Tag: apologetics

Conflict of Interest

On May 18, 2022

I believe we all battle something that is seldom mentioned inside our churches (or in life in general). This thing is there…lurking…and it has an effect on us all. This “thing”, which is the subject of today’s article, is our immense interest in the things of the world and our lack on interest in the things of God.

Now, I understand this may not apply to everyone reading this article, but I do think it applies to me more often than it should. Too often we fail to read our Bibles daily, too often we go though slumps in our study, too often we put the things of the world ahead of the things that concern God (and thus our eternal life).

Think about your media viewing habits for a minute (T.V., books, YouTube, etc.). Do you make more time for television or YouTube than you do Bible study? Do you read more worldly books than books concerning God? If you say “yes” to this question I do not think you are alone. In fact I think that we all face this to some extent. We all sometimes let our earthly interests outweigh Godly interests.

So how can we solve this? Well, I think it starts with taking just a small action towards the Godly and away from the worldly. This is a complicated topic, but here are a few steps I think will help:

Set aside time to read and study the Bible each day.
Attend all of the church services that you can.
Learn to “love” theology, and yes, apologetics (the defense of God’s Word). Apologetics is becoming more and more important as we engage with more agnostic/atheistic secular people in our daily lives.
Push worldly things aside whenever possible. Whether it be the television or the internet. Begin to push away the worldly and embrace the things of the Lord.
I also believe that prayer is often overlooked and that we should all pray for God to help us to keep our interests in the correct (and proper) order.

Finally, remember that this is a process. It will take time to develop new habits and interests. Still, I believe if we dedicate ourselves to the development of these new “Godly” interests our lives will be much richer both now and eternally.

Is the New Testament Reliable?

By Jay

On March 23, 2022

In Apologetics, Bible & Doctrine

Some historians (usually those of the atheistic or agnostic persuasion) try to claim that the New Testament is not a reliable historical document. In today’s article I’d like to briefly cover the manuscript evidence for the New Testament compared to some other historical documents. While this is just one (of the many) pieces of evidence for the reliability of the Bible, I believe it to be an integral one.

The question we must answer is: is the New Testament reliable as a historical document based on manuscript evidence? Well, we need to consider that there are more copies of the New Testament documents (over 5,800 copies) than many of the other texts that historians have no problem accepting as authentic. Here are some examples:

Homer’s Iliad: Written about 700 B.C., the earliest manuscript of this work is unknown. There are 643 known copies of this manuscript.

Josephus’ Jewish Wars: Written about A.D. 70 and the earliest known manuscript is dated at 400 A.D. There are 9 known copies of this manuscript. *There are parts of Joshephus’ work that some believe to be embellished but that is another topic for another time.

Histories of Tacitus: Written about A.D. 100, the earliest known manuscript is from around 900 A.D. There are 2 known copies of this manuscript.

The New Testament: Written between 50-100 A.D. with the earliest manuscript (partial) dating back to 125 A.D. There are now over 5,800 known manuscripts of the New Testament.

It should be noted that historians seem to have no problem accepting all of the manuscripts above largely as historically reliable – except for the New Testament. It should also be noted that when it comes to overall historical reliability (based on manuscript evidence) the New Testament wins “hands down” against these “respected” historical documents.

The conclusion is that the New Testament is indeed a reliable document. We do have what was originally penned and whether or not you believe the content of the New Testament does not determine its reliability (based on manuscript evidence). This is just one more piece in the puzzle that should lead all reasonable men and women to a believe in the inspiration of the Bible.

Is the Bible’s Authority Being Wrenched Away?

By Jay

On June 30, 2021

In Apologetics

Young people today see many conflicts between what they are taught in school and what they are taught from their Bibles. At school (5 times a week, 7 hours day) they are taught that the universe is 13.77 billion years old and that the earth is 4.54 billion years old. At church (3 times a week, and for a much shorter time period) they are taught that God created the universe and everything in it in 6 days.

In addition, the vast majority of the people the world puts forth as being “academic” hold to this ancient universe theory (as well as the theory of evolution). In fact, if one does not hold to these mainstream “theories” they are ostracized in academia, often to the point of being made fun of.

I feel that the church has a responsibility to reveal the truth to these young people. What is the truth? The truth is there is a vast amount of scientific evidence that points to a young earth. You won’t hear about that evidence at school (or even at many churches), but the truth is that young earth creationism is backed up by solid evidence.

The purpose of today’s article was not so much to enlighten folks on the age of the earth as it was to enlighten them about what their children and grandchildren are being taught in school. It is no wonder that we see so many kids falling away from the church. If the secular theories of ‘The Big Bang’ and evolution continue to seep into the subconscious of our youth it will do vast amounts of damage.

What damage will it do? Well, it will undermine scripture and push forward the idea that we are highly evolved apes – animals. And, if we are just highly evolved animals then there is no reason not to have promiscuous sex, curse, steal, murder – you name it. If we are merely animals then there is no objective truth, just mankind’s subjective opinion of what is right and wrong.

As it says in the Dostoevsky novel The Brothers Karamazov, “If there’s no God and no life beyond the grave, doesn’t that mean that men will be allowed to do whatever they want?” I think any sensible person would say yes, that if there is no God then morality is subjective (up to each individual), and following that to it’s logical conclusion we find that someone such as Ted Bundy simply had a “different opinion” than the majority on killing for pleasure. He was just living out his dream, “you do you”, “be yourself”, “follow your heart” and all that.

This is ludicrous. We know inherently that some things are right and some are wrong – and the Bible puts forth mankind’s morality in the most divine and perfect way imaginable. Yet the world is wrenching away the Bible’s authority over their morality. It scares me to think what will happen over the next few decades if we continue to rebel against the authority and perfect morality of the Bible.

Let us all teach our children that the Bible is THE source of knowledge and that the wisdom of men is often folly. Not only that, let us instill the power of the Bible and God’s Word into our youth and into ourselves. We cannot let the false wisdom of the world influence the church of Christ without fighting back:

1Co 1:18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

1Co 1:19 For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.

1Co 1:20 Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

I will end this article by leaving you with a few resources. These resources provide evidence to the contrary of the “wisdom of this world”. Be sure to check these out if you have time:

Assumptions and the Age of the Earth

Creation and the Age of the Earth

Atheist Blogger Leah Libresco Converted to Theism by Morality