2010 National Conference on Christian Apologetics
McDowell: Any religious quest
should begin with Christianity
By Paula R. Kincaid, The Layman, October 20, 2010
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – “Think of the most difficult conversation you have ever had,” Sean McDowell challenged those attending his workshop “Why Any Serious Quest Should Begin with Christianity,” at the 17th annual National Conference on Christian Apologetics.
Maybe at 16 years old, a “you crashed the car” talk with the parents, or maybe it was a “relationship” talk.
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“For me, it was in college,” said McDowell. He said he grew up in a Christian home, but he wondered if Christianity was true.
“I asked my Dad, ‘I want to know what is true … I’m not convinced Christianity is really true,” he said.
He said, “Now everyone knows my Dad is Josh McDowell,” a nationally-known Christian speaker who has given more than 24,000 talks in 118 countries to more than 10 million students since beginning his ministry n 1961, and has authored or co-authored more than 120 books.
Sean was surprised by his father’s answer: “Son, I think that is great,” and “I replied, Dad, did you hear what I said?”
“If you seek it with all of your heart, I believe you will find it,” Josh told his son, “because Jesus Christ is the truth.”
“My Dad started his quest outside of Christianity and I started my quest inside Christianity,” McDowell said, but “We both started our religious quests with Christianity and that is what I want to talk about today. Anyone on a religious quest should start with Christianity. … Anyone who wants to know truth, Christianity is the place to begin.”
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Sean McDowell, head of the Bible Department at Capistrano Valley Christian School, where he teaches philosophy, theology and apologetics. The Apologetics Conference, titled “Defending the Faith and Family,” was sponsored by Southern Evangelical Seminary along with North Carolina Baptists, Breakpoint, Summit Ministries, the American Family Association and World Magazine. It was held Oct. 15-16 at Northside Baptist Church in Charlotte, N.C.
Four reasons
McDowell gave four reasons why any religious quest should begin with Christianity.
- Christianity is testable. “It is only Christianity that gives us a single testable event that all the religion is based on,” he said. In speaking of Jesus Christ’s resurrection, McDowell referred to I Corinthians 15, a chapter of the Bible that basically says that if Christ didn’t rise from the grave, our faith is worthless. Reading John 20:30-31, McDowell said Christianity invites people to investigate and compare the evidence. “Christianity uniquely says this is true, here is evidence. It is testable,” said McDowell. “If considering a worldview, why not try one that is testable?”
- Salvation is free. “Moms say that nothing in life is free … but the most valuable thing in life is free and it is only Christianity that says salvation is free,” he said. Ephesians 2:8-10, reads “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” McDowell said that this is “unique to Christianity. Grace is a concept only in Christianity.”
- “You can actually live like Christianity is true,” said McDowell.
- Christianity has Jesus at the center. “There is one religious figure that rises up above the rest and it is Jesus,” said McDowell. “There is something about the person of Jesus that has turned the world upside down unlike anyone else who ever walked the earth.”
McDowell said that Jesus never wrote a book and had no political power.
“The most important question you will deal with in your life,” said McDowell, “is when Jesus asks ‘Who do you say I am?”