Featured Author interview with Rob VandeWeghe as was published on FaithReaders.com in November 2007 

Rob Vandeweghe is a relatively new FaithWriters member. He has spent years researching the truth about Christianity and now heads up a web-based apologetics ministry. He is also the author of the non-fiction book, "Prepared to Answer." Join interviewer, Lynda Schab, as Rob shares his fascinating testimony and talks about the passion for truth that God has placed in his heart.

LYNDA SCHAB: Let me first say, it's a privilege to chat with a fellow Dutchman. I live in a predominantly Dutch area where lots of Vander's and Ver's abound (my maiden name is Vermeer…very much Dutch!). It's nice to interview someone who shares my native history. Start by telling us a little about yourself and your family.

ROB VANDEWEGHE: Jacoba and I have two sons (23 and 21) and a beautiful daughter (16). We are originally from the Netherlands and moved to the US in 1995, initially to New Jersey but we have lived on Washington State's Olympic Peninsula in the North West corner of this beautiful country for the last 10 years. I guess we all more or less turned into Americans since we've been here, but we still try to maintain some of our Dutch traditions and at home we often (still) try to speak Dutch.
As a family we've built the house we live in and have done some other construction. Working as a family has been a blessed experience!

LYNDA: You describe yourself in your FaithWriters profile as, "a former skeptic turned Christian." Share with us some of your testimony.

ROB: I became a Christian about 8 years ago. Not because of an emotional experience or one particular event in my life. No, I became a Christian because I was convicted by evidences for the truth.
Although raised in a Roman Catholic family; later in school and college I was taught "the fact" of evolution. The more "educated" I became, the more I believed God and Jesus Christ were mere myths—nothing more than invented stories. Modern science / evolution explained our existence, so, was there any need for God?
When I was almost 40 years old, I got in touch with some Christians. I became intrigued with Christianity and decided to check it out once and for all. From the start, I researched whatever I could find on both viewpoints – those that tried to prove, and tried to disprove Christianity. I thought I would need to read only a few books, but my project quickly turned into a full-time study, stretching over six months and taking me through hundreds of books and articles. As I struggled with the evidence, a mountain of facts emerged, coming from many disciplines, each objectively pointing to the truth of Christianity. I was taken aback by both the quantity and quality of this evidence.  Especially amazing to me was how modern day science reveals more and more about God.  In time, my position became clear: I had no choice but to face the facts – you can fool anybody except for yourself - and once cornered by the evidence, I obeyed the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Things have changed for the better ever since! Thank God!

LYNDA: You are a brand new FaithWriters member. How did you come across the site and what made you immediately sign up as a 500 member?

ROB: Ever since I became a Christian, I have the urge to share about the evidences. Therefore, my wife and I started a ministry of sharing and teaching on Christian Apologetics – the sharing of the evidences for our faith.
The internet provides wonderful opportunities and in parallel with writing a book about the proofs, we launched our website and I started to publish short articles on various websites. That's how I ran into FaithWriters (and FaithReaders), one of the largest Christian sites to share this information.
The 500 membership was a next logical step.

LYNDA: So far, the articles you've posted at FaithWriters consist of apologetics, theology and Bible study. You clearly have a passion for digging deeper into the Word. But when did you discover your desire to write about it?

ROB: My background is in science and business, I am not a minister. I like to know things and study facts. Talking and sharing about the evidences comes naturally, learning more about them is fun.
I noticed during my research that church-going Christians seemed to have little knowledge of the proofs for their belief. I had asked myself questions such as, Why should I believe in God? How do we know Moses wrote Genesis? What does archaeology say about the Bible? Were the gospels written by Jesus' disciples or by others? How can we know for certain that the resurrection is a historical event? I found very good answers to these questions, but to my surprise I had to find these answers in books.  Most people could not give me any answers. Some claimed their personal experience with God needed no answers. Others, believers all their lives, simply had not thought about it. Still others never had the time to look for answers, and most of them were not even sure what to believe.
Before long, people were telling me that they wanted to know these answers too and they asked to share with them my findings. Writing articles is a great way to fill this request.

LYNDA: I have to say, I took a moment to check out your website (www.windmillministries.org) and ended up staying a lot longer than I planned! There is so much interesting information packed in those web pages. Is your website your primary avenue of ministry?

ROB: In our ministry we try to use every avenue available to share the information about the truth of God's Kingdom. I do lots of teachings and speaking engagements in churches, seminars etc. The internet, however, allows us to reach more people at the same time and, at their convenience. Therefore, we decided to put the contents of the entire book on our website as well, plus any other resources (presentations, MP3's and so on) we have available. www.windmillministries.org went live at the end of August and is starting to become a major gateway for our ministry.
 

LYNDA: Do you get feedback from many skeptics? If so, do they try to trip you up with questions you just can't answer?

ROB: Not enough! I love to share and discuss with skeptics. However I have noticed the biggest challenge is just to get them interested. Most people just do not care! They just live their (easy) lives and believe it will never end. Only when a dramatic event happens (like an illness or death) they seem to get a wake-up call. At that moment I would like to be around to answer their questions.

LYNDA: You have also written a book. Tell us more!

ROB: I found that much of what was published about these evidences seemed to focus on single issues such as the uniqueness of the earth, or archaeological evidences for the Bible, or the prophecies that were fulfilled by Jesus. However, I did not find in one book, a comprehensive source, which would give an overview of all the evidences.
Prepared to Answer (the name of the book) attempts to be this comprehensive summary.
The information in the book comes from hundreds of sources. I make no claim to be an expert on the topics, but I have done lots and lots of legwork, sifting through huge amounts of available material about the multi-faceted evidence for our faith. And I have tried to structure this information logically so that it will be more accessible for those interested.
The book is currently at the printer but is already available as an e-book at FaithWriters
( http://ebooks.faithwriters.com/ebook-details.php?id=270)

LYNDA: Whet our appetites and briefly give us one piece of biblical evidence you've come across in your research that is included in your book.

ROB: That is a simple question with a potentially very long answer. More than half of my book is about evidences for the reliability of the Bible and proofs the Bible itself gives us about its accuracy and honesty. Let me just select one piece of evidence I had never thought about before, nor had I expected to find: the honesty of the gospels.
 
Some critics like to keep lists of inconsistencies between the gospels and provide that as evidence that the Bible cannot be true. But that is frankly nonsense. Whenever you have -for any event - multiple witnesses giving their testimony about 20 to 30 years later, you would expect them to be consistent about the main line of events but have slightly different recollections on the details. Those minor inconsistencies are actually considered by experts to evidence honest recollection. If all the details were the same, it would surely suggest a pre-agreed account, not honest testimony.
 
If you read through the four gospels, they all exhibit all characteristics of honest recollection:
*They all agree on the main events in Jesus life, ministry, crucifixion and resurrection;
*All gospels contain different specific irrelevant details;
*All accounts contain self-damaging information;
*There is no evidence of exaggeration;
*They had no motive to lie and did not gain anything with their writings;
*They wrote while others where still alive to verify their accounts;

It is abundantly evident, then, that the writers of the gospels just wrote down the events and the details as each remembered it to have happened.

LYNDA: I had never thought much about that before, either, but it makes perfect sense to me. So what project or research are you immersed in at the moment?

ROB: My wife, Jacoba, and I are currently very, very busy with the translation of the complete website and book into Dutch. Holland (and most of Western Europe) is a very secular environment. Also the small size of its population (about 16 million people) results in a relatively small market for books in Dutch. As a result, there is hardly any information about Christian apologetics in Dutch available.

We feel strongly led to fill that gap and are on track to complete the translation by the end of the year.

LYNDA: How do you hope FaithWriters can help you in your ministry?

ROB: I hope it will allow us to share the evidences with more people through articles, get more people to know about our ministry, our website and Prepared to Answer.

LYNDA: Finally, what are your future goals? Do you have any more books in the works?

ROB: As a company's executive I was always making long and short term plans. Since I became a Christian I understand – and have experienced – that God has better plans. So I just go where the Lord wants me to go. I hope and pray He will use me to the utmost extend to share His Kingdom. I look forward to find out how and wherever that may be!

LYNDA: And I'm sure I speak for many when I say we look forward to seeing where God takes you, as well. What a marvelous ministry you have. I can't think of anything more important than increasing peoples' knowledge of the truth.

Dank u wel for chatting with me! May God bless you and your family as you continue your research and follow the call He has placed on your life.

To see the interview on FaithReaders - follow this link.