Is Christianity at odds with science? Is it nothing more than a laughable idea, a crutch that weak people need to lean on in order to get through life? Is faith in God a blind faith, a kind of intellectual suicide?

What about Atheism? Is it the best and only alternative to Christianity? Does Darwinism and naturalism hold up as better and truer explanations for life and the universe? Can a person really be moral if evolution doesn’t allow for moral absolutes?

I’m a Reformed Christian. And while I believe in God, the Bible, a 6-day creation, and Jesus Christ, along with His divinity and resurrection from the dead, I also believe that the Christian faith has intellectually satisfying foundations and is not, as some like to postulate, blind trust in an unknowable deity.

This is not a popular position, of course. I’m aware that I and thousands of others like me are laughed at, derided for our faith, and scorned as the dumb of the earth. But that’s ok. In fact, that’s Biblical. The world thinks the gospel is foolishness (1 Corinthians 1:18). If the Bible teaches I’m gonna be ridiculed for my faith, I believe and accept it.

But that doesn’t mean I can’t confront atheism. I do so willingly, as a soldier who’s been tasked with defending the front lines. In this regard I’m a lieutenant, skilled in the Word to some degree but still rough around the edges, still making my way up the ranks, if you will. I may not have all the answers and the war on Truth may sometimes be overwhelming. But I’m hanging in here, doing my bit, battling the oppression of atheism, post-modernism, and the ugly denial of a sovereign God.

Which is why I’m grateful for people like the esteemed John Lennox, a commander in the faith who blazes the way in confronting error and defending the truth.

Lennox is Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford and Fellow in Mathematics and Philosophy of Science, as well as Pastoral Advisor at Green Templeton College. I recently watched his 2007 debate with evolutionary biologist and fellow Oxford professor Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion which was the subject of the debate.

Lennox is a brilliant mind, clear and eloquent, a man who argues his position with passion and scientific integrity. Dawkins is no pushover either; he’s keen, sharp, and argues with equal passion (it’s a shame he doesn’t come to the same conclusions as Lennox though).

Watching these men exchange ideas and grapple with deep and profound questions about God and the cosmos is an intensely gripping experience. Especially for someone who likes to know that what he believes in can be defended with the mind and not just the heart.

I believe that as a Christian I have a duty to not only tell others about my faith and be ready with answers to their questions (1 Peter 3:15), but I have a personal duty to know God (Psalm 46:10). The Lennox-Dawkins debate helps me on all these fronts. I hear the atheist/theist arguments and I walk away with answers as well as a deeper sense and appreciation of knowing the Lord God of the universe.

The hardened atheist will come to a different conclusion no doubt. But at least questions are raised. And that’s the whole point of the debate; not to convert one of the two arguing on stage but to help listeners like you and me confront our beliefs, Christian and pagan, and weigh them in the light of science, Scripture, and a few good words from a raging battlefront.