What happens to people who never hear the gospel message about Jesus Christ? This vexing question has challenged Christians for centuries, but recently a skeptic raised this inquiry with me. After all, if God is loving and good, how will he adjudicate the destiny of so many people who will never get a chance to hear the way out of their predicament? Christian theology has offered four answers to…
Have you ever been asked to introduce yourself in a public setting? What if you were asked to introduce your Christian faith to a group of non-Christians—what would you say? As you think about the question you might consider conveying that the Christian faith is a set of beliefs—but it also involves an important collection of values, and it is…
Last year, I wrote two articles outlining basic strategies for engaging in evangelistic conversations with scientists and informed hobbyists who have more knowledge or education than you in a particular field (part 1 and part 2). One of the recommendations I made was to share resources with nonbelievers. But what should you look for when selecting a resource to…
Most Christians want their light to shine among other people, to serve as a signpost to the truth that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior. But just how does a believer go about being a good witness? Sometimes the virtuous qualities and characteristics we strive hard to live out in life earn us a unique opportunity to reach others—for as…
The Bible teaches that God is sovereign over all of history (Daniel 4:17, Acts 4:27–28). So when it comes to the origin and development of historic Christianity, believers in Christ undoubtedly accept the words of Galatians 4:4–5: “But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law,…
Jesus Christ lived the most consequential life in human history. As Christian theologian Michael Green notes, “His coming split history into two: everything is dated before or after this man.”1 But the religion that bears his name started small and slow in the backwater of the Roman Empire. What factors contributed to its subsequent rapid spread? In this series we’ll…
Christians are divided as to how to view the broad theory of evolution. Some believers view evolution as the biological means by which God created the diverse life found on planet Earth (often called theistic evolution or evolutionary creationism). Other Christians reject the idea that human beings are the product of evolution, affirming instead some form of direct divine creation…
Arguments can show the reasonableness of God’s existence, but we must move beyond intellectual debate and discussion, working with the triune God to bring people into a reconciled relationship with him through Christ. –Paul Copan, Loving Wisdom (St. Louis, MO: Chalice Press, 2007), 72.
Reflections 