Christian Apologetics Part I St Mary St Mina

Christian Apologetics – Part I St. Mary & St. Mina Youth Meeting November 14, 2014

Why Apologetics is important ? • Commanded in the Scriptures • Humanity needs it and especially nowadays • Unfortunately, many are getting none of it

Starved for Reasons • Faith is continuously being attacked • Perceived and mistaken notion that there is a contradiction between faith and reason

Practical Tools • Do not be afraid to be unpopular • Do not avoid hard questions • Our work in today’s culture is more of a pre-evangelistic nature • The purpose of apologetics is not only to win heads but hearts as well – people must see in us JOY and LOVE

Practical Tools • Must be passionately in love of truth • Be a good listener • Trust in God’s work and power – “unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain who build it”

The Argument from Design • God exists, we can know that, we can give reason, and those reasons amount to a proof, but not scientific proof • “Where there is a design, there must be a designer”

Examples • Imagine you are on an island see the letters S. O. S, or see a house built with windows, door fireplace and roof, etc…. • The story of the first rocket sent to the moon and the two scientists. .

The Design Argument • Imagine you are flying and they tell you there is no pilot flying the aircraft but it is flown by a computer that has been programmed randomly by hailstones falling on the computer keyboard

The Design Argument • The anthropic principle • Evolution does NOT explain everything without the need for a designer • While there is evidence for some forms of evolution, there is NO evidence for natural selection

The Design Argument • Could intelligence be born out of chance ? • The principle of casuality – You cannot get more in the effect that you have in the cause