A Letter to Clare: Apologetics 101 Part 5

In this five-part series on apologetics, Dr. Dick Jones provides a number of useful insights via a letter to Clare, a real person. Beyond its hoped-for impact on her life, this offering from the  Truth of God’s word was written so as to be equally useful for today’s Christian adults, the majority of whom have been philosophically enslaved to a faulty belief system. (This is part Five of a five part series.)

Dear Clare,

Review of 4: Evolutionists believe they have their own ways to account for morality without   God. But, they don’t. They must borrow or piggy-back on the Christian worldview in order to say meaningful things and to have useful thoughts; they just don’t want to admit it. Just as borrowing is true for knowing about right and wrong, it’s also true for how we know what we know and how it is that we’re able to know – that is, for epistemology. 

Fourth Problem: Just because evolutionists might sound oh-so-impressive on TV or wear fancy white lab coats doesn’t make evolution true. Besides, it can’t be proven anyway. It will never be seen in a lab anymore than it’s seen in nature which is never. It’s not science and evolutionists are not actual scientists. Even so, they keep on trying to trick us into believing that there’s an    authentic link between evolution and true science because if there is then God and Christianity must be false. This lets them think that their belief about epistemology and morality are just as good as Christian beliefs. But, it won’t work. How can they account for anything, whether out loud or privately to themselves, if they’re just animals by their own definition? They can’t.

Fifth Problem: The Ten Commandments, the Golden Rule and other outstanding Bible advice has been used to good advantage for centuries by millions worldwide. It’s a beautiful fact and parents and teachers should remind us to be thankful for it. But, these days it’s sad that our national heritage (social habit) of good behavior and the Bible’s good foundation for knowing about right and wrong is slipping away. But, even though it’s slipping, so much of this good advice has been “built into us” over the decades that Americans – even though they don’t know anymore where the good rules came from in the first place – still at least use part of them part of the time. Our concern is that even the memory of the good rules’ origins may soon be gone.

The summary of the five problems is this: Since they’re not evolved animals, evolutionists have to borrow from God for everything. They borrow their bodies from Him and do the same for their ability to think and know and to know right from wrong.

Some summary points:   

* Epistemology in summary: God creates life and gives us purpose. He and His Bible have the only explanation for how to account for (how to explain about) knowledge and thinking and for knowing about knowing and thinking. The pretend-science of evolution gives us “accidental animal” people no foundation for anything except hopelessness, depression and despair.

* Pro-evolution atheists probably shouldn’t debate Christians about God. Most debates (except a lot of courtroom jury trials) are about finding truth, and one side is finally judged right and the other wrong. Since atheists can’t properly account for epistemology, they can’t account for an ultimate standard for truth, right and wrong either. But, by debating, they silently agree that such a standard has to exist, meaning they lose the “God debate”  before the debate even starts.

* God in heaven is the God of the family, marriage, sports, talking, fun, school, piano, jobs, money, cars, homes, pets, antibiotics, water, vegetables and otters. All of it is His and it’s all about Him. We use all of His stuff all the time and it’s good to use it in ways that please Him.

* Everything has a cause except God. He always was, is, and always will be because of the impossibility that He doesn’t. He didn’t need to use evolution as a way to create. It was enough for Him simply to speak the universe into existence as He did, 6,000 years ago.

* Just a very few mind-programmers in the movies, schools, magazines, TV etc. have tricked millions of everyday people into rejecting God. Sadly, many such victims eventually go on to become substitute helpers for the mind-programmers themselves. When God is rejected then cities, states and whole nations go downhill morally and everyone is worse off.

* Anti-God people think of their own pleasure first and Satan happily encourages them. They tell everyone that God is a fairy tale invented by weak people who need a psychological crutch.

The “borrowing” story is a big part of this letter because it tells why even non-Christians have a “legal” or “official” reason for being able to think straight. (That is, when they do!) God gives us our brains so it’s wise to follow Him, obey His rules and make Him the most important part of your day starting each morning. This also means reading the Bible for all that’s in there for you. It was God, through the pen of Solomon, who wrote Proverbs, a book which has the power to help even those people who don’t believe in Him. You might read chapter one and Psalm 1 and 2. You can also join a church for the benefit you get from older Christians. You can lend a hand there, too, by helping others, including those younger than you as you move up the ladder.

Getting baptized is a good, public way to show that God is the most important thing in what will be your very short, fleeting life. “Short”  means even if you live to be 100 it’s still short compared to eternity which isn’t just a thousand years, it’s forever! Life on earth is like a pre-eternity test laboratory, so when you get married, have children and make new friends, please remember that God’s advice should be applied not just in church on Sundays but also Monday through Saturday in every area of your future life whether it’s in marriage, nursing, journalism, logging, trapping, business, pest control, medicine, banking, politics, agriculture, education, music or science. There’s a big need for more new Christians to be out there making a helpful, useful difference on behalf of the Creator. I hope you and your friends will be those new people.

We’re all sinners, so following God is not always easy. But, when we repent after we sin and ask forgiveness, He will forgive. You can show Him you’re serious about the sin problem by praying and trying hard not to repeat. Doing all these things means that your life will be better, happier and far more satisfying than by any other way. Ask almost any older adult.

Following Him means you’ll be the best mom and wife possible when your time comes in the next few years. And, a good friend to many. In fact, you’ll be one of the most respected and best-liked people in the whole state. The decision is up to you and I hope you make the choice. All these things are what I wish someone had begun telling me when I was 12.

Thanks for reading this, Clare. I believe God will bless you for it.