Francis Schaeffer
A Rational Defense Of The Gospel
In Philadelphia in the late 1920's, a young
teenage boy decided that he didn't need God. He had tried church, and it
didn't give him the answers he was looking for.
After a time of living as a self-proclaimed
agnostic, he decided to read the Bible, beginning with Genesis, and see for
himself if God exists. Within six months, he was convinced that God is real
and that the Bible is His revealed Word to mankind. In 1930, eighteen-year-old
Francis August Schaeffer prayed to receive Christ as his Savior.
From that day, for more than fifty years, Schaeffer
was passionately committed to the proclamation and rational defense of the
Gospel. One of the foremost Christian thinkers and apologists of this century,
he wrote twenty-four books, which have been translated into more than twenty
languages. Schaeffer's basic message is the same - God's Word is the only
guide man needs to interpret his past and solve contemporary
problems.
When Schaeffer graduated from Faith Theological
Seminary in 1938, the United States faced many perplexing new social and
religious problems. The evangelical movement was threatened by encroaching
liberal ideologies, which argued that the Bible is not a reliable source
of truth. He and his wife Edith, whom he had met at a church theology debate,
were both eager for opportunities to speak out in defense of conservative
doctrine.
As a pastor of several churches throughout
Pennsylvania and Missouri, Schaeffer was grieved at the compromise he saw
in many mainline Protestant denominations. Then, in the late 1940's, he toured
Europe on behalf of the American Council of Christian Churches. To his
astonishment, he saw even greater needs there and moved to Switzerland to
work with youth.
The Schaeffers founded the Children for Christ
ministry in 1948 in Lausanne. With three daughters himself already, Schaeffer
was familiar with the challenges of teaching young people. In the meantime,
he continued touring, lecturing, and studying history and
philosophy.
In 1951, Schaeffer's heart became troubled.
He wasn't sure where God was leading him, and he questioned his convictions.
He remembers, "I felt a strong burden to stand for the historical Christian
position, and for the purity of the visible church. As I rethought my reasons
for being a Christian, I saw again that there were totally sufficient reasons
to know that the infinite-personal God does exist and Christianity is
true."
But what was the best way to reach cultures
so closed to God's Word? Schaeffer was convicted to start right where he
lived in Switzerland. In 1955, he formally opened his chalet in Huemoz as
a "home" for solid Bible teaching, where anyone could come and listen to
thought-provoking analysis of Scripture. This haven of spiritual rest and
discovery was named L'Abri.
Throughout the remainder of the 1950's, but
especially in the 1960's when authority and "the establishment" were most
severely questioned, L'Abri drew thousands of visitors. How did it keep going?
Edith Schaeffer explains: "We prayed that God would bring the people of His
choice...send in the needed financial means to care for us all, and open
His plan to us."
Pastor and author Dr. Harold Brown says, "L'Abri's
initial theological impact was not made institutionally...but indirectly,
through individuals whom the Schaeffers came to know and whose lives they
changed."
The Lord continued to unfold His purposes.
In 1968, Schaeffer published his first two books - Escape From Reason
and The God Who Is There. In these landmark works he explored ways
in which other philosophies have failed to adequately come to terms with
real-world problems. Gradually, the work that Schaeffer had been developing
for years gained recognition, especially in the United States.
It was largely the U. S. Supreme Court's 1973
Roe vs. Wade decision, which opened the door to legal abortions on demand,
that drew Schaeffer's interest back to America. In the book How Should
We Then Live?, Schaeffer addressed the foundational problems which led
to this devaluing of human life.
Such a breakdown of values can eventually lead
to further violations of human life in the forms of euthanasia (the killing
of the elderly) and infanticide. With former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop
and his son Franky, Schaeffer published Whatever Happened To The Human
Race?, which tackled these social issues specifically.
Schaeffer was frequently criticized by
non-believers, but more surprisingly by many believers who were worried by
the explicit stand he took for the bold and consistent application of the
Bible.
However, Schaeffer continued to proclaim the
message of the inerrant Word. Professor Dr. Gene Veith, Jr. says: "Schaeffer
showed that orthodox Christianity, uncompromised and undiluted, is strong
enough to challenge secularist thought in its own territory."
When Schaeffer was diagnosed with cancer in
1981 and given only six months to live, he did not cease his labor. The Lord
gave him three more years of active teaching and exhorting. His illness,
with its long and sometimes debilitating treatments, gave him fresh opportunities
to address nationwide medical concerns.
Schaeffer died in his home on May 15, 1984.
As President Ronald Reagan said: "It can rarely be said of an individual
that his life touched many others and affected them for the better; it will
be said of Dr. Francis Schaeffer that his life touched millions of souls
and brought them to the truth of their Creator."
text from:
http://www.intouch.org/INTOUCH/portraits/francis_schaeffer.html
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