A Matter of Fact – A Look At More Evidence for Christianity, Kyle Butt

A Matter of Fact – A Look At More Evidence for Christianity, Kyle Butt

This book is a follow-up to Out With Doubt. Recently we utilized this book with our teenagers in Bible Class. Although I did not teach the class, I followed-up with the teacher and students to gather their feedback on the material. Those familiar with talking with teenagers are not surprised to hear the “it was alright”, “O-kay”, or some in vogue expression these days. This was different. Our teenagers were enthusiastic supporters of the study, and the teacher was eager to search for other materials on subjects that intrigued them. If you have not included studies in Christian Evidences with your young people, then you need to remedy that defiency immediately. Our young people are constantly bombarded by the philosophies of atheists, agnostics, ungodly and a host of other threats to New Testament Christianity. We need to do all that we are able while we have opportunity before our children leave our care and enter a some times dark world where their faith will be tested. Have we fortified them to withstand these attacks? If you are not supplying them with materials from Apologetics Press (or other faithful proponents of Christian apologetics), then you may be unaware of some excellent teaching tools available today.

In this book, brother Butt dispels the common falsehood that faith is some “leap in the dark”. Tragically many are taught due to a distorted view of faith. I can recall hearing it said that the difference between belief and faith is whether the object is seen or unseen. If you can see it, then it is belief. If you cannot, then it is faith. That is partially true but misses a key component. Some extrapolate the unseen into no proof to back it up. Sadly, that is what many Christians are sometimes left to believe—that there is no evidence for their beliefs. What they fail to realize is the scientific method is only one measure of evidence. Some become so narrow in their definition of evidence that they fail to realize that testimony constitutes evidence. The book points out that faith in the Bible is not a “leap in the dark” (suggesting no proof), but is based on testimony that can be substantiated.

The book also deals with substantiating the testimony with a discussion of archaeology. There are many events in the Bible that have been mocked at by skeptics until the spade proved their attacks wrong—in spades! The Bible is unique in that it has been used as a guide by archaeologists to explore great treasures that would boggle the mind. That is solid testimony to the accuracy of the Bible. Skeptics such as William Ramsay set out to disprove the Bible by using archaeology and other tools to check the accuracy of books such as Acts and have come away converted to the accuracy of the sacred record.

A Matter of Fact also hits on key points that evolutionist would like to call trite but these are really unanswerable truths. For example, no rational person can deny that there is design in the world. The clear implication is that where there is design there must be a designer. The truism has spawned a movement known as “Intelligent Design Movement” where scientists have acknowledged that even though one may be uncertain about the Designer’s identity there certainly is design. Christians already know who the identity of the Designer is.

The book also calls to the attention of young people, that while all these facts are great and powerful, they must recognize that they are accountable to the God of heaven. It relays a story of one teenagers transition from the faith of a child to that of a young adult who submits to God by being united in Jesus death, burial and resurrection in baptism.

I highly recommend it for the church library. If possible, I suggest you purchase a copy of the book for each of the members of the teenage class for them to keep. There are challenging Study Questions at the end of each chapter to help the student review and ensure they have grasped the key points of the material. This is an excellent book to supply to your teenagers. Our teenagers were eager to keep their copy for their future reference.