“Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. 

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. 

If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” (James 1:19–27 ESV)

Having been involved in apologetics for some time, I understand the temptations that go with it.  One of the biggest is to skip the listening part and dive right into the speaking part, often with plenty of anger.  Sometimes we have a message or an argument that we just can’t wait to let loose with.  We are not interested in what the other person has to say, what they believe, what their struggles are or the reasons for their skepticism.  We want to unload a powerful argument that will demolish all their false beliefs.  When they do not respond the way we want or if they are critical of our beliefs, we want to retaliate with anger.  James tells us to pull back, shut up and listen.  When it is time for us to speak, we must ask ourselves what the impact of our words will be and if it is just us venting our anger.

Another temptation is to learn and learn and learn but never put things into practice.  While James is talking here about general Christian teaching, especially in how we treat the poor and other acts of justice, it is also applicable to apologetics.  Hear the word of God and the truth of the Gospel, but then go and put it into practice.  Don’t just be an apologetics junkie, be an apologetic Christian interacting with real people (and not just on the Internet).

Many apologists think of Christianity almost primarily as being about correct doctrine.  Of course we cannot let theology slide or open ourselves to the doctrine of the day.  But James sees religion as more than just doctrine.  James sees true religion as being about care for the poor and the marginalized.  Have you ever considered living apologetically, not just by debating theology or philosophy, but by rolling up your sleeve and helping the needy?

If you are active in apologetics, I would encourage you to read this passage again and reflect on how the teaching of James can transform your apologetics ministry.

I would like to do something quite different in this episode.  Today I would like to talk to you about autism.  Autism?  I thought this podcast was about apologetics, not autism.  Well, part of my vision for Hope’s Reason Ministries, in addition to apologetics, is to provide a forum for advocating for special needs children.  Still, why should you as a person interested in apologetics listen to what I have to say about autism?  Imagine if a parent comes to your church and they are really struggling with their autistic child.  How will you respond?  Will you sit down with them and go over the ontological argument for God’s existence or the intricacies of the Trinity?  Will you even try to explain issues related to the logical problem of evil?  If not, do you have anything for them?  I would say that autism and other disabilities are a part of the problem of suffering and therefore connected to apologetics.  But instead of just requiring a rational response, it requires a compassionate response.

I happen to be an expert in autism as I have an earned D.A.D. in fatherhood studies.  In other words, I am a dad to two severely autistic children and have learned much in the process.  What is autism?  According to the Autism Society of Canada: “Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), also referred to as autism, is a neurological disorder which causes developmental disability. Autism affects the way the brain functions, resulting in difficulties with communication and social interaction, and unusual patterns of behaviour, activities and interests.” How prevalent is autism?  According to the Autism Society of Canada it is 1 out of every 165 births and the Autism Society of America, it is 1 out of every 110 births.  Look at those numbers, look at how many people are in your church and see if the numbers match up with how many autistic people are in your congregation.  You may not have any.  My question is: why?  The fact is that it is difficult to bring autistic children to church.  Autistic children do weird things and make loud noises.  Sort of like typical children, only better, and unfortunately more annoying to people who are not informed.  You see, often there is no physical sign that an autistic child has anything wrong and when they act out, other adults glare at the parents for not keeping them under control.  So for most parents, it is easier to just stay home from church.  However, with the difficulties of raising a child with autism, a church community is exactly what a family needs.

How can the church support a family dealing with autism?  Ideally, a church would be set up with the facilities and the volunteers to allow an autistic child to be integrated into the regular children’s programs at a church.  Sometimes that can happen, but as a pastor of two small churches, I know that is often a challenge.  That does not mean you cut the family loose and let them deal with things on their own.  Perhaps there is a person in the church who can do respite on a Sunday morning or you could connect them with a university student or some other person to look after the child.  Not just for Sunday mornings but for the parents to go get groceries or go on a date.  This is a tremendous need.  But you might respond by saying that you and the people you know do not have any special training to look after and autistic child.  Most of the people we have had did not have special training, we gave some tips and our children did the rest of the training.  It really is not that hard.  Just do not go into it with high anxiety or the need to initiate the relationship.  Let the child feel comfortable, respect their boundaries, be observant of their emotions and be prepared to be blessed by wonderful children.  What else can you do?  Even if you are not prepared to work with children, there are other needs.  There is the relationship between the parents.  Autism is a tremendous strain on a marriage and there is not always much emotional energy left over for each other.  One thing I noticed in the Gospels is that most of the time when a parent brought a suffering child to Jesus it was only one parent and not both.  The significance?  Not sure but it is hard to stay together with such challenges.  Help arrange for childcare and invite the parents over for a couples night.  Do not assume that parents of autistic children have no desire to get together with others.  Autism can be very isolating and these adult social times are very important.  Also, try to provide the opportunity for the parents to go on a date.  This is very much appreciated.  Another need is the non-autistic siblings.  It is not easy to be a brother or sister to an autistic child.  They lose the parents attention, they get their toys broken and there are added responsibilities.  Reach out to these children, take them to a movie or a hockey game.  Love them and enrich their childhood.

A couple of last thoughts.  If you see a parent struggling with a child having a meltdown and other siblings looking confused, offer to help.  It may or may not be autism, but offer any way.  If they don’t want your help, they will tell you.  But they may need your help, even to watch the siblings as the parents work on the child having the meltdown.  We have been there many times, most of the time people just glare or smirk at us.  A little help please?  Also, do not judge.  It is easy for people to make judgments when they have not been in that role.  You do not know what it is like.  You might think you know better, but just keep quiet unless your advice is sought.  Also, sometimes parents have to make hard decisions.  We had to send our daughter to a group home.  We have been judged on this, even by other people dealing with autism.  You do not know what we went through, nor do you understand the better relationship we have with our daughter.  We didn’t abandon our daughter, we saved our family, including both our autistic children.

In conclusion, if your church encounters a family dealing with autism, be prepared with a good solid apologetic, an apologetic of compassion.  Demonstrate that Christianity is true, that it works and that the body of Christ has an important place for families dealing with autism.

You can find the audio of this post here.

First, I do not accept Islam as a true way for salvation.  I do not believe Muhammad was a prophet, nor do I believe that the Qur’an is revelation.  I believe Muslims are wrong.  Jesus is the Son of God and he did die on a cross.  I believe that Jesus is the only way for eternal life.  I do not support “Chrislam” as the blending of Christianity and Islam (although it bothers me when people use this label to any Christian who is nice to Muslims).  I also have some concerns about the actions of some Muslims.  It is frightening what can happen in some countries to Muslims who convert to Christianity.  It bothers me about the lack of scholarly study by Muslims of their own religion and unwillingness to examine things in a critical way.  Of course there are extremists who rely on terrorism and those who would impose Sharia law on all people.  This must be rejected.

At the same time, we really need some perspective.  Many people who are most afraid of Muslims probably have not had a real conversation with a Muslim outside of an anonymous Internet debate.  Most Muslims are no different than most Christians, they are trying to live their life and to integrate their religion into the rest of their life.  Do Muslims want the who world to convert?  Sure.  So do Christians.  Are most Muslims willing to use force to make those conversions?  Not likely.  Even though there are some that do, we must remember that there have been times that the church has used forced conversions on Muslims.  In fact most of what Christians dislike about Muslims are things that the church has done in its past.

I have heard Christians concerned about Sharia law coming to the west.  Of course we should guard against that.  But at the same time, atheists are much more active in trying to change our laws and restrict our religious freedoms.  In fact we may find that Muslims are likely to support our fight for religious freedoms as we share many values.

So when you see a Muslim in your community, don’t look at them as a potential terrorist or persecutor of Christians.  Look at them as someone that God has brought out of a closed country so that we can enter into relationship with them, love them and share Jesus with them.

I want you to use your imagination.  Imagine one day that the presidents whose faces are on Mount Rushmore began talking.  I do not mean some rain that looked like tears or a shadow that looked like a smile.  I mean that the stone mouths on the rock face were visibly moving and that their words were audible to all present.  Hundreds and hundreds of people were present to hear the words.  What the presidents said was that it was God’s will that the United States should become the eleventh province of Canada.  To back this up, they predicted a major natural disaster that took place on exactly the day predicted.  The current president of the United States and other national leaders talked to the stone presidents and were convinced that they were indeed speaking for God.  Details were worked out and the United States became a part of Canada.

Now of course, this could be described only as a supernatural event.  But what would the history books be saying about this event ten years later?  Would they simply note that the United States joined Canada but remain completely silent on the circumstances that led up to it?  Unlikely.  With such a dramatic and well attested event, supernatural or not, the details would be recorded as history.

If that is the case, so should the resurrection of Jesus be included in historical inquiry.  People are free to disagree with the Christian interpretation.  There are differences in interpretation among historians all the time.  The point is that the resurrection of Jesus deserves a place at the historical table and should not be banished to only a matter of personal faith.

One of the passages used to express the divine nature of Jesus in the synoptic Gospels is that of the forgiveness of sins that he expresses.  As the scribes note, only God can forgive sins.  One of the responses to this is to say that it is not Jesus who actually does the forgiving.  Jesus is simple stating what God is doing, similar to what a high priest would do for a person after a sacrifice.  Is that what is being said here?  In the case of a high priest, they are stating what they know to be God’s act in response to a prescribed ritual designed to deal with sin.  What happens in this passage?  The man whose sins are forgiven actually does nothing.  There is no act on the part of the man that would result in a heavenly forgiveness that Jesus happened to recognize.  The plain reading of the text is that the forgiveness is based on the decision of Jesus, just as the healing is.  It is Jesus who forgives the sins.  The scribes correctly acknowledge that this is the role of God alone, unwittingly witnessing to the deity of Jesus.