a very basic introduction to apologetics

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UNDER ATTACK : DEFEND ING YOUR FA I TH

The importance of Christian

apologetics in 21st century

STARTING TO THINK INTELLIGENTLY

ABOUT WHAT YOU BELIEVE…

APOLOGETICSGREEK WORD :”SPEAK ING IN DEFENSE"

REASONED ARGUMENTS TO PROVE THE CHRISTIAN FAITH

APOLOGETICS… - EVERY CHRISTIAN

- KNOW GOD’S WORD - BE ABLE TO ANSWER

QUESTIONS AND OBJECTIONS

( I S THAT ) A GOOD PO INT?

…from the Bible that we should be engaged in apologetics - what are the important texts?

Could you…

1 Peter 3:15

…Always be prepared to give an

answer to everyone who asks you to

give the reason for the hope that you

have. But do this with gentleness and

respect,

This is an order.

Philemon 6

And I pray that the sharing of

your faith may become

effective for the full knowledge

of every good thing that is in

us for the sake of Christ.

Romans 10:11-15

How then will they call on him in

whom they have not believed? And

how are they to believe in him of

whom they have never heard? And

how are they to hear without

someone preaching [telling them]?

Acts 1:8

But you will receive power when the

Holy Spirit has come upon you, and

you will be my witnesses in

Jerusalem and in all Judea and

Samaria, and to the end of

the earth.

Matthew 28:18-20

And Jesus came and said to them,

“All authority in heaven and on

earth has been given to me. Go

therefore and make disciples of all

nations…”

WHAT WOULD YOU SAY…?

WHAT WOULD YOU SAY…?I am not a sinner / I am a good person


I already believe in God



I am an atheist. I don't believe in God




Why did Jesus have to die in orderfor me to go to heaven?




Why did Jesus have to die in orderfor me to go to heaven?

What makes you think the Bible isthe word of God?

OPEN DOORS WORLD WATCH LIST 2015

A FEW EXAMPLES OF EVIDENCE

EARTH IS PERFECTLY

DESIGNED FOR LIFE

✦ If Earth were smaller it couldn’t support an atmosphere, like on Mercury. If it were larger, like Jupiter, the atmosphere would contain free hydrogen, which is poison for us.

✦ Earth is the only planet we know of that contains an atmosphere that can support human, animal, and plant life.

✦ The Earth is at a “just right” distance from the sun and the other planets in our solar system. If we were closer to the sun, we’d burn up. If we were farther away, we’d freeze.

✦ Earth rotates on every 24 hours:

So the sun warms the planet evenly. On the moon there are massive temperature variations because it lacks enough atmosphere or water to keep or deflect the sun’s energy.

A SENSE OF MORALITY

IF WE JUST EVOLVED FROM THE APES, AND THERE IS NOTHING

EXCEPT SPACE, TIME, AND MATTER, THEN FROM WHERE DID OUR MORAL SENSE OF RIGHT AND WRONG ARISE?

DOSTOYEVSKY, “IF THERE IS NO GOD, THEN EVERYTHING IS

PERMISSIBLE.”

Children, without being taught, know if something is “fair.”

Who taught them what fair is?

We are born with an inner sense of what is fair, right and good - though it gets distorted over time.

Certain values can be found in all human cultures…

✦ Murdering people is wrong.

✦ Lying and cheating are wrong.

✦ Stealing is wrong

✦...etc.

Does feeling guilty indicate ultimate right and wrong?

We feel guilty when we think we’ve broken a moral rule. And that feeling hurts our souls. Guilt is — ethical pain.

Life starts with us knowing right and wrong, showing that we are made in the image of God.

When someone does us wrong we feel bad because a moral law has been broken — a moral law given by a moral law giver.

POPULAR CULTURE SAYS…

FINE TUNING OF THE UNIVERSE

Many people think that science disproves the need to believe in God.

Many respected and world known scientists believe in God.

The discoveries of physics and cosmology in the last 50 years strongly support God’s existence.

Apologists and scientists talk of the world being fine tuned for life. That means the world was precisely designed in such a way that complex life was possible.

Here are some (simplified) examples of that design.

3 Categories:

1. Fine-tuning of the laws of nature

2. Fine-tuning of the constants of physics

3. Fine-tuning of the initial distribution of mass-energy of the universe at the time of the big bang.

T WO EXAMPLES

The value of the weak force (the force operating inside the nucleus of an atom) is so fine tuned that if it were changed by even one part in 10x100 a life permitting universe would not have occurred.

T WO EXAMPLES

A change in the cosmological constant (which drives the acceleration of the universes expansion) by as little as 10x120 would have prevented a life permitting universe.

Roger Penrose of Oxford University, the odds of the low entropy state which exists in our universe, existing by chance are 10x10(123)!

To put this fine tuning in context - an accuracy of one part in 10x60 is like firing a bullet towards the other side of the observable universe, 20 billion light years away, and hitting a one inch target.

Steven Hawking:

“The remarkable fact is that the

values of these numbers [i.e. the

constants of physics] seem to have

been very finely adjusted to make

possible the development of life.”

“A Brief History of Time,” p. 125

THE BIBLE

“YOU CHRISTIANS LOOK AFTER A DOCUMENT CONTAINING ENOUGH

DYNAMITE TO BLOW ALL CIVILISATION TO PIECES, TURN THE WORLD UPSIDE

DOWN AND BRING PEACE TO A BATTLE-TORN PLANET. BUT YOU TREAT IT AS

THOUGH IT IS NOTHING MORE THAN A PIECE OF LITERATURE.”― MAHATMA

GANDHI

Can We Trust the New Testament as a Historical Document?

Does it tell the truth?

The Bible in historical terms is the most reliable ancient document in history.

THE B IBL IOGRAPH IC AL TES T

The number of copies

The time interval between the originaland the existing copies

The degree of accuracy of the copies

5,686 hand written Greek N.T. manuscripts

10,000 Latin Vulgate

9300 Old Latin, Slavic, Arabic, AngloSaxon, etc. Other Languages –

A total of 24,970 manuscript copies ofportions of the New Testament exist todayJosh McDowell, The New Evidence ThatDemands A Verdict P. 34

Author Date Written Earliest Copy

Approx Time between original & copy

Number of Copies

Accuracy of Copies

Caesar 100-44 B.C. 900 A.D. 1000 yrs 10 ----

Sophocles 496-406 B.C. 1000 A.D 1400 yrs 193 ----

Homer (Iliad) 900 B.C. 400 B.C. 500 yrs 643 95%

New Testament

1st Cent. A.D. (50-100 A.D.

2nd Cent. A.D.

(c.130 A.D.)

less than 100 years 5600 99.5%

The Amount of Time

Modern version

Earliest Copy

x Years

Is it better for X to be longer or shorter?

The shorter time (X) between the earliest copy and the original copies, the less chance things have been changed or added

Modern version

Earliest Copy

x Years

For the New Testament X = 75 years

ARCHAEOLOGY

A lot of history is recorded in the Bible – places, people, and events.

Archaeology has shown many of these are true.

This shows the Bible records things truthfully.

In John 5:1-15 Jesus heals a man at the Pool of Bethesda. Five porticoes were discovered 40 feet (14m) underground matching John's description.

In 9:7 John mentions the Pool of Siloam. People had suggested it didn’t exist.

This pool was discovered in 1897, showing the accuracy of John.

A stone bearing the writing,

“Pontius Pilate Prefect of Judea” 26-37 A.D. (Discovered 1961)

THERESURRECTION

Every sermon preached by Christians in the NT centres on the resurrection.

The Gospel is the good news of Christ’s resurrection.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ, was the greatest event in human history.

Other religious leaders still lie in the grave - only one, Jesus, has ever risen from the dead!

The disciples were changed after the resurrection - before hidden behind closed doors, after confident world changers ready to face death.

The resurrection can be proved and believed with as much historical credibility as any other well documented event in ancient history.

There are 5 theories about what happened.

Jesus Died Jesus Rose 1. Christianity

5 Theories about the resurrection



2. HallucinationJesus didn’t rise

The apostles were deceivedJesus didn’t

rise




The apostles were deceived

3. Myth

Jesus didn’t rise

The apostles were myth-makers





3. Myth

Jesus didn’t rise


4. ConspiracyThe apostles were deceivers





3. Myth

Jesus didn’t rise


4. ConspiracyThe apostles

were deceiversJesus

didn’t die 5. Fainted

THE SWOON (FAINTING)

THEORY

1. Jesus could not have survived crucifixion. Roman procedures were very careful to eliminate that possibility.

2. The Roman soldier did not break Jesus' legs, as he did to the other two crucified criminals (Jn 19:31-33)

This means that the soldier was sure Jesus was dead.

3. John, an eyewitness, certified that he saw blood and water come from Jesus' pierced heart (Jn 19:34-35). This shows that Jesus' lungs had collapsed and he had died of asphyxiation.

4. The body was totally covered in bandages and in a sealed tomb (Jn 19:38-42).

5. The Roman guards at the tomb were overpowered by a man who had been beaten and crucified?

THE CONSPIRACY THEORY

Did the disciples make up the whole story?

- The apostles were great liars

- No one ever confessed to lying, even under intense pressure

- They were attacking the Roman and religious authorities

- The disciples were changed people - by what power?

- Many were martyred for a “lie”

- These simple “uneducated” men made up the greatest story - the Gospel

THE END

a very basic introduction to apologetics

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