Reasons We Believe, by Nathan Busenitz [A Quick Book Review]
When I saw that this book was endorsed by John MacArthur, and that Nathan Busenitz is the Executive Vice President, Dean of Faculty, and Associate Professor of Theology at MacArthur’s The Master’s Seminary, I was optimistic that this book would have a properly biblical outlook on apologetics. The last book I’d read that featured a foreword by John MacArthur was Clifford McManis’ Biblical Apologetics, which quickly became my new all-time favorite book on apologetics, so I was optimistic that this would be a good read. I was not disappointed.
All too often in Christian apologetics, authors and speakers make the lamentable error of trying to “prove” the Bible is true via extra-biblical evidence and/or philosophy, or they attempt to argue from evidence to the truth of the Bible, the existence of God, etc. Busenitz does not make this error. In the Introduction, he says “Rather than starting with philosophy, history, science, or even human reason, it is only right that an explanation and defense of biblical Christianity begin with the Bible.” (23) Amen. He goes on to say, “Once we have developed each reason from Scripture, we can then show how extra-biblical evidence corresponds with, and thereby attests to, what the Bible claims.” (Ibid., emphasis mine) This whole paragraph is absolute gold. He goes on to clarify that
...this external evidence does not establish the truthfulness of the Christian faith. If Christianity is true, it is because there really is a God, and He has revealed Himself to us through His Son and in His Word. Nonetheless, external evidence does corroborate the claims of Christianity. Because the God of the Bible is also the God of creation, time, and truth…the facts of science, history, and logic will necessarily correspond to what the Bible reveals. (Ibid., emphasis in the original)
At last, someone opened a theological window and let the fresh air of a Bible-first methodology clear the room of all the man-first/reason-first approaches that have become so common in modern apologetics circles.
Usually, one can get a sense for how strongly I feel about a book by the amount of my own ink I spill on its pages. If a book really rubs me the wrong way, I will viciously soak it in the blood of my ballpoint pen; likewise, if a book says something that is revolutionary or novel to me, I’ll make a positive ruckus in the margins (as I did on dozens of pages of McManis’ Biblical Apologetics). In this book, I didn’t do a lot of underlining or noting in the margins other than in the Introduction, mostly on page 23 from which I quoted, above. So, other than my initial favorable amazement at the biblical approach to evidence that Busenitz promotes, I didn’t really find anything that stood out to me as being particularly amazing in either direction…it was an uneventful, stress-free read. But that’s a good thing…it makes for a quick read.
The subtitle of the book is “50 lines of evidence that confirm the Christian faith,” which are broken down into five sections of ten evidences each, as follows. The evidences that I’ve rendered in bold face, below, are those which I found refreshingly different from most other apologetics volumes I’ve read:
We believe in God because…
He has revealed Himself to us
The existence of our universe points to a creator
The order and design of life points to a designer
The continuation of the universe points to a sustainer
The Human sense of morality points to a lawgiver
Eternity is written on the hearts of people
Life without God is utterly meaningless
The flow of human history conforms to a divine plan
Miraculous events confirm the supernatural
Other belief systems are inadequate alternatives
We believe the Bible is the Word of God because…
The Holy Spirit confirms it to be the Word of God
It explains life in a way that corresponds to reality
It has been tested and found trustworthy
It has been vindicated by hundred of fulfilled prophecies
It is marked by a clear and consistent message
It is unsurpassed in its moral ethic and social impact
It possesses an inexhaustible and supernatural richness
It changes the lives of people through the power of the Spirit
It stands alone among books that claim to come from God
Jesus affirmed the Bible as the Word of God
We believe the New Testament Gospels are reliable because…
They are consistent with Previous revelation from God
They were written by those close to the events of Jesus’ life
Because they were intended to be historical
They contain details that can be tested and verified
The early Christian community would have demanded an accurate record
Their picture of Jesus is consistent within the four Gospels
Their picture of Jesus is consistent with the rest of the New Testament
The main points of Jesus’ life are found in non-biblical sources
They are superior to other supposed gospels
They have been faithfully preserved throughout church history
We believe in Jesus Christ because…
We, as Christians, have come to know Him
His coming met the biblical requirements
The Old Testament predicted the nature of His life and death
He was visibly authenticated by God the Father
He exhibited Divine authority
He lived a life of sinless perfection
The testimony given by His friends and followers
The testimony of non-Christian sources
The church He promised to build
He died and rose again according to the Scriptures
We believe in the resurrection because…
Jesus’ resurrection is implied in the Old Testament
Jesus predicted that He would rise again
He really died
His tomb was empty
He appeared to many after His resurrection
His resurrection radically changed the lives of His followers
The testimony of non-followers, including His enemies
Alternative explanations are inadequate
The existence of the church cannot otherwise be explained
Christians encounter the resurrected when they come to faith in Him
In a nutshell, I find Reasons We Believe to be biblically-based, theologically sound, and well worth buying. It doesn’t supplant McManis’ Biblical Apologetics (which I have already reviewed) as my favorite book on apologetics, but it does make for a very solid complement to it. I would also consider recommending this book to those who are intimidated by McManis’ hefty tome.