Last week ABC\u2019s Nightline Face-Off <\/em>hosted a discussion on the Existence of Satan. The panelists included Annie Lobert, Bishop Carlton Pearson, Deepak Chopra, and Pastor Mark Driscoll. It was a very intriguing and provocative discussion, but at the end of the show the host concluded by saying, \u201cIt is always difficult to have one\u2019s core beliefs challenged, but it is also healthy.\u201d Interestingly enough, I agree. Nothing is, I believe, worse than a firm believer unwilling to engage in intelligent, critical and thorough analysis of his faith. The reason, I would imagine, that so many are afraid to do this is because they either do not believe that the Christian faith can stand up to such scrutiny, or because they are afraid they will embarrass themselves. But last week I was reminded again of how logically consistent and foundational the Christian worldview is to all of life.<\/strong><\/p>\n The \u201cFace-Off\u201d began with opening statements from each of the panelists. Mark Driscoll began with a simple and clear presentation of the gospel which identified who Satan was, what sin is, who Jesus is, and why man needs Jesus. Chopra followed up with a detailed explanation of the ambiguity of human nature (the divine and diabolical in us all). He simply stated that the concepts of \u201cSatan\u201d and \u201csin\u201d are the products of our own guilt\u00a0 and lack of enlightenment, and simply put, \u201chealthy people do not have any need for Satan.\u201d The other two participants each presented their introductions with equal conviction. Annie was a former prostitute who gave her testimony, which indeed was sad, and Bishop Pearson explained his shift away from Fundamentalism to a position much closer to that of Deepak Chopra, a sort of Christianized version of Hindu spirituality.<\/p>\n The discussion touched on all sorts of related topics: The nature of God (Pearson repeatedly attacked the concept of the God who destroys his enemies); The words and person of Jesus (Driscoll and Chopra got into a heated discussion about what Jesus meant when He said \u201cI am in you, you are in me, and I and the Father are one\u201d); Evolution (Chopra was very committed to the science behind evolution); and frequently the concept of morality. The three men were each well versed in philosophy and were greatly prepared to interact with one another, but repeatedly the only one who could give real justification for his convictions was Mark Driscoll<\/strong>.<\/p>\n When discussing the concept of Morality both Chopra and Pearson could give no clear statement that the terrible things done to Annie Lobert (rape, torture, etc.) were evil. Both wanted to psychologize the event, Chopra in particular kept stating that both evil and good were necessary for one another and part of life (the ying and the yang, you can\u2019t have one without the other). When it turned to Q&A the audience\u2019s questions made it even more evident that only Christianity can make sense of morality. One audience member asked how one could judge something as bad if everything was \u201cone\u201d and there was no distinction between good and evil (terms Chopra stated we should not use). Driscoll alone gave an answer, saying that without God you can\u2019t judge something to be evil. God is outside the world and can judge it, and He alone can set up the standards by which we can judge all things in our world.\u00a0 Another audience member asked Chopra, \u201cYou said that belief was a cover-up for insecurity, do you believe that?\u201d Chopra answered, \u201cYes\u201d to outbursts of laughter and applause. The joke was totally lost on him\u2026for someone with such a higher enlightenment I would have expected more, but he repeatedly looked silly and revealed the incredible short comings of his philosophical worldview.<\/p>\n It was encouraging for me, as a Christian, however, to see that there are godly, theologically-sound, people out there who can interact at these levels in intelligent and meaningful ways<\/strong>. Driscoll was his usual self: witty, funny, sharp-tongued, but compassionate and sensitive, and very intelligent. We\u2019re not all Mark Driscoll. Many of us (most of us?) don\u2019t have the philosophical knowledge and apologetical skill that he does, but what we can rejoice in is that Christianity can hold up to the weight of scrutiny. The culture at large likes to mock and demean Christianity as stupid and ignorant, and indeed some are, but here we have a prime example from popular culture of an intelligent Christian interacting both graciously and firmly for the faith. At one point during the Q&A a woman asked Mark, \u201cIf you believe that the underlying issue for all sin and evil is pride, then isn\u2019t it wrong for you to believe you have the market cornered on truth?\u201d It was a keen question, but Driscoll\u2019s response was good. He stated that the whole reason he was doing a show like this was to show that Christians could intelligently engage in conversations like this and entertain other\u2019s ideas of truth, but in the end what he was most concerned with was \u201ctruth\u201d itself\u2026and if something turns out to be true, and something else not true, then it isn\u2019t selfish to affirm the one and not the other, it just makes sense.<\/p>\n Friends, Christianity can stand up to the criticisms, the analyses, and the investigations of the culture, so engage with earnest intelligent conversations about the faith. If you fear that you don\u2019t know enough then study more, but don\u2019t fear that the faith will fall apart. So remember two things, you can discuss intelligently the Christian faith and it will endure, and if you ever have the chance to make Deepak Chopra look like a fool\u2026you should take it!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" David Dunham reminds us that the Christian faith can stand up to scrutiny… even from pop-philosophers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1234,"featured_media":2927,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,10,11,19],"tags":[352],"class_list":["post-2880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-general-culture","category-headline","category-television","tag-deepak-chopra"],"yoast_head":"\n