Daily Defense Podcast

DAY 366 CHALLENGE “This book doesn't include my objection to the Faith!” DEFENSE A single book can only do so much. Therefore, let me recommend some more resources that may help. The Handbook of Catholic Apologetics by Peter Kreeft and Ronald Tacelli: This is an excellent survey of the general evidences for the Christian faith, written by a pair of scholars who communicate in a manner easily accessible to all. Scaling the Secular City by J.P. Moreland: This was one of the first apologetic books I read when I began studying the field. Dr. Moreland is an outstanding scholar who carries …

DAY 365 CHALLENGE “Why should I pay attention to the Bible at all? It's an ancient book written by people of limited understanding. Besides, other religions have their own scriptures, too. Why are they any less important?” DEFENSE The Christian scriptures are unique and valuable. The mere fact that the books of the Bible were written a long time ago is no reason to look down on or dismiss them. To do so would be chrono-logical snobbery. Just because a person wrote before you doesn't mean that person was wrong. If it did, we would have to dismiss all works written in the past, obliter…

DAY 364 CHALLENGE “As an atheist, I may not be able to prove God doesn't exist, but I also can't prove there isn't, orbiting between Earth and Mars, a teapot too small to be detected by telescopes. If I don't have to believe in the latter, I don't have to believe in the former.” DEFENSE This argument is subject to a number of objections. First, it was originally proposed by the philosopher Bertrand Russell as an answer to believers who felt atheists have the burden of proof regarding the existence of God (see “Is There a God?” The Collected Papers of Bertrand Russell, vol. 11). From th…

DAY 363 CHALLENGE “There can't be an ‘unbroken line' of popes going back to Peter. Look at the vacancies between popes, and at the antipopes.” DEFENSE The “unbroken line” claim may be found in the writings of individual Catholics, but it is difficult to find it in any official Church documents. Nevertheless, it expresses a truth: There is a line of popes (bishops of Rome) that we can trace in historical succession, going back to Peter. The statement that it is unbroken must be understood in the sense that those who make the claim intend, otherwise a straw man will result. This means …

DAY 362 CHALLENGE “Why can't there be a multiplicity of gods?” DEFENSE The answer depends on what you mean by “gods.” In classical paganism, the gods people typically worshipped were not infinite, eternal beings. Instead, they were understood to be superhuman but finite beings who came into existence at some point. (Thus Osiris's father was Geb, Zeus's father was Chronos, Thor's father was Odin.) It is possible for there to be multiple superhuman beings. That could be the case even in the natural world. There might be creatures in the physical universe who are more intelligent, more po…

DAY 361 CHALLENGE “Why shouldn't people of the same sex be allowed to marry one another?” DEFENSE It's not so much a question of what should be allowed as of what is possible. Marriage involves a reality that can only exist between a man and a woman. Marriage is a union of a man and a woman that is oriented toward the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring (CCC 1601). No other kind of union is a marriage. Since before recorded history, men and women have united to care for each other and to bring up children. That happens in every culture, no m…

DAY 360 CHALLENGE “If religion has benefits for individuals and groups, why can't we say that evolution has favored the development of religion, even though it has no bearing on reality.” DEFENSE Religion does have benefits (see Day 283), but this doesn’t lead to the conclusion that religious beliefs are false. If it were possible to dismiss a belief as having no bearing on reality simply because adopting it has benefits from an evolutionary point of view (i.e., promoting the survival and reproduction of those who hold it), then we would have to dismiss a vast number of beliefs. …

DAY 359 CHALLENGE “Why do Catholics worship on Sunday instead of keeping the Sabbath? The (Saturday) Sabbath is part of the Ten Commandments, which Catholics recognize as expressing the moral law (CCC 1962).” DEFENSE The Sabbath command is unique among the Ten Commandments in that it incorporates both moral and ceremonial aspects. The Catechism of Trent states: The other commandments of the Decalogue are precepts of the natural law, obligatory at all times and unalterable. Hence, after the abrogation of the Law of Moses, all the commandments contained in the [Ten Commandments] are ob…

DAY 358 CHALLENGE “There is no one argument that demonstrates the Christian God exists. At most, each points to only a single aspect of the Christian God.” DEFENSE The arguments are not meant to be used individually. They're meant to be combined in a cumulative case. It would be possible to combine all the arguments into a single, highly complex argument, with many subarguments (similar to the way a computer program contains many subroutines). However, such an argument would be excessively difficult to follow. Consequently, apologists through the ages have broken the overall argument …

DAY 357 CHALLENGE “For Christians, violence is never permitted. Jesus teaches strict pacifism when he says, ‘Do not resist one who is evil. But if any one strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also' (Matt. 5:39).” DEFENSE What Jesus teaches in one passage must be read in light of what he teaches elsewhere. Jesus' statement about turning the other cheek occurs in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5–7), but in the same discourse he draws a distinction between the natural, human response and a supernatural response that goes beyond it. The first is morally acceptable, but i…

DAY 356 CHALLENGE “The Catholic Church is wrong to express appreciation for scientific studies on the origins of the universe, life, and man (see CCC 283). Contrary to modern scientific ideas, the universe is only a few thousand years old. God created it with the appearance of age, just like he created Adam as an adult.” DEFENSE This view creates problems for God's truthfulness. The challenge is based on an overly literal interpretation of Genesis (see Days 90, 290, and 339). However, if we assume for the moment God did create Adam as an adult, there would be a very good reason: Human …

DAY 355 CHALLENGE “People shouldn't legislate their religious views. We live in a democracy, and not everybody has the same religion.” DEFENSE This challenge is problematic on several grounds. First, it assumes people in a democracy shouldn't vote according to their beliefs. This is false. Democracies exist precisely to allow people to express their will regarding how society should be governed. Saying that they should not vote their will simply because it is informed by their religious views and others disagree with those views, is contrary to the fundamental enterprise of democracy…

DAY 354 CHALLENGE “Catholic theology of merit is false. We can't earn our place before God.” DEFENSE The Church does not teach that we can earn our place before God. Everything we receive from him is due to his grace. When we first come to God and are justified, it is entirely by his grace, for “none of those things that precede justification, whether faith or works, merit the grace of justification” (Trent, Decree on Justification 8). After our initial justification, God's grace leads us to do good works (Eph. 2:10) and he rewards these (Rom. 2:6–7), but still, “with regard to God, th…

DAY 353 CHALLENGE “Okay, religion is a human universal—something that's found in all cultures. That doesn't mean that it's true, and it certainly doesn't mean that Christianity is true.” DEFENSE Nobody would argue that because religion is a human universal, Christianity must be true. That would be excessively simplistic. Instead, the argument is that the fact that religion is a human universal points to there being a religious dimension to the world. The starting point for this argument is recognizing the universality of religion in human cultures. There have been no cultures without…

DAY 352 CHALLENGE “We don't need the Church to infallibly settle the canon of Scripture; we have a fallible collection of infallible books. Further, the Catholic Church didn't even attempt to define the canon for centuries.” DEFENSE There are several responses to this challenge. First, if you want to claim we have certain knowledge that all the books included in the canon belong there, then you do need an infallible authority. Although some Protestants have been willing to say our knowledge of the canon is fallible (“a fallible collection of infallible books”), many find this prospect …

DAY 351 CHALLENGE “If something is good just because God says it is, then morality is arbitrary. But if there's an independent standard of morality that even God is bound to, that means there exists something besides God that is eternal and that is able to bind God.” DEFENSE God is the ultimate standard of goodness. A version of this argument was proposed in Plato's dialogue Euthyphro around 400 B.C. In it, Socrates debates whether piety is whatever the gods love or whether the gods love something because it is pious. In philosophy, this has become known as the “Euthyphro dilemma.” T…

DAY 350 CHALLENGE “Catholic teaching on justification is confused. Catholics hold that, when God justifies us, he gives us more than legal righteousness, yet we obviously aren't fully righteous in our behavior.” DEFENSE This concern is caused by the categories used to look at the question. In the Protestant community, justification (here meaning the initial justification at the beginning of the Christian life) is usually thought to involve the bestowal of only legal righteousness (sometimes called “forensic” righteousness). On this model, God acts like a courtroom judge and declares th…

DAY 349 CHALLENGE “Peter didn't have any special authority, because Jesus gave the power of binding and loosing to others. This simply refers to the ability to preach the gospel and admit people to the kingdom, as Peter did with Jews on Pentecost (Acts 2) and Gentiles with the household of Cornelius (Acts 10–11).” DEFENSE This interpretation does not fit the text or the context. First, while Jesus gave the power of binding and loosing both to Peter (Matt. 16:19b) and to others (Matt. 18:18), this wasn't the thing that made Peter unique (cf. CCC 881). In addition to giving him this au…

DAY 348 CHALLENGE “Belief in God is unscientific.” DEFENSE This challenge can mean different things, but none show that God does not exist or that it is unreasonable to believe in him. The statement that something is “unscientific” can mean different things. Taken in the most charitable sense, it would mean that the methodology used by science (i.e., scientific method) cannot establish the existence of God. Although this view is widely held among both scientists and theologians, it is not clear that this is the case. The scientific method involves proposing an explanation b…

DAY 347 CHALLENGE “Matthew's Gospel isn't reliable. It was written long after the events by a non-eyewitness.” DEFENSE Matthew was written by an eyewitness within living memory of the events it records. We elsewhere cover that the names of the evangelists were not made up at a later date and that they indicate actual authors of the Gospels (see Days 109 and 146). Matthew's Gospel was already called by that name in the first century, as shown by the testimony of the first-cen- tury figure John the Presbyter (Eusebius, Church History 3:39:16). The evidence thus points to Matthew the ap…

DAY 346 CHALLENGE “Believers are eternally secure in their salvation. We cannot lose our salvation because when we come to God and believe, we become his sons (John 1:12–13; Rom. 8:14–23; Gal. 4:3–6; 1 John 3:1). And once you are a son, you can't cease to be a son.” DEFENSE This presses the concept of sonship beyond its limits and fails to do justice to other things the biblical text indicates. First, the concept of Christian sonship involves a metaphor. We are not children of God the way we are children of our earthly parents. Furthermore, Scripture uses this metaphor in more than on…

DAY 345 CHALLENGE “God doesn't want us to have religion; he just wants us to have a relationship with him.” DEFENSE This is not the biblical way of thinking. Linguists are familiar with a phenomenon that occurs when a new way of talking about a subject is introduced. At first, it may be perceived as innovative and attention-getting. If it becomes popular, however, it loses these connotations and becomes a standard mode of expression. Eventually, it may become so rote that it loses its rhetorical punch and people start looking for a new, more arresting way to express the idea. We see …

DAY 344 CHALLENGE “1 Corinthians 3 isn't a good text for purgatory: (1) Paul speaks of ministers, not ordinary people; (2) their works are being tested, not them; and (3) this happens at Judgment Day, not the end of life.” DEFENSE None of these objections deprive the passage of its evidential value. First, in 1 Corinthians 3:10–17, Paul uses a metaphor comparing the Corinthian church to a temple. He laid its foundation, and others are now building on that. In the surrounding context, Paul refers to other ministers (Apollos and Peter), but he doesn't limit his remarks to ministers. He s…

DAY 343 CHALLENGE “Why should I be Christian when other religions report miracles? Why would God even allow non-Christians to have miracles?” DEFENSE There are several explanations for reports of miracles in non-Christian circles, but none undermine the value of Christianity's central miracle, the Resurrection. There are reports of supernatural phenomena in religions all over the world, but most are minor and are not investigated, and so their actual status is unclear. Some may be misinterpreted natural phenomena, some may be imaginary, and some may be frauds. (This applies to phenom…

DAY 342 CHALLENGE “Some psalms contain violent and bloodthirsty language that calls down wrath upon (imprecates) one's enemies.” DEFENSE The key to understanding these is recognizing their genre and the modes of language they employ. The psalms were written in a world in which people experienced many violent acts that were bound to stir up powerful emotions. Expressing an emotion, however, is not the same thing as literally performing an act, much less does it mean God would approve of literally performing the act. The psalms thus use hyperbolic language to express emotions without imp…

DAY 341 CHALLENGE “Catholics can't have assurance of salvation because the Church teaches justification by faith plus works, meaning that they will always have to be wondering whether they have done enough good works to be justified and enter heaven.” DEFENSE This is not what the Church teaches. We elsewhere cover the fact that the Church does not use the phrase “justification by faith and works” (see Day 222). What the Church does teach is that “in those who are born again God hates nothing, because there is no condemnation to those who are truly buried together with Christ by bapti…

DAY 340 CHALLENGE “The Bible originally taught reincarnation, but the relevant passages were struck out by the Council of Nicaea.” DEFENSE This claim is not credible for numerous reasons. First, the surviving records of the First Council of Nicaea (A.D. 325) and the Second Council of Nicaea (A.D. 787), as well as the writings of those who took part in them, give no indication the topic of reincarnation was even discussed, much less was anything as dramatic as taking passages out of the Bible contemplated. Second, the fathers of these councils regarded Scripture as the inspired word of …

DAY 339 CHALLENGE “Catholics are wrong to allow the use of alcohol. Jesus would never have approved of it. In the Bible, there were two types of wine—fermented and unfermented—and only the second, also known as ‘new wine,' is ever endorsed.” DEFENSE The Bible contains multiple warnings against drunkenness (Prov. 20:1, Isa. 5:11–12, Luke 21:34, 1 Cor. 6:10, Eph. 5:18). But it does not condemn the moderate use of alcohol. In the biblical languages, as in English, the term “wine” (Hebrew, yayin; Greek, oinos) is used to refer to the fermented juice of grapes. Even “new wine” was ferment…

DAY 338 CHALLENGE “Unanswered prayer disproves Christ's teaching on prayer. Jesus said, ‘If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, “Move from here to there,” and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you' (Matt. 17:20b). But experience shows that we can't do such things by prayer.” DEFENSE Jesus' teaching is more complex than this challenge suggests. It doesn't involve a promise that we'll always get what we ask. First, Jesus makes the statement when the disciples have just failed to exorcise a demon. When they ask why they were unable to dr…

DAY 337  CHALLENGE “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Religion makes extraordinary claims, therefore we must have extraordinary evidence for them.” DEFENSE This depends on what you mean by “extraordinary.” In its original sense, extraordinary refers to things outside of or different from the ordinary. It thus refers to anything uncommon. However, the term has acquired an additional sense, according to which extraordinary refers to things that are startling, overwhelming, or awe-inspiring. Used this way, the term becomes subjective, because different people find different…

DAY 336 CHALLENGE “Belief without evidence is irrational. A rational man will proportion his beliefs strictly according to the evidence.” DEFENSE Actions are irrational if they're done contrary to reason, but not all reasons are evidential. We sometimes have practical rather than evidential reasons. Suppose you are fleeing danger and the only way to escape certain death is to leap across a chasm. Suppose further that the chasm is wide enough you can't tell whether leaping it is within your ability, but if you lose confidence you will certainly fail. In this situation, you have a practi…

DAY 335 CHALLENGE “Catholics may claim that they rely on Scripture, Tradition, and the Magisterium, but the Magisterium has the final say. What Catholics really believe in is solo magisterio (“by the Magisterium alone”). It could make up anything, and Catholics would have to believe it.” DEFENSE This claim does not stand up to analysis. First, the Magisterium is not itself a source of the Faith. Its function is to proclaim and clarify what is found in Scripture and Tradition, which together “make up a single sacred deposit of the Word of God” (CCC 97). Scripture and Tradition thus re…

DAY 334 CHALLENGE “People should not try to legislate morality.” DEFENSE Any degree of scrutiny causes this claim to fall apart. First, law deals with the ordering of human affairs—what people are and are not to do—and this has an inescapably moral dimension. This is obvious with laws prohibiting things like murder and rape, but it is true of legislation in general. Laws that redistribute wealth or raise public funds to be spent on certain projects imply a set of values. Even laws that seem completely arbitrary from one perspective (e.g., drive on the right side of the road rather than…

DAY 333 CHALLENGE “Why shouldn't science be the ultimate guide to truth in all matters?” DEFENSE Because some truths are inaccessible to science. First, there are many subjects in life where it would be foolish to try to apply the scientific method. For example, it would be foolish for a man who desires to know if his wife still loves him to subject her to a series of scientific tests. Even if such tests were well designed, they would be likely to crush her remaining affection for him. This is a case where the attempt to impose scientific method disturbs the very thing being observed …

DAY 332 CHALLENGE “The Assumption of Mary isn't taught anywhere in the Bible.” DEFENSE From a Catholic perspective, it doesn't have to be. The idea theology should be done sola scriptura (Latin, “by Scripture alone”) is a distinctly Protestant idea not shared by most Christians. It also has numerous difficulties (see Days 5, 16, 311, and 352). In general, it is better to sort out how theology is to be done before engaging in apologetic discussions of issues, like the Assumption of Mary, that depend significantly on apostolic Tradition not recorded in Scripture. If a Protestant dialogue…

DAY 331 CHALLENGE “If God really exists and wants us to know him, why doesn't he make his existence more obvious to us?” DEFENSE This is a subcase of the problem of evil—specifically, why God would allow us to have less knowledge of him than we would prefer to have. Its solutions fall along the same lines as other aspects of the problem of evil. God could make it undeniably obvious that he exists, and it is commonly understood he will do so in the next life, paralleling the way he will vanquish evil in the next life in general. Why God remains partially hidden in this life is a myste…

DAY 330 CHALLENGE “Jesus can't be God if he said, ‘The Father is greater than I' (John 14:28).” DEFENSE The divinity of Christ is consistent with Jesus' statement. Jesus has the same nature as his Father: They are both divine, both God. This does not mean that the Son doesn't hold a lesser place in other respects. To consider a human analogy, both a father and a son are equal in nature, but the father ranks higher in the relationships within the family. Further, if he sends his son on a mission, the son has a lower place with respect to the mission: He is the one sent, not the sender. …

DAY 329 CHALLENGE “If God wants us to know him, and if the Bible is his word, why isn't it clearer?” DEFENSE Several answers may be given. First, much of the Bible is quite clear, including many of its main teachings (e.g., there is one God, who created the world, and who loves man enough to send his Son to die on a cross so we might be saved from our sins). So is the main sequence of events it narrates. For the most part, it tends to be the subsidiary points that are less clear. Second, the Bible was written in a certain period of time and in a certain culture. It therefore reflects…

DAY 328 CHALLENGE “The pope is a sinful man who makes mistakes. Therefore, he can't be infallible.” DEFENSE The premise of this challenge is true; the conclusion is false. The pope is a sinful man, but this does not lead to the conclusion that he can't be infallible. Sinlessness—sometimes called impeccability—operates in a different sphere than infallibility does. Sinlessness is a quality pertaining to the moral order: It means not making a mistake in the sphere of one's own moral behavior. Infallibility is a quality pertaining to the doctrinal order: It deals with not making a mistake…

DAY 327 CHALLENGE “Matthew contradicts the other Gospels when he says that Jesus used two animals during his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. It also, absurdly, says he rode both at once.” DEFENSE There is no contradiction, and he didn't ride both at once. When two things are involved in an encounter, the evangelists frequently simplify their recounting of the event by mentioning only one (see Day 37). This is within the level of descriptive approximation one expects (see Day 258). Here Matthew gives the fuller account by mentioning both animals (Matt. 21:2), while the others simplify b…

DAY 326 CHALLENGE “We know we can't lose our salvation by committing mortal sin because Scripture says we can't be separated from God (John 6:37, 39, 10:27–29, Rom. 8:38–39).” DEFENSE None of those biblical passages show that we cannot separate ourselves from God. John 6:37 states: “All that the Father gives me will come to me; and him who comes to me I will not cast out.” Jesus will not cast us out, but that doesn't mean we can't leave Jesus voluntarily. John 6:39 states: “this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up at t…

DAY 325 CHALLENGE “Why shouldn't the individual decide for himself what books belong in the Bible?” DEFENSE God didn't promise to guide individuals in this way. It's also a dangerous thing to try. First, how would an individual decide what books are canonical? Some have claimed these books are “self-authenticating” or that the Holy Spirit will provide what amounts to a private revelation to the individual, but neither proposal works (see Days 229 and 236). An individual might establish that certain books are reliable historical records (e.g., that the Gospels reliably record the minis…

DAY 324 CHALLENGE “Genesis can't be the word of God because it borrows from pagan texts.” DEFENSE God can interact with pagan works if he chooses. Proposed parallels between the Old Testament and pagan sources are often exaggerated. Other times they may be due to independent development. When a parallel is not coincidence, it is possible that both the biblical and the pagan authors are drawing from a common, lost source. In some cases, a pagan author may draw from a biblical one! However, there are cases where biblical authors respond to or borrow from pagan ones. The Catholic attitude…

DAY 323 CHALLENGE “If what is ultimately important is our faith in God, then there is no reason for the Church to have sacraments.” DEFENSE Interior dispositions like faith are not the only thing that is important. We are also physical beings. The Church has sacraments because they correspond to human nature and thus Christ instituted them. Every religion has certain rites it regards as sacred. Such rites are a human universal, found in every religion, in every culture, which means they are rooted in human nature. Thus God made use of them in Juda- ism and Christianity. In Judaism, t…

DAY 322 CHALLENGE “Jesus was a Jew. If Christians are really his followers, why don't they keep Old Testament laws like circumcision, eating kosher food, and so on? Jesus said he didn't come to destroy the Law and not a jot or tittle would pass away from it (Matt. 5:17–18).” DEFENSE Such prescriptions were only binding on Jewish people before Jesus fulfilled the Law. Everyone must obey the natural, moral law God has placed in the human heart (Rom. 2:14–16; see Day 291). The Law of Moses includes many aspects of this law (CCC 1961), but it also adds provisions of a non-moral nature. The…

DAY 321 CHALLENGE “If human nature has a predisposition to religious belief (see Day 313), why can't we explain this as an evolutionary by-product?” DEFENSE We can't dismiss our religious disposition so easily. Religion requires a robust set of cognitive faculties, which is why humans have religion and less intelligent species do not. According to the theory of evolution, the needed faculties would have developed over a long period of time, with different aspects appearing among the different species that led up to the human race. This is no different than other faculties humans posse…

DAY 320 CHALLENGE “Once we are saved, we are always saved. We don't need to worry about mortal sins, because when we are justified, God forgives all of our sins—past, present, and future.” DEFENSE Scripture teaches the opposite. It is, of course, true that when we come to God and are justified that he forgives all of our past sins. However, this is not true of present and future sins. One of the requirements for coming to God is repentance. Jesus' own message was, “Repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). Repentance involves an actual turning away from sin (see Day 53). This mean…

DAY 319 CHALLENGE “Pascal's Wager is open to objections: (1) It isn't based on evidence; (2) Christianity and skepticism aren't the only two options we can choose; and (3) how do you know that God won't perversely decide to put you in hell for placing your faith in him?” DEFENSE None of these objections overturn Paschal's Wager. First, as we observe elsewhere (see Day 318), Pascal's Wager is designed to deal with situations where an individual feels unable to make a decision based on evidence, yet where a decision must be made because not to choose would be to accept one position by de…

DAY 318 CHALLENGE “I am unable to decide between Christianity and skepticism, and it doesn't help to review the evidence. My dilemma seems insoluble.” DEFENSE In his Pensées, the French philosopher Blaise Pascal proposed a practical solution that became known as Pascal's Wager. He proposed that, if evidential reasoning cannot settle the question for a particular person, then practical reasoning may (see Day 336). Pascal's Wager can be put different ways (in fact, Pascal himself put it more than one way), but here we will follow his main presentation of it. He compared the decision of …

DAY 317 CHALLENGE “The synoptic Gospels say the Last Supper was a Passover meal, but John indicates it wasn't (John 18:28, 19:14).” DEFENSE There are multiple resolutions to this challenge. First, there were disputes about the calendar in first-century Judaism. Some have proposed Jesus used a different calendar than the temple authorities, so he ate the Passover meal a day earlier than the Jewish authorities mentioned in John 18:28. Second, it's been proposed Jesus simply celebrated the Passover a day early because he knew he was going to die. He made other changes to the meal as well…

DAY 316 CHALLENGE “In the New Testament, Church leadership wasn't divided up among bishops, priests (aka presbyters/elders), and deacons. In particular, the office of bishop and elder were the same (Titus 1:5–7).” DEFENSE The offices of Church leadership developed during the first century under the guidance of the apostles. Originally, the only office in the Church was apostle. Jesus appointed the Twelve to serve as apostles toward the beginning of his ministry, around A.D. 30 or 31 (Matt. 10:1–4). He appointed others to temporary assignments, but not ongoing offices (Luke 10:1). Thus …