise that day by miraculously parting the Red Sea and drowning the army that threatened His people.</p>

<p>Displeased with my response, their protests began to mount. My Egyptian friends were not happy, and I was sympathetic to their frustration. Nothing I said helped to assuage their anger. Then, I remembered the key interpretive principle: Never read a Bible verse. I quickly scanned the verses before and after the alleged promise and immediately found a way to make my point clear.</p>

<p>I told my Egyptian friends that if they insist on claiming Exodus 14:14 as a promise from God to <em>them</em>, then I’m going to claim the verse before that, Exodus 14:13, as a promise from God to <em>me</em>. Then I read it out loud: “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. <em>The Egyptians you see today you will never see again</em>.”&nbsp;Immediately, they began to laugh. They realized that verse couldn’t be a promise to me because chances were good that I’d return to the Middle East and would see my Egyptian friends again. That’s not to mention that I’ve already returned once a year for six years and seen many of them over and over again.</p>

<p>Thankfully, several of them began to see my point. It’s one we all need to keep in mind. Always read a verse in context to avoid misunderstanding and, therefore, misapplying the Word of God. Could anything be more important than making sure our eagerness to apply Scripture doesn’t result in putting words in God’s mouth?</p>
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title: How to Stay a Christian in College
topic: Christian Living
author: Greg Koukl
date: 09/02/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/how-to-stay-a-christian-in-college
content:
            <div> 
		<p>Every year I try to offer a few words of advice for college-bound students—the kind of advice that I think could make a big difference in your spiritual survival. This is important for any student who takes Jesus seriously and is going into a hostile environment. If you are a genuine follower of Christ, you’re going to get pushback, and you need to be equipped for that.</p>

<p>Let me begin by making an observation about how people learn and believe that I think is important. There is a process called socialization where people are influenced, taught, and instructed by their community, often in very subtle ways. There are various layers of culture. If you’re a follower of Christ, you have your Christian culture, then you have your friends, and the school you might go to. There’s another layer—the general western American culture reflected in the media, movies, music, online, and other things like that.</p>

<p>There are a lot of layers of culture, but one of the hardest things, it turns out, is when churchgoers change groups and go to an environment where all of their theological and moral points of view are not supported by others around them. They are the odd person out, not only in their religious beliefs, but also in their moral behavior. When students have been raised in Christian homes, they may hold their Christian convictions for largely emotional reasons. I’m not putting that down, I’m just saying we are influenced subjectively by the opinions of others that we’re around. When we get into a new environment, the temptation is very, very strong to go with the new flow, and if someone doesn’t have very good reasons to stick with Jesus, they are going to hear what sound like very good reasons to switch allegiances. Plus, there is an immediate payoff in throwing off their moral restrictions. They can fit in socially. Let’s say, the other point of view starts looking very attractive.</p>

<p>Be aware of that dynamic because it’s powerful. If you are going off to college, or if you have children or grandchildren going off to college, be forewarned that social group wants to change your mind. They are evangelizing and discipling for their point of view, and really, against the Christian point of view. It is going to be very hard to resist the social pressure and the appeal if you are not fully convinced that Jesus is who He claimed to be and that the world is actually the way the Bible describes.</p>

<p>If all students have are Christian feelings because of the environment where they’ve grown up, they’re in for a rough ride. If you are going from a group that supported you to a group that does not support you, and worse than that, will directly oppose you and vilify you for the views that you have, call you names, and characterize you as intolerant and bigoted, then you’re vulnerable to walking away from Christianity. The rules are different than your youth group and family, and temptation can be overwhelming.</p>

<p>Here is what I want to suggest to you.</p>

<p>You’ve got our website—STR.org—and there are a whole lot of resources free for you—videos, blogs, articles, podcasts. Get recourses that will keep your Christian convictions in the midst of the onslaught. I’m not suggesting you have to be the number one evangelist wherever you happen to go. Right now, I’m just concerned with you surviving. I want you to make a difference for Christ. I want you to seize the opportunity when the opportunity presents itself. But mostly, I’m talking about surviving. You need to get the goods that will help you stand firm, and Stand to Reason is one of many places that provides that. I guarantee you that there are answers on our site or others to the questions your professors and classmates will challenge you with. You can call me any Tuesday during our live podcast and ask me what you don’t know how to answer.</p>

<p>Second, you have to be vigilant about prayer and Bible reading. I know it sounds so trite to say, “pray and read your Bible,”&nbsp;but that is what connects you to Jesus. You can’t survive without connecting with the bread and water of life regularly. Read thoughtfully. This is the book that tells you what reality is. You are going to be getting evangelists for another view of reality. They’re going to be pounding on you all day long, so you need to be constantly reminded what reality is. That is one of the vital things God’s Word does for us.</p>

<p>You’ve got to pray to keep a relationship with God. It is harder to sin against someone you are intimate with, so you must cultivate your spiritual life through prayer. Bible study and prayer attach your heart to the Lord and your mind to reality.</p>

<p>Third, you also need fellowship with accountability. You cannot stand alone against the social pressure. You may have to go out of your way to find other Christians of kindred spirit who love Jesus and want to stand for Him. You need to be part of that community. It might be a local church, a Christian organization like CRU, Ratio Christi, or Intervarsity, but you want to find people who understand the way the world is through Christ and can encourage you and hold you accountable.</p>

<p>To sum up, you need to know why you believe so that you can resist the challenges and enticements. You need to be intimately connected with God through prayer and Bible study so that your heart and mind are connected to Jesus. Your heart needs to be touched by God, and your mind must be informed by reality. Finally, you need to be connected with other Christians.</p>

<p>If you neglect these three things, it is going to be very hard for you to stay true to Christ in that environment. But follow this advice, and you can grow leaps and bounds in your relationship with Jesus and in your confidence in His reality.</p>
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title: First-Century Gospel Fragment?
topic: History
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 09/10/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/first-century-gospel-fragment-
content:
            <div> 
		<p>Exciting <a href="http://www.csntm.org/News/Archive/2012/2/10/EarliestManuscriptoftheNewTestamentDiscovered" target="_blank">news</a> from Daniel Wallace, the textual critic who founded <a href="http://csntm.org/" target="_blank">The Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts</a>:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>On 1 February 2012, I debated Bart Ehrman at UNC Chapel Hill on whether we have the wording of the original New Testament today…. I mentioned that seven New Testament papyri had recently been discovered—six of them probably from the second century and one of them probably from the first. These fragments will be published in about a year.</p>

<p>These fragments now increase our holdings as follows: we have as many as eighteen New Testament manuscripts from the second century and one from the first. Altogether, more than 43% of all New Testament verses are found in these manuscripts. But the most interesting thing is the first-century fragment.</p>

<p>It was dated by one of the world’s leading paleographers. He said he was ‘certain’ that it was from the first century. If this is true, it would be the oldest fragment of the New Testament known to exist. Up until now, no one has discovered any first-century manuscripts of the New Testament. The oldest manuscript of the New Testament has been P52, a small fragment from John’s Gospel, dated to the first half of the second century. It was discovered in 1934.</p>

<p>Not only this, but the first-century fragment is from Mark’s Gospel. Before the discovery of this fragment, the oldest manuscript that had Mark in it was P45, from the early third century (c. AD 200–250). This new fragment would predate that by 100 to 150 years….</p>

<p>[I]f this Mark fragment is confirmed as from the first century, what a thrill it will be to have a manuscript that is dated within the lifetime of many of the eyewitnesses to Jesus’ resurrection!</p>
</blockquote>

<p>To learn more about textual criticism and the reliability of the Bible, you can listen to this recent lecture by Daniel Wallace: "<a href="https://apologetics315.com/2012/01/is-what-we-have-now-what-they-wrote-then-audio-and-video-by-daniel-b-wallace/" target="_blank">Is What We Have Now What They Wrote Then?</a>"</p>
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title: Jesus Is Not an Egomaniac
topic: Theology
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 08/13/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/jesus-is-not-an-egomaniac
content:
            <div> 
		<p>Here’s <a href="http://www.desiringgod.org/messages/was-jesus-an-egomaniac" target="_blank">John Piper’s take</a> on the common objection that Jesus’&nbsp;demands for love and allegiance (such as, “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me”) are egomaniacal:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Premise #1: Love desires and works and is willing to suffer to enthrall the beloved with the fullest and longest happiness...</p>

<p>Premise #2: Being eternally enthralled with Jesus as the decisive revelation of God is the fullest and longest happiness in the universe...</p>

<p>Conclusion: Therefore, when Jesus tells us that we must love him—treasure him, be satisfied in him��above all others, he is loving us...</p>

<p>Here is the end of the matter: God is the one being in the universe for whom self-exaltation is not the act of a needy ego, but an act of infinite giving. The reason God seeks our supreme praise, or that Jesus seeks our supreme love, is not because he’s needy and won’t be fully God until he <em>gets</em> it, but because we are needy and won’t be fully happy until we <em>give</em> it.</p>

<p>This is not arrogance. This is grace.</p>

<p>This is not egomania. This is love.</p>

<p>And the very heart of the Christian gospel is that this is what Christ died to achieve—our full and everlasting enjoyment of the greatness of God.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Read or listen to the rest of <a href="http://www.desiringgod.org/messages/was-jesus-an-egomaniac" target="_blank">Piper’s message</a> (and for more on the objection that God is a selfish egomaniac, see <a href="http://str.typepad.com/weblog/2016/02/gods-glory-is-united-with-love-not-selfishness.html" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="http://str.typepad.com/weblog/2012/01/why-would-god-want-us-to-praise-him.html" target="_blank">here</a>).</p>

<p>It’s important to note that usually the person making this objection is imagining how he would react if a <em>fallen human being</em> spoke as Jesus did. Of course any fallen human being who demanded this kind of allegiance would repulse us! But such a person repulses us precisely <em>because</em> he is fallen and unworthy of what he’s demanding. To <em>begin</em> with the assumption that Jesus is a fallen human being who is unworthy of His demands, and then to use the resulting repulsion to prove that Jesus is a fallen human being, is to engage in circular reasoning.</p>

<p>If one wants to evaluate the character of the Jesus of the Bible (and thus, the morality of Christian theology), then one must evaluate <em>the Jesus of the Bible</em>. Because of this, the question to consider is not, <em>What would I think of a guy who demanded my love and obedience</em>? That scenario is simply not analogous to the Christian view of Jesus; therefore, it could never lead anyone to a proper conclusion on the morality <em>of the Christian view of Jesus</em>. If one wants to debate the propriety of <em>Christianity’s</em> Jesus demanding our love, the precise question to debate is, <em>If Jesus is God—our sovereign <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Colossians+1:15-17&amp;version=NASB" target="_blank">Creator</a>—and is morally perfect and blindingly good and loving, then is it wrong for Him to call us to love Him above all others?</em></p>
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title: Atheists Can’t Have Their Cake and Eat It Too
topic: Theology
author: Tim Barnett
date: 08/10/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/atheists-can-t-have-their-cake-and-eat-it-too
content:
            <div> 
		<p>The question of the so-called Canaanite “genocide”&nbsp;is a difficult one to answer. It’s difficult to answer for a few reasons. <em>First</em>, there is no sound bite response. In fact, I have a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYMh31hFfiE" target="_blank">50-minute talk</a> devoted to addressing this one subject, and still much more could be said. <em>Second</em>, any adequate response requires laying out the historical and theological context. However, many who raise the challenge are biblically illiterate and have no interest in even attempting to understand the context. <em>Third</em>, any rational response may not be emotionally satisfying. There is something deeply disturbing about these accounts, and the apologist can’t just wave a magic wand to make it go away. Even though a response may not be emotionally satisfying, that doesn’t mean it’s not a reasonable response to the challenge.</p>

<p>Rather than rehearse my response to this challenge, I want to make an observation about the challenge. Many atheists have cited the killing of the Canaanites in the Old Testament to charge God with being a genocidal monster. Christians have rightly pointed out that the conquest of the land of Canaan was an <em>act of judgment</em> on a very wicked society. In fact, the Canaanites engaged in idolatry, incest, temple prostitution, adultery, homosexuality, bestiality, child sacrifice, witchcraft, and sorcery (Lev. 18:20-30). For instance, the Canaanites worshiped the underworld god Molech. Molech was represented as an upright, bull-headed brass idol with a human body. The Canaanite people would heat the idol to hundreds of degrees and then place one of their children in its glowing hot arms. The child would burn to death. So this was judgment, not genocide.</p>

<p>Despite the horrors the Canaanites were committing, many atheists complain that God was immoral for stopping them. Yet, the most common challenge raised against the existence of God is the problem of evil. If God exists, why is there so much evil in the world? Why doesn’t God do something about the wickedness in the world? Why doesn’t God intervene?</p>

<p>At this point, there is an obvious inconsistency. They say, “God must not exist since He doesn’t intervene to stop wicked people.”&nbsp;But then when He does intervene in history to punish the wicked, they call Him a moral monster. The atheist cannot have it both ways. On the one hand, the atheist will complain about God because He is doesn’t intervene to stop evil in the world—the problem of evil. On the other hand, he complains about God because He intervenes to stop evil in the world—the killing of the Canaanites. I’m sorry, but you can’t have your cake and eat it too.</p>

<p>Here is a short clip where I walk through this observation.</p>

<div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9" data-embed-id="200cWb_mxn8" data-styles="{&quot;width&quot;:&quot;100%&quot;}" style="width:100%"><iframe allow="encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" class="embed-responsive-item" frameborder="0" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/200cWb_mxn8?rel=0"></iframe></div>

<p>You can see the entire talk <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYMh31hFfiE" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>
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title: Is Theistic Evolution a Contradiction in Terms?
topic: Science
author: Tim Barnett
date: 07/18/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/is-theistic-evolution-a-contradiction-in-terms-1
content:
            <div> 
		<p>On a recent episode of the Stand to Reason weekly podcast, a supporter of STR took issue with one of the ways Greg Koukl and I argue against theistic evolution. Specifically, the caller did not agree with our argument that some forms of theistic evolution are a contradiction in terms. What I’d like to do is <em>model</em> for you how I would respond.</p>

<h2>Don’t Be Offended by the Challenge</h2>

<p>Since coming onboard with STR, I’ve grown accustomed to being challenged by believers and unbelievers alike. My views are reaching a large group of people through the <a href="http://www.str.org" target="_blank">website</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/STRvideos" target="_blank">YouTube</a>, and <a href="https://twitter.com/timothybarnett" target="_blank">social media</a>, and, as a result, I’m hearing from people who disagree with me.</p>

<p>Most people don’t like having their beliefs challenged. The knee-jerk response when this happens is to put your guard up, stop listening, and start refuting. When our beliefs get challenged, we tend to get defensive, and this can lead to a damaging witness. The <em>manner</em> in which we respond is just as important as the details of the response itself.</p>

<p>In this case, the gracious and respectful brother in Christ wasn’t attacking me. He was attacking <em>my argument</em>. This is exactly what STR trains people to do. At Stand to Reason, we are committed to training you <em>how to think</em>, not just what to think. So I was encouraged to hear this gentleman critically thinking about and evaluating my argument. If my argument is bad, then I shouldn’t be using it. It is in that spirit that I can productively move forward.</p>

<h2>Listen to the Challenge</h2>

<p>We need to do our best to listen carefully to the specific challenge. It is only after we understand the challenge that we can begin to respond.</p>

<p>The caller began by describing the difference between a fruit tree and a family tree. In each case, the adjectives “fruit”&nbsp;and “family”&nbsp;are allowed to modify the word “tree.”&nbsp;The former is a biological tree with leaves and branches, while the latter is not. It would be wrong to assert that a family tree is a contradiction in terms simply because a “tree”&nbsp;has literal leaves and branches and a family does not.</p>

<p>In the same way, he argued “theistic”&nbsp;and “neo-Darwinian”&nbsp;both modify the word “evolution”&nbsp;in different ways. Therefore, we cannot impose a “neo-Darwinian”&nbsp;understanding of evolution onto the definition of “theistic”&nbsp;evolution. This would be akin to imposing a “fruit”&nbsp;understanding of tree onto the definition of “family”&nbsp;tree.</p>

<h2>Respond to the Challenge</h2>

<p>Once you understand the person’s view and his reasons for holding the view, it’s time to respond.</p>

<p>My logical argument against theistic evolution trades of the notion of evolution. Virtually every evolutionist, whether theistic or not, holds to the neo-Darwinian synthesis. This is the idea that “all organisms have descended from common ancestors solely through unguided, unintelligent, purposeless, material processes such as natural selection acting on random variations or mutations; that the mechanisms of natural selection, random variation and mutation, and perhaps other similarly naturalistic mechanisms, are completely sufficient to account for the appearance of design in living organisms.”<sup id="fnref:1"><a href="#fn:1">1</a></sup></p>

<p>Let me repeat: This understanding of evolution is shared by the leading evolutionary biologists themselves, <em>whether they believe in God or not</em>. Here’s a sample of what they say.</p>

<p>Evolutionary biologist and former Dominican priest, Francisco Ayala states,</p>

<blockquote>
<p>It was Darwin’s greatest accomplishment to show that the complex organization and functionality of living beings can be explained as the result of a natural process—natural selection—without any need to resort to a Creator or other external agent...The scientific account of these events does not necessitate recourse to a preordained plan, whether imprinted from the beginning or through successive interventions by an omniscient and almighty Designer. Biological evolution differs from a painting or an artifact in that it is not the outcome of preconceived design.<sup id="fnref:2"><a href="#fn:2">2</a></sup></p>
</blockquote>

<p>Evolutionary biologist and textbook author Kenneth Miller writes,</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Mankind’s appearance on this planet was not preordained, that we are here...as an afterthought, a minor detail, a happenstance in a history that might just as well have left us out.<sup id="fnref:3"><a href="#fn:3">3</a></sup></p>

<p>Evolution works without either plan or purpose...Evolution is random and undirected.<sup id="fnref:4"><a href="#fn:4">4</a></sup></p>
</blockquote>

<p>English naturalist Charles Darwin says,</p>

<blockquote>
<p>There seems to be no more design in the variability of organic beings, and in the action of natural selection, than in the course which the winds blow.<sup id="fnref:5"><a href="#fn:5">5</a></sup></p>
</blockquote>

<p>Evolutionary biologist and textbook author Douglas Futuyma writes,</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Some shrink from the conclusion that the human species was not designed, has no purpose, and is the product of mere mechanical mechanisms—but this seems to be the message of evolution.<sup id="fnref:6"><a href="#fn:6">6</a></sup></p>

<p>By coupling undirected, purposeless variation to the blind, uncaring process of natural selection, Darwin made theological or spiritual explanations of the life processes superfluous.<sup id="fnref:7"><a href="#fn:7">7</a></sup></p>
</blockquote>

<p>Evolutionary biologist Ernst Mayr says,</p>

<blockquote>
<p>The real core of Darwinism, however, is the theory of natural selection. This theory is so important for the Darwinian because it permits the explanation of adaptation, the “design”&nbsp;of the natural theologian, by natural means, instead of by divine intervention.<sup id="fnref:8"><a href="#fn:8">8</a></sup></p>
</blockquote>

<p>Many more citations could be added, but this should be enough to show that evolution, as understood by evolutionists, is an <em>unguided, unplanned, unintelligent</em> process.</p>

<p>Now that we have a sense of what evolutionists mean by neo-Darwinian evolution, I believe a logical problem develops for the theistic evolutionist. The theistic evolutionist wants to affirm that God is doing <em>something</em> in the process of evolution; otherwise it wouldn’t be <em>theistic</em> evolution. However, the way they describe evolution <em>precludes</em> there being any theistic involvement.</p>

<p>When I talk with theistic evolutionists, I have two essential questions. First, what do you mean by <em>evolution</em>? Most will want to affirm evolution as an undirected, natural process. Second, what do you mean by <em>theistic</em>? That is, how is God involved in the creative process? Most will want to affirm that God is involved in the process in some sense.</p>

<p>This is where things get murky. If evolution is the chosen creative process that God has ordained to bring about all of the diversity of life, including human beings, then it’s hard to see how evolution is not also a <em>planned</em> process under His guidance and direction. But if God is involved, it’s not <em>evolution</em> as understood by the evolutionists. When an <em>intelligent</em> Being is designing the outcome of evolution, you no longer have neo-Darwinian evolution. You have a form of <em>intelligent design</em>. This conclusion is unacceptable to most theistic evolutionists because it means the process is no longer random and unguided.</p>

<p>Conversely, if they believe that evolution is truly <em>unguided</em>, then it cannot be theistic in any meaningful way. Given their full acceptance of the neo-Darwinian synthesis, where does God fit into the creative process of evolution? The short answer is, He doesn’t. In fact, many of the leading proponents of theistic evolution have relegated God to originator of the universe and that’s it. But this says absolutely nothing about God’s relationship to the evolution of biological life to warrant calling it <em>theistic</em> evolution rather than <em>plain-old</em> evolution. Once again, theistic evolution becomes void of any real meaning.</p>

<p>The theistic evolutionist is left with <em>three</em> options. First, he can affirm that an intelligent Creator is involved in the process of evolution. This would allow him to believe that God is behind the scenes causing specific mutations or guiding natural selection to drive the evolutionary process in the direction He desires. This is a valid approach, but it <em>undermines</em> neo-Darwinian evolution. As a result, most theistic evolutionists reject this option.</p>

<p>Second, he can affirm that the Creator is not at all involved in the process of evolution. This would allow him to maintain the current scientific understanding of evolution. However, this relegates God to a <em>superfluous</em> afterthought within the process. On this view, there is nothing theistic about the evolutionary process.</p>

<p>Third, he may want to affirm that an intelligent Creator is involved in the unintelligent, unplanned, unguided evolutionary process. As much as a sincere believer might want to assert that God directed evolution, this option is not available. Logic will not permit it. God cannot do the logically impossible. He cannot make square circles or married bachelors; likewise, God cannot guide an unguided process.</p>

<p>Therefore, it’s the theistic evolutionists who impose a neo-Darwinian understanding on their concept of theistic evolution. It might be more descriptive (and accurate) to call them “theistic-neo-Darwinian evolutionists.”&nbsp;This would be akin to the “fruit-family tree”&nbsp;that the challenger began with. But this, indeed, is a contradiction in terms.</p>

<p>It’s encouraging to me to see thoughtful Christians carefully and critically engaging arguments, even if they are my arguments. This is precisely what we train Christians to do.</p>

<aside class="footnotes">
<hr>
<ol>
	<li id="fn:1">Stephen C. Meyer and Michael Newton Keas, “The Meanings of Evolution,”&nbsp;in <em>Darwinism, Design and Public Education,</em> ed. John Angus Campbell and Stephen C. Meyer (Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 2003), 136-137.<a class="reversefootnote" href="#fnref:1">&nbsp;↩</a></li>
	<li id="fn:2">Francisco J. Ayala, “Darwin’s Greatest Discovery: Design Without Designer,”&nbsp;<em>Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America</em> 104 (May 2007): 8567-8573.<a class="reversefootnote" href="#fnref:2">&nbsp;↩</a></li>
	<li id="fn:3">Kenneth R. Miller, <em>Finding Darwin’s God: A Scientist’s Search for Common Ground Between God and Evolution</em> (New York: Harper Perennial, 2007), 272.<a class="reversefootnote" href="#fnref:3">&nbsp;↩</a></li>
	<li id="fn:4">Kenneth R. Miller and Joseph S. Levine, <em>Biology,</em> 4th ed. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1998), 658.<a class="reversefootnote" href="#fnref:4">&nbsp;↩</a></li>
	<li id="fn:5">Charles Darwin, <em>The Autobiography of Charles Darwin and Selected Letters</em>, edited by F. Darwin (New York: Dover Publications, 1958), 63.<a class="reversefootnote" href="#fnref:5">&nbsp;↩</a></li>
	<li id="fn:6">Douglas J. Futuyma, <em>Science on Trial</em> (New York: Pantheon Books, 1982), 12-13.<a class="reversefootnote" href="#fnref:6">&nbsp;↩</a></li>
	<li id="fn:7">Douglas J. Futuyma, <em>Evolutionary Biology,</em> 3rd ed. (Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates, 1998), 5.<a class="reversefootnote" href="#fnref:7">&nbsp;↩</a></li>
	<li id="fn:8">Michael Ruse, <em>Darwinism Defended: A Guide to the Evolution Controversy,</em> with a foreword by Ernst Mayr (Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1982), xi-xii.<a class="reversefootnote" href="#fnref:8">&nbsp;↩</a></li>
</ol>
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title: Our Society Should Not Stifle Religious Dissent
topic: Christian Living
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 07/23/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/our-society-should-not-stifle-religious-dissent
content:
            <div> 
		<p>Andrew Walker <a href="http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2016/07/17351/" target="_blank">warns</a> of our society’s need for allowing religious dissent and the danger of denying religious liberty:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Protecting religious dissent is at the foundation of America’s history and constitutional legacy. As Madison and Adams argued, religion is prior to the claims of the state. It provides the grounding for democracy necessary for ordered liberty. And if religion is prior to the state, its importance looms larger than the state’s reach. This understanding wasn’t a secondary feature to America: it was, arguably, its distinguishing feature. Seen in this light, the Constitution didn’t bequeath religious liberty. Rather, religious liberty helped bequeath a penumbra of other rights that are enshrined in our Constitution.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Two of the reasons why undermining religious liberty undermines our society: 1) Constricting debate by disallowing dissenting voices “is the enemy of reason itself.”&nbsp;2) Removing the religious foundation of our society’s concept of human dignity and rights endangers everything that was built on that foundation:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Denying true religious liberty communicates that participation in civil society is conditioned exclusively by accepting contested categories for participation in communal life. This reality paves over the conscience by declaring some issues untouchable and beyond debate. Untouchable orthodoxies that are given official government sanction will treat any dissenting voice as an enemy to be vanquished. Secular progressivism isn’t only the enemy of religious liberty and civil society; it is the enemy of reason itself.</p>

<p>Religious liberty contributes to the diversity of civil society. By its very nature, civil society will be contested territory. Contested debate helps give rise to democratic order, and democratic governance relies on spirited debate. Societies, of which governments are but a reflection, consist of various voices, movements, and ideologies vying for acceptance. In the interest of advancing justice, prophetic difference and prophetic dissent are necessary ingredients if progress is to occur. Allowing citizens the freedom and space to appeal to transcendent duties forces reason to determine what is true or false. From our deepest understanding of truth, we order our lives accordingly, and our lives bear witness to whether our values benefit society. Signaling that Christians aren’t welcome in the public square undermines the public square by robbing it of the religious-ethical system responsible for fostering norms and values that protect individual rights and a humane public morality.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Read the rest of <a href="http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2016/07/17351/" target="_blank">Walker’s article</a>.</p>
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title: The Authority of the Scriptures
topic: Theology
author: Brett Kunkle
date: 08/02/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/the-authority-of-the-scriptures
content:
            <div> 
		<p>As the church continues to face cultural challenges from outside the church, we must strengthen our views of God’s Word within the church. Our culture is increasingly and brazenly running counter to the wisdom of the Word, and one of the church’s tasks is to help our people stand confidently and courageously in the face of such confrontations. Yes, make no mistake, we are in a war as the Apostle says in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+corinthians+10%3A3-5&amp;version=NASB" target="_blank">2 Corinthians 10:3-5</a>.</p>

<p>However, simple appeals to the authority of Scripture or mere assertions the Bible is God’s Word are inadequate for the church in this day and age. We must help our people, and especially our young people, understand WHY the Bible is authoritative. Thus, apologetic arguments for the reliability of the biblical text, the historicity of its claims, and its divine origins are vital. But some leaders in the church think such an approach is not the best way forward for the church. Instead they suggest we focus on the <em>role</em> of Scripture in our communities and <em>ground its authority in its ability to accomplish Kingdom work.</em></p>

<p>However, these activities are neither necessary nor sufficient to ground Scripture’s authority. Do the positive actions of the church confer authority on Scripture? No more than the positive actions of Hindus confer authority on the Bhagavad Gita or positive actions of Muslims confer authority on the Qur’an. Furthermore, if the efforts of the Christian church were wholly impotent in the renewal of men and the world, would the authority of Scripture be diminished? Absolutely not. In fact, this is an important theme in the Old Testament narrative. Israel’s history is fraught with accounts of the nation turning its back on God’s Word, yet the Word of the Lord remains. And this is precisely the prophet’s claim: “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever”&nbsp;(Isaiah 40:8).</p>

<p>Such attempts to ground the authority of Scripture in its functions fail to deal with the ontological status of Scripture itself. What something is is separate and distinct from what it does. Certainly God’s authority is displayed in His kingdom work through the church, but the functions of the church do not constitute that authority. Here is the central question we must ask: What is the status of Scripture as God’s Word? As Christians, we cannot ignore the rich reservoir of biblical passages that speak of the Bible itself. The self-testimony of Scripture and Jesus’&nbsp;view of Scripture shed clear light on the source of the Bible’s authority. Our understanding of Scripture can certainly be aided by the narratival character of Scripture and discussions on how it forms the body of Christ, but we cannot avoid the discussion of the authority of Scripture grounded in the nature of Scripture.</p>
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title: The Disciples Loved Jesus
topic: Theology
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 07/07/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/the-disciples-loved-jesus
content:
            <div> 
		<p>I’m reading <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john+13-14&amp;version=NASB" target="_blank">John 13-14</a> and thinking about the disciples’&nbsp;love for Jesus. For some reason, when I think of their following Jesus, I usually think only of their wanting a Messiah to save them and lead Israel, but that’s not the picture John paints here. At the end of John 13, after Jesus <a href="/w/how-can-you-use-your-knowledge-to-serve-others-" target="_blank">washes His disciples’&nbsp;feet</a> (a profound act of humility and servanthood for the God of the universe), Jesus tells the disciples He’s going away, and when they’re upset by this, Jesus gives them <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john+14%3A1-6&amp;version=NASB" target="_blank">these words</a> of comfort:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Do not let your heart be troubled: believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>The way Jesus chooses to address their distress over His leaving reveals the nature of their distress. His focus isn’t on assuring them that He’ll come back to save them (either as a nation or as individuals), or that they will still go to Paradise. Rather, He says He’ll come back <em>to bring them to Himself</em>. The emphasis is on <em>being with Jesus</em>. That was their concern. <em>He</em> was leaving, and that’s why they were upset. They wanted to be with Him because they loved Him, not because of what they hoped He would do for them.</p>

<p>Contemplating this really affects me. It personalizes their love for Jesus. It makes their following Him about their love for Him. It centers everything on Jesus as a Person. It moves Christianity away from a system of salvation and towards personal worship of a Person. As it should be.</p>
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title: Hearing from God and Hearing from God’s Word
topic: Theology
author: Brett Kunkle
date: 07/08/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/hearing-from-god-and-hearing-from-god-s-word
content:
            <div> 
		<p>I recently had a conversation with a man about hearing from God. He referenced Dallas Willard’s book, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Hearing-God-Developing-Conversational-Relationship/dp/0830835695/" target="_blank">Hearing God: Developing a Conversational Relationship With God</a>. I’ve benefited greatly from some of Willard’s teaching, but this is one of his books that causes me serious concern. It’s certainly a more thoughtful book on the topic, so if you’re interested in looking at all sides, definitely read it. But here is my primary objection: Willard’s biblical case for the <em>normative</em> discipline of hearing the voice of God is very weak. Now let me just make something very explicit. I certainly think people can experience hearing God’s voice. However, my concern is with the teaching that such experiences should be a regular, normal part of the Christian life, and that your walk with Christ is somehow defective if they are not. So let’s look at some of Willard’s biblical case for this.</p>

<p>First, Willard appeals to the “ministry of Eli,”&nbsp;referencing I Samuel 3:8-9, that he was offered by various Christian writers of the past, stating, “They helped me to identify and respond to experiences of God’s speaking, just as Eli helped Samuel in the biblical story”&nbsp;(p. 17). But this seems to be a misuse of the text. Here a few quick observations:</p>

<ul>
	<li>Willard assumes that Eli had developed the skill of hearing God and was able to teach others.</li>
	<li>A reading of the first four chapters of I Samuel indicate Eli may have not even been a believer and that Samuel “did not know God.”</li>
	<li>Eli does not even recognize the fact God is speaking to Samuel the first two times.</li>
	<li>Eli does not teach Samuel any skills of recognition, just how Samuel should respond.</li>
</ul>

<p>The biblical text simply does not support the idea that Eli was someone who had developed the skill of hearing God’s voice and was able to help others recognize it too.</p>

<p>Second, Willard offers the idea that the experiences of those in the Bible are not meant to be exceptional (p. 18); rather, we must assume they are the kinds of experiences we should expect today (p. 35). This seems to be a difficult position to justify, without further argument, in light of the historical context of those events and their unique place in the historical narrative of God’s plan to bless the peoples of the world. And does this apply to every single experience recorded in scripture? For example, given this line of reasoning, should I also expect God to regularly communicate to me through a donkey, like Balaam experienced (Numbers 22:21-29)? If not, why not? Just because the biblical narrative describes particular experiences with God, why should we assume they are prescribed for us today and should be a normative part of our Christian experience?</p>

<p>Third, Willard points to I Kings 19:11-12 to support the idea of God’s “still small voice.”&nbsp;However, this is the only reference in the entire Bible where you will find this phrase. If God’s “still small voice”&nbsp;is to play a central role in our daily walk with Him, wouldn’t you expect more than a single Old Testament passage? In addition, even biblical translators seem to be unclear on how to translate the Hebrew here. A check of different translations renders the King James version of “still small voice”&nbsp;very differently:</p>

<ul>
	<li>Revised Standard Version: “sound of sheer silence”</li>
	<li>New American Standard Version: “sound of gentle blowing”</li>
	<li>New International Version: “a gentle whisper”</li>
</ul>

<p>And again, I cannot see how this passage commends the discipline of hearing God in a normative sense.</p>

<p>This is a good reminder that we must always go back to the objective word of God to see how various ideas, whether they are related to spiritual formation, or philosophy, or any topic, comport with the Scriptures.</p>
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title: Yes, Christians Are Hypocrites, If by “Hypocrite” You Mean “Sinner”
topic: Theology
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 07/29/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/yes-christians-are-hypocrites-if-by-hypocrite-you-mean-sinner-
content:
            <div> 
		<p>Andy Bannister explains that, contrary to Christopher Hitchens’s claim, religion isn’t what poisons everything. The problem is much deeper, more pervasive, and far more personal.</p>

<div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9" data-embed-id="Aiv8LtKzhqw" data-styles="{&quot;width&quot;:&quot;100%&quot;}" style="width:100%"><iframe allow="encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" class="embed-responsive-item" frameborder="0" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Aiv8LtKzhqw?rel=0"></iframe></div>

<p>The problem is us. We poison everything. And, as it happens, that is precisely why we need Jesus. Far from <em>contradicting</em> Christianity, the existence of sin in the world (even in the church) confirms this central truth of Christianity. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”&nbsp;(Romans 3:23), and “if we say that we have no sin, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us”&nbsp;(1 John 1:10).</p>

<p>At root, the objection that “Christians are hypocrites”&nbsp;comes down to a fundamental misunderstanding of Christianity. It is widely believed (sadly, even by some who claim to be Christians) that Christianity is mainly about becoming a good person, and that being a good person is the way to heaven. This belief only glorifies the churchgoer, not God, for such a person is his only savior. It also <em>inevitably</em> leads to disillusionment and cynicism because it is false. No one is sinless, and anyone who expects otherwise of Christians will be let down sooner or later.</p>

<p>Christians, we openly recognize our sinfulness, so when someone accuses the church of housing sinners, that’s an opportunity to explain that our sin is the very reason why we <em>go</em> to church. We’re Christians <em>because</em> we know we sin. A Christian’s sin doesn’t contradict Christianity; it confirms it. It’s only <em>more</em> proof that we all need Jesus to take our sin and give us His righteousness. You can turn this objection on its head by explaining that Christianity is all about Jesus’&nbsp;work for us, not about our work to become good enough to eliminate our need for Him.</p>

<p>God saved us “to the praise of the glory of His <em><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=eph+1%3A3-6&amp;version=NASB" target="_blank">grace</a></em>,”&nbsp;not the praise of our own righteousness, so <a href="/w/free-to-say-we-ve-sinned" target="_blank">don’t hide your sin</a>. Be open about your failures and need for forgiveness, because that is how people will see and glorify Jesus’&nbsp;grace.</p>
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title: Pray to the God of Grace Today
topic: Theology
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 07/08/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/pray-to-the-god-of-grace-today
content:
            <div> 
		<p>Our country is in trouble today, this week, this year, and I’ve just realized that my prayers have been less like the God who runs in love to the prodigal son who treated Him with contempt, and more like the <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+15%3A11-32&amp;version=NASB" target="_blank">elder brother</a>. Assuming that we’re seeing our deserved judgment, I have prayed little and hoped less.</p>

<p>This is wrong.</p>

<p>Pray to the God who <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans+4%3A16-25&amp;version=NASB" target="_blank">calls into being</a> that which does not exist. Pray to the God who gives <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans+4%3A16-25&amp;version=NASB" target="_blank">life to the dead</a>. Pray to the God who, because of His glorious <em><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=ephesians+1%3A1-14&amp;version=NASB" target="_blank">grace</a></em>, gave His Son, who died willingly for us <em>while we were His <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans+5%3A6-11&amp;version=NASB" target="_blank">enemies</a>.</em> In repentance, pray to Him with hope for His grace. Pray to Him.</p>

<p>Our country deserves nothing but judgment. But oh, see His grace and love on the cross! And dare to pray to Him for what we don’t deserve.</p>
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title: How Can We Answer People Who Say We’re Intolerant?
topic: Tactics and Tools
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 07/09/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/how-can-we-answer-people-who-say-we-re-intolerant-
content:
            <div> 
		<p><a href="http://str.typepad.com/weblog/2016/06/when-you-denigrate-objective-truth-this-is-what-you-get.html" target="_blank">These days</a>, many people mistake insults for debate, and the insult “You’re intolerant!”&nbsp;can be enough to shut down a conversation. But it doesn’t have to! In this video from the <a href="http://www.oneminuteapologist.com/" target="_blank">One Minute Apologist</a>, Greg explains how you can ask some simple questions in order to get past this roadblock and move on to discussing substantive arguments. (For another helpful question to ask in order to prevent the intolerance accusation before it happens, see <a href="http://str.typepad.com/weblog/2015/10/how-to-diffuse-the-accusation-of-intolerance.html" target="_blank">here</a>.)</p>

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title: The Third Mission to the West
topic: Christian Living
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 07/27/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/the-third-mission-to-the-west
content:
            <div> 
		<p>So what do we do now as Christians in a post-Christian culture? Os Guinness has some thoughts about our “third mission to the West”&nbsp;in his book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Renaissance-Power-Gospel-However-Times/dp/0830836713/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1469228129&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=renaissance+guinness" target="_blank"><em>Renaissance: The Power of the Gospel However Dark the Times</em></a>:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>The first mission to the West centered on the conversion of the Roman Empire. This mission is well known, the extraordinary story of how those whom the Romans saw as a bunch of provincial misfits grew and grew until their faith replaced the faith of mighty Rome itself. (The Emperor Julian after his failure to turn back the clock: “You have conquered, Galilean!”)</p>

<p>But when the Western Roman Empire fell in the fifth century, so also did much of the church in the West, so the second mission to the West centered on the conversion of the barbarian kingdoms. This took place against the backdrop of the Dark Ages and the tribal conditions and conflicts from the fifth to the tenth centuries. Less well known than the story of the conversion of Rome, this story was every bit as heroic. It included the celebrated “gentling”&nbsp;of the European people, as the cross of Jesus became what the poet Heinrich Heine called the “taming talisman”&nbsp;that subdued the “berserker rage”&nbsp;of barbarians such as the Celts, the Goths, the Visigoths, the Franks and the Vikings.</p>

<p>The second mission also includes the stories of Skellig Michael and communities like it. Skellig Michael was the rocky pyramid in the storm-tossed Atlantic, eight miles off the western coast of Ireland. For six centuries, part of the church clung to its faith by the skin of its teeth at a place that for them was the end of the world and at a moment they believed was the end of time. The second mission certainly includes the story of “how the Irish saved civilization,”&nbsp;the brief, bright hour captured by <a href="https://www.amazon.com/How-Irish-Saved-Civilization-Irelands/dp/0385418493/ref=sr_1_1_twi_pap_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1469229316&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=how+the+irish+saved+civilization" target="_blank">Thomas Cahill’s book of the same title</a> when St. Columbanus and other missionaries from the Emerald Isle fanned out down and across Europe, a missionary journey that can still be traced today by the trail of Celtic crosses as far down as St. Gallen in Switzerland and Bobbio in northern Italy.</p>

<p>What those of us who are European Christians must acknowledge humbly is that when the Chinese and other peoples in the world had reached a high level of civilization, we were still barbarians and we might still be barbarians apart from the gospel. It took the gospel of Jesus Christ to tame our barbarian violence and unite our warring continent. For the intrepid missionaries who sailed forth from Ireland in flimsy coracles, or who journeyed up from Rome under the second St. Augustine, brought both the gospel and its fruits. Along with the gospel, they brought the Scriptures, then literacy, then education, and all the gifts of the gospel that later on were to lay the foundations from which Christendom was built.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Never forget the power of the Gospel. Jesus is in the business of changing human beings into people who love and follow Him. People who love and follow Him, when there are enough of them faithfully doing so, can’t help but affect the shape of the whole culture. In this way, God has transformed the cultures of greater and more wretched nations than ours. When He has chosen to. But whether or not He chooses to do so in our day, we’re called to follow Him. This, Guinness says, we must do faithfully and completely:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>The deepest question concerns the Lord himself: Is it really conceivable that God will revive the Western church a third time, after it has gone cold twice? Another question concerns our response: What are we to do as we wait for God’s answer to that first titanic question? In other words, our deepest questions at this moment echo the very question God asked of the prophet Ezekiel as he surveyed a valley full of the sun-bleached bones of a defeated and slaughtered army, “Can these bones live?”</p>

<p>And like Ezekiel, our answer can only be, “O Lord, you know.”</p>

<p>The answer to the second question is the clearer. Acknowledging the essential part that only God can play should never lead to quietism or passivity. We may contribute little to our own renewal except the needs that make our renewal necessary, but to return to Christ in repentance is to shoulder our full responsibilities as disciples—including our commitment to engage to the fullest extent our callings in the world, and our dedication to re-evangelize the advanced modern world. For whether the times are bright or dark, whether we can see God in action in front of us or he seems absent and long delayed, and whether our cultural standing is once again admired or disdainfully cold-shouldered, we have our trust in him to be true to, our tasks to perform and our callings to which we must prove faithful.</p>

<p>As always, faithfulness is all, and the circumstances are beside the point. Our faithfulness must therefore show itself in a waiting that is vigilant, energetic and enterprising. Wherever there are men and women faithful to the Lord, let them trust God and live out their calling to Jesus and their callings in the world wherever those callings take them. That is the call to faithfulness and active transforming engagement that we pray will flower in a new Christian renaissance in our time.</p>

<p>Much of the recent debate about changing the world sounded like a clash between those who say, “Yes, we can,”&nbsp;and those who say, “No, you can’t.”&nbsp;That at least is an issue that can be resolved. The true answer is one we must both declare and live out: Yes, we can, because God can—and he has in the past, and he is doing so elsewhere in the world, and he is able to do so again even here in the advanced modern world, because God is God, and his is the last word in human affairs.</p>

<p>Let it be clearly understood that our hope in the possibility of renewal is squarely grounded, not in ourselves, not in history and the fact that it has happened before, but in the power of God demonstrated by the truth of the resurrection of Jesus...The risen Jesus stands as the Lord of life, and the lesser challenge of Christian renewal looks puny in the light of the greater triumph of the resurrection of Jesus.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Guinness’s book can be summed up by this quote, and it’s one we should take to heart:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>The time has come to trust God, move out, sharing and demonstrating the good news, following his call and living out our callings in every area of our lives, and then leave the outcome to him.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Make it the first priority of your life to conform your mind, your view of the world, your understanding of your profession, your treatment of others, the workings of your family, your willingness to sacrifice for others, and your love, to Jesus. As Guinness says, “We are called to define our faith, our lives and all we are and think and do by the standard of Jesus Christ our Lord, the precepts of the good news of the kingdom, and the authority of the Holy Scriptures.”&nbsp;You cannot skip over this in a misguided attempt to put all your efforts into doing something “big.”&nbsp;In the end, this is what makes the difference: one human being at a time being changed by Jesus, living in community with His other followers.</p>

<p>I just finished reading a <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Faith-Christopher-Hitchens-Restless-Notorious/dp/0718022173/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8" target="_blank">book</a> about Christopher Hitchens’s friendship with Larry Taunton, and it wasn’t Taunton’s superior argumentation that drew Hitchens to personally discuss Christianity with him; it was the fact that Taunton’s Christian life was lived with conviction, love, and sacrifice—sometimes shockingly so, to Hitchens—that moved him. The beauty of a life conformed to Jesus—His humility, His sacrificial love—demonstrates the plausibility of Christianity in a way that opens people up to hearing intellectual arguments. We dare not skip over conforming our lives to Jesus within a community of fellow Christians in order to focus on learning arguments.</p>

<p>I hope you feel as convicted by this as I do, and that you’ll take some time to consider ways your life could better reflect Christ’s love, humility, and self-sacrifice to the world.</p>
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title: Are You Ready for What’s Waiting for You on Your College Campus?
topic: Tactics and Tools
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 07/21/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/are-you-ready-for-what-s-waiting-for-you-on-your-college-campus-
content:
            <div> 
		<p>Are you (or is your child) ready to stand firm in your trust in Jesus Christ on your college campus? Do you know what’s waiting for you there? Can you answer the challenges you will hear from professors and fellow students?</p>

<p>Brett discusses the need to be prepared in this motion graphics video:</p>

<div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9" data-embed-id="pF-E0RXHiIg" data-styles="{&quot;width&quot;:&quot;100%&quot;}" style="width:100%"><iframe allow="encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" class="embed-responsive-item" frameborder="0" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pF-E0RXHiIg?rel=0" tabindex="0"></iframe></div>

<p>We have resources for students that go along with the four questions Brett says students need to settle in their own minds before they go away to college:</p>

<ul>
	<li>Does truth exist, and can we know it?</li>
	<li>Does God exist?</li>
	<li>Does God act in the world?</li>
	<li>Does God communicate with us in Scripture?</li>
</ul>

<p>These resources can be found at <a href="http://www.str.org/training/student-resources" target="_blank">STRNextGen.com</a>. Remember that URL, and pass it along!</p>

<p>We also hope you’ll join us for one of our upcoming <a href="http://www.rethinkapologetics.com/" target="_blank">reTHINK Student Apologetics Conferences</a> (in California, Texas, and Alabama) for more training.</p>
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title: The Pro-Life Mission
topic: Bioethics
author: Alan Shlemon
date: 08/08/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/the-pro-life-mission
content:
            <div> 
		<p>How do you create confidence in Christians who are able to share their pro-life convictions with anyone? Here’s a hint: It takes a lot more than a lecture, but it’s worth it. That’s what I did this summer with 45 high school students on the pro-life mission.</p>

<p>This was an eight-day intensive trip that entailed a comprehensive pro-life experience. In other words, we didn’t just cover abortion. I wanted the students to understand that being pro-life means we not only care about the unborn, but also the women who face crisis pregnancies, girls who are exploited to harvest their eggs, and women and children who are trafficked into prostitution.</p>

<p>My goal was to train the students to master the art of pro-life persuasion, complete the outreach activities on the mission trip, and then walk away with the confidence to be behaviorally pro-life. To achieve these lofty goals, they went through “pro-life boot camp.”&nbsp;This entailed a rigorous and comprehensive program where I did three things with the students: teach, train, and test.</p>

<p><strong>Teach</strong>: You have to start with a foundation. The students were required to read two pro-life books before the mission trip began. I also flew to Arizona to personally begin training these students in the art of pro-life persuasion. I taught them arguments for and against abortion so they had a framework to interpret and understand the experiences they’d have on the mission trip. This academic information, though, was not enough. The next step was needed.</p>

<p><strong>Train</strong>: To become proficient in any material, you need to internalize and process it. A mere lecture isn’t enough. To accomplish this, the students needed to practice communicating the content in increasingly more difficult situations. First, they role-played the arguments with each other or with me. This made them more comfortable with the material by processing it out loud.</p>

<p>Then I made things more difficult. Once the eight-day mission trip was underway, I set aside two days where we went to public places, put a dozen abortion questionnaires in their hands, and had them approach and survey passersby. By asking people about abortion, they immediately found themselves in conversations where they had to use their pro-life skills with people who vigorously disagreed with them.</p>

<p>After a pair of students would finish a conversation with strangers, I would debrief with them to find out how they did, address their concerns, and fine-tune their approach. Other times I went along with them on the survey so I could see firsthand how they navigated their conversations. Sometimes I would do the talking to model the tactics and skills I previously taught them.</p>

<p>Besides providing individual feedback, we also gathered as a group after each session to debrief the conversations. The students got to share their successful encounters (and unsuccessful ones), their challenges, and their questions. Besides answering some of the issues that arose, I asked students to help each other out in solving the concerns that were raised. Now that the students had practiced their skills with average people on street, it was time to put them to the test.</p>

<p><strong>Test</strong>: I invited a professional abortion-choice advocate to challenge the students. She was a feminist and women’s studies professor from a local university. She had championed abortion rights and even debated pro-lifers (including me) in the past. I wanted to see how well the students would fare against someone who knew what they were talking about and wasn’t just some person off the street.</p>

<p>The professor gave a pro-choice presentation and a defense of her views. Then the students asked her questions. I’ll be honest—at first I was a little nervous. I wasn’t sure how they would do. Once the questions started rolling, though, my fears subsided. They immediately recognized her arguments, the weaknesses in her views, and began to exploit them. It was encouraging to see a professional abortion-choice advocate get challenged by high school students.</p>

<p>To be clear, this was <em>not</em> an ungracious encounter. No student was mean-spirited, rude, or condescending. In fact, after the professor finished her presentation, I stepped outside with her to say thank you. She remarked, “Those students see me as the enemy.”&nbsp;I quickly corrected her. “No, not at all. They really liked you and enjoyed your presentation. Neither the students nor I see you or anyone who holds a different view from us as the enemy.”&nbsp;Just as I finished those words, many of the female students came out of the room to say goodbye to her and said, “You were so great. Thank you! Can I give you a hug?”&nbsp;Then they took turns embracing her. The professor was shocked: “Wow, I wasn’t expecting that!”&nbsp;I was overjoyed to see this outpouring of love and acceptance for a woman who held a radically different view from them. It was a perfect expression of being a persuasive yet gracious ambassador for Jesus Christ.</p>

<p>That’s the whole point of the pro-life mission. It’s to take a controversial topic and learn how to engage it in the public square with people who vigorously disagree with us, but in a winsome way.</p>
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title: “Forced Love” Is the Wrong Way to Look at It
topic: Theology
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 07/16/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/-forced-love-is-the-wrong-way-to-look-at-it
content:
            <div> 
		<p>I often hear the Calvinist view of salvation (i.e., that God <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john+6%3A65&amp;version=NASB" target="_blank">gives</a> spiritual life to those whom He <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans+9%3A6-24&amp;version=NASB" target="_blank">chooses</a> so that they will <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans+8%3A30&amp;version=NASB" target="_blank">inevitably</a> love and <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john+6%3A37&amp;version=NASB" target="_blank">trust</a> in Him) denigrated as a description of worthless “forced love.”&nbsp;This kind of analogy is a common one: If you were in love with someone who wasn’t in love with you, you wouldn’t want to snap your fingers to force that person to love you, even if you had that capability. As one book I recently read said, “[S]uch forced love is ultimately not worth pursuing.”</p>

<p>But the analogy is all wrong. The situation is actually more like this: Suppose a man who is naturally quite lovable loves a woman who doesn’t love him because her serious mental illness renders her incapable of loving others. In fact, she has no desire to love others and constantly dwells on her hatred for everyone, especially for the man. She will never change her mind, no matter what the man says or does to show her his love. But suppose he is also a doctor and is able to heal her illness. He heals her, and she immediately sees how lovable he is and deeply, freely loves him. When that happens, would anyone characterize what the doctor did as “forcing”&nbsp;her to love him? Would anyone say her love wasn’t real? Would anyone accuse him of not respecting her autonomy? Rather, would they not praise him as a gracious, kind, rescuing physician?</p>

<p>This more accurate analogy (though in an even more accurate analogy, the woman would be <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians+2%3A1-5&amp;version=NASB" target="_blank">dead</a> at the beginning of the story) might bring up other questions—such as, “Why are we responsible for our sin if we didn’t choose our sinful nature?”&nbsp;(a question anticipated in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans+9%3A6-24&amp;version=NASB" target="_blank">Romans 9:19</a>) or, “Why doesn’t God save everyone?”&nbsp;(asked in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans+9%3A6-24&amp;version=NASB" target="_blank">Romans 9:14</a>)—but it does show that the love produced by God’s giving undeserved spiritual life to a person who would <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+8%3A47&amp;version=NASB" target="_blank">otherwise</a> have <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+8%3A43-44&amp;version=NASB" target="_blank">no desire</a> for it is real, not worthless.</p>

<p>We were born <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=ephesians+2%3A1-10&amp;version=NASB" target="_blank">children of wrath</a>. What God does for us is not force, nor is it based on the goal of maintaining our autonomy above all. His work is mercy, grace, and healing, and it results in human beings functioning the way they were created to function in relation to their Creator. Without it, we would never choose Him.</p>

<p>If you’re interested in learning more about this view, see <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Sinners-Hands-Good-God-Reconciling/dp/0802481604/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1466822389&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=sinners+in+the+hands+of+a+good+god" target="_blank">here</a> or <a href="http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/what-we-believe-about-the-five-points-of-calvinism" target="_blank">here</a>. You may still disagree that this is what the Bible teaches (as I know many of you do), but if you want to characterize the view fairly, calling it “forced love”&nbsp;is not an accurate way to describe it.</p>
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title: Do You Desire God above All Else? (A Thought Experiment)
topic: Theology
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 07/30/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/do-you-desire-god-above-all-else-a-thought-experiment-
content:
            <div> 
		<p>Gary Habermas <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Heart-New-Testament-Doctrine-Resurrection/dp/0899008453/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1469895777&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=heart+of+new+testament+doctrine+gary+habermas" target="_blank">offers a thought experiment</a> to help us examine our motives concerning what we’re asking God for in prayer:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>[In his book <em>Heaven: The Heart’s Deepest Longing</em>,] Peter Kreeft proposes a thought experiment in order to assist believers in determining [their] motives. What would we say if God offered us whatever we most wanted in life? What would we take if, whatever it was, it was ours for the asking? Would it be wealth? Power? Honor? How about peace of mind? But while you are thinking it over, God goes on to explain that there is only one thing you may not choose. You will never see His face.</p>

<p>What would our response be to this declaration? Would you be secretly satisfied to take one of the many other treasures, or would you be emotionally crushed by the last condition? Where do your true desires lie? Do you desire God and His Kingdom above all else? Such an experiment might help to provide an answer to the question of our secret desires and our ultimate motivation.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>James 4:3 says, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.”&nbsp;This isn’t to say that when we <em>don’t</em> receive a particular thing we’ve asked for, the explanation is <em>always</em> wrong motives (see <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Corinthians+12:7-9&amp;version=NASB" target="_blank">2 Corinthians 12:7-9</a> for an example of where this was not the case), but it does serve as a good reminder about prayer.</p>

<p>Here’s a question to consider as you pray: Are your prayers oriented toward God and His Kingdom? Is that thing you’re praying for a means by which you may know, love, and serve God Himself, or is God merely the means you’re using to get that thing?</p>

<p>By considering this question, you may find you’re praying for something you shouldn’t be asking for. But there’s another possible—and far more exciting—outcome: you might simply increase your awareness of how the good things of this world exist for the glory of God.</p>

<p>For example, maybe you’ve been praying for a spouse without having thought through how marriage is a <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=ephesians+5%3A22-33&amp;version=NASB" target="_blank">picture of the union of Christ with His church</a>, how when a husband loves his wife “just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her,”&nbsp;when he “loves his own wife even as himself,”&nbsp;and when the wife “respects her husband,”&nbsp;together their relationship shows their neighbors who Christ is.</p>

<p>Or perhaps you’re praying about your need for a car, and as you consider the above question, you think of the many ways you will use that car to serve your neighbor and care for your family, “that they may see your good works, and <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+5%3A16&amp;version=NASB" target="_blank">glorify your Father</a> who is in heaven.”</p>

<p>If we always considered our prayer requests this way, I think it would transform not only what we ask for, but also how we see everything we’re given.</p>
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title: Christianity: It’s Either Objectively True or Objectively False
topic: Christian Living
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 08/06/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/christianity-it-s-either-objectively-true-or-objectively-false
content:
            <div> 
		<p>Lately, I’ve begun to realize just how much relativism is ingrained in our culture, particularly when it comes to religion. In conversations with people about Christianity, I’ve found that sometimes I am literally unable to communicate the idea that I’m claiming Christianity is an objectively true description of <em>reality</em>. Unfortunately, I’ve even had a conversation or two like this with Christians.</p>

<p>But communicating this is what we must do if we’re truly to communicate the Gospel, because the Gospel is centered on <em>an objective event in history</em>. As the Apostle Paul <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+cor+15%3A12-19&amp;version=NASB" target="_blank">said</a>, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless.”&nbsp;Often, by explaining the centrality of the historical death and resurrection of Christ, you can help someone to understand the objective nature of our claim—that is, the claim that Christianity is the kind of thing that is either objectively true or objectively false—because history is something most people understand as being objective.</p>

<p>There are consequences to misunderstanding the objective nature of Christianity. J. Warner Wallace describes one consequence like <a href="http://coldcasechristianity.com/2016/treating-the-gospel-like-a-cookie-rather-than-a-cure/" target="_blank">this</a>:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>I sometimes ask Christian students if they would be willing to follow me into the streets of the nearest big city to try to convince people that chocolate chip cookies are the best cookies in the world. Unsurprisingly, students aren’t usually excited about going. When asked, they quickly admit that it seems pointless to try to convince people of something as subjective as a personal opinion about cookies. They recognize that cookie preference is a matter of subjective opinion, rather than objective truth, and none of them are typically willing to go out of their way to argue for an <em>opinion</em>. I then ask students if they would be willing to follow me into a region of the city that is suffering from a Tuberculosis outbreak to convince those infected with TB to take the one known cure, Isoniazid. All the students I ask find this to be a worthy effort; they are willing to help for a cause such as this. They recognize the difference between the cookie and the cure. Cookies are a matter of <em>subjective</em> opinion, but cures are a matter of <em>objective</em> truth. If people suffering with TB don’t know about the cure, they’ll die. Personal opinions about Isoniazid are irrelevant. Some TB sufferers might, for example, prefer to take Ibuprofen. But the objective truth about TB and Isoniazid overshadows any opinion someone might hold about their favorite treatment. Cures are like that. When we are objectively convinced that a particular treatment is the exclusive cure for what is ailing us, we ignore our preferences and act quickly to save ourselves and share the truth with others.</p>

<p>There is a relationship between our categorization of Christian claims and our desire to share them with the world around us. Some of us hesitate to share the Gospel because (whether we care to admit it or not) we’ve come to see religious truth as a matter of subjective opinion rather than objective truth. We treat the Gospel more as a cookie than a cure.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>The “true for you but not for me”&nbsp;view of religion is deeply ingrained in our culture, so we shouldn’t be surprised that even Christians can be affected by this. We need to do more deliberate work to counteract this; we can’t assume anyone (even a Christian) knows what we mean when we say Christianity is “true,”&nbsp;and this understanding is crucial not only as a motivation for evangelism but also for the person’s very relationship with God Himself, for how could anyone have a significant relationship with a God they think is only “true for them”?</p>
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title: What’s the Price of Accepting the Idea We Worship the Same God as Muslims?
topic: Other Worldviews
author: Alan Shlemon
date: 07/19/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/what-s-the-price-of-accepting-the-idea-we-worship-the-same-god-as-muslims-
content:
            <div> 
		<p>Some people claim Muslims and Christians worship the same God. I disagree. I’ve already written my rationale <a href="http://www.str.org/articles/do-christians-and-muslims-worship-the-same-god" target="_blank">here</a>. You can also watch my explanation <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLpkm8nQIjw" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>

<p>There’s another problem, though. Claiming that Muslims and Christians worship the same God is an expression of Islamic theology, not Christian theology. But why affirm an Islamic teaching? It’s the Qur’an that claims that the God of Islam is the same God in Christianity (Surah 2:139, 29:46). That means you affirm the Qur’an is correct when you claim Muslims and Christians worship the same God. Now, I’m not saying that everything the Qur’an teaches is false. It can certainly make true claims. But affirming it’s correct on this point leads to another problem.</p>

<p>You have to rewrite biblical history. Why? On Islam’s view, there has only been one true religion since the beginning of time: Islam. Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, and even Jesus are all prophets of Allah according to Islam. True followers of Moses (allegedly Allah’s prophet to the Jews) and true followers of Jesus (allegedly Allah’s prophet to the Christians) believed in and worshiped the God described in Islam. But that’s not biblical history. Jews and Christians never worshiped Islam’s God. You have to believe the Qur’an and its revision of biblical history to believe they did. This leads to yet another problem.</p>

<p>You have to believe the Muslim claim that the Bible has been corrupted. Why? As noted above, Islam claims that the original and true followers of Christ never worshiped Him, but instead worshiped Allah. That, of course, is blatantly contradicted by what the New Testament teaches. Early Christians never worshiped Allah, but <em>did</em> worship Jesus as God. Muslims get around this by claiming the parts of Scripture where Jesus claimed to be God or was worshiped have been corrupted. Therefore, in order to believe Christ’s original followers worshiped Allah, you have to accept the Bible is corrupted, as Muslims claim.</p>

<p>This is a big price to pay. To believe Muslims and Christians worship the same God, you have to accept a component of Islamic theology, believe a Qur’anic teaching, accept the Muslim revision of biblical history, and believe their claim that the Bible is corrupt. Is that worth it? I think the answer is no.</p>
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title: How to Persuade Your Pastor to Include Apologetics at Your Church
topic: Christian Living
author: Melinda Penner
date: 07/15/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/how-to-persuade-your-pastor-to-include-apologetics-at-your-church
content:
            <div> 
		<p>I recently heard Dr. Hugh Ross share some ideas he’s learned from long experience that I thought would be helpful because a lot of people ask about this.</p>

<p>There’s a new challenge to evangelism. In the past, evangelism assumed <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=hebrews+11%3A6&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">Hebrews 11:6</a> as a starting point for unbelievers (i.e., “[W]hoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists”). But many people don’t even believe in God, and won’t even grant that He is good if He does exist. In addition, so many people live in cities now that they are out of touch with the book of nature and God’s revelation of His glories there. So apologetics is needed to fill in these foundational beliefs before even getting to the Gospel. As our society becomes more secularized, apologetics is going to be even more needed than before to make the case for fundamental things most people believed in the past but don’t anymore. Show your pastor the need all Christians have of being able to make a case for these things.</p>

<p>Here are a number of other tips. I’ve mixed in some of my own with Dr. Ross’s.</p>

<ul>
	<li>Establish God’s existence using arguments for the origin of the universe, origin of life, and fine-tuning—these are the issues that most commonly persuade atheists.</li>
	<li>Show God is the biblical God—connect general evidence to the Bible.</li>
	<li>Help pastors delegate expertise to others. Be a solution to this need in the congregation.</li>
	<li>Help pastors see the opportunities of bringing new people into the church by addressing these questions. Use controversial topics to attract unbelievers. Host a discussion rather than debate. Answer questions and challenges. Demonstrate that the church takes these questions seriously and has reasonable answers.</li>
	<li>Address controversy with grace, humility, gentleness, and respect in a biblical way.</li>
	<li>Meet with concerned members ahead of time to allay their concerns.</li>
	<li>Avoid triumphalism—a “Beat the atheists!”&nbsp;attitude.</li>
	<li>Invite Q&amp;A within the church so believers can build their confidence by having their questions and doubts answered, and be open to questions from unbelievers.</li>
	<li>Use events to attract unbelievers. Classes can draw more visitors than services. Midsize groups and classes are more effective at attracting visitors and giving them a chance to ask questions.</li>
	<li>Plan Q&amp;A forums for the kids in the congregation to build their confidence early.</li>
	<li>Encourage, don’t scold, church leaders. Show compassion for pastors who have a lot of things on their plate.</li>
</ul>
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title: The Question for Jehovah’s Witnesses: Who Is Jesus?
topic: Theology
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 07/22/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/the-question-for-jehovah-s-witnesses-who-is-jesus-
content:
            <div> 
		<p>Tim Barnett wrote this month’s <a href="http://www.str.org/publications/solid-ground-july-2016-ready-for-the-knock-on-your-door#.V5FuoJMrKL8" target="_blank">Solid Ground</a> to help you prepare for conversations with Jehovah’s Witnesses. He says the best thing you can do is to focus on the most important question:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>A host of issues can get you sidetracked with Jehovah’s Witnesses if you’re not careful—soul sleep, celebrating birthdays or Christmas, blood transfusions, Heaven, Hell, war, even the Holy Spirit. Don’t go there. None of these are the <em>most</em> important issue. The goal of your conversation is to answer only one question: <em>Who is Jesus?</em> How you answer this question changes everything.</p>

<p>Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that the archangel Michael was the very first being in the universe created by Jehovah-God. Michael was then used by God to create the rest of the universe. Later, at the appointed time, Michael was born to the virgin Mary as a human being, thus ceasing to be an angel. Then after His <em>spiritual</em> resurrection, Jesus resumes His identity as Michael. That is the Jehovah’s Witness answer to the question, “Who is Jesus?”&nbsp;Jesus, is the archangel Michael incarnate...</p>

<p>The salvation of anyone, including Jehovah’s Witnesses, depends on an accurate understanding of and belief in God the Son. Jesus said, “I told you that you would die in your sins, for <em>unless you believe that I am He</em> you will die in your sins”&nbsp;(Jn. 8:24). Here Jesus is claiming to be the “I AM”&nbsp;recorded in Isa. 43. The irony is that Isa. 43 is the chapter where Jehovah’s Witnesses derive their name. Isaiah writes, “You are my witnesses,”&nbsp;declares the Lord, “and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am He”&nbsp;(Isa. 43:10).</p>

<p>Jehovah says His true witnesses will believe of Him that “<em>I am He</em>.”&nbsp;Yet, Jesus says true believers must believe of <em>Him</em> that “<em>I am He</em>.”&nbsp;In fact, this claim, coupled with Jn. 8:58 (“...before Abraham was, I am”), was the reason the Jews tried to stone Jesus (Jn. 8:59). His point was clear: Rejecting Jesus’&nbsp;deity is rejecting salvation itself. That’s why our question, “Who is Jesus?”&nbsp;is the only question we should focus on.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Tim goes on to explain how a simple comparison between Psalm 102 and Hebrews 1 can help you demonstrate to your Jehovah’s Witness friend that Jesus is Jehovah. Read the rest of this month’s Solid Ground <a href="http://www.str.org/publications/solid-ground-july-2016-ready-for-the-knock-on-your-door#.V5FuoJMrKL8" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>
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title: How to Understand the Distinction Between Islam and Muslims—Mentoring Letter August 2016
topic: Other Worldviews
author: Alan Shlemon
date: 08/01/2016
source:
https://www.str.org/w/how-to-understand-the-distinction-between-islam-and-muslims-mentoring-letter-august-2016

content:
            <div> 
		<p>After the tragic mass shooting in Orlando, many clues pointed to a familiar explanation: Islamic terrorism. The killer was a Muslim, born in a Muslim family, and pledged his allegiance to Abu-Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS.</p>

<p>Almost reflexively, though, analysts gave the usual talking points about how Islam is a religion of peace and its practitioners are peaceful people. What the Orlando killer did, many Muslims and pundits said, had nothing to do with Islam. True Muslims oppose the Orlando killer’s behavior.</p>

<p>There is, in fact, a need for more nuance. We do need to make a critical distinction between two things: Islam and Muslims. Islam is the religion and its teachings. Muslims are the people who follow Islam. These two are different. Just because a religion teaches something, that doesn’t mean all of its practitioners believe or obey that teaching.</p>

<p>The same is true with the distinction between Christianity and Christians. The Bible, for example, teaches that God hates divorce, that it violates our vow to God, and is forbidden with a few exceptions (I know this is debated, but that’s not my point here). Divorce, in most cases, is a sin and prohibited for Christians. There are many Christians, though, who don’t follow biblical teaching on this topic and have divorced, contrary to biblical guidelines. It’s fair to say, then, that although Christianity teaches that divorce is wrong, many Christians don’t observe that teaching.</p>

<p>Islam teaches that violent jihad is a valid Islamic doctrine. This is taught in three authoritative sources of Islam. The Qur’an, what Muslims believe is the literal word of Allah, teaches violent jihad in the Medinan surahs (the passages allegedly revealed to Mohammed when he lived in Medina). Read surah 9 of the Qur’an for just one example. The hadith, what Mohammed said and approved of, also teaches violent jihad. Read Sahih Muslim, book 1:29-33 for just one example. Finally, the Sunnah, the life example set by Mohammed, teaches violent jihad. Read The Life of Mohammed by Ibn Ishaq for just one example.</p>

<p>My point is not to give all the citations from each of these three sources. I provide some in The Ambassador’s Guide to Islam, a useful resource we are offering for your gift to STR this month. My point is that Islam—the religion and its teaching—affirms that violent jihad is a valid Islamic doctrine.</p>

<p>Some people are critical of my comments, claiming that I’m demonizing Muslim people. That’s not true. I’ll be the first to say that most Muslims are not violent people. Not only is my family from the Middle East, but over the years I’ve known and interacted with Muslims of all stripes. When they’ve come to my family’s home, they are kind, respectful, and even bring gifts. When I’ve visited their homes, they are hospitable, gracious, and kind.</p>

<p>That’s why I’m mystified by the backlash against those who point out that Islam—the religion and its teachings—affirms that violent jihad is a valid Islamic doctrine, while also recognizing that most Muslims are ignorant of those teachings or reject them. This is an accurate and honest view that makes the important distinction between Islam and Muslims.</p>

<p>Furthermore, this view makes sense of reality. There are many acts of violence perpetrated by Muslims who cite Islamic authoritative sources as justification for their actions. There are also many Muslims who denounce these violent acts and refuse to engage in violent jihad. To deny either that Islamic sources affirm violent jihad or that many Muslims don’t live consistently with those teachings is to deny reality.</p>

<p>As ambassadors for Jesus, however, we’re commanded to proclaim the message of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18-20) to all Muslims, whether nominal or adhering to violent jihad doctrine. Every Muslim, indeed every person, is guilty of committing crimes against God and deserves to be punished. God, though, offers a pardon to every one of us. That’s the message we’re commanded to share with every Muslim we encounter.</p>

<p>To help you do so in an inviting and even-handed way, we want to send you The Ambassador’s Guide to Islam. It’s a vital resource for you, a family member, or a friend that gives you a very specific plan of engagement. And it’s yours when you <a href="http://store.str.org/donate.asp" target="_blank">send a gift this month</a>.</p>

<p>Will you do that today? Your generosity now will prepare even more believers to stand firm in the faith—and to share it with confidence and grace.</p>

<p>On behalf of Greg Koukl and the entire STR team, thank you for your faithful support. Your generosity and prayers are a true source of encouragement for each one of us. You make this completely donor-supported ministry possible and we are deeply grateful.</p>

<p>In His grace,</p>

<p>Alan Shlemon</p>

<p>Author and Speaker, Stand to Reason</p>

<p>P.S. Thank you for standing with us again this month. Be sure to request The Ambassador’s Guide to Islam as you respond.</p>
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title: “Jesus Said You Shouldn’t Judge”
topic: Theology
author: Tim Barnett
date: 07/05/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/-jesus-said-you-shouldn-t-judge-
content:
            <div> 
		<p>A while back, I posted the following comment on my Facebook Page:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Everyone—Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Jew, New Ager, Atheist—needs to answer the same question: What makes humans valuable in the first place?</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Normally, I don’t take the time to rehash a Facebook post, but the response I got was extremely characteristic of our culture and deserves some careful thinking. Under the circumstances, I thought it might be instructive to take a closer look at the retort and then walk through how I would respond.</p>

<p>The retort I got was:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>The Buddhists already know. You’d know that if you research them before blindly judging them. You Christians are good at judging, so I wasn’t surprised. I think Jesus told you not to judge, or you’d be judged yourself.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>It seems like a Christian can’t say almost anything without someone chiming in, “Jesus said you shouldn’t judge!”&nbsp;For this reason, I think it will be very beneficial to carefully think through how one should respond to this particular challenge.</p>

<p>First, notice that I didn’t say that Buddhism doesn’t have an answer to the question. I simply pointed out that everyone, not just the Christian, needs to answer the question. The commenter seems to assume something about me; namely that I don’t believe Buddhism can explain human value. Moreover, he believes that I’ve come to this conclusion without doing any research, and that I’m “blindly judging them.”</p>

<p>If you are an astute reader, you’ve probably already picked up on the hypocrisy riddled throughout this comment. Hasn’t this person done exactly what he accused me of doing? Isn’t he blindly judging me without knowing anything about me? How does he know I haven’t done my homework on Buddhism? The truth is, it was just <em>assumed.</em></p>

<p>So my first more general point is that the “judgment sword”&nbsp;cuts both ways. He cannot escape the charge. In fact, nobody can! Here is a little helpful question that I use whenever someone accuses me of judging. The first words off my lips are, “Why are you judging me?”</p>

<p>In this instance, the comment was dripping with judgment. The commenter seems to think it’s fine <em>for him</em> to judge me, but when Christians judge, it’s wrong! Why is it only okay for him, but not for me? It seems to me that there couldn’t be a clearer example of a <em>hypocritical</em> judgment. This brings me to my next, more specific, point.</p>

<p>Second, this person goes even further and makes the very common exegetical mistake that Jesus said we should never judge. He says, “I think Jesus told you not to judge, or you’d be judged yourself.”</p>

<p>Let me be very clear, Jesus never said not to judge. This isn’t my opinion. This isn’t up for debate. If words mean anything, Jesus couldn’t have said not to judge. Just read the text:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ’Let me take the speck out of your eye,’&nbsp;when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”&nbsp;(<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew+7%3A1-5&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">Matthew 7:1-5</a>)</p>
</blockquote>

<p>This text is not prohibiting all judging; it’s prohibiting <em>hypocritical and self-righteous</em> judging. Read verse 5 carefully! Jesus says, “You hypocrite, <em>first</em> take the log out of your own eye, and <em>then</em> you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”</p>

<p>Jesus is spelling out the steps to take to make a proper judgment. He is explaining to his audience <em>how</em> to make a proper judgment (“then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye”).</p>

<p>Jesus isn’t a solitary voice on this issue either. The Apostle Paul affirms Jesus’&nbsp;word in his second letter to Timothy. He says, “Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction”&nbsp;(2 Timothy 4:2).</p>

<p>Now just ask yourself, how does one “correct, rebuke, and encourage”&nbsp;without making judgments? It would be impossible.</p>

<p>The irony is that this commenter has unwittingly made Jesus and Paul’s point! The comment was a <em>rebuke</em> of my original comment, and thus a judgment. It turns out that this rebuke was both unfounded (because he didn’t really know my beliefs about Buddhism) and uninformed (because he misunderstands Jesus’&nbsp;words taken in context). But it wasn’t just any judgment; it was a <em>hypocritical and prideful</em> judgment, which is exactly what Jesus was warning against.</p>

<p>So remember: Jesus never said not to judge. In fact, the command to judge is implicit in His words recorded in Matthew 7. However, we must not judge with a prideful or self-righteous heart. We must remain humble and self-reflective; never forgetting that we, too, are sinful and no better than anyone else.</p>
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title: Belief as Saving Faith
topic: Theology
author: Brett Kunkle
date: 06/07/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/belief-as-saving-faith
content:
            <div> 
		<p>Yesterday, a Summit student asked me, “If Christianity is true, why do we need faith?”&nbsp;Mapping out the distinction between belief-that and belief-in provides a helpful way to answer this question.</p>

<p>The traditional conception of belief is reflected in the Scriptures by the concept of saving faith. The New Testament uses one particular word group to express the idea of faith. In the Greek, faith is conveyed by the noun <em>pistis</em> and the verb <em>pisteuo</em>. It is important to note that the New Testament writers make no distinction between “belief”&nbsp;over against “faith.”&nbsp;Indeed, they are both articulated by the <em>pistis</em> word group. Furthermore, when we examine the constructional variety of this Greek term we observe that <em>pistis</em> is used in conjunction with several prepositions (see chart below) that give us the <em>full</em> expression of faith, or what we refer to as saving faith.</p>

<table>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td><strong>Greek Usage</strong></td>
			<td><strong>English Equivalent</strong></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td><em>pisteuo hoti</em></td>
			<td>“believe that”</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td><em>pisteuo en / pisteuo eis</em></td>
			<td>“believe in” / “believe into”</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<p>First, as the chart indicates, <em>pisteuo</em> is constructed with the Greek word <em>hoti</em> to express the phrase “believe that.”&nbsp;Hebrews 11:6 states that “he who comes to God must <strong>believe that</strong> He is and that He is the rewarder of those who seek Him.”&nbsp;We see this construction again in Romans 10:9, when the apostle Paul instructs “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and <strong>believe</strong> in your heart <strong>that</strong> God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”&nbsp;According to these verses, one must (at the least) believe that God exists and that He raised Jesus from the dead for salvation. Additional passages throughout the New Testament (e.g. John 20:31, Acts 8:37 and 15:11, Romans 6:8, I Thessalonians 4:14) lend support to the idea that saving faith includes believing certain propositions to be true, or in other words, having certain beliefs-that.</p>

<p>Biblical saving faith is more than merely belief-that, however. Even if one believed the necessary true propositions about Christ, it does not follow that this belief would be sufficient for saving faith. The relevant biblical data reveal a second feature. In John 3:16, <em>pisteuo</em> is paired with the preposition <em>eis</em> and literally means “to believe into”: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever <strong>believes in</strong> Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”</p>

<p>From these passages, as well as others (e.g. John 3:36 and 14:1, Romans 4:24 and 10:14), we discover that saving faith includes an affirming disposition toward, or trust in, the object (propositional content<sup id="fnref:1"><a href="#fn:1">1</a></sup>) of one’s belief. The kind of faith that saves is marked by an attitude of trust in, or belief-in, Christ for all that salvation means. Hebrews 11:1 seems to indicate this pro-attitude associated with saving faith: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”</p>

<aside class="footnotes">
<hr>
<ol>
	<li id="fn:1">It is important to note that one’s believing a certain set of true propositions is logically prior to one’s being disposed affirmingly toward that set of propositions. Thus, the strength of one’s beliefs-that has direct bearing on the strength of one’s correlating beliefs-in. <a class="reversefootnote" href="#fnref:1">&nbsp;↩</a></li>
</ol>
</aside>
</div>

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title: Orlando Shooting
topic: Sexuality and Gender
author: Melinda Penner
date: 06/13/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/orlando-shooting
content:
            <div> 
		<p>The shooting in Orlando yesterday was an atrocity. As Al Mohler <a href="https://twitter.com/albertmohler/status/742052242082177024" target="_blank">tweeted</a>, “The Bible honors weeping with those who weep. A lot of our LGBT neighbors and their families are weeping now. Christians must weep with them.”</p>

<p>When I retweeted Mohler’s statement, someone <a href="https://twitter.com/livingjustified/status/742057818371575808" target="_blank">responded</a> that we’re hypocrites because we think gays are going to burn in Hell and God will be happy about it. Not true.</p>

<p>The Bible teaches that all people—every single person—is a valuable human being born with God’s image, and that we have an obligation to respect that. Every one of us. The Bible also teaches that all human beings are fallen and lost. The consequence of that is that all people—every single person—will be lost forever unless we are reconciled to God. No person, no group, no particular sin is singled out, because all sin breaks relationship with God. And even though we are all lost, while we are yet lost, we are valuable human beings who still retain the image of God and deserve respect.</p>

<p>The Bible also teaches that reconciliation with God is available to all people—every single person—through Jesus, God in the flesh who came to us to make that possible. And the Bible teaches that those who have been reconciled to God because they have realized their lost situation are now reconcilers themselves, appealing to others to accept peace with God that He has made possible through Jesus, God Himself.</p>

<p>We’re all the same—valuable human beings. We’re all in the same situation—lost and alienated from God. And peace with God is available to all.</p>

<p>As <a href="https://www.russellmoore.com/2016/06/12/orlando-can-still-weep-together/" target="_blank">Russell Moore</a> stated today, “We don’t have to agree on the meaning of marriage and sexuality to love one another and to see the murderous sin of terrorism.”&nbsp;To disagree on political and policy issues is totally different than loving others and offering them the forgiveness we needed, too.</p>

<p>Let’s be as clear as we can be in our message and have our actions back up our role as ministers of reconciliation.</p>

<p>So we grieve at the loss of valuable human beings. We are angry at the atrocity of targeting LGBT people. And we show Jesus’s love for them and all people at all times.</p>
</div>

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title: Does the Bible Condone Genocide?
topic: Theology
author: Tim Barnett
date: 06/08/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/does-the-bible-condone-genocide-
content:
            <div> 
		<p>This is the final post in a four-part series titled <em>Answering Gosptacles.</em> The last gosptacle—obstacle of the Gospel—I look at is the alleged Canaanite genocide in the Old Testament. How could God command the complete destruction of the Canaanites—every man, woman, and child? This is not an easy question to answer, but I hope that this talk will give you a place to start.</p>

<div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9" data-embed-id="pYMh31hFfiE" data-styles="{&quot;width&quot;:&quot;100%&quot;}" style="width:100%"><iframe allow="encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" class="embed-responsive-item" frameborder="0" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pYMh31hFfiE?rel=0" tabindex="0"></iframe></div>

<p>If you missed the first three parts of the <em>Answering Gosptacles</em> series, then click <a href="http://str.typepad.com/weblog/2016/05/is-the-bible-full-of-contradicitons.html" target="_blank">here</a>, <a href="http://str.typepad.com/weblog/2016/05/has-science-buried-god.html" target="_blank">here</a>, and <a href="http://str.typepad.com/weblog/2016/05/is-one-way-the-only-way.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>
</div>

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title: Is This Really the Kind of Judge You Want God to Be?
topic: Theology
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 06/09/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/is-this-really-the-kind-of-judge-you-want-god-to-be-
content:
            <div> 
		<p>By now, you’ve probably heard of Brock Turner, a Stanford student who sexually assaulted an unconscious girl and received a ridiculously light sentence. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/07/us/outrage-in-stanford-rape-case-over-dueling-statements-of-victim-and-attackers-father.html" target="_blank">People aren’t happy with the judge</a>:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>A recall effort against a California judge was announced on Monday in a sexual assault case at Stanford University that ignited public outrage after the defendant was sentenced to a mere six months in jail and his father complained that his son’s life had been ruined for “20 minutes of action”&nbsp;fueled by alcohol and promiscuity.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>When we see this kind of miscarriage of justice, we’re rightly appalled. A light sentence is a slap in the face to the victim. It denies the seriousness of the crime. It allows evil to win. Everyone can see this but Turner’s friends and family who <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-stanford-rape-brock-turner-letters-20160606-snap-htmlstory.html" target="_blank">argued</a> on his behalf. Hearing their statements, I couldn’t help but notice a parallel between the arguments they made against jail time for Brock Turner and the arguments people make against Hell.</p>

<h2>1. The crime only took 20 minutes.</h2>

<p>Why, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/07/us/outrage-in-stanford-rape-case-over-dueling-statements-of-victim-and-attackers-father.html" target="_blank">his father asked</a>, should something that took only 20 minutes ruin the rest of his son’s life? But it’s obvious here that the seriousness of a crime and the length of its punishment are not determined by how long it took the person to commit it. The same is true for Hell.</p>

<h2>2. All of his other accomplishments will even things out.</h2>

<p>Turner <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jun/07/brock-turner-statement-stanford-rape-case-campus-culture" target="_blank">argued</a> that receiving probation rather than a jail sentence would enable him to do a lot of good by teaching others to avoid the “drinking and partying college lifestyle.”&nbsp;But neither his past accomplishments as a student and a swimmer, nor his future good deeds, erase the justice due for his evil act. The same is true for our actions.</p>

<h2>3. It was the fault of his society.</h2>

<p>Turner <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jun/07/brock-turner-statement-stanford-rape-case-campus-culture" target="_blank">blamed the party culture</a> that led to his drinking, but the fact that others influenced him to commit an evil act does not lessen the objective evil of the act and the punishment it requires. Neither will the excuse “everyone was doing it”&nbsp;serve to lessen our punishment.</p>

<h2>4. The crime wasn’t bad enough to deserve a serious punishment.</h2>

<p>Turner lost his scholarship, job opportunities, and his chance to swim in the Olympics. Wasn’t that enough? Turner’s friend <a href="http://nymag.com/thecut/2016/06/brock-turners-friend-pens-letter-of-support.html" target="_blank">wrote</a>: “I think this is all a huge misunderstanding...This is completely different from a woman getting kidnapped and raped as she is walking to her car in a parking lot. That is a rapist. These are not rapists. These are idiot boys and girls having too much to drink and not being aware of their surroundings and having clouded judgment.”</p>

<p>I think anyone looking at this impartially can see that <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/07/opinions/stanford-rape-case-letter-robbins/" target="_blank">what happened was a serious evil</a>. Those close to Turner, however, are unable to see this. The same is true for our delusion about our own sins.</p>

<h2>5. Turner isn’t really bad like the other people who are in jail.</h2>

<p>The judge was <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jun/02/stanford-swimmer-sexual-assault-brock-allen-turner-palo-alto" target="_blank">concerned</a> that “a prison sentence would have a severe impact on him,”&nbsp;implying that Turner, unlike others who commit sexual assault, doesn’t belong there. Again, Turner’s friend <a href="http://nymag.com/thecut/2016/06/brock-turners-friend-pens-letter-of-support.html" target="_blank">wrote</a>, “Brock is such a sweetheart and a very smart kid...It’s pretty frustrating to see the light that people are putting him in now. It used to be ’swim star’&nbsp;and now it’s like he is the face of rape on campuses. It’s such a false way to put it...Brock is not a monster. He is the furthest thing from anything like that...”</p>

<p>Yet Turner <em>did</em> sexually assault someone. <a href="http://str.typepad.com/weblog/2015/08/the-seventh-planned-parenthood-video-ordinary-everyday-evil.html" target="_blank">Ordinary people are capable of great evil</a>, and evil actions come from bad people. The fact that a person is ordinary does nothing to mitigate the objective evil of his actions and the punishment those actions deserve. I suspect that those who know Brock Turner feared his receiving a level of punishment that would confirm the true seriousness of his crime because they know he’s <em>ordinary</em>. If he’s more like <em>us</em> than our image of a monster, then that means anyone can do evil - they can, you can, I can. And maybe that means we’re <em>all</em> bad.</p>

<p>People want this judge recalled <em>because he’s not a good judge</em>. He did not uphold justice. The arguments for leniency were not good ones, and now <a href="https://www.change.org/p/california-state-house-recall-judge-aaron-persky" target="_blank">people are angry</a> because Turner’s lack of punishment was an injustice and injustice is evil.</p>

<p>Why, then, do people make these same arguments against the rightness of Hell? It’s because we have as much interest in <a href="http://str.typepad.com/weblog/2016/01/why-you-shouldnt-trust-the-feeling-that-you-dont-deserve-hell.html" target="_blank">downplaying our sins</a> as Turner does. Justice is so much easier to see when we’re talking about someone else - just look at the difference in reaction between those who know and care about Brock and those who are impartial. Could it be that we, like Turner’s family and friends, are not seeing things clearly when it comes to our own guilt and what it deserves?</p>

<p>Would God be a good Judge if He indulged our argument that Hell is unjust because our crimes took a short amount of time to commit, because we’ve also done good, because everyone else was doing it, because we’re not really all that bad? No, He would not. And the outrage over this story reveals that we all know it. There is nothing but mockery for these arguments out there. And in the end, they will not hold up for us either.</p>

<p>And here is where Christians should stand amazed, because our sins, down to the very last bit of objective evil that we won’t even allow ourselves to see, received full and complete justice through Jesus <a href="http://www.ligonier.org/learn/conferences/the-gospel-2016-west-coast-conference/curse-us-death-christ/" target="_blank">on the cross</a>. He <em>chose</em> to take it for us. As frantically as we try to get out of our deserved punishment, He deliberately pressed into it. The thing we most fear, <em>He walked right into</em>. For us. Since we’re now joined to Him, everything He accomplished is credited to us. He stands in our place. We should stand amazed.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>[We] were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:3-7)</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Brock Turner’s reputation is ruined. His life as he’s known it is over. But he has the advantage over others of truly seeing the horror of his moral situation now, before it’s too late. I pray that his guilt and shattered life drives him to Christ, because unlike his previous judge, God is a <em>good</em> Judge, and in the end, there will be no protestations, no excuses, and no leniency. Christ, whose perfection requires no excuses or leniency, has volunteered to stand in our place, and He is our only hope.</p>
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title: When You Denigrate Objective Truth, This Is What You Get
topic: Philosophy
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 06/18/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/when-you-denigrate-objective-truth-this-is-what-you-get
content:
            <div> 
		<p>I can’t help but think the insanity we’re seeing in politics right now is what happens when a culture gives up the idea of objective truth. For years, postmodernists have argued against a modernistic view of truth (i.e., that it can be discovered, known, and argued for, even if imperfectly—and that, in this way, consensus can be found across varying communities), saying we should drop it because it leads to dangerous conflicts. But in a postmodern world of relativism, people don’t stop trying to promote their political, theological, and worldview positions; they just use power and propaganda rather than rational argument to do so.</p>

<p>Ten years ago (on a blog that’s now defunct), I wrote about the danger ahead of us:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Those who advocate the postmodern view that we construct our world through our language within our separate communities do so in part because they believe it will be a remedy for violence in the world. If we would only understand that our views are merely the views of our community and not representative of reality itself (i.e., if we didn’t have confidence that we had the “right”&nbsp;view), then (they believe) we would be humble about our views and just live and let live, not attempting to force those views on others through violence.</p>

<p>Here’s the irony, however: this view will, in the end, lead to <em>more</em> violence than we currently experience. Imagine a world where all people in all societies view the world in these postmodern terms, believing that all of their values and stories about the world (history, theology, etc.) are subjectively created through the languages of their particular communities. Further, communication of one’s beliefs to another who is part of a different community is not possible in any meaningful way because the separate communities (e.g., Christians and atheists) have different languages and have constructed different worlds for themselves. The only way for someone outside the community to enter in is to slowly learn the language and behavior of that new community.</p>

<p>Why do I say this will lead to violence? Currently, people from different communities (like Christians and atheists) debate and discuss their diverse ideas in an effort to promote what they consider to be the truth. But imagine what would happen if the whole world believed in the postmodern view described above. The problem begins with this: Even if people do not believe their view represents actual reality, being postmodernist does not automatically make people care less about the view they <em>prefer</em>. After all, postmodern philosophers and theologians prefer their views strongly enough to write many books trying to convince others to take on those views as well. The danger then comes because of the isolating effects of the postmodern view. Each community is trapped within the confines of its own language, and the people within are unable (or <em>believe</em> they are unable) to rationally communicate with those outside (who have very different languages) to persuade them that their view is a better one. That is what will lead to violence. In a world where postmodernism dominates and people live out the implications consistently, what is left when separate communities come into conflict and the members believe rational communication and persuasion is impossible? Only the international language of power remains.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>I’m not saying everyone has thought through what I said above. Ideas, and the behavior resulting from those ideas, work their way though a society even when most people have never thought through either the reasons behind their worldview or how that worldview connects with their behavior. This happens through institutions like our universities, which, as a result of ideas like those above, have shifted from being places where we search for truth together to places where we learn techniques to promote our particular tribe (including <a href="http://blog.equalrightsinstitute.com/conservatives-respond-disturbing-trend-campus-censorship/" target="_blank">shouting down</a> opponents, protecting ourselves <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/22/opinion/sunday/judith-shulevitz-hiding-from-scary-ideas.html" target="_blank">from hearing views</a> from outside our community, and <a href="https://stream.org/courage-face-persecution-robert-oscar-lopez-quits-tenure/" target="_blank">driving out</a> people who disagree with us).</p>

<p>I think this postmodern denigration of our ability to find a shared, objective truth through reasoned argument accounts for at least part of what we’re seeing play out now, from the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/06/03/ugly-bloody-scenes-in-san-jose-as-protesters-attack-trump-supporters-outside-rally/" target="_blank">violent rioting</a> against Trump supporters to the <a href="http://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/orlando-the-reichstag-fire/" target="_blank">frighteningly</a> demagogic <a href="https://stream.org/gay-muslim-terrorist-slaughters-gays-straight-christians-get-blamed/" target="_blank">propaganda</a> we’re <a href="http://thefederalist.com/2016/06/17/new-york-times-claims-romans-calls-for-execution-of-gays/" target="_blank">seeing</a> in the <a href="http://thefederalist.com/2016/06/15/the-new-york-times-cant-figure-out-the-orlando-terrorists-motive/" target="_blank">media</a>.</p>
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title: Sexuality, Identity, Sin, and Denying Ourselves to Follow Christ
topic: Sexuality and Gender
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 06/25/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/sexuality-identity-sin-and-denying-ourselves-to-follow-christ
content:
            <div> 
		<p>I highly recommend you watch “<a href="https://vimeo.com/166545553" target="_blank">You Are Not Your Sexuality</a>,”&nbsp;a talk by Sam Allberry (a <a href="http://store.str.org/SearchResults.asp?Search=is+god+anti-gay&amp;Submit=Search" target="_blank">Christian who has same-sex attractions</a>) on sexuality and identity. He has much to say that is relevant to everyone (not just those with same-sex attractions) and relevant to all temptations and sin (not just those related to sexuality). I hope you’ll watch the whole thing (see below), but I want to emphasize three of his key points here.</p>

<p>First, I imagine that many of you were as surprised as I was at how many people were unable to understand how Christians could speak against homosexuality <em>and</em> think the Orlando massacre was an atrocity. Part of the misunderstanding comes from this: Our culture sees sexuality as being fundamental to our identity; Christians do not. Allberry explains:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>The first thing we need to know is that our identity is in Christ...One of the big things our culture around us is saying at the moment is that you are your sexuality. Your sexual feelings define you. They are who you are at the core of your being. They are you at your most you. And because that is the common belief, as you all know, that means everyone’s sexuality has to be affirmed. If you don’t affirm someone’s sexuality, you’re effectively rejecting who they are at their deepest level...That is the unforgivable sin in our culture, and it is why non-affirming Christians are not just seen as wrong, not just seen as quaint, but increasingly, we’re seen as dangerous...</p>

<p>If you are your sexuality, then sexual fulfillment is key...Being sexually fulfilled is intrinsic to being complete as a human being, if you are your sexuality. And so it makes the stakes incredibly high. And actually, the real tragedy of that is that it means the world ends up saying, in effect, that a life without sexual satisfaction is not a life worth living. The church doesn’t say that (I hope), the Scriptures don’t say that, but our culture does...Jesus teaches us, and in His life He shows us, that sex and romantic fulfillment is not the key to making ourselves complete. Jesus was, after all, the most fully human and complete person who ever lived, and yet was celibate.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Second, when we’re tempted to grab something we haven’t been given by God (particularly in the case of sexual sin), it’s easy to tell ourselves the lie that we need to do so in order to be “who we really are.”&nbsp;Allberry points out that when we do this, we’re being the <em>opposite</em> of “who we really are”:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>I am not defined by my sin. I’m not defined by my temptations. I’m defined by who I am before God the Father in Jesus Christ...As I’m battling against those temptations, there are times I can hear a voice saying, “Sam, stop trying to be somebody else. This is who you are. Just accept it and run with it. This trying to be celibate and chaste, that’s just not you.”&nbsp;But actually, as I open the Bible, I realize that, actually, who I most truly, ultimately and fundamentally am is someone who is in Christ. And therefore, when I’m striving to be holy, when I’m striving to be Christlike, I’m not going against the grain of who I really am, I’m going with it. As someone who is in Christ, I am most being me when I am pursuing godliness, not when I’m pursuing sin.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Third, the Bible doesn’t teach that people who have same-sex attractions are in a separate category from everyone else. Jesus’&nbsp;<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark+8%3A34-35&amp;version=NASB" target="_blank">command</a>, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me,”&nbsp;applies to <a href="https://www.str.org/blog/gay-or-straight-we-all-must-decide-if-we-love-jesus-above-all-else" target="_blank"><em>everybody</em></a>.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>When Jesus says...“Repent”&nbsp;to everyone, Jesus is saying <em>all</em> of us are lined up the wrong way. All of us are oriented, spiritually, in the wrong direction...Jesus says <em>all</em> of us need to reorient our lives at the most deepest level, and therefore, for any of us, discipleship is going to be costly...There are things we’re going to have to turn around on that feel fundamental to who we are...</p>

<p>Denying yourself...is saying no to who you have thought you were all your life and saying yes to Jesus instead. That identity you have finessed and crafted over years has to be given over to Jesus. And friends, that is the case for all of us...If you think the gospel is just kind of slotted in neatly to your life, not really required any particular deep changes, I don’t think it’s the gospel of Jesus you’ve been receiving. And so if we’re tempted to think the gospel is unfair to same-sex attracted people, it may well be that we haven’t really counted the cost of discipleship in our own lives.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Watch the rest of the video below.</p>

<div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9" data-embed-id="166545553" data-styles="{&quot;width&quot;:&quot;100%&quot;}" style="width:100%"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="embed-responsive-item" frameborder="0" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/166545553?title=0&amp;byline=0&amp;portrait=0" tabindex="0"></iframe></div>

<p>(HT: <a href="https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/you-are-not-your-sexuality" target="_blank">Justin Taylor</a>)</p>
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title: The Back of the Book
topic: Philosophy
author: Melinda Penner
date: 06/10/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/the-back-of-the-book
content:
            <div> 
		<p>One of the tactics in <a href="http://store.str.org/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=BK316" target="_blank">Greg’s book</a> is “the back of the book.”&nbsp;Some people like to jump to the end of the book to find out how it ends before reading the whole thing. Sometimes you know the end of the story so you notice things about the narrative that you wouldn’t otherwise. Knowing the ending gives you some insight. Since God has created every one of us and He’s given us His manual for what we need to know, Christians have some insight that others may not have because they’re still running from God.</p>

<p>The definition of freedom running rampant in our culture is to follow our desires, satisfy our appetites. If freedom is to be protected, that means having the pursuit of those desires protected. Freedom used to be lack of interference by government; now it means intense government intervention in very private parts of life (e.g., who uses the bathrooms) because of this shift in definition.</p>

<p>As Christians, we already know that this isn’t freedom, it’s bondage. Bondage to sin. We’re not free if we’re driven by unrestrained desires and feelings. We’re not free if we are controlled by our sinful natures. But that is exactly what our culture is pursuing right now.</p>

<p>Since we know something about the Creator and what He’s told us about how He’s made us, we know that this pursuit will not satisfy. Sex outside of marriage will not ultimately satisfy because we’re created to be in lifelong union with one person. Adultery will not satisfy because it’s a violation of that union. Homosexuality and transgender affirmation will not satisfy because these are not how we are created. People in our culture are looking for fulfillment and satisfaction in ways that they cannot be found. With every legal victory affirming their desires and feelings, people in our culture expect to find what they’re looking for, but we know they won’t. They cannot because they’re looking for it in ways that are bound to fail. We know this as Christians because we found that out for ourselves. Even as Christians, we have to learn some hard lessons when we pursue what we should not.</p>

<p>So what we can expect is hurting and lost people even more hurting and lost. We need to graciously and compassionately speak the truth in love even while they don’t want to hear it. Along the way, some who were angry at us for saying what is true and good will come looking for answers to what they’re looking for when they realize they’re in bondage, not free.</p>

<p>Remember that we know something about them that they don’t even know. Instead of letting yourself think of them as enemies now because of the acrimony, see people who may come back to you at some point because they’ve finally realized what they’re pursuing can’t deliver what they’d hoped. They need freedom, but true freedom from sin. And that can only be found in forgiveness from and reconciliation with God.</p>
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title: We Should Respond as Jesus Taught Us To
topic: Christian Living
author: Melinda Penner
date: 06/15/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/we-should-respond-as-jesus-taught-us-to
content:
            <div> 
		<p>Pat Robertson made remarks that have people <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/pat-robertson-gays-islamists-are-allies-so-let-them-kill-themselves" target="_blank">up in arms</a>. He said, “The left is having a dilemma of major proportions [between <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXqpPgFZ9PE" target="_blank">two favored groups</a>], and I think, for those of us who disagree with some of their policies, the best thing to do is to sit on the sidelines and <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/jun/14/pat-robertson-let-left-kill-themselves-over-confli/" target="_blank">let them kill themselves</a>.”&nbsp;People are questioning whether the “them”&nbsp;is the left or gays and Muslims, and many are taking his words in the worst possible way to confirm the worst they think about Christians’&nbsp;feelings about LGBT people. Even in the best possible light, his comments are tone deaf in the wake of the Orlando shooting and inappropriate for a Christian in the media to say.</p>

<p>There’s a <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-pastor-praises-orlando-killings-video-sermon-20160614-snap-story.html" target="_blank">new story</a> that a pastor in Sacramento said that the people at the Orlando club got what they deserved because they were sodomites. No they didn’t. In the New Testament, homosexuality is listed along with a variety of other sins that pretty much everyone commits. So no single kind of sinner deserves to be murdered. And the Bible certainly doesn’t teach that gays are to be singled out for punishment in this world.</p>

<p>Jesus’&nbsp;teaching does not leave Christians the option to make flippant or cruel and uncaring remarks about others.</p>

<p>So let’s clarify what Jesus taught about Christians’&nbsp;feelings and attitude toward others. Jesus said to love and pray for those who differ with us. He made Christians ministers of reconciliation to the world, to lost people, appealing to them as though Jesus were appealing to them.</p>

<p>We cannot dismissively wish others harm.</p>

<p>The Gospel message that Jesus taught is that all of us are sinners, and those who have been reconciled to God already are to love those who are not yet reconciled and to offer them peace with God.</p>

<p>These two men have offered unbiblical responses. Let’s pray the Body of Christ as a larger whole responds as Jesus taught us to.</p>
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title: True Compassion Is Determined by the Mind, Not by Feelings
topic: Christian Living
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 06/23/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/true-compassion-is-determined-by-the-mind-not-by-feelings
content:
            <div> 
		<p>In an article titled “<a href="http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2016/06/17166/" target="_blank">Regret Isn’t Rare: The Dangerous Lie of Sex Change Surgery’s Success</a>,”&nbsp;Walt Heyer (who regrets his own sex change surgery) argues that our society needs to stop pushing surgery as the solution for those who are experiencing gender dysphoria.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Shortly after undergoing sex change surgery, most people report feeling better. Over time, however, the initial euphoria wears off. The distress returns, but this time it is exacerbated by having a body that is irrevocably molded to look like the opposite gender. That’s <a href="http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2015/04/14688/" target="_blank">what happened to me</a>, and that’s what <a href="http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2016/02/16376/" target="_blank">the people with regret who write to me</a> say happened to them.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Heyer goes on to tell the story of one man’s regret and to explain why our rush to treat gender dysphoria with sex change surgery is neither wise nor compassionate.</p>

<p>This reminds me of something I wrote several years ago:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Over the past couple of years I’ve had to learn the hard way that my strong feelings of compassion and empathy coupled with my desire to help people and make them happy can sometimes obscure the path of true compassion. I watched with horror as the actions of my emotion-driven “compassion”&nbsp;led only to greater harm to the friends I was trying to help. What was wrong? I was giving them what they said they needed. I couldn’t stand to see them suffer! I was confused and conflicted—I loved these people and wanted to help, but my short-term help was causing them long-term harm. When I finally accepted the fact that the truly compassionate thing to do was to withhold what these people were asking for, I had to do the most difficult thing I’ve ever done—I stopped giving it to them. I fought my feelings and forced myself to stand firm. I endured accusations of cruelty and lack of Christian charity. I withstood slander and gossip. I was rejected and berated. Believe me, it would have been much easier to give them what they wanted, and I certainly would have been happier about myself, but I desired to be truly compassionate to these people I loved—and that meant doing what was best for them, regardless of my feelings.</p>

<p>True compassion is not directed by a feeling. In fact, it may entail actions that cause our <em>feelings</em> of compassion to scream with protest. But, as I’ve said before, our emotions must submit to our minds. The impulse to be compassionate is good, but if we let our emotions determine the way we <em>carry out</em> that compassion, we will often be deceived. A careful examination of the long-term results of our actions is necessary to determine whether or not those actions are truly compassionate...</p>

<p>No doubt we’ll be called selfish and uncaring, and our own feelings may even condemn us. I know how difficult this is. All we can do is continue to remind ourselves that helping people in a real and lasting way is more important than satisfying and protecting our own feelings</p>
</blockquote>

<p>I wrote those words in a completely different context, but the principle applies everywhere—personal relationships, public policy, child-rearing, medicine, education, and on, and on. Sometimes the easy response of giving a person what he immediately desires, in the way he immediately wishes to receive it, is not the compassionate response.</p>

<p>Great misunderstandings are caused when people assume their policy preference is identical with compassion itself, and that a rejection of that policy equals a rejection of compassion. This assumption is false, and Heyer’s article is a perfect example of why. Many doctors <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=1&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=0CB0QFjAA&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticles%2Fpaul-mchugh-transgender-surgery-isnt-the-solution-1402615120&amp;ei=Z8SkU7HbCYXZoATV5YJA&amp;usg=AFQjCNH5GNdwoFfHxiOmmQ9aUkkXzZPRDA&amp;sig2=O6RjkN9TB1YN-87s3NZ6og" target="_blank">refuse</a> to do transgender surgeries not because they hate, but because they care about their patients’&nbsp;long-term well-being and want to practice responsible medicine. They are as compassionate as anyone on the other side, but their minds have led them to <a href="http://str.typepad.com/weblog/2015/02/how-to-help-transgender-children.html" target="_blank">express that compassion differently</a>. If people on the other side of this could give everyone the benefit of the doubt instead of jumping to a conclusion of “hate,”&nbsp;public discourse would be much better off.</p>
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title: First They Change the Definition, and Then They Claim the Right
topic: Sexuality and Gender
author: Melinda Penner
date: 06/11/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/first-they-change-the-definition-and-then-they-claim-the-right
content:
            <div> 
		<p>The other day, I retweeted <a href="https://twitter.com/bseagraves/status/738839874732711940" target="_blank">Brian Seagraves’&nbsp;tweet</a>: “The transgender community wants a right no one has had: the right to use a bathroom that doesn’t match your sex.”&nbsp;Someone replied that transgender people are just looking for the same right that everyone has already had—to use a bathroom that matches their gender identity.</p>

<p>This sleight of hand has been used before. Redefine marriage as a union of two people who love each other rather than as a lifelong union of one man and one woman. The sleight of hand is to change the terms of a right and then claim it or reapply it in a way that has never been thought of before. Like any trick, sometimes it’s easy to miss what happened. Christians sometimes don’t know how to respond because they missed the substitution.</p>

<p>The definition of marriage was usually not specified as a man and a woman, but that’s because it was taken for granted. It also took for granted one of each sex. But things began to change decades ago when people began to vow “as long as we both shall love.”&nbsp;The initial sleight of hand meant marriage wasn’t for life any longer. That was the first change of definition—to be able to end a marriage easily (at least legally; divorce is never easy). A few decades down the road, the change of definition allows the further substitution of definition for male and female and the number of people. Now we have rights no one has ever had even though they claim it’s equal rights. No one of the same sex and no group of more than two fit the definition of marriage. Change the definition, and then claim the right.</p>

<p>That’s what’s going on with transgender access to bathrooms. Bathroom use was never ever divvied up according to gender identity. Gender identity is a new category as distinct from sex. Bathrooms have been assigned to sex, not gender identity. Thus, literally and figuratively, the plumbing matters. But change the definition, and then claim the right.</p>

<p>Look, we can and should continue to point out the erroneous thinking and resist changes in the law that have no rational or ethical foundation. But since that isn’t currently having much affect in these policy changes, the main point of this post is to encourage you to not be duped to change your mind, even when you don’t quite notice the sleight of hand. Watch for it. But don’t be dissuaded in your convictions.</p>
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title: Romans Prescribes the Gospel, Not Execution
topic: Theology
author: Melinda Penner
date: 06/17/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/romans-prescribes-the-gospel-not-execution
content:
            <div> 
		<p>The <em><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/16/us/after-orlando-a-political-divide-on-gay-rights-still-stands.html" target="_blank">New York Times</a></em> claims that Romans 1 calls for the execution of gays. A Republican congressman read the passage at a committee hearing. I don’t know the congressman’s purpose, but it couldn’t be to call for the execution of gays because the passage doesn’t say that. And 2,000 years of Christian teaching has never taught that it does.</p>

<p>It tells us we’re <em>all</em> sinners deserving punishment, but the only execution referred to in Romans is <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans+3%3A21-26&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">that of Jesus</a>, who took the punishment Romans 1 is speaking of on behalf of sinners so that sinners can be reconciled to Him.</p>

<p>The relevant passage, <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans+1%3A18-32&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank">Romans 1:18-32</a>, begins: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.”&nbsp;<em>All ungodliness.</em> Romans isn’t singling out gays, though homosexuality is mentioned. So are many other sins:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>No one can read that passage and walk away scot-free because we’ve all committed at least some of those sins, and maybe all. Some of these sins are universally common—disobedient to parents—because Paul means to count every single one of us as sinners so that we will look to the Savior who won a pardon for us.</p>

<p>Matthew Henry’s commentary, a very mainstream study of Romans, <a href="http://www.christianity.com/bible/commentary.php?b=45&amp;c=1&amp;com=mhc" target="_blank">explains</a> that the wrath spoken of here is God’s focused on all sin. Christians identify themselves as the subjects of this passage because we are sinners. Paul’s point in writing this is to point to Jesus. Romans 3:21-25:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.</p>
</blockquote>

<p><em>There is no distinction. All</em> of us have fallen short. And whose actual death has offered redemption to make the spiritual death spoken of in Romans 1 unnecessary? Jesus.</p>

<p>Christians make no claims about sinners that we aren’t making of ourselves—and we aren’t calling for our own execution. Rather, we make the same appeal Paul makes here—to accept Jesus’&nbsp;sacrifice and be reconciled with God and receive spiritual life.</p>

<p>Sure, it’s understandable to get angry about an article like this. But that’s not constructive. It’s also grievous that the Gospel can be so misunderstood. A constructive response to this is to recommit ourselves to communicating the Gospel as clearly as we can and living in a way that commends the message and glorifies the Savior.</p>

<p>I was praying about it this morning, asking God that instead of turning ugly, this could actually be a new opening to the Gospel, as it comes under attack, that people will see what Christians have to say and we would be faithful and clear to tell them.</p>
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title: Why We Need to Go Back to Basics and Make a Case for Our Worldview
topic: Christian Living
author: Melinda Penner
date: 06/03/2016
source: https://www.str.org/w/why-we-need-to-go-back-to-basics-and-make-a-case-for-our-worldview
content:
            <div> 
		<p>I wrote a <a href="http://str.typepad.com/weblog/2016/05/were-meant-to-represent-our-king-in-this-foreign-land.html" target="_blank">brief post</a> a couple of weeks ago making the point that ambassadors are sent to foreign countries. It’s increasingly clear that where we sit in our own country, where we have grown up and lived, is becoming foreign territory. We haven’t moved, but the territory around us is foreign. But that’s exactly where ambassadors belong. God is giving us a clearer mission field without moving us. It’s a fairly obvious point, but one that has more significance week by week. Culture is changing fast, and it’s becoming more of a challenge to speak effectively to others about Christianity, and it’s only going to get more difficult. But that is our job as ambassadors.</p>

<p>We’ve had the luxury for generations of speaking to non-Christians who generally shared much of our worldview, at least on a basic level. We were speaking the same language and could understand each other. Much of the western world has moved far from a worldview that provides us some common ground about specific issues and challenges. Modern culture is marked by radical individualism, practical atheism (if not outright atheism), and new definitions for rights and tolerance that have us speaking past each other much of the time. We talk about rights and respecting one another, but we mean very different things.</p>

<p>As ambassadors, I think we’re going to find it more necessary to engage non-Christians in conversations at a worldview level along with specific challenges and questions. We’ll continue to answer challenges about same-sex marriage, abortion, and why Jesus is the only way to reconcile with God. But I think much of the current conversations going on in the public square demonstrate that we’re talking past each other because the answers we give don’t even make sense to someone with a different worldview. A worldview that elevates personal autonomy and determination above almost everything else. A worldview where humans are merely a more evolved animal. A worldview that sees the world and our place in it as a result of random chance with no meaning other than what we choose to give it. A worldview that has no objective fixed points of truth and morality.</p>

<p>So answering specific questions and objections will often make no sense to the other person. It doesn’t mean we stop conversing about those things, it means we find more effective ways to converse about them. And I think that’ll mean going back to the basics and making a case for a Biblical worldview. Does God exist, and why do we think He exists? Did He create the world and humans with a purpose? Is there objective meaning, truth, and morality in the universe? Are we creations of a good God who has a design for us? Did Jesus exist, and is He God? Is it possible God has revealed Himself in a book we can trust?</p>

<p>To engage a conversation about transgender bathroom access assumes a view of human beings, a view of human purpose and sexuality, the nature of rights and respect for individuals in the public square—to say the least. The reason Christians are seen as bigots who want to deny other people their rights (in addition to the fact that name calling is an easy way to dismiss us) is that we’ve got a worldview that has a view of humans, sexuality, and rights that has radically different ideas than the people who disagree with us. We’re essentially talking different languages, and very often we never get back to those fundamental worldview beliefs that help us understand one another. At the very least, it’s our obligation as ambassadors to do our best to make ourselves understood.</p>

<p>It’s very hard to make our case for traditional marriage to people who don’t believe in any fundamental design to being male and female, in sexuality and marriage, who think individual autonomy is the ultimate basis for rights. Appealing to others to submit their lives to God and honor Jesus as their Lord is very odd when they don’t recognize any authority other than their own. The cases we make for these ideas make more sense in the context of a worldview that grounds them. Helping someone understand that God exists and has created us with a purpose gives them a basis for understanding the Gospel. They may want to challenge us on same-sex marriage or evolution, but what they need to understand is a different worldview from their own.</p>

<p>I’m sure this isn’t a newsflash to most of you who read STR’s blog on a regular basis. But I think it’s helpful to get a broader perspective now and then because we’re often engaged in dialogue over the issues and can’t see the big picture. As a practical matter, I think we’re going to have to steer the conversation back to these fundamental questions of worldview. Answering specific questions and engaging individual issues may be more effective if we can go back to basics and make a case for our worldview. It may not be the specific question at hand, but answering that question won’t do much good unless we go a little deeper into our views of the world that ground all of those other issues.</p>

<p>This <a href="http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2016/05/17024/" target="_blank">article from Public Discourse</a> is a good example of understanding the very different ideas animating the specific views that are at odds. This is a philosophical analysis of the transgender bathroom disagreement. But it’s a worldview one, too, because the animating philosophies have to do with the nature of man and if God exists. It helps to understand where the other person’s ideas come from so that we can talk about those deeper beliefs. Sometimes it’s just ineffective to engage the individual challenges without going back to that starting point, the views and values that inform our thinking about everything.</p>

<p>We’re foreigners in this land. We speak a different language. We have a different perspective on the most fundamental ideas about the world. We haven’t changed, but the world has changed—a lot. And it’s changing faster than ever before. We’re going to have to explain those fundamentals to have any hope of showing the people we’ve been sent to that God exists and humans can only thrive and find true happiness when we are in relationship with Him through Jesus.</p>

<p>Kind of the good news in this is that you don’t always have to have the answers to 100 questions and challenges. You don’t have to feel ineffective when the issues get too wild you can’t even keep up. You can respond by asking someone, “Have you thought about this?” And move the conversation to one about God’s existence, or whether humans are designed for a purpose. You can master some good arguments for fundamental worldview issues and move the conversation to those. If someone objects that you’re changing the subject, you can tell them that this is really where the disagreement is, so it is relevant.</p>
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