Top 10 Resources for Making Sense of the Christian Worldview

 

Having previously discussed the reasons why people leave the Church, as well as sharing my own philosophy on how to raise my own children to avoid those pitfalls, I now would like to share some specific resources that have been helpful to me in developing a Christian worldview that is able to withstand the attacks raised against it. Training up our children in a world that is hostile to Christianity is a heavy task, and we may not have all the answers to the various questions we receive. However, we need not lay such a heavy burden on ourselves. We have a wealth of resources we can lean into for help when those hard questions come. Sometimes our role will not to be the one with the answers, but to be the one who knows where to find them. The following are 10 of the most helpful extra-biblical resources I have found for building and defending a comprehensive Christian worldview. (click on each title to visit)

 

Media

Reasonable Faith (website, YouTube, podcast, etc.)

Anyone interested in building an intellectual defense of the Christian faith needs to be familiar with William Lane Craig and his ministry, Reasonable Faith. Craig is the world’s greatest living Christian apologist and philosopher. He is well known for his version of the Kalam Cosmological Argument for God’s existence, and is widely recognized as the most formidable Christian debater. For those unfamiliar with his work, I recommend starting with his debate against the late Christopher Hitchens, who was one of the leading voices in the new atheist movement before passing away in 2011. Craig is incredibly prolific, as he has written numerous books, publishes a weekly podcast, and teaches a Sunday school class that covers the finer points of Christian theology. This “Defenders” class is also made available to the public through podcast and YouTube. Of all that Craig has done, it is perhaps my favorite resource. There aren’t many Sunday school classes out there that delve into such topics as God’s necessary existence, His relationship to time, or how we can make sense of the Trinity, but Craig tackles all of these and much more in great detail. As for those issues that are non-essential for the Christian, he presents all sides clearly and does his best to explain why he takes one view over the others. I don’t always agree with him, but I appreciate how he models this approach. 

Whaddo You Meme?? (YouTube)

For some, Craig’s approach may be too intellectual and thorough, especially for those first stepping into the world of Christian apologetics. Jon McCray’s “Whaddo You Meme” is a great resource for those looking for something more accessible and entertaining. This isn’t to say that it is watered down. Quite the contrary! McCray produces short and direct videos responding to cultural events and influential voices, while presenting how Christianity offers a better alternative. Sometimes he employs humor through parody or satire, but oftentimes he responds directly with heavy doses of biblical truth. Originally developed in response to popular memes (hence the name), McCray will take on any voice that speaks against the truth of Christianity, and he does so with style. This is a great resource for parents and teens alike. You guys ready? “Then let’s goooooooo.....!”

Trinity Radio (YouTube/podcast)

It’s hard to pick a favorite here, but I probably spend more time on Trinity Radio than anywhere else on this list. TR is a YouTube channel (also available on podcast) created by Braxton Hunter, President of Trinity College of the Bible and Theological Seminary. This channel is primarily focused on rebuttals of videos put out by popular internet atheists, or debates featuring other key voices in atheism/agnosticism. Braxton walks through each video step-by-step, explaining where each argument against the Christian God fails. He is remarkably clear in his critiques, and many unbelievers have commented on how fair and gracious he is in his disagreements. His videos are really a wonderful model of how to speak truth in love. Sometimes though, words need to be spoken a little more bluntly. For this, Braxton often invites his seminary partner, Johnathan Pritchett, to balance his gentleness with a good dose of snarkiness. The “good cop, bad cop” interaction between the two is one of the highlights of the show. I highly recommend this channel for anyone who wants to learn how to counter all the popular arguments against Christianity, and how to reflect Christ in the process.

Unbelievable? (YouTube/podcast)

For those turned off by the recent presidential debates, I offer as a stark contrast the long-running UK radio program-turned-podcast and YouTube channel, “Unbelievable?” with Justin Brierley. Every Friday, Brierley brings together the best of both sides of any argument relating to the Christian worldview. More often than not, the show will feature a Christian and a non-believer, but sometimes they are “in-house” theological discussions. What sets Unbelievable? apart is the level of civility in these debates. It is very rare for one of the debaters to be disrespectful or talk over the other side. Much of this is do to the level of control Brierley maintains, combined with the high quality of the guests he invites to participate. One of the best ways to learn what other people believe is to sit down and listen, and this is a great model for doing just that. For those of us who are listening, we are likewise learning how to hear the other side and how to respond to their questions and arguments. I’ve heard Braxton Hunter say that he recommends listening to debates as the best way to quickly learn apologetics. There is no better source for such debates than “Unbelievable?”

Eric Hernandez (YouTube)

Eric Hernandez is a young apologist who is gaining a lot of attention through his YouTube channel and his online debates in defense of the Christian worldview. His ministry has spent a great deal of attention on making a case for the existence of the soul, and showing how the body alone cannot make sense of things like consciousness and free will. His arguments are devastating for the naturalistic worldview that is so strongly pushed on students in secular environments today. I happen to think that making the evidence for the soul is one of the best lines of argument for the Christian worldview, and one that is often neglected among apologists. Eric’s channel features a mixture of his debates with atheists and some entertaining post-debate rebuttals to those same atheists (this one is especially hilarious!), along with interviews and lectures he’s given on serious issues like abortion.

Truth Unites (YouTube/podcast)

Gavin Ortlund is known for his gracious demeanor and thoughtful approach to theological issues, especially those that divide Protestants from Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Christians. As a defender of the truth of Christianity across denominations, Ortlund helps us to understand various issues from different perspectives, always encouraging us to investigate these things for ourselves and come to our own conclusions. He defends the basic principles of Protestantism while rejecting sectarianism. While I don’t always agree with his conclusions, he models how to disagree well. This is how Christians can be light in a dark world!

Books

Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton

There’s a running joke about how Christians always quote Chesterton, but they’ve never read any of his books. This is a shame! The best way to fix this injustice is to start by reading “Orthodoxy.” While the title might suggest a boring read, those fears are quickly put to rest in the opening lines of the introduction. Perhaps a more accurate title of this oft-overlooked classic would be found in in these words from the introduction; “The man who… discovered what had been discovered before.” Here, GKC chronicles how as an unbeliever he tried to develop a revolutionary worldview through his observations, but found that Christianity had been saying the same things from its beginning. In the quest to make sense of the world, Christianity is the key that fits all the locks. “Orthodoxy” is not a typical apologetics book of specific evidences surrounding the resurrection and other biblical events, and it doesn’t lay out the classic philosophical arguments for God’s existence. What it does is simply present a case that Christianity makes sense of the world while all other worldviews fail. And it does so with all the humor and brilliance you can expect from one of the most quoted Christian thinkers of all time.

Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus by Nabeel Qureshi

The person of Jesus Christ is the central issue of Christianity, and Nabeel Qureshi’s story is a prime example of what a difference our beliefs about who He is can make. Raised in a minority sect of Islam, Qureshi was skilled at poking holes in the faith of the Christians he encountered in high school and college. He was sure they had no intellectual legs to stand on until he ran into David Wood, a fellow student who knew what he believed, how to defend it, and how to shake Nabeel’s confidence in his own beliefs. “Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus” chronicles his journey to discovering the truth about Jesus Christ, and how that pursuit of truth is worth more than anything this world has to offer. Following Jesus can cost you everything, and Nabeel’s life was a testimony to this fact. While this book tells the story of how he sacrificed the comforts of his family and Islamic upbringing, his life would take an unexpected turn in the years after its publishing. In 2016, he would be diagnosed with stage 4 stomach cancer, and a year later would die at the age of 34. Throughout his battle, he broadcast his thoughts on a video log uploaded to YouTube. In one of his final videos, he shared how in the midst of all his struggles to understand why God hadn’t healed him, he still could not turn his back on Jesus knowing what he now knew about Him. He had discovered the truth, which brings to mind what it says in John 6:66-69: “From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. Then Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also want to go away?” But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.””

The Case For Miracles by Lee Strobel

Many of us, like Nabeel Qureshi, have prayed for healing that has never come. We can become discouraged and either lose faith or begin to adopt a more naturalistic approach to it. We may find ourselves praying that God would simply use the skilled hands of doctors or that He would bring about some kind of gradual improvement of our condition that, if we were to be honest, would not show any sign of God’s intervention if we were able to put it under a microscope. Such was my approach to prayer for most of my life, but that began to change with Lee Strobel’s recent book on miracles, as he shows that such events as what you might find in the Gospels or the book of Acts are still happening around the world today. Looking at the subject from a journalist’s perspective, Lee interviews individuals on various sides of the issue, and highlights a number of modern cases of miracles. This book brought me to tears of joy on numerous occasions as I began to see that the God of the Bible is still the same God we worship today. Strobel’s book serves as a fatal blow to the philosophy of naturalism. One can reasonably continue to dismiss televangelist “faith healers” as charlatans while also being open to the supernatural work of God in the world we live in. There are legitimate miracles today, and being aware of them can be an encouragement to our faith, regardless of whether we are the recipients. Strobel is best known for his first book, “The Case For Christ.” While I have a copy, I must confess that I haven’t yet read it (though I have seen the excellent movie adaptation). That being said, I am confident that I can recommend any of his work, especially for those new to apologetics.

Counterpoints (Series) by Zondervan Publishing

This is an on-going project of mine, as there are numerous volumes in this series, and I have only read a handful of them. While much remains for me to explore, I have found these written back-and-forths from various scholars on a wide range of secondary issues of the faith to be incredibly helpful in building a flexible and informed Christian worldview. Each book features a representative theologian for each prominent position on the topic at hand. After each presents his own view, the others provide their rebuttals. In this way, each position is presented as it is best explained by its supporters, and each is put to the test by its critics. I’m currently reading “Three Views On the Millennium and Beyond,” which is a subject that I know that I’m needing to be educated in. The main lesson that I’ve taken from these is that there is a wide range of acceptable disagreement among Christians. Many things that we might assume are undisputed among Bible-believers are actually hotly debated, and those who disagree can build strong cases from the same Bible we use to support our own views. We cannot always assume “the Bible clearly says” when there are many today and throughout Christian history who have interpreted things differently. We must approach Scripture with an understanding that it is the authority, not our own interpretations. Once we do so, we can be open to being moved to a new and better understanding of what it has to say. Coupling this series with the work of Alisa Childers can help us to discern between what is acceptable Christian doctrine and what is not. Striking a balance isn’t always easy, but it is worth the effort. Having a properly balanced approach to Scripture is especially useful for teaching our children how to study the Bible. Giving them the freedom to decide what makes sense within the boundaries of orthodox Christianity will help them to develop a faith that endures.

These 10 resources are just scratching the surface of what is out there, but they will be a great start for anyone looking to dive into the thoughtful side of Christianity. As I said on a previous post, anyone who really seeks the truth will find that Christianity holds up to the test. Their faith will be made stronger for having asked the difficult questions and for seeking the answers. I hope you find these helpful, and that they may encourage your faith, and the faith of others through you.