Know Why You Believe What You Believe Lecture
Know Why You Believe What You Believe Lecture 3: Christian Apologetics Paul R. Shockley www. prshockley. org
Consider the following quote… “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the Sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else. ” ~ C. S. Lewis ~ “Is Theology Poetry? ” Essay Collection (London: Harper. Collins, 2000), 21. 9/2/2021 Template copyright 2005 www. brainybetty. com 2
I. Why do you believe what you believe? SOCIOLOGICAL REASONS PSYCHOLOGICAL REASONS RELIGIOUS REASONS Parents Comfort Scripture Friends Peace of mind Pastor/Priest Society Meaning Guru Culture Purpose Rabbi Geography Hope Imam Community Identity Church Peer Pressure Feelings or Intuition Tradition PHILOSOPHICAL REASONS BIBLICAL Consistency Accurate Exegesis TRUTH Coherence Completeness Biblical, Theological Systematic Coherence Mysticism Adapted from: James Sire, “Why Should Anyone Believe Anything At All” in Telling the Truth, D. A. Carson, ed.
II. Explanatory Power: The Christian worldview possesses many benefits. Among them I would like to summarize three: 9/2/2021 A. Christian worldview possesses the greatest explanatory power among its rivals (e. g. , Darwinian naturalism; postmodernism). B. Christian worldview is able to answer the greatest questions asked in life. Christian worldview is able to harmonize both natural revelation and special revelation. Template copyright 2005 www. brainybetty. com 4
A. Explanatory Power • Christian worldview is able account for the following: 1. Physical beginning of the universe; 2. Empirical design, order, and complexity that is evident in our universe and in our biological systems. 3. The unity and diversity in biological life-forms. 4. The reality of abstract, non-physical realities (e. g. , First principles of logic; mathematics); 9/2/2021 Template copyright 2005 www. brainybetty. com 5
A. Explanatory Power: 5. Objective moral values, duties, virtues, & accountability; 6. Objective Beauty & our capacity to experience beauty; 7. Existential human need for God (inward knowledge of the divine-a hole in the heart); 8. The intrinsic need for meaning, purpose, and value in life (and fulfillment thereof in Christ); 9. Inherent value and depravity of man; 9/2/2021 Template copyright 2005 www. brainybetty. com 6
A. Explanatory Power: 10. Human Conscience 11. Both moral & natural evil & suffering in the world; 12. Miracles; 13. The person and work of Jesus Christ; 14. The historical bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ; 9/2/2021 Template copyright 2005 www. brainybetty. com 7
A. Explanatory Power: 15. The inherent search for both redemption from sin & immortality; 16. Value and respect of all persons (all made in the image of God); 17. Similar accounts of life-after-death type experiences; 18. Our capacity for critical thinking skills; 19. Our relationship to, distinction from, and stewardship of environment. 20. Abiding joy and comforting hope. 9/2/2021 Template copyright 2005 www. brainybetty. com 8
B. Answers the Greatest Questions: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Origin: Identity: Meaning: Morality: Destiny: Evil: 7. Hope: 9/2/2021 Where did we come from? What are we? Who are we? Why are we here? How should we live? Where are we going? What’s gone wrong with the world? What can be done to fix the problems of the world? Template copyright 2005 www. brainybetty. com 9
General Revelation Salvation Meaning. Significance Cosmological Peace Answered Prayer Experiences Teleological Innate Idea Ontological Conscience Intuition God Arguments Moral Law Existential Need Obj. Beauty Cross-cultural Awareness Evidences Big Bang: 9/2/2021 Morals: Anthropic Principle Objective Values Specified Complexity Objective Duties Irreducible Complexity Altruistic Acts Template copyright 2005 www. brainybetty. com 10
Continuity Fulfillment of Predictive Prophecy Early Attestation Multiple, Independent Sources Uniqueness of Scripture Jesus Use of Scripture Experiences Arguments Predictive Prophecy If God exists, miracles are possible Performed Miracles The Person & Work of Christ Evidences Greatest Positive Influence Trustworthy Historical people who taught & Bodily lived by highest ethics Resurrection and who died for testimony of Christ Ideal Exemplar (e. g. , loved the unlovely). 9/2/2021 Intuition Seen by over 500 witnesses; Testimony from multiple sources Sinless Life Greatest Words Ever Spoken Reliability of Scripture Predictive Prophecy Historical Accuracy Archeological Accuracy 5, 800+ N. T. Manuscripts Template copyright 2005 www. brainybetty. com Early Written Attestation (mostly 15 -40 yrs) after event. 11
C. Harmonized Starting Point for a Christian Worldview (natural & Special Revelation) Uniqueness of Scripture Existential Experiences Arguments to and from Natural Revelation The God of the Bible The Person & Work of Christ 9/2/2021 Evidences From and to Natural Revelation Template copyright 2005 www. brainybetty. com Reliability of Scripture Intuition Historical Bodily Resurrection of Christ 12
One goal of apologetics is to (1) expose inadequate justifications for belief and (2) provide a solid basis for validating or invalidating truth claims.
Evaluating the Strengths of One’s Worldview: • • 9/2/2021 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Logical Coherence Empirical Adequacy Existentially Relevant Workable. Viable Explanatory Power Aesthetic and Moral Quality of Excellence. Template copyright 2005 www. brainybetty. com 14
Various Types of Apologetics: • • • 9/2/2021 Classical Apologetics Evidential Apologetics Historical Apologetics Relational Apologetics Experiential Apologetics Presuppositional Apologetics Cumulative Apologetics Cultural Apologetics Reformed Epistemological Template copyright 2005 www. brainybetty. com 15
12 -Step Methodology for doing Christian Apologetics by Norman Geisler & Frank Turek in their book, I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be An Atheist 1. Truth about reality is knowable. 2. Opposites cannot both be true (Law of Non. Contradiction). 3. The theistic God exists.
4. 5. Miracles are possible. Miracles performed in connection with a truth claim are acts of God to confirm the truth of God through a messenger of God. 6. The New Testament documents are reliable. 7. As witnessed in the New Testament, Jesus claimed to be God. 8. Jesus’ claim to divinity was proven by an unique convergence of miracles. 9. Therefore, Jesus was God in human flesh. 10. Whatever Jesus (who is God) affirmed as true, is true. 11. Jesus affirmed that the Bible is the Word of God. 12. Therefore, it is true that the Bible is the Word of God and whatever is opposed to any biblical truth is false.
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