How am I to understand Psalm 19:1-4 when it says, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows His handiwork.  Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge.  There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard.  Their line has gone out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world.  In them, He has set a tabernacle for the sun.”(NIV)?

Sincerely,
Declaring My Confusion

Dear Declaring My Confusion,

Ps 19:1-4 is dealing with the same issue as Rom 1:20.  God designed the world, so it would be a testimony to Him.  God’s invisible attributes are so clearly seen in this world that it is as if the heavens are literally crying out about God’s glory.  Paul quoted Psalm 19 in Rom 10:18 as a proof that all mankind has evidence of God’s existence.  His creation leaves us without excuse.

     Who wrote the Gospel of Mark, and how do we know the author was inspired by God?

Sincerely,
Genuine Article

Dear Genuine Article,

The Gospel According to Mark is generally agreed to have been written by John Mark.  This is based upon early church historians and comments made by early christian writers.  It isn’t necessary that we know who penned the book of Mark, but that is the general consensus.  John Mark would have been in a perfect position to write an account of Christ’s life having been a traveling companion of both Paul and Barnabas (Acts 12:25) and being a part of a family of early converts to Christianity (Acts 12:12).

We know that the Gospel of Mark is inspired for the same reason that we know the rest of the New Testament is inspired.  Mark’s book repeats the same details as the other gospels, it shows all the same characteristics of inspiration as the rest of the Bible, and the early christians (who would have personally known the writer) accepted it as an inspired account of Christ’s life.  Read “Who Wrote The Bible?” for a more in-depth explanation of evidence that God authored the Bible.

      How do you respond to someone saying they do not believe in God because they think believers are brainwashed from an early age?

Sincerely,
Thinking For Myself

Dear Thinking For Myself,

When faced with someone who believes that Christianity is based off of a mindless faith, we try and show people the evidence that points toward Christianity.  After all, many people convert to Christ after growing up in atheistic and anti-religious households.  You might point out to this person that not all christians were raised to be that way; many choose it later in life.  If that peaks their interest, you might point them to some of the evidence for God’s existence.  We recommend that you read the post “Does God Exist?” for a list of some of those evidences.

     I have gone to church all my life.  I have never had an issue with my faith; I’ve always believed, but recently, with a lot of negativity towards religion and science explaining everything, I feel like I am losing my faith rather quickly.  Do you have any words of wisdom that can help me believe truly again?

Sincerely,
Need To Believe

Dear Need To Believe,

Everyone faces times of doubt in their life; the key is to strengthen the weaknesses in our resolve.  Like the man who cried out, “I believe, help my unbelief!” (Mk 9:24), all christians must recognize that faith must grow and increase over time.
Faith is the evidence of things not seen (Heb 11:1).  We can’t see God, but there is plenty of evidence that He exists.  The whole creation cries out as evidence of God’s existence (Rom 1:20).  As science and our knowledge of the natural world have increased, the proof of God’s existence has increased as well.  Books like Has God Spoken? by A.O. Schnabel, Case For A Creator by Lee Strobel, and Evidence That Demands A Verdict by Josh McDowell are excellent resources that make clear the existence of the God of the Bible.  Take the time to fill your mind with information from sources like those mentioned above, and you will find yourself more confident in no time (Php 4:8).
God tells us to come and “reason together with Him” (Isa 1:18).  There are entire scientific communities such as Answers In Genesis that are dedicated to the study of the science that proves God’s existence. There are reasons and evidences that prove that God exists, and it is surprising how few people ever talk about those evidences.  We have an entire category in our archives dedicated to evidences that God exists and the Bible is His Word because we here at AYP are so frequently asked about that topic.
Not only is it possible to prove God exists, it is possible to prove that He authored the Bible.  The Bible is the most unique book in the world.  The Bible is scientifically accurate (though written long before modern science), historically accurate (down to the last archeological detail), prophetically accurate (the Bible predicts events down to the smallest detail hundreds of years in advance), and it never contradicts itself (even though the Bible was written over the course of hundreds of years by dozens of different writers).  In a world of rare writings, the Bible stands alone.  For further details, read our post “Who Wrote The Bible?”.

There is no doubt that God exists – the evidence speaks for itself.

     I am currently a Deist, not tying myself to any one religion or belief; however, I do believe that there is a Supreme Being, One who orchestrated the birth of the universe.  However, I also believe in the findings of our scientists, such as the Big Bang theory and the scientific theory of evolution.  Because I believe in a god, but not a Christian god, where does that leave me on that Great Day (according to Christianity)?  I just figure that if Christianity WAS the correct path after all, would that “kind and just” God send me to an eternity of damnation, or would He understand my doubts because He created me in His own image?

Sincerely,
Deist

Dear Deist,

It is understandable with all of the opinions that are thrown around as science for you to feel torn between belief in God and the belief in evolution, but it isn’t enough to believe in a generic god – we must place our faith in the God.  After all, even the demons admit belief in deity… but that won’t save them on the Day of Judgment (Jas 2:19).  Jesus is a very exclusive Savior.  He very boldly claims, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and no comes to the Father, but by Me.” (Jhn 14:6).  If you don’t have a life of faith built upon following Christ, you won’t be saved.  That may sound harsh, but let’s talk about the evidence that God provides to make it possible for a deist to turn into a christian.

First of all, all faith is built upon some sort of evidence.  That evidence may be historical data (like when you trust traffic lights to work properly because they have statistically done so in the past), it may be personal experience (i.e. when you trust a friend because they have shown good judgment and loyalty in the past), or circumstantial evidence (like when a jury convicts a murderer based upon the evidence presented to them – even when there weren’t eyewitnesses at the scene of the crime).

Your belief that there is some sort of Supreme Being is probably based upon some sort of basic evidence from the world that you see around you.  Rom 1:20 says that God has provided evidence of His existence in the creation around us.  From galaxies to atoms, this world shows the signs of design.  A design requires a Designer.  God’s handiwork is seen in the finely-tuned craftsmanship of the human eye, just like Nikon’s handiwork is shown in the craftsmanship of their cameras.  You’ve done well to acknowledge His existence in a general way… but we would beg you to keep digging deeper.

Don’t be dissuaded by the scientists that say we evolved from goo.  First of all, not all scientists are evolutionists – no matter what the media tells you.  Thousands of biologists, geologists, doctors, paleontologists, etc. believe in the Creator of the Bible, and they are intellectually honest in doing so.  The scientific evidence has led them to the Bible, not away from it.  Second of all, things like evolution and the Big Bang are a way of interpreting the scientific data, not a concrete finding from the data.  One scientist sees a bed of fossils, and because he doesn’t believe in God, he interprets that the fossils were created over millions of years.  Another scientist sees the same fossil bed, and because he does believe in God, he interprets that a catastrophic event (like Noah’s Flood) is what caused such a sudden build up of fossils and silt.  They see same evidence, but come to vastly different conclusions.  Read “Atheism-Colored Glasses” for further details on the subject of scientific bias.

Next, after looking at the general evidence of God’s existence, it is time to look at the specific evidence of the Bible’s supernatural origins.  The Bible is a unique book; it is a book that no human could ever write.  We would encourage you to read “Who Wrote The Bible?” for a comprehensive list of reasons why the Bible is a book that only God could have written.  Once we begin to see the evidence for the Bible’s divine origins, we have no choice but to ask ourselves, “Will I follow God’s Word?”.

God expects us to follow Jesus because He has given us plenty of evidence that Jesus is the one and only true Son of God.  We would encourage you to follow the evidence – it will lead you straight to Jesus the Christ.

I was wondering if it is worth studying Scripture on a deeper level given my Bible is written in English.  From what I understand, the New Testament was originally written in Greek.  Since I am not a scholar or speak that language, I might not understand the fullest meaning behind the passages.  Is the Bible meant for average folks to study in their own native language?

Sincerely,
It’s All Greek To Me

Dear It’s All Greek To Me,

The Bible is definitely meant to be understood and studied by average folks!  There is quite a lot of chatter that the Bible has been mistranslated or that a translation leaves you unable to truly understand what the Bible writers intended – this is not true.  When Jesus quoted the Old Testament, He quoted from the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Old Testament.  The Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew, but Jesus felt comfortable quoting from the Greek language version.  This tells us that God has no problems with using translations to convey His wisdom to every culture and language on the planet.  As long as you have a good word-for-word translation (read “What’s The Best Translation” for details on what that means), you will be just fine.

Every day, vital documents are translated into other languages without mishap.  Peace treaties, corporate contracts, wills, trusts, and many other legal arrangements are made from one language to another.  Linguists are skilled professionals that are able to properly convey the same ideas from one language to another, and major Bible translators are especially circumspect and fastidious to properly translate from the original Greek and Hebrew.  Never fear, you have God’s Word just as much as the first-century christians did.