I got one of the stupidest articles I have ever read in my inbox today. It was entitled, The Bible: Human or Divine? By Hank Hanegraaff. I can’t find the article online, so if you would like to read it, send me a note and I’ll forward it to you. But here is the first sentence:
To defend the faith we must be equipped to demonstrate that the Bible is divine rather than human in origin. If we can successfully accomplish this, we can answer a host of other objections simply by appealing to Scripture. To chart our course I will use the acronym M-A-P-S. Since most Bibles have maps in the back, this should prove to be a memorable association.
From Appendix B of Hank Hanegraaff’s The FACE That Demonstrates the
Farce of Evolution [Word Publishing, 1998]
To me, this demonstrates everything that is wrong with modern Christianity. Why is it ok for christendoms biggests goal to be deffending the faith? I mean, I know JC called us to be witnesses, and ‘give an account for the hope we have.’ But that’s a far stretch from, “I can PROVE to YOU that the BIBLE is TRUE and therefore you MUST believe everything it says is true, so bow down and worship my intelligence, I mean, Jesus.” What happened to, “The wisdom of God is the foolishness of man.” Or, “my message and preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men but on the power of God.”
I was going to say that I don’t think there is any room for apologetics in the church. I think it is simply a creation of the modern church who wanted to keep up with the emperical methods of science. I mean, don’t get me wrong… I love Mere Christianity as much as the next guy, but when do we stop saying, “I can prove the Bible to you” and start saying, “I don’t know how I know God is real and His promises can be trusted… I just do. I mean, I guess I just trust Him because I know Him. Wanna hear what He did in my life last week?… “
But I’ve decided that there is room for apologetics in the church. To anyone who has been attacked by a Bible Thumpin’ ass hole… to anyone who has been burned by an I-can-prove-it idiot… to anyone who won’t get to know Jesus becasue you know some people who follow him… I’m sorry. I appologize for the behavior and attitudes of the people in my church. Please forgive us.
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