Alex McFarland is a speaker, author, and advocate for Christian apologetics. He is the founder and president of the national apologetic conference, Truth for a New Generation. Alex is the author of over twenty books on apologetics and the Christian faith. For more than a decade, Alex and Bert Harper have cohosted Exploring the Word, a nationally syndicated, live Bible-teaching program heard daily on American Family Radio. He is a graduate of Liberty University and lives near Greensboro North Carolina with Angie, his wife of over thirty years.
Alex joins me to talk about his new book, 100 Bible Questions and Answers for Families, and how the work of apologetics is changing.
Alex McFarland is a speaker, author, and advocate for Christian apologetics. He is the founder and president of the national apologetic conference, Truth for a New Generation. Alex is the author of over twenty books on apologetics and the Christian faith. For more than a decade, Alex and Bert Harper have cohosted Exploring the Word, a nationally syndicated, live Bible-teaching program heard daily on American Family Radio. He is a graduate of Liberty University and lives near Greensboro North Carolina with Angie, his wife of over thirty years.
Alex joins me to talk about his new book, 100 Bible Questions and Answers for Families, and how the work of apologetics is changing.
You're listening to episode 209 of the Pastor Writer podcast conversations on reading, writing and the Christian life. I'm your host, chase Rep, local. I'm excited to be able to bring you today's conversation with Alex McFarland around the topic of apologetics and specifically how apologetics is changing as we get into in today's conversation. I've studied apologetics in the past and seminary, but I'm keenly aware how the questions people are asking today are changing. We're not talking about the same things, not wrestling with the same issues, and Alex does a great job framing how, as Christians, we can answer the questions of our culture, even as those questions are changing. So how do we go about apologetics today? What is the work of apologetics today? And he does so in his book, A Hundred Bible Questions and Answers for Families, which we get into. Hope you enjoyed today's conversation as much as I did and, as always, thanks for listening.
Speaker 1:Well, I'm joined on the podcast today by Alex McFarland. He's a speaker, author and advocate for Christian apologetics. He's the founder and president of the National Apologetic Conference Truth for a New Generation. Alex is the author of over 20 books on apologetics and the Christian faith. For more than a decade, alex and Bert Harper have co-hosted Exploring the Word, a nationally syndicated live Bible teaching program heard daily on American Family Radio. He's a graduate of Liberty University and lives near Greensboro, north Carolina, with Angie, his wife of over 30 years, and it's a privilege and honor to have him on the podcast today to be talking about his new book in apologetics. Alex, thanks for joining me.
Speaker 2:Well, thanks for having me and kudos for the work that you do.
Speaker 1:Hey, well, thank you. So we love getting to have conversations with authors and thinkers, and so looking forward to our conversation today, and maybe a good place for us to start is, I would love to hear a little bit about how you got into apologetics, how this became answering questions and apologetics conversations became the center of your ministry and work.
Speaker 2:Well, thanks very much, jenna. I give God the glory, you know. Let me quote Psalm 115, verse one. It's one of my favorite verses about why we do what we do, but it says not unto us, o Lord, give glory, not unto us, but unto thy name. Give glory for the sake of the truth and so doing events, broadcasting, publishing and all the you know 100 other things that come along with ministry we want to do it for God's glory, but also because the gospel is truth, that Jesus Christ rose from the dead and everybody can have a relationship with Christ if they'll turn from sin and put their trust in Jesus. And to everybody hearing this podcast you know we say it on the radio a lot Jesus is as close by as a prayer. So if somebody hears this and they're not sure that they've got a relationship with Christ, you know that can begin today and that's our motivation. But you know, thanks for let me tell the story a little bit, because I became a Christian when I was in college, I was 21, had a lot of friends that weren't believers as far as I knew, and then myself and I had one or two other friends that became Christians and we were just trying to witness to people and tell them about the Lord. And I began.
Speaker 2:It was the late 80s and I began to realize that we really were kind of in a battle not kind of, but in reality in a battle of worldviews. And, you know, I ultimately went to Liberty University and became a youth pastor, started putting on events and invited people like, I'm sure you'll know, names like this, like Josh McDowell and Chuck Colson and Lee Strobel, and then other apologetics names came along. You know, on the academic side, pretty cerebral and heady were names like Norm Geisler and JP Moreland. But then, more on the popular side, god raised up names like Jay Warner Wallace and Sean McDowell and Eric Metaxas and Dinesh DeSousa, and so on the really serious academic side, names like William Lane Craig and Gary Habermas and Michael Acona and David Beck.
Speaker 2:And then, you know, on the kind of pop level side, there have been a lot of people introducing, you know, the church to apologetics. So you know, you look up and 25 years has gone by and we've done 49 pretty major citywide events that take about a year and a half to prepare for. And then I've spoken in a lot, a lot, a lot of other churches, but apologetics has been just on this trajectory of growth. Whether it's people with questions, you know that they want to believe in Jesus but they're not sure they can really intellectually trust the Bible. Yes, the evidence is compelling. And then there are people like atheists and activists of every strata that you know Christianity is evil or something, and we've spent sometimes years in dialogue with people to try to present, explain, defend the gospel, rise to the challenge of 1 Peter 3, 15 and give an answer. And you know you look up and half your adult life has gone by and but it's all for the gospel. That's what it's all about.
Speaker 1:I'd be really interested to hear you reflect on how questions have been changing over that time. As a pastor, I'm obviously interacting with people's questions around faith fairly frequently, and often those questions can be the same over a number of years. But it also feels like the questions, the questions that are emerging from culture, those are changing, and, particularly as you do work with the next generation, how are you seeing the apologetic mission, the questions you're responding to? Are there changes? Are there patterns that you're seeing emerging over those years and today?
Speaker 2:You know that's a great question, very perceptive question, because the, the, the, the longings of the human heart, in some ways are similar, but the questions have been changing. In fact, I was at a pastor's conference yesterday and we talked about that because, like, let's say, in the the mid 90s, you know, youth and college kids ask a lot of what we would call evidential questions. You know, how do we really know Jesus rose from the dead? Or how do we really know that Moses existed? Or is there archaeological evidence that King David existed, very, very evidence based? But nowadays and I've seen this coming really over, like the last 10 years the questions are much more emotion based. You know, if, if God is good, you Christians tell me that God is all good and all knowing, and yet my life is a wreck and I'm hurting. Why doesn't God care? You know I've had kids ask me this. You know we've done dozens of youth camps. We did seven youth camps in the summer of 2023. And even as you and I are having this conversation, we're in talks to hopefully do 10 youth camps next summer and maybe 15 to 1600 teenagers. But you know, kids, the last questions like this you know I prayed and yet my mom and dad still split up. You know I prayed and my dad still abandoned us, and the questions are emotional.
Speaker 2:Now let's drill down a little bit. There are two things I want to point out. Three emotional needs common to all human beings are acceptance, significance and security. Acceptance do I fit in. Significance Do I matter? And then security am I safe? And you know there are 10,000 dead in streets whereby we'll try to get those needs met and those are common, I really think, to all human beings acceptance, significance, security and you and I could, we could do an entire week of shows on how we believe Christianity really does meet those needs in the Lord Jesus.
Speaker 2:Well, let me talk about some of the social dynamics that have changed really over the last 25 or 30 years, that have contributed to the different way that apologetics and the church can minister. For really 2000 years of human history and really, you know, 240 plus years of American life, we were a familial culture. The starting point and really the hub of the wheel of life has been family, and acceptance, significance, security were a big part of what family life was like, and sociologists tell us that you know all people, especially children growing up, they want and they need family. But that's really been changing. What's interesting is Japan and certain Asian countries were really ahead of North America and Europe in the erosion of family, but we've moved from a familial culture to a tribal culture. Now, in a familial culture you've got acceptance, significant security, but in a tribal culture, and just because we're in the Western world and in affluent America, you know, with mobile devices and technology, don't think that people don't still have their tribe or their clique or their you know posse they can run with. In a tribal culture, belonging is the chief value. Now let me explain a little bit.
Speaker 2:People ask you know, I've been on panel discussions and things. And they'll say you know, I don't get it. My youth? They'll say that they've accepted Christ. And they'll say they believe the Bible. And you can ask is Jesus the one and only Savior? And they'll say yes. Within one minute later you can say well, do people who don't believe in Jesus still go to heaven? And they'll say yes to that as well. Okay, do you believe the Bible? Yes, is homosexuality okay? Yes, they'll say so.
Speaker 2:People are sketching their head. How can youth excuse me, how can youth that profess to know Christ have wildly unbiblical beliefs? Well, when you're in, you don't have acceptance, significance at security at home, but you think you've got it, maybe even superficially, very in a fragile sense, in your hood of friends or your affinity group. Kids will do things that are illogical, incompatible, maybe dangerous, because if that's the only little piece of ground you've got, you'll guard it with your life. Now that's why I mean we've counseled people that were professed Christians and claimed to know the Lord but would be involved in the homosexual community or LGBTQ trans communities. I've had kids say to me I'm conflicted, I know this isn't right, but you've got to understand I don't have anybody else in this world. So I think therein lies an opportunity and, frankly, a calling for the church to be the family for a generation that, to a large degree, has never had family.
Speaker 1:I think that's really helpful. It raises the question around how that's changing the apologetics task itself. I took an apologetics course in seminary years ago and I imagine, like you when probably many listeners, when I hear apologetics you do think of evidence and arguments. I was your list earlier. I was thinking I know the inscription that tells us about the existence of David in the archaeological record and I know the eyewitness arguments for the factuality of the resurrection. But as you're describing the current apologetic task, those answers are not the answers for the questions that are being asked. As you are working with this next generation and as you're doing this apologetic task answering questions, how is it changing the work itself of apologetics?
Speaker 2:Well, great question, and you've really zeroed in on where the dynamics of ministry are. There can be a tipping point where, when emotional needs are met, there can be a tipping point where people do. Suddenly they want to know the intellectual side of things. Well, is this really real? Can I trust my Bible? I saw a video on TikTok that some guy trashes the Bible. What do you say, alex? So there is a need for the evidential side of apologetics and there are really a number of apologetics approaches. We can talk about that in just a moment. But let me say this that the church's role right now is going to take a lot of time and commitment to build relationships. Now, a true relationship, a sociologist and psychologist will tell us, is reciprocal. There's trust, honesty and respect. Now, what's interesting and let's not give God the glory for this, because I'm not the world's most social person, I'm kind of an introvert, really but with generally unbelieving people, but let's talk about some of the most prominent segments in our culture Homosexuals, atheists, muslims you can build relationship and there can be legitimate dialogue when there's trust, honesty, respect. Now, do we want people to be born again and turn to Jesus? Of course, but we've got to build friendships with people with no expectation of return, and I know that might sound counterintuitive, but it takes time, and I've found that you can share the Word of God with gay and transgender activists. You can share the Word of God with Muslims, especially Muslims, muslims. Let me tell you there is a real existential moment happening in the Islamic world where a lot of Muslims are seriously questioning the legitimacy of Islam, and you can talk about Jesus, the Virgin birth, the Trinity, the atonement, the incarnation, the authenticity of the Bible, a lot of the things that even 10 years ago would have been nearly off limits to discuss with a Muslim they're very open to talking about. And then atheists, I'll tell you, like on the creation evolution debate. A few years ago there was a professor from North Carolina State University named Dr Mary Schweitzer and very famously she was on 60 minutes showing soft tissue in fossils, fossils that were supposed to be 15 million years old. They're cutting them open I mean, these are essentially rocks and they're sewing them open and finding blood vessels and wet blood cells in things supposedly millions of years old. And so this this was a shocking thing, and she was on 60 minutes with Leslie Stahl and this Dr Mary Schweitzer and other scientists have weighed in on this. But she said basically this is a quote we're going to have to rewrite everything we thought we knew about science. So the reason I'm bringing that up is because hardcore evolutionists that legitimized their atheism on Darwin and evolution they're rethinking that position.
Speaker 2:So back to evangelism and ministry. In the 21st century world that we're in, it takes time. You know, when Billy Graham was at his height in the, you know, 60s through the 80s and he could fill stadiums with people and broadcast the gospel, we were very much more inclined toward belief in God. That's theism and then specifically Christianity. But our culture has become so secularized and so many people you know we're two and three generations into the lives of people that have, I mean, church has never been a part of their background. And you know, I still believe in mass communication and mass evangelism, but really, nowadays, rather than broadcasting, it's narrow casting and it takes time.
Speaker 2:The good news is we can do this, churches can do it, they. George Barnas says there are 100 million Americans that are born again. So let me encourage people, build friendships with nonbelievers, have dinner, break bread and build relationship. And when there is trust, honesty, respect, there's reciprocity. You talk, you listen, the heart becomes open and you can share the gospel truth. And I know this is a cliche and I know this is kind of like a meme, but they don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. I mean, I know that's a cliche to the nth degree, but it really is true, don't you think?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I do, and I was thinking as you were talking. We have so many great resources which I'm going to get to some of yours in a moment to help us answer questions, to help us find answers, but what it really does take is somebody who's willing to just enter into those conversations. That's, in many ways, the hardest part is just a willingness to engage people, to build relationships with people, to get to know people what their legitimate questions are, and many people feel intimidated because they may not know the answer. Well, in many ways is the easy part. What you're describing is that willingness to just settle your life into the questions and the lives and the friendships of others. That's the real calling. I think that begins the whole thing.
Speaker 2:You're right. I mean, memorizing a least noble book is the easy part. The part that's going to take some intentionality and commitment is to block out time to do what we're supposed to do, and that is to make disciples and build friendships with people. I got to tell you I really think people are lonely. I really do. I know that we look and everybody's got a mobile device, everybody is glued to their phone, but humans are still humans and we were made for relationships and I really I found that people are.
Speaker 2:First of all, let me say this people are fascinating and again, do we want people to get saved and believe in Jesus? Of course we do. That is our prayer and that is our goal. But people, everybody has a story, everybody has a journey. Sometimes that journey is hard and painful to hear about, but people are such a blessing and let me just encourage it doesn't take big budget. You don't have to be slick and fancy and have a graphics department. You can just be a little corner church with not a lot in what the world says are resources, but everybody can befriend somebody. College students my wife and I go to a church and we've started a ministry reaching out to college students. My wife is much better at it than me, but we've got people assigned with names to just call up a college student who's very often away and overwhelmed and just telling them we're praying for you and how can we be lifting you up? And they come home at Thanksgiving, they come to church, and so it's all about investing in the lives of people. It really is.
Speaker 1:I do want to get to some of the work you've been doing because, as we were talking about, we have resources in front of us. Certainly you've been working long and hard to accumulate those. A couple of the books I've got of yours 100 Bible Questions and Answers and then a recently published 100 Bible Questions and Answers for Families I am interested. I mean, that puts us at 200. If you had just these two books, where did these questions come from? How are you sort of recognizing these questions that need to be addressed? And then maybe in a moment we can get to why, specifically for families now as well?
Speaker 2:Well, great question. Well, largely these questions of these two books have come from the radio show that we do called Exploring the Word, and then I'll do things like with you and I on this podcast today and people find my website and they email me so I just keep lists of questions In a way. The first question book I did was back in 2007, called the 10 Most Common Objections to Christianity and how to Effectively Answer them, and that was published by Bethany House Still in print. By far that's been the most successful book that the Lord's allowed me to do and there were objections really, and what I did on that book. I had been speaking at a lot of colleges and I just kept a notebook with the questions I was getting in open mic situations or one on one, and I just numbered these questions and I took the top 10 objections. And then we've done a number of other books, but right now it's funny I did the one on 100 questions and answers for families, because we get a lot of questions about marriage and parenting and conflict resolution and these questions some were from like children.
Speaker 2:This is amazing. We had like a first grade boy and I wish I could show you some of these pictures of like little scraps of paper, because based on the handwriting style, we can tell pretty much the age of a child or a middle schooler or a teenager. We can definitely tell if it's a girl or a boy by handwriting. Girls have vastly better penmanship than young boys. Right? It sounds true. Yeah, yeah, first grade boy.
Speaker 2:I don't know if he was eight years old or seven or what he was, but he asked this question why did God create people? And then second question why did God create me? Isn't that something I mean? Philosophers from time immemorial have pondered the question why am I here and what is my purpose? And here's a first grade boy in 21st century America asking why did God create people and why did God create me? That's a very deep existential question.
Speaker 2:Of course, christianity has the answer. We had a girl and she was, I don't know, a fourth or fifth grade girl, and she asked this question. We put it in the book In the Old Testament why did God allow men to have more than one wife? So I listen, I give God the glory. I just learned yesterday that the book is in Walmart and Sam's Club, it is in Barnes and Noble, everywhere, and, of course, all the Christian bookstores and if people have a local Christian bookstore I urge them to support that. Christian bookstores are a dying breed, sadly. But I am grateful that we're getting into secular markets because we want unreached people to hear biblical truth. But the publisher asked if we had enough for another book, believe it or not. To my knowledge, I think I've got about 700 more questions, I don't know. Some of them are kind of deep in the weeds, you know.
Speaker 1:Well, I'm really intrigued by this idea of trying to help families have better conversations. It's something I think a lot about as a pastor. It's played into some of the work that I even do Just the recognition that for a lot of parents I think they feel inadequate to answer their children's questions. I think sometimes parents will just assume that the church's job is to step in and have these conversations or answer these questions, and so I'm grateful for resources, but also interested to just hear your thoughts on the value of parents sort of interacting, trying to raise the bar when it comes to the conversations we're having with our children around the Bible, and also the need to be able, as parents, to engage those conversations even when we might feel sort of uncertain or not as prepared as we would like to be around them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you know, when you think about it, 18 years is such a small window of time, isn't it? I mean, the kids are born and you've got all those milestones I've got a nine-year-old more halfway there.
Speaker 1:I think about it all the time. How quick it goes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, from the first steps of you know a toddler and then suddenly that same toddler is taking the steps across the stage, graduating from high school. It really kind of happens in a blink. And we, in a lot of our seminars that we do, we tell moms and dads lose at anything else but win with your children. Now one of the keys is family mealtime and I know we're busy, we're busy, but one of the key contexts for imparting values and, yes, imparting Christian values is to have family mealtime. And we really challenge parents Because, look, there's all these questions.
Speaker 2:You know where did the Bible come from? You know how do I get along with my siblings? I mean, goodness, look in the Bible at Cain and Abel, joseph and his brothers, genesis 37 through 45. I mean, there's a lot in the Bible about marriage. Look at Abraham and Sarah. My goodness, abraham is not going to win Husband of the Year award in some of his you know journey. So there's so much in God's word about marriage, parenting, siblings, family dynamics. But on a practical level, moms and dads, again, you don't have to be, you don't have to be James Dobson or Dr Phil, just spend time, t-i-m-e time, with your kids.
Speaker 2:There was a study done not too many years ago about the populations in America's prisons and study after study over about a 20 year period, very consistent the ethnicity least likely to ever serve any jail time are Jewish males. In fact, it's almost statistically unmeasurable. Jewish males just don't get arrested. And so somebody might ask the question why is that? Well, jewish males, regardless of their socioeconomic status, it's not because they're affluent, necessarily, because there are many Jewish families that are middle class, lower middle class, even in poverty. So they did this study and I remember I first learned of this in the mid 90s and I followed, you know, follow up studies, as most people realize, even though we're very secularized and you know we've got mobile devices and kids are glued to, you know, a screen, sadly, and moms and dads definitely limit screen time.
Speaker 2:But in the Jewish culture there is still basically three dynamics involvement in the synagogue, then there are these milestones bar mitzvah, bat mitzvah where a little boy, you know, becomes a man at 13, you're a man now and we expect you to comport yourself and act like it. And little girls, you're a young woman now. So there's this, this mitzvah where we, the larger adult community, we put our hands on you, we bless you and we acknowledge you're an adult now. Now we realize a 13 year old boy, physically, psychologically, emotionally, there are a lot, lots of years of maturity left to go. But there isn't in the Jewish culture, there is not this long, protracted decades of hey, I'm a wild, crazy kid. And nowadays adolescence begins at about seven or eight and stretches till about 40. And that's not merely unhealthy, I mean, it's tragic. And adolescence is really a post-war war two phenomenon. That's another story.
Speaker 2:Here's the other thing about why Jewish young people are just statistically unlikely to ever get arrested or serve jail time or fail to launch. It's due to family mealtime of any ethnicity in North America likely to have the evening meal, supper time together at least three to five nights a week. It's Jewish families and sociologists have documented. There's just something about stopping your world even for 30 minutes and sitting down around the kitchen table and eating a meal together. Now I can almost hear it. Moms and dads are saying, oh, but, but Alex, you have no idea, we're busy, we have ballet, we have soccer, we have violin, we have this, this, this. Look, if extra curricular activities would make better youth, we would have seen it by now.
Speaker 2:Well, I know, I mean, I've been a youth pastor since the late 80s. I know, even in the 80s and 90s as a youth pastor, the best, most staunch Christian families I had. I knew I could never really count on them to fully be committed to church. There was always a soccer tournament that could preempt a missions trip, there was always a cheerleading camp that could preempt my youth and we had one of the biggest churches in Greensboro, north Carolina, one of the largest youth groups. But I always knew, always it was Jesus and church, unless something better came along, and I mean part of that is just the dynamics of American evangelicalism.
Speaker 2:But let me say I think we need to take a lesson from the Jewish families that to a large degree they have the family meal and synagogue, and the sad thing is these people don't even know Jesus, they've not accepted their Messiah and yet very often Jewish families are more committed to that which is incomplete and therefore not completely true than we Christians are committed to that which is complete and is the truth of the gospel. So, moms and dads, you are the parent, I have parents. I'll say chant, say it like you mean it. I am the parent. You can have family meal time unplugged, by the way, and moms and dads said to me oh, but if I limit screen time, my child will freak out. Well, okay, good, who pays the bills? Remember the golden rule the one with the gold makes the rules. Mom and dad, turn off the phones. Have a meal in part. Values to your kids.
Speaker 2:And I'll get off my soapbox.
Speaker 1:You can stay on it for a while. I'm passionate about the same thing too, and I always feel like I say to parents even if it's drive through, bring it home and eat it together, or throw the chicken nuggets in the air fryer If that's all it is for dinner, and at least set around the table and talk about the day. Something equally passionate about One of the things I've heard you mention is and I think it's an important part of particularly as pastors are thinking about apologetics as well too that oftentimes questions that seem intellectual, you've said, can also be related to deeper heart issues, that there can be more than one thing going on in a question at a time. Maybe you could describe how you've seen that and how you recognize all the questions can actually have behind them.
Speaker 2:Great Again, very perceptive, and I man, I look forward to listening to some of your sermons online. I can tell the Lord has gifted you for discernment, my friend.
Speaker 1:It's my job to ask the good questions and let the guests give good answers, so I've got the easier of the two, I think.
Speaker 2:So I'm married to a nurse and she gets a lot of medical magazines that come in and nursing magazines, and I noticed some of the headlines. And one time I remember there was an article about the presenting problem versus the real problem and the presenting symptoms versus the real etiology or origin of the problem. And so I've read this article and I was sort of applying it to ministry. A patient might present with one issue, but actually what's going on is something else. The presenting issue is tangential and then there's something else. And very often it's that way with ministry.
Speaker 2:I've had people ask questions like well, I had a boy, we were in a youth conference and we had rented a movie theater and we had, you know, I don't know 1200 youth there and a boy asked if I really believed in heaven and eternity and he stayed around the book table and he asked if I really believed in hell. And this child seemed so intent to ask about eternity and he was asking well, maybe we just die and that's it. It's just kind of lights out and I just sensed in my spirit that there was something more going on. And so during a break a couple of teenage boys came over here and said oh, alex, dude, we have no idea. That is like the most hardcore atheist in our school. He loves Christopher Hitchens, richard Dawkins, sam Harris, daniel Dennett. This guy is like the most hardcore atheist. And this boy was. He's very intelligent but he wasn't but about you know, 16, maybe I think it was. Anyway. So the next time he came to the book table I was wanting to have my antenna up about atheism and I was like hey, man, you ask a lot of questions about eternity. And you know, and we begin to talk about time and eternity you know it's a fairly intellectual conversation that time is a part of this realm, time, space, matter. You know the Greek word is Khranas, so the solar system is turning and we're in a universe of time, but outside of this realm is eternity. So I'm like wondering why is this kid so obsessed about eternity and trying to refute that there even is eternity?
Speaker 2:Well, turns out and I'll be brief this kid had no family and was raised by a grandfather and grandmother. When the grandmother got cancer and died, the grandfather got very depressed and ended up taking his life, and so the only significant adult in the life of this teenage boy committed suicide. And now all of this conversation and this fact finding happened over like a couple of hours. And anyway he a pastor, visited and said well, if your grandfather committed suicide, he's in hell and that's very sad, but let's get you saved, young fella. Well, anyway, the idea of the grandfather being in hell was just intolerable, obviously. So the young man in his mind created a world where that wouldn't be so. He just blocked out belief in God or eternity and had found plenty of YouTube videos to prop up his burgeoning atheism. And here's my point. We counsel with him and talk with him.
Speaker 2:And turns out the grandfather that had raised him had been a retired minister. His wife died, he was on Prozac and he lapsed into a depression spiral. Now let me insert this I'm not legitimizing suicide. I'm not saying suicide is right, it's not right. But a lot of great thinkers, from CS Lewis to Billy Graham, would concur that suicide doesn't necessarily mean a person goes to hell. And I'm not legitimizing suicide by any stretch.
Speaker 2:But this young boy who had he basically had influenced a ton of people at his high school for pop atheism, but what it was the real issue. We counseled with him, we talked about look, if Christianity is true, that doesn't guarantee that your grandfather went to hell and your grandfather seemed to exhibit all the fruits of the spirit Was an exemplary Christian. He was on an antidepressant in the passing of his wife. He got it and it's well documented that Prozac a lot of people at the famous singer Del Shannon and others have tragically taken their own lives on antidepressants. Long story short, we led this kid to Christ. He grew in the Lord. After about a year and a half we heard he was leading a Bible study at his school, but it took some fairly intense look at biblical worldview. That didn't mean to take too long on that.
Speaker 2:But my point is the real issue may not be the same as the presenting issue. The presenting issue was questions about time and is there a realm outside of time? What it really got to was the suicide of the man that had raised him and the eternal destiny of his grandfather. And anyway, I could give you some other examples. But I think it's fun really, because as we pray and as we grow, here are the things that converge in the heart of a disciple who's trying to be a witness. We have to learn the scripture, we need to learn some biblical worldview. We definitely need to learn how to hear from the Holy Spirit and have discernment. We definitely get a strong prayer life going because while I'm ministering to people, I'm praying for them, I'm calling up to God for wisdom. I really think evangelism and apologetics is this thrilling two-sided benefit, in that you can impact the lives of people and it will grow and strengthen you as you're endeavoring to do it.
Speaker 1:I think it brings us back well to where we started, that you have to be willing to entertain the question but also the person that's asking the question. Often that involves more than just the question itself. I think you represent that well. Maybe just another question to wrap us up I know a lot of pastors who are listening right now as we've talked about how apologetics is changing the kinds of questions. You've even laid out some of these more complex situations. I think a lot of pastors can just feel overwhelmed in this moment with just how diverse the questions are, how complicated the questions are. Feeling like the questions are not the questions I prepared to answer when I was studying for ministry Some people maybe decades ago. Amen, do you just have some advice for pastors who may just feel overwhelmed by the kinds of questions, the kinds of apologetic situations they're finding themselves in in this moment?
Speaker 2:Well props to all the pastors out there. Praise God for the shepherd of local flocks. I just have so much respect and appreciation for pastors like yourself because it matters. I just want to say with all my heart and I've pastored, I was a youth pastor 11 years. I have a total of 20 years of pastoral experience. I know some of the pressures and the dynamics of being a senior pastor.
Speaker 2:Let me just say to all the people that are 1 Corinthians 1558, paul writes this that therefore be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for, as much as you know, your labor is not in vain in the Lord. To the pastors I say you matter, you honestly matter, even in the busyness and perhaps fatigue. Please don't throw in the towel. But the other thing is it's great to read books and memorize content. I love, hey man, I love data, I love content, I love to read. But don't feel like you've got to go swallow a Josh McDowell book every single morning. Here's the thing we can do. Apologetics. But you yourself are an apologetic. 1 Peter 315, be ready always to give an answer. But 1 Peter 215 says this is the will of God that by doing well, you will put to silence the arguments of foolish men. You remember Galatians 5,? The fruits of the Spirit, love and joy and peace, says against such, there is no law and in a way, that kind of means like you can't argue with it.
Speaker 2:I've had more than a few atheists say to me that well, like David Silverman, of American Atheists, we did a number of debates. He led the organization founded by Madeline Muriel Hare. But he said to me on several occasions and I completely give God the glory, but David said. He said there's something about you. You're very authentic. He said I don't believe in God, but if I ever did, I would call you. And I said, yeah, well, call me. At three in the morning, david, I said, whenever you wake up and decide that you need to have God in your life, yes, please call me, and the sooner the better.
Speaker 2:But here's the thing. First, peter 3, 15, we can do apologetics, but I would say to every pastor out there and you're faithful to the Lord, you're faithful to your spouse and family, you're faithful to your calling, people really do pick up on that. And so, pastors, you know I've got a recommended reading list. I love you know, there's so many great people in great categories, whether it's, you know, the philosophical side of apologetics and the nature of truth.
Speaker 2:You know, does truth exist? The epistemological side of defending the faith, and then the evidential side of defending the faith, whether it's history, archaeology, science, even mathematics, mental health and psychology. And then there's, you know, the relational side. I mean I think about people like Mark Middleberg, who you know, along with Lee Strobel, they've created so many great resources. There's a young man out of Dallas Seminary that's just, in my opinion, incredibly impressive. His name is Alan Parr. He's coming up and I mean, we're like living in the golden age of apologetics, but pastors don't feel like you. You know it's weird. Let me just say this here's what I'm trying to say In America we have this evangelical industry of publishing and broadcasting and that's fine, but there are a lot of pastors that I think they feel like they don't matter because they've not gotten an article in Outreach Magazine or got a book in the stores. And in a way, you know, I really think, when I truly believe this, when we're around the Bema seat, it's not going to be the celebrity Christians that impacted the most people, it's going to be the pastors that were in the churches, faithfully loving their flock.
Speaker 2:You know, john 21,. This is wild John 21,. Remember, jesus told Peter feed my lambs, feed my sheep, feed my sheep. Well, that's three different words. The word lamb is Arnea, the word sheep is probata and the second word for sheep is probaton. So when Jesus told Peter feed my lambs Arnea, that means a newborn baby lamb. Feed my sheep. Probata, that means a sheep. It really is a sheep, but it's an immature sheep that might wander off. And the third word, probaton, is a mature sheep that stays with the flock and with the shepherd, even if there's not a fence around.
Speaker 2:And in the course of ministry we meet all those people and in fact we have been all of those people. And so to the pastors I would say you're the ones that are making the lasting difference in the lives of people, because you're there in the crucible of life's experiences. When there's a death in the family, they can't call Lee Strobel generally, or Josh McDowell, as much as I love Lee and Josh. When the family is unraveling, you call your local pastor, and that's why writing a book is fine and the Lord's allowed me to do a few of that but loving people, that's what is used by God to make lifelong change in the lives of people. So, pastors, you're doing God's work. I have nothing but respect and accolades. Please, please, don't be weary and please don't give up.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think that's such an encouraging word and one that resonates with me. I'm having a podcast conversation today, but yesterday I interacted with a man whose wife passed away the night before and spent hospital visitations and pre-marriage counseling. It was a very pastoral day and I certainly have a sense, even this morning, of just the sacredness, the importance of that work. And so, for pastors who perhaps are driving and listening to this on the way to those very appointments, you're doing what God's called you to do and we need it desperately right now. I think we both agree with that. I've been talking to Alex McFarlane Great conversation. I've got this new book, 100 Bible Questions and Answers for Families. Alex, you've referred to a reading list and also people writing questions. If you're open to that, is there a place people can go to be able to give you questions or just reach out or follow the work you're doing as well?
Speaker 2:Sure, thanks very much. Yes, the main website is just my name, alexmcfarlanecom. Secondarily, there's a website we started over a year ago. Clubs we're helping young people middle school, high school, even a few college groups start clubs where they have like an apologetics discussion group, and that website is viraltruthcom viraltruthcom, and I'd love to hear from anybody that listens. You can email me my email is super easy, alexmcfarlanecom and whether it's a question or just correspondence, or if in their city they want us to do one of our Truth for a New Generation conferences TNG. We've done about 49 conferences and we've brought in everybody you've ever heard of and maybe a few you haven't. But we love it. We're all about trying to encourage the church and equip the church and persuade the lost. So, if I may serve, please don't hesitate to reach out to us.
Speaker 1:Well, I'll have those links in the show notes and Alex, thanks again for joining me and excited to hear there's 700 more questions in the can, so I'll be looking for future additions to come out as well. And just really grateful for the work you've been doing and continue to do.
Speaker 2:Well, ditto to you, my dear friend. Thanks for your time.
Speaker 1:Well, I really enjoyed today's conversation. I hope you did as well, and maybe you'll stop by the pastorridercom website to find out more information about Alex and his work. You can do that by going to pastorridercom, and I have links along with the show notes. Also, if you're enjoying the podcast, I would love for you to leave a quick review. You can do that wherever you listen to podcasts, by clicking one of the star ratings or taking a moment to leave a short comment about what you like about the podcast, maybe what you would like to see more of. I read all of those and always love getting that feedback from listeners. Also, if you haven't subscribed, feel free to do that to keep up with upcoming episodes. I've got some great ones, as always. Thanks for listening, until next time.