Can you imagine anything more violent than condemning someone to hell? Yet, according to scripture, no one is forced into hell, they go there based on their choice to accept or reject the free gift of eternal life that God has made available by the death of Jesus Christ. But if someone seeks to persuade others to reject this free gift by purporting lies, half-truths and deceptions, are they not then committing the most violent act possible against men by giving them reasons to reject God’s free gift. This is not an act of violence that requires civil punishment, but it does require those with the truth to engage in the battle for the minds of those being deceived—especially if they are our own children.
The teachings of neo-atheists and scientific naturalism are designed to get people to reject God, the Bible, and Jesus Christ. Certainly they do not see these teachings as violent acts towards the souls of men, but if Christianity is true we must understand these arguments in the light of their eternal consequences. As followers of Jesus, we must analyze and refute with logic and truth the deceptions being spread by those who seek to turn people against the truth.
I am amazed at how many of these anti-God advocates are immune to logic and truth. In the face of logical arguments that dismantle their deceptions, they many times turn to attacking Christians as stupid and illogical. They stop arguing their “so-called truth”, and start attacking the people that point out the weaknesses of their propositions.
What is more amazing is how many Christians in society have abandoned the intellectual realm to give the neo-atheists and scientific naturalist free reign to do violence to our children as we send them off to college. Instead of studying and preparing to counter these deceptions and lies, we simply tell our children to stand strong and make wise choices. But as William Wilberforce said,
In an age in which infidelity abounds, do we observe parents carefully instructing their children in the principles of faith which they profess? Or do they furnish their children with arguments for the defense of that faith? ... When religion is handed down among us by heredity succession, it is not surprising to find youth of sense and spirit beginning to question the truth of the system in which they were brought up. And it is not surprising to see them abandon a position which they are unable to defend.
The frontline of this cultural war that wages violence against the souls of men is at the university. Yet, churches and church leaders have not prepared themselves to deal with these intellectual assaults against the truth of Christianity. The study of apologetics (learning to defend the faith) has been largely ignored by the majority of those entering full-time work as pastors and teachers.
God has been doing some amazing work over the last century to prepare the body of Christ for such a time as this. That is why over the last decade, many people have been investing a lot of time and money getting trained in Christian apologetics. These people know when they enter this course of study there is very little hope of making a living as an apologist, yet they are following their heart's desire to confront the violence against the Kingdom of God and the souls of men.
Let’s not fool ourselves by thinking that all these things are just a matter of opinion. These deceptions need confronted with logic and truth, but in gentleness and respect. If we know that when someone is led away from the truth that they will be condemned to an eternity of suffering all because they were deceived, shouldn’t we spend our time and possessions to offer counter arguments that lead them back to God.
Ratio Christi is part of the solution to this problem. We are placing trained apologist on the frontlines of the battle for the mind. We start apologetics clubs at universities and have our apologist work to strengthen the faith of Christian student who are being proselytized by other worldviews. Together, the students and the apologist we place on campus, engage the entire university by hosting events designed to expose the deceptions, half-truths and lies of those opposed to Christianity.
The heart of Ratio Christi is to save men from the violence of hell by providing sound reason and truth to demolish all high sounding arguments that set themselves up against the knowledge of God. Our first priority is protecting our own Christian students from being deceived. Then we work to reach out to those that don’t know the truth of Christianity. Join us in this effort, and let’s work together to overcome the violence being waged against the souls of men.
