"CHRISTIAN APOLOGETICS"
Introduction To Christian Apologetics
In 1 Pe 3:15, all Christians are commanded to be ready to make a "defense" for the reason of their hope in Christ... "but sanctify in your hearts Christ as Lord: being ready always to give answer to every man that asketh you a reason ("defense") concerning the hope that is in you, yet with meekness and fear:" The word "defense" is from apologia, which means "a speech in defense of what one has done, or of truth which one believes" The formal use of this word is used by Paul in Ac 22:1 "Brethren and fathers, hear ye the defence which I now make unto you."; 1 Co 9:3 "My defence to them that examine me is this."
Peter, however, uses the word in the context of an informal inquiry by a friend or neighbor...e.g., someone asking "Why are you a Christian?" To such Peter says that we should be ready to give reasons why we believe.
In this series of lessons on "CHRISTIAN APOLOGETICS", we shall examine some of the evidence that exists for placing one's faith in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God. In doing so, I hope to accomplish two objectives. To STRENGTHEN OUR FAITH in Jesus Christ. To HELP PREPARE OURSELVES to be able to do the very thing enjoined by Peter in 1 Pe 3:15
In this lesson, I wish to establish some "BASICS" for Christian apologetics that are important for all to realize the Christians faith is "an intelligent, rational faith." It appeals to the "mind" as well as to the "heart." God expects us to use our minds - Mt 22:36-38 "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? And he said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the great and first commandment."; Jn 8:32 "and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." I.e., we do not have to commit "INTELLECTUAL SUICIDE" in order to have faith! This is important, for as one person said, "My heart cannot rejoice in what my mind rejects!" A "WEAK FAITH" may be the result of the heart trying to believe in something the mind cannot accept. But the "STRONG FAITH" God requires involves both the mind and the heart. So it is important that we present reasons why we believe in an INTELLIGENT and RATIONAL manner. "We cannot pander to a man's intellectual arrogance, but we must cater to his intellectual integrity." - PAUL LITTLE
Does this mean we can offer 100% proof? No, because there is virtually nothing of which we can be 100% sure (e.g., who our parents are) Yet, we often make 100% commitments with less than 100% proof; e.g., flying on an airplane. We cannot be 100% certain that we will have a safe journey. But the statistical evidence is strong enough to convince us that we will. So though we may not have 100% certainty of arriving safely, when we step on the plane we make a 100% commitment! So the question becomes: IS THERE ENOUGH EVIDENCE OR PROOF TO WARRANT MAKING A 100% COMMITMENT TO CHRIST? I believe that there is. Certainly enough evidence to commit myself 100% FOR HIM, rather than be 100% AGAINST HIM! There is no other alternative - Mt 12:30 "If you are not on my side, you are against me. If you don't gather in the harvest with me, you scatter it." Jesus is like is like taking a trip on an airplane; either we get on board totally, or we get left behind! So the
Christian faith is to be an INTELLIGENT, RATIONAL FAITH. As an example, consider the next "BASIC".
The Christian faith is "a historical, factual faith." Christianity appeals to history, and the facts of history. "The facts backing the Christian claim are not a special kind of 'religious' fact. They are the cognitive, informational facts upon which all historical, legal, and ordinary
decisions are based." - CHARLES PINNOCK
It will be my purpose in future lessons to present these HISTORICAL FACTS then demonstrate that the CHRISTIAN INTERPRETATION is more logical than any other.
To briefly illustrate that Christianity is based upon historical facts consider Lk 2:1-5 "About that time Emperor Augustus gave orders for the names of all the people to be listed in record books. These first records were made when Quirinius was governor of Syria. Everyone had to go to their own hometown to be listed. So Joseph had to leave Nazareth in Galilee and go to Bethlehem in Judea. Long ago Bethlehem had been King David's hometown, and Joseph went there because he was from David's family. Mary was engaged to Joseph and traveled with him to Bethlehem. She was soon going to have a baby," 3:1-2 "For fifteen years Emperor Tiberius had ruled that part of the world. Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was the ruler of Galilee. Herod's brother, Philip, was the ruler in the countries of Iturea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was the ruler of Abilene. Annas and Caiaphas were the Jewish high priests. At that time God spoke to Zechariah's son John, who was living in the desert." Notice the appeal to time, places, people and events that actually existed in history. The Christian faith, therefore, is a historical faith that appeals to certain facts of historical
occurrence. Not a PHILOSOPHICAL faith appealing to philosophies of men, nor a faith based upon MYTHS and LEGENDS.
As we consider the evidences for the Christian faith, it is also important to bear in mind that the Christian faith is "an objective faith." It is a faith in "an object"; Jesus of Nazareth! Faith in WHO He was: The Christ, the Son of God. Faith in WHAT He did: He rose from the dead on the third day. It "does" make a difference "what" we bwlieve! The old cliche "It doesn't matter what you believe, as long as you believe in something" is
inconsistent with the Christian faith. Consider Jn 8:24 "That is why I said you will die with your sins unforgiven. If you don't have faith in me for who I am, you will die, and your sins will not be forgiven.""; Ro 10:9 "So you will be saved, if you honestly say, "Jesus is Lord," and if you believe with all your heart that God raised him from death." Note that it is not faith IN OF ITSELF that is important, but IN WHOM (the object) our faith is based!
And then consider that the Christian faith is "based on principles of truth" such as "truth is always open to Examination." So is the Christian faith. For example, Ac 2:22 "Now, listen to what I have to say about Jesus from Nazareth. God proved that he sent Jesus to you by having him work miracles, wonders, and signs. All of you know this." - Peter appealed to the crowd to examine what they themselves knew. Another example, Ac 26:24-26 "Before Paul finished defending himself, Festus shouted, "Paul, you're crazy! Too much learning has
driven you out of your mind." But Paul replied, "Honorable Festus, I am not crazy. What I am saying is true, and it makes sense. None of these things happened off in a corner somewhere. I am sure that King Agrippa knows what I am talking about. That's why I can speak so plainly to him."" - Paul invited Agrippa to examine the evidence. Unlike some religions (esp. "Jehovah's Witnesses" and the "Mormons"), the CHRISTIAN FAITH is open to honest examination.
We also need to consider that "truth is always open to non-truth (falsification)" That is, it is open to be proven wrong. To illustrate, if you don't believe Jesus was raised from the dead. Use the evidence that is available, and attempt to prove by it that He wasn't! Do this and then we shall see which interpretation of the facts is more logical (intelligent and
rational).
Before I close this lesson, I wish to address one last question: "If the Christian faith is such an intelligent, rational, historical and factual faith, then why do many people reject it?" In the days of Christ, it is usually due to one of three reasons. Reason one is ignorance - Jn 7:40-43 "When the crowd heard Jesus say this, some of them said, "He must be the Prophet!" Others said, "He is the Messiah!" Others even said, "Can the Messiah come from Galilee? The Scriptures say that the Messiah will come from the family of King David. Doesn't this mean that he will be born in David's hometown of Bethlehem?" The people started taking sides against each other because of Jesus." Some rejected Jesus as the Christ because they were ignorant of the historical facts concerning
His birth. So, many do today for a similar reason: LACK OF ACCURATE INFORMATION!
The second reason is Pride. John 12:42-43 "Even then, many of the leaders put their faith in Jesus, but they did not tell anyone about it. The Pharisees had already given orders for the people not to have anything to do with anyone who had faith in Jesus. And besides, the leaders liked praise from others more than they liked praise from God." Pride in wanting to be approved by men kept them from confessing Jesus as the Christ. Today, many do not want the RIDICULE or REJECTION one might face for following Christ.
The third reason is a moral problem. Jn 3:19-20 "The light has come into the world, and people who do evil things are judged guilty because they love the dark more than the light. People who do evil hate the light and won't come to the light, because it clearly shows what they have done." Some people reject the evidence because it would mean having to change their LIFESTYLE. Today, many people in efforts to justify their immorality accept only that evidence which supports theories which allows them to continue their lifestyle. They reject any evidence which may support a doctrine which would condemn their behavior and require a change. What it boils down to is this. The rejection of Christ is not so much a problem of the "MIND" but of the "WILL"! It is not so much "I CAN'T" but "I WON'T"! There is enough evidence to convince the honest and sincere seeker, but there is not enough evidence to force a man against his will when he is determined to reject it!
In conclusion it is with these "BASICS" in mind that I shall endeavor to give evidence that warrants faith in Jesus of Nazareth as the Christ, the Son of God. I shall not attempt to prove anything "beyond a shadow of a doubt," for that is not possible. But I shall try to show that it is more logical to believe in Jesus, than for one not to! And we shall begin by examining the evidence that demonstrates Jesus to be a true, historical figure, a person who actually lived!
The Executable Outlines Series, Copyright © Mark A. Copeland, 2000, used by permission.
Sunday, March 27, 2005
Sunday, March 20, 2005
Bible Reading - II
The Book of Genesis - A Must for Bible Reading
In our last lesson we summarized the first eight chapters of the book of Genesis. We will now look at the remaining chapters and some of the reasons for our understanding of this book.
After the flood Genesis tells of the procreation of our current races of man from the family of Noah, of the tower of Babel, where God gave the various foreign tongues or languages to man, thus dividing them up into various races of peoples.
Genesis covers much of the history of the time of the Babylonian Dynasty, of the Egyptian Empire, the time of the great pyramids; during which time Abraham lived. Genesis tells us of Abraham in Chapters 11-14. Abraham lived in a time when most of man worshiped idols, but not Abraham.
The New Testament refers to Abraham and his Seed, which was Christ. (c.f. Romans 5) Even in the first book of the Bible, we see the importance of the prophecies regarding the coming blessing which would bless all nations of the earth, the Messiah.
In Genesis, we see Abraham receiving the call from God and he believed in 1 God, not the many false idols. We read of Lot and his separation from Abraham's fellowship. Lot went to live in the city, where he finally had to flee because of the coming of God's wrath on Sodom and Gomorrah.
Genesis tells of a battle between Abraham and his forces and the Babylonian kings to rescue Lot, who had been captured. In Genesis 14, we read of Melchizedek. Without reading this, you will not quite have a good understanding of the New Testament passages that compare Christ to him. (Heb.5-7)
Genesis tells us of the miraculous birth of Isaac to Abraham and Sara when they were both old beyond the age of having children. We read in chapters 20-21 of Ishmael, who was born of Hagar and Abraham. The New Testament mentions both Ishmael and Isaac in Galatians 4.
Abraham and Sarah are mentioned in Hebrews 11 and other places, such as in the sermon of Stephen in Acts.
Genesis tells of the offering of Isaac upon an altar to God in Chapter 22. See in the New Testament of this in Heb. 11.19. This event happened on the same mountain, where 2,000 years later the Son of God was offered as our sacrifice for sins. This account in Genesis 22 is so important for you to understand.
Genesis 24 tells us of Isaac taking Rebekah for his wife. They had twins, named Jacob and Esau (chapter 25) These are also referred to in our New Testament.
In Genesis 29-30, you can read the love story of Jacob for Rachel, for whom he had to work for 20 years to get, but her daddy Laban deceived Jacob and gave him Leah instead.
In chapter 37, Joseph, the son of Jacob was sold into slavery into the country of Egypt. You must read and understand this story to understand much of Christianity.
The book of Genesis ends with the death of Jacob and also Joseph. The great family of Jacob, his 12 sons, and all of the descendants of these and servants are now in Egypt, from which in the next book they will be rescued. This is to fulfill one of the promises and prophecies given to Abraham in chapter 14-15.
The entire Bible rests upon Genesis. Jesus gives it credibility by quoting from it. The apostles refer many times to the events that are recorded there. What we are as God's people today was planned from the very beginning of time.
I greatly encourage you to read again the book of Genesis and study it. If you have a reference bible, look at how many references are made to the New Testament.
This lesson has been adapted and expanded from a lesson on Bible reading written by Joe McLure and is used with his permission.
In our last lesson we summarized the first eight chapters of the book of Genesis. We will now look at the remaining chapters and some of the reasons for our understanding of this book.
After the flood Genesis tells of the procreation of our current races of man from the family of Noah, of the tower of Babel, where God gave the various foreign tongues or languages to man, thus dividing them up into various races of peoples.
Genesis covers much of the history of the time of the Babylonian Dynasty, of the Egyptian Empire, the time of the great pyramids; during which time Abraham lived. Genesis tells us of Abraham in Chapters 11-14. Abraham lived in a time when most of man worshiped idols, but not Abraham.
The New Testament refers to Abraham and his Seed, which was Christ. (c.f. Romans 5) Even in the first book of the Bible, we see the importance of the prophecies regarding the coming blessing which would bless all nations of the earth, the Messiah.
In Genesis, we see Abraham receiving the call from God and he believed in 1 God, not the many false idols. We read of Lot and his separation from Abraham's fellowship. Lot went to live in the city, where he finally had to flee because of the coming of God's wrath on Sodom and Gomorrah.
Genesis tells of a battle between Abraham and his forces and the Babylonian kings to rescue Lot, who had been captured. In Genesis 14, we read of Melchizedek. Without reading this, you will not quite have a good understanding of the New Testament passages that compare Christ to him. (Heb.5-7)
Genesis tells us of the miraculous birth of Isaac to Abraham and Sara when they were both old beyond the age of having children. We read in chapters 20-21 of Ishmael, who was born of Hagar and Abraham. The New Testament mentions both Ishmael and Isaac in Galatians 4.
Abraham and Sarah are mentioned in Hebrews 11 and other places, such as in the sermon of Stephen in Acts.
Genesis tells of the offering of Isaac upon an altar to God in Chapter 22. See in the New Testament of this in Heb. 11.19. This event happened on the same mountain, where 2,000 years later the Son of God was offered as our sacrifice for sins. This account in Genesis 22 is so important for you to understand.
Genesis 24 tells us of Isaac taking Rebekah for his wife. They had twins, named Jacob and Esau (chapter 25) These are also referred to in our New Testament.
In Genesis 29-30, you can read the love story of Jacob for Rachel, for whom he had to work for 20 years to get, but her daddy Laban deceived Jacob and gave him Leah instead.
In chapter 37, Joseph, the son of Jacob was sold into slavery into the country of Egypt. You must read and understand this story to understand much of Christianity.
The book of Genesis ends with the death of Jacob and also Joseph. The great family of Jacob, his 12 sons, and all of the descendants of these and servants are now in Egypt, from which in the next book they will be rescued. This is to fulfill one of the promises and prophecies given to Abraham in chapter 14-15.
The entire Bible rests upon Genesis. Jesus gives it credibility by quoting from it. The apostles refer many times to the events that are recorded there. What we are as God's people today was planned from the very beginning of time.
I greatly encourage you to read again the book of Genesis and study it. If you have a reference bible, look at how many references are made to the New Testament.
This lesson has been adapted and expanded from a lesson on Bible reading written by Joe McLure and is used with his permission.
Thursday, March 10, 2005
Bible Reading
The Book of Genesis - A Must for Bible Reading
If you have read and studied the last two lessons that I have published, accept that God is; in a believing faith and likewise accept that He has spoken through the Bible as His Holy inspired Word, I would encourage you to read and study it. I would encourage you to take thirty minutes out of your day to do so. Set your alarm thirty minutes earlier or spend this time at the end of the day. There is no other way that I know of to compliment God than to start our day reading or meditating (thinking, reflecting) in His Word. Likewise, before ending our day to do the same. I know of people who have purchased the Bible on audio tape. By using a pillow speaker attached to a portable tape player, they listen to God’s Word read as they go to sleep.
If you are a novice student or reader your most likely question is where do I start? I would suggest at the beginning. The book of Genesis is a book of beginnings. If we do not properly understand and have faith in the book of Genesis, it is extremely difficult to ever come to a full knowledge of the rest of the scriptures. Once you understand, or even get a glimmer of understanding of the book of Genesis, it will be like a light turned on in your brain.
God is the author of a grand plan, even from the first day of creation. This is important. Some believe that God set in motion the world, and then allowed it to develop without any further action on the part of God. This is not exactly the case. It is true that individuals have the choice to choose good or evil, but God still has a plan.
As we read the creation account, we see the plan of God for the physical world, and how that God made it so that all things worked well together. When we read of the creation of the universe, and couple that with the findings of scientists today, we get an idea of how great and Almighty our God is. Consider that just our universe contains the Milky Way, which within itself contains over 30,000,000,000 suns, many of them larger than our own sun. Our sun is a million and 1/2 times larger than the earth. It would take 200,000 light years to travel from one edge of the Milky Way to the other. There are at least 100,000 galaxies like the Milky Way, some of them millions of light-years apart. What we can know scientifically about space may only be a tiny speck of what is beyond. God created all of these planets, stars, suns, galaxies, and universes.
When you read of the creation of the man and then the woman, you see the beginning of the greatest human institution, that of the home. Here is made possible the procreation of the human race. There are two important laws that God gave at this time. We are introduced to morale law regarding marriage; one man and one woman bound together for life. The other law was that they were not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. As long as they obeyed this law they remained innocent before God, and was given the promise of life. If they disobeyed they were to die. At this time we find Satan introduced in the form of a serpent that chose to deceive the woman first and her to deceive the man. Although Adam was responsible for Eve he negated that responsibility, thus sin (disobedience to God) was introduced. We also find the first animal sacrifice in God providing them with a covering. As a consequence of their disobedience they were cast from the Garden, the presence of God. No longer having access to the tree of Life mankind would now experience spiritual and physical death. But God had a plan and in the Garden of Eden, we see the first promise (prophecy) of a Saviour of mankind. God made the following pronouncement to Satan in Gen 3:15 "and I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed: he shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."
All of this occurs within the first three chapters of this Book of Genesis. In the next five chapters we see the beginning and the consequences of evil’s influence upon mankind. Genesis tells us of the 1st murder, when Cain slew Abel. We see that even in the early days of man's history that God required worship. One brother worshiped as God required. The other chose to do it his way. Result, God rejected it, envy and anger leads to murder. God confronted Cain and then we see God showing mercy. He could have required Cain’s life. However, instead He lays out Cain’s consequences.
Another younger brother, Seth followed after God. With Cain representing evil and Seth representing righteousness Genesis tells of evil’s influences over mankind growing worse and worse until God decided to destroy all that would not repent. Only Noah and his family were receptive to God's message and faithful enough to be save by water. We see this referred to in the New Testament. (1 Peter 3:18-22) This will not be the only time that God will use water to separate good from evil, old from new, or past into the future. More will be said about this in future lessons. Genesis tells of the building of the ark and the punishment meted out to all but 8 souls of all mankind.
There are a number of lessons one can choose and elaborate on in these eight chapters. Lessons on the influence of sin, finding God’s pleasure in striving to remain righteous in His ways, the need to for obedience and the results, would any have been saved if Noah had chose to change any of the instructions God gave Him, and more.
Genesis tells of the procreation of our current races of man from the family of Noah, of the tower of Babel, where God gave the various foreign tongues or languages to man, thus dividing them up into various races of peoples.
We will pick up the further events in our next lesson as we start with chapter nine.
This and a future lesson has been adapted and expanded from a lesson on Bible reading written by Joe McLure and is used with his permission.
If you have read and studied the last two lessons that I have published, accept that God is; in a believing faith and likewise accept that He has spoken through the Bible as His Holy inspired Word, I would encourage you to read and study it. I would encourage you to take thirty minutes out of your day to do so. Set your alarm thirty minutes earlier or spend this time at the end of the day. There is no other way that I know of to compliment God than to start our day reading or meditating (thinking, reflecting) in His Word. Likewise, before ending our day to do the same. I know of people who have purchased the Bible on audio tape. By using a pillow speaker attached to a portable tape player, they listen to God’s Word read as they go to sleep.
If you are a novice student or reader your most likely question is where do I start? I would suggest at the beginning. The book of Genesis is a book of beginnings. If we do not properly understand and have faith in the book of Genesis, it is extremely difficult to ever come to a full knowledge of the rest of the scriptures. Once you understand, or even get a glimmer of understanding of the book of Genesis, it will be like a light turned on in your brain.
God is the author of a grand plan, even from the first day of creation. This is important. Some believe that God set in motion the world, and then allowed it to develop without any further action on the part of God. This is not exactly the case. It is true that individuals have the choice to choose good or evil, but God still has a plan.
As we read the creation account, we see the plan of God for the physical world, and how that God made it so that all things worked well together. When we read of the creation of the universe, and couple that with the findings of scientists today, we get an idea of how great and Almighty our God is. Consider that just our universe contains the Milky Way, which within itself contains over 30,000,000,000 suns, many of them larger than our own sun. Our sun is a million and 1/2 times larger than the earth. It would take 200,000 light years to travel from one edge of the Milky Way to the other. There are at least 100,000 galaxies like the Milky Way, some of them millions of light-years apart. What we can know scientifically about space may only be a tiny speck of what is beyond. God created all of these planets, stars, suns, galaxies, and universes.
When you read of the creation of the man and then the woman, you see the beginning of the greatest human institution, that of the home. Here is made possible the procreation of the human race. There are two important laws that God gave at this time. We are introduced to morale law regarding marriage; one man and one woman bound together for life. The other law was that they were not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. As long as they obeyed this law they remained innocent before God, and was given the promise of life. If they disobeyed they were to die. At this time we find Satan introduced in the form of a serpent that chose to deceive the woman first and her to deceive the man. Although Adam was responsible for Eve he negated that responsibility, thus sin (disobedience to God) was introduced. We also find the first animal sacrifice in God providing them with a covering. As a consequence of their disobedience they were cast from the Garden, the presence of God. No longer having access to the tree of Life mankind would now experience spiritual and physical death. But God had a plan and in the Garden of Eden, we see the first promise (prophecy) of a Saviour of mankind. God made the following pronouncement to Satan in Gen 3:15 "and I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed: he shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."
All of this occurs within the first three chapters of this Book of Genesis. In the next five chapters we see the beginning and the consequences of evil’s influence upon mankind. Genesis tells us of the 1st murder, when Cain slew Abel. We see that even in the early days of man's history that God required worship. One brother worshiped as God required. The other chose to do it his way. Result, God rejected it, envy and anger leads to murder. God confronted Cain and then we see God showing mercy. He could have required Cain’s life. However, instead He lays out Cain’s consequences.
Another younger brother, Seth followed after God. With Cain representing evil and Seth representing righteousness Genesis tells of evil’s influences over mankind growing worse and worse until God decided to destroy all that would not repent. Only Noah and his family were receptive to God's message and faithful enough to be save by water. We see this referred to in the New Testament. (1 Peter 3:18-22) This will not be the only time that God will use water to separate good from evil, old from new, or past into the future. More will be said about this in future lessons. Genesis tells of the building of the ark and the punishment meted out to all but 8 souls of all mankind.
There are a number of lessons one can choose and elaborate on in these eight chapters. Lessons on the influence of sin, finding God’s pleasure in striving to remain righteous in His ways, the need to for obedience and the results, would any have been saved if Noah had chose to change any of the instructions God gave Him, and more.
Genesis tells of the procreation of our current races of man from the family of Noah, of the tower of Babel, where God gave the various foreign tongues or languages to man, thus dividing them up into various races of peoples.
We will pick up the further events in our next lesson as we start with chapter nine.
This and a future lesson has been adapted and expanded from a lesson on Bible reading written by Joe McLure and is used with his permission.
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