By Joel Settecase

Welcome to the Think Update. Thanks for reading. Soon I will be sending these out to our email subscribers (subscribe here). You can start expecting these every Friday. Since we literally just introduced this concept today, I am posting this first Think Update to the blog.

Below you’ll find tools in three categories, Worldview, Evangelism and Apologetics. I’ve included a film recommendation, an app, an evangelism curriculum for churches, and an argument to help you deal with an objection to Christianity. Short and sweet.

Thanks again for reading. I hope this makes you think!

Worldview

Polycarp movie poster from Nashvillewife.com

Polycarp (film) | Watch on Amazon or Pure Flix.

Aliza and I watched this film last night and loved it. What a great reminder that Christianity didn’t start yesterday but has a rich, 2,000-year history. Polycarp, a student of the Apostle John and bishop of Smyrna, was martyred by Rome. They stopped him but couldn’t stop Christ’s church.

Evangelism

God Tools (app) | Download on the App Store or Google Play

This is one of the best apps I know of for evangelism. It’s super user-friendly and makes sharing the Gospel incredibly clear and easy. It’s from Cru, the parent org of the Think Institute. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Cojourners (course) | Download at Churchmovements.com

Cojourners is an excellent course on how to help others along on their spiritual journey. You can download the curriculum here, or request me to teach it via the Contact page. If you’re in the area, I’ll be teaching it at Midwest Bible Church in Chicago on October 6, 20, 27, November 3.

Apologetics

An Argument from Morality

Have you ever had someone tell you he couldn’t believe in the God of the Bible because he’s too immoral? Usually the subject of the “genocide” of the Canaanites gets brought up.

Here’s how to answer and turn the conversation into an invitation to receive Jesus:

Complaints about God’s “immorality” assume that moral laws exist that are perfect, absolute, unchanging and infinite (they apply to everyone, everywhere and at all times). These laws are also knowable (after all, you claim to know them!).
The Bible agrees! There are moral laws, and they are rooted in God. God is all those things: perfect, absolute, unchanging, infinite, and knowable. He is also Triune— Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who have acted morally toward each other fore eternity. God created us in His image, which is why we care about morality at all.
Here’s the problem: no other religion or perspective can account for these moral laws. They can’t be rooted in the changing material world (Atheism), or non-absolute deities (Polytheism), or a God who is not relational in his nature (Islam, modern Judaism).
So, your concern about morality is good! God cares about morality too. But morality makes no sense without God. Lose him and you lose the moral laws you’re trying to judge him by! God is always good, even when we don’t understand his actions. Oh, and the Bible which teaches this also condemns us as immoral and deserving of judgment! Yet God offers us forgiveness by grace, through faith in his Son, Jesus. I urge you to repent and believe in him.

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Think Update | October 4, 2019