Doctrine is under attack. You initial response might be, “Of course it is, heretics have been challenging the foundations of the church since its inception!” But there is a powerful difference regarding the challenges of today: not only are particular doctrines under attack (e.g. the Trinity, the incarnation, Hell, the inerrancy of Scriptures), but the idea of doctrine itself is increasingly being considered antiquated, irrelevant, and downright divisive. And these challenges are not only from outside the church, but from inside as well.

In God’s Word, true knowledge of Jesus Christ is what brings transformation: “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32).  Eternal salvation depends upon believing accurately in Christ: “For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life…” (John 6:40). We recognize false prophets because they deny a key doctrine about Jesus, namely, that He came in the flesh (1 John 4:2). And Paul’s encouragement to Titus is to “hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it” (Titus 1:9). Biblically and historically speaking it is difficult to underestimate the importance of right doctrine.

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Last month my school hosted a public debate between the FAAK club (Freethinking Atheist Agnostic Kinship) at Capistrano Valley High and the Apologetics Club of my Christian school (CVCS). It was amazing! We are working on getting the video to post later. But you will find the article below interesting and well worth the read. In our era of increasingly vitriolic rhetoric, this was a wonderful example of how to dialogue on important topics without buying into the postmodern sentimentality that “we’re all right.”

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FAAK, Capo Valley Christian School hold friendly debate to benefit Invisible Children

By Rachel Hatch
Opinion Editor

On Tuesday, May 26, the Freethinking Atheist Agnostic Kinship (FAAK) joined The Apologetics Club of Capo Valley Christian School in a debate hosted at CVCS.

While my first passion (and formal training) is in theology and philosophy, I do love following politics. For balance, I regularly read the HuffingtonPost.com (liberal) Townhall.com (conservative) and watch CNN and Fox News to try and get multiple sides of every issue. For the past couple weeks, I’ve decided to pay even closer attention to the words of President Obama. In doing so, I’m amazed at how many times he directly contradicts himself. Yet what’s more amazing is that the mainstream media doesn’t pick up on these. Consider a few…

President Obama: Can we emphasize your Muslim roots or not? During the presidential campaign you strongly downplayed your Islamic background (strong criticism was leveled at those who included your middle name “Hussein.”) Yet in your recent speech in Cairo you emphasized your background and sympathy for Islam. In fact, you boasted of having “known Islam on three continents.” Which is it? And how far does your sympathy for Islam go? Why did you speak out immediately against the killing of Dr. Tiller, but were very slow in response to the murder at the recruiting office by an American Muslim?

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Late-term abortion is despicable. Except for extremely rare circumstances, a baby at this stage is fully viable (it can survive outside the mother’s womb). An unborn child at this stage is a precious member of the human community who deserves our protection. Some people deny an embryo full human status because they say it doesn’t look human (this ignores the fact that an embryo looks exactly as a human being is supposed to look like at that stage of development). But the same reasoning cannot be applied to a baby in late term. It is obviously human.

Every clear thinking American—and in particular, Christians—ought to condemn the actions of Dr. Tiller. Taking the life of 60,000 precious unborn human persons is a grave wrong that we cannot, and must not, ignore. If we don’t speak out on behalf of these people, who will?

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The title of this blog may have shocked you. So I better clarify something right up front: I am NOT endorsing the actions of the killer who took Dr. Tiller’s life in ANY way. I agree with the conclusions of Dr. Robert George:

Whoever murdered George Tiller has done a gravely wicked thing. …No private individual had the right to execute judgment against him. For the sake of justice and right, the perpetrator of this evil deed must be prosecuted, convicted and punished. …Every human life is precious. George Tiller’s life was precious. We do not teach the wrongness of taking human life by wrongfully taking a human life.

My point is simply to raise some troubling questions about the justification that has been offered for why the killing of Dr. Tiller should be condemned. My criticism will be applied to both the right and the left.

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I was recently interviewed by Campus Crusade for Christ (CCCi.org) regarding the new release of More Than A Carpenter. My dad first wrote this book in 1977 and it has since sold over 15 million copies. I was able to help him update it for a new generation. I really believe it will be one of the most effective evangelistic tools for the next generation. Here's why.

CCCi.org: Why re-release More Than a Carpenter after 32 years?

Sean: Many people have written off apologetics as no longer relevant in our so-called "postmodern world," but nothing could be further from the truth. This generation has been dubbed solely relational, but rationality is also important in reaching and equipping them.

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“They found the missing link. Darwin’s theory is now confirmed. There is no longer good reason to doubt that evolution is true.” Once again, the national media is focused on an ancient fossil find that allegedly confirms Darwin’s theory of evolution beyond a reasonable doubt. Stories about this find have been on the Drudge Report, ABC News, CNN and every other major news program. Mayor Bloomberg dubbed the find an “astonishing breakthrough.” Even Google changed their logo to match the fossil.

The creature was first found in 1983 in Germany and has been dubbed “Ida.” The fossil is remarkably preserved and is dated to 47 million years ago. It is about the size of a cat, has four legs, and has a long tail. Many scientists are heralding it as a clue that will help reveal mysteries surrounding puzzles of early evolution. The story of the fossil find will be shown on History, which is owned by A&E Television Networks. A book is planned as well.

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Have you ever read a book that had a genuine impact on your life? While I read a lot of books (I always have a book with me just in case I catch a few spare moments!), I recently read one that profoundly changed the way I think, and in turn, changed my ministry to young people. It’s a new book on leadership called Handoff: The Only Way to Win the Race of Life, by Dr. Jeff Myers.

Dr. Myers began the book saying: “I WISH I WOULD HAVE KNOWN TEN YEARS AGO WHAT I’M ABOUT TO SHARE WITH YOU.” Naturally, that got my attention. What was his great insight? Basically, he had been teaching college, writing books, and traveling around the world speaking at big events. Since he was busy and an in-demand speaker, he assumed his influence was equally profound. Yet something kept bugging him—whenever graduating students talked about the teachers who truly influenced them, his name never came up. While he got strokes for being a good communicator, he couldn’t shake the perception that influence in students’ lives was strongly correlated with personal investment. As Jeff said, “I was covering the globe but making little impression on it.” (p. 11)

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Earlier this year some high school students invited me to lunch. To my amazement, the girl across the table from me had live TV on her cell phone. While this has become more common recently, this was the first time I had seen this. She had perfect reception of CNN, VH1, MTV, Fox News, and more. I had to take a closer look! So we swapped phones for a few minutes. Pretty soon all the students were showing off the “cool” features of their individual phones. One young man handed me his phone and I wanted to see how quickly it would connect to the Internet. I pushed the Safari icon but got something I was not expecting—a deeply disturbing pornographic image. This got me wondering how many young people look at porn. How common is this? Now that porn is accessible from anywhere, at any time, how much is it really affecting young people?

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