Bible - Michael J. Thom

A New Apologetic Method

Michael — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 02:30:00 +0000

Okay, so it may not actually be totally new. But it’s new to me, and it’s new to many modern Christians. You see, many "classic" Christian apologetics just aren’t as applicable to today society and situation. With the "New Atheists" as prominent as they are, we must adapt and take on new tactics when dealing with these issues. Dinesh D’ Souza spoke this evening at Crossroads Bible College in Indianapolis. I will blog more on his talk in upcoming days, but here are just a couple of thoughts that he shared with us.

In his mind, Atheism has only recently become as militant as it now is. In the past, Atheists have sought little more than for removal of Nativities from public places or the dismantling of 10 Commandment replicas from court houses. However, these days, Atheists are attempting to discredit Christianity. They try to "make Christians feel like idiots" for believing as we do, as D’ Souza put it tonight. We Christians were taught to defend our beliefs and explain our beliefs by pointing to the Bible. Quoting Scripture is also recommended. However, what do you do when somebody inherently disbelieves the Bible and its veracity? Saying "because it said so" is meaningless when they don’t give the Bible any credit to begin with. Thus, we must become "bilingual," in a sense. We need to be able to speak secularly with Atheists/secularists. This is just one tenant of his methodology for dealing with Atheism as it has presented itself in modern society.

More to come soon; right now, I am simply much too tired and it is past my bedtime. I just want to leave you with one more nugget of knowledge that I gained tonight. I will perhaps put it in context in a future post, but, for now, know that Heaven is adult Disneyland.

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A Bridge or a Rug?

Michael — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 04:13:00 +0000

Unfortunately, today is the next-to-last day of the E91 devotional that I’ve been reading. I’ll have to find something to take its place, and fast. But I wanted to share, yet again, a very short excerpt from tonight’s reading. This one is by Scheduling & Records Director Vonda Gilley. Referring to the choices we have when encountering difficult or pushy people, we may occasionally get walked all over, as the saying goes. But the way we choose to handle these situations is key:

Think about it, both a rug and a bridge get walked on. A rug wears out eventually, but a bridge helps people get from one place to the next.

“Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.” – John 15:13 (NIV)

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Wisdom from Bible Study

Michael — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 05:08:00 +0000

This evening’s Bible study was a good time, both spiritually fulfilling and just fun. Kristen made a comment at one point that I feel like quoting here. This comment is a bit out of its original context (which is, at this point, irrelevant), but I think it has an even deeper meaning than how it was originally intended.

Everything that happens makes us forget what He said.

This is actually quite profound. If you think through our daily lives, we get very busy and preoccupied with things that worry us, concern us, frustrate us, even excite us, and just otherwise take our time and concentration. It is often easy to forget about the Bible and the words of Jesus. However, if we just remember His words, our everyday lives can be changed.

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. – Matthew 11:28 (NIV)

How true it is that “everything that happens makes us forget what He said.”

On a side note, I also told my group tonight that “‘sup,” roughly translated from the original Hebrew, means “peace be with you.”

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