In December 2011, we published three articles on Audio Evangelism that I had written and submitted to our local paper as "Letters to the Editor." This week we will share six more articles. Although newspapers vary in their rules for such submissions, most will gladly accept well-written opinion pieces from time to time (and will print them for free). Let me encourage you to write letters to the editor of your local paper on various moral or religious issues that are in the public eye at the moment (you don't have to be a preacher to do this). Be respectful and use it as an opportunity to speak the truth in love. Christians are wise to use this free opportunity to teach the gospel of Christ locally and to challenge people to think on the truth. It is another way to sow and water the seed of God's word in the hearts of men (cf. I Cor. 3:5-7)!

Our local newspaper is printed semi-weekly. There is a religious column every Friday written by Dr. Harold Weinberg. He is not a preacher, per se, though he has a Jewish background and is well-known in our community. His articles each week touch on some aspect of religion, and I have been submitting letters to the editor in response to some of his more egregious pieces. I have tried to write in a way that will be beneficial to you (to some degree, I hope), realizing that you have not read the initial articles from Weinberg that prompted my replies (unless you live here in DeWitt County and subscribe to The Clinton Journal).

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[Letter to the Editor of The Clinton Journal - 12/07/10]

Since Dr. Weinberg has generously invited comments to his articles on religion, I thought I would take the time to respond to one item from his December 3rd piece. There are other items I would enjoy addressing, but space will not permit such at this time.

Weinberg provided the following definition of faith: "Faith is deciding to allow yourself to believe something that your intellect would otherwise cause you to reject." Although this definition is subscribed to by many, it is flawed Biblically. The writer of Hebrews, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, defined faith as "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" (11:1). True Biblical faith is not a blind leap into the dark as many suppose; real faith is and must always be based upon evidence. Faith is taking God at His word. Knowledge and faith are not mutually exclusive (e.g., John 4:42).

For instance, I believe that there is a Supreme Being who has created everything in the universe. I believe such, not as an irrational guess, but because of the manifold evidence that abounds to support it (e.g., the innumerable displays of design which can be seen in the order of the cosmos, our planet itself, the human body, etc.). A design demands a designer, and an open examination of the evidence leads my intellect to believe that there is most certainly a Supreme Being of some sort. Though I cannot see Him with my eyes, I both know and believe He exists-again, because of the evidence available, particularly in the realms of teleology and cosmology (cf. Rom. 1:20). Furthermore, we can know and believe that the God described in the Bible is the Supreme Being responsible for life as we know it. The Bible itself is full of internal evidences such as scientific foreknowledge, accurately fulfilled detailed prophecies, the absence of contradictions, etc., that make it a book unlike any other. It is a book that could not have been put together by mortals alone. Its existence and contents are strong evidence that the Supreme Being of our universe is the God of the Bible!

There is much more that could be said about these matters though space will not permit it here. The interested reader is encouraged to visit this webpage for a more thorough presentation: believe.AudioEvangelism.com. If you have any interest in dialoguing on these or any other matter of religion, I would enjoy meeting with you at your convenience.