The Foundational Issue in Apologetics is God Himself by David Cloud

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The following quote best describes David Cloud's article:

"If the Bible had said 

that Jonah swallowed the whale,

I would believe it!"

- William Jennings Bryan

INDEED, I WOULD! 

THERE IS NOTHING MY GOD CANNOT DO!

The Foundational Issue in Apologetics is God Himself

July 27, 2011

David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org

The foundational issue in apologetics is to introduce men and women to God through Christ, and we must never lose sight of this objective.

If you believe in the Almighty God of Scripture, it is a simple matter to accept what the Bible says, whether it a six-day creation or Christ’s virgin birth, bodily resurrection and Second Coming, or everything else. The fact is that these are all things that pertain to the supernatural and they cannot be tested by natural science.

D.B. Gower, Ph.D. in biochemistry and D.Sc. from the University of London, writes:

“It was about this time, in the mid-1960s, that my ideas of the greatness of God were transformed. No longer was He a ‘pocket’ God who did things as I could imagine from my ‘human viewpoint,’ but He had staggeringly great power, far beyond anything I could possibly comprehend. If God is so great, then there is nothing He could not do” (In Six Days, edited by John Ashton, p. 266).

This hits the nail on the head. The problem with people who can’t believe in the miracles of the Bible, including a six-day creation, is that they believe either in no God or a “pocket” God. When you believe in the Almighty God revealed in Scripture, it is easy to believe that the world was made in six days. In fact, it is easy to believe that it was made in six micro-seconds, if the Bible said so.

Dr. Robert Dick Wilson, one of the greatest biblical scholars of the 20th century, proficient in dozens of ancient languages, divided men into two categories: big-godders and little-godders, and that pretty much sums it up.

“One of the students of Princeton Theological Seminary professor Robert Dick Wilson had been invited to preach in Miller Chapel 12 years after his graduation. Dr. Wilson came and sat near the front. When chapel ended, the old professor came up to his former student, cocked his head to one side in his characteristic way, extended his hand, and said, ‘I'm glad that you're a big-godder. When my boys come back, I come to see if they're big-godders or little-godders. Then I know what their ministry will be.’

“His former student asked him to explain. Wilson replied, ‘Well, some men have a little God, and they're always in trouble with Him. He can't do any miracles. He can't take care of the inspiration and transmission of the Scripture to us. He doesn't intervene on behalf of His people. Then, there are those who have a great God. He speaks and it is done. He commands and it stands fast. He knows how to show Himself strong on behalf of them that fear Him. You have a great God; and He'll bless your ministry.’ He paused a moment, smiled, said, ‘God bless you,’ and turned and walked out” (John Huffman, Who’s in Charge Here?).

The Christian apologist’s objective is to make “big-godders” of people.

This comes through knowing God personally by faith in Jesus Christ. We are separated from God by our sin, both inherited and personal, and Christ died to pay the price God’s Law demands so that we can be reconciled to Him. When a sinner repents of his sin and puts his faith in Jesus Christ as only Lord and Saviour, a dramatic change occurs. He is born again and receives the indwelling Holy Spirit as his Teacher. His thinking is changed. This happened to me in 1973 when I was 23 years old. Before that I was antagonistic toward the Bible. I doubted the Bible’s teaching on things such as judgment, salvation, and the future, but those doubts were resolved by my new relationship with God in Christ.

Christ instructed us to be witnesses of Him (Acts 1:8). We must inform people of who He is and why He came to earth. Apologetics can remove barriers that people have that keep them from considering Christ, but our goal is not to win arguments about evidences; our goal is to introduce people to Christ.

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