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Is Christianity a crutch, a delusion, an exercise in wishful thinking? Those charges have certainly been levelled against the faith plenty of times, and critics of Christianity continue to argue that people would be better off by “freeing” themselves of the shackles of religious thought.

In this Slice of Infinity devotional, Jill Carattini counters with the suggestion that Christianity’s critics aren’t offering the positive alternative to religion they imagine they are:

But do the growing numbers of atheists who insist that life without God is “freeing” not succumb to a similar temptation, making life and even death sound better than their own philosophies impart? If God is a farce and life is but rapidly moving time and the unapologetic force of chance, is “reassured” really a viable option? If there is no divine being, no creator of time, no one hearing prayers or answering the cries of injustice, can we really be comforted, unworried, even lighthearted about life as we know it….

Surely we can attempt to dress such a philosophy in beautiful robes, but in the end we will find it was all an act. Whatever our philosophies, whatever colorful billboards catch our eyes, we do well to follow them to their logical ends….

Faith in God is not a source of worry, as the buses and billboards (and perhaps some believers) suggest, nor is faith in Christ an obstacle for enjoying life. Far from this, by faith the Christian is given a life truly like that of Christ’s—fully human, fully alive. And whether Christian or atheist, freethinker or fretting player, we must take care not to raise billboards that suggest something other than our philosophies impart.

We’re most of the way through Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting. Ever since 9/11, Ramadan carries with it a certain amount of cultural tension here in the United States—tension that’s been ratcheted up by recent controversies over the Cordoba House debate and ill-advised publicity stunts by angry Christians.

Yet in the midst of all the usual political tension, Ramadan presents an opportunity for Christians to learn a bit more about Islam and perhaps reach out to the Muslims in our communities. Every year, Arab World Ministries puts together a free Ramadan prayer guide for Christians and other articles understanding and sharing the Gospel with Muslims. If your only exposure to Ramadan is through political pundits and TV talking heads, I encourage you to take some time to read through AWM’s material.

Ramadan is a good time to think about how we, personally, might be better Christian witnesses to the Muslims living around us. What about you—do you know or interact with Muslims in your community? What might you or your church do to express Christlike love to Muslims in your area, and to point them to the hope of the Gospel?

This is the fourth in our series of posts about common objections to Christianity. In each post, we present an often-heard objection to the Christian faith and ask for your response, in your own words.

Imagine that a friend has challenged you with this objection, and that you don’t have access to any books, sermons, or other publications to which you can refer them. They want to hear your response, in your own words!

How would you respond to this statement:

Everyone knows that the church is full of hypocrites who preach Christianity but don’t live Christ-like lives. If the Christian message isn’t compelling enough to change the hearts of even self-professed Christians, then it has nothing real to offer me.

Share your response!

Previous posts in this series:

Does prayer really work?

Why does God allow Hell to exist?

Did God endorse genocide?

This is the third in our series of posts addressing common objections to Christianity. As we stated in the first post in the series, we’re looking at common, real-life objections to Christianity and asking how you would respond to them.

Imagine that a friend has challenged you with this objection, and that you don’t have access to any books, sermons, or other publications to which you can refer them. They want to hear your response, in your own words!

How would you respond to this statement?

The Bible teaches that prayer is effective (James 5:16) and promises that God will give believers anything they ask for in prayer (Matthew 21:22). Yet many Christians, even the most devout and faithful, have earnestly prayed for something and not received it. This means that either God doesn’t really answer all prayers, or that prayer simply doesn’t work.

Share your response!

Previous posts in this series:

Why does God allow Hell to exist?

Did God endorse genocide?

Christians have been debating issues of theology, major and minor, since the earliest days of the church. I can’t count the number of friendly debates I’ve had with fellow Christians over matters of beliefs—late-night conversations in college; dinner-table debates at family gatherings; long-winded email exchanges with friends.

Thinking about these debates makes me wonder which ones, if any, caused me to change my mind about an important issue. Usually I emerge from such discussions with my beliefs unchanged, but I have changed my views at times. Sometimes all it took was a single insightful conversation, and sometimes it was a slowly-dawning realization that took place over the course of years.

Think about the times (if any) that you’ve changed your views about an issue within Christianity that was important to you. Was it a sudden a-ha! moment of clarity, or a long process? Did you come to the conclusion prayerfully on your own, or were you convinced by somebody else?

Share your thoughts!

Most Christians have a passing familiarity with the major holidays and notable dates in other religions’ calendars—Jewish holidays like Hanukkah are well-known, as is the Islamic observance of Ramadan. Similarly, most Christians have at least a basic knowledge of those religions’ basic beliefs.

But how much do you know about what Buddhists believe? Do you know how the claims of Buddhism compare and contrast with Christianity’s?

February is a fitting time to learn more about Buddhist beliefs, since it’s when many Buddhists celebrate Parinirvana Day, the day that, they believe, Buddha died and achieved complete Nirvana. A good place to start is an article on the basic beliefs of Buddhism from Campus Life, which also identifies points of similarity and difference between Buddhism and Christianity. A short article at Answers to Tough Questions explains how Buddhist beliefs differ from Christianity.

If you’re interested in further reading, J. Isamu Yamamoto has written a more in-depth article on how Christians should understand and respond to Buddhism in North America (and the article points out that there are different branches within the umbrella of Buddhism, so Christians who’ve studied up on one branch shouldn’t assume they know everything there is to know). Christianity Today has a short discussion of theological issues within Tibetan Buddhism, and an accompanying collection of articles for additional reading. And of course, you can’t beat Wikipedia for sheer volume of information about Buddhist history and beliefs.

So this month, as Buddhists around the world commemorate Buddha’s life and death, take some time to read up on Buddhist beliefs, and consider how you might share your faith with a Buddhist friend or neighbor.

If you follow apologetics at all, you’re likely familiar with Christopher Hitchens, the fiery atheist who has participated in a long string of debates with Christian thinkers and apologists. (I had a chance to attend one such debate last year; it was a fascinating experience.) On the heels of a new movie about his debates, Hitchens has written an interesting piece at Slate about what he learned from debating religious people around the world.

There are some characteristically sharp barbs about different branches of Christianity in the article, so bear that in mind before you read it. But I do recommend reading it, because it’s always useful to hear an honest account from the “other side” of the great debate over the truth of Christianity. What stands out to me is the reason Hitchens cites for respecting his debate opponent, Pastor Wilson:

Wilson isn’t one of those evasive Christians who mumble apologetically about how some of the Bible stories are really just “metaphors.” He is willing to maintain very staunchly that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ and that his sacrifice redeems our state of sin, which in turn is the outcome of our rebellion against God. He doesn’t waffle when asked why God allows so much evil and suffering—of course he “allows” it since it is the inescapable state of rebellious sinners. I much prefer this sincerity to the vague and Python-esque witterings of the interfaith and ecumenical groups who barely respect their own traditions and who look upon faith as just another word for community organizing.

Hitchens finds it more intellectually satisfying to debate a Christian who firmly and unapologetically believes in the core doctrines of the faith—as opposed to waffling on controversial questions or trying to tone down difficult topics.

Now, I don’t want to be unfair to the ecumenical groups that Hitchens criticizes here. But in thinking through my own responses when my faith is challenged in some way, I can’t deny that one of my strongest initial impulses is to try to tone down or moderate Christian beliefs that I actually hold strongly. I’m not sure if that’s a form of cowardice or a misguided attempt at conversational peacekeeping, but it’s helpful to be reminded that a response which communicates embarrassment about my own beliefs is not only shameful to me, but it’s intellectually and spiritually unhelpful to the person I’m talking to.

Is this something you struggle with? Have you learned how to earnestly contend for your faith without either being obnoxious about it, or apologetic about it? How do you respond when challenged to defend a belief that might draw scorn or skepticism?

Is traditional Christian apologetics still relevant when non-believers simply don’t care about Christianity? The Internet Monk suggests that ambivalence about religion is more common today than outright disbelief, and that apologetics arguments fall flat because the typical atheist today just doesn’t care about the Big Questions around which most Christian apologetics is built:

I’m convinced the game is not primarily about arguments any more. As grateful as I am for Tim Keller’s great book The Reason For God and his two hour presentations on You Tube, and as happy as I am that David Bentley Hart and others have convincingly demonstrated the fallacies of the new atheist arguments, the truth is that the contemporary atheist doesn’t plan to play a game of 21 with our NBA All Stars….

Atheism is just….easier. Occam’s Razor. Theism is too much trouble. It starts to sound like someone is trying to sell you something sight unseen. Isn’t your best move just to hang up the phone and ignore the call?

If true, this leads us to an interesting conundrum: what are Christian apologists to do if their audience no longer wants to engage them?

Meaningful debate requires two people, both of them passionate about their viewpoints. But as people actively disengage from religion and lose interest even in debating it, what’s a Christian apologist to do? An apologist’s first task is now to convince them that religion is worth talking about in the first place.

I’ve seen this trend in my own conversations with atheists and agnostics. Many just don’t seem to care. They don’t wake up every day intent on proving God’s non-existence or winning an argument with a Christian. They have too many other priorities to occupy their time.

What about you? Have you encountered people who just don’t care about religion, and if so, how did you respond? Is there value in training traditional apologists when many non-Christians could care less about their well-reasoned arguments?

If somebody challenged you to defend your belief in the resurrection of Jesus on Easter, what would you say?

Is there any evidence that the Resurrection actually historically happened? Why should anybody believe that the Easter story isn’t a fairy tale cooked up by early Christians?

There’s no event more miraculous or important in the entire Bible than Jesus’ resurrection, and so it’s natural that skeptics would focus their challenges on the Resurrection story. And in fact, Christians should be honest and forthright in asking themselves: why do I believe in Jesus and the Easter story?

The FaithFacts ministry specializes in laying out evidence and answers in response to tough questions about Christianity, and their collection of evidence for the Resurrection is excellent reading at this time of year. Without overplaying their hand, they lay out a compelling case that reasonable people can and should take the Easter story seriously. So whether you’re looking for help in answering a critic’s charges, or want to find answers that will address your own honest questions about Jesus and the Resurrection, see if FaithFacts’ case makes sense to you.

Is it accurate to say that Christianity is “under attack” by our society? Why would this be the case, and more importantly, how are Christians to respond to it? Is it possible to present an intellectually credible defense of the Christian faith in a postmodern, secular culture?

Two new essays at Ravi Zacharias’ website address the issue of defending, and living out, a Christian life amidst criticism and pressure from non-Christian philosophies and ideas. The first, Defending Christainity in a Secular Culture, is an interview with Ravi Zacharias in which he talks about the importance of earnestly defending the Christian faith—a task not just for theologians and preachers, but for everyday Christians! And in An Uncompromising Faith Lived Out with Grace, Michael Ramsden describes a uncompromising but grace-filled Christian life.

If you found these essays useful, there are plenty more in the Just Thinking archives at the RZIM website.