One of the joys of summertime is fresh garden vegetables. Fresh green beans, sliced tomatoes, cucumbers and sweetcorn; now there is as good a meal as there is! To me, the only thing to make it better would be some fresh fried okra, a pitcher of iced sweet tea and fresh blackberry cobbler! When vegetables are fresh, they are better. They look better, taste better and are better for you. Fresh picked, that is when they are best. Thinking of such, I fondly recall a summertime experience I enjoyed with each of my three children as they were growing up. Each took his or her turn selling fresh sweetcorn during the months of July and August. Early every morning, I would travel to Belpre or Reedsville, Ohio and arrive just as the farmhands had returned from the fields with fresh-picked corn. I would load a day’s supply for the kids to sell at their roadside stand in downtown Vienna, West Virginia, next to their grandmother’s flower shop. It was a good summer job for the kids, and there was plenty of fresh sweetcorn anytime we wanted it for supper! Selling the corn was easy. It just had to be fresh—fresh every morning. The Bible says, “Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22-23). These words were written soon after the fall of Jerusalem (586 B.C.). The Book of Lamentations is the tearstained portrait of a once proud

In His book, Why Religion Matters, Huston Smith contrasted the worldview that believes God is the ultimate reality with the view of secular materialism that believes there is no reality (no God) beyond the physical universe – the physical laws of nature and the chemical properties of matter. Truly serious minded people – those concerned about evidence – will recognize the importance of thinking about the implications of these two major worldviews. The opening chapter of The Epistle of Paul to the Romans not only answers the question concerning what is at stake regarding the implications of these two worldviews, but this chapter (Romans 1:18-32) is as great a statement about this issue that is available to humans. The late Dr. Thomas B. Warren summarized the content of these powerful verses (Romans 1:18ff) in his 1978 debate on the existence of God with philosophy professor Wallace Matson of the University of California (Berkeley). Warren said, “In Romans 1:18 and following, after Paul made clear that the evidence of God is right before the eyes of everyone… [he] then showed, in regard to those who turned away from God, three times in that chapter… God gave them up” in giving a list of the terrible and heinous crimes that were committed (Warren-Matson Debate 310, 312). In the loss of God from the mind of man, “…they refused to have God in their knowledge…” (Romans 1:28), which results in “the loss of God in the life of man” (Robertson, Word Pictures of the New Testament, Vol. 4, 331).

The field of study relating to the positive defense of the Christian faith and the refutation of unbelief is apologetics. The word is derived from the Greek word apologia. It is rendered “defense” (NKJV) and “answer” (KJV) in a relevant passage in 1 Peter. Peter wrote, “…[A]lways be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks a reason for the hope that is in you…” (3:15). Brown says, “…[A]pologetics is the working out and presentation of intellectual, scientific and philosophical arguments…” (51). Rogers and Rogers state, “The word was often used of the argument for the defense in a court of law… can also mean an informal explanation or defense of one’s position” (575). Such entails a logical (correctly reasoned) defense. Apologetics is also called Christian Evidences because it involves the study of the evidence that provides the foundation for the case for Christianity. Apologetics (Christian evidences) is concerned with the evidence for (1) the existence of God, (2) the inspiration of the Bible and (3) the deity of Jesus of Nazareth, and areas of study that relate to these crucial doctrines. The word “evangelism” is derived from a family of Greek words (cf. Brown 107). Euangelizo is to bring or announce good news, or proclaim and preach the same. Euangelizomai is to proclaim or preach glad tidings. Euangelistes is the proclaimer of the Gospel (good news), the evangelist. In a definitive volume on evangelism, Michael Green wrote: THE ENTHUSIASM TO evangelize which marked the early Christians is one of the most remarkable things in the history of religions.

The theme of the Bible is redemption. In Genesis God selected the vehicle for this redemption, namely, the nation of Israel. In Exodus God redeemed this nation from Egyptian bondage. In Exodus, we read of the great events at Mt. Sinai. Here God gave the standard of life for his redeemed (i.e. the Law of Moses). Here he set forth the meeting place for the redeemed (i.e. the tabernacle). At Sinai God gave to this redeemed people a special Person (i.e. the Messiah, the Christ). There are rich contrasts between the Law of Moses and the Law of the Messiah. There are contrasts between when these laws were given, where they were given and the results of these laws being given. Fifty days after Abraham’s seed (the Israelites) were set free from Egypt, they came to Mt. Sinai, and the Law of Moses was declared. Fifty days after Abraham’s true seed (cf. Galatians 3:16), the Christ — was set free from death, and resurrected, the law of Christ was declared at Mt. Zion (Jerusalem — 2 Samuel 5:7; 1 Kings 8:1). This was in fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy (cf. Isaiah 2:1-3). There is the contrast concerning where these laws were given. The Law of Moses was given at the mount that might be touched (Hebrews 12:18). This was a physical mountain. The Law of Christ was given from a spiritual mountain — Jerusalem which is above (Galatians 4:26). The Law of Moses was given with the message for the

“These six things the Lord hates, yes, seven are an abomination to Him: a proud look…” (Proverbs 6:16-19). Pride is a “respectable sin” with man, but it is an abomination with God. “Everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord…” (Proverbs 16:5). Pride is antithetical to the very nature of God. He says, “I dwell in the high and holy place, with him that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the spirit of the contrite one” (Isaiah 57:15). What is a “proud look”? How do we identify it? Three factors are prominent. 1. Pride looks highly on self. 2. Pride looks lowly on others. 3. Pride looks falsely on God. Jesus said, “Two went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I possess’” (Luke 18:10-12). The Pharisee had a proud look, because he looked highly on self. He confessed his own goodness rather than his evil ways. He had his eyes lifted up in prayer, not on God, on himself. He was so thankful he was not like others. Everyone who exalts himself will be abased (Luke 18:14). The world looks at the self-promoter as ambitious, aggressive and a go-getter, but