In my last two posts, I’ve tried to describe what we’re learning about apologetics at Westminster.
The first post was about the foundation of our hope: absolute conviction that the death, resurrection, and future return of Jesus Christ is the only hope for mankind.
The second one was about the faith we seek to defend: nothing short of the God of Scripture. Only Christ saves. A general belief in God cannot.
In my last post, I said that most of the popular apologetic methods only lead to Theism, not Christianity. And since Theism ultimately cannot save, we shoot ourselves in the foot by using methods that lead to Theism.
Let me explain with two specific examples.
EVIDENCE FOR GOD IN DESIGN: In this example, both the believer (we’ll call him Mr. Believer) and non-believer (Mr. Skeptic) agree to study creation and then draw some conclusions using human logic. Mr. Believer hopes to convince Mr. Skeptic to believe in God and trust in Christ. Mr. Believer holds up the flagellum of a bacteria and points out all the intricate parts. “Look at the rotor, propeller, and drive shaft. See the numerous protein structures used to make a complex device that works as a motor. You need all of them working simultaneously for a bacteria to propel itself. Natural selection can’t produce a complex system through evolution because too many pieces have to come together all at once. Therefore, there must be a designer of some kind” (see https://sites.google.com/site/evidenceofgod/biology/flagellum)
EVIDENCE FOR GOD IN A FIRST CAUSE: Mr. Believer then turns his attention to the origins of the universe: “Anything with a beginning must have a cause. Makes sense, right?” As a firm believer in the law of cause and effect, Mr. Skeptic nods in agreement. Mr. Believer continues, “We agree that science teaches us that the universe came into existence through a Big Bang billions of years ago. I will show you that the Kalam Cosmological Argument proves God’s existence. It goes like this:
- Anything with a beginning must have a cause.
- The universe had a beginning.
- Therefore, the universe has a cause.
Mr. Believer anxiously waits for Mr. Skeptic’s response. He’s hoping that he will come around and even thank him for showing him the light.
Mr. Skeptic says, “I see the complexity of a bacteria’s flagellum. I see how it looks like it’s designed. But, how do you jump from that and conclude that there is a God or some kind of designer? In fact, Richard Dawkins, the author of God Delusion has a perfectly good explanation, one that I think is even better than yours.
Now Mr. Believer is skeptical…..
Mr. Skeptic continues, “Imagine if you were living in England during the 1700s and someone showed up with a jumbo jet and a computer. They show you these amazing marvels of modern technology that defy all possible explanations. Therefore, you conclude that this man is a god. That sounds ridiculous for us today, but not so ridiculous if you were living in the 1700s.
We’re living in the 21st century. Science has advanced a lot, but it doesn’t have all the answers. I believe that in due time, science will find an explanation for how a bunch of random proteins can come together to form a complex system like a bacteria’s flagellum. Religious people like to take a problem that we can’t solve and then conclude that “God did it”. Science isn’t content to just chalk things up to God, you know what I mean?”
Mr. Believer wasn’t expecting that kind of answer. When he and Mr. Skeptic agreed that they would use human observation and reason as their starting point, he wasn’t expecting it to be turned around on him.
Mr. Skeptic continues, “Religious people like to point to the origin of the universe as proof that God exists. You guys have something I’ll call, “God of the Gaps.” Whenever you see a gap that science can’t explain, your default explanation is to plug in God. I know that I don’t have all the answers. But, at least we’re working on them, and we have the scientific method to help us discover truth.
Religious people believe in God, but don’t realize that they have an even bigger problem to solve. For instance, “Who created God?” Basically, if there is such a being as an all-powerful God who can create the entire universe out of nothing, what’s His story? How did He get here? As rational thinkers, don’t we subscribe to the laws of cause and effect? Or, are you going to grant your God a special exception? If God created the universe, then something would have created Him, and then something else would have created that- on and on we go….
As Dawkins says in his book, “Any God capable of designing anything would have to be complex enough to demand the same kind of explanation in His own right. God presents an infinite regress from which He cannot help us to escape.” (God Delusion, 109).
Mr. Believer then realizes that he got himself into this mess. He initially agreed with Mr. Skeptic that they would use the human laws of logic to discuss the existence of God. He was hoping to win over Mr. Skeptic by validating his way of thinking. He sheepishly tells him, “I’m not sure I have anything better. Dawkins is a pretty smart guy, and I know I’m not as smart as he is. Let me do some more research and get back to you.”
As they leave, Mr. Believer was thinking that he needed some other approach to apologetics. He had heard about a guy named Van Til who taught at Westminster seminary. Van Til did all of his apologetics by starting off with God. He thought to himself, “I’ll need to pick up some of his stuff because the stuff I’ve been using seems to have severe limitations….”
“I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3)
The faith that we defend is the faith delivered to us in God’s Word. Christians are not called to defend Theism (the belief that there is a god or some god out there).
I’ll illustrate with an example.
A few years ago a prominent atheist named Andrew Flew changed his mind and decided to become a Theist (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antony_Flew). He did this after looking at the evidence for a higher power. Flew died a few years afterwards (still as a theist I believe). The tragedy is that theists and deists die in their sins and suffer eternal punishment just like atheists. If all we can do is lead people to theism (believe in some god out there), we have failed in proclaiming the crucified and risen Christ, the only hope for mankind.
What we aim to defend is nothing short of “the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27), not the buffet-style faith where you pick and choose your Christian entrees.
What is this whole counsel of God?
I can’t go through everything in detail, but here are a few critical points:
TOTAL POWER AND SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD: “Our God is in the heavens; He does all that he pleases” (Ps. 115:3). He “works all things according to the counsel of His will” (Eph 1:11). This means that God is the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, and its rightful Lord. “For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities- all things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together” (Col 1:16-17). Therefore, we owe Him our worship and obedience (1 Cor 10:31).
TOTAL SINFULNESS OF MAN: As human beings, we have failed to give our Creator the honor that is due Him. “None is righteous…no one understands; no one seeks for God”. (Rom 3:11). “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags” (Is. 64:6, NIV).
TOTAL GUILTINESS OF MAN: “It is appointed for man to die once and after that comes judgment” (Heb 9:27). What will that judgment be like? This Judge considers lust the same as adultery (Matt 5:27) and anger the same as murder (Matt 5:22). Christ says, “I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak” (Matt. 12:36). This is a God who will bring every deed into judgment with every secret thing. (Ecc. 12:14). I have heard that 50% of all murderers in the United States are never caught or brought to justice. God will bring all of them to justice. But He will not just punish murderers. He will punish adulterers, thieves, liars, and all other sins. It is a fearful judgment where every thought, word, and deed will be brought before the all-knowing, all-powerful, and completely holy God.
TOTAL GRACIOUSNESS OF GOD: God provided a way for His justice and holiness to be satisfied without destroying all mankind in Hell for eternity. Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, died as a substitute for sinful humanity: “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins.” (1 John 4:9-10)
There is much more, but in summary, we are to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved (Acts 16:31). The reason is that God commands all people everywhere to repent because He has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness (Acts 17:30-31).
Unfortunately, most apologetic methods do not lead to these points. Most methods go to human reason as the final court of appeal. In the past, I have appealed to a person’s intellect, such as showing them fulfilled prophecies in the Bible, archaeological evidence, or reasons to believe in the resurrection of Christ.
These apologetic tools can be useful, but the problem is that the sinful human mind is a terrible judge of what is ultimately true. Our ultimate trust rests not in ourselves but on God and His Word. The faith that we defend in contained in the Scriptures, and the Scriptures themselves are the final court of appeal.
In future posts, I'll explain what I believe to be the Scriptural method for defending the God of the Scriptures.
"Apologetics" is a fancy word that means "defending the faith". I'm taking Apologetics 101 at Westminster, and God has been teaching me a lot. Over the years, my apologetics has been geared at reaching the mind- coming up with good, logical reasons why someone should consider the Christian faith. Some people might even consider me an expert in this, which is not a good thing. What I mean is that all Christians (not just seminary students, pastors, or other experts) are given the joy and responsibility of being ready to give an answer for the hope that we have.
"But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect" (1 Peter 3:15)
The challenge of course, is learning to speak the truth in love by sharing the truth of the gospel with gentleness and respect.
To fully appreciate this verse, our professor did an excellent job of giving us some background info. Peter is writing to a group of Christians who are suffering intense persecution. He reminds the persecuted believers that Heaven, and not earth, is their home. God has caused them to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Christ from the dead (1 Pet 1:3) and given an everlasting inheritance kept in heaven (1 Pet. 1:4). The joys of heaven will sustain them as they are "grieved by various trials" (1 Pet. 1:6). "For this is a gracious thing, when mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly" (1 Pet 2:19).
Church history tells us that Nero was the emperor at the time. He despised Christians and would have his soldiers burn them alive. Simply naming the name of Christ would bring the sentence of death.
When the soldiers would come, the temptation was for a Christian to think that those with the power over life and death (Caesar or his soldiers) were ultimately Lord. If a Christian would give up faith in Christ, he and his family would be spared. If not, they would die. That kind of power is not something we experience in the USA, but it would be fearful. Peter tells them:
"Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy...." (1 Pet 3:14).
Peter reminds them that neither Caesar nor his soldiers run the universe. Christ is still Lord. Christ ultimately has power over life and death. Christ ultimately will raise us from the dead. Unless we're fully convinced of these facts, we're not ready to give an answer for our hope.
How about today? We don't have Roman soldiers coming at night. Yet, how will you and I respond if cancer comes? Loss of a job? Loss of a family member? Loss of health? Are we fully convinced that Christ is Lord over all?
When the soldiers came in the night for Christians, they undoubtedly asked, "Why are you willing to die for your Christ? Give him up and live!"
At that moment, they were "to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you" (1 Pet. 3:15). Who is Christ and why would you die for him? What are you placing your hope in?
Christians have hope beyond this life. A few weeks ago, our professor shared about his mother, who was nearing death. He was calling credit card companies to close accounts. He could always tell who was a Christian on the other end of the phone and who wasn't. Christians could offer words of hope in this trial. Others could not. One who tried to come up with something simply stopped mid-sentence: "I hope...ummm I hope...." There was simply nothing she could offer to someone whose mother was about to die. What a tragedy to go through life without Christ!
The next few posts, I'll go into detail on
- What is the faith that we defend?
- What is the method for doing this?
The sovereignty of God means that God works everything according to His purpose and plan. Nothing surprises God or is outside His control. Ephesians 1:11 describes God as one "who works all things according to the counsel of his will." If everything (with regard to man and creation) is not under God's ultimate control, that means chance is ultimately under control. R.C. Sproul remarked, “there is not a stray molecule in the universe". This means that all who have a relationship with God as our Father through His Son Jesus Christ can rejoice in all situations. God didn't spare His own Son, but gave Him up for all of us, so how will He not also graciously give us all things?
This is a great idea in theory, but it was put to the test this a few weeks ago when Teresa and I traveled to Harrisburg, PA to attend a weekend marriage conference. We were in a hurry to leave Friday afternoon after class. On our way out, Teresa had Beni's leash in one hand, was carrying a bag or two, and also had her keys in the other hand. She stopped by the mailbox to check our mail. We then packed our car, dropped off Beni at a friend's house, and started our 2-hr drive from Philly to Harrisburg. Everything good so far....then we get a phone call.
We missed the call, but it turned out to be the apartment management. The guy sounded somewhat frustrated. It turns out that Teresa had left all her keys on the mailbox, and someone in one of our other apartments had picked them up and called the apartment management. A part of me wanted to panic and start worrying about our mail, our apartment, etc...By God's grace, I didn't get angry at Teresa and I realized that it was an honest mistake that anyone could have made. We decided to trust God with the whole thing. We didn't think about it the whole weekend.
When we got back, the guy who picked up our keys met us in the parking lot. He was somewhat distressed as he wasn't sure what had happened to us. He thought we might have been attacked, robbed, or something. He thought we had gone out of town, but wasn't sure. All he knew was that our keys were left behind, the apartment was locked, nobody was answering (not even our dog). He came really close to calling the police to report the situation. But, he was glad to see us.
We were glad he picked up our keys. It was cool to know that he was watching out for us, kind of like a distressed parent waiting for a teen who hasn't come home yet. And by God's plan, I had met this neighbor earlier when he was trying to revive his car battery. I offered to give him a jump start if he ever needed it. And through this previous encounter, we got to meet and establish friendly relations.
As we were talking in the parking lot and reflecting on the first time we met, other neighbors stopped by and joined the conversation. When one neighbor saw that a crowd had gathered, she jokingly wondered if it was a block party!
A prayer and desire of ours has been to meet our neighbors, get to know them, and share Christ through our words and our lives. God answered this desire through Teresa leaving her keys dangling outside the mailbox! This is the kind of thing that could have led me to anger and frustration at Teresa. But, God did something wonderful with it.
God truly is sovereign and works all things for our good and ultimately His glory.
Teresa and I applied to 3 seminaries before deciding to attend Westminster (see earlier posts for which ones we considered). The applications themselves were pretty time-consuming given the fact that we were working at the time and serving as volunteer youth directors at Rock Chinese Church. Between work, church, ministry, family, and friends, we somehow squeezed in seminary apps also! The applications were straightforward:
- Provide info about personal and ministry history
- Write an essay about how we became followers of Christ and how that affects us today. Also discuss why we want to go to seminary and what we think God wants us to do afterwards
- Collect letters of recommendations. All schools required at least one from our pastor. One school had about 5 recommendation forms, including one from our spouse. One school only needed 2.
- Apply for financial aid. This turned out to be more work than we expected. In many cases, we had to repeat steps 1-3 above.
Teresa was a big help in this whole process- collecting and filling out forms for both of us!
We applied to 3 schools: Phoenix, Southern, and Westminster.
We chose Westminster for several reasons. They all ended up starting with the letter "S" for some reason....
1. SAME THEOLOGICAL OUTLOOK FOR ALL CLASSES
Westminster is based on the Westminster Confession (http://www.pcanet.org/general/cof_chapi-v.htm), which goes into considerable detail on Christian beliefs. There are some statements on the nature of God's word, God's power to choose who will be saved, etc... that are not accepted by all Christians. While any system of theology is man's attempt to understand what God's Word says, we agree with the vast majority of the confession and see its value in giving some consistency to theological training. We don't expect to enter a classroom to have one prof contradict what was said by another one.
One seminary we looked at had a very generic statement of faith, and this allows for a greater diversity of views. This has the benefit of giving students greater exposure to different ideas within evangelical Christianity. However, professors may take different positions on different points of doctrine. So, a student may go to one class hearing one thing and then go to another class and hear something completely different. Students are then left to pick and choose which doctrines they like or which ones they don't.
2. STRENGTH IN THE LANGUAGES
Westminster believes very strongly in training up "specialists in the Bible", so it requires 3 semesters of Greek and 3 semesters of Hebrew so that graduates will be equipped to read God's Word in its original languages. This means fewer classes in other areas, though. We felt that other subjects can be learned in-depth by reading good books (e.g. church history). It's not as easy to pick up a book on Biblical Hebrew and teach yourself.
3. SPOUSAL SCHOLARSHIP
Westminster has a 2-for-1 deal if you are married. The spousal tuition waiver means that spouses get to go for free! Teresa still had to apply and get accepted to her MDiv counseling program. But once she did, she is able to take as many classes that I'm taking.
As an added plus, Westminster is well known for training up counselors, and counseling is a field that Teresa wants to learn more about.
In summary, there are lots of great seminaries out there, and there's not a one-size-fits-all. Different seminaries are better suited for different kinds of ministries. This is the journey God led us through, and if any of you have more specific questions, do send us an email or post a question.
Going to seminary and specifically to Westminster has been a journey several years in the making. My earlier posts discussed how God led us to full-time seminary. This post will continue exploring how God led us specifically to Westminster in Philadelphia.
During our search process, we read through the websites of seminaries. But that would not be enough. Visiting would be critical in helping us decide. Choosing a seminary means choosing the instructors and mentors who will shape you, and visiting would help us know these instructors and mentors.
We did our best to pare down our original list of 20-30 seminaries to a small handful that we could actually visit. Since this was such a large list, we had the luxury of being extremely picky.
- We tried to identify seminaries that were passionate about Biblical truth and doctrine (especially in a culture that empowers individuals to define truth for themselves or rejects certain teachings of scripture)
- We tried to identify seminaries that take the gospel of Jesus Christ very seriously (as the gospel is a life-and-death matter with eternal consequences)
- We tried to identify seminaries that combined head-knowledge and heart-knowledge (God's truth is not cold and dead; rather, it should lead us to deeper and greater adoration of God Himself).
Many schools would have these characteristics! This is the list we ended up with:
- Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (SEBTS) - Wake Forest, NC - One of the first things that caught our eye was a conference that SEBTS was going to host with C.J. Mahaney (author of Cross-Centered Life) on the gospel. SEBTS calls themselves a "Great Commission Seminary", a name that is backed up with actual numbers. Something like 40% of their graduates go into the mission field, which seems higher than other seminaries.
- Westminster Theological Seminary (WTS) - Philadelphia, PA - It was founded less than 100 years ago during a time of seismic shifts in American seminaries. Many seminaries in America started rejecting God's Word (the Bible) as the foundation for Christian faith. Slowly and subtly, the Bible was molded to be more acceptable to modern culture. For example, people liked the idea of the Bible as a moral "how-to" book and the notion of Jesus as a teacher with great things to say, but they didn't view the Bible as a book with spiritual truth about the evilness of mankind and the need for a savior. During this spiritual earthquake, several professors from Princeton Theological Seminary left and founded Westminster.
- Phoenix Seminary - Phoenix, AZ - Wayne Grudem teaches at Phoenix, and one of his theology books helped ignite a hunger in me for learning and teaching theology. Phoenix's motto is "Scholarship with a Sheperherd's Heart", and we were impressed with their strong emphasis on heart transformation during seminary. What you learn should flow from your head, into your heart, and into your hands (as service to God and man). This "head, heart, hands" imagery still sticks with me today.
- Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS)- Dallas, TX - We found the academic rigor to be one of their strengths - their degree for pastors is a 4 year (not 3 year) program, and they teach every book of the Bible. We also know a lot of pastors who have come from DTS.
- Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS) - Louisville, KY - This was a late visit (we had already submitted our application to WTS). SBTS is a large seminary (4x larger than WTS) and is blessed with lots of resources and great professors. We enjoyed the solid and scriptural teaching from the classes we visited. The professors at Southern seemed more down-to-earth and engaging than the professors at Westminster (Westminster has Presbyterian roots, and we were able to see where the "stuffy Presbyterian" stereotype comes from).
Teresa and I applied to 3 of these schools. Next time I'll share which ones we applied to and how we ended up at Westminster.
"Why Westminster?" is probably the second most frequently asked question that I get (the first one being "Why Seminary?"). With so many great seminaries out there, it was a tough decision. If there was only one seminary that taught Biblical truth and nurtured spiritual growth, the decision would be a no-brainer. But, with so many to choose from, the initial array was quite overwhelming.
We have found that choosing a seminary much more difficult than choosing a college. For instance, engineering programs at well-known 4-year universities are all very similar. A recognized EE program would teach you the fundamentals of how to solve electrical engineering problems no matter where the program is located. Of course there are differences (i.e. how prestigious the school is, private vs. public, size of student body). But, any good school would teach you how circuits, systems, and computers work, and some of the physical laws that govern them.
However, seminaries are quite different and have different views on spiritual truth. I once heard a preacher mention "bad theology that closed every church in Europe" or something along those lines. Ouch! Our pastor reminded us that choosing a seminary means choosing the professors and theology that will shape and mold you. Of course we as Christians should never let the teachings of man overrule the teachings of God. All the seminaries we would consider would all claim to submit to God's Word. Yet, all the seminaries we checked out had differences, and some of them quite large.
Teresa and I started with a list of 20-30 seminaries that we listed in a spreadsheet (sounds a bit nerdy, but we're both engineers....). If we had unlimited time and money, I supposed we could've visited all 30. But, being mere humans, we had to prioritize our list. We scoured the mission/beliefs/doctrine pages of seminaries. We learned quite a bit about what each school and its professors were passionate about.
- Some schools seemed passionate about the importance of scripture as the final authority for our faith
- Some schools seemed passionate about the gospel or the Great Commission
- Some schools seemed passionate about trying to be more culturally relevant (adopting the message of the Bible to make it more acceptable to today's culture).
- Some schools seemed passionate about spiritual and character growth (not just intellectual growth)
- Many schools seemed similar to one another (e.g. there are 6-7 seminaries in the Southern Baptist Denomination)
In my next post, I'll discuss the 5 seminaries we decided to visit and what drew us to each one.
In other news....Teresa and I have now finished summer Greek, and we're relieved to have a little break from class before the fall semester starts up in about 2 weeks. We're hoping to catch up on rest, settle in a bit more, and hang out with each other. There is a Renoir exhibit that we want to see before it ends. The student rate is a lot cheaper, so we plan to go after we get our student IDs =)
