No Apologies
At our church over the last few years, we have had several excellent speakers on apologetics and creation science. Our pastor, my son-in-law, likes to emphasize these topics yearly to combat the growing efforts of the world, and many Christians, to minimize the literal meaning and importance of God's Word. Building on some of these speakers' points, I suggest the following as a clear, simple rationale for a Creator, a Savior, and His authoritative Word.
That there is an infinitely wise and loving Creator is obvious from the creation's complexity (e.g., the makeup of a single cell), interdependence (e.g., oxygen producing plants and oxygen consuming humans and animals), scale (galactic and microscopic), and information-rich design (e.g., DNA). And from the First Cause principle, the Creator must be outside of the creation, and therefore not subject to its perceived "laws" that He put in place. He can certainly choose to intervene in any way, and at any time, He pleases.
God is absolutely good, and He knows everything—past, present, and future, At the same time, He has sovereignly and lovingly created man with free will and allows us to choose, even things that will harm us and others. But here’s the mind-blowing part—He knows what we will choose and has mysteriously provided a way to redeem every sinful act, intentional and unintentional. He is more than able to work all things together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.
As part of the creation, man can never, on his own, be certain of any "truth" since he can only know and experience a small fraction of the whole. Even logic is problematic since it depends on basic assumptions as starting points. And "science" is fraught with danger due to often unrecognized or inadequate assumptions and the value systems of its practitioners, which bias the data collection and analysis process.
The only way to know truth is to know the One who does know everything, the Creator! So we must see if He has revealed what we need to know about Him, since we cannot trust our efforts to seek Him on our own terms. He has, in fact, done so. It is through the Bible, which chronicles
the creation,
the spiritual as well as physical realms,
His special people Israel who show how He works in creation,
His plan for redemption from innate sin and reconciliation with a holy God through the blood sacrifice of His Son Jesus,
and finally, Jesus conquering death and empowering His Church, believers in Him, through His indwelling presence, the Holy Spirit.
God is able to use fallible people and processes to create and steward His written Scriptures in all of their rich variations. He also is able to use words (as long as they line up with the Scriptures) that are spoken, written, and taught by past and present apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers whom He has put in place to establish, edify, exhort, and comfort His Church.
Not understanding and teaching these realities, much of the Church has lost its authority to disciple the nations. The resulting compromise and lukewarmness have contributed to the shocking ascendance of the global evil confronting us. The answer is for each of us to recognize who God has created us to be, and to take our place in His present kingdom, using the talents and gifts He has designed for us individually. We must do this boldly in every aspect of our lives—our family, work, church, education, recreation, government, and business. Let us run our race with no regrets and no apologies!