Warranted Christian Belief and the Internal Witness of the Holy Spirit

Among many apologists, I often hear a distinction offered between "knowing" and "showing" that the Christian faith is true. On such a view, it is supposed that one can have a warranted knowledge in the truth of Christianity wholly apart from public evidence. Such an approach has long troubled me for a number of reasons, the foremost being that I have no internal witness to the truth of Christianity -- at least not of the kind that, in my judgment, would warrant belief. It would thus be rather dishonest for me to assert such an internal witness when I have no such subjective experience to speak of.

Now, I think in principle this could be a valid approach. For instance, suppose that whenever someone became a believer, there was a voice from heaven, only heard by the new believer, that said "Welcome to the family." That, I think, would be rational warrant for affirming Christianity to be true -- even though you would need to appeal to public evidence in order to demonstrate to others that Christianity is true.

I am not prepared to lie about my own experience when talking to non-believers, or for that matter other believers. I have not had some sort of tangible subjective experience that I would consider to impart to me rational warrant for my beliefs. Yes, I believe myself to have a relationship with God (which is absolutely necessary for any believer to have) -- but when I pray, I have confidence that God hears and answers my prayer because of the public evidence I have studied. By that, I do not mean to rule out the possibility that other believers have had such an experience that would rationally warrant belief.

Answered prayer is another piece of subjective evidence often asserted to warrant belief, and again, I think this could be a valid approach in principle. However, to use it as belief-warranting evidence, one would have to demonstrate a statistical significance to answered prayer, in order to distinguish it from mere coincidence. All Christians who pray can speak of times where they have requested something in prayer where they have not received what they asked for. There are a number of explanations given for this in Scripture. For example, prayer can be hindered by sin (Proverbs 28:9, 1 Peter 3:7) or by selfish-intent (James 4:3), and sometimes God knows that what we ask for is not good for us, and often his will and purpose is different from ours. All these potential variables make it difficult to use answered or unanswered prayer as evidence for or against the Christian faith. If fulfilled prayer is to be used as evidence for the truth of Christianity, one must be able to specify a hypothetical outcome which in principle could be dis-confirmatory evidence. This makes arguing from fulfilled prayer complicated.

If one were to ask me why I myself am a follower of Jesus, I would have to say "My faith rests entirely on the public evidence." The cumulative force of the evidence for Christianity gives me a robust basis for believing Christianity to be true -- and the extent of the evidence in which my faith is grounded means that my faith is not immediately perturbed by encountering fresh counter-evidence or arguments that I have not previously been exposed to (in much the same way that a well supported scientific theory is seldom overturned by a single anomalous observation) -- or, indeed, if some of the evidence on which my faith rests turns out, in the course of time, to be less strong than I presently believe (in much the same way that the discovery that some of the evidence for the earth's vast age was weaker than I previously thought would not seriously cause me to doubt the conclusion, which would still be supported by significant other public evidence).

For these reasons, even though I ground my personal faith in the public evidence (and not in subjective internal experience) my confidence in my faith is not tossed to and fro by the shifting sands of evidence.

An objection that I frequently encounter in this regard is that basing one's Christian convictions on the public evidence diminishes the role of the Holy Spirit in conversion. But this isn't so. Rather, it is my position that the Holy Spirit uses arguments and evidence to draw men into the kingdom of God.

If the appeal to subjective personal experience does not warrant the Mormons in their belief, why should it warrant the Christian? The way I know Christianity to be true is exactly the same as how I show Christianity to be true -- by means of appeal to the public evidence.

Introducing the "Apologetics Academy" Online Mentoring Program

Are you a seasoned apologist looking to improve and sharpen your ability, and test your skills in debate against the best critics of Christianity? Are you a beginner apologist wanting to learn apologetics from some of the finest Christian minds in the world? Are you a Christian who is wrestling with doubts? Are you a non-Christian who has questions about Christianity and wants to honestly explore and find out more?

If you fall into any of the above categories, let me introduce you to my "Apologetics Academy" online mentoring program! Every Saturday, at 8pm GMT / 3pm Eastern / 2pm Central / 12noon Pacific, I run an online apologetics mentoring class using a webinar platform called "Zoom" (http://www.zoom.us). Each week, I bring in a guest speaker to give a short presentation on a given topic. In addition to bringing in Christian speakers, I often also bring in leading atheist or Muslim speakers to present their case.

The speaker's opening presentation is immediately followed by a session of Q&A. Members of the audience indicate to me that they would like to ask a question or make a comment on the speaker's presentation. I then promote them to be a co-panellist and allow them to literally go back and forth one-on-one with the speaker. Other audience members prefer to lurk in the background and simply listen to the back and forth interaction. Whatever your current apologetics background, my online mentoring program is designed to fulfil your apologetics needs. This is your chance to interact one-on-one with some of the brightest Christian intellects in the world, or with the leading critics of Christianity.

For a complete list of currently confirmed speakers (and information on how to participate), see this page on my website. New exciting speakers are being confirmed all the time. On popular demand, I have even started to record the audio for some of the Webinars (these are also embedded on the same page). If you would like to be considered to be a future speaker for my group (no matter what worldview you represent -- whether it be Christian, Muslim, atheist, or other), please contact me at the email address provided on the contact page at my website. If you know someone who might make a good future guest, please also refer them to me. To be kept up-to-date with upcoming Webinars, please like my public Facebook page here and join the Apologetics Academy group on Facebook.

Please do me a favour by spreading the word on social media, email lists and on your personal blog pages. We only recently started to use Zoom to conduct these Webinars, as it is specially designed for conducting online meetings in a way that best suits our needs. Zoom, unfortunately, is not free, and I have to pay a monthly subscription fee. To enable me to continue to maintain these free-of-charge Webinars, I am dependent on contributions. So, if you feel so led, please consider contributing via my website.

I look forward to seeing you on Saturdays.

Advice to Young Aspiring Apologists

David Wood recently posted an excellent video featuring a series of short interview clips with various apologists (Douglas Groothuis, Gary Habermas, Craig Hazen, Mike Licona, Nabeel Qureshi, Mary Jo Sharp, and Frank Turek) on advice to future apologists. As one who is of the younger generation myself (I am almost 27), and who has been active in the public apologetics arena from relatively young (from around 20 years of age) I have some experience to speak of when it comes to being a young defender of the Christian faith.

In this article, I want to address those who are young, perhaps in their late teens or in their 20’s, and who aspire to do public work in apologetics. In particular, I want to reflect on my observations over the past six or seven years of involvement in apologetics and what lessons I have learned in the process — sometimes, unfortunately, the hard way.

Advice for Future Apologists

In 1 Peter 3:15, Christians are commanded: "In your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect." From the Greek word for "give an answer" comes the word "apologetics."

Christians are commanded to be apologists. But how do we go about this? In this video, seven experienced Christian apologists (Douglas Groothuis, Gary Habermas, Craig Hazen, Mike Licona, Nabeel Qureshi, Mary Jo Sharp, and Frank Turek) share their thoughts.

Biblical Faith: Is it Blind or Rational?

Here is my latest appearance on the One Minute Apologist. In this short clip, I am asked about whether Biblical faith is blind or rational. I argue that Christians are encouraged in Scripture to think and use argument and reason to persuade people to become Christians. You can find more of my interviews on the One Minute Apologist and other programs at my YouTube channel.

Is the Trinity Defensible Philosophically?

Here is the latest episode of the One Minute Apologist, which was released today, in which I am asked about whether the doctrine of the Trinity is philosophically defensible. For more of my interviews on the One Minute Apologist and other programs, check out my YouTube channel here.

Introducing "Belief Map"

If you’re an apologist in training, I want to call your attention to a really neat resource.

BeliefMap.org is a pretty neat Christian apologetics website, which is building online “pocket-apologist” for believers and non-believers to use. Imagine an encyclopedia that allows users to interact with academic material in a point-counterpoint debate format. That is to say, navigating the site feels like debating an expert Christian apologist, and you can get to information really quickly from it. All I can say is, try it out! Above is a 3 minute video tutorial of how it works.

Apologetics Saves Lives (Literally)

Apologetics (giving a rational defense of one's beliefs) is an intellectual endeavor, but the consequences can be quite practical. Since people often act on their beliefs (e.g., helping those in need because we believe that it's the right thing to do), defending true beliefs and refuting false beliefs will occasionally be a matter of life and death.

Take Oklahoma beheader Alton Nolen (who now goes by the name "Jah'Keem Yisrael") as an example.

According to Nolen's Facebook page (before it was taken down), he was raised in a Christian home:

However, as evidenced by his complete ignorance of basic Christian doctrine, he was given absolutely no intellectual foundation. When he was eventually presented with a variety of objections to Christianity in prison, he converted to Islam.

Let's look at a few of Nolen's posts to see what would have happened if he had encountered a Christian apologist.

How difficult are these objections? Watch how easy this is:

(1) Christians worship Jesus because (a) he is God; (b) he said that we must honor him just as we honor the Father (John 5:22-23), and one of the ways we honor the Father is through worship; and (c) he accepted worship from his disciples. (Click here to watch "Jesus Accepts Worship.")

(2) Christians pray in Jesus' name because he said, "Whatever you ask in my name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son" (John 14:13). (Notice that Jesus tells his followers that he can answer their prayers.)

(3) Jesus is the Creator:

John 1:3—All things came into being through Him [Jesus], and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.

Colossians 1:16—For by Him [Jesus] all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.

(4) Jesus is the Forgiver:

Mark 2:5-12—When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, "Son, your sins are forgiven." Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, "Why does this fellow talk like that? He's blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?" Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, "Why are you thinking these things? Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up, take your mat and walk'? But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins." So he said to the man, "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this!"

(5) In Matthew 7:21, Jesus does not say, "None of those who call me Lord enter the kingdom of God." Instead, he says, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." See the difference? Jesus isn't telling his followers not to call him "Lord" (as Nolen falsely claims). Instead, he is telling them that merely calling him "Lord" is not sufficient for salvation if one doesn't do the will of the Father. Moreover, Jesus specifically declares that he is Lord:

John 13:13—"You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am."

Notice that simple familiarity with the Bible is enough to easily refute all of Nolen's objections. Let's look at another.

(1) Nolen asks, "Why would the Father Jesus as you say be coming back to earth." Nolen is clearly ignorant of basic Christian theology, because we don't say that Jesus is the Father.

(2) He asks what everyone is going to do when Jesus is dead. Once again, he is completely ignorant of basic Christian doctrine. God is a Trinity, and Jesus' divine nature doesn't cease to exist when he dies on the cross. (For a fuller discussion of this topic, watch my video "How Can God Die?")

(3) Nolen says we will be standing in front of Allah on judgment day. But this means that Jesus must be Allah, since Jesus said:

Matthew 25:31-33—"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left."

John 5:22-23—"Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him."

(4) Nolen challenges Christians to show him that Jesus is God. The passages we have already looked at show that Jesus is God. But for a fuller discussion, see my article "Where Did Jesus Say, 'I Am God, Worship Me'?"

Perhaps Nolen has something more significant in his next post.

Nolen quotes part of John 1:18 to show that Jesus is not God. Think about how silly this is. John 1 begins by calling Jesus God (v. 1) and declares that all things were created through Jesus (v. 3). Is John's position supposed to suddenly change by the time we get to verse 18? (Also note that Alton doesn't even know who the speaker is. He thinks this is Jesus talking, when it's the author of the Gospel!)

But let's look at the verse. John 1:18 is difficult to translate, because the Greek word monogenes can mean either "begotten" or "unique," but here are four translations so we can see what happens when we simply read the entire verse:

NIV—No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

NASB—No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.

ESV—No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.

NRSV—No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.

Is this verse supposed to refute belief in the deity of Christ? Because when we actually read the verse, it specifically says that Jesus is God.

When we read the verse in the context of the Gospel of John, we see that the verse only makes sense in light of the Christian doctrines of the Trinity and the Incarnation. Human beings have not directly seen the Father (or the Trinity), but the Son entered creation to reveal him to us. Though we haven't directly seen the Father, we have seen him indirectly by seeing Jesus. Thus Jesus said:

John 14:7—"If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him."

Moving on:

The level of ignorance here is astounding.

(1) Nolen declares that the Dead Sea Scrolls were taken out of the Bible, as if the scrolls were originally included in the Bible but were later removed. This is nonsense. The Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of nearly a thousand scrolls, some of which are copies of Old Testament books (e.g., Genesis, Exodus, etc.), while others are deuterocanonical (not included in the Jewish canon of scripture). The texts that were included in the Bible are still in the Bible, and the texts that didn't still aren't. So which texts were removed?

(2) Nolen says that the Dead Sea Scrolls claim that Jesus never died. Since the Dead Sea Scrolls aren't about the life of Jesus, we can only wonder how they say that Jesus didn't die.

(3) Nolen apparently believes that the Gospel of Barnabas was part of the Dead Sea Scrolls. But the Gospel of Barnabas is a medieval forgery written more than a thousand years after the time of Jesus and was certainly not one of the Dead Sea Scrolls. It was written in Italian!

Putting all of this together, we can see that Nolen (1) knows nothing about Christianity, but (2) thinks that he has a knock-down case against Christianity. If Nolen had been given a basic foundation in apologetics, he wouldn't be arguing any of this. When confronted with arguments against Christianity in prison, he would have been able to refute them.

But it gets worse. When he went to prison, Nolen was just as ignorant of Islam as he was of Christianity. This allowed Muslims to convince him that Islam is the truth. Once he became convinced that Islam is the truth, he learned about jihad, terrorizing non-Muslims, and beheading. He eventually decided to wage jihad by committing a "lone-wolf" attack, beheading a woman and stabbing another before being shot.

If Nolen had met a well-informed Christian apologist before, during, or after his conversion to Islam, I don't think we would ever have heard of him, because I don't think he would have gone on a killing spree.

Apologetics, then, can save lives. It's time for Christians to equip ourselves to defend the Gospel and to refute Islam.