Welcome to the monthly Midwest Apologetics newsletter. Each issue is designed to keep you informed on the latest news concerning the ministry and provide timely articles to help strengthen your faith. Be sure to check out our website for articles, book reviews, and answers to some of the tough questions concerning the Christian faith.

Bible Difficulties – Part Five

This will be our final article on Bible difficulties. In our four previous newsletters we defined what a Bible difficulty is and gave four reasons as to why God may have allowed them to be in His Word. We have also examined several reasons why the critics mistakenly charge the Bible with error and we looked at the first four of eight principles on how to successfully deal with Bible difficulties. Let’s turn our attention to our final four principles in successfully dealing with difficulties.

The fifth principle in dealing with Bible difficulties is to take an offensive approach. Once in a while, instead of trying to answer the objections, try to disprove your own beliefs. You will discover that the central truths of Christianity, such as the Resurrection, rest on “many infallible proofs” (Acts 1: 3).

Also, go on the offensive but remember that our job is to tear down ideas, not people (2 Cor. 10:4-5). Have the critic try to defend his/her assertions. To do this, learn to ask some intelligent questions. For example, if you are dealing with an agnostic, ask how it is that he can know enough about reality to say that you cannot be certain about anything. Or if dealing with the person who says that everything is relative, ask “Is the statement, ‘Everything is relative’ absolute or relative?” You see, if the statement is absolute, then it is false. If the statement is relative, then you do not need to pay any attention to it. Every philosophical belief system (outside of Christian theism) is internally self-contradictory.

The sixth principle is to remember that the difficulties we face are minimal when compared to the evidence supporting the Christian faith. Fulfilled biblical prophecy provides outstanding evidence for the accuracy, authenticity, and supernatural character of God’s Word. Moreover, remember Aristotle’s dictum, which essentially says that a book is innocent until proven guilty. The critic seems to follow this with every book except the Bible. There is no reason to doubt the truth of Scripture unless a real contradiction can be shown.

Seventh, remember that difficulties rapidly disappear through careful and prayerful study. Spend time digging into God’s Word and pray that He will guide your study.

Finally, you have to learn to think biblically. We have allowed the world to infect our thinking to such a degree that we fail to base our thinking on God’s Word. This is often the cause of so many of the alleged difficulties. If you can start your thinking on God’s Word, then most of these difficulties will go away.

Remember, that the Bible is the Word of the One who cannot lie. As such, you have access to absolute truth and can rest assured that whatever Scripture affirms is true. This should give you great confidence to quiet the doubts in your own mind and effectively reach out to those who desperately need to hear the Gospel.

Creation Museum Trip

We are hoping to host a trip to the Creation Museum next month. We are tentatively planning to depart from Galena, IL on the morning of July 20 and returning late on Saturday evening. This would give us about five hours to tour the museum and watch the planetarium presentation.

We have received some requests to join us on the trip. If you would be interested in going, please email us as soon as possible to get on the list. The cost will be around $80/person, which will include museum admission, van rental, gas, and a one night hotel stay. If we are able to secure a van to rent and there is enough interest then this trip should become a reality. Don’t miss out on your chance to visit one of the most unique and God-honoring places in the world.

Technical Difficulties

Last month, shortly after sending out the newsletter, we experienced some technical difficulties with the website. It was down for nearly a week and any emails that were sent during that time were not received. The site is back up and running and we are working to update several of the pages.

Upcoming Events

Things are starting to pick up again. Tim has received several invitations to speak over the past month. Please visit our “Events” page for more details. He will be speaking at the following places:

July 15 – Gratiot Evangelical Free Church / Gratiot, WI (Leukemia and the Lord)

August 12 – Pleasant View Methodist Church / Belmont, WI (to be determined)

November 16-17 – Living Waters Bible Camp / Westby, WI (two talks at Creation Apologetics conference.

Miscellaneous

As always, if you have any questions, comment, concerns, corrections, ideas, prayer requests, etc., please email us and let us know. Also, thank you for your prayers. Please continue to keep us in your prayers throughout this month.

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