Answering Tough Questions About Christianity

Answering tough questions about Christianity

Have you ever had problems answering tough questions about your faith?

If you have, you’re not alone.

I’m pretty sure it’s happened to all of us at one time or another.

Before you know it, a skeptic catches us off-guard.

The end result?

Often, it’s disappointment in ourselves and a feeling like we’ve let God down.

Please remember, dear Christians: Take these challenges as an incentive to get better prepared! 

It’s a constant educational process.

The more you learn, the more confident you’ll be.

If you’re struggling, it’s time to polish your spiritual armor. 

pray

Here’s Why It’s Important to Pray About It First

Remember not only who we are, but more importantly, Whose we are.

Challenges to our faith are becoming more frequent, and that’s why praying about these future encounters is so important.

Pray for courage and guidance on a daily basis. If we don’t pray about it, we’re sending a message that we don’t think we need God. We’d rather rely on our own influence and intelligence.

It’s a big responsibility but, as Pastor John MacArthur reminds us, it’s not our job to *change* men’s hearts. We’re to speak the truth in love. Evangelism succeeds in God’s timing, not ours.

Changing hearts is the supernatural work of God.

It gets frustrating at times, but we’re not failures simply because the person we’re trying to reach blows us off every time. 

Don’t give up!

When you believe that every word of scripture comes from God and is authoritative and true, and you believe that God is the One, Sovereignly and powerfully, Who uses that truth to change people’s lives – that produces courage. The courage of confidence in Scripture and the courage that God will work through that. You speak that truth with courage and with love and leave the results to the Lord.1 – John MacArthur, Pastor and Bible Teacher, Grace To You.

Answering Tough Questions About Christianity

Why do we evangelize?

Our motive is pure, despite mischaracterizations from the entertainment world.

We want to help lead people to Christ because we love them and care about where they’ll spend their eternity.

It’s up to us to get the skeptic to think about their faith challenges, but not to get them to sign on the dotted line first time out. It could even take years with someone, if it even happens at all.

It’s important to note that we don’t “win people for Christ” – without God.

Keep on gently listening and planting those seeds, then give it to God.

Please watch this excellent clip from apologist, Greg Koukl from “Stand To Reason.”

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1 John MacArthur quotation, courtesy of Sermons Online. “John MacArthur On Courage and Confidence.” Online Video Clip. Dr. John MacArthur. Web. Accessed 28 August, 2019.

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Christian A Cappella Music

Christian a cappella music

Singing For Joy

A long time ago when I was a television reporter, the news director once said I had a “mellifluous” voice.

Yeah, I had to look that one up. Lol!

It means, “flowing like honey.”

That was a pretty nice compliment, but I’ve been flowing like honey for several years now and have yet to be discovered.

I digress. 🙂

Singing is a big part of me.

In previous posts, I’ve mentioned how much I love singing, especially singing in church choirs.

It’s pure joy knowing that God hears us praising Him.

It also excites me to think that, sometime in our future, we believers will be together praising the Lord for all eternity.

6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord! – Psalm 150:6, (ESV).

Christian A Cappella Music

A few days ago, I was searching for beautiful and inspiring Christian music to share and I came across David Wesley’s YouTube channel.

Eureka!

Talk about heart-stirring Christian a cappella music, I found some real treasures.

David Wesley is a talented vocalist and music producer. In many of his YouTube performances, he’s a one-man-choir, recording himself singing the different vocal parts of a chosen worship song.

In a few other standout melodies, he created a virtual choir – bringing together people who have never met each other from all over the world.

I can’t wait to share this song with you. It’s a favorite Christian song of mine, “In Christ Alone,” written by Stuart Townend and Keith Getty. Wesley’s arrangement of it is genius in my opinion.

I don’t know how he did it, but his arrangement features singers not only from the USA, but also from Germany, Poland, India and Australia – to name just a few of the countries represented.

In my humble opinion, listening to this virtual choir is a foretaste of Heaven.

I suggest you turn this one up, close your eyes and let these lyrics defining God’s grace flow over your soul like the still waters in Psalm 23.

Beautiful, isn’t it?

Singing for an audience of One Who deserves our highest praise.

You can find other beautiful arrangements on David Wesley’s YouTube channel and, for purchase, on iTunes and Amazon.

All glory to God!

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* Scripture quotation is from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, copyright © 2016 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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Heaven Is Our Eternal Home

Destination: Heaven 

Home sweet home

“Are we there yet?”

I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who, as a child, asked their parents that question during a long family road trip.

Those road trips seemed to stretch on and on for miles, didn’t they?

Remember how happy we were when we finally got to where we were going?

Heaven is our Eternal Home  

How much more wonderful will it be when we, as believers who trust in Jesus Christ as Savior, will live in Heaven with Him forever.

Heaven is our eternal home

The main reason why I write this blog is because I love to encourage people about what’s in store for those of us who love Jesus.

Why should we delight in God?

Because Heaven is our eternal home.

We have so much to look forward to! 

Like this:

Most people know that we’ll worship God in Heaven. But they don’t grasp how thrilling that will be. Multitudes of God’s people—of every nation, tribe, people, and language—will gather to sing praise to God for His greatness, wisdom, power, grace, and mighty work of redemption (Revelation 5:13-14). Overwhelmed by His magnificence, we will fall on our faces in unrestrained happiness and say, “Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!” (Revelation 7:9-12).1 – Randy Alcorn, Bible teacher and author.

And this . . .

I love these reassuring words from Bible teacher, Dr. Ed Hindson.

Dr. Ed Hindson

Heaven is Beautiful

Have you read some of the descriptions of Heaven in the Bible?

As beautiful and magnificent as Heaven is, now hold onto this, nothing will surpass  seeing Jesus face-to-face for eternity.

We’ll be in the presence of our Redeemer and King!

We can only imagine for now, right?

My hope is that we can all grasp the magnitude of the blessings in store for us.

Do you know who Fanny Crosby is?

She’s a well-known composer who wrote many wonderful gospel hymns back in the 1800s. A little research, and I found this jewel of a story about her.

hymn composer Fanny Crosby

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1 Randy Alcorn quotation, best-selling author/ Bible teacher/Founder of Eternal Perspective Ministries. [Blog post]. Retrieved from Let’s Anticipate The Incredible Experience of Worshipping in Heaven with All God’s People/June 14, 2019., para.1.

2 YouTube. “The Believer’s Exciting Future.” Online video clip. Dr. Ed Hindson. Web. Accessed 7 August, 2019.  

3 Fanny Crosby quotation, courtesy of Grace To You. [Blog post]. Retrieved from Will We See God’s Face?/June 14, 2019., para.10.

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Sharing Your Faith

Sharing Your Faith

sharing your faith

Courageously Sharing Your Faith

To “share” or “not to share”, that is the question.

At least on this blog post. 🙂

Seriously though, does the idea of sharing a favorite Christian meme or Bible verse on social media give you pause?

If it does, I certainly understand.

Your “friends list” may consist of believers and unbelievers.

With that in mind, you just might get a negative reaction you didn’t expect. How should you respond?

If it were me, I would invite that unbelieving friend to take the discussion offline. It’s better to have a one-on-one conversation than to have it play out in a public forum. 

courageously sharing your faith

Why Not Be Prepared?

We have to be prepared for resistance to the true gospel message, both online and in person.

Fortunately, there are some online sources for you that are helpful.

Here are a couple of resources for you to consider:

Why not devote a portion of time each week to learning how to answer the hard questions?

You may get questions from someone like:

Why is there evil and suffering in the world? You can find the answer to that here.

Can a Christian lose his or her salvation? You can find the answer to that here.

I’m a student of Apologetics myself. I will never know all the answers, but my heart yearns to learn as much as I can. It’s an insatiable thirst.

The Courage to Share

Always use grace when sharing your faith, an encouragement well-expressed here by Christian apologist, Sean McDowell.

I hope it is helpful to you.

God bless

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We Are Loved

We Are Loved

Jackson Hole, Wyoming is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever had the opportunity to visit.

The view across the open prairie looking up towards the Teton Mountain Range is breathtaking.

we are loved

This unforgettable landscape is just one of countless stunning examples of God’s glory on display.

His creation is truly a miracle.

I stand amazed . . . and thankful.

The whole universe reflects His majesty. 

How extraordinary is it that Creator God, who made Heaven and Earth, thought the world needed you and me before we were even born?

It’s a powerful truth, the depths of which are beyond our human comprehension.

What’s even more amazing is that God cares for us.

He knows when we’re filled with joy, and He knows when we’re hurting.

God isn’t influenced or moved by anyone’s fame or status.

He knows exactly who we are and we are loved.

Lessons From Creation

God cares about every aspect of your life.

We were made in His image.

Remember the powerful words of Jesus during His Sermon on the Mount.

We are much more valuable than the birds of the air. One more magnificent reason we should delight in God.

Fellow Christian writer Louis Gander wrote a lovely poem about God’s grace that I wanted to share with you. The last line, for me, “God holds” is very comforting.

An Amazing Miracle

by Louis Gander
04/01/09

Creation.
An amazing miracle.

A miraculous life as faith in God grows.
The greatest forest withstands the storms –
but when an acorn falls, God knows.

Creation.
An amazing miracle.

A miraculous life of piloted prayers.
A flock of birds protect each other –
but when the sparrow dies, God cares.

Creation.
An amazing miracle.

A miraculous seed crushed under strife.
The tomb was dark, the stone was sealed –
but God delivers eternal life.

Creation.
An amazing miracle.

A miraculous life as grace unfolds.
A family weeps, kisses, and loves –
but when their father sleeps, God holds.

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Poem copyright 2019 by louis gander. Poetry for sermons, story poems and more…If you love story poems, then you’ll love ganderpoems.org / no ads, no sign-up, no tracking.  Just free inspirational poetry.

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