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.

One of the things that this article does is acknowledge the difficulty in defining social justice.  Ironically, the author condemns social justice as if he does know what it is.  I did a search for definitions and of course there is a wide range.  I found this one fairly helpful: “The fair and proper administration of laws conforming to the natural law that all persons, irrespective of ethnic origin, gender, possessions, race, religion, etc., are to be treated equally and without prejudice.”  Whatever the precise definition, what is common is that has to do with society and not just the individual and that its aim is to narrow the gap between the rich and the poor.

Having talked with a number of people in addition to having read this article, it is clear that a number of evangelicals see social justice as completely incompatible with Christianity.  One person on Facebook described social justice as “demonic.”

I had hoped that the church had moved beyond this.  Last century there was a split in the church where conservatives focused on an evangelistic gospel and liberals on a social gospel.  There was much suspicion between the two camps, and the expectation was that there would be no overlap.  What I have seen in recent years is an increasing embrace of a whole Gospel that includes both personal salvation and social justice aspects.  Apparently, this trend is not welcomed by everyone.

Although I understand there is a culture war going on, I personally am more concerned with what the Bible says than defending conservatism or liberalism.  Does the Bible give any indication that God is interested in social justice?  One of the clearest examples is:  “And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, nor shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the LORD your God.” (Leviticus 23:22 ESV)  I was told that this doesn’t count any more as this is the Old Testament.  I have no idea how often I have heard evangelicals quote the OT in attacks on homosexuality and yet the passages on caring for the poor no longer count?  Another important passage is Isaiah 1.  In this chapter, God indicates he hates the worship of Israel, even though they are doing what God commanded for worship.  Why?  “When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.” (Isaiah 1:15–17 ESV)  This passage should cause us to pause in our attitudes toward the poor.  Of course this is from the OT as well, and perhaps is easily dismissed.  By the way, I would suggest that whatever transition from OT to NT in terms of commands, these passages tell us something about God’s heart and what he values.

What about the New Testament?  Jesus has some strong words about how we treat the poor:

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matthew 25:31–46 ESV)

One of the passages that came up in the article responding to Keller was this:

“So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?” (James 2:17–20 ESV)

One of the themes that is extremely strong in James is the relationship between the rich and the poor.

“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. My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet.” (James 1:27–2:3 ESV)

“Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.” (James 5:1–5 ESV)

It would be very reasonable to conclude that the kind of work James expects to accompany faith includes care for the poor.  I am not saying that salvation requires so many hours of social justice activity. But both James and Jesus seem, to see care for the poor as more than some voluntary activity to participate in if we so choose.

Now some may respond by acknowledging that care for the poor is important for Christianity but still disagree with social justice.  The problem with social justice is that it includes people trying to bring structural change, including government reform and programs.  That is something that evangelicals should not be involved in.  Really?  What is up with all that pro-life activity?  The pro-life movement is social justice.  We are saying unborn children have the right to life to an equal degree as other humans and we are willing to lobby in order to bring about legal protection for the unborn.  What about all that work to try and protect the traditional form of marriage?  When we look at the things that Jesus stressed, do we really believe that homosexuality deserves legal action but that poverty is not important enough to get involved in?

As an apologist, I often hear atheists claim that religion only brings harm to society.  I am thankful that there have been people like John and Charles Wesley who were involved in social justice.  I am thankful for the work of Wilberforce to end the slave trade.  I am thankful for Martin Luther King Jr. and other Christians who fought for civil rights.

Can social justice be abused?  Sure, so can religion.  But the basic concept of Christians working to improve the lives of the poor and marginalized is very much in line with Old and New Testament ethics.  It may feel too “liberal” but the real question we have to ask is: What does God want?