Tough Questions Christians Ask

The theme of the conference is dealing with tough questions that Christians either ask or have to deal with. You might want to read this blog in sections as it is rather long.

Last night there was a special activity here where we are staying. They had a group of Polynesian dancers come in and put on a show. It was a very interesting experience. What a neat glimpse of God's creativity as expressed through their music and expression. I'm fascinated by these folks and their music was joyful and their expressions artistic.

This morning R.C. Sproul dealt with two questions--"What is evil and where did it come from? Sproul opened with a shocking statement--"Evil is Nothing." He went on to state that Evil is not an independent substance, force, or power. Evil is not some self-existent reality with a life of it's own. Evil is an ACTION--something a person does to another. Evil is defined in terms of how it relates to what is good. Evil is the negative of the positive. We talk of unrighteousness, injustice, etc., which are actually the opposite of righteousness and justice. Evil is also defined in terms of lack or deficiency--sin is the lack of conformity to or a transgression of the law of God. I haven't the time or the patience to reconstruct all of what Sproul said, but he spent a great deal of time dealing with the difficult issue of the presence of evil in a world where Christians say God is good and loving as well as all powerful. The struggle is that we observe evil in the world so if God is good and loving then does the presence of evil mean that God is not powerful enough to eliminate it's presence? If God is all-powerful and able to create a universe without evil then He must not be good and loving since evil and suffering are present. Numerous theologians have sought to explain this difficult issue.

Sproul's conclusion is that "God ordained for evil to come into the world for purposes we do not yet fully understand. We see this in the story of Joseph in Genesis 45-50 and the events of 'Good Friday.'

R.C. Sproul Jr. dealt with the question--"Why do Christians Still Sin?" He believes that somehow the ongoing struggle that Christians engage in to overcome sin in their daily lives is used for God's purposes for our good and His glory. I appreciated a related question that Jr. brought up. Why do Christians seemingly not care about sin in their lives--the fact that we still sin? We tend to treat our sins way too lightly in view of God's Holiness. What should encourage us as believers is that even though as we grow in grace, in Christlikeness we become more aware of our sinfulness, yet the end (heaven) is coming when we will enjoy rest and freedom from sin.

This afternoon Alistair Begg answered the question--"Is the exclusivity of Christ Unjust?" I appreciated Begg's cogent presentation whereby he revealed the Biblical Content regarding the issue. He mentioned John 3:14-21; 7:37-ff; Acts 4:8-13. In each of these verses the exclusivity of Christ is mentioned. The Bible is clear--no way to be reconciled to the Father; to be forgiven apart from faith in Christ. Begg mentioned Jn.14:6--One Way; 1Tim.2:5--One Mediator; Acts 4:12--One Name. If we look at the Context in which Peter (Acts 4:12) made his statement it is not that foreign to the context of today--hostility towards any claim of exclusivity. In Peter's day people would have recoiled against any claim of exclusivity. Rather they would have welcomed Jesus as one of many options in the Roman pantheon (many gods). Even Judaism opposed the unique claim that Jesus was God's son. Today we are awash in moral relativism--no absolute right or wrong, everyone does what is right in his/her eyes. There is no value in our culture for seeking out objective truth, but a push towards everyone embracing his/her own subjective reality, what each person feels. That is an environment hostile to the unique truth claims of Christianity. Begg made a humorous and yet sobering observation. We live in a society enamored with things like the movie AVATAR where weird creatures plug their tails into trees and get actualized (Begg's observations and not mine as I haven't seen the movie). People accept this as something they would like, they long for a garden experience as represented in the movie. Yet these same people find it absurd to believe in Jesus of Nazareth. Finally, Begg discussed the Contact the gospel message, the uniqueness of Jesus makes with humans and our responsibility to carry that message to them. According to Begg we tend to resist proclaiming the truth of Christ's exclusivity because we fear being considered Arrogant. We should remember that the truth is not arrogant, but the truth can be presented in an arrogant way. We don't back down from the truth, but we don't present it arrogantly. Secondly, we fear being intolerant. Caution here is that we should never embrace "intellectual tolerance" whereby we abandon our beliefs to embrace another religious claims. Rather we deal graciously and respectfully with those whom we disagree. Finally, we fear that Christ is irrelevant to the needs of people. Nothing could be further from the truth. Christ is the answer. The uniqueness of Christ sets itself apart from every other religion--Incarnation, Atonement, Resurrection, are all unique to Christianity and provide the answers to the real needs. Message of the Gospel is absolutely relevant--People need the Lord.