Can we talk?

This week we’re going to share part of a conversation that started recently with a young lady that has some serious questions. We feel very blessed that so many in the younger generation feel safe to start these dialogues with us. We are so honored to have these opportunities.
The title for this has a double meaning. First, as Christians our heart’s desire should be that we can get into serious discussions with the world so that we can share the gospel of Christ. So, “Can we talk?” means that we should put ourselves into a position where we are in creative ways asking that question to the lost world to engage them in meaningful conversations. Secondly, I ask “Can we talk?” as a question directed at us personally. Can we talk about why we believe what we say we believe? Because if not, we’ll never reach out to the lost.
I share this conversation with you in fear and trepidation! I will admit right from the very start that it needs more depth. As a matter of fact, since I’m still in the conversation with this young lady I’m doing more research and following up on answers that needed more “meat.” I offer this to you as a building block for you to learn from. Good and bad! I don’t profess to be the best, only a sinner saved by grace through faith in Christ who is humbly seeking to serve the Master. Let’s grow together so that we can talk with those who don’t know Christ. You’ll never regret reaching out!
Over the last two months things have exploded. In over 20 years of ministry I’ve never had so many students reach out with so many questions. As I mentioned last week, I’d like to share with you a dialogue I had by text as a result of a young lady contacting me via Facebook. I’m not using her name and I have corrected some of the texting for your reading (you know how many mistakes we all make when texting).
I have also interspersed some additional comments and they are in italics. 
 
Lisa – I’m really struggling if God does exist. Please help me on knowing and believing he’s real.
Carl – Hi Lisa, thank you so much for reaching out! There is a promise that if you are seeking Him, He will reveal Himself to you so I’m excited to see where the Lord takes this. What issue, if any, is causing you to struggle with believing there is a God. Maybe if we deal with those issues first it will help as we progress. I’m very serious, thank you for reaching out! I will do my best to encourage you. Let’s dialogue!
Lisa – Great! I’ve listened to you speak at camp Chattaqua last summer and thought your sermons were amazing. I have many questions on whether He exists because scientists have said they’ve proven earth is an old earth. Is that true? 
 
(By the way, many people say the age of the earth isn’t an important issue. That couldn’t be further from the truth.  That issue comes up in almost every conversation I have with someone who is struggling with trusting God or the Bible,!  That is not an exaggeration, this was the first point brought out in this dialogue and I could show this to you over and over.  It is important to have an answer on this issue and not run away from it.  We just have to ensure that we’re giving the answers with meekness and fear.
Here are a few points on this important topic.  When dealing with Christians who ask me why the age of the earth matters I ask them a question, “The wages of sin is . . . .?”  You know the answer to that, “death,” of course!  Well, the challenge is this, our children are inundated with messages teaching them that the earth is billions of years old and formed after an explosion.  This worldview is having a huge impact on the youth today.  I would pray that you converse with the younger generation sometime.  You may be surprised at what they are struggling with.  Last week you saw just a few of the comments that we have received recently from youth who are encouraged to see that there are answers and they don’t have to accept the teaching of evolution over millions and billions of years.)
 
Carl – Hi Lisa, I’m in and out today so sorry for the delay in responding. Do you have a smart phone or iPad?
Lisa – I have an iPhone.
Carl – Go to your App store and search “Reasons for Hope.” Download the free App there and then watch the video under “Questions Answered” on “Carbon Dating” please. I’m a really visual guy so it’s hard to answer things with text. Let me know what you think after watching the video. It’s short, only about 5 to 8 minutes I think.
Lisa – I watched the video and really liked it. But don’t they have more evidence to show it’s an old earth?
 
(May we encourage you, as we did Lisa, to please download the Reasons for Hope App and put it to use.  Go to your App store and search for “Reasons for Hope.”  Make sure Reasons is plural!  It’s totally free so you can’t complain about the price!  You will not believe how much information is contained on this important outreach of rforh.
Also, for those of you reading this on an iPad or iPhone, download it here or on the Android, download it here.)
Carl – It depends on what you mean by evidence. Christians and non-Christians all have the same evidence. We interpret the evidence through our worldviews, or filters. I look at the evidence and it screams there is a God. Think of how amazingly complex the human body is. Those that don’t believe in God can accept that time and hydrogen gas can turn into that! I cannot, I see evidence of a designer. So, evidence is interpreted, it does not speak for itself.
 
(This is a very important point.  Christians and non-christians all have the same evidence.  Most of the time where we disagree with each other is over the interpretation of the evidence.  There is an excellent video dealing with Observational Science and Historical Science in our store.  You can watch it here.)
  
Lisa – That’s how I think. We have to have a creator. Even scientists say we have to have a designer. Is it possible man could have written the bible?
Carl – Absolutely, man did write the Bible! BUT, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. May I suggest you get a little book entitled, “More Than a Carpenter” to help you see how amazing the Bible is. It will do much better than I can via text! I hope this is encouraging you! Stay bold!
 
(My I also recommend a short article that you can read here from GotQuestions.org.  I think they do a good job of defining what we mean when we say the Bible is “inspired by God”.)
 
Lisa – It really is helping me. I’ve had doubts for weeks now. And I need them to go away it’s consuming my life. I will definitely read the book. If our religion is right, why are all the other religions wrong like Islam, Buddhism, Muslim etc.
Carl – Hard to deal with this in an email, but I will try.
First we have to have a definition of truth! A simple definition is “truth is that which has fidelity to an original.”  An illustration that I use is this.
 
(Let me use information from my book, Reasons for Hope In the Mosaic of Your Life here.  It is the illustration that I used with Lisa, it just reads better than my Facebook message.
 
Let’s go back to #1 again and look a little more closely at relativism. It is likely the biggest problem emerging from today’s post-modern way of thinking and is so widely embraced because it is me-centered. Everything is based upon what a person thinks and feels, not on any foundation of real truth.
 
Here’s one way in which I’ve tried to diffuse this thinking and reason with people that there must be absolute truths. I’ve used the following illustration many times in my messages with very consistent responses. 
 
I open with a simple question: “How tall am I?” The students will readily start guessing: “Six feet,” “Six foot four,” and so on. I respond by saying they are all wrong and I can’t believe by how much. I then tell them that I am twelve feet tall! That elicits laughter, rolling of the eyes, and various comments: “Yeah, right.” “No way!” “Where’d you go to school?” etc. I then pull out my trustworthy ruler that I have made, thereby assuring its accuracy. This ruler “proves” beyond a shadow of doubt that I am in fact twelve feet tall. They still laugh and shake their heads, so I ask them why they don’t believe me. They quickly inform me that my ruler is wrong, to which I promptly reply, “No, my ruler is perfect. I’m the teacher. I made it myself and I have verified its accuracy, so you can’t tell me it’s wrong!”
 
Of course I haven’t changed their minds, so I then challenge them: “How can you prove me wrong?” Now it gets fun. They pull out a ruler and ask to compare it to mine, pointing out that the inches on their ruler are accurate and mine are different and therefore wrong. Then I say, “Well, that’s your ruler, and it might be right for you, but this is my ruler and it’s right for me. So you can’t say that it’s wrong just because you all think differently than I do. Should we vote on which ruler is correct? I’ll get all my friends to vote with me and they’ll tell you that my ruler is correct.”
 
It’s at this point that you can see the “lights” starting to come on for them. It’s vitally important they understand that truth isn’t based on a person’s opinion or on a majority vote regardless of what our culture is telling us. Nor is it based on sincerity. I can sincerely believe my ruler is correct, but is it? There needs to be a verifiable, trustworthy standard, proven beyond a shadow of a doubt, to compare it to. In the case of measurements, such standards are defined by each country and are easily obtainable.
 
I then tell the students that if we want to know whether my ruler is accurate, it can’t be determined based on my belief. We have to take our rulers and compare them with the objective standard, and when we do we will see that their ruler is correct.
 
The point is that if we want to know if something is true, it doesn’t matter what we believe about it, it matters whether there is accurate and trustworthy evidence to declare it to be true.
 (excerpted from Reasons for Hope In the Mosaic of Your Life, Carl Kerby, pp. 192-194)
 
Now, as a Christian our “ruler” is the Bible. Now, not because we believe it, but because when we look at the world that we live in what we see is absolutely in agreement with the Word of God. When you compare all of the religions you mentioned they do not teach the same thing. Only one can be true. Jesus is either God, as He claims to be in the Word, or he is not. Only Christianity makes that claim. The other religions differ greatly. You will have to make a decision on if you believe in absolute truth or not. That is what it will ultimately come down to. Sure hope this is understandable.
 
Lisa – It’s very understandable. If the continents were once together wouldn’t it take millions of years for them to move where they are today?
  
As I said to Lisa, I pray this is understandable.  Next week we’ll continue this conversation.  Please pray for  “Lisa” (again, not her real name, but God knows who you are praying for, this conversation is on-going.  
And remember, this is only one interaction that is taking place right now.   I’m in communication with quite a few other college students who are struggling with their faith.
 
Stay bold,
Carl and the rforh Team!
P.S. – We were able to get an amazing price on Lee Strobel’s book, “The Case For The Real Jesus”.  This is a hardback book and we only have 20 of them at the very special price of $14.00.  That’s just $9.00 for the book plus $5.00 shipping.  This will go away very quickly!  Go here to take advantage of this very special offer.