Dr Paul Allen

There are two ways in which my fellow Italians are trying to handle the fears that the COVID-19 emergency is spreading around us. The secular way is to use the phrase Tutto andrà bene, meaning “all will go well.” It is obsessively written in blog posts, pictures, and messages that people exchange with frenzy. It is used as a secular mantra in an attempt to exorcise the worries of the pandemic. The hope that all will go well is grounded in the promises of medicine to cure the sick and in science to quickly find a vaccine. Of course, we are extremely grateful for the help of doctors and nurses, for whom we pray. Yet, we know that not all of the sick will survive even with the help of modern medicine. Ultimately, sooner or later, we will all die. Yes, we are also hopeful in the new discoveries of scientists, and we support medical research, but we know that COVID-19 is just one of the threats to our lives. For all its wonderful achievements, even science will capitulate to the inexorabili...

I just read the news that Marty Sampson, a popular Hillsong songwriter, is leaving the faith. In his words, “I’m genuinely losing my faith … and it doesn’t bother me.” What I find most surprising is not him turning from his faith . People fall away all the time, and there are warnings throughout the New Testament about the dangers of apostasy. It is tragic to behold, but not a total surprise. “No One Talks About It”? What is surprising is Marty seems to feel that “no one” is talking about challenges to the Christian faith. “No one” is discussing difficult intellectual issues. “No one” is engaging the apparent contradictions or interpretative problems in the Bible. I can only ask (with sadness rather than condemnation), “Marty, what Christian world have you been living in?” He asks, “How many preachers fall? Many. No one talks about it.” Really? I can only ask (with sadness rather than condemnation), “Marty, what Christian world have you been living in?” How many artic...

The first line of an old hymn states, “When I fear my faith will fail, Christ will hold me fast.” These are very comforting words. And yet, when we really fear that our faith will fail, we might lose sight of this assurance. We might start doubting the Christ who will hold us fast. Doubt is a struggle for many Christians —even some well-known Christian leaders have been plagued by times of doubt. One of the first who believed in Jesus as the Christ was John the Baptist. He announced, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29), and he testified, “And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God” (v. 34). His call, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” (v. 36) caused the first disciples to follow Jesus. Sometime later, John corrected his own disciples when he explained his role in regard to Jesus: A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, “I am not the Christ, ...

At some point in our lives, all of us have faced new challenges to our faith. If you haven’t yet, just wait! Depending on our age and maturity, new challenges can be quite unnerving. I remember the first time I was confronted with the claim that Jesus was a mythological figure patterned after ancient near eastern “mystery religions.” Now I can see that this charge has little merit, but it was quite unsettling at the time. Below are four points about how to best handle new, unexpected challenges to your faith. 1. Take a deep breath . Don’t freak out. Relax. Calm down. While some challenge may be new to you, chances are that someone else has already wrestled with it and provided a thoughtful response. Malcolm Muggeridge used to say “All new news is old news happening to new people.” This is especially true in apologetics. Few objections are genuinely new. In fact, if you probe far enough, you will often realize that the “new” objection has already been dealt with by one of the great t...

Many atheist critiques of Christianity claim that faith is blind, irrational, stupid. In his book The God Delusion , leading atheist Richard Dawkins asserts that faith opposes reason, and calls faith a “delusion,” which he describes as “persistent false belief held in the face of strong contradictory evidence” (p. 28). A common example used to show that the Bible denigrates evidence is the story of doubting Thomas . In The Selfish Gene , Dawkins writes, “Thomas demanded evidence. . . . The other apostles, whose faith was so strong that they did not need evidence, are held up to us as worthy of imitation” (198). Was Jesus repudiating an evidence-based faith? First, Jesus predicted his resurrection on multiple occasions in the presence of the disciples. Thomas should not have been surprised at the return of Jesus. Second, Thomas heard eyewitness testimony (evidence) from the rest of the disciples and yet still refused to believe. (The vast majority of scientific knowledge we posses...

When facing hard times, Christians sometimes discover that their faith is gradually being eroded by their circumstances. Though we are doing our best to stand upon the promises of God, we can sense that our feet are beginning to slip. Like the desperate father who met Jesus at the foot of the Mount of Transfiguration, we might find ourselves crying out, “I believe; help my unbelief” (Mark 9:24). There is an Old Testament echo of that cry in the life of Abraham, which can be of great help to us in dealing with our own struggles with unbelief while facing hard times. In Genesis 15, God appeared to Abram and spoke words of great promise and reassurance: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great” (v. 1). Since Genesis 16:16 lists Abram as eighty-six years old (having begun his journey at age seventy-five, 12:4), I would estimate that Abram had lived in Canaan about ten years and yet still possessed none of the land and did not have a single descendant. His fa...

Cover of Help My Unbelief “His place of defense will be the fortresses of rocks; his bread will be given him; his water will be sure.” Isaiah 33:16 Do you doubt , O Christian , do you doubt as to whether God will fulfill his promise? Shall the fortress of rock be carried by storm? Shall the storehouses of heaven fail? Do you think that your heavenly Father , though he knows that you have need of food and raiment, will yet forget you? When not a sparrow falls to the ground without your Father, and the very hairs of your head are all numbered, will you mistrust and doubt him? Perhaps your affliction will continue upon you till you dare to trust your God, and then it shall end. Full many there be who have been tried and sore vexed till at last they have been driven in sheer desperation to exercise faith in God, and the moment of their faith has been the instant of their deliverance; they have seen whether God would keep his promise or not. Oh, I pray you, doubt him no longer! Pleas...

Image via Wikipedia In every era of history, the holiness of God has been under assault. Satan is the original antagonist against God. The principle attack of Satan against the holiness of God is aimed at impugning and assaulting the character of His being and His word.  In Genesis 3, we see illustrated the method of the evil one – a method employed with success on our first parents, and employed with equal success in the world at large in our day.   The attack of Satan starts with  doubt  – doubt of the inerrancy and infallibility of the word of God (“Did God actually say…?”).  In Genesis 3:1, Satan initiates the attack against Eve with a seemingly innocent question – but one which plans a beachhead of doubt in Eve’s mind.   Satan’s question was nothing less than an attempt to draw a veil of doubt in Eve's mind regarding the truthfulness of God.  We see similar fallacies in the emergent church today, which prizes uncertai...