Contrary to what is commonly believed, Biblical faith is a rational evidence-based faith, not a wish in the dark. You do not have to hang your brains on a nail to be a Christian. 1 Pet. 3:15 enjoins upon the Christian to be ready to give answer concerning faith in Christ. Being ready implies there are occasions when we do not have the time to run away and study to provide an answer to an enquiry. To be sure there are times when we might be in a quandary as to how best to answer a question, and on such occasions we would be well served to answer, That’s a good question and I don’t know the answer to it but I’ll get back to you on it. That’s certainly preferable than trying to bluff. It is also true that there are occasions when we will not have opportunity to do that and it is profitable to have something to say that might prompt some thought on the part of the questioner and promote further discussion. For example, a fellow I know had a stock answer for the one who claimed I do not believe in God. He would say, Tell me about this God that you don’t believe in – maybe I don’t believe in Him either. All of the dynamics involved in this sort of activity are good for our spiritual growth, if nothing else. I find that answers other Christians may use don’t sit well with me, in the sense that they don’t suit my line of thinking and that’s fine for we are all different. But maybe there are some things I can mention that you can tuck away in your mind, or on the fly leaf of your Bible, to bring out when opportunity presents itself.
Wadaya say when someone says I just cannot accept the idea of an eternal God – that is, a God who doesn’t have a beginning. “Really, everybody is a believer in an eternal God”. How so? “Science and religion agree that man has not been here forever and man is now here. Therefore we must all deal with the question of origin. Since nothing produces nothing, either I must deal with the thought of an eternal God or eternal matter. It is not just the Christian who has to grapple with eternity.”
Wadaya say when when someone says I just can’t believe the idea that God created man. “Really? Would you classify yourself as an atheist?” I guess. “There are two points in the creed of the atheist: 1. Matter is eternal. 2. Matter is the creator of man. So we all believe in a Creator, but which one is more reasonable and plausible? – Matter which is essentially dead, or God who is alive?”
Wadaya say when someone says I couldn’t commit my life to anything. “You already have. To say that one will not make a choice because he might make a mistake is to suggest the impossible. One has no option but to make a choice. One must accept some sort of faith, and stake his all on that faith. We are in this world, alive, boots and all right now, and we have lived in the past, and we are living right now on the commitment we have made to a particular view of life and world view. There is no escaping the committing of our life to Someone or something, and each of us will answer for that commitment. As Jesus said, ‘either you are for me or against me’. There is no neutrality, no suspended judgment. Since we must stake our lives shouldn’t we stake our lives on the highest and noblest that we know? Surely we cannot go wrong in giving our best to the Highest. If it possible to go right, this way cannot be wrong. If it is not possible to go right, following Christ will not make us any ‘wronger’ (J.D. Bales)
Wadaya say when someone says Science has disproved the Bible! “Really? Tell me how, where, when, and who disproved the Bible through science. One must be able to prove the point that is supposed to contradict the Bible – and one must be able to prove that the Bible actually teaches what someone may say it teaches. Science and Scripture are alike in that both may be misunderstood. People have taught that the Bible supposedly says that the earth is flat and the centre of the universe, but it does not. Even if the Bible did teach that the earth was the centre of the universe how could anyone prove it is not since no knows the outer limits of the universe. There is no reason why the earth should be located at the very centre of the universe. Similarly everything claimed by science is not scientific. Remember, scientists disagree among themselves. If the Bible had harmonised with the science of Moses’ day it would as out of date as that science now is. It would also be true if we harmonised it with the science of 50 years ago. We can also confidently predict that 50 years from now the science of today will be outmoded, and many contemporary scientific conclusions regarded as premature and false. Science is the most changeable thing in the world. For example, the planet Mars has been the centre of attention of late because it is believed that this is the closest it has been for some time. In 1905 it was almost this close and an astronomer of the time, Percival Lowell, thought he could see canals on the surface and theorised they had been built by intelligent life forms. Our more powerful telescopes and probes have shown us there are no canals there.
And sometimes people misapply both science and scripture. The fact that eve was made from Adam’s rib does not mean that men should have one less rib than women. The Bible does not infer that and neither does science teach that. It would mean that if a man had his appendix removed his children would be born without one! Many who reject the Bible because they say they have no faith and science is based on things that can be seen, heard, tasted, touched, and smelt, or in other words determined by the physical senses, in the end accept by a sort of ‘faith’ the fact that man evolved here or in outer space, neither which views can be demonstrated by scientific methods. The fact they are looking elsewhere in the universe (eg. Mars) shows they do not believe evolution happened here.”
Wadaya say when someone says But it’s a known fact that Christians are anti-science. “Really? There may be some who claim to be so but I am not. Science has its place and so does religion. Religion is concerned with significance and purpose, whereas Science is concerned about structure and mechanism. To put it simply, Religion tells us why but not how, while Science tells us how but not why. We can determine by Science that water boils at 100 degrees C. at sea level, but we have no idea why it should do so. Medical Science may be able to explain what things occur in a living body but it cannot answer why living creatures should exist in the first place. Professor Adam Schaff was head of Warsaw University’s department of Philosophy, and was on the central committee of the Polish Communist Party. He said that a student said to him in a class once, “Please don’t be angry, but could you explain the meaning of life?” He had no answer! And science is limited. An X-ray of a human body may show that a bone is broken, or a cancer is present, but it cannot tell you whether the person X-rayed loves you or hates you.”
Wadaya say when someone says But I just can’t believe in miracles – they just don’t happen. “How do you know miracles can’t happen? Tell me, how did life get to be here? Everybody believes in miracles – either we got here by a miracle of Creation by God or a miracle of miracles where non-conscious, non-thinking dead matter gave rise to conscious, thinking life. Are you saying that for a religion to be true it has to be totally non-miraculous?” Well, I guess I am. “Well, first, how can you make such a stipulation? Second, how would God communicate with us without miraculous intervention? Wouldn’t that mean true religion would have to be invented by some man? Third, what would a non-miraculous religion have to offer? Certainly not life for evermore since life after death is miraculous!”
Wadaya say when someone says It’s just what you were brought up to believe. “It’s true in many ways I was taught to believe by the words and actions of my parents. Others have been brought up by their parents to believe something quite different. So are you saying that all of us must be wrong in what we believe just because we were brought up in a certain way? How does being brought up to believe in God disprove the existence of God? It may prove the power of teaching and the influence of the home and it may prove that faith in God can be taught. But it certainly does not prove that what was taught was false. If it did then everything is false because everything can be taught! The real question is ‘Is there a basis for accepting what I was taught?’ Biblical faith is not irrational, but evidential (Heb. 11:1). We are to love God with all our mind, and to prove all things and hold fast to that which is good.”
Wadaya say when someone says How can you believe when there is so much evil in the world? “If the existence of evil is an argument against the existence of God and the truthfulness of the Bible, then why does the Bible speak so much about evil? Why doesn’t the Bible minimize it or even deny it, rather than emphasize it? If we dispense with God does that make the problem of evil go away? No, because you are still talking about it. To say something is evil is to say that something is not good. Is there good in your life? Is there evil in your life? Where does your measuring standard of good and evil come from? If there is no God then how could anything be good or evil, because all that exists is physical, and anything that is decided as evil is just a physical sensation. We may not know all we would like to know about evil, but because we are in a room with a 60W bulb do we turn it off and sit in the dark because we don’t have the light of a 100W bulb?”
Wadaya say when someone says You believe you’re right, don’t you? “Yes – just as you do. That is perfectly normal because nobody adopts a position they believe to be wrong. But is just shows that one of us is right and the other is wrong, or we are both wrong and the truth is something yet again. ‘What is right’ is the important thing. One we find the truth ‘who is right’ takes care of itself.”
