Best of 2020: Greg Laurie & Don Stewart on the Hard Questions Nonbelievers Ask: Part 2

The following message from Pastor Greg Laurie is made possible by some special friends of this ministry. Pastor Greg? I wanted to say a special word of thanks to the Harvest Partners who make this ministry possible. Next time you're online, check out Pastor Greg's personal blog at blog.GregLaurie.com.

Coming up today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie invites Bible scholar Don Stewart to address some of the difficult questions non-believers often ask. Should we still quote the Bible if people say they don't believe the Bible? Well, yeah, the power is in the Word of God there. You really should, because there's something about the words of Scripture penetrating deep in the heart, doesn't it? It just gets you. And so that's why we want people to read the Bible, to hear the Bible, and that's why we ought to memorize the Bible and be able to quote it when we can.

Exactly right. This is the day when the lost are found. This is the day for a new beginning. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound. Oh, can you hear when the angels are singing?

This is the day, the day when life begins. We're ambassadors for Christ. We're the field representatives for our faith, and we feel a bit of responsibility.

And the what-ifs go through our mind. What if I can't explain what I believe? Will people wonder if I really believe it? What if they run circles around me with what they learned in some philosophy class? Maybe you need your own class to get prepared. Well, class is in session today on a new beginning. Pastor Greg Laurie speaks with author and Christian apologist Don Stewart.

This is the day, the day when life begins. Don, have you ever been asked, how can you say that the Bible is the Word of God? The Bible is full of contradictions. What do you usually say?

Would you mind naming one? Well, generally, now you might find an exception, but generally they can't. Usually they can't. It's a defense mechanism like go away, the Bible is full of contradictions. And they don't know contradictions or what the contradictions are or allegedly are because they really are not contradictions in Scripture. So maybe just address the issue of the so-called contradictions of the Bible. Maybe you could identify one and tell us what an answer would be to it.

Okay. A lot of people will say the Bible is full of contradictions. You say, okay, name one. And they usually name those that they've heard. I heard one rabbi once and this person was teaching at one of the local colleges here.

Now, we won't mention what it is because some people might go to Cal State Fullerton around here. But anyway, he was talking about Jonah. He was making fun of the book of Jonah because how in the world could this whale take Jonah to Nineveh because Nineveh is an inland city.

That's a contradiction. Nineveh is inland. How could the whale take Jonah to Nineveh? And one of the students told me, well, he talked to the teacher afterwards. He said, first of all, two things, rabbi. It didn't say whale. It says large fish. You've got to know that if you know Hebrew, large sea creature.

But two, the large sea creature vomited up Jonah on dry land and Jonah walked to Nineveh. He didn't take him all the way there. Again, Jesus pointed out, Greg, the source of all error that every person makes. They don't know the Scriptures and they don't know the power of God.

You can chalk it up to one of two. Jesus said to the religious leaders when they asked him this question, you do greatly error not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God. And so when they bring up, you know, so-called kind of like word cane, get his wife, you know, there's just Cain and Abel. And then all of a sudden these people there, you say Cain and Abel weren't the only people living at that time. We're in Genesis five, two. It says Adam and Eve had many sons and daughters. And Seth in the end of Chapter four was born as replacement for Abel, who was murdered when when Adam and Eve were one hundred and thirty years of age. Well, how many people could have been born at the time they were created?

A hundred and thirty. So it's questions like that that they do have answers. And people, again, have answered these questions thousands and thousands of times throughout history over and over again, just finding out where they are. So we can trust the Bible because the Bible is the book that dares to predict the future with accuracy. Yeah, exactly.

No other book is like it. It tells things that are going to happen ahead of time. So we know that God exists. We know he's in control and we know that he knows the future.

It's interesting how these are the claims that he makes. He says, I am God. There is none like me declaring the end from the beginning.

Things that haven't happened yet. Isaiah forty six, nine and ten, Isaiah forty eight, three to five. Same thing in the whole passage in Isaiah. God, the God of Scripture is saying, look, you want to know why I exist? I'll tell you what's going to happen before it occurs so you can know not only I exist, but I'm in control of all things. That's the claim of the God of the Bible and his claims are true.

So here's an interesting one. My dad is a non-believer and has used reasons not to believe such as, quote, it's control through fear, end quote, end quote. People who are Christians are hypocrites because they sin too, end quote. And he has more faith than what he can see with science. What do I say to that? OK. Well, yeah, Christians are imperfect.

No one denies that. But Christians aren't the issue. Jesus Christ is the issue.

What's wrong with him? So we always turn it over, turn the person to Jesus. What was wrong with Jesus? He made certain claims about himself and he backed up his claims by three things. Miracles, fulfilled prophecy and his resurrection from the dead. Jesus said, if you don't believe my words, believe my very works. Look at the signs that I've done. And interesting, no one, no one ever denied he did miracles.

It's interesting. In the first 500 years of the Christian church, there's not one account that's come down to us that has denying Jesus doing miracles. All they have is a miracle worker. You read the New Testament. They never ask him, did he do miracles? They ask him, well, how did you do it?

By what power? Not that you did, because they knew he did do miracles. Only when we got, you know, humanity got so smart about, you know, the 17th, 18th, 19th centuries and miracles are impossible. People living in Jesus' day didn't have that luxury.

True. Should we still quote the Bible if people say they don't believe the Bible? Well, yeah, the power is in the Word of God there. You really should, because there's something about the words of Scripture penetrating deep in the heart, doesn't it?

It just gets you. And so that's why we want people to read the Bible, to hear the Bible, and that's why we ought to memorize the Bible and be able to quote it when we can. Yeah, because God says, my word will not return void.

It will prosper in the place where I send it. And it's alive and powerful. And, you know, I think sometimes it's the way Christians quote the Bible. For instance, I think they feel that they have to quote it very loudly. You know, well, the Bible says, the way that— Why are you yelling?

What do you mean? You don't have to yell. In fact, you can quote the Bible conversationally.

In a conversation, you could just say, well, you know what? Actually, the Bible tells us this and that. But it's funny to me how people fear the Bible. They just see someone holding up a black book and it freaks them out because of the power of the Word of God. People know it.

Exactly. What about the person, this is often asked, who has never heard the gospel as they stated it earlier. They're in the middle of a jungle, the middle of a desert, wherever.

But they've never heard it. How could a God of love send them to hell? And to me, what I love about that question is, oh, so you think there's a hell? Well, no, I'm not saying that. What we were saying, how could a God of blood send—you believe in the existence of hell?

But let's just deal with that basic question. What about the person who's never heard the gospel? Will they go to hell?

Will they be held accountable? Okay. First thing you do is you take a step back and say, however we answer this question, this is not a question of the authority of Jesus or the Word of God. He settled that on the cross, coming back from the dead, and that he proved he was the one whom he claimed to be. Now, how he deals with these people is another question. And so by saying, well, I wonder how he's going to deal with them, that doesn't take away his authority.

This is not a question of authority. It's one of interpretation, number one. Number two, Jesus himself said, if anybody wants to know the doctrine, whether I speak of God or speak for myself, they will know. It's a promise of God, John 717. And Revelation 5, 9 tells us, in heaven, the song of the redeemed, who's there?

People from every tribe, every tongue on the face of the earth. God will get his word to them if they want to know. When I was in Bible college, Greg, we had missionaries come and tell us stories about how the gospel got to these tribes that were, again, out in the jungle and in places that were basically by themselves and how people came to faith in Christ simply because someone wanted to know the truth. And they asked God, God, if you exist, reveal yourself to me.

And God did it in some very creative ways. See, 2 Peter 3, 9, the Lord says, my sincere desire is that none should perish, but all should come to repentance. So if someone wants to know, believe me, God will move heaven and earth. And so the idea that there's this person out there that doesn't know and God's not going to come to him, well, we have an example of that, Acts 10, remember Cornelius, the centurion.

Yeah, he asked God, he wanted to know if there was a God that existed, who he is, and the Lord sent Simon Peter to him. Those that seek me will find me, the Lord says. And there's the testimony of nature. And then there's their own conscience, excusing or accusing them.

So, you know, they're going to be held accountable for what they know. But that should make us want to redouble our efforts to make sure they at least hear the gospel and expose them to the gospel. And I love that point you made about when we get to heaven, we see people from every tribe, every nation. So to the question, what about the person that's never heard the gospel? Clearly, the gospel will penetrate every language group, every culture all over the entire planet.

Indeed it will. And that's, the Lord cares for them. Remember, Jesus Christ died for these people. He loved them so much. God loved the world that he gave his one and only son.

He so loved the world. So if we care for them, how much more do they do? But, you know, Greg, people usually use that as an excuse. In other words, now, that takes away my responsibility. Well, again, the person we're talked to has heard, obviously, or they wouldn't be asking the question, right? So they don't have that excuse. So let's zero in back on them.

Exactly right. Pastor Greg Laurie will have more of this discussion with author Don Stewart in just a moment. We send Pastor Greg studies out via the radio, email, satellite, and even our Harvest at Home online services.

And it's encouraging when we hear that these messages are impacting lives. Pastor Greg, I have been a true believer for six decades. I've been receiving your daily devotions for a couple of months now. They are my favorite devotionals, and I look forward to getting them every day. In addition, about one month ago, I started tuning to your live sermons on Harvest at Home.

You inspire me, and I get all your jokes. Thank you for your ministry and all it does to bring people to a relationship with God. I'm happy to partner with you in your mission.

I pray God continues to bless you exceedingly, abundantly more than you could ask or think. It's a privilege to bring these studies your way. And we're thankful for our Harvest partners who make them possible.

Would you partner with us? You can make a donation at harvest.org. And you'll find Pastor Greg's Harvest at Home services at the same web address, harvest.org. Well, today, Pastor Greg and his guest, author Don Stewart, are addressing some of the tough questions believers are often asked.

It's one of our listeners' most requested presentations of the past year. Now, sometimes people will say, Well, you know, you Christians, you're just weak people, and I think Christianity is a crutch for weak people. What do you say to that?

Well, the Bible says we've all sinned and come short of the glory of God. We're all weak. That's true. But the Bible is, Christianity is not a crutch.

It's a rock. It's our foundation. It's who we trust. And it gives us a purpose, again, back to the three things.

The reason why we're living, identity, purpose, and destiny. And people don't know that. And when people are faced with death and dying, they begin to think, Oh, I'd better get some answers real quick. So saying it's a crutch, I'm sorry. This life goes by very quickly. And after that, who knows what happens?

Well, God has told us what happened in his Word. And I say, Christianity is not a crutch. It's a whole hospital, and I need help, and you do too, you know? Exactly. Looping back to something we talked about earlier about the person who supposedly has it all. You know, on the exterior, it may look like they do have it all. And that may be all the more reason to give the gospel to them because look at all these celebrities that have it all that are drug addicts or dying of drug overdoses or are alcoholics either checking in or just out of rehab. And what about the celebrities or just people who are often very well off who are committing suicide? I mean, these are people that have it all.

And I wouldn't be afraid to use that as an illustration. Because it seems to me that everybody, no matter how much they have, how much they know, how beautiful or handsome they may be, everyone deep down inside is empty. There's an emptiness in their life. They were designed to know God. Everyone deep down inside is lonely.

You can be in a crowd, you can be at a party, but you're lonely. Deep down inside, everyone is guilty. There's a guilt that haunts them when they lay their head down at night.

That's why a lot of people need all these sleeping pills and all these other things to go to sleep at night because of a guilty conscience. And finally, everyone's afraid to die. You know, they may say they're not afraid to die.

They're lying. They're afraid to die. And they know they will die. And their own mortality bothers them. So I think we just give them the Word of God, even if they don't believe in the Word of God. That would be like going into a battle. You have your sword and someone says, Well, I don't believe your sword is sharp.

Well, stab them with it. Because the Word of God is still alive and powerful. I don't mean that literally, by the way. The book he's talking about.

You know, just like, yeah, quote it anyway. Because that seed of God's Word can take root in a human heart and then bloom later. It might be three o'clock in the morning. They're laying. They wake up and they remember that conversation because God's Holy Spirit took His Word that will not return void and brings it back to the forefront of their mind.

Yeah, indeed. I often say, you know, people that try and be real, you know, arrogant and that, I don't need God, this and that, and braggadocious in front of their friends, just wait till they're alone by themselves in the dark in their own thoughts because they'll have to start thinking about what it is. I'm alone. And I don't know what's going to happen in the future. What if this guy's right? What if the gospel is true? What if Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life? Then where am I at? And again, this is something where we learn the Bible, we teach it, Greg, and we quote it so people will think about this in their quiet moments.

It was C.S. Lewis who said, even atheists have moments of doubt. You know, someone can come up with so much bravado and say, I'm an atheist. I don't believe anything you say. And you think, well, I'll never convince them.

They're not as certain as they come off. No, like in war, it says there's no atheist in the foxhole. You know, when guns are being shot around them, bombs are dropping, all of a sudden, God becomes more real than you think because they know that the end could be near. And what are you going to do? What's going to happen afterwards? Because no one has come back and told us what it's like on the other side, save one. And that's the Lord Jesus. He's gone to his death, come back to tell us what it's like on the other side. The other religious leaders in the world, they've stayed dead. The Buddha's dead. Mohammed's dead. Confucius is dead.

Jesus Christ is alive. And that's the difference. That's right.

That's right. It reminds me of a story I heard of a salty old sea captain known for his profanity and his atheism and lack of belief in God. And a horrible storm came and rocked the ship and he was washed overboard. And his fellow sailors heard him calling out to God. So they were able to pull him back up on deck and they said, we thought you didn't believe in God. And he said, well, I don't, but there ought to be a God at times like this, you know? So they're gonna have those moments of doubt. So sow the seed of the word of God without apology. Now here's one we often hear.

I believe that all religions teach the same thing. I have a sticker on my car that says, coexist. It's on my Prius. And I eat kale and drive my Prius. And don't forget the Birkenstocks and the white wine too. The Birkenstocks, yes. They may be comfortable though. All the Birkenstock people are, I hate you.

I'm gonna go on my Prius and eat my kale and leave. So all the religions of the world teach the same thing. And all roads lead to God.

And to me that immediately says, it's another way of saying, I have no idea what I'm talking about. Because if we had clerics from the various religious faiths, you know, an imam, and we had a priest from a Buddhist priest, and we had a Christian, and we had a rabbi. And if we were to say, we all believe the same thing, well we all know that's not true. And anyone who's even looked a little bit into the teachings of the religions of the world know they don't teach the same thing.

So what do you say to the person? All religions teach the same thing, and all roads lead to God. Well, it's not true. All religions don't teach the same thing. Some teach one God exists. Some teach many gods. Some religions, like Buddhism, are basically atheistic. They don't believe in any god. And Christianity makes the specific claim, one way to get to the one God.

Now, that narrows it down. If the Christian claim is true, then by definition the others are wrong at that point. But they can't all be true at the same time.

Somebody's got to be false. God can't be many gods and only one God at the same time. He can't be equal to what the universe is. In other words, the universe is God, or separate from the universe at the same time.

In other words, something has to give, and they can't all be true. All roads don't lead to God, because which god are you talking about? The Hindus have 330 million different gods, okay? So when you say God, that doesn't mean a whole lot to them. Yeah. So, you know, when you stop and think about it, let's just take an example, okay?

Jesus Christ. Let's go through the grid of the world religions right now. Who is Jesus Christ to a Buddhist? Yeah, that's a great question.

It depends who you ask, and it depends how much they know about it. Jesus came after the time Buddha came on, and so Jesus would be the Buddhist I've talked to. He's an enlightened, you know, individual. He's someone who got it, someone who was ahead of his time, but he wasn't the Son of God, wasn't a miracle worker. He was just one of these people who got, you know, who understood what the world is all about. Buddha came on the scene to kind of answer the question, why do human beings suffer? And he saw these different sights, and supposedly got this revelation of what life is all about.

But see, they wouldn't, again, look at Jesus as anybody special as it were, except maybe someone who's kind of got it like the Buddha did, but no, the uniqueness of Jesus would be lost on them. Who is Jesus to a Muslim? Muslim, he's Esau. He's a prophet. He's one of the prophets. He's an Islamic prophet, but he's below Mohammed, who is the last and the greatest of the prophets. He's not the Son of God. He's not the person that died on Calvary's cross. He's not the virgin-conceived Son of God.

He's not the way, the truth, and the life. He's one of many prophets waiting for the last and the greatest, which was Mohammed. So who's Jesus to a Hindu? The Hindu, again, that's another thing.

The Hindus have 330 million different gods. I don't know if they put Jesus in the mix there, but the Hindus have this whole pantheon, means a whole bunch of different gods. They look at Jesus as probably someone, again, depends what Hindu you're talking about. They look at Jesus as someone, again, kind of like the Buddhists who has received a certain amount of enlightenment or understanding, but he's not unique, and this is the important thing. None of them see Jesus as the unique Son of God.

They may claim him. Maybe he's one of many there, and he's somebody that got it, but again, he's not the one true God. So who is Jesus to a Jehovah's Witness? Jehovah's Witnesses believe Jesus was Michael the Archangel in the Old Testament, the first creation of Jehovah God.

Jehovah God, the one God, created Jesus, the little God, who in turn created everything else. And so Jesus would be someone they respect, not someone they worship. They deny the doctrine of the Trinity, salvation by grace through faith, but he's not the Son of God. As one Jehovah's Witness told me at my door, we respect Jesus, but we don't worship him. We don't adore him.

We don't love him and follow him that way. So who is Jesus to a Mormon? Spirit, brother of Lucifer.

He and Lucifer were brothers, believe it or not. Yeah, Jesus is, yeah, it gets weirder and weirder because with all due respect to Mormons, most people don't learn this right away. If you have a Mormon background, you'll know it. The God that Mormons worship was once a man. He lived a righteous life.

He died, was resurrected. Now he's the God of this planet. And Mormon males can be exalted and become God themselves. So Jesus is just one of many in this great number of gods. So he's not, again, notice this. In every single one, he is not unique. He may be called the Son of God. He may be called a deity or divinity, but he is not the unique Son of God that the Bible makes him. So someone would say, well, I think, so the point is is that Jesus Christ, we present the Jesus of the Bible.

Correct. And when we talk about a relationship with God, these are unique teachings of Scripture. The idea of heaven is from Scripture. And so we come back to the uniqueness of Christ, how there was nobody like Jesus that ever walked this earth. What I'd like to remind people of, the reason that Jesus is the only way to the Father is Jesus is the only man who ever walked the earth who was fully God and fully man. He was not man becoming God.

That's impossible. He was God who became a man. He was God's only begotten Son. Thus he was uniquely qualified to bridge the gap between a holy, perfect God and sinful, wicked humanity. And so that's why, because he bridged the gap and he died in our place so we could be forgiven of our sins. Yeah, you remember in the book of Job when Job cried out to God, basically saying, you don't understand me. We need someone who can put his hand on God and put his hand on humanity at the same time and understand both of us.

And that's what God the Son, Jesus, did exactly. Pastor Greg Laurie and Bible scholar Don Stewart clarifying the true identity, the biblical truth about Jesus, God's Son, and our Savior. And there's more to come as this discussion continues, one of the most requested presentations of the year. But listen, if you missed any part of this fast-paced half hour, you can hear a repeat by going to harvest.org or simply call it up on our Harvest app. For a permanent copy of the presentation on CD, call 1-800-821-3300. We're here to answer your call 24-7.

Again, dial 1-800-821-3300. The title of this presentation is Greg Laurie and Don Stewart on the hard questions nonbelievers ask. People are moved by Pastor Greg's new film, A Rush of Hope.

It draws on key moments from major movies such as I Still Believe, the story of Jeremy and Melissa Camp. Do I understand why Melissa isn't here anymore? No, son, I don't. You chose willingly to walk into the fire with her.

Right beside her, all the way to the end. But then, that's exactly what I would do for your mom and you boys. That's what love is. I identify with Jeremy's story. At the age of 20, my fiancé died very tragically. But after a very dark time, the grace and mercy of God reached me.

I don't know the answers to your questions. But I do know this. That my life is not full in spite of the disappointments.

It's full because of them. That's the voice of well-known actor Gary Sinise from the movie I Still Believe about Jeremy and Melissa Camp. Pastor Greg, that's such a moving part of this new film, A Rush of Hope.

No question. Jeremy and Melissa Camp were in love. Beautiful love story. They were newlyweds.

And then the tragic news that Melissa had cancer. And facing the worst case scenario of losing his wife, we see how faith and hope work together. And I believe God could use this to bring thousands and thousands of people into the kingdom.

I don't know of anything like this that has ever been put out there before. And I think you'll agree with me when you see it. Again, it's called A Rush of Hope. You saw it online, and many of you said, Oh, I want my own copy. Now you can have one. And you can watch it as many times as you want to watch it. And you can show it to as many people as you want to show it to.

And you can do it wherever you want to do it. And you'll have your own copy along with some special resources we've developed, a booklet that's called Answering Life's Most Important Questions that you could give out to a non-believer that you know. Also a piece that we wrote that will show you how to host a watch party. And so all of this is in this special resource that we want to send you for your gift of any size.

And your generous donation couldn't come at a more strategic time. So we hope you'll contact us today for the DVD of A Rush of Hope, along with the evangelistic booklet and the resources to help you host a watch party. Plus, we'll send a digital download code so you can watch online right from your computer or tablet or smart phone. That way you can take it with you and share it with a friend.

Sort of a cinematic crusade in your pocket or purse. So write us today at A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514. Or call 1-800-821-3300. That's 1-800-821-3300. And we can take your call anytime 24-7.

Or just go online to Harvest.org. As mentioned, Pastor Greg has invited Bible scholar Don Stewart back again next time to address more of the questions that often stump believers. Be sure to tune in for A New Beginning with Pastor Greg Laurie. This is the day, the day when life begins The preceding message from Greg Laurie was made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God. Sign up for Pastor Greg's free daily email devotions at harvest.org.