• The Law of Biogenesis states that life only comes from life, life cannot come from non-living matter. Darwinian evolution requires the impossible, that chemical reactions created the first living organisms.
• DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid) is found in all living organisms and is essential for life to exist. Yet DNA can only be produced by life. How when no life existed did DNA come into being? Darwinian evolution has no explanation.
• Science has consistently demonstrated that the Earth is literally fine-tuned for life, meeting dozens of highly restrictive astronomical and physical parameters necessary for life to exist (For example, the distance of the earth from the sun and the earth's force of gravity). The odds of Earth meeting these necessary parameters, by chance, are literally "astronomical".
• The evidence of irreducible complexity in biology is a serious challenge to Darwinism. These are all or nothing systems, structures so complex that all of their parts must be initially present and working together or else they cannot function. A classic example would be the bacterial flagellum.

For more information on God's incredible design in nature, please check out our selection of Documentary DVD's on creation vs. evolution, available in our online store.

• Buddha was not concerned with the existence of God. In fact, Buddhism teaches that ultimate reality is Nirvana, or impersonal nothingness. Jesus claimed to be God (John 8:56-58, 10:30) and he revealed himself personally to us (John 1:1-14).
• Buddha viewed the physical world as an illusion that must be escaped. Jesus created the entire universe and declared it to be good (John 1:3; Genesis 1:31).
• Buddha’s goal was to eliminate suffering through the elimination of desire. Jesus told us to expect suffering in this world, but said in him we would find peace (John 16:33). He also encouraged us to desire righteousness (Matthew 5:6).
• Buddha professed a way that humans could be freed from suffering to become one with the impersonal nothingness. Jesus declared, “I am the way” and offered us salvation and eternal life with God (John 14:6; John 3:16-18; John 11:25-26).
• Buddha believed one must be reincarnated countless times in order to purge their bad karma and experience Nirvana. Jesus paid the penalty for our sins as a gift of grace (Ephesians 2:8-9). At death, all who trust in him will immediately enter his presence and experience eternal life (2 Corinthians 5:1-8; Philippians 1:21-23).

For more information on the religion of Buddhism, please check out Dr. Carlson’s lecture, Buddhism, Hinduism, Yoga and Reincarnation, available in our online store.

• When asked for your opinion on a controversial cultural issue, first ask your questioner, “Do you consider yourself to be an open-minded person who is tolerant of people who hold different beliefs from yours?”
• The above question will disarm your discussion partner of ad hominem attacks (calling you names like “bigot”) and force them to engage in a rational discussion of the issue and your beliefs.
• Explain that all of your personal beliefs as a Christian ultimately rest on three fundamental questions: Is there a God? Has He spoken? And if so, will we obey?
• Point out that if God exists, and if He’s spoken on a given issue, the only appropriate response from us is obedience.
• Share what God has revealed as truth on the issue you’re discussing. If your discussion partner protests, remind them that our personal opinions are irrelevant if God exists and if He’s spoken.
• Offer to examine these fundamental questions with your discussion partner. Continue to point them to the evidence of a Creator who has revealed truth to His creation.

For more helpful tools for sharing your faith, please check out the Apologetics Study Bible for Students, available in our online store.

• Yoga is a 2,000-year-old discipline originally devised not as an exercise technique, but solely for Hindu religious purposes.
• Yoga means “yoke” or “union” with the Hindu concept of god. The goal of Yoga is to aid the practitioner in becoming one with the impersonal, monistic-pantheistic god of Hinduism (all is one and all is god). This Hindu worldview is antithetical to biblical Christianity.
• In one school of Yoga, the practitioner seeks to awaken the Kundalini, the spiritual serpent of light that lies coiled at the base of the spine, so that it might travel up the body’s chakras to ultimately bring the practitioner to enlightenment. This is not exercise, this is occultism.
• The fact that Yoga has exercise benefits is irrelevant to the question of whether or not a Christian should practice Yoga. There are countless pagan religious activities that have exercise benefits (ex. Shamanistic spirit dances, Islam’s circumambulation of the Kaaba, etc.), but as Christians we do not engage in them because we understand their unbiblical nature.
• As Christians we are called to honor God with our bodies (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) and to be salt and light to the world (Matthew 5:13-16). These admonitions do not cease to be relevant when we enter the doors of our local gym to burn some calories.
• There are many forms of exercise, including stretching, that have nothing to do with pagan, occult practices like Yoga. Christians would be wise to consider such alternatives.

For more information on Yoga and the Hindu worldview, please check out the documentary DVD, Yoga Uncoiled: From East to West, available in our online store.

• Sometimes in our apologetic conversations, whether with cultists or skeptics, we will be confronted with a question or challenge that we simply don’t have an answer for. What should we do in those situations?
• Avoid the temptation to make up an answer. Not only is this dishonest, but it’s not really helping the person you’re witnessing to.
• Know that there’s nothing wrong with not having an answer on the spot. Sometimes your dialogue partner, whether a cultist or skeptic, will perceive your lack of an answer as a victory on their part, but don’t allow that to shake your confidence.
• Remember, the truth is on our side as Christians. If you don’t have an answer for a particular question on the spot, take that as an opportunity to learn and grow in your apologetic knowledge and abilities.
• When stumped, it’s ok to simply say, “That’s a great question” or “I’ve never heard that point before.”  Then confidently say, “Please give me some time to look into that issue and I’ll be happy to talk to you more another time.”
• It can also be helpful to steer the conversation back to territory that you’re more confident discussing. Say something like, “That’s a good point and I need to give that some more thought, but what about this…”
• You will also never go wrong in sharing the word of God with someone. There’s power in the word. When an immediate answer to a challenge escapes you, politely state, “You’ve given me something to think about there, but I’m confident in what I believe because God’s word tells us…”
• It is also helpful when faced with a challenging conversation to simply share your testimony and the ways you’ve seen God work in your life. Emphasize God’s grace and His power to redeem any sinner (Ephesians 2:8-9; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10).

For more information on effectively sharing your faith with non-Christians, please check out the book, Apologetics For A New Generation, available in our online store.

• The following questions can be asked to highlight the fact that Jesus is fully God and a member of the Triune Godhead, the Trinity.
• JW’s claim that Jesus is simply ‘a god’, a created being. Ask them, “How can the Word be ‘a god’ (John 1:1) if there are no gods together with Jehovah, as Deuteronomy 32:39 says?”
• JW’s claim that Jesus is actually Michael the archangel, the first creation of God. If so, “Why does Michael not dare to bring a judgment against Satan, but instead says, ‘May Jehovah rebuke you’ (Jude 9); yet in Matthew 4:10 Jesus rebukes Satan directly himself?”
• JW’s claim that Jesus is ‘a god’ and the first creation of Jehovah, who created all other things (John 1:3; Colossians 1:16). If that is the case, “Why does Jehovah say in Isaiah 44:24 that He created the heavens and the earth by Himself and then questions, ‘Who was with me?’”
• JW’s claim that Jehovah alone is God. Ask them, “If Jehovah alone is God, why then does Jesus not condemn Thomas for blasphemy when after the resurrection he calls Jesus, ‘My Lord and my God!’ (John 20:28-29)?”
• JW’s affirm the numerous statements in Scripture declaring Jehovah God to be the ‘First and the Last’ (ex. Isaiah 44:6). An interesting question to ask them is, “When did the First and the Last, Jehovah God, die (Revelation 1:17-18)?”

For more information on witnessing to the Jehovah’s Witnesses, please check out the documentary DVD titled, Jehovah’s Witnesses: A Non-Prophet Organization, available in our online store.

• In recent years stories of near-death experiences and supposed journeys to Heaven have been widely distributed and consumed in popular culture and the Church.
• While stories such as these are intriguing, they must ultimately be tested and judged by God’s revelation in Scripture, the believer’s final authority.
• The Bible reveals that Heaven is for real and it’s the destination of all who place their trust in Jesus Christ (Rev. 4; Phil. 3:20-21; 2 Cor. 5:8; Jn. 14:1-3; Jn. 11:25-26).
• We can trust the Bible’s revelation about Heaven because we have tremendous reasons to believe that the Bible is God’s word (see Past Fast Facts- March 7, 2012).
• Finally, we trust that Heaven is for real because Jesus Christ revealed the truth of Heaven to us; and Jesus is ultimately trustworthy because he proved his deity in his life, miracles, and resurrection from the dead.

For more information on the reality of Heaven, please check out the Apologetics Study Bible for Students, available in our online store.

• The Christian faith rests upon the claim that Jesus Christ physically rose from the grave on that first Easter Sunday morning. What is the evidence that this event really took place?
• First, the rapid growth of the early Church in the first two centuries A.D., in a hostile Jewish culture, occupied by a hostile Roman empire, only makes sense in light of the early Christians’ commitment to their testimony that Jesus was the risen Messiah.
• Second, in 1 Corinthians 15 the apostle Paul testifies that there were over 500 eyewitnesses to the bodily resurrection of Jesus. The majority of scholars agree that 1 Corinthians was written about 55 A.D. This was roughly 20 years after the resurrection. In other words, many of the eyewitnesses were still around.
• Third, many lives were dramatically transformed as a result of witnessing the risen Jesus. For example: Saul became Paul; James, the brother of Jesus, went from skeptic to leader of the Church in Jerusalem; the disciples were transformed from cowards to bold evangelists willing to die for the testimony they proclaimed. What else explains these remarkable transformations?

For more powerful evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ please check out Dr. Carlson’s lecture, The Resurrection: Fiction or Fact? available in CD or MP3 in our online store.

• The Bible is filled with some incredible prophecies about the Messiah. Peter Stoner, former Westmont College science professor, calculated the odds of a single person fulfilling just eight of the Bible’s major prophecies of the Messiah as being one chance in 100,000 trillion!
• The Bible’s prophecies of the Messiah are both a proof of Jesus’ divinity as well as the Holy Spirit’s inspiration of Scripture. Consider the following.
• Zechariah 11:12-13 revealed the Messiah would be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver (Mt. 27:7-10).
• Isaiah 53:7 said he would remain silent before his accusers (Mt. 27:12-14).
• Psalm 22:7 reported the Messiah would be mocked and insulted (Mt. 27:31).
• Isaiah 53:12 foretold that he would be put to death with transgressors (Luke 23:33).
• Psalm 69:21 reported the Messiah would be given gall and vinegar for his thirst (Mt. 27:34).
• Psalm 22:18 revealed that his garments would be divided by the casting of lots (Mt. 27:35).
• Psalm 22:1 declared the Messiah would be forsaken (Mt. 27:46).
• Zechariah 12:10 foretold that the Messiah would be pierced (Jn. 19:34).
• Isaiah 53:9 reported his burial in a rich man’s tomb (Mt. 27:57-60).
• And most amazing of all, Psalm 16:10 and Isaiah 53:10-12 revealed that the Messiah would conquer the grave by rising from the dead (Mk. 16:6; Acts 2:31).

For more incredible evidence that Jesus was the Messiah, please check out the Apologetics Study Bible for Students, available in our online store.

• When a critic or skeptic raises this charge against a Christian’s faith they are committing the Genetic Fallacy. This is an attempt to discredit a person’s beliefs by criticizing their origin.
• The problem with this charge, however, is that the origin of a person’s beliefs has no bearing on whether or not those beliefs are true.
• An Atheist may likewise be an Atheist because they were raised in a home of Atheists, but that’s completely irrelevant to whether or not their Atheism is true.
• When examining belief systems what ultimately matters is whether or not the beliefs that are held correspond with reality.
• Thus, the most appropriate way to judge any person’s beliefs is by examining the evidence for them.
• As a Christian, a great response to this charge is to politely state, “I may have been blessed to have been raised in a Christian home, but my faith is founded upon greater reasons to believe than that fact alone. If you’d be interested I’d love to share with you some of the compelling evidence for why I’ve put my trust in Jesus.”

For more answers to common charges against the Christian faith, please check out the Apologetics Study Bible for Students, available in our online store.