“This Thanksgiving, YOU are not going to convince your relatives and friends of the truth of the gospel. You can present evidence or argue with them till you are blue in the face, and they are not going to budge. A least you cannot win them over by argument alone. Remember, the reason people do not change their minds about what they believe is because their affections control their reasoning, their motivations, their presuppositions and their intuitions (John 3:19-20; Rom 1:18-21). Affections shape and bias the way we all process information and so people tend to rationalize on behalf of outcomes they want to see. People are skeptical of, and hardened toward, information they don’t want to believe and have deep motivations to protect information they do want to believe. So evidence, by itself, is a really bad way to try to convince someone of the gospel. But join your evidence and the gospel with your persistent heartfelt prayers for your friends and family and God may show up and surprise you. The seeds you plant and water may be germinated by the Spirit. So do not stop reasoning and persuading, but remember that understanding the gospel is a supernatural event where God changes hearts of stone to flesh (Ezek 36:26; 1 Cor 3:7; 12:3; 1 Thess 1:4, 5) so continue to look up in prayer for God’s help as you lovingly communicate the only truth which can deliver them from their captivity, of which we all once were a part.” (John Hendryx)

by Cesar Vigil-Ruiz

Feliz Thanksgiving! Since most are on vacation during this time, I’m presenting a beefed-up post of links for you all to enjoy while recovering from dinner. I pray this set will fill you up with thanksgiving to our great God and Savior!

• Our church has greatly benefited from the work that The Master’s Seminary has done to train men to preach and teach God’s Word. Every fall and spring brings about a new issue from the TMS Journal that covers a lot of theological ground, most of which would bless the church layman. Make sure you catch this Fall’s issue!
• As Thanksgiving has come and gone, there’s still time to be thankful for all that God has given. Here’s what I’ve found: learning to be thankful, finding out how thankful you are, why we are thankful, the benefits of being thankful, how Thanksgiving Day began and its meaning, 33 ways to enjoy highly relational holidays, and the inescapable, theological nature of Thanksgiving.
• Jason Engwer of Triablogue has an updated post of Christmas resources from this year that deals with apologetic issues related to the birth of Christ. This will be a great source to reference during the holiday season when it comes to presenting an informed view to those who don’t believe.
• David Powlison provides a short word to Christian men: your identity is not the same as your role. Ray Ortlund advises young dads to enjoy their kids.
• When engaging in apologetics with an unbeliever, sometimes the endeavor seems fruitless when providing evidence after evidence for the truth of the Christian worldview. Using a real-life example from counter-terrorism efforts, pastor (and former USMC vet) Jim Lee lays out a simple distinction between evidential and presuppositional apologetics.
• Alex Chediak, engineer and physics professor, is interviewed about his new book, Beating the College Debt Trap: Getting a Degree Without Going Broke. Collegians, parents of youth and collegians, this one is a definite must-read.
• Is there a way to demonstrate whether the Qur’an is not the Word of God? Jonathan McIatchie provides a simple reason, along with the issue of Paul’s relationship to the Jerusalem church. Gary Habermas also provides some responses to the claims made by Muhammad concerning Jesus.
• If you’ve ever been curious about understanding the ontological argument for the existence of God, especially if you’ve taken an introductory philosophy class, this may be a good place to start.

That’s all for this week! Hope to see you all on Sunday!

Soli Deo Gloria