Glen Ellyn Bible Church welcomes people with questions and we are eager to help you find answers!  In fact, the Apostle Peter wrote that Christians are to "be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks" about the reason we believe that Jesus is God’s Savior for mankind.  The discipline of answering questions about the faith is called apologetics.  The word "apologetics" comes from the Greek word "apologia."  It means, "to make a verbal defense," or to offer reasons for a belief.  Apologetics is the work of presenting reasons for believing, which of course implies that the Christian faith is reasonable—that is to say that there are rational explanations for what we believe. The Christian faith is a logical and sensible faith and we are eager to help you explore the reasonableness of the Christian faith.

At the same time, while the Christian faith is reasonable, no amount of reason will ever reduce the need for faith.  Becoming a Christian will always require a leap of faith.  For example, although we are able to rationally demonstrate that the Bible is a trustworthy and historically accurate source of information, we will never be able to prove that it is the inspired Word of God.  Believing that the Bible is inspired is a tenet of faith, believing that it is historically reliable is deduction based upon evidence.  So our goal in apologetics is NOT to convince people to believe.  Only God convinces people to believe.  Our goal is simply to give a reason for what we believe.  We want to communicate our faith in a way that will may help remove some of the intellectual, and potentially emotional, barriers that some may have to taking a step of faith and believing in the testimony of Scripture. 

I’d also like to point out that although reason has its limits in helping us know God, it still has a place.  In fact, the Bible says that we are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul and mind, so we must affirm the value of reason in the activity of loving God fully (Matthew 22:37).  The Apostle Paul wrote to the  young pastor Timothy, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).  We are to diligently study Scripture, engaging our hearts, our souls and our minds. 

Furthermore, we can take comfort in the fact that faith and reason will never contradict one another, because God is the author of both.  All truth is God’s truth, including mathematical truth, and biological truth and social science truth.  While I may not be able to fully explain the fossil record and how it is integrated with the account of creation narrative in Genesis, we can find comfort in the fact that the author of all truth will not contradict himself.  God is the Creator of the heavens and the earth and everything in them.  This means the truths of science and the truths of Scripture are not in competition, and while I am finite in my understanding, I can live with confidence that God is the author of both. 

So we are eager to share our reasons and do our best to answer any question you might have about faith.  Feel free to contact any of the staff by email or phone.  We look forward to hearing from you.