The Case for Christianity, Why Do We Need one? | Teri Dugan

Teri is the woman on the left in the above photo. I’ve already indicated a number of times that I am a huge fan of Teri Dugan and J. Warner Wallace. Teri took part of her Apologetics training from Jim Wallace and if you look at how she approaches laying out the fundamentals of Christianity it isn’t hard to see the systematic approach she uses and the benefits of being under the instruction of Jim Wallace.

Wouldn’t I have loved to be in Teri’s shoes when I first became a Christian when I was in my mid twenties and be instructed by someone like Jim Wallace. The resources available to new Christians today is unreal compared to what we had back in my days, but I digress.

I can’t think of a better training source of covering the basics on all the various aspects of Christianity than what Teri has laid out on her website. So for any relatively new Christians out there (and even older Christians who have never actually taken the time to discover the wealth of knowledge and instruction that is readily available on God’s Word and Christianity), I would ask you to bookmark and subscribe to Teri’s website at http://truthfaithandreason.com

Then go to her list of Archives that start in 2014, that you will find on the right side of her web site. I am going to repost her first post here, after this one, just keep going through her Archives, month by month, year by year. Is this a significant amount of work and study to do? Absolutely but I can tell you from experience, it’s going to be worth it!

And let’s not forget J. Warner Wallace’s website coldcasechristianity.com You obviously can’t go wrong there either. My preference for layout is via Teri’s site but your preference may be different. Better yet, use both!  So here is Teri’s first post. Enjoy and start the journey. I’m excited for you!

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The challenge for Christians to speak out in defense of the faith is ever increasing. The encouragement I received from J. Warner Wallace, Author of Cold Case Christianity, was one that made a profound impact on me. He said, at the end of a course I took from him, “We have now entered the mission field and have a responsibility to use the things we have learned for the cause of Gospel.” He then went on to challenge us to use our voice via blogging. I have heard it said that the most popular blogs out there by far are pornography and Christianity. Wow, what a contrast in worldviews!

It is unfortunate that many Christians today walk in the gray area of secular culture and cannot articulate a Christian Worldview. How many Christians do you know that are visibly different from the rest of the culture? How many Christians do you know that profess the Christian faith and then continue to walk in opposition to the core beliefs of their faith? How many Christians today cannot articulate and defend the core beliefs and truths about their faith?

My early years were lived as a secular-agnostic (not too sure about God’s existence). I lived in blissful ignorance of the truths of the Christian faith. If I dared to investigate the claims of Christianity it would have meant I’d have to take a disciplined look at the way I was living my life. As a High School Biology Teacher it was easy to have this type of worldview even to the point of atheism. Secular public education does not allow for ‘religious’ beliefs to interfere with ‘textbook truths.’ However, there came a point when I began to question these so-called ‘textbook truths.’ Who was writing these ‘truths’ and what presuppositions did they have as they wrote. I began to notice that the world around me conflicted with the things taught in the textbooks and did not make sense from a purely secular-agnostic perspective. Secular culture and science have conflicting and inconsistent answers to the biggest questions most people ask about life. Over the next few months I want to explore some of these questions. If you are a student, a parent, or a curious investigator I hope you will follow along and give some feedback as we look at, in my view, the top ten questions most people ask at some point in their lives:

1. Can truth about anything be known? (Objective vs. relative)
2. Is there something beyond us? (The existence of a Creator-God vs. Naturalism)
3. Where did we come from, who are we, and why are we here? (Origin of life, the existence of the soul, and human purpose) 
4. Are miracles possible? (Supernatural events)
5. Is the Bible more than just a book written by men? (The historicity, reliability and inspiration of Scripture)
6. Was Jesus who He claimed He to be? (Jesus’ Deity, purpose and resurrection)
7. What happens after we die? (Heaven/Hell/0)
8. If God exists then why is there so much evil and suffering in the world? (Probably the number one objection to the Christian faith; an objection or evidence)
9. Don’t all faiths lead to the same god? (Christianity’s exclusive claims)
10. Does faith really matter anyway? (The crutch vs. the creed)

If you are a Christian then I would challenge you to “Own Your Faith, Know What You Believe, and Why You Believe It!” If you are not a Christian then I would challenge you to reason through your beliefs with me because what we accept as truth in this life can have eternal consequences.

If you are up for this challenge then follow this blog as I believe it will help you to become a confident owner, defender, and articulator of your faith!

Can you add to any of these questions? I will consider adding it to the list.

Teri Dugan

Always be ready to give an answer for the hope that you have in Christ Jesus as Lord. 1 Peter 3:15