Let’s face it, we’ve all met Christians who turned out to be hypocrites. It can be real turn-off for people who might otherwise consider following Christ. #10 in the “That’s a Good Question” series of articles deals with this issue.

That’s a Good Question #10

“Why would I want to be a Christian when I see that many Christians are hypocrites?“

One of the biggest complaints that people make about Christians is that they are hypocrites. Maybe they have a Christian coworker who goes to church on Sunday but who cheats the boss at work during the week. Maybe they knew of a pastor who preached the gospel with passion but who was later caught in some scandal. Maybe they have a family member who is always talking to others about Jesus but who won’t talk to their own mother or father.  Or maybe they grew up in a church or Christian organization where hypocrisy seemed to be the norm. Many people see hypocrisy in followers of Christ, and decide that they want no part of their religion.

You may be surprised to learn that Jesus spent a lot of time talking about hypocrites, and He reserved some of His harshest words for them. If hypocrisy drives you crazy, then you would probably get along well with Jesus.

Chapter twenty three of Matthew’s gospel records Jesus’ stinging rebuke of the hypocrites of His day, as He condemns them for many of their worst qualities. They don’t practice what they preach. They love to be seen by others to be doing spiritual things. They major on the minors in others, but overlook major sins in themselves. They are concerned about outside appearances, but neglect deep spiritual matters of the heart.

We have all experienced hypocrisy at one time or another, and we usually don’t like it one bit. I think that Christians need to admit that we do not always practice what we preach.  When I talk with Christians in our community, most will freely admit that they do not always live up to God’s standards, and they have had times of hypocrisy. I include myself in this admission, for being a pastor doesn’t make me better than anyone else.

But while hypocrisy amongst Christians is real, I also know many Christians, who though they are not perfect, are seeking to live out their faith sincerely and humbly. They may not get noticed a lot as they quietly go about their daily lives, but they make our world a better place as they practice what they preach.

It is important to realize that Christians do not claim to be perfect, just forgiven. They do not claim to be sinless, but most do try to sin less, though they don’t always succeed. There is only one person who has ever lived the Christian life perfectly, and that person is Jesus. We need to trust in Him to forgive us and to save us from our sins. We also need trust Him to help us live according to God’s laws, for He is the only one who knows how to live life the way God intended.

Please don’t miss out on Jesus just because some of His followers are hypocrites. For the hypocrisy of His followers, as distasteful as it may be, does not change the truth about Jesus. In fact, in a strange and ironic way, the existence of hypocrisy supports the claims of Christianity, for human experience accurately reflects the truth of Jesus’ many words about hypocrisy.  The Bible is stubbornly candid about the reality of hypocrisy, but this reality is no reason to miss out on knowing the power of God at work in your life through Jesus Christ.

“That’s a Good Question” #9 deals with the question of Jesus’ divinity. I really enjoy this topic as there are some interesting lines of evidence to explore that point convincingly towards Jesus being God.

That’s a Good Question #9

“Jesus may have been a great prophet and teacher, but was He really God?“?

Jesus of Nazareth is perhaps the most well known person in history, and He is still very popular today. Many people today think highly of Jesus, even if they do not think highly of Christianity. They often believe that Jesus was a great prophet or a gifted teacher, but doubt that He was God.

Jesus lived on this earth for a little more than thirty years. He only devoted a few short years to His actual public ministry. Yet in this brief moment in time, Jesus changed the history of the world.  It should be noted that while some question whether or not He existed, there is really no reason to seriously doubt that He lived, as we have strong evidence from Christian and non-Christian sources, including one early creed that his often dated to within five years of His crucifixion.

Jesus certainly was a great prophet, having made several significant predictive prophecies that came true, including the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem which occurred in A.D. 70, and the restoration of the city of Jerusalem to Jewish control, which occurred in 1967.

He was also a powerful teacher. His famous Sermon on the Mount is still considered by many to set the standard for human ethics. His parables like the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son are well known and appreciated even by those who do not consider themselves to be Christians.

So Jesus was indeed a great prophet and a gifted teacher, but do we have good reasons to believe that He was truly God?

First, we should consider Jesus’ personal claims to be God. When He was on trial before the high priest, He was asked directly about His identity, and admitted that He was God.  At other times, He claimed to forgive sin, which is something that only God can do, and He claimed to have personal authority over God’s laws.  He called Himself the “Son of Man”, a title that refers back to the prophecy of Daniel, who saw a vision of a Son of Man who had dominion over the nations. On several occasions, those who heard Him responded with outrage, accusing Him of blasphemy – an indication they clearly understood that He was claiming to be God. In fact, His opponents wanted Him to be killed for making these claims.

Now it is one thing to claim to be God, and entirely another to back it up. But Jesus provided strong evidence to support His claims. We have already mentioned Jesus’ prophecies and teachings, and we could spend time recalling his miracles, but there is other evidence as well.

First of all, He uniquely fulfilled hundreds of ancient prophecies, which were made hundreds of years before He was born. We have ancient manuscripts today that are dated before Jesus’ birth, which show beyond a doubt that these predictive prophecies were not written after the fact. His birthplace, His death, details surrounding His death, His resurrection, and His family lineage were all prophesied before He was born. These are specific prophecies that are hard to fake!

Secondly, God raised Him from the dead. In a past article, we looked at historical reasons to believe in the resurrection, such as the empty tomb and the multiple independent eyewitnesses, most of whom suffered and died for their belief in Jesus.

Jesus backed up His claims to be God, and this has serious implications for all of us. For if Jesus is God, then His message is true, and every person needs to carefully consider their response to Him. So what do you think? How do you respond to Jesus?

Tim Strickland is Senior Pastor of the Prairie Tabernacle. Questions and comments are welcome and can be sent to questions4tim@prairietab.com

The 8th Article in the “That’s a Good Question” Series is called “Is Creation Consistent with Science?”  Of all the articles I wrote for the Three Hills Capital, this one seemed to “create” the  most controversy.  I find this subject to be fascinating and the more I study it, the more I find the evolutionist’s case to be very weak.  If you are interested in more information, there are a wealth of resources at Creation Ministries International. Anyways, here is the article, and as always, feel free to leave your comments below.

That’s a Good Question #8

Is Creation Consistent with Science?

In March of 2009, it was reported by the Globe and Mail that Canada’s Federal Minister of Science and Technology, Gary Goodyear, would not confirm if he believed in evolution (he later did). Much of the media went into a frenzy, shocked that a Science Minister might not believe in evolution, suggesting that he could not possibly serve effectively in his role if he were…(cue scary music)…a creationist.

Today, it is often assumed that creation and science are in contradiction with one another. But is this really true? Some of the great scientists of the past such as Galileo, Newton, and Kepler were young earth creationists. Faith in God has historically provided a solid foundation for doing good science, not a barrier.

In dealing with this subject, it is important to recognize the difference between operational science and historical science.

Operational science deals with repeatable observations in the present, and gives us wonderful things like computers, cars, medical advances and satellites. We see this type of science on display in a science center.  Does it really matter what a scientist, who developed the technology in your car, your computer or your iPhone, believes about origin of the universe?

Historical science, on the other hand, deals with unrepeatable events in the past. It is the kind of science we use when talk about the study of origins and it is often on display at a museum, such as the Royal Tyrell Museum in Drumheller. Historical science uses the same field data whether you are a creationist or an evolutionist, but the data is interpreted differently by each. Evolutionists see random natural processes at work, while creationists see divine purpose and design.

Evolutionists often say that the theory of evolution is a proven fact, and that creation should be dismissed out of hand. However there are major problems with the theory of evolution today that need to be considered.

First, evolution does not answer the question of how the universe began. The popular Big Bang theory teaches that the universe began out of nothing and continues to expand today. Note the phrase “began out of nothing”. Now that is a step of faith! For apart from an act of God, nothing produces nothing, every time.

Second, evolution has big problems with the fossil record. A century and a half has passed since Darwin, and despite the discovery of hundreds of millions of fossils, the transitional fossils required by evolution are virtually non-existent, and those few that do exist are often hotly disputed. Fossils consistently reveal fully formed plants and animals. To a creationist this is no surprise, for the Bible states that God’s creation reproduces after its own kind.

Third, evolution is faced with staggering mathematical impossibilities. For example, the odds of the correct ordering by chance of the DNA code required for life to begin are significantly less than 1 in 10^10,000. To put this in perspective, scientists consider any odds below 1 in 10⁵⁰ to be impossible. And it is estimated that there are 10⁸⁴ subatomic particles (incredibly small particles that make up the particles that make up atoms) in the entire universe. You would have a far better (albeit statistically impossible) chance of correctly picking a randomly selected subatomic particle from anywhere in the universe than of having the DNA code necessary for life to begin ordered correctly by chance. Creationists do not have these mathematical problems, for creationists believe that God designed the universe and created it.

So what do you think? Does Christianity contradict science? It seems to me that the contradictions are found in the theory of evolution, not in creation.

This is the 7th “That’s  a Good Question” article which recently appeared in the Three Hills Capital. The historicity of the resurrection is essential to Christianity, and I consider this article to be the most important piece of the series. As always, your comments are welcome!

That’s a Good Question #7

Is it reasonable to believe in the resurrection?

The resurrection of Jesus is the central miracle of the Bible. It is not an overstatement to say that Christianity rises or falls on the historicity of the resurrection.  The apostle Paul bluntly stated that “…if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.” If the resurrection didn’t really happen, then Christians are wasting their time (and I need to get a new job!).  But if the resurrection really happened, then Jesus is alive today and Christianity is proven true.

To consider if the resurrection really happened, I will list five statements about Jesus and the resurrection that are widely considered historical by scholars today, and consider their implications.

First, Jesus lived in ancient Israel in the first century, and second, Jesus died by crucifixion on a Roman cross. These are not particularly controversial statements even for skeptics of Christianity, any more than stating that Alexander the Great was a great ancient military leader in the fourth century BC, or that Augustine was a famous Christian theologian in the fourth century AD.

Third, Jesus’ tomb was found empty after His crucifixion. Even the earliest critics of the resurrection implicitly admitted that the tomb was empty, when they claimed that Jesus’ disciples had stolen His body, and most modern critics accept that the tomb was empty.

Fourth, Jesus’ apostles (and many others) believed that they saw Jesus alive after his crucifixion, on multiple occasions. They spent the rest of their lives preaching about Jesus and the resurrection, and many were killed for their witness. James, the brother of Jesus and Paul the apostle both turned from being skeptics before Jesus’ crucifixion to being leaders in the New Testament church, and also were eventually killed for their witness.

Fifth, the Christian church grew from nothing to spread across the Roman Empire in the first century AD.

These statements are accepted as historical by most scholars, whether liberal or conservative.  The historicity of Jesus’ resurrection would explain the empty tomb, the apostles’ firm belief that they had seen Jesus alive after His crucifixion, their willingness to die for their faith, and the rapid spread of Christianity.  But are there any alternate explanations?

One suggestion is that the resurrection was the result of legendary development. The problem with this idea is that the records of the resurrection are dated much too close to the event itself to have time to develop into a legend, and it does not explain the empty tomb, the many eyewitnesses who believed they saw Jesus alive, and who were willing to be killed for preaching about Him.

Another suggestion is that people who claimed to see the risen Jesus were hallucinating. But this explanation would require believing that large numbers of people hallucinated about the same thing, at the same time, on multiple occasions. Now that would be miraculous! Mass hallucination is not a credible explanation.

A popular solution proposed by many liberal scholars is to argue philosophically that miracles are impossible, so the resurrection did not happen.  It is ironic that Christians are often accused of having faith without reason, when it is in fact liberal scholars like these who have faith in their philosophical presuppositions and neglect to deal with actual evidence.

In summary, there is strong historical evidence to believe in the resurrection, and the best solutions proposed by skeptics are highly improbable, or simply make faith statements while ignoring the evidence. If the resurrection is true, then Christianity is true, and the call of Scripture to believe in Jesus Christ must be taken seriously.

I’ve been slacking a bit lately on my blog posts, and there have been a lot of apologetics related events going on in the past couple of weeks that I want to blog about:

Greg Koukl in Calgary

Joe Boot in Three Hills

Richard Fangrad in Three Hills

Hopefully I’ll catch up soon…

Stay tuned!

Here is the 6th “That’s  a Good Question” article which recently appeared in the Three Hills Capital.

That’s a Good Question #6

Did the Miracles of the Bible Really Happen?

The Bible describes some pretty amazing miracles from days long ago. Moses parts the Red Sea, Peter heals a lame man, and Jesus heals the sick, raises the dead, and even walks on water. But today many skeptics are questioning whether these miracles really happened. Let’s consider whether we can believe in the miracles of the Bible or not.

In the eighteenth century, philosopher David Hume ‘proved’ that miracles are impossible. Now by ‘proved’, I do not mean that he did some new historical research to show that the lame who walked really just had twisted ankles that got better naturally, or that he traveled back in time with a video camera (which itself would have been a miracle!) and found that Jesus was really using a transparent surfboard to ‘walk’ on the water.  What I mean by ‘proved’ is that he argued philosophically that miracles are impossible. He argued that miracles violate the laws of nature, and experience teaches us that the laws of nature cannot be violated. Even if someone claimed to have witnessed a miracle, their testimony should be discounted because it is far more likely that a miracle did not occur than that a miracle did occur. This argument effectively boils down to miracles being impossible because they are rare and improbable.

Despite the obvious weakness of Hume’s argument, it carried the day in his time and has influenced generations of scholars to this day. For example, the liberal Bible scholars of the popular Jesus Seminar, who often appear on television specials that attempt to discredit Christianity, ruled out the possibility of miracles without offering any evidence, in their book The Five Gospels. We would never accept this inferior level of scholarship in other fields, but when a scholar is trying to debunk the Bible, it seems that not only is it accepted, it even gets you on TV.

I like to call it the “That’s ridiculous” argument against miracles, because its only achievement is to teach people to say “That’s ridiculous” when confronted with a potential miracle, rather than investigating the claim. Following Hume’s logic we could disprove virtually any improbable occurrence that was not normally observed, miracle or otherwise. Wouldn’t it be better to actually investigate the evidence for specific miracles and see where it leads? If miracles are impossible as Hume and the Jesus Seminar claimed, then it should be easy to prove by investigating actual historical evidence.

In a previous article we looked how the existence of God credibly explains how the universe started, why there is such intricate design in the universe, where moral absolutes originate, and why millions of believers experience God in their lives.  If we can accept that God exists, then miracles are really not that hard to believe in, for walking on the water is easy for someone who created the water, and raising the dead is no problem for someone who created life.

The evidence for the credibility of the Bible is very strong, as we saw in last week’s article. And when we read the Bible we find that multiple, independent eyewitness accounts of miracles are recorded. Reports of Jesus from outside the Bible also speak of His miracles. And there is strong historical evidence for the resurrection of Jesus, the pivotal miracle of Christianity. If the resurrection is true, then miracles are true, and the credibility of other Biblical miracles is very strong. Now you might respond to this claim by saying “That’s ridiculous! Show me some proof!” And that’s fair enough—we will look at the evidence for the resurrection in detail next week.

This is the fifth “That’s a Good Question” article on Christian Apologetics, which appeared recently in the Three Hills Capital. As always, you are welcome to leave your comments below.

That’s a Good Question #5

Isn’t the Bible a human book full of contradictions and errors?

The Bible is the world’s all time best-selling book, with distribution numbering in the billions. Christians believe that it is the divine, inerrant Word of God, produced by human authors under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. But is this a credible claim? Is the Bible a reliable book? Or is it simply a human book full of errors and contradictions? Before we answer these questions, let’s do a brief overview of the Bible.

The Bible is a collection of sixty-six books: thirty-nine books in the Old Testament and twenty-seven books in the New Testament. These books were written over a period of about fifteen hundred years, from about 1450BC to 100AD, by forty different authors, on three continents. The authors came from all walks of life, and their professions include doctor, king, shepherd, government leader, fisherman, tax collector, and religious leader. Despite this great diversity of history, authorship and geography, the Bible displays unity in its story, message and teachings.  The central character in the Bible is Jesus Christ, with the Old Testament looking forward to Him and the New Testament announcing Him and describing how the message about Him spread.

The Bibles we read in English are modern translations from ancient Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic manuscripts which have been copied by hand from earlier copies. Since the originals no longer exist, some think that our translations are based on corrupted, unreliable copies. However the science of Textual Criticism actually shows the opposite to be true. Using techniques that are comparable to solving a giant jigsaw puzzle or working backwards through a giant maze to the beginning, textual scholars have been able to determine the original words with a high degree of accuracy. We have over fifty-seven hundred ancient manuscripts, with the earliest fragment (five verses from the gospel of John) dated within twenty-five to fifty years of the original. For comparison, the next best attested ancient writing is Homer’s Iliad, with only six hundred and forty-three manuscripts, and the earliest is dated five hundred years after the original.  For Plato we have just seven manuscripts, and the earliest is dated twelve hundred years after the original.

Archaeology has also provided good evidence for the reliability of Scripture. For example, the discovery of the Dead Seas Scrolls in 1948 revealed ancient Old Testament manuscripts dating from about 100BC, with some being one thousand years older than the next oldest manuscripts! Scholars found that the copying of the Old Testament over this one thousand year timeframe had been amazingly accurate. Of great significance was the finding of prophetic books such as Isaiah that contains accurate prophecies about Jesus, in manuscripts dated over one hundred years before His birth.

Moving from manuscripts to the actual content of the Bible, many contend that it is full of contradictions. In my own reading and study of the Bible, I have had questions and come across things that initially appeared to be contradictions. Sometimes I have been able to find a solution through further Bible study, prayer, and common sense. At other times I have used the work of scholars who have researched the question or alleged contradiction in detail.  Time after time, my confidence in the Bible has been justified as I have found good answers that give reasonable explanations.

Maybe you have questions about the Bible, or concerns about alleged contradictions. I encourage you to investigate your concerns, and if you would like some help finding answers, I welcome your questions. I think you will find that there are good answers, and that the Bible is indeed reliable. You may also discover the transforming power of God’s Word, and your life may never be the same.

Here is the fourth article in the “That’s a Good Question” series of articles that have appeared recently in the Three Hills Capital. There are a couple of minor changes from what originally appeared in the Capital.

That’s a Good Question #4

Don’t all religions basically say the same thing?

It has become popular to say that all religions basically say the same thing, or to put it another way, that all roads lead to God. However, even a casual study of the major world religions shows them to have far more differences than similarities. Consider just a few examples:

Regarding God: Christians believe in one God who is a Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Muslims believe in one God who is not a Trinity. Hindus believe the one ultimate God is revealed in millions of gods. Buddhists do not generally believe in God.

Regarding Jesus: Christians believe Jesus is God’s Son and the promised Messiah. Jews do not accept Jesus as the Messiah. Muslims believe Jesus was a prophet but not divine. Many Buddhists think Jesus was a Buddhist.

Regarding salvation: Christians believe in salvation through trusting in Jesus Christ. Muslims hope for salvation through submitting to Allah. Hindus hope to eventually become one with God, though it requires being reincarnated many times to finally make it. Buddhists are seeking enlightenment.

I could go on, but you get the idea. World religions differ dramatically in their essential teachings. It is really not fair to any of these religions to say they are basically the same when so plainly they are not. So why do many people say it anyways?

One reason is the overlap in some ethical teachings. For example, murder, lying, theft and drunkenness are generally frowned upon by all world religions. But many atheists also uphold these moral values, and I doubt they would think this proves that they believe the same thing as a Christian or a Hindu!

Another reason is a concern that different religions are a source of conflict in the world. It is thought that if everyone would just say their religions are basically the same, there would be no need for religious conflict. The problem with this idea is that millions of people do not think their religions are basically the same, with good reason as mentioned above, and such an idea would have to be imposed on people against their will. This would certainly cause more religious conflict, not reduce it.

Another reason is that many people think it is arrogant for any one religion to claim to have absolute truth. However, as we saw in a previous article in this series, it is only arrogant to make such claims if it is done without evidence. The humble approach is to investigate the evidence and follow it where it leads.

The biggest differences between Christianity and other world religions are found in the nature of Jesus and the way of salvation.  Other religions have great leaders, but they are not comparable to Jesus. Moses, Mohammed, and Buddha never claimed to be God, and all are now dead.  Jesus claimed to be God, and proved His case by rising from the dead (We will investigate the historicity of the resurrection in a future article). Most religions are about people reaching up for the divine by working their way to God or enlightenment. Christianity is about God reaching down to us and doing the work for us, through Jesus Christ. Our role is to trust in Jesus’ work on our behalf, not to try and earn God’s favour.

Let me conclude by making the Christian call for gentleness and respect in our engagement of people of different religions. We can hold to different beliefs and still be decent to one another.  As the Jewish prophet Zechariah wrote: “Therefore love truth and peace”.

Here is my third Christian Apologetics article , which appeared last month in the Three Hills Capital newspaper. Feel free to add you comments below.

That’s a Good Question #3

Why would a good God allow suffering?

It must be admitted that this is perhaps the toughest question we can ask about God and Christianity. Suffering is real in this world, and it touches us all personally in one way or another. This subject is too great to be covered in one short article, but I hope these brief words below will encourage you in the pain you may face, and challenge you to be part of God’s answer to the question of suffering in comforting and helping those in need.

There are many different causes of suffering in our world today, and it must be noted that there are some problems that we actually do have the ability to solve. For example, we recognize that many people in this world are suffering from malnutrition or lack of food. We also recognize that there is enough food in the world to feed them.  The problem is not the world’s food supply, but that the people don’t get the food, maybe due to political corruption, maybe due to human greed, or maybe due to other human failings. We could tell similar stories about diseases for which we have the cure, yet people suffer due to medicine being unavailable to them, even though the costs would be minimal.  We could add to this list many wars of pride and ambition, many accidents caused by our own negligence, and even some sicknesses that result from our own poor health choices.  Is it fair to lay the blame solely on God, when we have responsibility in matters like these?

However, there is much suffering where individuals are innocent bystanders. For the workers who died in the World Trade Center back in 2001, for the families who were ripped apart by the tsunami in 2004, or when a loved one dies prematurely, we are left wondering how a good God could allow this to happen.

The Christian message is that God sent His Son Jesus into the world to face terrible suffering and death by crucifixion, placing suffering at the heart of Christianity.  Jesus suffered despite having done no wrong, and despite being God in the flesh. While we may not understand the suffering we face, we can be comforted in knowing that God did not exempt Jesus from suffering, and that Jesus understands our pain in a personal way. As happened with Jesus, God can use suffering for a greater good, which is not always clear at the time. His purposes are greater than ours, yet often hidden from us, until we look back and see that things did indeed work out for a greater purpose.

As a pastor I have the privilege of walking with families in the most difficult circumstances. I have found over and over, that when there are no human answers, Jesus is enough. I have seen families face death and pain with a peace and deep comfort that can only be understood in light of Jesus.

We do not have all the answers right now to the question of suffering, but we do have the promise that God cares and will one day make our world new, without pain, suffering and death. In His goodness, God invites us to be His agents of healing in a suffering world and to trust Him not only in our joys, but in our sufferings. He has given us Jesus, who is the answer to suffering, when no other answer makes sense.

Here is my second Christian Apologetics article , which appeared last month in the Three Hills Capital newspaper. As always, your comments are welcome below.

That’s a Good Question #2

How can a thinking person believe in God in our day and age?

Pollsters tell us that the fastest growing group in our society with regards to religion is ‘no religious affiliation’. At an increasing rate, people are choosing to believe that unbelief is the best choice. Books by celebrity atheist writers like Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris have even topped the best seller charts. I read Harris’ Letter to a Christian Nation, and could not miss the dogmatic religious fervor he displays in his attack on religion and support for atheism.

So are there any good reasons for a thinking person to believe in God today? I think there are several.

The first reason is that we are all here.  Something doesn’t come from nothing, so we had to come from somewhere. Even those who hold to the Big Bang Theory to explain the beginnings of the universe have no idea who did the banging. The Biblical description of God as the Creator answers the question of where it all started.

The second reason is the overwhelming evidence of design in our universe. Whether it is the encyclopedic information contained in our DNA, the astounding machinery of even a simple cell, or the precise, delicate balance of multiple mathematical variables that allow life to exist on earth, our universe is filled with evidence of design. Some years ago, scientists built radio telescopes that point into space, searching for intelligent life from another planet (as portrayed in the film “Contact” starring Jodie Foster). They were looking for a radio signal from space that shows non-random patterns, because this would point to intelligent life.  Yet our whole universe is filled with complicated designs and vast quantities of organized information, that beg the question, “Who is the Designer?”  The designer must be a great and powerful being, which perfectly fits the Biblical description of God.

The third reason arises from the existence of absolute moral laws.  Even in our age of moral relativity, there are still certain things that are universally considered wrong, with no room for debate. For example, when we encounter racism, rape, or murder, we recognize them as being absolutely wrong. Are they wrong because a majority of people think so, or would they be wrong even if a majority thought they were OK? The answer is that racism, rape, and murder are intrinsically wrong, in and of themselves, independent of anyone’s opinion. The question then must be asked, “Where do these moral laws come from?” The best answer is that moral laws come from a moral law giver.  The description of the God of the Bible as a moral law giver explains the source of moral laws.

There is one last reason that I will mention. It is admittedly more subjective, but at the same time it can be plainly observed around the world. Today there are hundreds of millions, even billions of people, who would acknowledge some experience of the Divine. They acknowledge that humans are spiritual beings and they claim to have felt the touch of God in their lives. Maybe they are all hallucinating, or maybe someone spiked their coffee, but I think the best explanation is that many have actually experienced the reality of God in their lives.

So for these reasons, I think it is reasonable for a thinking person to believe in God. What do you think? I welcome your feedback at the address below. Next week we will look at one of the toughest questions we can ask: “Why would a good God allow suffering?”