Where is God?

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Arriving at the airport in plenty of time, I sat down on the floor in a semi-quiet area and recorded a 'short' on my phone to post for my weekly livestream Bible teaching time on Facebook.1 When I finished, I mentally 'crossed my fingers' and made my way to my Delta gate. Scanning for an open seat, I sat down and tried to remember how to upload my video to YouTube.

As fate would have it, I leaned over to the young couple next to me and said, 'hey, by any chance, do you guys know how to get my video onto YouTube. [I was working against a hard stop - departure time] 'Yeah, sure,' the husband said, 'I can help you.' And because I am who I am, and because I do what I do, I chattered about the content of the video and that it was needed for a 1 pm Bible study - all the while, glancing over at each of them for some kind of reaction when I mentioned the Bible. Nothing.

'So this video is about meaning - you know finding meaning in life through God, since he did create us after all...what do you think? Do you find meaning in God?' I looked at him, and he said, 'not really sure--I'm not very religious.' To which I replied, 'me either, but boy I love this stuff, and I have found the Bible very credible when it comes to finding meaning!'

But then...as I talked and I asked him questions, he answered. His wife chimed in with 'he has been on quite a journey the last two years!' Our conversation was good; I found it interesting and thought-provoking. Turns out he was raised in church, but then when he asked questions about what was being taught, his questions were kinda dismissed with 'you just gotta trust', so he began to do his own search for what could be known about God, for what was really true. 'I never really read the Bible, did not even know that Jesus was not in the Old Testament,' he commented.2

B.J. (my new friend) is really not so different than me.

Keeping it real, for many years when someone asked me why I was a Christian, I usually said:  'because I was raised in the church--yeah, I've kinda always believed'.  

Do you think that is a sufficient response? No, no, and heck no. In recent years, I have sometimes said, ‘because it brings such meaning to my life.’ A little closer to being helpful, but also falls woefully short. 

“Because I was raised to believe,” is not helpful in the least if someone wants to know why we believe what we do.  You and I must do a little thinking in order to give a good answer to why we believe in Jesus Christ. In recent Morning Briefings, I have discussed the relativistic thinking in our culture, the view that we can subjectively choose what is true without it being even remotely based on the facts, and we do not see the problem in such flawed thinking. 

We must do better.

So now - when someone asks me why I am a Christian, I keep it simple, but start with this: I am a Christian because Christianity is true.  Christianity is the best explanation for the way things are – the best explanation of reality.³ 

Over the years, I have learned a tremendous amount from the thoughts and writings of C.S. Lewis. From atheist academic to sold-out follower of Jesus Christ, Lewis is both riveting and compelling. Beginning with his Mere Christianity, Lewis equips us to think well and effectively communicate our faith in Christ.  

I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen,

not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.⁴ 

Christianity indeed makes sense of the world, friends.

From the Footsteps of Paul tour last Spring, Athens distinguishes itself in mind - and specifically the Areopagus on Mars Hill (pictured) right next to the Acropolis where Paul reasoned with the Jews and Greeks about the reality of the one true God and the truth of Jesus Christ, Son of God, Messiah, Savior. “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ,” Paul stated.5 Read through or listen to Acts 17:16-34. So good. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts 17.16-34&vers... 

Here's the thing, the stakes are even higher when your own kid comes home from college and says, ‘So Dad, I don’t really believe that stuff anymore....Mom, Church? Oh no thanks, I'll see you when you get home.'   Because why?  He did not know the reasons why he was a Christian in the first place.  Oh, wait – because you raised him in the church?  Shoot, how did I forget that?  Because that will not hold up; unfortunately he did not know his professor was going to challenge his faith in the very first class and then continue to hammer and chip away at it. Your boy did not know his

Christianity is intellectually defensible,

that the Christian faith has evidence to substantiate its claims of truth. 

This will be our topic until we can answer well:  Hey, why are you a Christian?

Answer 1:  Christianity is the best explanation for reality.  hmmm...turns out God really is in this story. Listen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSF5YnvSbtY

Because good answers are imperative,

Christine

PastorWoman.net

1 - I have two Facebook groups. Don't judge me--they are free. One group is called "Morning Briefings"; it is an open group and I have had it since 2009. The second group is THRIVEOC, a private group (that you can join) formed in 2020 during COVID, when the California governor ordered our churches closed and I moved to a nearby shopping center parking lot and taught Bible study from the back of a Ford Raptor. I moved to North Carolina in March, 2021, but the group continues. Join us!

2 - Actually, Jesus is all over the Old Testament, just not by name. There are 60 specific prophecies about the Messiah, given 5-700 years before Jesus, the Messiah's birth

3– The best explanation of reality, Greg Koukl.  https://www.str.org/w/christianity-is-the-best-explanation-for-reality

4 – C.S. Lewis, from a paper given to The Oxford Socratic Club entitled, Is Theology Poetry?  https://www.cslewisinstitute.org/resources/reflections-december-2013/

5 - Acts 17.3