Field Training 3

Sunday Morning Bible Study

August 2, 2009

Difficult Questions

Our series is called “Field Training”.

We get the title of the series from Jesus saying to His disciples,

(John 4:35 NKJV) "Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!

The idea is that we might think that the time to share our faith with others is some time in the future. But if we might take time to look around us, perhaps we might realize that we know people who need Jesus now.

Our topic this week is “Difficult Questions”.

When it comes to sharing our faith, sometimes the thing that holds us back is the fear of the other person asking us something that we won’t know the answer to.

Play video clip of Greg Laurie talking about sharing his new faith with his friend Gregg. Someone comes up to them while Greg is talking and has some tough questions to ask. Greg’s mind goes blank and he’s embarrassed.

I remember the debates we used to have in my high school English class. My friend Walter used to ask the hardest questions. Our teacher, Mr. Sawaya seemed to know all the questions that stumped the Christians.

A word of caution:

Be careful with the pat answers.

We sometimes think that if we memorized more facts, that we should be able to lead anyone to the Lord.

Sometimes there are deeper issues and the person only asks difficult questions to keep you from talking about what really bothers them.

Bridges, not walls.

Pray for wisdom when you share with people.

Learn to talk with them, not preach at them.

I think sometimes we are afraid to talk too much with some people because we’re afraid they will ask something that we don’t know the answer to.

Pray for wisdom.

Sometimes it’s okay to say, “I don’t know, but I’ll find out”.

This morning we are going to look at two of the common, as well as difficult, questions that people ask.

(1 Pet 3:15 NKJV) …always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you…

give a defense – apologia – verbal defense; a reasoned statement or argument

Some people may be surprised at this, but Christianity is a rational faith. You are not required to check your brains at the door.

There are reasons to believe.

Q1: How can we know the Bible is true?

I remember my friend Walter saying things like, “The Bible was just written by a bunch of guys who got together and wrote whatever they wanted to.”

First a couple of facts about the Bible:

The Bible is not a single book. It is a collection of 66 books, written over a period of 1500 years.

The words were written by more than 40 authors from every walk of life including kings, peasants, fishermen, poets, statesmen, and scholars.

It was not written yesterday. It was not written a couple hundred years ago by a group of people wanting to control the world. The Old Testament was completed about 2500 years ago. The New Testament was finished 1900 years ago.

We do not have the original handwritten copies of each book, but carefully made copies. Research and archaeology have shown that the copies we have are very reliable. We know what was written in the originals.

Here are four things that are helpful in answering our question:

1. It works

It gave me the experience it claimed it would.

If you are a Christian, you know what I’m talking about.

The Bible says,

(Rom 10:9 NKJV) that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

Have you experienced this? Have you experienced what it means to call on the Lord and to be saved?

(Phil 4:6-7 NKJV) Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; {7} and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Have you learned what it means to put your problems in God’s hands and have experienced His peace?

Your experience might simply be a psychological response, but it also might be a proof that God honors His Word.

Be careful here – don’t stop with just this one reason – the Mormons claim something similar.

They claim that if you pray and ask God to show you if the book of Mormon is real, that God would give you a “burning in the bosom”. They call this their “testimony”.

But don’t discount this either. The Bible is supernatural. Just because there are counterfeits doesn’t mean there isn’t a real thing.

God honors His Word. It’s real. It works.

2. Confirmed by science

Some of you may be surprised to hear me say this.

Some of us have heard science teachers and the media claim for a long time that the Bible is refuted by science that we have believe it.

Play video clip from “Inherit the Wind”.

Some of us have settled with the wrong concept that to be a Christian you have to check your brain at the door.

Science has come a long way since the days of Charles Darwin and the Scopes Trial.

There are a small but growing number of scientists who are willing to speak out about the problems they are having with Darwinian Evolution.

One of the concepts being discussed is that of “Intelligent Design”. This was the subject of Ben Stein’s 2008 movie “Expelled”.

The concept of “Intelligent Design” dates back to William Paley (1743-1805), who gave the analogy of someone walking through a forest, discovering a watch, and realizing that it was something that was complex enough so that you know it was something that was designed and manufactured.

In the same way, our universe bears evidence of design and purpose. There is evidence of a designer.

Irreducible Complexity

Darwin’s concept of evolution requires that organisms develop slowly, bit by bit, piece by piece over long periods of time. Darwin himself wrote in Origin of Species,

“If it could be demonstrated that any complex organism existed which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down.”

This might have sounded reasonable when Darwin developed it in 1830, but science has come a long way since then.

Dr. Michael Behe, is a biochemist at Lehigh University, specializing in molecular biology. He has coined the phrase “Irreducible Complexity”.

This is the concept that an organism or structure is so complex that it can’t be explained with the mechanics of evolution. It can’t be explained by slow, gradual changes over long periods of time. Unless each of the pieces of the mechanism was made at the same time, it simply wouldn’t function.

One such mechanism that meets that demonstrates this is the bacterial flagellum, a little “tail” or “motor” that propels a bacterium around.

Play excerpt from “Case for a Creator” by Lee Strobel.

We are just scratching the surface here. You don’t have to check your brain at the door to believe the Bible.

3. Confirmed by archeology

There used to be a strong movement among Bible critics who said that the Bible talked about things of which there was no evidence.

a. Pontius Pilate

Critics claimed there was no historical record of a Roman governor over Judea named Pontius Pilate.

In 1961, a stone was overturned at the excavation of Caesarea on the coast of Israel. The name of Pontius Pilate was on it.

b. Crucifixion

The critics used to claim that there was no evidence that crucifixion was ever practiced.

In 1968 the remains of man were found in Jerusalem. The man was in his mid thirties, found north of Jerusalem. There was a seven inch iron nail still embedded in his heel. The state of the bones indicated that his arms had been outstretched, his feet had been placed sideways, with a nail driven first through a small block of wood, then through both heels, and into the cross.

c. Caiaphas

Critics claimed there was no record of a high priest named Caiaphas.

In 1990 the tomb of the high priest Caiaphas was discovered.

Jewish historian Nelson Glueck has said,

“It may be stated categorically that no archeological discovery has ever controverted a biblical reference. Scores of archeological findings have been made which confirm in clear outline or exact detail the historical statements made in the Bible.”

4. Predicts the future accurately

Though the Bible predicts many different kinds of events, I want to focus on the prophecies concerning Jesus. Jesus fulfilled over 300 prophecies in the Old Testament.

What are the odds?

Peter Stoner wrote a book called Science Speaks (Moody Press, 1963), that applies the science of probability to the prophesies of the coming of the Messiah. These are things that we know were written hundreds of years before Jesus.

First, Stoner looks at just eight of the prophecies and considers the probability of just these being fulfilled by one man. (from Evidence … pg.174-176)

Born in Bethlehem (Mic.5:2)

Preceded by a messenger (Is.40:3)

Entering Jerusalem on donkey (Zec 9:9)

Betrayed by a friend (Ps.41:9)

Sold for 30 pieces of silver (Zec 11:12)

Money thrown in the temple, buying a potter's field (Zech 11:13)

Silent before accusers (Is.53:7)

Hands and feet pierced, crucified with thieves (Ps.22:16; Is.53:12)

Stoner concludes that the odds of any man that might have lived down to the present time fulfilling all eight of these prophecies are 1 in 10¹⁷. That's a one with seventeen zeroes after it!

To grasp the size of this number …

"Suppose we take 10¹⁷ silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas. They will cover all of the state two feet deep. Now mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly, all over the state. Blindfold a man and tell him that he can travel as far as he wished, but he must pick up one silver dollar and say that this is the right one. What chance would he have of getting the right one? Just the same chance that the prophets would have had of writing these eight prophecies and having them all come true in any one man, from their day to the present time, providing they wrote them in their own wisdom."

But keep in mind, that's with only EIGHT of the prophecies! Don’t forget that there were over 300 specific prophesies in the Old Testament concerning the first coming of Jesus Christ.

Objection! Maybe these prophesies were written AFTER Jesus!

Even if you don't accept the traditional view that the Old Testament scriptures were completed by 450 B.C., you have to take into account that during the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus (285-246 B.C.) there was a famous Greek translation made, known as the Septuagint.

No matter what, you have to agree that the Old Testament prophesies were AT LEAST 250 years before Jesus!

Objection! Jesus simply read these prophesies, then set out to fulfill them!

The problem with this view is that there are quite a number of the prophesies that would be out of a person's ability to manipulate, such as:

Place of birth (Mic. 5:2), time of birth (Dan. 9:25; Gen.49:10), His betrayal, His death by crucifixion (Ps.22:16), etc.

The current situation in the Middle East.

Think about the incredible prophecies that are being fulfilled over the last century.

The current nation of Israel did not exist before 1948. Many Bible scholars thought that God was finished with Israel. Yet the Bible consistently speaks of a nation of Israel being around in the days before Jesus returns. Jesus said,

(Mat 24:33 NKJV) "So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near; at the doors!

If the Bible was right about the prophecies that have already been fulfilled, do you think it might be right about what’s still ahead?

We believe the Bible is supernatural. We believe the Bible is true.

A young girl was out on the street corner sharing her faith. A man walked up to her and decided he was going to have some fun with her at her expense. He said, “Young lady, I have a question for you. That book you’re holding in your hand, the Bible, do you believe the Bible?” She said, “Oh yes sir I believe in the Bible.” “Oh really, then that must mean that you believe in all the teachings of the Bible” he said. She said, “Yes sir, I believe the Bible”. He said, “Then that must mean that you believe in all the stories of the Bible, all the miracles that are in the Bible”. She said, “Yes sir, I believe in the all the miracles in the Bible”. “Oh really? Then that must mean that you believe in the story of Jonah and the whale?” he said. “Yes sir, I believe the story of Jonah”. “So you believe that a man was swallowed by a big fish and lived to tell the story?” “Yes sir, I believe what the Bible says”. “Well how is that possible? How could a man be swallowed by a fish and live to tell about it?”

“Well sir, I don’t really know, but when I get to heaven, I’ll ask Jonah”. “Well how do you know that Jonah is in heaven and not in the other place?” he asked. “Well sir, then you can ask him…”

Q2: The Problem of Evil

How could a God of love allow suffering?

Why is there sickness, even death? Why was there a Holocaust or 9/11?

(John 9:1-3 NKJV) Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. {2} And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" {3} Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.

Why does God allow suffering?

This was the question the disciples were asking. They assumed it must have been somebody’s sin that caused it.

C.S. Lewis wrote,

“The problem of pain is atheism’s most potent weapon against the Christian faith.”

Many have struggled and even turned against God because of some tragedy.

Ted Turner

Some know him as the media mogul who started CNN. Others know him for his yacht racing or ownership of the Atlanta Braves. Others because of how he’s spent some of his money, like giving $1billion to the UN. Others know him because of his very strong stance against Christianity.

In 1989 he called Christianity a “religion for losers”.

In 2001 he suggested that CNN employees who had ashes on their forehead for Ash Wednesday were a “bunch of Jesus freaks”.

He was married to Jane Fonda for 10 years. When she became a Christian but hid it from Turner, her hiding it from him was one of the issues in their divorce.

In his older years, Turner has softened a little. He is even partnering with the Lutheran and Methodist churches to fight disease in Africa. Hmmm.

When Turner was young, he had actually read the Bible “cover to cover twice”. He considered becoming a missionary. But when his sister was diagnosed with lupus, he prayed for her to be healed, but she died instead. He has been mad at God ever since.

It’s possible that some of you have been through similar struggles.

The classic way of stating the problem is like this:

Either … God is all-powerful, but not all good

Therefore He doesn’t stop evil.

Or … He is all good but not all-powerful

Therefore He can’t stop evil.

The tendency is to blame God for evil and suffering and pass all of the responsibility on to Him, and not take any responsibility for what we do.

The question being asked of Jesus was, “Can our physical suffering on earth be a result of sin?” Was it the man’s fault or his parents?

Jesus’ answer in THIS case was, “neither”.

In a broad sense, all sickness and suffering are a result of sin.

When Adam and Eve were created, they were perfect.

But Adam and Eve were created with free will, and when our first parents chose to disobey God, they brought sin and suffering into this world.

(Rom 5:12 NLT) When Adam sinned, sin entered the entire human race. Adam's sin brought death, so death spread to everyone…

Because Adam and Eve sinned, something called death started.

Because Adam and Eve sinned, aging and disease began as well.

Illustration

A teacher was finishing up a lesson on the joys of discovery and the importance of curiosity. “Where would we be today,” she asked, “if no one had ever been curious?” One child quietly spoke up from the back of the room. “In the garden of Eden?”

The point is that man is responsible for sin, not God.

Some may ask, “Why didn’t God make man so he couldn’t sin?”

God made man to have free will, to choose good or evil.

It might have been safer is God made us all robots who had no free will.

God desires that we love him and trust Him because we voluntarily choose to, not because we are programmed as robots.

Genuine love requires a choice, free will.

A choice requires that man can choose the wrong thing, which man did.

Back in 2001 when the airplanes hit the World Trade Center, people asked, “Why did this happen?”

Some suggested that it was God’s judgment against America. I understand why they could come to that conclusion, but there could be another answer.

Jesus was asked about one of the tragedies of His time:

(Luke 13:4-5 NKJV) "Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? {5} "I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish."

What was Jesus saying?

Tragedies happen. They happen to believers and they happen to non-believers. Bad things happen to all of us. Someone gets drunk, gets on the freeway and is killed. A family of believers is on the freeway, obeying the law, and they are killed.

Jesus was saying that the point is that I need to be right with God, because anything could happen.

Why does tragedy happen? Because we live in a fallen world.

Is there a reason for tragedy?

Correction

Sometimes God uses tragedy in our lives to be a “wake-up” call, to get our attention.

(Psa 119:71 NKJV) It is good for me that I have been afflicted, That I may learn Your statutes.

Sometimes it’s a result of our own disobedience – we’ve run from God and we begin to reap what we sow (Gal. 6:7-8)

(Gal 6:7-8 NKJV) Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. {8} For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.

C.S.Lewis wrote, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains. Pain is His megaphone to arouse a deaf world.”

If this is a reason for tragedy, know this – that even with this God allows difficulty in our lives only because He loves us and wants us to turn around:

(Heb 12:6 NKJV) For whom the LORD loves He chastens

Construction

Sometimes God uses tragedy to mature us.

(Rom 5:3-5 NKJV) And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; {4} and perseverance, character; and character, hope. {5} Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Tragedy might not come because of anything that we’ve done wrong.

But we have an opportunity to grow stronger and deeper through the tragedy.

(2 Cor 4:16-18 NKJV) Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. {17} For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, {18} while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Glory

God can use tragedy to bring glory to Himself.

Sometimes the glory comes from our enduring the difficulty

Joni Eareckson Tada became a quadriplegic in 1967 after a diving accident. She has gone through tremendous difficulty, yet God has used her. Play video clip.

Sometimes the glory comes because God wants to do a miraculous work.

This man before Jesus in John 9 – Jesus would heal him. Jesus said,

(John 9:3 NKJV) …that the works of God should be revealed in him.

God does still heal today. Not all will be healed, but some will be. Ask God to heal you.

(Isa 53:4-5 NKJV) Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. {5} But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.

If God doesn’t heal you, God is still at work:

(2 Cor 12:7-10 NKJV) And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. {8} Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. {9} And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. {10} Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

There is no easy answer to the problem of evil and the problem of tragedy in our world.

But there are answers.

Knowing the answers doesn’t mean that every person you talk to will come to Christ.

The truth is that even though some may have honest questions, others only use the questions they’ve learned from their friends to hide behind.

But there are some who need to know there are answers. Do your homework.