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Four Things You Can Do When Someone Challenges Your Faith

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Four Things You Can Do When Someone Challenges Your Faith

by Greg Koukl

Have you ever felt “the big chill”? It’s the term I use for the cold shiver that runs up your spine when you’re confronted with what seems at first glance to be a persuasive challenge to your Christian convictions, that terrible suspicion that begins to settle in your bones that the challenger has a point. And it seems convincing. And it shakes you.

I have those moments, too, and they’re not fun. Over the years, though, I’ve learned a simple, practical system to deal with the “chill” and I want to pass it on to you. It’s not especially clever or novel—thoughtful people have been using it for ages. But it works well to sort things out and help you get to the truth of the matter.

First, don’t panic. Don’t let the problem overwhelm you before you’ve had a chance to carefully assess it. There are almost always answers to these issues that are within reach if you pause, take a deep breath, then apply some thought to the matter.

Next, take a moment to reconnoiter. Get the lay of the land, so to speak. What exactly are you facing? What is the substance beyond the rhetoric that may be making the challenge look more compelling than it is? That takes two steps.

Here’s step one. Clarify the claim. Ask, “What’s the big idea?” What is the point the challenge is meant to persuade you of? That there is no God? That Jesus never existed? That the Bible is not reliable? That Christianity is false? Whatever it is, get a clear fix on that point since it’s the bridge to the next step…

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Four Things You Can Do When Someone Challenges Your Faith | Stand to Reason

For those who are tempted to think that presenting arguments and evidence is not spiritual

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For those who are tempted to think that presenting arguments and evidence is not spiritual because only God can change a rebellious heart, I made two observations. First, without the work of God, nothing else will work — not arguments, not love, not even the simple gospel. Second, with the help of the Holy Spirit, God is pleased to use many things. Love and reason are especially appealing to him because both are consistent with his nature. The fact is, with God’s help, arguments work all the time. Jesus used them, Peter used them, and Paul used them — all to great effect. — Greg Koukl (from, Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions)

Jesus of Nazareth was a man of history

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Our reasons for believing Jesus existed and also that He was who He claimed to be—the God who came down—are the same reasons for believing any fact of history: the documentation is substantial and it passes all the tests of historical reliability. Scholars—both liberal and conservative—overwhelming agree that Jesus of Nazareth was a man of history and the Gospels, on the main, tell His story accurately…Show me any other person who appears in the historical record with such regularity who turned out, in the final analysis, to be a fiction. Why so many mentions regarding Jesus from such a wide variety of sources (Pliny, Tacitus, Lucian, Josephus, to name a few)? Because Jesus of Nazareth was a man of history, who made a profound impact on history. There’s no good reason to doubt that Jesus existed, or to think the real Jesus was completely different from the one depicted in the Story. — Greg Koukl (from, The Story of Reality: An Interview with Gregory Koukl)

The Story of Reality: An Interview with Gregory Koukl

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The Story of Reality: An Interview with Gregory Koukl

by Jonathan Petersen

Is biblical Christianity more than merely another private religious view? Is it more than a personal relationship with God or a source of moral teaching? Consider Christianity to be reality itself.

Bible Gateway interviewed Gregory Koukl (@gregkoukl) about his book, The Story of Reality: How the World Began, How it Ends, and Everything in Between (Zondervan, 2017).

Why is your book titled The Story of Reality?

Gregory Koukl: First, I wanted to offer a kind of primer on Christianity’s basics—the essential elements—but I didn’t want to write a theological textbook. Rather, I wanted to show how the important pieces fit together in a fascinating drama—a story, of sorts. I also wanted the reader to enjoy the journey, so I adopted a storytelling “voice” for the narrative. I wanted anyone who picked up the book to feel I was talking directly with them; that I was personally walking them through the account of how the world began, how it ends, and everything important that happens in between.

Second, I wanted to continually press the point that what I describe in the book is not my personal spiritual fantasy, my religious wishful thinking, or my make-believe-to-make-me-feel-happy kind of story. The Story doesn’t start out “Once upon a time” for a reason. It doesn’t mean to be telling a fairy tale. Rather, I wanted the reader to understand that this is the Story of the way the world truly is; that the things the Story describes actually exist and the events in the Story really happened (or, in some places, are yet to happen).

Nowadays, people have a habit of relativizing religion, reducing it to “your truth” versus “my truth” versus “their truth,” and that’s the end of it. But as I say in the book, “If the Story is not accurate to reality, it’s not any kind of truth at all. So it can never be ‘my truth’ or ‘your truth,’ even though we may believe it. It can only be our delusion or our mistake or our error, but it can never be our ‘truth.’” I want people to see that Christianity claims to be true in the deep sense, and if it isn’t, then it solves nothing at all.

Since the Christian Story is so dependent on the Bible, how do we know we can trust the Bible?

Gregory Koukl: My approach is not to simply tell our Story and claim it’s true because it’s in the Bible. Rather, I give the biblical view of reality and include reasons why people should think the Bible got the Story right. It’s what I call “soft apologetics”—thoughtful reflections that are friendly appeal to common-sense insights we all have about the world that point to the truthfulness of the Christian take on reality.

I also wanted readers (especially Christian readers) to see that the two biggest objections to Christianity…

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The Story of Reality: An Interview with Gregory Koukl - Bible Gateway Blog

Greg Koukl: Arguments work all the time

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For those who are tempted to think that presenting arguments and evidence is not spiritual because only God can change a rebellious heart, I made two observations. First, without the work of God, nothing else will work — not arguments, not love, not even the simple gospel. Second, with the help of the Holy Spirit, God is pleased to use many things. Love and reason are especially appealing to him because both are consistent with his nature. The fact is, with God’s help, arguments work all the time. Jesus used them, Peter used them, and Paul used them — all to great effect. —Greg Koukl (from, Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions)

When man is reduced to a mere animal

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When man is reduced to a mere animal—when the force of one’s worldview logic demotes humans to mere biological machines—morality and human rights die and power is all that remains. This has happened with every communist regime, and happens with all governments as they get increasing secular. It cannot be otherwise. — Greg Koukl (from, The Story of Reality: How the World Began, How It Ends, and Everything Important that Happens in Between)

The divide for Jesus was not between the poor and the rich

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The divide for Jesus was not between the poor and the rich, but between the proud and the repentant, regardless of income or social standing. Miss that, and you miss everything. — Greg Koukl (from, The Story of Reality: How the World Began, How It Ends, and Everything Important that Happens in Between)