A Defense Against Attacks on Christianity

I recently read a book that defends Christianity against modern criticisms. Here's a brief summary of its main points.


Summary of 7 Myths About Christianity by Dale and Sandy Larsen


1. "Christians force their morality on others."

First, it is a self-defeating argument for people in a society that refuses to agree on standards of right and wrong to condemn Christians. They are the ones who are judging Christians. This is judgmental language coming from those who say they are not judgmental. Critics say a Christian morality will not working in today's society, but the problems today are exactly those which Christian morality would help solve.

2. "Christianity suppresses women."

In some cases it is true that women in the church were not treated fairly, but male dominance has been generally true in all cultures. As the influence of Christianity grew, wives were given more protection and rights, including the inheritance of property. In many denominations today women have been granted a voice in ministry. Women are heavily involved in the Sunday school, on the mission field and in worship. Jesus treated women well by talking to them seriously and allowing them to interact with him. It was women who were the first to have the message about the risen Christ. The apostle Paul is often criticized as being against women, but Lydia was saved due to Paul's talking to her, he worked with Priscilla, he made a reference at the end of Romans to Phoebe, calling her a deacon. Paul tells husbands and wives to submit to each other. In some places Paul seems to make clear statements about women being silent in church and not teaching or having authority over men, but he also commends several women for doing exactly those activities.

3. "Christianity caused the ecological crisis."

Back in Genesis God commands the human race to subdue the earth and have dominion over every living creature. There is, however, no historical foundation for criticizing the Christian religion for promoting an exploitative view of nature. Ecological problems are not unique to Christian cultures -- other cultures have caused problems in nature. The God of the Bible is not part of the earth, but he is always here -- separate from but not separated from this world. In Genesis 2:15 God tells man to work the land, which means in Hebrew to serve the land, to tend it with a servant's heart. In the Old Testament, when Israel entered the Promised Land, they were instructed to let their land lie fallow every seventh year. Early Christians did not exploit the earth. In fact, history points in the opposite direction -- they refused to buy into the exploitative power structures of the cultures around them. In fact, many Christian organizations today support environmental issues.

4. "Christians are antiscientific."

However, history does not show this to be true. It was only in Christian cultures that science developed. Experimentation and verification, the basis of the modern scientific method, developed in places that saw God as rational in his creation. Many critics use the story of Galileo, saying he was hounded by the church until he was forced to recant his view that the earth revolved around the sun. Galileo criticized scientists of his day who followed Aristotle's ideas of the universe, which included a belief that the universe was finite, it was spherical, the earth was at the center, and physics of heavenly bodies were different from the physics of earth. Thus, Galileo did not attack the church but, instead, attacked Aristotle's model of the universe. His enemies turned to theology and the church to defeat him. Galileo saw no problem between science and theology. The conflict in the 18th century grew not between Christianity and science but between Christianity and naturalistic science, which took God out of the picture even before discussion began.

5. "Christians have done terrible things in the name of Christ."

Critics point to the Crusades, the Inquisition, the Salem witch trials for evidence. The Crusades, however, were actually a defensive struggle against Islam, which had swept over much of the earth and attacked Europe. The Inquisition actually was run more by the state than by the Christian Church. Whatever wrongs done by Christians pales in comparison with wrongs done by atheistic states such as Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and Red China. The wrongs of the Christian faith have been done in opposition to the teachings of the founder, Jesus Christ.

6. “Christian missionaries destroy native cultures.”

But it was the missionaries who brought literacy to far-off tribes. Missionaries often protected the natives from government intrusions and greedy developers.

7. “Christians are arrogant.”

Our age believes in relativism, a view that says there is no ultimate truth. All religions, not just Christianity, claim to teach exclusive truths. We have to examine them all to see which is most closely correspondent with the way that the world really is.