Apologetics and its ministry to the doubting || JPP

We all doubt. Even the great ones doubt.

G. Campbell Morgan had already enjoyed some success as a preacher by the time he was 19 years old. But then he was attacked by doubts about the Bible. The writings of various scientists and agnostics disturbed him (e.g., Charles Darwin, John Tyndall, Thomas Huxley, and Herbert Spencer). As he read their books and listened to debates, Morgan became more and more perplexed.

What did he do? He cancelled all preaching engagements, put all the books in a cupboard and locked the door, and went to the bookstore and bought a new Bible. He said to himself, "I am no longer sure that this is what my father claims it to be--the Word of God. But of this I am sure. If it be the Word of God, and if I come to it with an unprejudiced and open mind, it will bring assurance to my soul of itself."

The result? "That Bible found me!" said Morgan. The new assurance in 1883 gave him the motivation for his preaching and teaching ministry. He devoted himself to the study and preaching of God's Word.*

Today my wife and I talked of picking Nathanael Christian Apologetics Ministry as the name of the apologetics ministry we want to start. We like the name as it references to the calling of the apostle Nathanael in John 1:44-51. Yung calling kasi ni Nathanael ay medyo unique among the apostles kasi siya yung parang tamang duda (immediate cynicism). Pero later on tulad nung nangyari din kay G. Campbell Morgan naturn-around yung doubt into a motivation to devote himself to God. Sabi ni Nathanael in the brief encounter nya with Jesus, "“Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.” From doubt to doxology.

From Doubt To Doxology

This captures yung slogan na lagi kong binabanggit sa radio apologetics teaching ministry ko sa DZAS - "from doubt to doxology." Heto yung part ng spiel ko,

Ako din po ang inyong tagapagturo sa apologetics dito sa Tanglaw sa Landas ng Buhay every Tuesday and Thursday upang mabigyan ng kaliwanagan ang ating pananampalataya under the pressure of objections and doubts. Gusto nating kunin ang mga pagdududa at gawin itong pagpupuri o yung tinatawag natin dito na from doubt to doxology. Sa ganitong paraan patuloy pang masumpungan ng mga believers ang pag-asa at katotohanan ng salita ng Diyos though the believer walks through the valley of the shadow of doubt.

I told my wife that this ministry would welcome the doubts of people seriously and be willing to walk with them. It was a refreshing thought for me to read that Jesus spoke highly of Nathanael, despite his cynicism, that he was "an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.” Jesus demonstrated that he was indeed the Messiah by giving Nathanael what Pentecostals call a miraculous word of knowledge. Out of this interaction Jesus revealed to him the marvelous revelation of the future,

“Very truly I tell you, you will see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on’ the Son of Man. (v51)

I wanted a ministry that does not only recognize doubt as a way to the intellectual virtues of wisdom and understanding but one that considers doubt as a spiritual problem. William Lane Craig explains,

doubt is never simply an intellectual problem. There is always a spiritual dimension to doubt as well. There is an enemy of your souls, Satan, who hates you intensely, and who is bent on your destruction, and who will do everything in his power to see that your faith is destroyed. And therefore, when we have these intellectual doubts and problems, we should never look at them as something that is spiritually neutral, or divorce them from the spiritual conflict that we’re involved in. Rather, we need to take these doubts to God in prayer, to admit them honestly, to talk to our Christian friends about them, to not stuff them or hide them. We need to deal with them openly and honestly and talk to people about them and seek God’s help in dealing with them.†

The other day I wrote about "Adding apologetics to increase your faith" and in there I quoted the Puritan John Owen in his admonition for the increase of our faith, which is to "make it strong against its assaults." Kumbaga palakasin mo siya habang inaatake siya. This is what I hope will be an important notion ng apologetics ministry that my wife and I are setting up to start.



Here's John 1:44-51 --

The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.” Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida.

Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”

“Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked.

“Come and see,” said Philip.

When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.”

“How do you know me?” Nathanael asked.

Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.”

Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.”

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* Wycliffe Handbook of Preaching & Preachers, Moody, 1984, p. 211.

† http://www.reasonablefaith.org/media/dealing-with-doubt#ixzz4QL3ywGV6