Ministering to a fallen world.
The name of this ministry is Giving An Answer. This is based on the command in 1 Peter 3:15 that all believers know how to defend the Christian Faith.
The purpose of Giving An Answer is to demonstrate to an unbelieving world that Christianity is the true Faith, and that the true Faith is based on sound evidence. It is also the purpose of this ministry to equip Christians with the evidences of their faith. As a result, Christians will be both built up in their own faith and better able to win others to Christ.
Giving An Answer started out as a TV ministry airing access on local cable in Charlotte NC. Having recognized the need for expanding the TV ministry and With the encouragement of Dr. Geisler, who also currently serves on the Board of Advisors, Harold extended the ministry of Giving An Answer beyond the TV ministry to a non-profit organization in April 2005.
Giving An Answer is a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization, all donations are tax deductible.
Giving An Answer currently reaches the entire country with a show that is apologetically based and emphasizes the defense the Historic Christian Faith. The program follows a talk show format with the host, Harold C. Felder, interviewing guest on important issues for Christians such as doctrines and evidences for our faith, as well as understanding and responding to other world views, religions, and cults.
The Giving An Answer broadcast can be heard on local radio in the Charlotte North Carolina area as well as parts of South Carolina, reaching a population of over 1,000,000. The show also airs on local cable in the Charlotte North Carolina area, reaching an audience of 350,000 people. In addition to media, the ministry is involved in bringing the ministry directly to the people through speaking opportunities. Furthermore, this website itself serves as an outreach by providing online resources such as shows and articles in defense of the Faith.
The need for apologetics has never been greater. It is a must for our youth in their struggles against the anti-Christian culture in which they live. It is also needed by every Christian, that they may be able to discern false teachings and evangelize a skeptical world.
It is in response to the above challenges that Giving An Answer was formed. Christianity is not some blind leap of faith, but faith based on evidence. Blind faith is never commended in the Bible. God gave us reason for a reason. It is through our reason that we can come to a proper faith in the God of the Bible. Blind faith cannot give reason to believe in Christianity over Islam or any other religion. If people actually used their reason, they would come to the conclusion that Christianity is the true religion. It is blind faith that keeps people in bondage to the lies of various other religions and cults.
Abraham’s faith in God was not blind. He had seen God perform miracles such as the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. God revealed Himself to Abraham. Abrahams’ faith was based in evidence. In fact, when God told Abraham to sacrifice his son, “Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead” (Heb. 11:19). The same is true with the rest of those mentioned in Hebrews eleven’s faith hall of fame. They expressed faith in God, but never was it blind faith. This is repeated in the New Testament. We read about Paul’s missionary journey’s in Acts, in which Luke writes “As his custom was, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead” (Acts 17:2), and “Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks” (Acts 17:3). Furthermore, Paul commended the Bereans because they “examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true” (Acts 17:11). Furthermore, if God did not expect people to believe in evidence, then He would have never performed miracles. Jesus Himself said “even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father” (John. 10:38). Not even Jesus expected belief in Him without evidence.
Enter Giving An Answer. There is an abundant evidence for the Christian faith. The Resurrection is a historical fact. The Bible is the Word of God. The God of the Bible is the True God of the universe. All of these truths are based in evidence. It is the ministry of Giving An Answer to provide these answers to churches, schools, and other organizations. By visiting these groups and giving classes, talks, and workshops; Giving An Answer seeks to prepare Christians to obey the command of the Apostle Peter to “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” (1 Peter 3:15).
With the continuing TV and radio ministries, Giving An Answer is reaching a potential audience of hundreds of thousands in the Charlotte NC area. Weekly, evidence is given in support of the Christian world view. Those who have never heard the evidence before have an opportunity to hear a unique message. No other show is providing the information found in the Giving An Answer programs.
In order to serve those outside of the Charlotte area, a number of the programs are available online. These programs are accessible to anyone in the world with an internet connection. The site also supports podcasting, which allows users to download episodes of the show directly to their iPod, or any mp3 player, for listening anytime at their leisure. This is provided as a free service with the intention of reaching the broadest possible audience.
The African American Guide to the Bible deals with the arguments used to support the idea that Christianity and the Bible are incompatible with people of color. The book demonstrates that the Bible alone is God’s word, people of color are central and prominent in the biblical landscape, and God views all of humanity as one.
The purpose of Giving An Answer is to demonstrate to an unbelieving world that Christianity is the true Faith, and that the true Faith is based on sound evidence. The ministry equips Christians with solid answers to tough questions. As a result, Christians are both built up in their own faith and better able articulate the truth and win others to Christ.
Read articles that deal with various topics concerning the evidence for Christianity. Topics include the nature of God, biblical prophecy, biblical inspiration, evidence for the resurrection, the nature of evil, the Qur’an and more.
In his book titled Twenty-Six Reasons Why Jews Don’t Believe in Jesus, author Asher Norman outlines twenty six reasons why Jews reject both Jesus and Christianity. He attacks the person of Jesus, the reliability of the New Testament, and the need for salvation as taught in Christianity. It would take a book to respond to each and every argument proposed by Norman. However, this paper will address arguments that lie at the heart of his objections. It will respond to his objections concerning Jesus as Messiah, the New Testament as inspired, and the need for atonement as taught in the Bible. The paper will also demonstrate that Norman’s objections to Jesus and Christianity are without merit.
Throughout the history of western thought, numerous philosophers and great thinkers have struggled with what is known as The Problem of Evil. A number of influential philosophers have posited the incompatibility between the existence of God and the existence of evil. A number of theists have defended their co-existence. Former Oxford professor of Philosophy J.L Mackie took the theist to task by attempting to expose their arguments as invalid and unpersuasive. Mackie represents a number of non-theistic criticisms of theistic arguments for The Problem of Evil.[1] Because of this, I will examine Mackie’s arguments from a theistic perspective and demonstrate that it is Mackie who has failed to be persuasive in his arguments against the positions that reconcile the existence of God with evil.
As a Christian Apologist, I often engage people who are atheist or of different faiths. If we talk long enough, the topic of the Crusades is bound to come up. In this paper, I would like to present a view of the Crusades that goes against the commonly held beliefs of most people. This paper will focus on the First Crusades. It will examine the Crusades from a traditional view and then from a historical view. Both views will then be evaluated.
I remember when I first started learning about the three great arguments for the existence of God. The first argument is the argument from the universe. It basically goes like this: everything that comes into existence needs a cause, the universe came into existence, therefore the universe needs a cause. The argument goes on to demonstrate, scientifically, that the cause is consistent with the God of the Bible.
If there is one assertion that can safely and accurately be made about the Muslim view of the Bible it would be that there is no one unified Muslim view of the Bible. The truth is that Muslims and their scriptures often differ on this subject. Additionally, Muslims differ with one another concerning how to view the Bible.
Did Jesus rise from the dead? Why is it important? What is the evidence? Even if He did rise from the dead, what difference does it make anyway? These are the questions that I, H.C. Felder, will be answering in this article on the evidence for the resurrection.
Aspects of Word of Faith theology varies from teacher to teachers, however, there seems to be one constant. That constant is this view on the nature of healing. In this paper, I will look at some of their most visible teachers to examine what they teach. I will present their view in their own words. I will then evaluate this view in light of what Scripture truly teaches. I will also expose the occult source of this teaching and why it is not only unbiblical, but dangerous.
This paper will examine Open View Theology, particularly from the view point of God's immutability as defined by Boyd in God of the Possible. The Open View will be examined first, along with a presentation of the biblical and historical basis, as well as its implications as presented by Boyd. Next, the traditional view of God will be examined with its biblical and historical basis. Then, both views will be contrasted, exposing the weaknesses, contradictions, and fallacies inherit in Open View Theology. Finally, the conclusion will summarize of the information presented and give a few closing remarks.
There are a number of scholars who claim that Scripture is not "God-breathed." Some claim that it cannot be God-breathed because there is no God to breathe it. These scholars pride themselves on the academic knowledge and alleged scientific approach to the study of Scripture. They claim to have scientifically proved that that the Bible is a book written by a number of uninspired men over hundreds of years for their own selfish reasons. They developed what is known as the Document Hypothesis to explain the man-made origin of Scripture and reject divine involvement.
For many Christians today, the Gospel is not Christ centered but self centered. One can hardly turn on Christian television without hearing how God promises them this or that; how God guarantees them health and wealth in this life; how life is to be blessing filled. It is sad to see those who follow after Christ for their own sake. It grieves me that so many are turning to Christ as a new way to prosper or as a new method of happiness. This is a very skewed view of the Gospel. At the center of the Gospel message is Christ and Him crucified. In order to be obedient to Him, we are told that suffering, tribulation, and persecution come along with following Him. Paul understood suffering very well. He considered his suffering for Christ an honor and privilege and this is a reoccurring theme throughout his epistles. We can learn much from Paul about what it truly means to follow Christ.
Plato lived from approximately 428-328 B.C. in ancient Greece. He was the student of Socrates and teacher of Aristotle. St. Thomas Aquinas lived from A.D. 1224-1274, during the medieval period. Although separated by more than fifteen hundred years, few philosophers have had as much impact on western thought as these two men. Both introduced revolutionary ideas in the study of reality and knowledge. The purpose of this article is to present and compare the metaphysics and epistemology of Plato and St. Thomas Aquinas.
The topic of philosophy has intimidated many throughout modern history. Many believe that it is reserved for the intellectually superior; that it is a discipline studied by a club of exclusive members of academia, with little or no practical value to the general masses or everyday life. In reality, many people simply do not know what philosophy is and how it applies to them. The purpose of this article is to define and explain philosophy. It will also discuss some of the main issues of philosophy and the questions that it seeks to answer.
The Faith movement has introduced cultic teaching about the sacrifice of Jesus and diminished His finished work. This paper will first explore the orthodox view of atonement and then examine the origins of the Faith movement and its views on atonement. The paper will conclude with an analysis of the Faith movement’s theology on the atonement in light of the Bible and reason.
There are those who deny the Deity of Christ. Of those, there are some who believe in the inerrant Word of God, yet allege that Jesus Himself never claimed to be God. Those who would make such a claim are simply wrong. Either they have never read the New Testament or simply refuse to acknowledge the abundance of evidence of Jesus’ claims of Divinity. This paper will demonstrate that Jesus certainly did claim to be God; both indirectly and directly. The scope of this study will be on the Gospel of John and deal with the direct saying of Jesus as recorded by His apostle John.
Islam maintains that the Qur’an that we have is the unalterable word of God. It is now exactly what it has always been. Muslims use this as a proof that the Qur’an and the Qur’an alone is inspired and that only the Qur’an has been saved from human corruption. Allah personally preserved the text as his true, eternal, and perfect testimony. This article will demonstrate that the text of the Qur’an is neither eternal nor perfect. Instead, it is a book of purely human origins, evolving over a period of time.
Islam maintains that the Qur'an that we have is the unalterable word of God. It is now exactly what it has always been. Muslims use this as a proof that the Qur'an and the Qur'an alone is inspired and that only the Qur'an has been saved from human corruption. Allah personally preserved the text as his true, eternal, and perfect testimony. This article will demonstrate that the text of the Qur'an is neither true, eternal, nor perfect. Instead, it is a book of purely human origins, evolving over a period of time.
In this paper, I intend to expose Darwinism as being even more racist than their accusations against Christianity. I will look at the seed of scientific racism as planted by Charles Darwin and how that seed matured into full blown racism. I will also examine and contrast the theological consequences of Darwinian evolution with the theological consequences of God’s existence as our Intelligent Designer, as it relates to racism.
The Bible contains numerous prophesies about events far into the future-events verified by historical evidence. As a matter of fact, the Bible contains 1,817 prophecies. Twenty-seven percent of the Bible is prophecy! Other religions do not have specific, repeated, and unfailing fulfillment made many years in advance of contingent events over which the predictor had no control. In an effort to prove this, I selected a number of predictions from the Bible, made by prophets who claimed to be speaking from God. These predictions cover a wide range of topics. All the events are verified as historical events hundreds and thousands of years after the predictions. Additionally, I validate these events with historical, secular, non-Biblical sources.