This past weekend, I joined together with other members from our faith fellowship in passing flyers about our VBS this week out in the community.  Along the way, we stumbled upon some Jehovah’s Witnesses.  I know that the most common response to these people is to run and hide… not me.  For a while now, I have greatly welcomed the contact of this group and others who are contrary to the Christian faith.  I asked them about what they were doing and was told that they were looking for people who would be interested in doing a “bible study” with them.  I had to jump in the conversation.  I started asking what they would be teaching.  When the subject of Jesus came up, I camped out there.  After a good while, they realized that they were making no headway with me nor was I with them.  We swapped contact information and agreed to get together at another time to discuss questions.

This got me to thinking about a passage of Scripture: “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander” (1 Peter 3:15-16 NIV).

I began to wonder how many people who say that they are believers and followers of Jesus are truly ready to give “an answer to everyone”?  As I said earlier, many people look to run the other way when people of different faiths approach them.  I do not believe that we need to go looking for an argument (something that I can easily fall victim to), but I do think that we can see that we have no reason to run away.  Some may say that they cannot explain it or answer all of the questions that arise.  The truth is it’s not about having all of this knowledge from classes or books… it’s about sharing the very thing that has transformed (and is continuing to transform) your life.

I want to encourage you, if you are a believer and follower of Jesus Christ, don’t run away or hide.  Rather, shine brightly and share the Good News of Jesus with anyone and everyone that wonders what’s inside of you!

I recently read the book “Christianity In Crisis: 21st Century” by Hank Hanegraaff.  I have read some of Hank Hanegraaff’s work before and found it to be very good.  He does a great job of using the Bible in context.  That is why he has a radio program called Bible Answer Man that can be heard throughout the United States and Canada.  “Christianity In Crisis: 21st Century” was an interesting read.  It is a follow-up work to a book that Hanegraaff had written some twenty years ago that was called “Christianity In Crisis.”  Both books deal with some “movements” that claim the title of Christian but have very untraditional theologies that prove them to be anything genuine Christian.

Some things that were really good about this work was that Hanegraaff gave some specific examples and didn’t seem to be “attacking” a person.  He really made it a point to target the teachings and not the people themselves.  Though at times, Hanegraaff is very bold in his wording, I agree that with errant teachings, Christians do not need to be tolerant and worry about the feelings of other people.  I really think that the reason that many “teachers” of the kind of theology that Hanegraaff exposes in this work have massive followings because not many people have had the courage to stand up and call them to account.  I also really liked the fact that he cited all of his references so that someone could come behind him and check his work.  Hanegraaff is definitely not trying to hide anything.  He was rather calling some false teachings to be laid plainly on the table.

There were some things that I would have liked to seen differently.  I know that Hanegraaff was trying to give some credibility to what he was going to talk about, but the almost seventy pages of the “cast of characters” was a little long.  I know that there are many in this “word-faith” teaching, but it was just hard to get through all of the characters when they seem to be the same thing over and over.

Overall, I would highly recommend this book to anyone who might be wondering about all these tv preacher guys (and ladies).  While not everyone on tv is teaching false doctrines, many are.  Sadly, many who are outside of faith in Christ base their belief of Christianity by what is readily available to them.  I think that this should encourage churches to get into their communities and be the true body of Christ and not leave it to someone who might be errantly representing Christ on tv to do so.

I am currently taking a course in seminary called “Philosophy of Religion.”  For the past week or so, I have been doing a lot of work with it.  While it has to do with a lot of reading (especially articles with many words I don’t even know how to pronounce), it has raised some good questions in my mind.

Can faith and reason coincide?  There are many who think that for one to have reason and try to have an explanation for everything, that nullifies faith.  Then there are those that say that for one to have faith you must chunk reason out the window. I have come to realize that I disagree with these statements/beliefs.  I do believe faith and reason can live together in the same household.

While it is true that “the faith shall live by faith” (Habakkuk 2:4/Romans 1:17), the Bible also tells us to “Love the LORD with all our hearts, mind, soul, and strength” (Deuteronomy 6:5/Matthew 22:37).  Without faith, we are not going to see nor please God.  Faith is the beginning of our relationship with Him.  But God has blessed humans with a great gift: the mind.  He intends it to be used to communicate our faith with others and bring Him glory.

Any thoughts?