We are blessed to have a TV show on every Sunday night at 6 p.m. EST (rebroadcast at 11 p.m. Pacific Time) on DirecTV Channel 378. The show is called I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist, which will be the main topic through the month of April 2008. After that, I’ll be preaching through the book of Romans verse by verse (with an apologetics emphasis of course). Click “TV Program” in the menu to the left to see the intro. If you’d like to order DVD’s of the show, click here.
The CrossExamined “I Don’t have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist” tour visited NC State’s Reynold’s Coliseum on Thursday night February 7. Over 1500 students attended the seminar which was hosted by Campus Crusade of NC State (http://clubs.ncsu.edu/crusade/). My thanks to Mike Mehaffie and his CC team for their tremendous work in making the event a success. The attendance far exceeded their expectations, and both Christians and non-Christians attended.
Despite the fact that 75% of Christians leave the church during college, many of them appear to have a hunger for answers about God and Christ. So do their atheist friends. If you are a supporter of ours, thank you for helping us bring answers to college campuses.
We are currently looking for a date to conduct Part 2 of “I Don’t have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist” at NC State, so stay tuned. If you would like to bring us to your particular campus, please contact us by clicking here.
Last week we launched our invasion of college campuses for the Spring with two major events at Olivet Nazarene University (ONU is a one-hundred-year-old Christian university about 80 miles south of Chicago, but it may be best known as the site for the Chicago Bears Training camp). I spoke to 1800 students and faculty at chapel in the morning and nearly 400 at a smaller venue that night.
Despite being a Christian school, there is a faculty member at ONU who has convinced many of the students to believe in evolution. I didn’t know that going in, but I sure stirred up a lot of controversy by making a strong scientific case for creation and intelligent design. Several questions during the Q & A period had to do with evolution. Afterwards, many of the students, and even some faculty members, expressed great relief to finally see compelling evidence for creation and intelligent design. One professor, who was visibly moved by the evidence, said, “Wow, you really expanded my understanding of God and his creation with the arguments you presented.” It’s always gratifying to affect the professors positively because they have an ongoing influence with the students.
If evolution has crept into even our Christian universities, you can only imagine what’s being taught at typical secular schools. It’s no wonder why 75% of our kids are leaving the church!
Two secular schools are next. We head to NC State on February 7th for an I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist seminar in Reynolds Coliseum from 8 to 9:30 p.m. The next day I’ll spend four hours taking questions, first from the Campus Crusade team and then from the students. A return visit to Appalachian State will happen Monday, February 25.
One more exciting note: our weekly one-hour TV show called I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist beings Sunday night, February 17 at 6 pm. on DirecTV Channel 378. Now, we don’t charge students for college events, and we pay to produce the TV show and the CrossExamined website. That’s why we’ll only be able to help our kids see the truth if you continue to support us both prayerfully and financially. Please pray as we again enter the lion’s den, and make a high-impact donation securely by selecting Donate on the left. Thank you for partnering with us!
Last week I was taking questions during an “I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist” seminar on the campus of Olivet Nazarene University. One question challenged the legitimacy of Christian Apologetics. It was half question, half critique and it went something like, “Why are you trying to prove Christianity? We just need to love one another!” It sounds like something from the “emergent church” people. Here is my response:
- It’s a false choice– we can and should do both. We ought to show people why Christianity is true and love them as well. The two are not mutually exclusive but complementary. In fact, the Bible tells us to do both, which is my second point . . .
- Christian apologetics is commanded. The greatest commandment contains both: “Love the Lord with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. And love your neighbor as yourself” (Mt. 22:37). 1 Pet. 3:15 tells us to “always be ready to give an answer but to do this with gentleness and respect.” Apologetics is not an option for Christians, and we don’t get brownie points for being stupid. We are commanded to know what we believe and why we believe it. We are commanded to “demolish arguments” and “take every thought captive to Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5).
- Atheists have their own apologetics. We’re losing 75% of our young adults from the church partially because they are the victims of atheistic apologetics in college. Christian apologetics needs to exist if for no other reason than to counter the false arguments that atheists and apologists from other worldviews are making– and they are making those claims aggressively. CrossExamined.org exists to counter those false claims with the truth.
- It works. While some people believe without knowing why, others need evidence before they can believe. I know several people, myself included, who came to faith through apologetics.
- There’s a difference between belief that and belief in. I am not suggesting that apologetics alone gets someone saved. But it does provide evidence that Christianity is true so people can put their trust in Christ. Knowing that Christ is savior is not the same as trusting in him. Even the demons know that Christ is savior but they don’t put their trust in him (James 2:19). Yet, both belief that and belief in are necessary.
- It equips you to be better ambassador. Even if you don’t sense a need for apologetics for your own edification, you may need it to edify others. We are called to be God’s ambassadors to minister to others. In fact, God makes his appeal through us (2 Cor. 5:20). We can’t answer the questions of others without apologetics. That’s why Paul tells us to study to show ourselves approved (2 Tim 2:15).
- It’s self-defeating to give an apologetic against apologetics. Why do people give me reasons to stop using reasons?