POSTMODERN APOLOGETICS

As a young man, my faith was strengthened most by the book, EVIDENCE THAT DEMANDS A VERDICT, a very compelling and convincing presentation of strong evidence especially of the veracity of Scripture and the resurrection. I saw the amazing transmission, internal consistency and preservation of the Bible. And I saw that no theory could explain away the resurrection of Jesus. The resurrection, then, became the central tenant of my faith.

Apologetics is the defense of faith. That study in apologetics as a college student allowed me to defend my faith and to evangelize with confidence. I'm not sure that I was used to win anyone's soul through those arguments, but I'm sure that at the very least, others were encouraged as I was to have a more confident faith.

Something has happened over the years, however. People don't read "scientific truth" like they used to. There have been too many statistics manipulated.

As an example that spurs this thought: A few months ago, I heard John Kerry use many memorized statistics in the debates to talk about how many jobs had been lost under the Bush administration. Then, just a couple of days ago I heard in the news that there were over 2 million new jobs created in 2004, which was a 5-year high in jobs created. When I hear conflicting stats like that, I tend to disbelieve everything I hear. I listen to the stat, thinking, "What is the angle that they are trying to justify, and how strongly are they willing to bend the truth in order to make the impression they want?" So I don't believe anything a politician tells me, because I know that he is only saying something for his own promotion.

Postmoderns take this kind of approach to everything. Evidence is not evident to a postmodern.

So, what's left? Here it is: The Story.

Story is a powerful thing. It becomes something we choose to believe because we want to believe it, and we believe that it is something worth believing in, even if we cannot scientifically prove it.

Really, the faith has always been like that. I can't, and never could, prove the virgin birth, the trustworthiness of inspiration, walking on water, healing the sick, raising the dead, feeding thousands, or a resurrection. But when it all came down to it, I chose to believe the story.

The story is that God created all that there is, including me; that He exists and loves, and that He chose to become a man in order to redeem me. He knew for many generations that He would carry out this plan, but He kept it somewhat mysterious until we were ready for the action. Jesus was God, lived a perfect life, taught and modeled holiness, and at the same time knew that we would never reach that standard. So He fulfilled the Great Plan and died a substitutionary death, innocent and yet bearing my sin. There, my guilt was atoned for.

But that was not the end of the story. After three days, Jesus was brought back to life in the single greatest and significant miracle in the history of mankind. That did more than cover guilt in this life; it gave a promise that there is such a thing as life after death. Now I know that if I join Jesus by faith in his death on the cross, I will also be allowed to join Him in His resurrection to life again. I will join with Him for eternity in God's very presence.

That is a great story, and it is worth believing, even if you haven't been convinced by the evidence yet.
-ker