No teaching of Jesus is more difficult or counterintuitive than his command to love one’s enemies. Loving one’s friends makes sense, but loving one’s enemies seems pointless at best and dangerous at worst. Besides, it seems like loving those who have harmed us makes light of the pain they have caused. Won’t loving them, we inevitably think, send the message that it’s okay that they hurt us?

But loving our enemies does not excuse their sin; instead, it models what Jesus did when he loved us while we were his enemies. Far from excusing our sin, his love took our sin on himself, washed it away, and refused to pay us back for it. And when Christians love their enemies in Jesus’ name and by Jesus’ power, they break the cycle of recrimination and revenge so characteristic of a fallen and violent world. Then the self-giving love of Jesus can be seen and experienced by those who otherwise would never be aware of the radical forgiveness of God.

Hosts: Aaron Mueller and Chuck Rathert

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Christianity’s exclusive claims are controversial, but the Bible insists that Jesus is the only way to God. The main difference between Christianity and all other worldviews–that the founder of Christianity is not merely a teacher who shows the path to God, but is himself the only path to God–makes clear why this exclusive claim is an essential part of Christianity’s claims.

If God cannot be accessed by ordinary human thoughts, efforts, or experience, then he can only be knowable if he chooses to reveal himself. Because all other religions reject this core Christian belief, Christianity’s exclusivity is really just its uniqueness. In other words, any attempt to turn Christianity into just another option among many for getting right with God is an effort to make Christianity something it isn’t.

Jesus is God, and to know God is to know him, and to know him is to know God.

Hosts: Aaron Mueller and Chuck Rathert

Subscribe to the show at https://cacg.saintjamesglencarbon.org.

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Christianity is a missionary religion, and Christians are expected to share their faith in Jesus with unbelievers. But how should Christians go about arguing for the truth of the biblical story? One common strategy is to offer evidence—whether through historical arguments for the resurrection, the compatibility of science with biblical cosmology, fulfilled prophecy, or archaeological discoveries that confirm biblical accounts. However, when presented with this evidence, many people will either offer counter-evidence or simply refuse to engage. It becomes clear that evidence alone is rarely enough to convince someone of the truth of Christianity.

Because of this, those who subscribe to presuppositional apologetics argue that all people hold unprovable, foundational assumptions—or presuppositions—that shape what they believe. These presuppositions serve as frameworks through which we view all evidence. If someone presupposes the existence of God, the reality of the resurrection, and the need for salvation, they are naturally receptive to Christian claims. Conversely, if someone presupposes that God does not exist, or that God becoming human is an impossibility, they will likely reject Christian claims regardless of convincing evidence. Therefore, presuppositional apologetics focuses less on proving Christianity’s claims than it does on exposing the hidden assumptions of unbelievers, reframing Christianity as a coherent worldview, and praying that the Holy Spirit transforms hearts and minds to align with God's truth.

Hosts: Aaron Mueller and Chuck Rathert

Subscribe to the show at https://cacg.saintjamesglencarbon.org.

To comment on this episode, visit https://saintjamesglencarbon.org/cacg-ep0149.