By Ryan Leasure
If you’re from an Appalachian church that handles snakes, I’m sorry to disappoint you. This is not THAT kind of post. Instead, it’s a post about how the Bible portrays vipers, snakes, and dragons. What’s more, it’s about how a mighty warrior defeats a snake to rescue his precious bride. If this story sounds familiar, it’s because many great children’s stories of the past tell these same kinds of stories.
You see, the Bible presents three main characters: [1] 1) the serpent (the villain, Satan), 2) the damsel in distress (God’s people), and 3) the snake catcher (the hero, Jesus).
It should be noted that “Serpent” is a biblical term that includes both snakes and dragons [2] ; that is, serpent is a general category, while snakes and dragons are more specific. It should also be noted that the ancients did not think of dragons as winged, fire-breathing creatures. Rather, they thought of them as giant serpents. Throughout the Bible, snakes take one form or another depending on the situation. Biblical scholar Andrew Naselli notes, “As a rule, the form a serpent takes depends on its strategy. When a serpent in scripture attempts to deceive, it is a viper. When a serpent attempts to devour, it is a dragon” [3] .
With these anecdotes in mind, let’s start at the beginning.
The snake in the garden
The beginning was pure bliss. A perfect, holy God decided to share his goodness and created a universe ex nihilo . Like jewels in a crown in God’s creation, humans walked in fellowship with him in the garden. However, they let down their guard and allowed the serpent to enter. Genesis 3:1 notes, “Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made.”
Cunning (or deceit) perfectly describes this serpent, as he immediately questioned Eve, “Did God really say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?” Notice the serpent’s tactic. He called God’s Word into question. He planted doubt in the woman’s mind so that she would begin to consider alternative options. As soon as the woman said that eating from the tree in the middle of the garden would lead to death, the serpent went on to contradict God’s Word completely. He declared, “you will not surely die.” And then he called God’s motives into question. “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
The serpent was successful. Eve ate the fruit, gave some to Adam, and he ate too. And immediately everything changed. Their innocence was lost, and they knew they were naked. Because of their shame, they tried to hide from God, but it was no use. God confronted them for their disobedience. Adam blamed Eve, and Eve blamed the serpent. She commented in 3:13, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” As a result, God banished them from His holy presence, where they would live in exile. Now let us remember that when the serpent takes the form of a viper, its primary tactic is to deceive. And this is what it has done.
However, God did not allow the serpent to have the final say. He judged the serpent and promised to one day destroy him when He stated, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Gen. 3:15). The rest of Scripture traces the ongoing battle waged between the seed of the woman (God’s people) and the seed of the serpent (enemies of God and His people). Ultimately, the unique seed of the woman (Gal. 3:16) will utterly destroy the serpent, even though the serpent wounds him in the process.
Snakes portrayed negatively
Before we look at some examples of the serpent’s seed fighting against the woman’s seed, I simply want to draw our attention to the fact that serpents are associated with evil throughout Scripture.
Let us consider the following texts:
The wicked are led astray from the womb; those who speak lies go astray from their birth. They have poison like the poison of a serpent; they are like a deaf cobra that closes its ear and does not hear the voice of enchanters, not even the most skilled enchanter (Psalm 58:3-5).
They sharpen their tongue like a serpent; the venom of a viper is under their lips (Psalm 140:3).
Snakes often symbolize God’s enemies:
The nations will see and be ashamed of all their power; they will put their hands over their mouths, their ears will be deaf. They will lick the dust like a serpent, like the creeping things of the earth. They will tremble from their strongholds; they will come to the Lord our God in terror, and they will be afraid before you (Micah 7:16-17).
The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name.” And Jesus said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. See, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will hurt you” (Luke 10:17-19).
As mentioned above, the serpent takes the form of a dragon when it wants to destroy. The following texts describe the dragon as a sea monster called Leviathan and Rahab.
On that day the Lord will punish with his fierce, great and powerful sword, Leviathan, the fleeting serpent, Leviathan, the crooked serpent, and he will kill the dragon that lives in the sea (Isaiah 27:1).
He has stirred up the sea by his power, and broken Rahab by his understanding. With his breath the heavens are cleansed; his hand has pierced the fleeing serpent (Job 26:12-13).
See also Job 41, which describes God’s sovereignty over the monstrous sea serpent Leviathan.
The Egyptian Serpent
The story of Scripture presents the seed of the serpent (God’s enemies) in conflict with the seed of the woman (God’s people). Perhaps the clearest example of the seed of the serpent is Egypt and its Pharaoh. The Lord tells Pharaoh in Ezekiel 32:2, “You are like a dragon in the seas.” Recall that the dragon seeks to destroy the seed of the woman, and this is what he set out to do when he ordered the death of all Israelite baby boys (Exodus 1:15-22).
One also thinks of the episode in which Aaron’s staff turned into a serpent and swallowed the staffs/serpents of Pharaoh’s magicians (Ex 7:8-13). Most likely, Aaron’s staff turned into a cobra, which also figured on the Pharaoh’s headdress. This headdress symbolized divine power and protection and was fashioned after an Egyptian goddess named Uraeus. By wearing the cobra headdress, the Pharaoh could channel the powers of the deity.
Thus, “when Moses had Aaron cast the serpent-rod before Pharaoh,” archaeologist John Currid argues, “he was directly attacking that symbol of pharaonic sovereignty: the scene was a polemical mockery. When Aaron’s rod swallowed up the rods of the Egyptian magicians, the pharaonic deity and his omnipotence were being denounced and rejected out of hand. Pharaoh’s cobra-crested diadem was powerless against Yahweh . ” [4]
Reflecting on the exodus from Egypt, the biblical authors saw it as a victory over the serpent. Psalm 74:12-14 states:
Yet God is my King from of old, doing works of salvation in the midst of the earth. You divided the sea by your power; you broke the heads of the monsters in the waters. You crushed the heads of Leviathan; you gave him as food to those who dwell in the desert.
Although final victory still awaited, God was already foreshadowing how He would one day crush the serpent’s head.
Goliath, the serpent
One of the best-known stories in the Old Testament is that of David’s defeat of Goliath. This story presents Goliath as a giant serpent seeking to devour the woman’s seed. We know this because, as 1 Samuel 17:5 makes clear, Goliath “was clothed in scale armor” (JBS and NIV). While some translations simply translate this as “a coat of mail” (NASB), the more literal translation is “armor of scales.”
The Hebrew word for “scales” appears seven other times in the Old Testament, and each time it refers to the scales of fish—including sea dragons. [5] Notably, God also calls Pharaoh a “great dragon” with “scales” in Ezekiel 29:3-4. Pharaoh and Goliath are the only two characters in the Bible who are said to have “scales.”
In the account given in 1 Samuel 17, David proclaims that the battle is the LORD’s and then proceeds to drive a stone into the forehead of the giant serpent, which falls face downwards to the ground, eating dust like the ancient serpent (Gen 3:14). Once again, God foreshadows how He will crush the serpent’s head and free His people.
The serpent in the Gospels
We find several examples where the serpent’s seed attempts to destroy the woman’s seed. Like the ancient Pharaoh, King Herod tried to kill all the children of Bethlehem in an attempt to kill the unique seed of the woman (Matthew 2:16-18).
Repeatedly, we find the Pharisees and Sadducees portrayed as the seed of the serpent. Jesus tells them, “You are of your father the devil” (John 8:44). When John the Baptist saw them coming from afar, he cried out, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance; and do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father’” (Mt 3:7-9). Likewise, Jesus cries out to the Pharisees in Matthew 23, “You serpents! You brood of vipers! How will you escape the judgment of hell?” In short, the Pharisees and Sadducees are the seed of the serpent making war on the seed of the woman.
The dragon is killed
We complete this discussion by going all the way to the end, where the book of Revelation proclaims the final destruction of the serpent. Revelation 12:3-5 states:
Then another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. His tail swept a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. Then the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she was born he might devour her child. And she gave birth to a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. And her child was caught up to God and to his throne .
Here we read that this powerful dragon, thirsty for blood, seeks to devour the seed of the woman. However, God frees the seed from his persecutions.
Revelation 12:7-9 continues:
Then there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought, but they were not victorious, and a place was no longer found for them in heaven. Then the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
Note that the dragon is none other than Satan himself, that old serpent and deceiver of the whole world. And he is defeated, but how? Did the archangel Michael destroy the dragon alone?
Revelation 12:11 states:
They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; and they did not love their lives so much as to suffer death.
Satan was finally defeated by the blood of the Lamb! It was Jesus Christ who conquered Satan. That moment on the cross, when it seemed that the serpent would prevail, his head was crushed by the seed of the woman (Gen 3:15).
Fast forward to Revelation 20, just after the Millennium, and we read in verse 10:
And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
Finally, the mighty snake-catcher defeated the ancient snake and rescued his bride so that she could no longer be deceived or devoured. Or to put it another way, the prince killed the dragon and had his girl. [6]
Grades
[1] Andrew Naselli, The Serpent, and the Serpent Slayer, 18.
[2] Ibid., 18.
[3] Ibid., 18.
[4] John Currid, Ancient Egypt, 93-94.
[5] Andrew Naselli, The Serpent, and the Serpent Slayer, 90.
[6] Ibid., 15.
Recommended resources in Spanish:
Stealing from God ( Paperback ), ( Teacher Study Guide ), and ( Student Study Guide ) by Dr. Frank Turek
Why I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist ( Complete DVD Series ), ( Teacher’s Workbook ), and ( Student’s Handbook ) by Dr. Frank Turek
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Ryan Leasure holds a Master of Arts degree from Furman University and a Master of Divinity degree from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is currently a Doctor of Ministry candidate at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He also serves as pastor at Grace Bible Church in Moore, SC.
Original Blog Source: https://bit.ly/34fxPZ2
Translated by Monica Pirateque
Edited by Daniela Checa Delgado
Serpientes, dragones y la Biblia
EspañolBy Ryan Leasure
If you’re from an Appalachian church that handles snakes, I’m sorry to disappoint you. This is not THAT kind of post. Instead, it’s a post about how the Bible portrays vipers, snakes, and dragons. What’s more, it’s about how a mighty warrior defeats a snake to rescue his precious bride. If this story sounds familiar, it’s because many great children’s stories of the past tell these same kinds of stories.
You see, the Bible presents three main characters: [1] 1) the serpent (the villain, Satan), 2) the damsel in distress (God’s people), and 3) the snake catcher (the hero, Jesus).
It should be noted that “Serpent” is a biblical term that includes both snakes and dragons [2] ; that is, serpent is a general category, while snakes and dragons are more specific. It should also be noted that the ancients did not think of dragons as winged, fire-breathing creatures. Rather, they thought of them as giant serpents. Throughout the Bible, snakes take one form or another depending on the situation. Biblical scholar Andrew Naselli notes, “As a rule, the form a serpent takes depends on its strategy. When a serpent in scripture attempts to deceive, it is a viper. When a serpent attempts to devour, it is a dragon” [3] .
With these anecdotes in mind, let’s start at the beginning.
The snake in the garden
The beginning was pure bliss. A perfect, holy God decided to share his goodness and created a universe ex nihilo . Like jewels in a crown in God’s creation, humans walked in fellowship with him in the garden. However, they let down their guard and allowed the serpent to enter. Genesis 3:1 notes, “Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made.”
Cunning (or deceit) perfectly describes this serpent, as he immediately questioned Eve, “Did God really say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?” Notice the serpent’s tactic. He called God’s Word into question. He planted doubt in the woman’s mind so that she would begin to consider alternative options. As soon as the woman said that eating from the tree in the middle of the garden would lead to death, the serpent went on to contradict God’s Word completely. He declared, “you will not surely die.” And then he called God’s motives into question. “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
The serpent was successful. Eve ate the fruit, gave some to Adam, and he ate too. And immediately everything changed. Their innocence was lost, and they knew they were naked. Because of their shame, they tried to hide from God, but it was no use. God confronted them for their disobedience. Adam blamed Eve, and Eve blamed the serpent. She commented in 3:13, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” As a result, God banished them from His holy presence, where they would live in exile. Now let us remember that when the serpent takes the form of a viper, its primary tactic is to deceive. And this is what it has done.
However, God did not allow the serpent to have the final say. He judged the serpent and promised to one day destroy him when He stated, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Gen. 3:15). The rest of Scripture traces the ongoing battle waged between the seed of the woman (God’s people) and the seed of the serpent (enemies of God and His people). Ultimately, the unique seed of the woman (Gal. 3:16) will utterly destroy the serpent, even though the serpent wounds him in the process.
Snakes portrayed negatively
Before we look at some examples of the serpent’s seed fighting against the woman’s seed, I simply want to draw our attention to the fact that serpents are associated with evil throughout Scripture.
Let us consider the following texts:
Snakes often symbolize God’s enemies:
As mentioned above, the serpent takes the form of a dragon when it wants to destroy. The following texts describe the dragon as a sea monster called Leviathan and Rahab.
See also Job 41, which describes God’s sovereignty over the monstrous sea serpent Leviathan.
The Egyptian Serpent
The story of Scripture presents the seed of the serpent (God’s enemies) in conflict with the seed of the woman (God’s people). Perhaps the clearest example of the seed of the serpent is Egypt and its Pharaoh. The Lord tells Pharaoh in Ezekiel 32:2, “You are like a dragon in the seas.” Recall that the dragon seeks to destroy the seed of the woman, and this is what he set out to do when he ordered the death of all Israelite baby boys (Exodus 1:15-22).
One also thinks of the episode in which Aaron’s staff turned into a serpent and swallowed the staffs/serpents of Pharaoh’s magicians (Ex 7:8-13). Most likely, Aaron’s staff turned into a cobra, which also figured on the Pharaoh’s headdress. This headdress symbolized divine power and protection and was fashioned after an Egyptian goddess named Uraeus. By wearing the cobra headdress, the Pharaoh could channel the powers of the deity.
Thus, “when Moses had Aaron cast the serpent-rod before Pharaoh,” archaeologist John Currid argues, “he was directly attacking that symbol of pharaonic sovereignty: the scene was a polemical mockery. When Aaron’s rod swallowed up the rods of the Egyptian magicians, the pharaonic deity and his omnipotence were being denounced and rejected out of hand. Pharaoh’s cobra-crested diadem was powerless against Yahweh . ” [4]
Reflecting on the exodus from Egypt, the biblical authors saw it as a victory over the serpent. Psalm 74:12-14 states:
Although final victory still awaited, God was already foreshadowing how He would one day crush the serpent’s head.
Goliath, the serpent
One of the best-known stories in the Old Testament is that of David’s defeat of Goliath. This story presents Goliath as a giant serpent seeking to devour the woman’s seed. We know this because, as 1 Samuel 17:5 makes clear, Goliath “was clothed in scale armor” (JBS and NIV). While some translations simply translate this as “a coat of mail” (NASB), the more literal translation is “armor of scales.”
The Hebrew word for “scales” appears seven other times in the Old Testament, and each time it refers to the scales of fish—including sea dragons. [5] Notably, God also calls Pharaoh a “great dragon” with “scales” in Ezekiel 29:3-4. Pharaoh and Goliath are the only two characters in the Bible who are said to have “scales.”
In the account given in 1 Samuel 17, David proclaims that the battle is the LORD’s and then proceeds to drive a stone into the forehead of the giant serpent, which falls face downwards to the ground, eating dust like the ancient serpent (Gen 3:14). Once again, God foreshadows how He will crush the serpent’s head and free His people.
The serpent in the Gospels
We find several examples where the serpent’s seed attempts to destroy the woman’s seed. Like the ancient Pharaoh, King Herod tried to kill all the children of Bethlehem in an attempt to kill the unique seed of the woman (Matthew 2:16-18).
Repeatedly, we find the Pharisees and Sadducees portrayed as the seed of the serpent. Jesus tells them, “You are of your father the devil” (John 8:44). When John the Baptist saw them coming from afar, he cried out, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance; and do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father’” (Mt 3:7-9). Likewise, Jesus cries out to the Pharisees in Matthew 23, “You serpents! You brood of vipers! How will you escape the judgment of hell?” In short, the Pharisees and Sadducees are the seed of the serpent making war on the seed of the woman.
The dragon is killed
We complete this discussion by going all the way to the end, where the book of Revelation proclaims the final destruction of the serpent. Revelation 12:3-5 states:
Here we read that this powerful dragon, thirsty for blood, seeks to devour the seed of the woman. However, God frees the seed from his persecutions.
Revelation 12:7-9 continues:
Note that the dragon is none other than Satan himself, that old serpent and deceiver of the whole world. And he is defeated, but how? Did the archangel Michael destroy the dragon alone?
Revelation 12:11 states:
Satan was finally defeated by the blood of the Lamb! It was Jesus Christ who conquered Satan. That moment on the cross, when it seemed that the serpent would prevail, his head was crushed by the seed of the woman (Gen 3:15).
Fast forward to Revelation 20, just after the Millennium, and we read in verse 10:
Finally, the mighty snake-catcher defeated the ancient snake and rescued his bride so that she could no longer be deceived or devoured. Or to put it another way, the prince killed the dragon and had his girl. [6]
Grades
[1] Andrew Naselli, The Serpent, and the Serpent Slayer, 18.
[2] Ibid., 18.
[3] Ibid., 18.
[4] John Currid, Ancient Egypt, 93-94.
[5] Andrew Naselli, The Serpent, and the Serpent Slayer, 90.
[6] Ibid., 15.
Recommended resources in Spanish:
Stealing from God ( Paperback ), ( Teacher Study Guide ), and ( Student Study Guide ) by Dr. Frank Turek
Why I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist ( Complete DVD Series ), ( Teacher’s Workbook ), and ( Student’s Handbook ) by Dr. Frank Turek
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Ryan Leasure holds a Master of Arts degree from Furman University and a Master of Divinity degree from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is currently a Doctor of Ministry candidate at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He also serves as pastor at Grace Bible Church in Moore, SC.
Original Blog Source: https://bit.ly/34fxPZ2
Translated by Monica Pirateque
Edited by Daniela Checa Delgado
3 Practical Steps to Help Build Your Kids’ Immunity to Anti-Christian Ideas
Apologetics for ParentsBy Alisa Childers
When my daughter Dyllan was a toddler, I exercised quite regularly at the YMCA. (And by “exercised,” I mean that I read a book on the stationary bike and pedaled as slowly as possible while I enjoyed an hour of free childcare. Not gonna lie.) One day when I picked her up from the kid’s room, the childcare worker pulled out the unopened granola bar I had put in Dyllan’s bag, handed it to me, and said, “We can’t give this to her because it contains peanuts. We don’t allow anything with peanuts into the childcare area.” I admit I was a bit surprised because it wasn’t something I had given much thought to. But I quickly learned that there was almost nothing parents feared more in 2010 than the dreaded peanut.
Of course, peanut allergies are very real. In their book, The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure, Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt reported that before the mid-1990s, peanut allergies were extremely rare in American children. However, by 2008, fourteen out of every thousand kids had developed peanut allergies. No one knew why there was such a drastic increase until an authoritative study was released in 2015. It was discovered that many kids were developing peanut allergies because their parents avoided giving them peanuts. The study revealed that introducing peanut products to infants with a high risk for allergies actually reduced their chances of developing a peanut allergy by a whopping 81%. In other words, giving peanut products to infants caused their immune systems to respond and build up a tolerance.
Our kids have amazing bodies that react to bacteria, parasites—and yes, peanuts—with an immune response that teaches their system to adapt and fight off future threats to their health.
In the same way, I believe our kids have spiritual immune systems.
Several years ago, I was a participant in a study and discussion group about Christianity. This was the class that challenged my faith intellectually and I’ve told that story here. One day, the subject of Adam and Eve came up and it was asked, “Does anyone still believe they were actual people?” I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I was entirely naive when it came to this subject. Even as an adult, I thought the literal existence of Adam and Eve was something all professing Christians believed in. Chalk it up to the Evangelical bubble I grew up in or the fact that most of my life happened before the invention of the internet. But the question threw me because I had no idea how to answer.
Until that moment, I didn’t even know it was a question. I had zero immunity.
This was simply one of many skeptical claims raised against historic Christianity that snowballed together to send me into a dark time of doubt. I’ve often replayed that moment in my mind and imagined a different scenario. What if I had been aware of this question from childhood? What if I had already thought it through? What if when I read the Genesis account of creation, someone had told me, “Hey, some people don’t think Adam and Eve really existed. Let’s think about what the Bible says about it, what scientific evidence shows, and what that would mean for the gospel.“
If my spiritual immune system had been strengthened in this way, hearing this question as an adult would have been no big deal. It wouldn’t have shaken my faith one bit. I would have simply engaged in that conversation intelligently, without fear or doubt.
Other than teaching our kids the basics of the Christian faith, there are many practical steps we can take to help bolster their spiritual immune systems. Here are three to start with:
1. Read the Bible with your kids, and don’t skip the hard stuff.
By “don’t skip the hard stuff,” I certainly don’t mean you should freak your kids out right before bed by reading about the Levite hacking his concubine to pieces in Judges 19, or Samson getting his eyes gouged out in Judges 16. Obviously, there is an age-appropriate way to introduce biblical stories to our kids. What I mean by “don’t skip the hard stuff,” is that reading stories and accounts that skeptics typically challenge is a great way to inoculate our kids against their false ideas.
For example, when my daughter was about seven, we read through Genesis together. In chapter 26, we read the story of Isaac lying to the Philistines. He told them his wife Rebekah was his sister, fearing that someone might kill him in order to marry her. I said to my daughter, “Did you know that some people think this story is made up because it’s so similar to what Isaac’s dad Abraham did twice before? What do you think about that?” We had a great conversation about how it would make perfect sense for Isaac to repeat his father’s lie, because there seemed to be no major consequences for doing so. In fact, in both cases, Abraham left richer than he came. We also looked at the biblical theme of sons tending to repeat their father’s sins. After we talked, it all made sense. And now my daughter won’t be caught off-guard should she hear that skeptical claim in the future.
A great resource to help with this is The Apologetics Study Bible. As you read through the Bible, it footnotes the verses that skeptics typically challenge, and offers intelligent and credible responses you can talk through with your kids!
2. Expose your kids to atheism.
As a parent, it can be scary to intentionally tell your kids all the reasons why atheists reject Christianity. Based on her experience teaching apologetics to Christian parents, my friend Natasha Crain noted that many parents don’t want to risk leading their kids astray by introducing atheist arguments. But she rightly points out that all of our kids will inevitably hear these ideas. She wrote:
The only choice you have as a parent is if they’ll hear them first from you—in an environment where they’ll have your guidance readily available—or if they’ll hear them first from nonbelievers—in an environment where they’ll be processing what they hear on their own.
Brett Kunkle compares exposure to atheist ideas with teaching his kids to surf. In this video, he explains that as a parent, you wouldn’t throw your kid into the ocean to surf big waves before you teach them basics like swimming and how to handle smaller waves. Watch below:
Getting our kids used to the “smaller waves” of atheism can be a great way to prepare them to encounter the “big waves” when they are out on their own.
3. Expose your kids to false gospels and other religions.
Just like it’s important to expose our kids to atheist ideas, it’s equally important to expose them to counterfeit gospels—which almost always masquerade as authentic Christianity. It’s been said that the best lies contain the most truth. This is why false gospels can be so tricky to discern. . .they contain so much truth. They will often emphasize Jesus, use the right lingo, and even appeal to the Bible to back up their claims. Explaining the differences between authentic Christianity and Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, the prosperity gospel, or progressive Christianity will prepare our kids to interact with their ideas and see through the deceptions they espouse.
Another important step is talking with our kids about what people of other religious faiths believe about God, Jesus, and the nature of reality. Although they agree on some points, every world religion contradicts the others at a fundamental level. Logically, they can’t all be true. This is a great opportunity to expose the contradictions and talk with our kids about why Christianity is true and best explains reality.
Who would have thought that giving a baby a tiny bit of peanut butter could potentially save his life? In the same way, giving our kids tiny bits of anti-Christian ideas and allowing them to process these questions within the safety and guidance of our care could have a lasting impact on their future spiritual lives.
Other practical resources:
For years, Brett Kunkle has offered theological training for teenagers and facilitated trips to Utah to interact with Mormons. When I interviewed him on my podcast, he reported that the impact of these trips has been tremendous in the lives of young people, motivating them to study theology and apologetics on their own. He now offers trips to the Berkeley college campus where Christian kids can share the gospel and interact with atheists and skeptics. Find out more at www.maventruth.com.
Another ministry doing great work in this area is Jonathan Morrow and Impact 360. Every summer, they offer experiences in which Christian teenagers are trained in leadership, apologetics, and theology after which they are given real-world experiences to test their knowledge. They visit Buddhist and Mormon temples, meet atheists, and more. Find out more at www.impact360institute.org and listen to Jonathan’s interview on my podcast.
If you want to be intentional about this, pick up Natasha Crain’s book Talking with Your Kids about God: 30 Conversations Every Christian Parent Must Have, and follow Natasha’s blog for more great tips. Or pick up J. Warner Wallace’s trio of kids’ books (1, 2, and 3) that explore everything from the existence of God to the truthfulness of Christianity.
Recommended resources related to the topic:
Proverbs: Making Your Paths Straight Complete 9-part Series by Frank Turek DVD and Download
So the Next Generation will Know by J. Warner Wallace (Book and Participant’s Guide)
Fearless Generation – Complete DVD Series, Complete mp4 Series (download) by Mike Adams, Frank Turek, and J. Warner Wallace
Jesus, You and the Essentials of Christianity by Frank Turek (INSTRUCTOR Study Guide), (STUDENT Study Guide), and (DVD)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Alisa Childers is an American singer and songwriter, best known for being in the all-female Christian music group ZOEgirl. She has had a string of top ten radio singles, four studio releases, and received the Dove Award during her time with ZOEgirl. In later years, Alisa found her life-long faith deeply challenged when she started attending what would later identify as a Progressive Christian church. This challenge pushed Alisa toward Christian Apologetics. Today you can read, listen and watch Alisa’s work online as well as purchase her recently published book on Progressive Christianity titled Another Gospel.
Original Blog Source: https://bit.ly/3pDSI7V
How to Help Doubters
Podcaste have heard many stories of Christians deconstructing and deconverting their faith. So, what’s the best way to help doubters, and how can we engage seekers? In this show, Sean McDowell fills in for Frank Turek and is joined by Preston Ulmer, author of The Doubter’s Club. Together, they address these issues:
– How can we practically help people who doubt?
– How can we have meaningful conversations with seekers?
– How did Jesus approach doubters?
In this show, you will learn about “doubters clubs,” which is a movement of Christians engaging their non-Christian friends in meaningful conversation. You’ll also get to hear about how these clubs operate and what it would take for you to lead one. Join us!
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El decaimiento del cristianismo y de la razonabilidad en occidente
EspañolPor J. Brian Huffling
El Problema
El 22 de agosto de 2021, el Christian Post publicó un artículo en el que se afirmaba que más “del 60% de los cristianos nacidos de nuevo en Estados Unidos con edades entre los 18 y los 39 años creen que Buda, Mahoma y Jesús son todos caminos válidos para la salvación y más del 30% afirman que creen que Jesús pecó como otras personas” o que “no están seguros”. Además, la encuesta realizada a “3.100 estadounidenses de entre 18 y 55 años en 2020” vio un descenso significativo en lo que ellos llaman una “cosmovisión bíblica básica”, que incluye cuestiones como la naturaleza de Dios, la fiabilidad de la Biblia, la salvación, así como la impecabilidad de Jesús. El número de personas en esa categoría disminuyó “del 47% en 2010 al 25% en 2020 entre los cristianos nacidos de nuevo”. Lo que se denomina “cosmovisión bíblica ampliada” (creencias respecto a Satanás y la moral objetiva) cayó “del 32% en 2010 al 16% en 2020.” Hubo una caída notable entre “la población general” también con respecto a las creencias básicas de la cosmovisión bíblica (13% a 6%) y para la cosmovisión bíblica expandida (9% a aproximadamente 3%).
Evaluación
¿A qué se debe el descenso de estas creencias? Según Kirby Anderson, especialista en ética y presidente de Probe Ministries, esto se debe “a que los pastores no enseñan sistemáticamente la teoría bíblica” y a que “los jóvenes cristianos no prestan atención” por estar distraídos con otros asuntos, como las redes sociales y lo que sea más importante para ellos.
¿Pueden las personas sostener estas posiciones no bíblicas y ser realmente cristianos “nacidos de nuevo”? Esta última pregunta es para otra ocasión. Me concentraré en la primera. Estoy de acuerdo con Anderson en que, hasta cierto punto, los pastores y los líderes de las iglesias comparten la culpa en esta situación. Las iglesias suelen estar más interesadas en otras cuestiones que en el discipulado y el aprendizaje genuino. Muchos, si no la mayoría de los cristianos, ni siquiera pueden articular las creencias básicas de su fe. Por ejemplo, doctrinas como la Trinidad y la divinidad de Cristo suelen, o al menos a menudo, ser distorsionadas por los cristianos cotidianos. A menudo, incluso los pastores no pueden describir con precisión los fundamentos de tales doctrinas. En algunos círculos, la falta de educación teológica se celebra, ya que supuestamente desvía la atención de la guía y la enseñanza del Espíritu Santo. Si Dios nos dice lo que tenemos que creer y de lo que tenemos que hablar en la iglesia, ¿para qué ir a la escuela? Trato estos temas en otro post que escribí sobre tener una fe intelectual. Sin embargo, ya no basta con saber lo que dice la Biblia. Es imperativo que no sólo sepamos qué es el cristianismo, sino que sepamos si lo creemos, por qué lo creemos y cómo defenderlo. Este último punto apenas se discute en las iglesias.
Sin embargo, los pastores no son la única causa de este problema. Hay una gran cantidad de causas. Aunque la iglesia está destinada a fomentar y alimentar nuestra vida espiritual, no está destinada a ser el medio principal para conseguirla. Nuestra vida espiritual debe empezar en casa.
Otra cuestión es la educación en general. A menudo no se permite a los estudiantes fracasar en la escuela. El conocimiento general del mundo y de la historia de las ideas ha disminuido. El pensamiento crítico y la lógica se han eliminado del plan de estudios general. La lista es interminable. Los sentimientos están por encima de la lógica y la regla fundamental es no ofender a los demás. Hoy en día, ofender a los demás es el pecado imperdonable. La falta de lógica y la abundancia de sentimientos han sido una fórmula infalible para la irracionalidad. ¿Necesita un ejemplo? ¿Quién iba a pensar hace una década, por no hablar de hace una generación, que el género de una persona no sería un hecho objetivo y científico, sino que se basaría simplemente en deseos y sentimientos? ¿Por qué las personas supuestamente racionales aceptan esta locura? Porque no queremos herir los sentimientos de nadie y queremos ser inclusivos.
Lo mismo se aplica a la religión. Si uno dice que Jesús es el único camino a la salvación, entonces necesariamente es excluyente, sin amor, intolerante, etc. Así, se ha violado la regla cardinal. Los sentimientos se elevan por encima de la razón y la realidad. Entonces, ¿qué debe hacer una persona? Me alegro de que lo pregunte.
Estudiar la lógica
Muchas de las ridículas afirmaciones que se hacen hoy en día, como que toda religión es verdadera, pueden refutarse simplemente comprendiendo las reglas básicas del pensamiento y la realidad. Por ejemplo, la ley de no contradicción establece que algo no puede ser X y no-X simultáneamente. En otras palabras, si una religión, como el judaísmo, el cristianismo y el islam, enseña que un Creador provocó la existencia del universo, y las religiones panteístas, como el hinduismo, enseñan que no hay un Creador y que el universo siempre ha existido, entonces esas dos enseñanzas no pueden ser ambas verdaderas. Dado que la existencia de Dios es algo importante en la mayoría de las religiones, la negación de una deidad falsificaría muchas, si no la mayoría, de las religiones. En otras palabras, no todas las religiones pueden ser iguales. Jesús no puede ser el único camino de salvación y no ser el único camino de salvación. Es un camino o el otro.
También es importante señalar que toda afirmación es exclusiva, ya que dice que lo contrario es falso. Mientras que afirmar que Jesús es el único camino es exclusivo y estrecho, lo contrario es igual de exclusivo y estrecho. El número de personas en consideración no tiene nada que ver con la naturaleza de la exclusividad o estrechez de la afirmación real. Esto nos lleva a otro punto:
Conocimiento de la enseñanza religiosa
Muchos cristianos podrían afirmar que la Biblia no dice que Jesús es el único camino. Sin embargo, la Biblia hace tales afirmaciones en abundancia. Por ejemplo, Jesús dijo: “Jesús le dijo*: Yo soy el camino, y la verdad, y la vida; nadie viene al Padre sino por mí. “. Juan 14:6 (LBLA). Además, Hechos 4:12 afirma: “Y en ningún otro hay salvación, porque no hay bajo el cielo otro nombre dado a los hombres por el que podamos ser salvos”. Por lo tanto, la Biblia puede estar lógicamente equivocada, pero no puede tener razón y estar equivocada en el mismo punto al mismo tiempo, por la ley de no contradicción. Afirma claramente que Jesús es el único camino a la salvación. Si no lo es, entonces la afirmación bíblica es simplemente falsa. Por lo tanto, uno puede negar la Biblia, pero no puede reescribirla. Estamos atados a lo que dice, sin importar si rompe nuestra regla cardinal de no ofender a otros. El punto: si esta es una creencia necesaria para ser cristiano, entonces uno puede negarla, pero no puede negarla y seguir siendo un Cristiano verdadero. En lugar de poner nuestras emociones y deseos como norma de la verdad, la Biblia nos incomoda con la razón y la realidad, dos aspectos incómodos para nuestro entorno cultural actual.
Los pastores y las iglesias pueden preparar a sus congregantes
Ha habido muchas encuestas, como la citada aquí, que hablan de que el 75% de los jóvenes abandonan el cristianismo después de su primer semestre de universidad. Si bien no estoy de acuerdo con estas cifras, ya que a lo mejor muchos no eran realmente creyentes, es absolutamente cierto que los padres y los pastores deben preparar a los jóvenes para la universidad. Las charlas motivacionales en la iglesia, los campamentos de la iglesia y los conciertos cristianos son estupendos, pero no empiezan a enseñar a los jóvenes a articular y defender su fe. Los no creyentes son despiadados en su odio al cristianismo y a todo lo racional; por lo tanto, es importante formar a nuestros jóvenes no sólo para que conozcan los fundamentos del cristianismo, sino también para que sean capaces de explicar por qué lo creen.
Los padres deben capacitar a sus hijos
Si bien las iglesias comparten la culpabilidad de estos temas, los padres también tienen un papel vital en la educación de sus hijos. Las escuelas y las iglesias ayudan a ello, pero en última instancia, si tenemos hijos criados en nuestros hogares y en la iglesia, y su profesor de Introducción a la Filosofía destroza su fe en tan sólo unas semanas, entonces probablemente no estaban muy bien educados sobre su fe para empezar. (Todo esto dice algo sobre la noción de que uno debe simplemente tomar las afirmaciones del cristianismo sólo por fe, donde fe significa fe irracional o ciega. Esto no sólo es irracional y antibíblico, sino que también es peligroso, ya que lo deja a uno expuesto a una serie de dudas cuando se enfrenta a ello).
Dónde acudir en busca de respuestas
Cuando tenía quince años, empecé a hacerme preguntas sobre mi fe. No dudaba de ella, pero no estaba seguro de por qué la creía. Un día me di cuenta de que, en materia de religión, todo el mundo cree tener razón. Pues bien, no todos podemos tener razón, según esa persistente ley de no contradicción. Entonces, ¿cómo sabía que tenía razón? Empecé a estudiar apologética (ser capaz de defender la posición de uno, en este caso sobre el cristianismo) a un nivel muy laico. En la universidad, decidí que quería un conocimiento más profundo de estos temas. Descubrí el Southern Evangelical Seminary. El SES es una de las mejores escuelas del mundo para estudiar apologética. (Aclaración: actualmente soy profesor en SES.) SES ofrece certificados, una licenciatura, varios másteres, un doctorado en ministerio y un doctorado. Todos los programas de estudio tienen un componente apologético integrado en el tejido de los cursos. Si está interesado en aprender a entender y defender mejor su fe, o en ayudar a su familia a hacerlo, ¡deje que SES le ayude!
Recursos recomendados en Español:
Robándole a Dios (tapa blanda), (Guía de estudio para el profesor) y (Guía de estudio del estudiante) por el Dr. Frank Turek
Por qué no tengo suficiente fe para ser un ateo (serie de DVD completa), (Manual de trabajo del profesor) y (Manual del estudiante) del Dr. Frank Turek
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J. Brian Huffling, PH.D. Tiene una licenciatura en Historia por la Universidad de Lee, un máster en (3 especialidades) Apologética, Filosofía y Estudios Bíblicos por el Seminario Evangélico del Sur (SES), y un doctorado en Filosofía de la Religión por el SES. Es director del programa de doctorado y profesor asociado de filosofía y teología en SES. También imparte cursos para Apologia Online Academy. Anteriormente ha enseñado en el Instituto de Arte de Charlotte. Ha servido en los Marines, en la Marina y actualmente es capellán de reserva en las Fuerzas Aéreas en la Base Aérea de Maxwell. Sus aficiones incluyen el golf, la astronomía de patio, las artes marciales y la guitarra.
Blog Originalmente publicado aquí: https://cutt.ly/4PnnoGE
Traducido por Jennifer Chavez
Editado por Yatniel Vega García
A Myth Come True
Jesus Christ, Theology and Christian ApologeticsBy Bob Perry
If you’re anything like me, you probably associate the word “myth” with an ancient fairy tale. The Greek and Roman pantheon of gods comes to mind — magical spells, curses, and multi-headed monsters. But myths are more than just old-fashioned fantasies. They serve a purpose. They appeal to our collective imaginations. Myths may be fantastical but, as the Merriam-Webster Dictionary puts it, they “serve to unfold part of the worldview of a people or explain a practice, belief, or natural phenomenon.” They are archetypal stories that help us make sense of the world in which we find ourselves. In other words, there is a connection between myth and reality.
The Power of a Story
C.S. Lewis grew up a voracious reader. In 1916, while waiting for a train near London, he bought a copy of George MacDonald’s Phantastes: A Faerie Romance. The book changed his life, not because it enticed him to believe in fantasies, but because it “baptized his imagination” through the power of story. His appreciation for man’s moral imagination led to a lifetime of reading and writing stories. He later studied ancient Greek and Latin literature, philosophy, and Medieval and Renaissance literature. He taught and lectured on all of those during his 29 years as a professor at Magdalen College, University of Oxford.
Great Minds Don’t Always Think Alike
While he was at Oxford, Lewis became friends with J. R. R. Tolkien. They argued about philosophy, religion, and the existence of God. Both were storytellers. And they argued about how to tell stories too. Tolkien, the author of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, believed that myths originated in the mind of God as a way to communicate his truths to the world. Lewis thought that was nonsense. Though he saw myths as beautiful charmers of our imaginations, he thought “they were lies: inventions that contain no objective truth about the world.”*
C.S. Lewis struggled with the relationship between myth, imagination, and reality for years. But it wouldn’t let him go. Finally, in 1929, alone in the quiet of his room at Magdalen College, he succumbed to God’s call. And I do mean succumbed.
The Most Reluctant Convert
Lewis describes his two-step conversion — from atheist to theist to Christian — in his autobiography, Surprised by Joy. He knew mythology. And he was intellectually honest enough to read the Christian Scriptures. Something about them rang true. Ultimately, it was his love for truth and stories that merged in the pages of the Gospels:
The God who became flesh made sense of the two things C. S. Lewis knew and loved the most. He surrendered to the divine call. Lewis entered God’s kingdom kicking and screaming, “the most reluctant convert in all of England.”
Storytellers
C.S. Lewis’s conversion is notorious but it’s not unique. History is littered with the accounts of reluctant converts who were struck by the peculiar force of the Christian myth. He and Tolkien became two of the most famous storytellers to do so.
In the end, Tolkien and Lewis rejected the secular myth that had dragged the world through two World Wars and into the empty despair of the postmodern worldview. They were masterful at appealing to our moral imaginations. They connected myth to reality.
The True Myth
The Christian myth is a story of the struggle between good and evil. It’s a story of flawed and rebellious people, heroes, and villains. Ultimately, it’s the most fantastic story of redemption ever told. And its hero is — as my friend Tom Gilson has put it in his book by the same name — simply “too good to be false.” Gilson’s point is that Jesus of Nazareth is the most compelling character in human history for a reason. He stepped into the story he wrote.
Jesus’ life and ministry are recorded and verifiable. The veracity of the accounts of his death and resurrection are as reliable as those of any historical event. But his impact goes beyond the reliable accounts about it. As J. Warner Wallace has so clearly summarized it in his book, Person of Interest, Jesus’ life rocked the world, even for those who never believed in him. He influenced education, literature, music, art, architecture, and science in ways that no mere mortal ever could. We restarted our calendars because of his life. He quite literally changed the world by combining history’s most fascinating character with mythology’s most compelling storyline.
He brought the myth to life.
Heaven Meets Earth
In Jesus, the infinite voluntarily reduced itself to something we could see and understand. The divine put on flesh and bone. The all-powerful became a pain-feeling person who stood for the powerless. The Almighty who spoke the universe into existence took the form of a tiny, vulnerable embryo. The Great Mythical ‘I AM’ became a little boy.
Contemplating that, I was reminded of a talented musician named Rich Mullins. Mullins died tragically in a car wreck in 1997, at age 41. But his music always resonated with me. It was thought-provoking, vulnerable, and real. Rich Mullins was a storyteller. So, it’s not surprising that the same guy who wrote the classic worship song, “Awesome God,” also wrote the little tune I offer you below.
Here, Mullins does with music what C. S. Lewis did with literature. He brings the myth to life. It will never become a classic in the genre, but that’s why I consider Rich Mullins’ “Boy Like Me” to be a Christmas song. Maybe you will too …
Boy Like Me
You was a baby like I was once … You was cryin’ in the early morn’
You was born in a stable, Lord … Reid Memorial is where I was born.
They wrapped You in swaddling clothes … Me they dressed in baby blue.
Well, I was twelve years old in the meeting house, listening to the old men pray,
And I was tryin’ hard to figure out what it was that they was tryin’ to say.
There You were in the temple … They said You weren’t old enough to know the things You knew
Well, did You grow up hungry? Did You grow up fast?
Did the little girls giggle when You walked past?
Did You wonder what it was that made them laugh?
And did they tell You stories ’bout the saints of old? Stories about their faith?
They say stories like that make a boy grow bold. Stories like that make a man walk straight.
And You was a boy like I was once … But was You a boy like me?
Well, I grew up around Indiana. You grew up around Galilee
And if I ever really do grow up … Lord, I want to grow up and be just like You.
References:
* Joseph Loconte, A Hobbit, A Wardrobe and a Great War (Nashville: Nelson Books, 2015), pp. 130-131.
** C. S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1956), pp. 236.
*** Loconte, p. 138.
Recommended resources related to the topic:
How Can Jesus be the Only Way? (mp4 Download) by Frank Turek
Cold Case Resurrection Set by J. Warner Wallace (books)
Jesus, You and the Essentials of Christianity by Frank Turek (INSTRUCTOR Study Guide), (STUDENT Study Guide), and (DVD)
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Bob Perry is a Christian apologetics writer, teacher, and speaker who blogs about Christianity and the culture at truehorizon.org. He is a Contributing Writer for the Christian Research Journal and has also been published in Touchstone, and Salvo. Bob is a professional aviator with 37 years of military and commercial flying experience. He has a B.S., Aerospace Engineering from the U. S. Naval Academy, and an M.A., Christian Apologetics from Biola University. He has been married to his high school sweetheart since 1985. They have five grown sons.
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Why did God create people He knew would go to Hell? And More Q&A
PodcastIn this show, Frank answers these listener questions:
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3 pasos prácticos para ayudar a desarrollar inmunidad en sus hijos a las ideas anticristianas
EspañolPor Alisa Childers
Cuando mi hija Dyllan era pequeña, me ejercitaba con bastante regularidad en el YMCA. (Y por “ejercitaba” quiero decir que leía un libro en la bicicleta estática y pedaleaba lo más despacio posible mientras disfrutaba de una hora de guardería gratuita. No voy a mentir). Un día, cuando la recogí de la sala de niños, la cuidadora sacó la barrita de granola sin abrir que había metido en la bolsa de Dyllan, me la entregó y me dijo: “No podemos dársela porque contiene maní. No permitimos nada con maní en la zona de la guardería”. Reconozco que me sorprendió un poco porque no era algo en lo que hubiera pensado mucho. Pero enseguida aprendí que no había casi nada que los padres temieran más en 2010 que el temido maní.
Por supuesto, las alergias al maní son muy reales. En su libro The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure, Greg Lukianoff y Jonathan Haidt informaron de que antes de mediados de los años 90, las alergias al maní eran extremadamente raras en los niños estadounidenses. Sin embargo, en 2008, catorce de cada mil niños habían desarrollado alergias al maní. Nadie sabía por qué había un aumento tan drástico hasta que se publicó un estudio fidedigno en 2015. Se descubrió que muchos niños estaban desarrollando alergias al maní porque sus padres evitaban dárselos. El estudio reveló que la introducción de productos de maní a los bebés con alto riesgo de alergias en realidad redujo sus posibilidades de desarrollar una alergia al maní en un sorprendente 81%. En otras palabras, dar productos de manía los bebés hizo que su sistema inmunológico respondiera y creara tolerancia
Nuestros hijos tienen cuerpos increíbles que reaccionan a las bacterias, parásitos -y sí, al maní- con una defensa inmunológica que enseña a su sistema a adaptarse y luchar contra futuras amenazas a su salud.
Del mismo modo, creo que nuestros hijos tienen sistemas inmunológicos espirituales.
Hace varios años, participé en un grupo de estudio y discusión sobre el cristianismo. Esta fue la clase que desafió mi fe intelectualmente y he contado esa historia aquí. Un día, surgió el tema de Adán y Eva y se preguntó: “¿Alguien sigue creyendo que fueron personas reales?”. Me da un poco de vergüenza admitir que era totalmente ingenua en lo que se refiere a este tema. Incluso de adulta, pensaba que la existencia literal de Adán y Eva era algo en lo que todos los cristianos profesantes creían. Hay que atribuirlo a la burbuja evangélica en la que crecí o al hecho de que la mayor parte de mi vida transcurrió antes de la invención de Internet. Pero la pregunta me desconcertó porque no tenía ni idea de cómo responder.
Hasta ese momento, ni siquiera sabía que era una pregunta. Tenía cero inmunidad.
Esta fue simplemente una de las muchas afirmaciones escépticas planteadas contra el cristianismo histórico que se unieron para enviarme a una época oscura de dudas. A menudo he reproducido ese momento en mi mente y he imaginado un escenario diferente. ¿Y si hubiera sido consciente de esta cuestión desde la infancia? ¿Y si ya hubiera reflexionado sobre ella? ¿Y si cuando leí el relato del Génesis sobre la creación, alguien me hubiera dicho: “Oye, hay gente que no cree que Adán y Eva existieron realmente? Pensemos en lo que dice la Biblia al respecto, en lo que muestran las pruebas científicas y en lo que eso significaba para el evangelio”.
Si mi sistema inmunológico espiritual se hubiera fortalecido de esta manera, escuchar esta pregunta como adulta no habría sido un gran problema. No habría sacudido mi fe ni un poco. Simplemente habría participado en esa conversación de forma inteligente, sin miedo ni dudas.
Además de enseñar a nuestros hijos los fundamentos de la fe cristiana, hay muchas medidas prácticas que podemos tomar para ayudar a reforzar su sistema inmunológico espiritual. Aquí hay tres para empezar:
1. Lee la Biblia con tus hijos, y no te saltes las cosas difíciles.
Con “no te saltes las cosas difíciles” no quiero decir que debas asustar a tus hijos antes de acostarse leyendo sobre el levita que descuartiza a su concubina en Jueces 19, o sobre Sansón al que le sacan los ojos en Jueces 16. Obviamente, hay una manera apropiada de presentar las historias bíblicas a nuestros hijos. Lo que quiero decir con “no te saltes lo más difícil” es que la lectura de historias y relatos que los escépticos suelen poner en tela de juicio es una gran manera de inocular a nuestros hijos contra sus falsas ideas.
Por ejemplo, cuando mi hija tenía unos siete años, leímos juntas el Génesis. En el capítulo 26, leímos la historia de Isaac mintiendo a los filisteos. Les dijo que su esposa Rebeca era su hermana, temiendo que alguien pudiera matarlo para casarse con ella. Le dije a mi hija: “¿Sabías que algunas personas piensan que esta historia es inventada porque es muy similar a lo que hizo Abraham, el padre de Isaac, dos veces antes? ¿Qué opinas de eso?”. Tuvimos una gran conversación sobre cómo tendría perfecto sentido que Isaac repitiera la mentira de su padre, porque no parecía haber mayores consecuencias por hacerlo. De hecho, en ambos casos, Abraham se fue más rico de lo que llegó. También analizamos el tema bíblico de que los hijos tienden a repetir los pecados de sus padres. Después de hablar, todo tenía sentido. Y ahora mi hija no se verá sorprendida si escucha esa afirmación escéptica en el futuro.
Un gran recurso para ayudar con esto es La Biblia de Estudio de Apologética. A medida que se lee la Biblia, encontramos las notas a pie de página de los versículos que los escépticos suelen cuestionar, y se ofrecen respuestas inteligentes y creíbles que se pueden comentar con los niños.
2. Exponga a sus hijos al ateísmo.
Como padres, puede dar miedo contar intencionadamente a sus hijos todas las razones por las que los ateos rechazan el cristianismo. Basándose en su experiencia enseñando apologética a padres cristianos, mi amiga Natasha Crain señaló que muchos padres no quieren arriesgarse a llevar a sus hijos por el mal camino presentándoles argumentos ateos. Pero ella señala acertadamente que todos nuestros hijos escucharán inevitablemente estas ideas. Ella escribió:
Brett Kunkle compara la exposición a las ideas ateas con la enseñanza del surf a sus hijos. En este vídeo, explica que, como padre, no lanzarías a tu hijo al océano para que surfeara grandes olas antes de enseñarle aspectos básicos como la natación y cómo manejar olas más pequeñas. Míralo a continuación:
Acostumbrar a nuestros hijos a las “pequeñas olas” del ateísmo puede ser una buena manera de prepararlos para encontrarse con las “grandes olas” cuando estén solos.
3. Exponga a sus hijos a los falsos evangelios y a otras religiones.
Al igual que es importante exponer a nuestros hijos a las ideas ateas, es igualmente importante exponerlos a los evangelios falsos, que casi siempre se disfrazan de cristianismo auténtico. Se ha dicho que las mejores mentiras contienen gran parte de verdad. Por eso los falsos evangelios pueden ser tan difíciles de discernir. …contienen mucha verdad. A menudo hacen hincapié en Jesús, utilizan la expresión correcta e incluso apelan a la Biblia para respaldar sus afirmaciones. Explicar las diferencias entre el cristianismo auténtico y el mormonismo, los testigos de Jehová, el evangelio de la prosperidad o el cristianismo progresista preparará a nuestros hijos para interactuar con sus ideas y ver los engaños que proponen.
Otro paso importante es hablar con nuestros hijos sobre lo que creen las personas de otras religiones sobre Dios, Jesús y la naturaleza de la realidad. Aunque están de acuerdo en algunos puntos, todas las religiones del mundo se contradicen con las demás en un nivel fundamental. Lógicamente, no pueden ser todas verdaderas. Esta es una gran oportunidad para exponer las contradicciones y hablar con nuestros hijos sobre por qué el cristianismo es verdadero y explica mejor la realidad.
¿Quién iba a pensar que dar a un bebé un trocito de mantequilla de maní podría salvarle la vida? Del mismo modo, dar a nuestros hijos pequeños trozos de ideas anticristianas y permitirles procesar estas cuestiones dentro de la seguridad y la orientación de nuestro cuidado podría tener un impacto duradero en sus futuras vidas espirituales.
Otros recursos prácticos:
Durante años, Brett Kunkle ha ofrecido formación teológica para adolescentes y ha facilitado viajes a Utah para interactuar con los mormones. Cuando lo entrevisté en mi podcast, me informó de que el impacto de estos viajes ha sido tremendo en la vida de los jóvenes, motivándolos a estudiar teología y apologética por su cuenta. Ahora ofrece viajes al campus universitario de Berkeley donde los chicos cristianos pueden compartir el evangelio e interactuar con ateos y escépticos. Más información en www.maventruth.com.
Otro ministerio que realiza una gran labor en este ámbito es Jonathan Morrow e Impact 360. Cada verano, ofrecen experiencias en las que los adolescentes cristianos reciben formación en liderazgo, apologética y teología, tras lo cual se les ofrecen experiencias del mundo real para poner a prueba sus conocimientos. Visitan templos budistas y mormones, conocen ateos y mucho más. Para saber más, visita www.impact360institute.org y escucha la entrevista de Jonathan en mi podcast.
Si quieres ser intencional en este aspecto, toma el libro de Natasha Crain Talking with Your Kids about God: 30 Conversations Every Christian Parent Must Have, y sigue el blog de Natasha para obtener más consejos. También puedes comprar el trío de libros para niños de J. Warner Wallace (1, 2 y 3) que exploran todo, desde la existencia de Dios hasta la veracidad del cristianismo.
Recursos recomendados en Español:
Robándole a Dios (tapa blanda), (Guía de estudio para el profesor) y (Guía de estudio del estudiante) por el Dr. Frank Turek
Por qué no tengo suficiente fe para ser un ateo (serie de DVD completa), (Manual de trabajo del profesor) y (Manual del estudiante) del Dr. Frank Turek
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Alisa Childers es una cantante y compositora estadounidense, más conocida por formar parte del grupo femenino de música cristiana ZOEgirl. Ha tenido una lista de los diez mejores sencillos de la radio, cuatro lanzamientos de estudio y recibió el premio Dove durante su tiempo con ZOEgirl. Años más tarde, Alisa experimentó un profundo desafío a su fe de toda la vida cuando empezó a asistir a lo que más tarde se identificaría como una iglesia cristiana progresista. Este desafío empujó a Alisa hacia la Apologética Cristiana. Actualmente se puede leer, escuchar y ver el trabajo de Alisa en línea, así como adquirir su libro recientemente publicado sobre el cristianismo progresista, titulado Another Gospel.
Blog Originalmente publicado aquí: https://bit.ly/3OH0Z5U
Traducido por Jennifer Chavez
Editado por Elenita Romero
Healing from Institutional Abuse
Theology and Christian ApologeticsBy Brian Chilton
A cabin was nestled near the top of a mountaintop in the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. This cabin served as a vacation home for my family and me. The evening was humid and muggy. Thus, we decided to take in a show in Pigeon Forge rather than exploring the beautiful hills of eastern Tennessee. On this evening, I would suffer an emotional and spiritual panic attack. The catalyst of the event was various reports of institutional abuse. One report discussed alleged cases of rape that went unreported. Other reports mentioned accusations of abuse from a person who would be the last person one would suspect of such behaviors.
Admittedly, I have suffered from bouts of anxiety in the past. Normally, I can sense when a bout of anxiety is about to commence. But in this case, it was as if I felt an overwhelming case of sorrow and distress. After requesting prayer on social media, I was blessed by the numerous supporters offering their prayers and encouragement. Many friends contacted me directly, whereas many others offered support online. It was heartwarming to see how many people truly cared. But this event left me curious as to why I would suffer such distress while on vacation of all places.
It was not until a few days afterward that I realized that the pain I had previously suffered in the pastorate was still unresolved. I still didn’t understand why I felt the way I did. Drs. David and Marybeth Baggett reached out to me. I spoke to them about my feelings and what I believed to be the culprit. Marybeth suggested two books for me to consider reading. The first was entitled Something’s Not Right: Decoding the Hidden Tactics of Abuse and Freeing Yourself from its Power by Wade Mullen. The other was Redeeming Power: Understanding Authority and Abuse in the Church by Diane Langberg.
Mullen’s book truly spoke to me. He mentioned a field of sociological research known as impression management. Canadian sociologist Erving Goffman described impression management as the “process of creating, influencing, or manipulating an image held by an audience.”[1] Impression management especially becomes abusive and unethical when people are put on display to hide underlying problems that should not be hidden.[2] Mullen further notes that “the chief desire of abusive individuals is to attain or retain power—most often the kind of power gained and held through deception.”[3] Because of this, churches can become a breeding ground for abusers to thrive.
But why do religious institutions allow such abuse to transpire? Mullen offers a reason for this as well. He says that many institutions unknowingly permit systems that are conducive for abuse because of image. If people were to know the problems that a place faced, then others may not want to come and take part of what the institution offered.[4] As I read Mullen’s opening chapter, I began to realize two things. First, I came to the realization that I had suffered a form of abuse. Speaking with numerous individuals who were concerned with my well-being, I met many who admitted that they were victims of various forms of abuse. They faced similar emotional and spiritual bouts, some of which were full-blown cases of PTSD. Their professed experiences were eerily reminiscent of my own. Second, I came to realize that institutional abuse, identified as impression management, was far more widespread than I ever considered.
The first step in healing is to first diagnose the source of pain. I cannot say that I am fully healed from the abuse that I encountered. But I do believe that I have taken the first step. Perhaps God permitted me to have this emotional episode to bring me to the place of genuine recovery. Whatever the case, I also believe that many others are facing the same issues but do not understand where their emotional and spiritual hurts derive.
So, where do we go from here? I will occasionally update you on my progress from time to time. But there are two suggestions I would make for the here and now. First, become grounded in theology and apologetics. As my good friend Jerry Bogacz said, apologetics becomes an anchor keeping one stable during times of emotional distress. While it is not understood why I endured some of the things that I have in ministry, all the while understanding my own faults[5]—the goodness of God is a constant wellspring of hope and a constant source of comfort.
Second, cases of institutional abuse must be exposed and corrected. We can no longer stand idly by while innocent people are harmed by abusers hiding behind crosses and policies. The prophet Isaiah writes, “Learn to do what is good. Pursue justice. Correct the oppressor. Defend the rights of the fatherless. Plead the widow’s cause” (Isaiah 1:17).[6] Also, consider that Jesus told the Church of Ephesus that they must “Remember how far you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. Otherwise, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent” (Rev. 2:5). While I have had an enigmatic relationship with the church throughout my life, I still love Christ’s Bride. If the problems of abuse in the American Church are not corrected, we should not be surprised if Jesus may eventually remove the lampstand from the Church of America. Be on the lookout for future posts as I discover more truths on my pathway to recovery. Continue to deepen your love for God and be kind to one another.
Notes
[1] Erving Goffman, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (New York, NY: Anchor, 2008); Wade Mullen, Something’s Not Right: Decoding the Hidden Tactics of Abuse and Freeing Yourself from its Power (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale Momentum, 2020), 9.
[2] Mullen, 12.
[3] Ibid., 15.
[4] Mullen calls this “dark secrets…facts a person or an organization knows and conceals because if they were revealed, they could damage the image of that person or organization.” Ibid, 17.
[5] By no means am I claiming that I was sinless in all my previous encounters.
[6] Unless otherwise noted, all quoted Scripture comes from the Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman, 2020).
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Brian G. Chilton is the founder of BellatorChristi.com, the host of The Bellator Christi Podcast, the author of the Layman’s Manual on Christian Apologetics, and a Ph.D. Candidate of the Theology and Apologetics program at Liberty University. He received his Master of Divinity in Theology from Liberty University (with high distinction); his Bachelor of Science in Religious Studies and Philosophy from Gardner-Webb University (with honors); and received certification in Christian Apologetics from Biola University. Brian is a member of the Evangelical Theological Society and the Evangelical Philosophical Society. Brian has served in pastoral ministry for nearly 20 years and currently serves as a clinical chaplain and a Senior Contributor for MoralApologetics.com.
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The Untold Story of C.S. Lewis
PodcastThe most influential apologist of the 20th century was once a hardened atheist. How did C.S. Lewis convert to become such a force for Christianity? Max McLean, writer and star of the brilliant new movie, “The Most Reluctant Convert: The Untold Story of C.S. Lewis” joins Frank for a fascinating discussion that answers that question and gives you a behind-the-scenes look at the movie. Max becomes C.S. Lewis several times during this discussion to reveal what arguments and experiences ultimately brought Lewis to faith in Christ. Go to www.CSLewisMovie.com to see this great film. You can even schedule a special screening for your church or class. Well worth it!
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If God, Why Evil?
PodcastIf God is all-good and all-powerful, why doesn’t He stop evil? Maybe it’s because an all-good and all-powerful God doesn’t actually exist! That’s what some atheists will claim. In this show, Frank addresses that claim and these questions:
This show offers one of the most profound insights that Frank learned while lamenting the fact that so much evil seems pointless. Why, for example, does a baby die when the entire church prays he won’t? What possible good can come out of a baby dying? Listen for the answer to that and several other perplexing questions.
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