Non Negotiables

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From Alex McFarland Ministries, this is Truth for a New Generation Radio. And now the man who preached in 50 states in 50 days, speaker, writer, and advocate for Christian apologetics, Dr. Alex McFarland. In 2019, the cathedral in Paris, Notre Dame, caught fire. And the very historic cathedral almost burned to the ground, and they were reporting it a total loss. And then, by the grace of God, really, a large portion of it was saved. But the famous steeple that had dotted the Paris skyline for centuries, literally centuries since 1163, was destroyed. And so money began to pour in from around the world, and they're going to restore Notre Dame.

Alex McFarland here on TNG Radio, and we look forward to being with you for a few moments. We're going to talk about apologetics and evangelism in the 21st century. But there's an article in the news that one of the architects commissioned with helping to redesign the roof structure, and hopefully rebuild the steeple. He's a purist, and he wants to do it just as it was, down to the last detail. And I think that's the right thing to do. And so does the majority of the world. You know, this is a world heritage site. I mean, almost 900 years in existence. But a number of people, like the Prime Minister of France, say it's time to modernize. Now listen carefully, not only update the architecture of the cathedral in Paris, but maybe even, you know, make a modern steeple, make it look modern.

And so there's an argument brewing. But another thing that some have said, is, you know, this cathedral was original. This cathedral was originally built for Christianity, and it's the 21st century.

It's not the 12th century, after all. So let's not only modernize the architecture, but let's modernize everything it stands for. And it shouldn't be tied to any one belief system.

Well, it's one thing to change your architecture. It's another thing to change your theology. And so let's talk a little bit about some of the basics of Christian theology. If somebody asks you, what are the non-negotiables of Christianity? You know, songs come and go, clothing styles come and go, even programs that we do come and go. For years, a church might have done this or that, and then eventually they don't anymore. They do something else. But what are the non-negotiables?

Can you name some of those? I'm going to name one of the very foundational ones. Obviously, we don't change what we believe about Jesus, the Son of God, the eternal second member of the Trinity, God, the Son, the one and only Savior. I mean, think about it. If Jesus was the Savior, today he still is the Savior. A millennia from now, he will still be the one and only Savior, because Hebrews 13 tells us that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Jesus doesn't change. But one of the non-negotiables that we dare not put up for revision, that we dare not change our position on, is what we believe about creation. Where did we come from? And why are we here?

And where are we going? There are two main theories that explain how the universe came into existence. And by the way, I'm teaching for this series on apologetics from a curriculum that I wrote on apologetics. And if your church would like this curriculum to teach in Sunday School, it's appropriate for all ages. And it's written at about a seventh grade reading level, because we wanted it to be accessible, really, to middle schoolers through adults. But just reach out to us at AlexMcFarland.com, where you can call our office at 877-YES-GOD-1.

And we'll tell you how you can get this curriculum. But there are basically two main theories that explain how the universe came into existence. The world's best effort at explaining it is Darwinian evolution. The universe, or cosmos, as described by noted astrophysicist Carl Sagan, he said that the universe is all that is or was or will ever be, end of quote. So in other words, in his view, the universe is eternal in everything we see in the universe, in the wonder of the planetary orbits, the amazing cohesion demonstrated of how a myriad, I mean, think about this, a myriad of laws and systems hold all things together, the incomprehensible complexity. When we look at this wondrous world, the complexity of the cell, the intricacies of DNA, millions of life forms, animal life, plant life, human life, and all of this was just the product of a combination of blind chance and what they assume are billions of years. Now, keep in mind that we know the universe had a beginning, and there's really no empirical proof that the universe is billions of years old, in fact, human history, and much of what we see about the development of the human race in terms of spreading all over the world leads many secular scientists even to admit that the world appears, just prima facie on the physical evidence, to be something like, 100,000 years old or less. Well, my goodness, in terms of evolution, a 100,000 year old universe would be considered, quote, young earth.

Now, I believe it's much, much, much younger than that. I am a young earth, literal seven day creationist. I believe in God created everything in six literal 24 hour days, and on the seventh day rested, unapologetically. I believe in what the Bible says about our origins and God's creation. But further, I actually believe that the empirical evidence is more on the side of a young earth rather than an old earth. But Sagan's view, the eternality of the universe, really, amazingly, many evolutionists, many secularists hold that, even though the evidence very strongly mitigates against that. So when we come back, we're going to continue talking about the non-negotiables of Christianity, not the least of which is our view about creation, because creation infers a creator, not just blind chance and time and a primordial soup, but a God who created, who can be personally known, and a God that wants to be a part of your life as well. Stay tuned.

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Alex McFarland here. We're talking about some of the non-negotiables of Christianity, not the least of which is our view on creation. And it really does behoove the church to do creation apologetics. I was asked in an interview a few years ago, you know, what are some of the worst things that have ever happened to the human race, because part of apologetics is giving an answer to the problem of pain and suffering. You know, if God is love and God is powerful, why is there evil and suffering in the world? And Christians know it's because of the fall, because of sin. There is moral evil in the world. We do things against God, and we do things against each other. And in a world of sin and fallenness, there's not only violence and evil, but there are birth defects, and there's a degenerative power over this world that's called the law of entropy. Everything is running down. You see, evolution predicts that everything is winding up and getting more complex, moving from less complex to higher levels of complexity. But that's not what we see.

We don't see that anywhere. Things left to themselves run down. Our bodies are running down and wearing out. And so this world is a world of moral evil, of fallenness. It's a world of sin. And it is a world of decay and, as the Bible says, death. That's why we need life.

And we get that through Jesus Christ, the Lord of life. And so evolution, the belief that everything came from nothing, the belief that everything is winding up, and the belief that chaos is the mother of order, that's nothing we ever see. Ever.

Never. That's why I would never have enough faith to be an evolutionist. But evolution says this world is just the product of random cosmic matter, some primordial life that we don't know where it comes from, and it just winds itself up to create from simple single-cell creatures to the complex, highly evolved creatures of today. So in this interview, they asked me, what's the worst thing that ever happened to the world? And I said, well, obviously, the fall of Genesis 3 is the worst thing. But running for second worst thing that ever happened to the human race, I've got to believe that one of the worst things ever is the philosophy of Darwinism and evolution. Because evolution says there is no such thing as God, and therefore there is no such thing as an ultimate moral code. And folks, so much of what we see today, from the breakdown of the family, the assumption that marriage and family is just a social evolutionary accident, to the redefinition of marriage, the redefinition of human sexuality, from all manner of deviant behaviors, destructive behaviors to things worse and worse, transgenderism, dozens of possible genders, suicide, physician-assisted suicide, abortion on demand, so many of the things that have broken the hearts of individuals and basically diminish the quality of life for the human race, and sadly, put millions of souls in hell, has been this philosophy of Darwinism.

Socialism and ultimately communism, and so many of the regimes that took millions of lives in the 20th century, from Marxism to Maoism, they were political philosophies born out of a philosophy about creation, Darwinian evolution. The second theory of how everything began is found in Genesis 1, verse 1. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Now, Genesis 1, 1 is really a beautiful display of simplicity, and very powerful in its application. The universe is not eternal.

It was called into existence by the voice of a holy God, a timeless, eternal, all-powerful being, whose glory, wisdom, and ability, power, as we read in Psalm 19, are all on display. In Genesis 1, 1, the power, the existence, the wisdom, the artistry of God is all on display, and evolutionists have been trying for decades to prove that the universe is eternal, because the prevailing Big Bang Theory gives evolutionists what they think is an irrevocable truth. If the universe had no beginning, or if the universe had no God who created, then not only is the universe, they assume.

Now listen, they assume the universe is just the product of random chance, and actually that gives them the freedom to live and behave randomly. There's no moral obligation. There's no moral imperative or spiritual onus on the secularists, the evolutionists, the agnostic, the atheists.

There's no aughts or ought-nots. We just are free to live however we want to live. Now the sad thing about it is, if everyone lived, quote, as they wanted to live, we would have anarchy, which is nearly what we flirt with today. But you know the sad thing, having dialogued with literally hundreds of atheists and evolutionists over the last 25 years? Even though they for a moment feel good, yay, there's no God I have to answer to. There's no creator in my past. There's no judge in my future. Just live as you want to live. And yet there's this nagging thing called our conscience. And deep in their heart, I know because they've poured out their heart to me, I've talked with many an evolutionist, and after the euphoria of freedom begins to wear off as life goes on, in the third and fourth quarters of life, let's say 50 to 70 and then 70 northward, many an evolutionist has this nagging feeling they can't shake. What if there is more to life? What if I die and it turns out there is a God? There was a creator after all. So this thing called conscience and our awareness of God just doesn't go away, no matter how much people try to squelch it or stamp it out. Psalm 19 says, regarding creation and the moral law on our heart, creation, the heavens and earth bear witness to the glory of God.

The law of the Lord is perfect. And the Word of God reminds us there is no speech nor language where the voice of creation and conscience aren't heard. Deep in the jungles of third world countries, and I've been there, people know there's a creator because they point to the sky, they talk about it, and then we tell them not only who that creator is, but how he sent his son to be our savior. If the universe had a beginning, then something outside of and beyond the scope of the universe must have caused it to happen. Spontaneous generation, life coming from non-life, is a scientific impossibility, but most evolutionists would rather embrace the absurd than bow to the existence of absolute truth rooted in an eternal God.

Stay tuned, TNG radio is back after this. They are one, inspiration of the Bible, two, the virgin birth, three, the deity of Christ, four, atonement, five, Christ's resurrection, and six, Christ's return. You know, Alex mixes it up with humor and stories he gleaned from decades of working with youth and encourages teens to build a foundation of faith that will stabilize their lives and help them take a stand for Christ. Simple and straightforward stand core truths you must know for an unshakable faith available wherever Christian books are sold. If you're a Christian parent, you of course want to instill a biblical view of life in the hearts of your children. If you're a pastor, you want to offer ministry that draws young families to your church. This is Alex McFarland encouraging you to check out my new book and video curriculum, The 21 Toughest Questions Your Kids Will Ask About Christianity. Why do bad things happen? We've interviewed hundreds of children, ages 5 to 12, and we address actual questions from actual children, the spiritual issues that are on the minds of your kids.

Did Jesus ever sin? The book and video lessons are great for groups of any size and was produced with the goal of equipping kids to stand strong for Christ in any situation. The 21 Toughest Questions Your Kids Will Ask, the book, study guide, and video series, you'll find it at afastore.net. That's afastore.net. In the midst of a culture obsessed with relativism, Alex McFarland is a voice you can trust to speak the timeless truths of Christianity in a timely way. You're listening to Truth for a New Generation Radio. Welcome back to TNG Radio. Alex McFarland here.

We're talking about a very important apologetics issue, creation. And before we resume that topic, I do want to say a big thank you to Good Shepherd Church of Greensboro, North Carolina. Their website is Good Shepherd Church of Greensboro dot com. They helped sponsor this radio program, and I'm deeply grateful for them. And also Monday, Wednesday, Fridays at 11 a.m. Eastern time. Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 11 a.m. Eastern on the Facebook page. Rev Alex McFarland.

R-E-V Alex McFarland. I'm doing live webcasting. Been doing it two months now during the COVID pandemic.

And those numbers are going up, up, up. We appreciate that. And if you share the webcast, you're automatically entered to be a part of our book giveaway every Friday. I give away a book.

And so we would love for you to be the recipient of one of my books. And you know, we're talking about apologetics, defending the faith, the reality of the Christian message, and calling our nation back to God. And people are hungry to know truth and have some stability. So we are talking to hundreds of people every week. We've online sharing the gospel, several thousand during the pandemic time that we've been able to lead to Christ. It's different.

It's, you know, a change. But we may see more people come to Christ through Truth for a New Generation in 2020 than in any of the previous 22 years. So thanks for your interest. Thanks for your prayers. The other thing I would make you aware of, in addition to my own speaking travels and all that the Lord is allowing us to do, broadcasting, publishing events, but the other thing, and it's big, it's the highlight of my year, and that's going to the COVE, the Billy Graham Training Center at the COVE in western North Carolina near Asheville. I will be there at the end of July, July 27 through 31, and I'll be there to teach Daniel and Revelation, how God writes history in advance, Bible prophecy.

And I would love to invite you to join us for that. You can go to the COVE website, theCOVE.org. My dear friend Will Graham is the executive director, and he's got an amazing staff. If you've never been to the COVE, quite literally, it is the most beautiful Christian resort, I believe, in the western hemisphere. Incredible facilities, people from all over the place you'll meet, and the food at the COVE is so good.

It's just, I don't know, a four-star chef or something, but it is just wonderful. But the best part of all, we'll gather around the Word of God, and we'll look at Bible prophecy, Old and New Testaments. We'll have ample time for question and answer, and we will look at what the Bible says about the future. And yes, that blessed appearing of Jesus Christ, the return of Christ.

And so it's going to be July 27 through 31, 2020, and we look forward to seeing you at the COVE, and we hope you can join us for that. Keep us in prayer, and I'm on the road speaking at universities, and one of the things that I'm praying for this year is that we would mentor some young evangelists. I was for many years a part of several evangelist groups around the country, and evangelists are a dying breed. I mean, they just don't hardly exist much anymore, and so we need to raise up some young evangelists. And part of the gospel endeavor of the 21st century is apologetics.

You know, C.S. Lewis, the great apologist, he wrote many years ago, nearly 70 years ago, Lewis said this. He said, there are some who give the gospel call, the evangelical appeal, come to Jesus. And it's as powerful today as it was 100 years ago.

Now, he's writing this in the 40s. And Lewis says, I cannot do it, that is, give an invitation like that. But those who can ought to do it with all their might. The ideal missionary team ought not just to consist of one who argues, that is, an apologist, but one who also preaches. Put up your arguer first to undermine the intellectual prejudices, then let the evangelist proper launch his appeal.

And Lewis was basically saying that we've got to give the call, come to Jesus, but when there are objections, we've got to help those objections be dispelled. And so one of the great objections, as I said, one of the second worst things that ever befell the human race right behind the fall of Genesis 3, is evolution. Genesis 1-1 says that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. It's beautifully simple, but it mitigates against the big bang theory that everything came out of nothing.

Now, if the universe had a beginning, and it did, then something outside of that and beyond the scope of the universe had to have caused it. Spontaneous generation, life coming from non-life, is a scientific impossibility. But most evolutionists embrace what they can't see, have never observed, not testable, repeatable, observable, because they don't like the idea of there being an eternal God. Now, if evolution were true, if Darwinian evolution were true, the fossil record should be filled with hundreds of thousands of examples of intermediary life, forms gradually transitioning from the simple to the complex. But Darwin even admitted that the fossil record is inexplicably incomplete. Concerning the fossil record, Darwin said this, now listen to this, Charles Darwin admitted, quote, the number of intermediate varieties which have formerly existed on earth must be truly enormous. Why then is not every geological formation and every stratum full of such intermediate links?

Geology assuredly does not reveal any such finely graded organic chain. And this perhaps is the most obvious and gravest objection which can be urged against my theory, end of quote. Let me close with just this observation. I was reading Teddy Roosevelt's History of the United States, and he talked about the French Revolution and how it led to anarchy. But three things really contributed to the unraveling of French culture and the French Revolution. The loss of morality, the loss of family, and the loss of Christianity. And Teddy Roosevelt, one of our most Christian presidents, Teddy Roosevelt said, if we in America ever lost those things, morals, family, God, we too might descend into anarchy and have revolution.

God, we're there. So I urge you to know what you believe, why you believe it. I urge you to please pray for America and be part of those voices and witnesses for truth, calling people, number one, to Jesus. Inviting people to that wonderful sanctuary called the family and building a Christian home. But also to morality. Because if we lose those things, Roosevelt was right.

It almost destroyed France, and into that vacuum came socialism. But we too here in America, lest we fall into that same pit, we must recover morality, family, and God. And by that we mean Christianity. Thank you for listening. Be a witness for truth.

Stand for what is good and right and true. Pray for us. And tune in next time to more of TNG radio.

Call 1-877-YES-GOD and the number one. Or give online at AlexMcFarland.com. While you're there, listen to program archives, read Alex's blog, invite Alex to speak at your event, or contact Alex with a question or comment. AlexMcFarland.com. Thanks for listening today and join us again next time as we bring you more truth for a new generation on TNG radio.