Friday, September 21, 2018

Frank Turek's attempted excuse/justification for doubt is unbiblical

This is my reply to an email I received from Frank Turek's mailing list:


On Fri, Sep 21, 2018 at 8:04 AM Frank Turek <Frank@crossexamined.org> wrote:

    I want you to know that even though I have delivered hundreds of talks that give evidence beyond the reasonable doubt that Christianity is true, sometimes I still doubt.

    Yes, you read that correctly.

    Doubts drive me to get answers.
Rape can also drive a woman to be more careful about walking home alone in the dark.  That doesn't mean rape is morally good.  So it doesn't matter if you can turn doubt into an opportunity for good, doubt would still be wrong and sinful for biblical reasons. 

Your bible condemns any 'Christian' who doubts:
 6 But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.
 7 For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord,
 8 being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. (Jas. 1:6-8 NAU)
The bible characterizes Christian faith as full assurance: 
  19 Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah's womb;
 20 yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God,
 21 and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform. (Rom. 4:19-21 NAU)
  19 Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus,
 20 by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh,
 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God,
 22 let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; (Heb. 10:19-23 NAU)
Maybe its my lack of training in the Greek that caused me to miss the fact that "full" means "99%"?

 Turek continues:
But what if doubts debilitate you rather than drive you?
 Then you should think the biblical description that says you are like a wave of the sea, tossed to and fro, unstable in all your ways, is the more accurate way to characterize the situation (James 1:6-8, supra). Unless of course you deny biblical inerrancy.
My friend Dr. Bobby Conway—whom you may know at the “One Minute Apologist”
Yes.  And he couldn't have chosen a more appropriate title.
—has been there. He’s dealt with doubt from every angle: in his own life and the lives of his congregation (Bobby is also a pastor).

    As he helps those he shepherds, Bobby can help you. That’s why I highly recommend his new online course called DoubtingToward Faith.
If you seriously believed the bible alone is "sufficient" for faith, and if you seriously believed that the Holy Spirit really does positively respond to the prayers of Christians to be delivered from their doubting natures, then you wouldn't be recommending anything to cure Christian doubt, except the bible, and specifically James 1:6-8.   

But maybe I'm mistaken.  Perhaps Turek is an open-theist.   Because God makes mistakes and cannot handle everything at one time, he employs the services of one-minute apologists to take up some of the load?  You are all selling Jesus for profit, friend, there's no nice way to put it.  Capitalism works like this:  Assure somebody they have a problem, then conveniently notify them that you have the solution, on sale.  Act now while supplies last.  And presto, you can earn a living selling Jesus, and teaching people who focus on you that they shouldn't focus on you, but on Jesus.
    This course is an answer to prayer. Just watch this chilling four-minute intro video from Bobby.
 I recommend the reader disregard the video and just read their bible.  This will reduce your ability to cash in on the Christianity problem, and it just sounds more godly to boot.  So it should be clear that my ideas about what's spiritually better for Christians come straight from demonic influence.

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