Friday Faith

“Indeed, faith is a response to evidence, not a rejoicing in the absence of evidence.”

- John Lennox

“Faith is not a leap in the dark; it’s the exact opposite. It is a commitment based on evidence… It is irrational to reduce all faith to blind faith and then subject it to ridicule. That provides a very anti-intellectual and convenient way of avoiding intelligent discussion.”

- John Lennox

Welcome to the first Friday Faith from Transformed Apologetics! What is Friday Faith? Friday Faith is a weekly post that involves information related to concept of faith in Christian apologetics. Friday Faith will provide information that demonstrates why having faith in God is reasonable and why the Christian faith is the only way to God. So, what is this week's Friday Faith?

For this week’s Friday Faith, I thought it best to address the crux of the concept of the faith in Christian apologetics. The most common objection to and most common ridicule of the Christian faith from those that do not believe that God exists is that those who believe in Christianity have a blind faith. Those who believe that God does not exist claim that Christians believe what they believe based on a lack of evidence and even against the evidence available to us. Those who do not believe in the existence of God (atheist) claim that belief in God is nothing more than wishful thinking designed to make people feel better about their lives. As atheist philosopher Karl Marx describes it, religion or belief in God is nothing more than "the opiate of the masses."

As one can see, the stones thrown in the directions of Christians when it comes to the legitimacy of their faith are many. The accusations of atheist against the Christian faith demand that we bear the burden of proof and present the evidence for our faith "gently and respectfully" (1 Peter 3:15, CSB). The apostle Peter, in response to assertions against the Christian faith that echo those of the present day, calls us as Christians to "always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that" we have in our Christian faith (1 Peter 3:15, NIV). In fact, the Greek word apologia, which serves as the basis for our English word apologetics, means "to speak in defense" [1]. Therefore, as Christians we must use the evidence, we have to demonstrate that our faith is reasonable and is in the only way to God. So, how is this done?

Over the next several Friday Faith's we will be analyzing the evidence that demonstrates that belief in God is reasonable and that the Christian faith is the only way to God. As apologist Greg Koukl stresses in his book tactics, we Christian should not fear the arguments of the other side because we are on the side of truth and our faith is based on evidence [2]. "If Christianity is true," Koukl says, "then no matter how convincing the other side sounds at first, there will always be a fly in the ointment somewhere - a mistake in thinking, a wayward "fact," an unjustified conclusion" and therefore we must not get discouraged but press on in search for answers [2]. Fellow Christian, our faith is based on an immense amount of evidence!

Throughout the coming Friday Faith’s, we will be exploring this evidence for belief in God and the Christian faith as the only way. I look forward to diving into this with you all! Make sure comment your thoughts and submit your questions to transformedapologetics@gmail.com. Until next week!

References:

[1] https://www.dictionary.com/browse/apologia

[2] Tactics by Greg Koukl