DAY 57

CHALLENGE

“The idea of supernatural realms like heaven and hell is scientifically absurd.”

DEFENSE

On the contrary: scientists themselves propose the possibility of realms with properties different from those of our world.

Contemporary scientific literature is filled with proposals that our uni- verse might be just one realm among a much larger collection. This set of realms—referred to as the “multiverse”—is often proposed as a way of explaining why our universe has multiple properties that seem finely tuned to allow for the existence of life.

Scientists recognize that it wou…

DAY 56

CHALLENGE

“We have no evidence the saints are aware of our prayer requests. How would they even know? They are not omniscient.”

DEFENSE

We have evidence they are aware of our prayers.

You don’t have to know everything to know some things, so the saints don’t have to be omniscient to be aware of our prayer requests.

We do not know much about how the human intellect works in heaven, but the fact that heaven is a higher state than this life suggests we will have more rather than less awareness. This is also suggested because we will be made “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Pet. …

DAY 55

CHALLENGE

“The value of Christ’s sacrifice was infinite. He paid it all. Thus there is no role for penance in the Christian life.”

DEFENSE

The value of Christ’s death on the cross was infinite—more than enough to pay for all the sins of mankind. But even after God has forgiven the eternal consequences of our sins, he still wants us to experience some negative consequences.

When a child misbehaves, there need to be consequences. If parents never applied any discipline, the child would never learn his lesson. Scripture uses parental discipline as an image to express how God rela…

DAY 54

CHALLENGE

“Christians shouldn’t baptize using the Trinitarian formula. The Bible speaks of baptizing in Jesus’ name (Acts 2:38, 8:12, 16, 10:48, 19:5).”

DEFENSE

These verses refer to the type of baptism, not the words used in the rite.

Jesus indicated the words to be used in baptism, saying: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28:19).

Referring to Christian baptism by these words would be very clunky, so there was a need for a shorter way to refer to it.

In part, this was because …

DAY 53

CHALLENGE

“It isn’t necessary to turn away from sin to be saved. The Greek word for repentance simply means ‘change your mind.’ As long as you change your mind and recognize that you are a sinner, God will forgive you even if you don’t turn away from sin.”

DEFENSE

The Greek word for “repentance”—metanoia—does come from roots that can mean “change” (meta-) and “mind” (nous), but the roots of a word do not determine its meaning. The way a word is used does.

Scripture makes it clear that if we wish to be saved from our sins, we need to turn from them—not just recognize them as si…

DAY 52

CHALLENGE

“If we’re not supposed to determine our religious beliefs by Scripture alone, name some apostolic Traditions that aren’t in the New Testament.”

DEFENSE

Which examples one will find persuasive depends on one’s theological viewpoint, but there are some that should be convincing to all traditional Protestants.

One is that there are to be no more apostles. The college of apostles did not continue past the first century. The task of shepherding the Church devolved from the apostles upon their successors, the bishops, but the two offices are not identical (CCC 860–62).

The c…

DAY 51

CHALLENGE

“I don’t see how a loving God could send someone to hell. Why would he want to punish one of his creatures for all eternity?”

DEFENSE

God doesn’t want people to go to hell. He “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4), but we can reject his offer of salvation.

Although Scripture and the Church use the language of punishment in connection with hell, this has to be properly understood.

“It is not a punishment imposed externally by God but a development of premises already set by people in this life . . . ‘Eternal dam- nation,’ t…

DAY 50

CHALLENGE

“We should form our theological beliefs by Scripture alone, following the example of the Bereans, who ‘were more noble than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with all eagerness, examining the scriptures daily to see if these things were so’ (Acts 17:11).”

DEFENSE

This seriously misreads the passage regarding the Bereans.

The context for the Berean incident is found in Acts 17:1–10. When Paul and Silas initially visited the Macedonian city of Thessalonica, they began preaching and making converts, which led to conflict with some in the Jewish community: …

DAY 49

CHALLENGE

“The star of Bethlehem is a myth. No star leads people from place to place.”

DEFENSE

The star of Bethlehem did not lead the Magi.

Some propose that the star was a supernatural phenomenon, making it capable of leading the Magi. However, this proposal is unnecessary. The text doesn’t claim the star led anybody.

When the Magi arrive in Jerusalem, they say, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East” (Matt. 2:2). This passage has been understood two ways: (1) the Magi were in the east when they saw the star, and (2) they saw th…

DAY 48

CHALLENGE

“The Catholic practice of praying for the dead is unbiblical.”

DEFENSE

The practice is not just Catholic and it is biblical.

First, it isn’t only Catholics who pray for the dead. Except in the Protestant community, prayer for the dead is universal among Christians. Further, prayer for the dead has been practiced by Jews since before the time of Christ and continues to be practiced by them today.

In Scripture, Judah Maccabee and his men were retrieving the bodies of fallen comrades when they discovered the men who had fallen were wearing pagan amulets, and so “they turn…