OUR GOALS
Our Goals
To provide in the public arena an intelligent, articulate, and uncompromising yet gracious Christian perspective on the most important issues concerning the truth of the Christian faith today11, such as:
- Is it worth my time/effort to look into this?
- Does it matter what I believe?
- What can I know about my future based on my beliefs?
- Is there truth about worldview beliefs? How can I know?
- What about other religions? And atheism, agnosticism, etc.?
- How does science relate with different belief systems?
- What if I am a good person?
- Does God exist?
- Why would a loving God allow pain, or hell?
- What is the meaning of life?
- What comes after life?
- Is there objective right and wrong?
- How did the universe come to be?
- Is evolution much ado about nothing?
- Is the Bible only manmade? Is it reliable?
- Is Christianity a crutch?
- What makes Jesus unique?
- How can I trust that Jesus is and did what was claimed?
These topics, as well as the others surrounding Christianity and worldview beliefs in general, are covered in multiple forms on the website and are also provided in live, interactive presentations to engage others with some of the most important, interesting and applicable information in order to carry out a four-fold goal:
- To provide an articulate, intelligent voice for biblical Christianity in the public arena;
- To challenge thinking and belief with the truth of biblical Christianity;
- To train Christians to state and defend Christian truth claims with greater effectiveness12; and
- To encourage everyone to think because unexamined beliefs are not worth believing and are not safe to stand on.
We want to encourage people to face a deep parts of their lives, which all of us deal with either by avoiding it, just wading in the shallow end but not going deeply enough to know what we are really getting into, or walking fully into the deep questions in life and coming away with supported answers and confidence in the foundation that guides our life. In this area of life, the shallow waters are where the sharks prowl and where people get hurt or lost.
Our Motivation
Goals of this program do not include:
- Gaining favor or acceptance from God. We don’t have to earn grace. We do this work because he has already accepted us.
- “Converting” you. Determining your worldview is serious. Wherever you are, you are standing there because you have become comfortable in that position for a variety of reasons.
During a lecture I was giving at the University of Michigan, there was a student who gave me the impression he was just waiting to go at me in the Q & A. When that time came, he didn’t end up challenging any of the scientific evidence provided, but instead asked this: If someone could give me absolute proof there is no God, would I become an atheist?
Great question. I responded by saying, “No, not right away,” then went on to explain how I have become comfortable with emotions and desires tied up with where I am at, so I would first go through some typical defense mechanisms and try to avoid the cognitive dissonance. Yet, I would become an atheist eventually, and much sooner than most, because I cannot get away from the analytical itch in my brain that would relentlessly remind me I am not living on trustworthy ground.
People like to claim their choice of beliefs is purely based on intellectual reasons, which would make recognizing and stepping onto a different, better supported foundation much easier. However, those people are ignoring the vast significance of the emotional and volitional factors in beliefs (explained here).
The reason you don’t talk politics, sports, or religion at Thanksgiving is because of the huge emotional bond we have with where we are comfortable, and people sometimes let their feelings overwhelm appropriate behavior or thought.
Therefore, we have the more modest goal of encouraging increased thought on this most important issue. God is knocking on everyone’s door, and whether you open it or lean against it to keep it closed is entirely up to you. But if you want encouragement, useful resources, or someone to listen and discuss with, we would love to be there whenever and however we are able.
References and Citations
- 1 From the Cross Examined Statement of Faith: http://crossexamined.org/about
- 2 Example of difficult to understand concepts: God being “Triune” seemed weird and interesting to me, as it should, because three-dimensional humanity has not experienced such a state of being. Yet, when a challenge by a Muslim had me look into this further, the information found not only exposed a fatal flaw in Islam, but also provided such interesting and unexpected answers to other questions, as truth typically does.
- 3, 6, 9 Reasons to Believe: www.reasons.org/about/our-mission
- 4, 5, 7, 8 Dr. William L. Craig, Reasonable Faith, http://www.reasonablefaith.org/statement-of-faith
- 10 Dr. Frank Turek: http://crossexamined.org/christian-apologetics
- 11,12 Dr. William Lane Craig: http://www.reasonablefaith.org/about-reasonable-faith
