Defending the Faith
“Always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, but with gentleness and respect” (1 Pet. 3:15)
First, the good news. Christianity is growing worldwide!
- Christianity is expected to grow worldwide from 2.17 billion in 2010 to 2.92 billion in 2050 (2015 Pew Research Report)
- Africa +2.77% (2022 Gordon-Conwell Report)
- Asia +1.5% (2022 Gordon-Conwell Report)
- Atheism is declining. There were 147 million atheists in 2022 VS. 165 million atheists in 1970 (2022 Gordon-Conwell report)
Now the bad news. Skepticism is on the rise in America and other Western cultures.
- Only 65% of American adults describe themselves as Christians, which is down 12% decline over past decade (2018-2019 Pew Research survey)
- For the first time, less than half of Americans (47%) say they belong to a local church (2020 Gallup Poll)
- Only 12% of young people ages 18-24 identify as evangelical Christians (2019 Harvard Kennedy School Report)
- Only 39% of Americans in 2023 said religion is very important vs. 62% in 1998 (WSJ/NORC poll 2023)
Christians in Western cultures need to do a better job of explaining and defending the faith because we are losing ground fast! We need to do a better job explaining why it is reasonable to believe in God in general…and Christianity in particular.
Christians sometimes push back against this by arguing that it’s not our job to convince people. That’s the Holy Spirit’s job, we are told.
I couldn’t disagree more. The reason why Peter said to always be ready to give a reason for the hope within you (1 Pet. 3:16) is because the Holy Spirit uses knowledgeable Christians to lead non-Christians to Christ and keep them coming back to church.
The apostle Paul went to Mars Hill regularly to “reason” with skeptics (Acts 17:19, 22). Mars Hill was an important meeting place located in Athens, Greece. It was where philosophy, religion, and politics were discussed. The reason Paul went there was to make the case for Christianity in the public square. We should do the same at the “Mars Hills” in our communities (universities, debate clubs, Facebook groups, etc.). Jesus said to love God with not only our hearts and souls, but also our minds. God gave us brains and wants us to use them to promote and defend Christianity.
Not everyone will be convinced by the same argument. People respond differently depending on their life circumstances. Some will respond better to dramatic conversion stories. Others will respond better to theological and philosophical arguments. It’s our job to get to know the people around us and use the right argument at the right time. We need to ready, as Peter said, to give reasons for the hope within us.
Keep in mind, though, we won’t always see the fruits of our labor. In my case, someone had talked to me about Christianity and given me a Bible, but I would not start reading it and become a Christian until two years later. The guy who gave it to me will probably never know (this side of heaven) the influence he had on my life; but it was HUGE!
That said, here are some reasons why we can be confident God exists and that Christianity is true.
How Do We Know God Exists?
# 1 Moral Laws
Everyone knows that moral laws exist—whether we admit it or not. We all know it’s wrong to murder, steal, lie, etc. Even those who say moral absolutes don’t exist will quickly change their tune when someone murders their child or swindles them out of their retirement savings. These kinds of things are wrong and everyone knows it.
Where, then, did these moral laws come from? Did they just pop into existence out of nothing, or did they come from God? I think the latter makes much more sense. Since there are moral laws, there must be a Lawgiver.
The Bible affirms this, too, in teaching that people are made in the image of God (Gen. 1:27), and that God has written his laws on our hearts (Rom. 2:14–15). This is what distinguishes us from animals. Whether a person has ever read the Bible or not—or has even heard of it—everyone knows these moral laws exist. In fact, there are medical terms for those who don’t recognize this; they are called sociopaths and psychopaths.
Possible Objections:
A) Morality is relative to individuals. What’s true for you may not be true for me. What’s more, one person’s morality is no better or worse than another’s.
Response: Are you saying that your morality is no better than a child rapist’s? It’s easy to claim morality is relative, but it’s impossible for a sane person to live that way. Even those who claim there are no moral absolutes will cry “immoral” when they come across a racist, sexist, or homophobe.
B) Moral laws are relative to society. One society’s laws are no more objectively moral than another’s.
Response: Are you telling me that America’s (or pick your favorite country) moral laws are no better than Hitler’s Germany or Stalin’s USSR? If this were true, we would have no justification to condemn these countries.
Imagine that your family lived in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan and your daughter’s nose was cut off for having the gull to get an education. My guess is that you would not say “morality is relative to culture.” You would rightfully call such acts objectively evil!
C) Moral laws are a product of evolution. They simply help our species survive.
Response: If moral laws are merely a product of evolution, then there is nothing objectively good or bad about them at all. So why should I care whether my species survives or not. I’ll be dead soon anyway. And if there is nothing objective about morality, why not lie, cheat, steal, rape, and murder if it benefits or pleasures me (and I can get away with it)? After all, there is nothing objectively right or wrong about these kinds of things anyway…right?
As I pointed out above, it’s one thing to say there is no objective right or wrong; it’s quite another to live that way…especially if it’s you or your child that’s being violated or swindled. Then it hits home like a ton of bricks that there really is objective right and wrong.
And if there is objective right and wrong—and we all know in our heart of hearts that there is—then where did these moral laws come from? Did they just pop into existence out of nothing…or they came from God? I think the latter makes much more sense. Since there are moral laws, there must be a Lawgiver. That Lawgiver is God, who has written his laws on our hearts (Gen. 1:27).
#2 The Universe’s Existence
Where did the universe come from? The Big Bang Theory shows that the universe is expanding. So if we reverse this expansion, and go back in time far enough, we get to a point when there was nothing.
“If we could watch a video recording of the history of the universe in reverse, we would see all matter in the universe collapse back to a point, not the size of basketball, not the size of a golf ball, not even the size of a pinhead, but mathematically and logically to a point that is actually nothing…In other words, there was nothing, and then, BANG, there was something—the entire universe exploded into being!”[1]
There was nothing, and then, BANG, there was a universe. So what caused the Big Bang? There are really only two options: nothing or God? Personally, I think it’s much more plausible that God caused it. After all, things do not just pop into existence from nothing—at least, I’ve never seen that happen.
This fits nicely with the Bible saying, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1).
#3 The Design of the Universe
The universe is highly complex. There are more than a hundred constants that must be just right for life to exist. For example:
Gravity: If the universe had expanded at a rate one millionth more slowly than it did, expansion would have stopped, and the universe would have collapsed on itself before any stars had formed. If it expanded any faster, then galaxies would not have formed.
The Rotation of the Earth: if this took longer than 24 hours, temperature differences would be too great between day and night for humans to live. If the rotation was shorter, atmospheric winds would be too great.
The 23-degree tilt of the earth: If the tilt were altered slightly, surface temperatures would be too extreme to live in.
Jupiter: if Jupiter were not in its current orbit, the earth would be bombarded with space material. Jupiter’s gravitational field acts as a cosmic vacuum cleaner.
According to astrophysicist Hugh Ross, there are more than 100 of these constants that have to be just right to support human life. Ross calculated the probability that these 100+ constants would come about by chance is 1 in 10138 (the number 10 followed by 138 zeros). Now those are long odds! The odds of winning the Powerball lottery are only 1 in 109.
Nobel Prize-winning physicist Arno Penzias, co-discoverer of radiation afterglow, said:
“Astronomy leads us to a unique event, a universe which was created out of nothing and delicately balanced to provide exactly the conditions required to support life. In the absence of an absurdly improbable accident, the observations of modern science seem to suggest an underlying, one might say, supernatural plan.”[2]
The complex design of the universe points to God. Complex designs need a designer. The universe contains complex designs. Therefore, the universe must have had a Designer.
Imagine you were hiking in the middle of the Sahara Desert and found a wristwatch. Would you think such a “complex machine” merely evolved by time and chance? Or would you think a designer made that watch? Obviously the latter. Complex machines don’t just evolve. They need an intelligent designer.
The universe is much more complex than a wristwatch. And if a watch requires a designer, then so does the universe. And that intelligent designer is God.
#4 Life
Where did life come from? There are only two plausible options:
A) Life evolved from non-living chemicals.
Response: This doesn’t make logical sense. How can living things come from non-living things? How can life come from dirt and rocks? Scientists haven’t ever been able to produce life from non-life…and common sense suggests they never will!
B) God made life.
Response: This is the only answer that makes logical sense. I guess, theoretically, one could say aliens seeded our planet with life; but this is highly improbable, given there is no objective, scientific evidence of aliens from outer space. And even if there were, that would not solve the problem. After all, where did the aliens come from? All this would do is push back the question one more species.
The “problem of life” compounds when we think about just how complex it is. Cellular DNA looks like a twisted ladder with rungs. The sides of the ladder are formed by alternating Deoxyribose and Phosphate molecules; and the rungs consist of four nitrogen bases: Adenine, Thymine, Cytosine, and Guanine, which are represented by the letters A, C, T, and G. These letters are like a four-letter genetic alphabet, which communicate information just like our 26-letter alphabet.
Here’s the fascinating part. Staunch Darwinist Richard Dawkins, professor of zoology at Oxford University, admits that “the message found in just the cell nucleus of a tiny amoeba is more than all thirty volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica!”[3] The amount of information in even the simplest living form is staggering!
Now imagine you were walking along a sandy beach and saw the words “I love you” written the sand. Would you think natural forces caused it…or intelligence? Obviously the latter. Yet even the simplest life form, a single-cell amoeba, contains thousands of times more information in its cell nucleus than the statement “I love you.” And, if “I love you” written in the sand requires intelligence, how much more does the information—thirty volumes of Encyclopedia Britannica—in a living cell?
Robert Jastrow wrote in God and the Astronomers:
“For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance, he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries.”
Science points to God!
How Do We Know Christianity is True?
Just because God exists doesn’t mean Christianity is true. How do we know Christianity is true as opposed to one of the other religions out there?
A) Jesus was either a lunatic, a liar, or Lord.[4]
Most people would agree that Jesus was a good moral teacher. Even atheists and people of other faiths generally admit this. The problem, though, as C.S. Lewis so famously pointed out in his highly acclaimed book Mere Christianity is that Jesus claimed to be God (see below). Therefore, either Jesus was correct, or he was a lunatic on par with someone believing he’s a poached egg; or worse, he was a deceiver on par with the Devil himself. Jesus did not leave open the possibility of being merely a good teacher.
“You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God; or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, or you can spit at Him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at his feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”[5]
Let me prove that Jesus believed he was God. To start with, Jesus claimed to be the source of eternal life and said he and Father are one:
“‘My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and My Father are one.’ Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him” (John 10:27-31).
The reason why the Jews became so angry and tried to stone Jesus was because he claimed to be the source of eternal life and one with the Father. In other words, he claimed to be God.
Then, at his trial, Jesus also told his inquisitors Caiaphas and the Jewish Sanhedrin that he was the Son of God, which is a Hebraism (Jewish expression) referring to God:
“‘Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God!’ Jesus said to him, ‘It is as you said. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.’ Then the high priest tore his clothes, saying, ‘He has spoken blasphemy!’” (Matt. 26:63-64).
In saying he would “come on clouds,” Jesus was equating himself to the God of the Old Testament who “came on clouds” numerous times. Here are some examples:
“Behold, the Lord rides on a swift cloud, and will come into Egypt; the idols of Egypt will totter at His presence, and the heart of Egypt will melt in its midst” (Isa. 19:1).
“Wail, ‘Woe to the day!. For the day is near, even the day of the Lord is near; It will be a day of clouds, the time of the Gentiles. The sword shall come upon Egypt” (Ez. 30:3-4).
“He [the Lord] bowed the heavens also, and came down. With darkness under His feet…And thick clouds of the skies” (Ps. 18:7-17).
As these examples show, God the Father “came on clouds” (in judgment) many times before. So when Jesus told his inquisitors that they would see the Son of Man coming on clouds, Jesus was equating himself with the God of the Old Testament! This is why the High Priest tore his robes.
Jesus was also claiming to be the Son of Man described in Daniel 7, who would “come on clouds” and receive eternal kingship:
“I [Daniel] was watching in the night visions,
And behold, One like the Son of Man,
Coming with the clouds of heaven!
He came to the Ancient of Days,
And they brought Him near before Him.
Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom,
That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion,
Which shall not pass away,
And His kingdom the one
Which shall not be destroyed”(Dan. 7:13-14).
Not only did Daniel say the Son of Man would “come on clouds” and receive eternal kingship, but he also equated the Son of Man with the Ancient of Days (cf. v. 13 and v. 22). Even some Jews say this passage shows God exists in multiple persons.[6]
Compare, also, Revelation 1:12–14 and Daniel 7:9. John (the writer of Revelation) equates Jesus with the Ancient of Days (God) described by Daniel.
So when Jesus told his inquisitors that they would see the Son of Man “coming on clouds” (Matt. 26:64), they knew he was claiming to be God, which is why the High Priest tore his robes.
Given all these audacious claims, Jesus was either God, or he was a lunatic fit for an insane asylum; or worse, he was a liar on par with the Devil himself. Jesus did not leave open the possibility of merely being a great moral teacher.
Was Jesus Who He Claimed to Be?
The Scriptural evidence shows Jesus was much more than a mere man. First, he fulfilled many Old Testament prophecies about the coming Messiah such as his birthplace, being rejected by his own people, crucifixion, and resurrection, just to name a few. Some theologians say he fulfilled some three hundred Old Testament prophecies about himself.
“The probability of just eight prophecies being fulfilled is one chance in one hundred million billion. That number is millions of times greater than the total number of people who’ve ever walked the planet!” (Peter Stoner, Chairman of the Departments of Mathematics and Astronomy at Pasadena City College).
Second, Jesus gave many supernatural signs that proved he was who he claimed to be. For example, he healed a paralytic to prove he could forgive sins, which only God can do (Mark 5:2-12). And he healed a blind man to prove he was the light of the world (John 9:5-7). And he proved he was “the resurrection and the life” by raising Lazarus from the dead (John 11:25, 42) and then raising himself from the dead. He also fed 5000+ people with two fish and five loaves of bread, proving he was the bread of life (Matt. 14:16-21). I could go on and on with examples. Jesus didn’t just do these miracles to help the needy. He certainly didn’t do them to entertain people. He did them to prove he was who he claimed to be!
What’s more, Jesus’s apostles died horrible deaths attesting to these things. They were stoned, beheaded, crucified upside down, etc. Keep in mind, all they would have had to do to avoid this fate was to say these things did not really happen. But they chose to be martyred instead. Why would they have done this if what they were testifying about did not really happen? It’s one thing to die for something you believe to be true, even though it’s false. People do this all the time (i.e. Jihadists). But it is quite another thing to die for something to know to be false, which would have been the case with the apostles.
Third, Jesus uttered prophecies that came to pass in stunning detail, proving he was exactly who he claimed to be. In the Olivet Discourse, which Jesus gave about a week before his crucifixion, Jesus prophesied about such things as the end of the Old Covenant age (Matt. 24:3, 12), the destruction of Jerusalem (Luke 21:20), and the destruction of the temple (Luke 21:5). And Jesus didn’t just say these things would happen someday by and by; he said they would happen within a generation (Matt. 24:34, Luke 21:32). Note: a biblical generation equates to approximately forty years (see Heb. 3:8–10, Num. 14:30–34, Neh. 9:21), so these things must have happened by around the year AD 70.
Keep in mind, the Old Covenant age had been around for 1500 years, ever since Moses returned from Mt. Sinai with the Ten Commandments written on stone tablets (Exodus 19-20). And the temple had been standing for around 500 years. In fact, this temple had just been refurbished by Herod the Great and was said to be so magnificent that it would stand forever. Furthermore, the city of Jerusalem was surrounded by great walls that were thought to be impenetrable. Yet Jesus predicted their destruction within a generation or by approximately AD 70.
Jesus also prophesied “wars and rumors of wars” would happen by this same time period (Matt. 24:6, 34). Keep in mind, when Jesus said this, the Roman Empire had been in relative peace for the last hundred years. Historians even have a special name for this peaceful time period: The Pax Romana (Latin for: Roman Peace). Yet in the midst of such peace, Jesus prophesied war—within a generation, no less!
Did it happen? Absolutely! Within the lifetimes of his apostles, wars were being fought from one end of the Roman Empire to the other. The first-century Roman historian Tacitus documented in The Annals the many wars of this period. Tacitus used such phrases as “disturbances in Germany,” “commotions in Africa,” “commotions in Thrace,” “insurrections in Gaul,” “intrigues among the Parthians,” “the war in Britain,” and “the war in Armenia.” Wars were being fought “from one end of the empire to the other, within the lifetimes of Jesus’s apostles.”[7]
Moreover, according to the notable first-century historian Josephus, the temple was destroyed in AD 70. Not one stone was left upon another, just like Jesus had predicted (Matt. 24:2). And the city of Jerusalem was sacked. More than 1.1 million Jews were slaughtered, and another 97,000 were taken into slavery. Furthermore, the Old Covenant age abruptly ended. According to Jews themselves, without a temple, less than a third of the 613 Mosaic requirements can be kept. In essence, no temple…no Old Covenant! Jews are still mourning over this event today—2000 years later—at the Wailing Wall (aka Western Wall).
Jesus’s prophecies came to pass in stunning detail. Jesus “came on clouds” (in judgment)… just like he had promised!
Fourth, further evidence that Christianity is true is that it profoundly changes people’s lives for the better. The Bible pierces the soul:
“The word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Heb. 4:12).
The Bible cuts like a knife the heart of the unrepentant sinner…yet brings unsurpassed peace, rest, and joy to the saint (the Christian), even during the worst of trials. Whether reading it for the first time or the hundredth, the Bible is a fount of timeless wisdom. It exudes truth and authority and power. It transforms lives, from the most hardened criminal locked away in a dingy prison cell…to the most remote tribesman in Africa…to emperors, kings and presidents alike. The Bible has motivated people to start hospitals, homeless shelters, relief organizations, orphanages, universities, and countless other institutions of good works. No other book has moved people so much. There is a good reason why the Bible is the best-selling book of all time—it is the Word of God! And the Word of God points to Christianity.
These are just a few of the many reasons we can be confident that Christianity is true. The apostle John wrote:
“And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written” (John 21:25).
Christianity is far from blind faith; it’s actually quite reasonable. Dr. Norm Geisler and Frank Turek astutely point out in their book (see below) that it takes more faith to be an atheist than a Christian. Christianity fits well with common sense, history, and “gut feelings.” Atheism, on the other hand, requires one to deny obvious facts, common sense, and even his own heart.
For more information about defending the faith—aka Christian apologetics[8]—here are three books I highly recommend:
Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis – While this book is a little harder for today’s Americans to follow (given it was written in the 1950’s United Kingdom), it is nevertheless a Christian classic that is well worth the effort.
I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist by Norman Geisler and Frank Turek – This is an excellent primer on defending the faith written by two notable Christian apologists.
The End Is Here: How the New Testament Prophecies Were Fulfilled by Alex Polyak (the author of this article) – The biggest objection to Christianity is that Jesus failed to do what he prophesied. I show that claim to be utterly false!
I also have many free articles and videos on my website The Bible Fulfilled and YouTube channel The Bible Fulfilled.
By Alex Polyak, Director of The Bible Fulfilled, 11/22/24
[1]Norman Geisler and Frank Turek, I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist, 79.
[2] Norman Geisler and Frank Turek, I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist, 106.
[3] Ibid, 116.
[4] This argument was popularized by C.S. Lewis
[5] C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, 55–56
[6]Jon D. Levenson, “Did Jews Really Believe There Were Two Gods in Heaven?” Mosaic Magazine, Aug. 4, 2020
[7] Gary DeMar, End Times Fiction, 77
[8] Christian apologetics means: “reasoned arguments in justification of Christianity; a defense of the faith”
