Something that can weaken our confidence in sharing Jesus, is if we’re afraid of being asked questions we can’t answer.
But this is a problem we can help each other solve! Put a group of sensible Christians together, and you’ll probably find we’ve got the raw material we need for the questions we’re asked.
So in our church, or student group, we can set aside an evening to discuss the objections we’ve heard to our faith. Break into groups of 5-8, and list the questions you’ve heard. Then together we can share ways we respond.
These next four posts are aimed to back you up in this exercise. They list a few approaches you could use as starting-points. Some may not be relevant to your situation, but you can sort that out!
So in these next four Foundations posts we’ll briefly consider…
Science has disproved Christianity!
However can you believe in miracles?
How could a good God allow so much suffering?
We’re a pluralistic society, with many sincerely-held beliefs. How can there be only one truth, how can Jesus be the only way? Aren’t all religions true?`
But what about those who have never heard your gospel?
Surely if I’m a basically good person, that will be enough for your God?
Isn’t the church evil?
But don’t you say your God hates homosexuals?
Doesn’t the Bible accept slavery?
Why should we trust the particular bunch of books we have in the Bible?
The Bible is full of mistakes!
Your faith is OK for you but I’m happy without it!
Remember your aim is never to argue people into the Kingdom. That’s not possible; only God can lead us through! Your aim is – lovingly and prayerfully – to get the problems out of the way, so that together you can share about what really matters: who Jesus was, what he has done; where we stand before God, what we each need to do about it…
So then…
Science has disproved Christianity!
• If that were so, it’s surprising that so many scientists are Christians; people like the internationally-renowned Francis Collins who led the Human Genome Project and wrote the New York Times bestseller The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief; or the many professional scientists who belong to Christians in Science in the UK, or its counterpart in the US, the American Scientific Affiliation.
• Science continually grows and learns. If history continues, our science may seem as strange to the 23rd century as the 18th century’s does to us. All we can have are provisional understandings.
• In our time, however, conflicts over science and faith are usually about origins, evolution, and Genesis. Evolution is an issue over which biblical Christians feel free to differ. Some have no difficulties believing both evolution and the Bible; so it hasn’t been proven that the two are irreconcilable. Others rightly observe that evolutionary theory is far from finally ‘proven’ (scientific theories never are). Yet others notice that some secular cosmologists have argued that the evolutionary process is so problematic, a higher intelligence from space must have watched over it to make it work (cf renowned cosmologist Sir Frederick Hoyle (not a Christian), Evolution from Space) – ie, if there’s evolution, there must be some sort of Creator! (For more on all this see https://petelowmanresources.com/latest-genesis-answering-the-standard-questions/ .)
EXTRA: In fact the famous science/faith clash is a myth. As a historical fact, it’s no coincidence that in Britain the rise of science was driven by keen God-believers like Newton and Boyle; and when the Royal Society arose in 1660, the majority of its members were Christians. They thought of God having given two books, Bible and nature; science for them was a sacred attempt to “think God’s thoughts after Him” – if there is a Lawgiver, it makes sense to try to understand his laws in the physical world as well as the moral one, so they did! Philosopher of science Stanley Jaki points out that science was “stillborn” in other great civilizations outside Europe, not because they didn’t have the ideas, but because of worldviews that hindered scientific development. Historically, both the Arabs and the Chinese were more inventive than eg the English: but the insights of neither culture built up into a structure that could lead to modern science. Why? In Islam God is fundamentally unknowable; his ways cannot be explored in the way that the Bible encourages; and also the Quran doesn’t teach us to think in extended rational argument like both the old and new testaments do. Ancient Chinese religion taught the ultimacy of the Tao: things just are the way they are; there is little point in investigating beyond that. Neither worldview seems to have fostered scientific enquiry; historically, faith in the Bible did. (See R. Hooykaas, Religion and the Rise of Modern Science, and Melvyn Bragg (not a Christian as we understand the term!), The Book of Books.)
But I don’t believe in all those miracles!
The best response here, if we’re with people who know us well enough to trust us, may be to share our own experiences of God’s remarkable action, or of answered prayer; or those of other people we know well enough to vouch for. Otherwise though:
Maybe your science is out of date! In the world of quantum physics, it’s impossible to rule out extraordinary events like miracles.
If there’s a God who created the scientific laws, then logically that same God can suspend or supersede them.
Historical fact: since the resurrection happened, then not only is our own bondage to death broken, but our bondage to all the world’s other `laws` is subject to God’s loving and healing intervention!
But how could a good God allow so much suffering?
• The Bible teaches no easy answers to this question. At the heart of Christian faith is a man on a cross shouting, ‘My God, my God, why?’ In Revelation we read of the ‘sealed book’ of war, famine, imperialism, economic injustice, disease and religious persecution; and we find it’s something only Christ can comprehend, and that is ‘because you were slain, and with your blood you ransomed people for God’ (5:9). On the cross, Christ alone went to the utter heart of the darkness; he took human pain seriously, he alone sees and understands all our suffering.
• There are some other partial answers. At the start of history, humankind insisted on running our own world, rather than submitting to God’s reign. Our world has been wrecked as a result, and we haven’t the power to put it right. Yet each of us still repeats that mistake, demanding to do things our way.
• Christ’s death was God’s loving response. He got involved in our suffering, removed the guilt and power of sin, rendered powerless the demonic powers, opened the way through death.
• But if God stamped out all the evil in the world right now, we’d each be dead! So now he calls us to work with him; learning in difficult times (even atheists often recognize how these have been key times of growth in their own lives); building a new community marked by his love and peace and healing; and slowly spreading his transforming power.
• But one day Christ will come back. If we are his, he will take us to a new heaven and earth where at last there will be ‘no more death or crying or pain’ (Rev 21:4).
(Books worth reading include: Joni Eareckson, Joni; Edith Schaeffer, Affliction; C S Lewis, The Problem of Pain; John Wenham, The Enigma of Evil.)
