Apologetics: Defending Hope - Week 4

Recap From Weeks 1-3

Week 1:

Types of Apologetics: Classical, Evidential, Presuppositional, and Fideism

Worldview: A comprehensive perspective that encompasses an individual's beliefs and values about the world and life

All Worldviews answer these three questions:

Where did we come from? (and why are we here?)

What is wrong with the world?

How can we fix it?

Our apologetic starts with the Gospel.

Week 2: We answered the following questions about God and the Bible that people tend to ask:

How is the Bible unique?

What are the key arguments for God’s existence?

How can a loving God send people to hell?

Why would God need people to worship Him?

How do we know Jesus existed?

What are the four minimal facts of the resurrection that nearly every scholar agrees on?

Who selected what books are in the Bible and how were the books of the Bible selected?

Why were some books, such as the Gospel of Thomas, left out of the Bible?

How do we know we can trust the Bible’s Authors?

Why don’t miracles happen as frequently today as they did in the Bible?

How does Archaeology come into play with the Bible?

Week 3: We looked at Christianity and Science

Intelligent Design

The probability of another planet being able to support life

The periodic table

DNA and mutations

Macro-evolution vs. Micro-evolution

Old-Earth vs. Young-Earth

Week 4: Developing an Apologetic for our Doubt

What is Doubt?

Doubt: Uncertainty about the truth and reality of spiritual things.

What is Unbelief?

Unbelief: the absence or rejection of religious or spiritual convictions, often characterized by skepticism, doubt, or a conscious decision to disbelieve or disregard the claims of faith.

These two really go hand in hand with one another. Doubt is rooted in unbelief.

What is Faith?

Faith: the knowledge of, trust in, and commitment to Jesus Christ that is required for salvation.

I love this definition of Faith because it could have just stopped at knowledge of, trust in, or commitment to something or someone.

The power of faith is dependent on who it is in.

Faith in Muhammad, faith in your spouse, faith in your good works all fall short of the depth of what it means to have Faith in Christ.

None of the others can change you from the inside out. None of the others will give you true meaning in life.

I also love how it doesn’t quantify how much faith is needed.

There’s a quote by Tim Keller that says:

“It’s not the quality or purity of your faith that saves you. It’s not even the quantity of your faith that saves you. It is the object of your faith that saves you.”

-Tim Keller

It is difficult to have a convincing apologetic for others, when we lose sight of this.

In other words it’s hardest to defend our faith when we doubt our faith.

Now that we have those definitions covered, let’s take a look at how believers are infected by doubt.

I say infected for a specific reason. Doubt takes root like an infection in a cut. If it is not mended and taken care of quickly, it can cause detrimental harm. If it is a small cut, as long as you keep it clean there is small risk of infection.

On the other hand, if you step on a rusty nail and it goes through your foot. The precautions needed to prevent infection are much greater. You need to get a Tetanus shot, take antibiotics and care for the wound gently.

Doubt is similar. Small doubts when acknowledged and cared for and discerned can be minor things. When doubts arise that are questioning the character and promises of God that act as deep wounds in our faith, that is when we must take great care to fight that infection of doubt with the correct resources.

If you fight an infection with Tylenol it might make you not hurt but it will not get rid of the problem.

Childlike faith example - Childlike faith doesn’t mean immature, but pure faith.

Think about children and their belief in Santa.

When kids are young. They want to believe in Santa. He gives them good gifts. They believe what their parents tell them. But as they grow older, they start to question that belief. They start to really doubt the existence of Santa because it doesn’t make any sense. A fat man in a red coat that flies around the world in one night pulled by reindeer that fly and one has a glowing nose. Giving myriads of gifts to all the little boys and girls that were made by elves. To go further, he does this all within a 24 hour period across the entire globe. Also think about how many cookies and milk that man has to eat and drink. It doesn’t make logical sense.

In the same way that children lose faith in Santa, we are tempted to lose faith in God. Because when things don’t seem logical to us, our first response is to disbelieve. We must go back to the evidence and reasoning for God that has been proven through the ages, unlike good ole Saint Nick.

We must handle our doubts carefully and closely, or else we take the risk of treating God like Santa Claus.

From birth we are filled with doubt and unbelief. It is natural to question things that don’t make sense to us. This is why it is so easy for believers and non-believers alike to question God.

Faith is supernatural. It is God who gives us faith. And though God has given us faith and empowered us by His Spirit to believe, there is still a strong inclination to unbelief. We can’t completely explain an infinite being in our finite mind.

At the heart of every sin, is the essence of unbelief. We are predisposed in our sinful state to not believe the Word of God. In other words, we sin because we are not believing in character of God or the promises of God. Every sinful act is an act of unbelief.

And although we are redeemed, in our fallen state, it is still easier to believe the lies of the devil than the truths of the gospel. We revert back to our old self. Even Paul says that he does the things he doesn’t want to do and he doesn’t do the things that he should. The sinfulness of man is still present. This is why we are called to take every thought captive in order that we might obey Christ.

However, Keller also says,

“A faith without some doubts is like a human body without any antibodies in it. People who blithely go through life too busy or indifferent to ask hard questions about why they believe as they do will find themselves defenseless against either the experience of tragedy or the probing questions of a smart skeptic. A person’s faith can collapse almost overnight if she has failed over the years to listen patiently to her own doubts, which should only be discarded after long reflection. Believers should acknowledge and wrestle with doubts—not only their own but their friends’ and neighbors.”

I do believe that at the heart of doubt, it is still sin. I believe that doubt is something that we need to be wary of and repent of when it comes. However, after reading countless examples of people who have doubted, this doubt can lead to a strengthened faith.

Faith is strengthened when the doubt is walked through.

Think about doubt like taking a step.

When you pick your foot up, you can either choose to put it in front of you and go forward or behind you to go backwards.

When doubt it is like this. We can either take a step forward in our faith and look to the answers found in Christ.

Or we can dwell on this doubt. Become overwhelmed by the doubt and take a step back in our faith.

If you feel that you are constantly plagued by doubt and unbelief. I want you to know that you are not alone.

First I want to look at a few people in the bible who struggled with different types of doubt.

Adam and Eve: Doubted the Word of God; I would almost go as far as to say that they doubted everything about God and chose to believe the serpent instead.

Adam and Eve had perfect Shalom with God.

Shalom is a Hebrew word that we translate into English to mean peace, however, the meaning is much richer than merely peace. It means absolute wholeness, full, harmonious, joyful, flourishing life.

When they chose to disobey, this shalom was disturbed and now we see merely a glimpse of what they experienced in the Garden.

Ever since that shalom has been lost, the whole world has been looking for it.

Peter: Doubted the power of Jesus: His faith wavered. As he was walking on water he took His eyes off Jesus. He let his surroundings overwhelm his faith.

Jesus asked him, “Oh you of little faith. Why did you doubt?”

“By asking this good question, Jesus was inviting Peter to doubt his doubts. Was there any good reason for him to doubt the saving grace or the supernatural power of the Son of God? No, there wasn’t. Both his personal experience with Jesus and the plain teaching of the word of God gave Peter every reason to believe. So rather than doubting his step of faith, he needed to subject his doubts to the careful scrutiny of biblically informed skepticism”

Thomas: Doubted the resurrection: he walked with Jesus and said that he couldn’t believe unless he put his hand in his side and touched his hands. He doubted the Power of God

Asaph: Doubted the goodness of God to Israel. Psalm 73:1-3

Psalm 73:1–2 ESV

1 Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. 2 But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped.

Psalm 73:3–15 ESV

3 For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. 4 For they have no pangs until death; their bodies are fat and sleek. 5 They are not in trouble as others are; they are not stricken like the rest of mankind. 6 Therefore pride is their necklace; violence covers them as a garment. 7 Their eyes swell out through fatness; their hearts overflow with follies. 8 They scoff and speak with malice; loftily they threaten oppression. 9 They set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongue struts through the earth. 10 Therefore his people turn back to them, and find no fault in them. 11 And they say, “How can God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?” 12 Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches. 13 All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. 14 For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning. 15 If I had said, “I will speak thus,” I would have betrayed the generation of your children.

Psalm 73:16–28 ESV

16 But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, 17 until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end. 18 Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin. 19 How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors! 20 Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms. 21 When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart, 22 I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you. 23 Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. 24 You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory. 25 Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. 26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. 27 For behold, those who are far from you shall perish; you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you. 28 But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all your works.

He looked at the world surrounding him and was envious of the things they had in the world.

Moses: doubted God’s choosing and sovereignty. He knew that he wasn’t the right man for the job and just knew God had made a mistake.

Elijah: after defeating all the prophets of Baal, doubted God’s power and calling and told God he was no better than his fathers and he would rather die. It turned out after a nap and a snack, he was all better.

David: Doubted God’s faithfulness, closeness, and protection of his life.

Habakkuk: Doubted that God hears us when we call. Habakkuk 1:2 “O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save?”

Sarah and Abraham: Laughed at what God told them. Then decided to take the promises of God into their own hands. They doubted the Promises of God.

Gideon: Shied away from God’s call and tested God twice with the dampness of a wool fleece. He doubted the call of God and God’s presence.

John the Baptist: He doubted his proclamation that Jesus was the Christ. After proclaiming that Jesus was the one who takes the sins of the world, he later asks Jesus if he is the messiah or if they should look for another.

And so many more: Although they doubted, God held them fast through their doubt. In spite of their doubt, God remained true. He will hold us fast just as he held them fast.

In more recent history, we have records of people who have been plagued by doubt that you would never think.

John Piper, C.S. Lewis, Martin Luther, Charles Spurgeon, John Calvin, and Billy Graham

John Piper - says he struggled with doubt for almost 2 years

C.S. Lewis - although the great defender of the faith that he was, he struggled with the intellectual aspect of the faith, and said,

“I have found that nothing is more dangerous to one’s own faith than the work of an apologist.” Getting entrenched in arguments for the faith can cause doubts to arise. He always fell back into the promises of Christ.

Martin Luther - At one point, the crushing doubt in his calling led to such an intense depression that he wrote, “For more than a week I was close to the gates of death and hell. I trembled in all my members. Christ was wholly lost. I was shaken by desperation and blasphemy of God.’”

He also when through a season of spiritual doubt when he was at Wartburg Castle. He wrote, “I sit here at ease, hardened and unfeeling — alas! Praying little, grieving little for the Church of God, burning rather in the fierce fires of my untamed flesh. It comes to this: I should be afire in the spirit; in reality I am afire in the flesh, with lust, laziness, idleness, sleepiness. It is perhaps because you have all ceased praying for me that God has turned away from me… For the last eight days I have written nothing, nor prayed nor studied, partly from self-indulgence, partly from another vexatious handicap… I really cannot stand it any longer; … Pray for me, I beg you, for in my seclusion here I am submerged in sins.”

Charles Spurgeon - Doubted his existence, his salvation, and his inability to sense and feel the surety of God’s love for him.

“I think, when a man says, ‘I never doubt,’ it is quite time for us to doubt him, it is quite time for us to begin to say, ‘Ah, poor soul, I am afraid you are not on the road at all, for if you were, you would see so many things in yourself, and so much glory in Christ more than you deserve, that you would be so much ashamed of yourself, as even to say, ‘It is too good to be true.'”

John Calvin - “For unbelief is so deeply rooted in our hearts, and we are so inclined to it, that not without hard struggle is each one able to persuade himself of what all confess with the mouth: namely, that God is faithful.”

Billy Graham

Graham was asked to speak at Forest Home, a Christian retreat center in California. At the time, the young preacher was questioning his calling as an evangelist and wrestling with the hard questions people asked him about the truth of Scripture. Seeking definitive answers, he went out into the woods alone, set his Bible on a stump, and started to pray: O God! There are many things in this book I do not understand. There are many problems with it for which I have no solution. There are many seeming contradictions. There are some areas in it that do not seem to correlate with modern science. I can’t answer some of the philosophical and psychological questions [people] are raising.

Then the fell to his knees and declared, “Father, I am going to accept this as Thy Word—by faith! I’m going to allow faith to go beyond my intellectual questions and doubts, and I will believe this to be Your inspired Word.

He said once that he believed this, the power of his preaching and response to it was a work of God.

So when doubts arise, take heart that there are many great men and women who went before you who have struggled in the same way. God kept them and strengthened them because, even though they may have doubted, they trusted and believed the Word and Works of God.

So what about our Doubt?

I believe that our doubt mirrors that of those that we have already talked about. God has sustained and kept these records of doubt not to shame these people and for us to look down at them, but to use them as an example for all those who would follow and struggle with the same types of doubts that they did. Although we are in a different time, the doubts and sinful hearts of man remain the same. There is nothing new under the sun.

So what do we do when we begin to doubt.

We need to figure out the root of the doubt that we are experiencing

When I find myself in seasons of doubt, it is usually duty to a lack of communion with God.

It happens when I am not reading my bible, I am not praying, and I am not pursuing community with other believers like I ought.

Not in a legalistic sense, but in the sense that my soul needs it.

When I am not filling myself with the promises of God and pressing into the relationship I have with God, that is when I begin to doubt

If we don’t know what the root of our unbelief is, we can’t deal with it in the appropriate way.

Let’s look at an example:

Sunflowers are heliotropic. Who knows what that means?

A sunflower turns towards the sun because that is where it gets its life and sustenance. If it did not, it would begin to wilt and eventually die.

This is how we should be towards Christ. We get all of our being from Jesus just as the sunflowers do from the sun. They set their eyes on the sun and they thrive. And they stay focused on the sun throughout the day.

If this is not an example of how we should spend each day, then I don’t know what is.

When we doubt, we also have the tendency to challenge God with our questions.

Children asking questions example.

Annie has gotten to the age where she asks why about everything. And although it can be annoying. It really makes me think about the reasons behind why I am doing the things that I do. When children do this, there isn’t malicious intent in their questions. They want to learn. They’re not challenging us. They’re curious. This is how we ought to be when approaching questions about God that we have.

Let’s look at a biblical example.

Zechariah vs. Mary - Challenging questions vs curious questioning

Luke 1:11–23 ESV

And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.” And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.” And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they were wondering at his delay in the temple. And when he came out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple. And he kept making signs to them and remained mute. And when his time of service was ended, he went to his home.

Zechariah Challenged God with his question.

Luke 1:26–38 ESV

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

Mary questioned in curiosity.

2. When we are in seasons of doubt, we don’t need to be alone. We need to surround ourselves with other believers who will encourage us and speak the truth into our lives.

Doubt many times leads to depression.

When we are alone. It’s easy to wallow in self-pity and let our doubts fester.

Surround yourselves with believers who will speak the truth into your life.

Be honest with them about your doubts. Don’t be ashamed to admit your struggle.

3. We must dive into the Word.

We don’t need to merely read our bibles. We must consume it.

It’s like food. You can look at food. You can lick food. You can examine it. However, until you consume it, it has no benefit for you.

What do I mean by consume it?

We must read it.

We must meditate on it.

Not just in the moment, but throughout the day.

We must memorize it.

We must trust it.

Read different translations.

Read it with others and talk about it

Following Jesus’ example to fight temptation with the Scriptures.

4. We must pray earnestly.

a. We must not pray empty, repetitive, legalistic prayers.

b. We must commune with God.

c. We must cast our burdens and cares on Him.

d. We must talk with Him as He is our Father who cares for us.

When we consume the word and pray earnestly, God becomes more relational with us. He becomes more real and present than when we lack those times of communion. We are more easily able to feel his presence within us and to trust Him more readily.

There is a difference in knowing about someone(intellectual knowledge) and knowing someone personally(relational knowledge)

I want you to take a moment and think about your best friend.

Think about how you met and when you met.

You knew about them. You knew of them. But you really didn’t know who they were.

Think about how your friendship with that person has developed over the years.

-My example of Luke

The more time we spend with someone, the more we get to know them and trust them.

I don’t doubt Luke’s intentions. I would trust him with my life. Because I have come to know him deeply and spent much time with him.

The same thing can be said with our relationship of God. The more and more we spend time with God, the less and less we will be infected with doubt.

5. We must wait on God.

I believe that we all will go through seasons of unbelief, whether it will be in one area or another.

Some may doubt more, some may doubt less. Some may have short doubts of fleeting beliefs and some might be entangled in doubt for years. However long it might be, we must continue to be like the father in Mark 9 who cries out to Jesus, “I believe. Help my unbelief.”

The same God who gave you faith to begin with will give you faith that sustains you through your unbelief.

However it is in His timing. Don’t question it. Walk through it.

Waiting on God requires, as Elisabeth Elliot has written, “the willingness to bear uncertainty, to carry within oneself the unanswered question, lifting the heart to God about it whenever it intrudes upon one’s thoughts.”

It is not a passive waiting. We must not merely wait on the day where we don’t feel doubt anymore. We must surround ourselves with truth.

6. In your waiting, Worship.

If you are at a point and you can’t sing, listen.

Cover yourself in the truth’s of God.

When your heart is weary, listen to worship. Let it go from your ears to your brain and from your brain to your heart.

Conclusion:

When doubt comes, we plead in the same way that the Sons of Korah did in Psalm 43

Psalm 43 (ESV)

1 Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause against an ungodly people, from the deceitful and unjust man deliver me! 2 For you are the God in whom I take refuge; why have you rejected me? Why do I go about mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? 3 Send out your light and your truth; let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling! 4 Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy, and I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God. 5 Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.

And one day, once everything is redeemed,

“With all of our heroes in the faith—we will spend the rest of eternity laughing with joy every time we remember our former doubts and realize again that God made good on every promise that he ever made to us in Jesus Christ.”