Question

Posted on July 9, 2008 by theoldadam
They saw Him raise people from the dead…and yet they did not believe.

I just want to make sure you took that all in. They saw Him raise people from the dead …and yet they did not believe.

So… what will you say to someone to convince them that Jesus is God? Do you have some sure fire arguments that will make them believe? Or, are you going to tell me that it doesn’t work like that, and that you are just giving them some good arguments to soften them up?

The Holy Spirit is not quite capable of breaking down someone’s defenses without a little help from us and ‘our reason’. It’s like the big guy holding another guy, so that the little guy can wallop him.   Is the Holy Spirit ‘the little guy’ ?

Day 12 Beat Up  Is the Word of God so weak and impotent that it needs help from human reason to accomplish it’s purposes?
 Does, or does not the Holy Spirit create faith in us…when and where He wills?

Some say they know of some that came to faith with the help of some apologetic prodding.
In all of the arguing for Jesus, was not the Word present there in some form? Could it have been the Word of God, the gospel promise, that brought that person to faith…if even he really did come to faith. To have one’s confession of faith is not to know one’s heart.  Jesus Himself tells us that “all men are liars.”
We cannot know for sure who the believers are. We know who the baptised are, and we give people the benefit of any doubt, and trust that their confession is true. But that is not really the point. The point is that God is the One who calls and chooses us, and that He has chosen to do that in Word and sacrament.  Romans 1:16, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it  is the power of God for salvation…”

The Word of God vs. human reasoning. Or, the Word of God, plus a little help from human reasoning. Knowing what you know about God and how He works, which one is more plausible? Which one in more scriptural?

Filed under: Apologetics | 34 Comments »