The New Year is upon us and with it comes the inevitable New Year’s resolution. I actually look forward to this inevitability. While I’m sure many consider making these resolutions to be cliche or overly optimistic, I personally find it healthy, necessary, and even enjoyable. More on making resolutions for 2018 later.

One of my resolutions for 2017 and for 2018 has been and will be to read more books. I read pretty slow and have always been of the mindset that I’ll just watch the movie instead when it comes to books. Trouble is, not many movies hit the theaters that are concerned with how one can be a better youth minister, Christ follower, man of God, and husband. (If you know of any, let me know!) Now that I think of it, Chris Pratt portraying a youth minister who has to teach his youth to protect themselves from Satan, Thanos, or dinosaurs could be pretty cool…

 

Something I’ve always been interested in since my days of being a teenager in a youth group is apologetics. “Apologetics” is just a word describing the reasoning through arguments and writings for a belief. I was interested in apologetics specifically about Christianity. The spiritual and emotional reasons for my faith in Christianity came pretty easily for me, even in my Christian infancy. But I tended to neglect the intellectual reasoning for Christianity as I grew into my faith. Why? Probably because I was fearful somewhere deep down that Christianity couldn’t hold up to the definitive, cold, hard facts of science. I also wasn’t even sure if my faith made complete sense on a philosophical level. My confidence for my faith to hold up against questions of science and philosophy has since grown thanks to my professors at Oklahoma Christian University and the few books I’ve visited on the subject. However, my curiosity to keep exploring these intellectual faith questions lingered and I wanted to keep exploring the arguments brought against Christianity as well as those for it.

Then I found “Unbelievable?”. A podcast put on by Premier Christian Radio in the UK hosted by Justin Brierley. I shouldn’t say I found it. My father and eldest brother had both been listening to it before me and encouraged me to give it a try. I’m not normally a podcast guy. My commute to work isn’t very long and I figured if there was a podcast really worth listening to they’d probably just make a movie out of it. Eventually I gave in on a day that I was travelling into Fort Worth and gave Justin’s show a listen. Let me briefly give you an idea of what the format of “Unbelievable?” is like.

Justin typically invites two individuals on his show who are both scholars, authors, and/or reputable professionals in their fields to argue opposing positions on topics of faith. Sometimes the topic will concern a theological issue the two individuals disagree on. However, the show is more known for its debates between believers and atheists. Their website describes it this way, “Unbelievable? engages in fundamental questions on Christianity with the intention to openly discuss different opinions between Christians and non-believers.” – www.premierchristianradio.com/Shows/Saturday/Unbelievable

Certainly, this wasn’t a new idea. But what Unbelievable? brings to the table is a refreshing conversational dynamic that usually has a friendly tone of mutual respect (but certainly not always!). It’s this dynamic that drew me to this program. At times I lose myself to the idea that because I believe, conversations with nonbelievers is destined to be full of conflict and name-calling; unfruitful to even initiate. Unbelievable? has shown me that friendly conversations between believers and nonbelievers is possible and really should happen more!

Justin does a fantastic job as a, for the most part, neutral moderator for these conversations. He enforces fairness in giving equal time to all sides and always encourages his guests to be respectful to each other. More than this, he often takes up the cause of the listener in that he will summarize his understanding of what has been said and ask questions or ask the guests to unpack anything that might be uncommon knowledge.  The conversational dynamic, mutual respect, and impressive quality/caliber of his guests makes this apologetics debate program stand out (especially in comparison to the frustrating YouTube clips I sometimes catch of people angrily debating in an attempt to “own” the opposition). Justin’s podcast has been a delightful source for exercising my grey matter on the questions I have about my faith as it relates to science and philosophy in the face of atheistic arguments.

The reason for today’s post (I know, 5 years later) is that I recently read Justin Brierley’s book, aptly titled, “Unbelievable?”. This book comes at Justin’s 10 year mark of hosting Unbelievable? and it is great! Why is it great? Because I said so! No, but really, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Justin takes his 10 year experience of hearing some of the most educated, intelligent, and respected atheists and theists hash out the existence of God and faith itself. Not many people have that kind of resume (CV) and even fewer have written on that experience in such accessible fashion.

Justin starts his first chapter by addressing exactly what his experience entails as host of this apologetics debate program and what Unbelievable? is. Furthermore, he addresses the need we have as Christians to create better conversations with nonbelievers beginning the chapter with a perfectly suited quote from Joseph Joubert, “It is better to debate a question without settling it than to settle a question without debating it.”

While I certainly agree that more conversations need to happen between believers and nonbelievers, it is the remainder of this book that has intrigued me and benefited me the most. Justin methodically and deftly lays out the main questions posited by atheists about theism and gives his personal response to each one informed by his 10 years of conversing with and reading the works of some of the smartest believers living today.

• Does God make sense of human existence?
• Does God make sense of human value?
• Does God make sense of human purpose?
• Was Jesus an actual historical person?
• Did the Resurrection actually occur?
• How can an all powerful God be all good in the midst of suffering?

*He also recounts a short conversation he has with former atheist Jesus, Richard Dawkins. In that section he also gives a brief history of where atheism is today given the New Atheism, or “Atheism 2.0”, movement.*

(Just a Joke! 🙂

Hearing these familiar arguments fleshed out from his unique perspective and following his conclusions on how God does make sense in all of these questions was educational and reassuring. Nothing has fundamentally changed about my belief in God. Faith remains a sightless assurance; something I can’t definitively prove to the nonbeliever but that still makes sense. But the questions about my faith I’ve tried in the past in vain to quell on my own are now helpful instead of harmful. Questions about faith, even the unanswered ones, are not scary. They are liberating. They create space for conversation between believers and nonbelievers. Studying these questions have even taught me some of the unhealthy arguments Christians sometimes utilize to point to God, such as the “God of the gaps” argument.

If you have found yourself, like me, sometimes in an aura of doubt and fear concerning the questions you’ve tried hard to ignore that seemingly oppose your faith, then I encourage you to address those questions head on. Search the scriptures, read a book, listen to a podcast, talk to a nonbeliever, even bring those questions to God in prayer. Yes, you need to be weary of the validity and academic integrity of some sources. Yes, some of the questions you have may not be completely satisfied. But remember… “It is better to debate a question without settling it than to settle a question without debating it.” Decide to grow your faith by asking questions instead of stunting it with ignorance and fear.

In conclusion, I HIGHLY recommend the Unbelievable? podcast as well as the book.

Have you read other books or heard other podcasts that also address questions of God ad faith? I’d love to hear about them! Comment or post below to share sources that have helped you with questions you’ve had about your own faith.

“But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,” – 1 Peter 3:15