Your Faith is in Danger: Prepare for the Assault Dr. Rich Knopp - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

“Your Faith is in Danger: 
 Prepare for the Assault” Dr. Rich Knopp Prof. of Philosophy & Apologetics Coordinator, Room For Doubt www.roomfordoubt.com

VIDEO INTRO TO THE ROOM FOR DOUBT PROGRAM

“Your Faith is in Danger: 
 Prepare for the Assault” Dr. Rich Knopp Prof. of Philosophy & Apologetics Coordinator, Room For Doubt www.roomfordoubt.com

How Strong is Your Faith? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Extremely Weak Couldn’t be stronger

Danger Signs “Lost in Space” “Danger, Will Robinson, Danger. 
 No, Will Robinson. Danger!”

1 Corinthians 10:12 So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall.

1 Peter 5:8 Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

Ephesians 6:11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.

Danger Signs Letters from Senior Demon: Screwtape to Nephew, Wormwood Instructions for the damnation of “The Patient”

Doubt Doubt can be a very GOOD thing! Doubt can be a DANGEROUS thing. “Unexpressed” doubt is especially dangerous.

Unexpressed Doubt David Kinnaman “I believe that unexpressed doubt is one of the most powerful destroyers of faith” ( Y ou Lost Me )

Doubt Doubt can be a doorway, either to deeper belief or to greater DISBELIEF . Deeper BELIEF Greater DISBELIEF

I. Your Faith can Falter 
 and even Fail

Y outh With Christian Background Felt Like 
 Significantly 
 Can’t Ask Most 
 Rejecting 
 Doubted 
 Pressing Questions 
 Their 
 Their Faith in Church Parents’ Faith 50 38 % 32 % 36 % 40 30 20 10 0 David Kinnaman, You Lost Me

“Churched” Y outh “Disengaged” by Age 30? 59% 70% David Kinnaman, You Lost Me

II. WHAT to Watch For 
 (Some “Schemes”)

What To Watch For Moral Doubts Self Doubts Spiritual Doubts Intellectual Doubts


 Why Did They Fall Away? “Most common answer” ( 32 %) : 
 Because of intellectual skepticism or doubt. “It didn’t make any sense anymore.” “Some stu ff is too far - fetched for me to believe.” “I think scientifically and there is no real proof.” “Too many questions that can’t be answered” ( p. 89 ) .

What To Watch For Moral Destruction Self Doubts Spiritual Doubts Intellectual Doubts V olitional Doubts

III. WHO to Watch For

Richard Dawkins, Oxford University, 
 The God Delusion (2006) “When one person suffers from a delusion, it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called Religion.”

Christopher Hitchens, 
 God is Not Great: How Religion 
 Poisons Everything 
 (2007)

Bart Ehrman Prof. of Religious Studies Univ. of North Carolina How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee (2014)

Bart Ehrman Prof. of Religious Studies Univ. of North Carolina Forged: Writing in the Name of God—Why the Bible’s Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are (2011)

Lawrence Krausse Atheist and Physicist/Cosmologist, 
 Arizona State University “Change is always one generation away. So if we can plant the seeds of doubt in our children, religion will go away in a generation, or at least largely go away. And that’s what I think we have an obligation to do” (Solon [Nov. 4, 2014])

Internet Influences

Larry Taunton, “Listening to Young Atheists: Lessons for a Stronger Christianity” The Atlantic (June 6, 2013). “When our participants were asked to cite key influences in their conversion to atheism—people, books, seminars, etc.—we expected to hear frequent references to the names of the ‘New Atheists.’ We did not. Not once. Instead, we heard vague references to videos they had watched on YouT ube or website forums.”

IV . WHERE to Turn 
 For Help

Where to Turn for Help Christian Prayer Christian Peers Christian Parents Christian Publications ( e.g. websites, videos, books )

www.roomfordoubt.com

An environment to encourage 
 questions, address doubts, 
 and strengthen faith.

Where to Turn for Help Christian Prayer Christian Peers Christian Parents Christian Publications ( e.g. websites, videos, books ) Christian Professors

“Your Faith is in Danger: 
 Prepare for the Assault” Dr. Rich Knopp Prof. of Philosophy & Apologetics Coordinator, Room For Doubt rknopp@lincolnchristian.edu