Christianity Always be prepared to give an answer

Christianity “Always be prepared to give an answer (APOLOGIA) to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and with respect. ” 1 Peter 3: 15

Definition Christianity (from the word Xριστός "Christ") is a monotheistic religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in the New Testament.

Orthodox Christian Faith Essential Christian Doctrine • Deity of Christ • Original Sin • Canon • Trinity • Resurrection • Incarnation • New Creation • Eschatology D-O-C-T-R-I-N-E

The Problems with Christianity • Intellectual Objections • Emotional Objections • Volitional Objections

The Volitional Piece of the Puzzle The German philosopher and great atheist Friederich Nietzsche once wrote: “If one were to prove this God of the Christians to us, we should be even less able to believe in him, and it is our preference that decides against Christianity, not arguments. ”

The Volitional Piece of the Puzzle C. S. Lewis wrote, “the Irresistible and Indisputable are two weapons which the very nature of God’s scheme forbids Him to use. Merely to over-ride human will (as His presence in any but the faintest and most mitigated degree would certainly do) would be for Him, useless. He cannot ravish. He can only woo. ”

The Volitional Piece of the Puzzle Proving a proposition does not necessarily secure the accepting of a proposition. Why people will not accept the evidence and truth of Christianity is that it would require for people to: • Change their thinking • Friends • Priorities • Lifestyle • Morals

What Christianity is NOT • NOT a blind religious faith. • NOT a faith just like all others just NOT one more of the “many roads that lead to GOD. ” • NOT a religion of “ignorant people” as the secular world and biased media would suggest. • NOT based on feelings or speculation but rather rational arguments and evidence corroborated by history and archeology. • NOT a deterrent to science; NOT an opponent of scientific methods and observation. • NOT a faith that causes all bad things • NOT a religion only fit for those with a religious agenda

Conclusion • • Ideas have consequences (see Expelled the Movie) Can we handle the truth? (“One who claims to be a skeptic of one set of beliefs is actually a true believer in another set of beliefs. ” Phillip E. Johnson); Despite our cultural relativism, truth is absolute, exclusive, and knowable. To deny absolute truth and its knowability is self-defeating. Why should anyone believe anything at all? (“People almost invariably arrive at the beliefs not on the basis of proof but on the basis of what they find attractive. ” Blaise Pascal Should we be skeptical about David Hume’s Skepticism or Emmanuel Kant’s agnosticism? The Cosmological Argument, The Teleological Argument and The Moral Law suggest we must examine their philosophical assumptions.

How can I know more about Christianity? • • • Are you hungry? How about a M-E-A-L? Memorize, Deuteronomy 6: 6 Examine, 1 Thess 5: 21 and Romans 12: 2 Apply, Matthew 7: 24 -27 Listen, 1 Samuel 3: 10 Study, Proverb 7: 1 -3, John 6: 35 IN ESSENTIALS UNITY, NONESSENTIALS LIBERTY AND IN ALL THINGS CHARITY.

Resources • http: //www. equip. org • http: //www. lensviewer. org