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.

5 Keys For Steering Our Kids To Lasting Faith

As I discussed in my previous post, there are a variety of reasons why a person might leave Christianity, and we have been seeing many depart in recent years. While this can be a source of great sadness, there are some lessons to be learned. My hope in writing this is to show how we can do our own part to reverse this trend. I don’t pretend to suggest that we can always prevent people from leaving, but I do believe that our churches, and most importantly, Christian parents, can do better to prepare our own children for the challenges to their faith that they will encounter in an increasingly secular world.

In my line of work, we undergo periodic training in defensive driving through the Smith Driving System. This program, which features behind-the-wheel instruction, is summarized in the “5 Keys.” I came to the realization that these same principles can be easily adapted to the training up of our children in the knowledge of the truth of Christianity. So, I thought I would share how I am applying these keys in raising my own kids, and how I believe the Church at large can likewise learn to help guide our children going forward. 

Key #1: Aim High in Steering (Keep Your Eyes On Christ)

One of the biggest mistakes drivers make is when they lock their eyes on the car in front of them, not seeing what is going on further down the road. As Christians, we can make a similar error by focusing on all the superficial aspects of the day-to-day Christian life. We can be so ingrained in the culture of the Church, that we lose sight of the One for whom it exists. We need to help our kids understand that, while there are many aspects of our lives that are shaped by our faith, the object of our faith is Christ Himself. It is interesting to note in my last post the absence of Jesus as a reason why people leave Christianity. Nobody ever says, “I found the proof that Jesus was not really God and didn’t rise from the dead.” No. The reasons given make it evident that their eyes were not on Christ, but what was right in front of them. By contrast, ex-Muslim turned Christian apologist Nabeel Qureshi, while dying from stomach cancer at the age of 34, affirmed in his final days that while he didn’t understand why his prayers were not answered, or why his suffering was so great, that he could not deny the truth that Jesus is Lord, and that He is risen from the dead. He had his eyes aimed high, and his faith persevered in the midst of the greatest trials. 

Key #2: Get the Big Picture (Make Sense of the Christian Worldview)

I was an AWANA kid. Growing up in the 80s, we were taught to learn our Bible verses word-for-word, and we had all the flannel-board Bible stories in Sunday School to go along with it. Now, there’s nothing wrong with any of these things, but what is severely lacking in Christian education, especially for children and teenagers, is a philosophical grounding for our worldview. We learn “what” to think, but we don’t learn “how” to think as Christians. How many children in our churches can tell you about how David killed Goliath with five smooth stones and a slingshot, yet they cannot tell you what it means to be made “in the image of God?” Do our high schoolers understand why God as our Creator makes all the difference in how we ought to live our lives? Do they know what a soul is, and how its existence points us to God? These are challenging subjects, but they are far more important than the number of animals of each kind that entered the ark, or what kind of wood Noah used to build it. I’m not arguing that we should neglect the details. On the contrary, understanding the purpose of Christianity motivates further study into the details of Scripture. When we place our focus on the details, we can miss the big picture. At some point, we all must ask, “WHY should I be a Christian?” That is a reasonable question, and we should have an answer grounded in truth. Just as adjusting your mirrors in your car can give you the big picture of everything around you, having a wide-angle view of Christianity can give us clarity as we go out into the world. 

Key #3: Keep Your Eyes Moving (Prepare for Potential Threats to Faith)

While it is helpful to have the big picture of the world around us, we are still in danger if we aren’t continually checking each mirror and preparing for potential hazards. Having our Christian worldview in place, we also need to be aware of challenges to it, because they can come from any angle. Many Christians take the approach that we should do everything we can to protect our kids from exposure to people and ideas that run counter to our beliefs. It is sad to see how many of those who share their “ex-Christian testimonies” are ones who grew up in such an environment. A better approach is to help our kids understand what other worldviews are out there, and to show them how they fail to make sense of things. If we are the first to introduce them to postmodernism, and we have shown them how self-refuting it is, they will be prepared to dismiss it when they encounter it. If we teach them to spot naturalism, they will recognize it in their science textbooks. Likewise, we can introduce them to other religions, showing them how they fail as satisfying explanations of the world, and pointing out how they contradict Christianity. Now an important disclaimer: when presenting other views, it is absolutely essential that you do so accurately. Is your description something someone who holds that view would sign on to? It is no good, and even detrimental to your purpose, to present a straw man of other worldviews. Doing so can destroy your credibility, and can be a cause for doubts to arise in your children when they encounter the actual beliefs of others. So this will require some work to properly understand other views. I suspect that many Christians avoid doing this because they are themselves fearful that they will get sucked into them or discover that Christianity is false. As someone who has studied apologetics and philosophy for years now, I can assure you that exposure to other belief systems, while balanced with a big picture understanding of my own, has only strengthened my confidence in the truth of Christianity. I have no doubt that others will experience the same. 

Key #4: Leave Yourself An Out (Allow Differences in Interpretation)

How many of us have been on the freeway when suddenly a car to our side begins moving over into our lane, and we have to swerve to avoid impact? Such a thing happened to me a couple weeks ago, and due to my training to avoid being boxed in, I was able to quickly move over without hitting another car. Learning to “leave yourself an out” is a great practice for Christian faith as well. Knowing that Christianity essentially boils down to faith in Jesus Christ as Lord, and that He is our risen Savior (Key #1), we do not need to box ourselves in by making secondary issues essential to our faith. My goal with my children is to help them to realize that there are various points of disagreement among Christians on a number of doctrinal issues, but that can be a strength, not a weakness. I hope to help them to understand various sides of all these issues so they have the freedom to pursue what they believe is right. We don’t want our children to reject Christianity for the wrong reasons. Are the secondary issues we feel convicted about worth drawing a line in the sand over? Should my children become convinced that I am wrong about my views on the end times, the age of the earth, or even (gasp) predestination, I want them to have the freedom to move into a different lane. As long as that lane is going in the same direction, they are progressing in their walk of faith and getting closer to their eternal home. Their faith will actually be stronger for it, because they have learned to make it their own. Part of this step is being willing to present the various perspectives that are out there to our children once they are old enough to understand. I often tell our 14-year-old daughter, “many Christians disagree on this, but I lean towards this interpretation.” This allows her to differentiate between primary and secondary issues, and also lets her know that it is okay to disagree with me and remain a faithful Christian. Her salvation isn’t dependent on signing off on a long list of doctrinal points. It is much simpler, and much more flexible. In that way, it is much less fragile. 

Key #5: Make Sure They See You (Live Authentically)

Humans are social creatures. We cannot function properly in isolation. When it comes to driving safely, making eye contact or hand signals with pedestrians or other drivers can help to communicate our intentions. As Christian parents, it is likewise important that our children see us living out our faith so that our words translate to our actions. When there is a disconnect, the message is confused and they do not see the practical value in Christianity. For my own part, I have been intentional with our daughter to make sure that she sees me forgive and extend grace to her and my wife when they have done something to upset me. Likewise, I have apologized and asked for forgiveness when I have done wrong to them. I don’t do these things perfectly, but I make sure to do them when I know that I need to because that is how I can best model Christ to my family. My hope is that she will remember these moments as she grows up and that they communicate something real and different from the secular world. Most of all, I hope to be an example to her and my newborn son of selfless, unconditional love. When I drifted away from the faith in my late 20s, my parents did not treat me as any less a part of the family. They demonstrated unconditional love for me as their son. For those parents whose children have left the home, and maybe even left the faith, it is not too late to begin doing this if you aren’t already. It is not enough for Christians to be set apart from the world by what we don’t do. We must also do what the world won’t do. Living out the selfless, sacrificial love of Jesus is the most impactful way of communicating the Gospel. We must begin doing this with those in our own home. 

Concluding Thoughts

I can imagine that for many parents, some of this may seem quite daunting. How am I supposed to teach my kids these things if I don’t know where to begin myself? Well, I won’t lie and say it will be easy. It takes time and a great deal of effort to learn theology, apologetics, and philosophy. However, our children need us to step up to this challenge. What we’ve been doing isn’t good enough in this culture, where the threats to the faith of our kids are so pervasive. If they don’t face them all at school, there are countless voices just a click away on the internet who are hard at work making their beliefs seem silly. We must do better. As it says in Proverbs 22:6: “Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.” This is not an absolute guarantee, but a general principle regarding the responsibility we have to the spiritual health of our children. While we can’t say with certainty that even if we do everything right, that our kids will persevere in their faith, one thing we be sure of is that to neglect that training is to set them up for failure. We must adapt this proverb to our increasingly hostile world by training them to understand and defend Christianity. 

So where do we start? Well, I’d like to help with that in my next post, as I will be sharing my top 10 extra-biblical resources for building and defending the Christian worldview. These will help primarily with keys 2-4. In the meantime, the most important things to remember are to always direct their eyes to Christ as the center of our faith, and to model His love in our homes and to others. In these ways, we can help our kids safely navigate the dangerous roads they will travel in life.