The Most Quoted Verse in the OT

The writers of the Hebrew scriptures seemed to have a favorite verse, because they quoted it a lot. It's a great passage, packed with meaning, and it's something we really need to keep in mind today because it answers so many questions and misunderstandings.

YHWH vs FSM

"There are thousands of gods people believe in. How do you know yours is the right one?" You know, that's a fair question. "You believe in your god, I believe in the Flying Spaghetti Monster. What's the difference?" That's really not, but let's play along. One line of reasoning can cover both questions.

Was the Cross Divine Child Abuse?

God sent his Son to die for our sins. That's one of the most basic statements of the gospel story. And many today respond by declaring the cross "divine child abuse". How can we respond to that?

Jesus and the Pharisees

When people attack traditional Christians for being traditional Christians, there are certain standard moves. Whether it's coming from progressive pastors, cafeteria Catholic comedians, or skeptical scientists, one of the favorites is to compare us to the Pharisees, "the people Jesus denounced most harshly". Let's talk about why that falls flat. Let's look at exactly why Jesus was so harsh with the Pharisees.

Why are Christians So Hung Up on Sex?

It offends our society. It's a common complaint among those who are Millennials or younger. The person who asked me, though, was fifty. "Why do Christians talk about sex so much when there are so many other sins they don't talk about?"

There are other ways we hear this expressed: "Why do Christians care so much what people do in their bedrooms?" "Why don't Christians want gays to love each other?" However they express it, people today are both perplexed and offended that Christianity opposes the sexual freedom considered a fundamental right in the modern western world. So how can we answer that?

Question That Meme

If you're on any social media platform, you're going to come across memes, clips, cartoons, or other content designed to make people question Christianity. Being a mature, intelligent person, you're tempted to just ignore it and move on. Don't. This is an opportunity to learn, to engage, or to prepare.

The Myth of the Scale

The exclusivity of the Christian claim is one of the things our society really dislikes and struggles to comprehend about Christianity. Why do you have to be a Christian?

One way that has been expressed is: "What about people who do what Jesus teaches but don't believe in Jesus? Shouldn't God cut them a break?"¹ Why do you have to believe in Jesus or even God? Why isn't it good enough to live they way Jesus wants people to live? How should we answer that?

The Greatest Day in History

It's popular to claim that Christ's story is just a myth, borrowed from myths, and even the first Christians didn't think it all really happened. No one really believed Hercules actually lived. The stories of Adonis and Osiris were to have happened "in the age of legends" or, as we would put it today, "once upon a time." It's silly, they say, for modern Christians to think the gospels recount actual historical events.

It's important for us as Christians to be able to explain why those claims are entirely wrong. Christ's resurrection didn't occur "once upon a time." It was the most important day in history.

Religion Isn't Art Appreciation

"The arrogance of Christians is astounding. How can Christians think their way is the only right way? All of these other religions think they're right, too. What makes Christians think they're special?"

It's a fair question, but it seems to come with an implied "they're not". That's because of a fundamental misunderstanding about the Christian faith.

When Religion is Evil

Some years ago a skeptic made the oft quoted statement, "Science flies you to the moon. Religion flies you into buildings."¹ Of course, we could fairly reply that science builds bombs and religion builds hospitals, but the truth is that a lot of evil has been done in the name of religion. Much evil has been done in the name of Christ.

How do we answer the charge that "faith" is a force that leads people to do awful, irrational things?

A Little Healthy Skepticism

It's been over 20 years since The Da Vinci Code burst onto the scene, providing millions with reasons to doubt Christianity. There has long been a cottage industry for providing such reasons, but The Da Vinci Code was bigger than anything that came in the century before it. It's been thoroughly debunked, but there are still people who choose to believe its myths. This should have taught us that the enemies of Christianity are completely willing to traffic in lies, half-truths, and distortions.

At that time, a skeptic had to convince a major publisher to give him a forum. The internet has changed that. Now we have memes on social media and things like YouTube, TikTok, and podcasts that can give an appearance of credibility to ideas that do not warrant it. The modern world is full of dangerous people and dangerous ideas, but it also provides tools to combat them.

Let's Talk About Abortion

Recent studies show a decline in church attendance among young women. For centuries, women have tended to be more likely than men to attend church. What's changed?

The problem is apparently the ways traditional Christian teaching disagrees with the teaching of our culture. When we allow the schools, the media, and the internet to disciple our children, we shouldn't be surprised when their beliefs differ from ours. Now it's necessary to address their specific objections to the teachings of traditional Christianity, and no issue seems to be more important to them than abortion.

I'm putting this out after the election intentionally. While I want more voters to be pro-life, this isn't not about votes; it's about girls letting this issue draw them away from Jesus. I hope they will one day be fully pro-life, but in the meantime we want them in church hearing the gospel and learning to follow Jesus.

Bending the Knee

Why is faith necessary to be saved? Even if faith isn't "blind faith", why should it be necessary for God to save people? Why can't God just save everyone?

There is an element in salvation that doesn't get a lot of air-time these days, so a lot of American Christians get the gospel wrong. This results in many raised in the church not understanding salvation. It also aids those outside the church in misunderstanding or misrepresenting the gospel and Christian teaching.

What is Faith?

Is faith opposed to reason? Does faith mean you don't have evidence? Is faith "believing what you know ain't so"?

Many people have trouble with the idea of "believing in Jesus" because the very notion of faith seems irrational. How can you expect people to check their brains at the door? And why should you have to?

But what if that's not what faith is at all?

The New Challenges

I recently had a conversation with someone who sees himself as a sort of evangelist for moral relativism. His mission is to "teach people" (his words) that the world would be a better place if we all realize no one's right, no one's wrong, no-thing is wrong, and all our values are merely beliefs that are no more than our opinion. Is he a liberal philosophy professor? Nope. Kooky hippy hanging out in the park? Hardly. He's a trainer at a local gym. He chats with people about these things while he trains them.

And he's an example of the minefield the world has become. It's not everywhere you go, but it can be anywhere. The world is now full of people who think Christianity is not the solution but the problem. And they're coming for the children.

The Geographic Objection

“Have you noticed that Christians tend to live in the West, people in the Middle East are Muslim, and people in the Far East are Hindu or Buddhist? Being a Christian is just a matter of where you were born, and if you were born in Iran, you’d be Muslim.”

Have you heard this objection before? The implication (if they don’t flat out say it) is Christianity is just another regional myth, and you simply subscribe to the one that’s local to you. Let’s look at how we can answer this.

So. Many. Churches.

“I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one — I in them and you in me — so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me” (John 17:22-23).

Why are there so many denominations? Does the existence of all of those denominations, the fact that Christians can’t agree on anything, prove Christianity isn’t true?

The existence of denominations causes many Christians a lot of angst. Jesus wants his people to be united. Denominations are proof we aren’t, right? I’m not sure that’s true.

Unity and uniformity are not the same thing. To borrow from an earlier metaphor, the body needs eyes, ears, muscles, and bowels. That lack of uniformity doesn’t stop the parts of the body from being unified. Christians disagree on a lot of the finer points of our theology. The greatest divide between Roman Catholics and Protestants is over whether good works play a role in salvation. That is a great divide, and that’s the reason for the Protestant Reformation — we have a fundamental disagreement over a very basic part of Christian theology.

Protestants, then, disagree over things like what exactly happens during the Lord’s Supper, when and how to baptize, and how to govern churches. These are important, but they’re not fundamental issues. Many of the things we disagree over make it difficult to do church together. For example, if you are convinced baptism is for believers only, it’s hard to be in the same local church body as those who teach and practice baptism for the infant children of believers. It’s not that you cannot get along; it’s that running a church like that would be difficult, chaotic even. It’s easier on everyone to separate into different local bodies over that issue.

You can be separate churches and even separate denominations and still act like a family who loves each other. Believers from different denominations can and do work together to preach the gospel and to show the love of Christ to people in need. That, I believe, still demonstrates the unity Christ was praying for.

The problem is when we don’t act like that. Some people divide over a host of tertiary issues (or worse) — eg, a particular view of the end times, worship styles, or which Bible translation to use. It’s not unheard of to find a church that teaches that the salvation of anyone who disagrees with them on these things is suspect. That is not keeping the unity of the faith. As one old theologian put it, in essentials, unity; in nonessentials, liberty; in all things, charity.¹

Many skeptics today will say that the vast number of denominations, the fact that we seem to disagree about every conceivable point of doctrine, proves Christianity isn’t true. Does it?

What is untrue is the allegation that we disagree about every conceivable point of doctrine. Yes, Christians today disagree over many things. What we agree about is more important:

I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth,

And in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord,
Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary,
Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and buried.
He descended into hell. The third day he rose again from the dead.
He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty
From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
The holy catholic Church,
The communion of saints,
The forgiveness of sins,
The resurrection of the body,
And the life everlasting. Amen.

All Christians everywhere can recite the Apostles’ Creed. The Eastern Orthodox churches disagree with one phrase of the Nicene Creed, but otherwise we can all attest to that. The majority of what I’ve written here in this project would be agreeable to traditional Christians across the branches and denominations. For all there are supposedly thousands of Protestant denominations, we agree on more than we disagree.

So we don’t disagree about everything, but we do get lost in the weeds of the details sometimes. It’s understandable that people want to dig deeper into their theology and ask “what does this mean” and “how does this work”, but sometimes we take our tentative answers too seriously. That’s on us. We can do that without losing the unity Christ demands and desires. We just need to obey the words of the apostle:

“Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (Eph 4:2-3).


1 It may not have been original to him, but it’s widely attributed to Rupertus Meldenius (1582-1651).


Part of Christianity 101

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