Christianity Archives

October 29, 2022October 26, 2022

End-of-Year Holidays

One interesting part of this ministry is the wide assortment of emails and postal letters we receive. We average about 1000 per week, which come from every corner of the globe and express every viewpoint you can imagine. So, for example, we get many letters complaining about the end-of-year holidays and the decadent origin of many of them.

Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s are the major end-of-year holidays, and someone will find things to dislike about their origins or practices. Halloween leads all the others with people citing complaints about everything from destructive spirits to human sacrifice. So, should we avoid trick or treat, carving faces on pumpkins, costumes, orange and black decorations, telling ghost stories, or games like Dungeons and Dragons?

The origin of Halloween goes back to ancient days in Ireland, Scotland, and Wales when the people celebrated the end of harvest. They had feasts, games, bobbing for apples, and thanking God for a successful harvest. The Roman Catholic Church added a time of remembering those who had died with special memorials for past family members. This was a positive thing that brought people together.

Years later, the Catholic Church tradition added the doctrine of purgatory. In many European countries, people held graveside services to atone for sins that family members committed before they died. This included leaving food, articles of clothing, or things that were special to the deceased by the graves. When some of these items disappeared, people assumed that somehow the dead had found a way to enjoy them. This led to fantastic stories about meeting these characters at night. Human imagination ran wild, and skeptics made fun of this practice and invented ways to profit from the stories created by people’s imaginations.

People today still invent wild stories, and the entertainment industry has taken advantage of that in films, plays, TV shows, and books. What began as a celebration of God’s blessings evolved into a memorial for those who had died and then became a tool for those who would exploit the uneducated for economic gain.

Taking advantage of people through trickery is nothing new. We read in the Bible about a man named Simon who used magic as a tool to exploit people ( Acts 8:9-11). In 1 Samuel 28:8–25, we find the story of Saul and the “Witch of Endor” seeking to bring up the spirit of Samuel. God commanded His people to avoid witchcraft of any kind. A miracle of God allows Samuel to actually show up, and the witch screams in terror, realizing that God has acted because she knows her scam is worthless. Bringing people back from the dead in today’s world is also a scam.

We have chosen just one of the end-of-year holidays as an example. Is carving a pumpkin or putting up Halloween decorations endorsing something evil? Of course not! Does evil exist? It absolutely does, but God is in control, and for Christians, evil cannot overtake us if we resist it. The Bible tells us to resist Satan, and he will flee from us (James 4:7). Halloween is a great time to learn and help dispel the claims of charlatans and con artists as they strive to fleece the ignorant and uneducated. So enjoy the end-of-year holidays and use them to teach others about what really matters in life–following the teachings of Christ as our guide to successful living.

October 27, 2022October 26, 2022

Little Aborted Souls in Heaven

An article by S.M. Hutchens in Touchstone magazine raised the question of what the Redeemer will do with “those little aborted souls … in heaven.” A skeptic recently suggested to me, “If we believe the Bible, Christians should support abortion because those aborted babies automatically go to heaven.” Both of these views miss the point. There will be no such thing as “little aborted souls” in heaven.

When we die, we leave all of our physical existence behind. At the end of time, the physical world will be dissolved and turned back into the form from which it came. (See 2 Peter 3:10-18.) Einstein’s famous equation e = mc² tells us that mass and energy are really the same thing, and quantum mechanics continues to support that concept. In 1 John 1:5 we read, “God is light.” Light is energy, and the idea is that God took some of His own nature and turned it into matter. That was the start of the creation process.

Revelation 21 tells us that in heaven, we will be free of every negative thing that afflicted us here on Earth. There will be no death, pain, or suffering. As verse 5 says, all things will be made new. Christ will bring all of us who are His into this new existence, including those babies who were killed before they could draw a breath.

The skeptic then says that we should rejoice that these “little aborted souls” are now with God and will never have to experience the trauma of life. That might sound like a reasonable argument, except for something that atheists can never deal with. It is the question of purpose. What is our purpose—why are we here? There is a joke about the skeptic who says to God at the judgment, “Why didn’t you put a stop to COVID?” God responds by saying, “I did, and you aborted it.” That really is more than a joke. It raises a key point in this discussion.

The Bible makes it clear that God had and continues to have a purpose in the creation and a purpose for each of us. We are not just accidents. Ephesians 6:12 and 3:10, as well as the Book of Job, show us that there is a war between good and evil, and we are on the battlefield. Atheists may try to deny this by saying evil doesn’t exist, but that is an irrational view.

Everyone was created with talents and abilities to do something in the battle with the spiritual forces described in Ephesians. Unfortunately, many refuse to participate and end up with lives full of frustration and no direction. Aborted babies never have a chance to do what God created them to do. Those of us who find our niche realize that God put us here for a reason. In that, we find contentment and value in life as we fulfill the purpose for which we were created.

Reference: “L’Chaim!” in the column “Mortal Remains” by S.M. Hutchens in the November/December 2022 issue of Touchstone magazine

October 24, 2022October 23, 2022

Persecution of Christians Continues

The latest data on the persecution of Christians around the world is disturbing. Unfortunately, getting data from some areas is difficult, but several organizations have worked hard to get numbers that tell us how bad it is. By “Christians,” these organizations mean any group that recognizes Jesus Christ in any form as divine, including Catholics, Mormons, and all denominations.

China is an area where it is hard to get accurate data. According to the “Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life,” there are 67 million “Christians” in China. That includes 9 million Catholics, 23 million “Three-Self Protestants” (the group approved by the government), 35 million independent protestants, and 20,000 “Orthodox Christians.” The current government has been shutting down churches and confiscating their property, so most of the ones listed are meeting as house churches. During the Cultural Revolution in China from 1983 to 1993, the government imprisoned 3,000 Christians, but the current imprisonment rate is estimated to be over ten times that number in 2021 alone.

The second most extensive national persecution of Christians is in Nigeria. In June of 2022, terrorist attacks on Christian churches resulted in 125 deaths and numerous kidnappings. In Nigeria in 2020, 3,530 Christians were murdered, and in 2021, 4,650 were killed during attacks on church services. Kidnappings have increased from 990 in 2020 to 2500 in 2021, with 470 churches attacked. Vietnam and Pakistan have smaller numbers.

It is amazing to note that these numbers far exceed the attacks by the Roman government on Christianity during the first century. We continue to see legal attacks on practicing Christians in the United States. The military has clamped down on chaplains who hold Christian services of any kind. That includes observations of Christmas, Easter, or even Sunday worship. Secular groups can rent facilities on most state universities. The Does God Exist? ministry did that from 1968 until 2019. Now we are told that facilities can not be rented by “Church groups” at the same universities where we used to do lectureships.

Our country’s political struggles have polarized every segment of our culture. Antichristian organizations and the media have assured us that the days when Christianity was socially acceptable are pretty much over. This persecution of Christians may purify us as those who merely want to go to Church social events leave, and the persecuted minority that remains will continue to do the will of God.

References: Touchstone magazine, November/December 2022, page 12 ,and Wikipedia.

October 22, 2022October 18, 2022

A Negative Attitude Toward Christianity

“Religion” is a bad word in the world today. Many religions are violent, abusive, dishonest, and the source of war, waste, and murder. When I gave my lectures on science and faith in England, Ireland, and Scotland, I found that people were very interested in what I was presenting, but if I used the words “church” or “religion,” they were repulsed. In many countries today, telling someone you are a Christian invites a very negative response. Why do people have a negative attitude toward Christianity, and what can we do about it?

People have seen destructive actions by people who claim to be Christians. If you take a history course, you will learn about the Crusades, religious wars, slavery, racial hatred, and racial abuse, from the Tulsa tragedy to lynchings in the south. In modern times, we have seen people robbed of their money, their property, and their virginity by people who claimed to be Christians. There is no defense for that behavior. It is wrong and flies in the face of what Jesus Christ taught and lived. Furthermore, those actions create a negative attitude toward Christianity.

Surveys in the last ten years have shown that more and more people are rejecting “religion.” Religion is usually defined as human attempts to reach God. According to recent surveys, when asked if they believe the Bible is God’s Word, 20% of Americans say “no.” A substantial percentage of Americans cannot tell you anything about the Bible except what they have heard critics say. They also admit that they doubt God’s existence and reject the Bible’s moral teachings. The answer to this situation is education about Christ and His teachings.

If we are to change the trend away from God and the negative attitude toward Christianity, we must start at the very bottom. We must assume the world around us knows nothing about God, Christ, or the Bible. Unfortunately, that is the situation for many people today, and starting with the basics is necessary. Here are some basic places to begin:

1) How do we know there is a God? What is the evidence?
2) What is God, and how do we know that the spiritual world exists? Naturalism teaches that the material world is all there is.
3) What are the properties of God, and how are they relevant to humans?
4) What is a human, and why are humans special? What uniquely sets us apart?
5) Why do the teachings of Christ make sense, where do we find them, and are they reliable?

We address all of those questions on our websites and in our free materials. However, as long as preachers and religious leaders spend their time, money, and energy attacking each other and promoting emotionalism and entertainment, a negative attitude toward Christianity will continue. We must share our faith in love.

October 19, 2022October 18, 2022

Role Modeling Your Pronouns

The National Education Association’s October 2022 issue of NEA Today carries an article titled “Pronouns and Why they Matter for LGBTQ+ Students.” As a science teacher, I always found English teachers could do things I never had time for. The article encourages teachers to “try role modeling your pronouns before inviting everyone to introduce theirs.” It gives a pattern to follow: “Hi, my name is Meg, and I use she/her/hers pronouns. Could everyone please go around and share their name and pronouns.”

Reading this article reminded me of education courses I took at Indiana University many years ago. The professors who taught them had never taught in a public high school. They never dealt with gangs, had a gun or a knife pulled on them, or been threatened by a girl who spent her weekends as a neighborhood prostitute. Those of us teachers who had experienced all those things in the classroom just rolled our eyes and read their books so we could pass the course.

The last LGBTQ+ student I had in class changed her name four times in the school year. She would tell me when entering my classroom what name to use when I called on her. When she found out I was a Christian, she came in to talk on numerous occasions. She knew that she was safe in my classroom, that I cared about her, and that I understood some of her struggles. Late in the year, she told me, “You know I don’t care what you call me, you have shown me that you care about me, and that is all I need.”

I spent 41 years in the trenches, and while I never pushed my religion on my students, they knew where I came from. I have often said that if you have to tell someone that you are a Christian, there is a problem. Atheism, naturalism, and secular humanism have taken over the American educational system and destroyed public schools.

I don’t have all the answers, but I know that role modeling your pronouns is not as important as letting the students know you care about them. I understand why parents and educators are fleeing public schools and turning to charter and private schools. As they do, that leaves the public schools in many places as preparatory prison systems collapsing under their own weight.

Reference: “Pronouns and Why they Matter for LGBTQ+ Students” by Brenda Alvarez, NEA Today, October 2022 (pages 46-48).

October 15, 2022October 12, 2022

Significant Decline in Christianity

The Pew Research Center has released data on studies of the number of Americans identifying themselves as Christians or having no religious affiliation from 1990 to 2020. The data shows a significant decline in Christianity.

The number of Americans identifying themselves as Christians dropped from 90% in 1990 to 64% in 2020. At the same time, the number of Americans who say they have no religious affiliation rose from 16% in 2007 to 20% in 2020. More recent data has shown these numbers to be conservative. Atheist and skeptic numbers put those claiming to be Christians at well under 50% and those claiming no religion at over 40%.

There is an adage that says, “Figures don’t lie, but liars figure.” Of course, we can argue about these numbers, and the sampling techniques need to be defined. However, the fact is that there is a significant decline in Christianity as the number of Americans who claim to be Christians is rapidly shrinking, while those who claim no religion is growing.

The message to those involved in Christian preaching and teaching should be clear. We need to provide church members, visitors, and others with evidence for faith in God and the validity of the Bible. Ignoring skeptics’ claims and not answering the questions of seekers and church members is a destructive practice.

This ministry has been dealing with the challenges to belief since 1968. Our materials are free and available for all ages. We welcome questions sent to jncdge@aol.com or our mailing address at 1555 Echo Valley Drive, Niles, MI 49120. In addition to this website, doesgodexist.org has information, links, and a catalog of materials. You can also find our daily postings on Facebook.

We can know why we believe what we believe. We must take the instructions of 1 Peter 3:15 seriously, “Always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and respect.”

Reference: Pew Research HERE and HERE

October 13, 2022October 12, 2022

Infectious Diseases Can Spread from Animals to Humans

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tells us that three-quarters of “new or emerging infectious diseases” in humans originated in animals. Medical scientists call them zoonotic infections. Furthermore, six of every ten known infectious diseases can spread from animals to humans. Diseases that originated in animals include SARS, Zika, Ebola, West Nile, HIV, COVID, and Monkeypox. Some diseases, such as HIV, have jumped to humans because of sexual relationships between humans and animals.

As the human population grows, people have more contact with animals and use more animals for food. In addition, the pet trade has seen a massive increase, with a wider variety of animals being confined to homes and sharing everything from beds to meals with their human owners.

Those who blame God for the diseases that are such a serious problem should understand that God never intended for animals to replace humans as family members. A virus that may be of no consequence or even helpful to an animal can cause severe problems for humans. The Old Testament contains strict hygienic rules designed to minimize disease transmission when raising and using animals for food. The rules also forbid using blood as food and any sexual relationship with animals. (See Leviticus 17:12 and Deuteronomy 27:21.).

We may think the biblical instructions for using and managing animals were just for religious purposes. However, it is evident that God knew infectious diseases can spread from animals to humans, and He wanted to protect His people. This is one more example of the consequences of rejecting the Bible as a source of information on how we should live and what our priorities should be.

Reference: United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

October 12, 2022October 10, 2022

How Did Evil Enter Human Behavior?

Yesterday, we discussed the reality of evil. We saw that Christianity presents the God of the Bible as a God of love, but to have love, we must have a choice. That choice means there will be those who choose to reject God and the “agape” love Jesus presented. The question then becomes, “How did evil enter human behavior?”

The Old Testament has a few references to Satan, and that word in Hebrew means an opposing spirit, accuser, or hater. In the New Testament, the Greek word “diabolus” is used many times and translated as “Devil.” Skeptics usually convey the idea that Satan or the Devil is a physical being, making the concept of a personal promoter of evil look foolish. The biblical concept of Satan is that he is a spiritual being. He is not physical and exists in a dimension beyond the three dimensions we humans know.

The answer to “how did evil enter human behavior” is made clear in Ephesians 6:12. “We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” You and I would be helpless in this situation if not for the fact that God steps in and limits what those evil spiritual forces can do. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:13, “There is no temptation that has taken you but such as is common to man, but God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted above that which you can endure, but with the temptation also will make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it.”

The question, “How did evil enter human behavior?” takes us back to the question of good and evil and why we exist. Ephesians 3:9-11 makes it clear that through Christ, the intent was “that unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be made known through the church the manifold wisdom of God.” The spiritual war going on is undeniable as we see the existence of spiritual evil all around us. The Church is called to demonstrate the triumph of good over evil.

By denying that we are a part of this war between good and evil, atheists automatically embrace evil. In rejecting this reality, they eliminate their purpose for existing, and they have nothing to replace it. Jesus stated this in John 8:42-47 as He answered the skeptics of His day. Satan is real and alive and well on planet Earth today. This is not a fairy tale or a myth. It is the reality that we can see all around us.

October 8, 2022October 4, 2022

Accepting God’s Gifts

Our nation has turned from being a nation looking to God and seeking to serve others to becoming one concerned with finding personal gratification. We have become a people who will accept any or no moral values as long as they don’t interfere with our individual rights. We approve of any lifestyle or alternative to God’s teaching in our homes and on television. We go to entertainment venues where any kind of conduct is portrayed and accepted. Has this push for acceptance brought peace, unity, and happiness? Has it eradicated racism, violence, mental illness, crime, poverty, and drug and alcohol abuse? No, but accepting God’s gifts can.

The Does God Exist? ministry stands for God’s Word, following what God teaches us, and accepting God’s gifts. We don’t promise pleasure, prosperity, sexual gratification, and all the answers. But, we do promise that you will have fulfillment, satisfaction, and peace with God. We can do that because God Himself has promised it. We want to remind you of the words of Andre Crouch in his song “Through it All.”

Through it all, Through it all.
I’ve learned to trust in Jesus.
I’ve learned to trust in God.
Through it all, Through it all.
I’ve learned to depend upon His Word.

I’ve been to lots of places.
I’ve seen a lot of faces.
There’s been times I felt so all alone
But in my lonely hours
Yes, those precious lonely hours
Jesus let me know I was His own

I thank God for the mountains.
And I thank Him for the valleys.
I thank Him for the storms He brought me through.
For if I’d never had a problem
I wouldn’t know that God could solve them.
I’d never know what faith in God could do.

Through it all, Through it all.
I’ve learned to trust in Jesus.
I’ve learned to trust in God.
Through it all, Through it all.
I’ve learned to depend upon His Word.

We see nations, people, and even ourselves at times looking for a better way to live life. There is no better way than what we read about in God’s Word. We challenge you to depend on God’s Word and find the joy and peace they bring by accepting God’s gifts.

October 6, 2022October 4, 2022

Knowing How to Die

One of the significant challenges of living in the present age is knowing how to die. That may sound crazy, but it really is a problem. Thanks to medical advancements, people who would have died quickly and perhaps even died in their sleep are now kept alive by machines, drugs, and demands for their organs. Unfortunately, in some cases, this has caused enormous pain.

Knowing how to die has also created a whole industry ranging from medical practitioners to organizations that major in helping people die. Compassion and Choices, Zero Population Growth, and various hospice programs are involved in this issue and have publications promoting their services. Switzerland and Holland have made assisted suicide legal, and France is struggling with the problem. Some states in the U.S. have legalized doctor-assisted suicide, and other state legislatures are wrestling with the concept.

There are many challenging issues in this question. In 1 Corinthians 3:16, Paul wrote, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him; for the temple of God is holy and you are the temple of God.” Also, in that book, in chapter 6, verses 15-20, Paul condemns prostitution for the same reason.

The human body as a special creation of God is described beautifully in Psalms 139:14. Genesis 1:26-27 tells us that we are created in the image of God, referring to our spiritual makeup and not our physical bodies. However, the vehicle God created and in which His Spirit dwells is a wonderful creation we must protect. This principle prohibits suicide when the body can continue functioning if left alone. But if the body is dying and only medical intervention keeps it alive, that is certainly not the same as natural death.

When people know they are about to die, they have many things to do. Taking care of their possessions, repairing relationships, and making provisions for the next stage of existence are all essential. What we neglect to a great degree is the one thing we all fear the most–pain. In this day of medical advancement, we should be able to control pain in the physical body. Restricting the use of drugs to relieve pain in a dying person is cruel and flies in the face of what God has told us.

Proverbs 31:4-7 makes it clear that the “strong drink” of that day was not for Kings because it would pervert their judgment. Instead, it should be “for him that is ready to perish … let him drink and remember his misery no more.” God determines when a person dies, but we can address the pain involved and leave the difficult question of knowing how to die to the Lord.