I regularly listen to podcasts produced by some very intelligent men; Greg Koukl with Stand to Reason (str.org), Dr. William Lane Craig (reasonablefaith.org) and Dr. Ravi Zacharias (rzim.org). These men are masterful Christian apologists, which is to say they are very skilled in the defense of the Christian faith. Incidentally, their podcasts can be found on ITunes if you are interested.

On this week’s podcast by Dr. Craig, he mentioned a recent debate he participated in with an atheistic professor of philosophy. In most debates, polite applause is saved for the end of the debate and is not considered “proper” during the course of the debate itself. In this case, the debate’s student organizer encouraged applause during the debate at any point where one debater’s points resonated with the student body.

If you don’t know much about Dr. Craig I will fill you in. This guy makes my head spin. With publications like, “The Only Wise God: The Compatibility of Divine Foreknowledge and Human Freedom,” “Time, Reality, and Transcendence in Rational Perspective,” and “Einstein, Relativity and Absolute Simultaneity,” I sometimes listen hoping to glean some insight by sheer aural osmosis. Bottom line: this is a very smart gentleman.

So, as you can imagine, he was making some solid, logical and coherent points in his debate with his atheistic opponent. Periodically, however, the other professor would rattle off some kind of crowd-stimulating rhetoric, which would cause the professor’s “fans” to pound their desks and applaud loudly, almost in an attempt to scorn Dr. Craig. The problem is that these titillating comments bore no consequence for the point at hand. In fact, the comments themselves were either logically self-refuting arguments or remarks of complete inanity. Mockingly the professor declared: “It is also logically possible that there is a flying spaghetti monster,” followed by eruptions of applause. These students looked truth “dead in the face” and instead of acknowledging the truth (or at least a skillful, and well-reasoned viewpoint), they sought to mock the truth and then paraded their intellectual shallowness. This was repeated throughout the debate much to Dr. Craig’s chagrin.

Dr. Craig would repeatedly and soundly refute these ridiculous comments, demonstrate their lack of merit based on science, philosophy and history, but the atheistic students continued to miss the point. Now, if Dr. William Lane Craig, as skillful and winsome as he is, was unable to “score points” with this crowd, where do we (the much less educated and skilled) stand?

I am by no means the caliber of Christian apologist that these men are, but I do try to get into the world and stir up conversations in the pool of ideas. My experience has shown me a couple of things that I’d like to share with you.

I have assembled stacks of documents to help people “read-up” and answer their unresolved “Christian/God/Faith” issues. I have spent many hours debating and conversing about all manner of defensible issues with regards to faith and the Bible. At the end of nearly every one of those dialogues there is no commitment to faith in God, nor is there typically an assent to the ideas that I have just labored to present. Why is this? And, what do we make of Isa. 55:11: “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”

Consider the consequence of the atheist’s acquiescence to our arguments. If there is a God, then there are implications of lingering, if not immediate consequences. If there is, in fact, a God, then that changes the entire worldview, which is a fear-laden proposition regardless of their worldview. If Dr. Craig’s arguments were compelling….and they were…. why the blatant rejection of their validity? It is a heart issue. It is nearly always a heart issue.

“The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?” – Jer. 17:9

Consider this passage: John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 18 He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God."

God does His ultimate act and makes it abundantly clear by sending Jesus in human flesh – to talk – to walk – to be…but men did not receive Him. They rejected the truth. Why? Their deeds were evil. It was fundamental rebellion against God. It was a spiritual heart issue. He had answered in intellect, in heart, in spirit and still it was rejection. Consider also Romans 1:18 where it speaks of God’s wrath being revealed against men who “suppress the truth in unrighteousness.” The degradation of personal conduct in the verses that follow are a direct consequence of that suppression. Verse 25: “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator.” Verse 28: “And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind to do things that are not proper…”

To return to Isa. 55:11, the “prospering” that is accomplished by the Word is the consequent judgment that comes against those who are “condemned already.” (John 3:18c). One function of God’s truth in the world is the justification of all who believe and trust Him, but also the condemnation of those who suppress truth and live with a willful rejection of the very knowledge of God.

Now, lest this sound too berating, our duty is to pray for them and to continue to sow seeds of truth. But, we should not be surprised that they may not respond to God’s truth even if we are as well prepared as Dr. William Lane Craig, B.A., M.A., Ph.D, D.Th. Jesus Himself came to “His own” and “His own” did not receive Him. (John 1:11). We know that Satan has blinded minds so that they might not see the “glorious light of the Gospel.” (2 Cor. 4:4) Our job is to pray for that revelation that even with the Apostle Peter, did not come from “flesh and blood” but was revealed to him by God Himself. (Mt. 16:17)

We can never do more than pray until we’ve prayed – unknown. Knowledge and discourse alone cannot change the heart, but prayer has a way of softening and liberating it.

(Hey, do me a favor….if I end up preaching this in church someday…could those of you present pretend it’s the first time you’ve heard it?) ;-)

And it was good....

Over and over again in the creation account in Genesis 1, we see that God created and pronounced it "good." You know, there are still some "good" things in the world. We tend to be overwhelmed by the excessively negative news media. You hear all the "bad" news and then they try to get a "good story" in there, usually an animal story: poor little kitten is caught in a storm drain.

There's more good than that and we don't need the news media to report on it. All we need do is look around with an "attitude of gratitude." Relationships: the only thing that we have in this world that is eternal. If you love your spouse/kids/relatives and they love you - that is GOOD. If you have a job (especially these days) - friends, it's GOOD. Love, music, all manner of talents, nature, literature - there are many good things around us. Thank God for them.

Refuse to live in a down-in-the-mouth, murmuring existence. I was reading Romans 5 this morning and came across the Scripture that God really made alive to me: 1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 4 and perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Check it out: HOPE DOES NOT DISAPPOINT - hope looks for the good - hope expects to see the good things that God has already produced and those things which He is continuing to bring to pass. It's amazing how a confession and life lived in hope produce a heart and mouth of praise, isnt it?

Go on - say it - "it's all good" - God is saying it: He is working ALL THINGS together FOR GOOD to those who love the Lord and are the called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28