Written by James N. Anderson |
Monday, December 5, 2022
The Bible not only assures us that God will provide sufficient answers to the most pressing objections to the Christian faith but also explains why we do not have an answer to every question we might want answered, at least while we “see in a mirror dimly” (1 Cor. 13:12).

After exhorting his readers to “in your hearts honor Christ as Lord as holy,” the Apostle Peter instructed them to always be prepared to “make a defense” to everyone who asks the reason for the hope within them (1 Peter 3:15). The Greek word translated “defense” is apologia, from which we get our English word apologetics, meaning the reasoned defense of the faith. Apologetics is one of the tasks of the church, and whenever God directs His people to a task, He supplies whatever is needed to fulfill that task. Thus, when Scripture directs us to give answers to those who raise critical questions about the Christian faith, we may reasonably assume that answers will be available to give.
When I first delved into Christian apologetics, it was primarily (I’m ashamed to confess) for the purpose of self-defense. I wanted respectable answers to the hard questions tossed at me like grenades by the very smart unbelievers with whom I worked, so that I wouldn’t look foolish in their eyes. But in those early years, it felt like a roller-coaster ride. Whenever I encountered a new objection to which I had no ready response, I would experience a sense of panic, as though the entire Christian faith were hanging in the balance. Every single time I did the research, however, I discovered that there were solid answers to the objection, and it wasn’t nearly the devastating blow that I had feared it to be. It took many years for me to learn the lesson: newly encountered objections should be seen not as threats to faith but as opportunities for growth, and it’s safe to assume that answers will be available if we’re willing to do the work of finding them.
I learned a second important lesson through those experiences and the studying I was prompted to do. Apologetics is not a recent innovation in the history of the church. Christians in the early centuries were confronted by a battery of objections to their claims about God’s self-revelation in Jesus Christ. Yet the Lord has never left His people without answers. In every generation, God has equipped His church with gifted thinkers who have been equal to the task of defending the Christian faith against the prominent critics of the day. The objections have varied over the centuries, and the answers have sometimes changed too—mostly through critical refinement and improvement. The one constant has been the faithful provision of the Lord Jesus, “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2:3).
Thanks to this long history of intellectual engagement, we have more resources today for defending the faith than ever before. We should be greatly encouraged that Christian apologetics is flourishing in our time. There has been a remarkable renaissance of Christian philosophy in the last sixty years, and some of the most respected and productive scholars in the field are also professing believers. Conservative biblical scholarship is very much alive and thriving. Historical research into the ancient world is increasingly confirming that the four Gospels contain exactly what they claim: firsthand eyewitness testimony of the ministry of Jesus. Meanwhile, in the natural sciences, the more we uncover about the structure of the universe and the history of life on our planet, the more we find confirmation of the biblical doctrines of divine creation and providence. To echo Francis Schaeffer: all truth is indeed God’s truth.
Read More
Related Posts:

As with all cults, we did not “rightly divide” the Word of God. We took things literally where we shouldn’t have. Our main sticking point was the Second Commandment which warns about not making any graven images. We figured it meant what it said – or what we thought it said. We believed it meant no pictures of any kind – no art, no symbols, no illustrations, no photographs, no drawings, no images – zippo.

The balanced Christian life:
What should believers major in: zeal or knowledge? If you know anything about me, you will know that I see this as a clear example of a false dilemma. That is, it is not to be a case of either/or but both/and. We should seek to have zeal AND we should seek to have knowledge. One without the other just does not cut it for the Christian.
Many believers have plenty of knowledge, but they lack any real zeal for God. Head knowledge alone without passion, and life, and the Spirit is not what God is looking for. But the other error is just as bad. Many believers have plenty of zeal, but they have little sound knowledge or understanding of biblical truth and doctrine. They in fact often play down knowledge altogether.
Cults of course thrive on the latter – members often have zeal and passion and commitment, but they are woefully ignorant of basic Bible teaching. They may be really off on doctrine, and will often be told they should not think for themselves, but just go along with whatever their leader tells them.
I know this from first-hand experience, having been in a cult myself long ago. We sure had lots of zeal, but we sure had a lot of dumb ideas as well. In my four-part article discussing my Christian conversion I wrote about some of these weird things we did and believed. As I wrote:
One, a bad interpretation of Scripture – specifically a passage like 2 Corinthians 5:7 which says “we walk by faith, not by sight” – led to some radical first steps. This text obviously meant we see by faith and walk in the Spirit, and need not worry about mere physical sight. So my first task was to take a hammer or a rock and smash my glasses to bits. That I promptly did, and I spent the next five months or so stumbling around the mountains of New Mexico, even getting lost once or twice.
You see I have long had terrible eyesight, so this certainly was jumping in the deep end on day one – a real step of faith indeed. But I was ready to do anything in my newfound faith, and so this seemed reasonable to me at the time.
Two, given the hippy/Indian/cult nature of this group, we often got back to nature in more ways than one – including running around with no clothes on, at least on our own land – which got us in trouble with the New Mexico police on more than one occasion, including stints in jail.
Related to this, we reminded folks that Galatians 5:16 tells us that we walk in the Spirit, not in the flesh. That was our explanation when asked why we walked around shoeless in the ice and snow for example.
Read More
Related Posts:

Written by Miles V. Van Pelt |
Tuesday, April 25, 2023
Gideon’s questions in Judges 6:13 set the stage for the Lord’s deliverance of Israel: “Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’” In the tradition of the exodus, the Lord raises up a new Moses figure in Gideon and delivers his people from the hand of the enemy yet again. 

Then Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said, 37behold, I am laying a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece alone, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said.” 38And it was so. When he rose early next morning and squeezed the fleece, he wrung enough dew from the fleece to fill a bowl with water. 39Then Gideon said to God, “Let not your anger burn against me; let me speak just once more. Please let me test just once more with the fleece. Please let it be dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground let there be dew.” 40And God did so that night; and it was dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground there was dew.Judges 6:36–40
Gideon’s Calling
Judges 6:11–24 records Gideon’s call to serve as Israel’s next judge. The angel of the Lord has arrived to call and commission Gideon to serve as the instrument through which the Lord will deliver his people from the Midianites. Gideon is identified by his father and clan from the tribe of Manasseh. The scene is the terebinth at Ophrah. A terebinth is a large tree, perhaps an oak. There Gideon is beating out wheat in a winepress in order to hide from the Midianites. The translation “to hide it” could also be rendered “to flee.” Gideon has fled in order to hide the wheat and himself from the Midianites.
As the account unfolds, it becomes clear that the calling of Gideon follows the pattern of the calling of Moses in Exodus 3. Just as the Lord saved Israel in Judges 4–5 in the pattern and likeness of the exodus and the crossing of the Red Sea, so now will he raise up Gideon in the pattern and likeness of the calling of Moses.
The Calls of Moses and Gideon
1. Reference to Midian (Moses—Ex. 3:1; Gideon—Judg. 6:11)2. Angel of the Lord Appears (Moses—Ex. 3:2; Gideon—Judg. 6:11–12)3. Promise of Divine Presence (Moses—Ex. 3:12; Gideon—Judg. 6:12, 16)4. Deliverance from Egypt (Moses—Ex. 3:7–8; Gideon—Judg. 6:13)5. Objection of the Person Called (Moses—Ex. 3:11; Gideon—Judg. 6:15)6. Commission to Deliver (Moses—Ex. 3:10; Gideon—Judg. 6:16)7. Confirming Sign (Moses—Ex. 3:12; Gideon—Judg. 6:17)
In verse 11 the angel of the Lord was described as sitting under the terebinth tree, perhaps watching Gideon from a distance. Now the angel manifests himself to Gideon and speaks with him. His opening speech comprises two parts. First he confirms the divine presence: “The Lord is with you.” This statement accords with the nature of the office of judge as described in Judges 2:18: “Whenever the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge.” Second, the angel delivers what is typically treated as a vocative expression describing Gideon: “O mighty man of valor.” It is perhaps better, however, to understand the second portion of this speech as an adverbial modifier, describing the manner in which the Lord has presented himself to Gideon. In other words, when the angel of the Lord appears to Gideon, he does so as a man of war ready to deliver Israel (cf. Josh. 5:13–15).
This interpretation is to be preferred for at least three reasons. First, in the previous verse Gideon is described as hiding from the Midianite army—not the activity of a mighty warrior. Second, in the accounts of deliverance recorded in Judges it is the Lord who gives the enemy into the hand of the judge and goes out to lead in battle as the divine warrior (e.g., Judg. 4:14–15; 5:4–5, 20–23). Third, the defeat of the Midianites in chapter 7 is achieved by the Lord alone in the presence of three hundred Israelites who never raise a sword (Judg. 7:22), so that Israel could not boast by saying, “My own hand has saved me” (Judg. 7:2).
Gideon answers the angel of the Lord by asking about the reality of the divine presence. “And Gideon said to him, ‘Please, my lord, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the LORD has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.’” (Judg. 6:13). The Lord responds simply by commissioning Gideon. The author now refers to the angel of the Lord as Yahweh himself when he turns to Gideon. The commission comprises three parts. First is the statement that Gideon is to “go in this might of yours.” This statement is frequently misunderstood as referring to some inherent strength in Gideon, but nothing could be further from the truth. Given the context, the strength of Gideon is the promise of the divine presence that appears in verses 12 and 16, bracketing this statement. Gideon’s strength is the Lord himself (cf. Ex. 3:11–12; 2 Chron. 20:6). The second part of the commission is the promise of victory over Midian by Gideon though the strength of the Lord. The final part is a rhetorical question used to express certainty. In other words “Do not I send you?” is to be understood as “I have indeed sent you!”

Related Posts: