Daniel Veler Supporter

You can not convince anyone to believe in God. The apostle wrote concerning the good news of Christ, "One man plants the word into a person’s heart and along comes another one to water it." But it is only God who can add to the increase. What this means is you can tell others about Christ and another one will come along to refresh the word that was planted, but it is only God who can save a person.

9 days ago • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Rick Baugh Supporter Follower of Christ cleverly disguised as a software engineer

While it is true that God only reveals Himself to those whom He chooses, it is also true that we are commanded to "always be ready to make a defense for the hope that is in you" (1Pe 3:15). Like so many things of faith, it seems there is a coexistent tension between the sovereign will of God and the works of man in apologetics.

Some apologetic ministries (AIG, ICR, etc.) focus on the testament of creation of the glory of God; showing how true, unbiased science actually refutes the atheistic explanatory foundations of evolution and "billions of years" of creation. Showing how the amazing engineering perfection of life, of the mechanics of the universe that make life even possible, can be a strong argument. These arguments can't be expressed in the 4000 char limit here, but I'd recommend visiting icr.org or answersingenesis.org, or buying Frank Turek's excellent book "I Don't Have Enough Faith To Be An Atheist" to learn more.

Other apologists, like Greg Bahnsen, took a more philosophical approach. He explained how atheists, in making their arguments, must actually depend upon theological foundations to even make their arguments. For example, the claim that world must be explained by scientific evidence and logic alone cannot justify _why_ this would be true. In fact they cannot explain why "science" is even useful and productive! They will say it "just is", but would deny us such a claim about God. But Bahnsen explains how a Christian worldview explains that since God created the universe, has revealed He is a God of laws, and created man in His image, it follows that man should be able to find and understand God's laws of physics and other science disciplines.

Bahnsen also argued that the laws of logic are a metaphysical reality quite apart from the materialistic mandate that _only_ time, energy, and space exist in the universe. He argued about the fact that logic can be used to explain the material universe was proof that the philosophy of materialism itself was false. If you can find a copy of "The Great Debate: Does God Exist?" between Greg L. Bahnsen and atheist Gordon S. Stein of UCA, recorded in 1985, it would be worth your effort.

Back when social media used to be more open to actual conversations versus today's endless ad hominem posts, I used to do a fair bit of apologetic engagements. I found that you almost never won a confession of being convinced from the person you engage. However, others who monitored the conversation, who didn't have "a dog in the hunt", would often express that they were helped in their understanding from listening in. So if you do engage in apologetics with whoever it is you wish to convince, don't be discouraged if they don't believe your arguments. Just remember, others may be listening. And most of all, the Lord always hears our defenses of His glory, which may just earn you "well done, good and faithful servant" from His lips.

5 days ago • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report