The Worst Deficiency in the Church

Many would argue that the biggest problem facing the Church of Jesus Christ is an apparent downward slide into immorality and a lifestyle that betrays the virtues of the One we claim to follow. Without question, each high profile case of evangelists and other church leaders caught in various acts of sinful behavior damages the credibility of the message Jesus asked us to carry and causes the world to view the body of Christ as nothing more than hypocrites who are anything but Christ-like. This is why Paul cared so much about maintaining a godly self-disciplined lifestyle less he be disqualified from being able to preach and stand as a testimony to the saving power of Jesus (1 Corinthians 9:24).

While I would agree that the Church needs to purify itself of immorality, I have begun to notice another issue with Christianity – a growing deficiency that is starting to harm the witness of the Church in a way that threatens to rob the faith of its authoritative power and neuter the Church’s ability to convince the lost that the gospel of Christ is the one true way of salvation. Quite simply, the Church is losing its confidence.

Why No Confidence?

Today’s culture is one of rampant skepticism where everything is questioned and little is wholeheartedly accepted. Moreover, the current climate is one where pluralism rules in that equal weight is given to any worldview as long as that worldview doesn’t make exclusive claims like Christianity does – that crosses the pluralists’ line and exposes the true and ungodly side of the pluralist movement. Finally, science and the theory of evolution have seated themselves in the chair of supreme authority where they routinely dismiss any challenge put to them that does not square with their presuppositions, even if the evidence leads in a direction that is away from them.

Few believers have the confidence to confront the skeptic, pluralist, and scientist when they openly attack the claims of Christianity. The reasons for this lack of confidence can be boiled down to three deficiencies on the part of most Christians:

• An inability to recognize the faulty and (many times) contradictory arguments of the opposition.
• An insufficient personal knowledge of the rich evidences for the Christian worldview.
• An unwillingness to be obedient to God’s command to contend for the faith

Who’s really on Shaky Ground?

The relativist, agnostic, skeptic, post-modernist, and pluralist positions most often always suffer from the same problem – they are either self-defeating or they deny actual reality. But few Christians see through the smoke-and-mirror arguments put forth from these groups and challenge them on the assertions they make. For example, how many relativists (who assert that everything is relative and that absolutes don't exist) would prefer a relatively faithful spouse over an absolutely faithful one? Make no mistake; the relativist demands absolutes in their life even though they deny absolutes exist.

What about the agnostic who says you can’t know anything? Well, how do they know that? If they admit that they know at least one thing, then they have to admit you can know, for sure, certain things. How about the skeptic who says you must doubt everything? Do they doubt skepticism? Every time the skeptic gets paid, do they doubt that the funds end up in their bank account?

By far, the worst in my opinion are the post-modernists and the pluralists who either affirm no truth or say that all truths are the same. Yet post-modernism asserts that the post-modernist stance is true, which is odd for a philosophy that says truth doesn’t exist. The pluralists stance becomes perhaps the most silly as it clearly violates certain logical principles such as the law of non-contradiction, which says that something cannot be A and Non-A at the same time and in the same sense. One philosopher quipped that anyone holding to pluralism should be beaten and burned until they admit that to be beaten and burned is not the same thing as to not be beaten and burned.

The point is that no Christian should feel intimidated or lose their confidence in the presence of those who hold to such easily refuted and shaky philosophies.

A Lack of Answers

• “The Bible is just a bunch of error-ridden books and nice stories put together by men – it certainly isn’t relevant for today.”
• “Jesus was a good moral teacher, but he was just a man like Buddha and other like gurus – nothing more.”
• Evolution is responsible for everything you see around you – given enough time and chance, anything is possible.”

These and other such assertions fly in the face of Christians everyday, and outside of retorts such as, “Well that’s not what I believe”, there are little though-provoking counter-arguments that believers offer to those who challenge the Christian worldview. The terribly sad fact is that is oftentimes the Christian who walks away from such encounters with seeds of doubt planted in their heart instead of the non-believer being the one left questioning their position. Such should not be the case.

One of the most wonderful things about the Christian faith is that it is so evidential in nature. In truth, when you take time to carefully examine all the facts and use a critical thinking approach in comparing Christianity to any other worldview, you reach the conclusion that it is a far greater leap of faith to believe in Darwinism, atheism, or any like worldview.

But most Christians don’t realize this because they have invested little time to understand exactly what it is they have chosen to believe in. They become perfect targets for weak worldly arguments that should bounce off with little effect, but instead most any challenge causes them to fold up like a camping tent.

If you were asked to name the key doctrines of the Christian faith and to provide sound reasons for belief in each, could you do it? If not, why not? Make no mistake, the cults and secularists are well-versed in their beliefs and they are convincing people everyday to walk down a broad road that will ultimately lead to a place they don’t wish to go. Do you care enough about your own faith and the lost to arm yourself with the evidences that God has so richly provided you? Don’t be fooled – it takes time and study to become well-equipped in Christian apologetics, but the truths you study are food that the new man inside you will love to eat, and during the process, you will gain an appreciation and awe for God that you don’t currently have. And instead of sliding into eternity with your fingers crossed, you will develop a contagious confidence in the truths of Christianity that rub off on everyone you meet.

Obedience

Although you many not realize it, God has commanded you to be ready and willing to defend the Christian faith in today’s world. His mandate isn’t just for those who speak well or are bold in personality. If you think this is not the case, carefully consider the following verses:

• “but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;”, 1 Peter 3:15
• “for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. ⁵We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ”, 1 Corinthians 10:4-5.
• “For the overseer must be above reproach as God’s steward, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not addicted to wine, not pugnacious, not fond of sordid gain, ⁸but hospitable, loving what is good, sensible, just, devout, self-controlled, ⁹holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict.”, Titus 1:7-9.
• “Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.”, Jude 3.

Outside of the Titus verses that are mainly aimed at elders, you can see that God intends for all his elect to be obedient when it comes to understanding His truths and being ready to correct error when it is presented. Yes, this can make you unpopular with certain people, and maybe even your own family, but obedience to God should be our highest honor and duty. Even when it hurts.

Doing an About-Face

You might be thinking that doing a one-eighty degree turn like this is impossible, but actually, it isn’t. In fact, it’s a process God specializes in.

When Jesus was murdered, His disciples ran and hid for fear that they would suffer the same fate as their Teacher. The religious leaders' arguments had persuaded the crowds to reject Christ (just like today) and the disciples no doubt thought they were next on the Pharisees' hit list. But only a short time later, these same men boldly confronted the religious leaders who put to the death the Son of God and stood their ground when ordered to stop teaching in Christ’s name. In Acts 4:13 we read, “Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus.” The lambs had become lions and exhibited a confidence that they likely never knew they had.

The same thing can happen with you. If you are a Christian, then you possess the same Holy Spirit that baptized the disciples on the day of Pentecost. You have the high privilege to open God’s Word, spend time with Christ, and learn the same eternal truths He taught His disciples. And you have the same duty as they did to guard the sacred trust and message that has once and for all been delivered to the saints.

The Church of God is in desperate need of confident men and women who possess a strong knowledge in what they believe and who won't wilt when the inevitable challenges of the world come. Can we count on you?

Either Or

One of my wife’s friends came over to visit the other day and relayed a conversation that she had with a work acquaintance of hers who is a Muslim. She talked at length about the man’s sincerity of faith, the confidence he exhibited on his Islamic views, and the convictions he had about Jesus. Although my wife’s friend claims to be a Christian, she spoke about how she believed that there is just no way her Muslim friend could not spend eternity with God and concluded her remarks by saying, “I think we’ll all be surprised at how many people really go to Heaven.”

Actually, I agree with her final statement, but very much disagree with the truth she means for it to convey. Let me explain.

Do Middle Options Really Exist?

When the post-modernist and pluralist world says that everything is true and that no single/absolute truth exists, it really fails to face reality and think logically. One of the first principles of logic is the law of the excluded middle, which says that something is either A or Non-A. The object of the discussion simply cannot be both at the same time and in the same sense. For example, the wall is either blue or it is non-blue, but it can’t be both. Some have tried to defeat the law of the excluded middle by arguing that the wall could be a multitude of colors, but they miss the simple point that if the wall were any color other than blue, the wall would still be non-blue. Hence, this is why any middle option is excluded and only two choices really exist.

It is amazing that people can understand how the law of the excluded middle works when it comes to comprehending whether a wall is painted blue or something else, and yet deny that the principle still stands when it is applied to matters of faith and religion. Christianity has a distinct set of claims it makes about the nature of God, who Jesus Christ is, and what one must do spend eternity with God. Islam has a separate set of claims about the same three things. The law of the excluded middle (as well as the law of non-contradiction) says categorically that they both can’t be true.

For example, on the matter of the true identity of Jesus Christ, Christianity and Islam differ in the following ways:

• Christianity says Jesus is the Son of God and by very nature God, but Islam says Jesus was a created man and is not God in the flesh. So either Jesus is the Son of God or He is not the Son of God.
• Christianity says Jesus died an atoning death on the cross for all mankind, but Islam says Jesus was not crucified and did not die. So either Jesus died on the cross for the sins of the world or He did not die on the cross for the sins of the world.
• Christianity says Jesus rose from the grave on the third day proving his power over death, but Islam says Jesus did not die and did not come back from the dead. So either Jesus rose from the grave or He did not rise from the dead.

Simply put, it can’t be both ways. You cannot logically say that Christianity and Islam are both true because if one is true, the other has to be false. So many people don’t realize that Truth, by its very nature, excludes. Accept one belief, and you must reject anything that opposes it; deny one thing, and you automatically embrace and affirm its opposite – it’s undeniable if you choose to think logically.

My favorite story about the law of the excluded middle comes from Ravi Zacharias, a noted Christian apologist. He was having lunch one day with a passionate liberal professor who kept telling Ravi that Eastern religions embrace the ‘both and’ philosophy, which should be the only stance any wise person should take. Ravi looked at him and said, “So you’re telling me I must use either the ‘both and’ philosophy or nothing at all?” The professor just stared at him. Ravi repeated his question with emphasis, “So you’re telling me I must use either the ‘both and’ philosophy or nothing at all?” The professor looked down and said, “The ‘either or’ does seem to emerge doesn’t it?”

Christianity and Islam are both exclusivist beliefs, which means each believes it has the single source of truth about God and all other faiths opposed to it are false. Pluralists contend that all religions are true, however those holding to this belief fail to see they are actually adhering to the law of the excluded middle because they are in effect saying that pluralism is true and all forms of non-pluralism (such as Christianity and Islam) are false. Such a claim is self-defeating as it is really an exclusive claim. Further, any pluralist, when pressed, would be unlikely to admit that the beliefs of the Ku Klux Klan, hard-core Satanists, and other like belief systems are true.

From her statements, it is easy to see that my wife’s friend actually holds to another paradigm, which is inclusivism that says while one belief system is explicitly true, all others are implicitly true and therefore everyone will be saved. This stance (which is really nothing more than a variant of pluralism) is becoming red-hot today among many people who call themselves Christian, but does such a belief square with the actual teachings of Christ?

Either a Narrow Road or …

The Sermon on the Mount, which is recorded in Matthew 5-7, contains some of the most often-quoted words of Christ. After the beatitudes and teachings on benevolence, prayer, hypocritical judgment, and the golden rule, Jesus makes a startling statement in Matthew 7:13-14 regarding the path that leads to Heaven: “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

Let’s see how the law of the excluded middle works with the very exclusivist statements that Jesus makes. First, we see that there are only two choices – either we enter through the narrow gate or the broad gate. There is no middle choice. A very important thing to take note of is that each gate leads to a different place (they both do not lead to the same place), so it matters very much which gate we enter. Either you find everlasting life or you find destruction.

Second, Jesus says there are only a few who find the narrow gate and many who walk through the wide gate. This flies in the face of the pluralists and inclusivists who say that many will be saved and spend eternity with God, no matter what route they go down. So either Jesus is right or inclusivism is right. You simply cannot have a few who find eternal life (Jesus’ claim) and many who find eternal life (the inclusivists’ claim); it is not a ‘both and’ type of truth statement. This means that if you are going to attempt and try to think critically, you must take a side and commit yourself to either pluralism/inclusivism or to the words spoken by Jesus.

Conclusion

My wife’s friend believes we will be surprised at how many people spend eternity with God, and I agree with her. But I don’t agree with her implication that it will be many more than we think; I (unfortunately) believe it will be far fewer less than most people think. I believe it because logical thinking dictates that I choose a side between what Christ says and what pluralism says. I believe it because Jesus said it. I believe it because either Jesus is God (and God cannot be wrong) or He is not God (and therefore fallible). And I believe that when you thoroughly examine the evidence, the only conclusion that can be had is that Jesus is indeed God.

Ready to take a side?