8

After the gospel, epistemology is a veryimportant place to begin theology.

After epistemology comesapologetics. Some good books onapologetics are: Introduction to Chris-tian Apologetics, and The Philosophy ofthe Christian Religion, by Edward J.Carnell; Varieties of ChristianApologetics, by Bernard Ramm; andPhilosophy of the Christian Religion, byElton Trueblood.

Almost all things in the church aredone on the assumption that the Bibleis true. But most intellectuals don't be-lieve the Bible is true; and we don'twant only to convert the poor anduneducated people--though they areas precious to God as the rich andeducated. We also want to convertsome of the bellwethers of the flock,some of those who lead the rest. So,we have to be able to give some goodreasons for our faith.

Many of our reasons are not goodenough. Many things said about proph-ecy, for example, are quite inaccurate.Quite inaccurate.

Proving What We BelieveIn apologetics, we have to face

the problem of how we can "prove"what we believe. I put "prove" inquotes because we've already said thatyou can't prove anything absolutely.However, you can find the weight ofevidence, which is all you need forpractical purposes.

Weight of evidence is the basis onwhich you chose to become a minis-ter, or minister-in-training. Weight ofevidence is the basis on which youget married. Everythingwe do in prac-tical life is on the basis of weight ofevidence.

Religion is just the same.We cannot just take the Bible for

granted. Christian fundamentalists havehad to backtrack on all sorts of things.Too often, we have "a God of thegaps." If we don't understand some-thing, we say, "Well, that's God." Andwe have often had to backtrack.

It is best to be honest and say, "Idon't know." Let me give you an ex-ample. The KingJames Version title toHebrews says, "The Epistle of Paul tothe Hebrews." There is nothing in theepistle itself that says Paul wrote it.The title is based on a tradition held

by the translators. Today, even funda-mentalist colleges teach that it may bethat Paul did not write Hebrews. Isthat going against the Bible?Of coursenot! There's nothing in the Bible thatsays Paul did write Hebrews. So, there'san example of some progress.

The age of the world being 6,000years is another example. Groups suchas Creation Research Institute, whichis very fundamentalist, admit the worldis at least 10,000 years old. FrancisSchaeffer, who wrote such excellentbooks, wanted a world that is 10,000years old. We know for a certaintythat Jericho had life for at least 8,000to 10,000years. There are older civili-zations than Jericho.

We're not talking about question-able methods of determining dates.We're talking about calculating by pot-tery remains, which is very reliable.

So, some opinions go by the way,and we have to open up to evidence.It is important that we argue in de-fense of the faith in such a way thatpeople won't say, "Hey, I found he'swrong on this and that. We won't lis-ten to him any longer." If people findout that we're in the habit of usingpoor arguments, they will ultimatelystop listening.

The same is true for denomina-tions, as for individuals.

Bible and ScienceIt is not a good idea to try to

prove the Bible by saying that it an-ticipates science. When I first becamea Christian, someone gave me a list ofeighty statements from the Bible thatanticipated science. I now realize thatmost of the list was wrong. It may bethat there are statements in the Biblethat anticipate science-that may wellbe. But I would like to emphasize thatmany of the arguments used to proveit are not accurate.

The Bible often uses the languageof appearance. This language is just aslegitimate as scientific language.

The Bible speaks about seventytimes of the sun rising and setting.The sun does not scientifically do ei-ther. Yet, for practical purposes, thelanguage of appearance is correct. Thesun does appear to rise and set. TheBible often talks about the world hav-ing four corners. It doesn't. Even Jesus

9

10

spoke about the mustard seed beingthe smallest of seeds-it isn't.

Was Jesus mistaken? No. Was hescientifically accurate? No. Was he cor-rect, for all practical purposes, in thetime and place and culture in whichhe lived? Absolutely. It was the small-est seed with which those people werefamiliar in their agricultural usage.

Divergences but No ErrorsPeople who believe in a dictated

Bible are embarrassed when they comeacross the Synoptic problem (the Syn-optic gospels are Matthew, Mark, andLuke). There are only about thirtyverses in Mark that are not found inMatthew and Luke. You have to ac-count for this.

Furthermore, the accounts of eventsare not precisely the same, as dicta-tion exponents would expect them tobe. Think of the storm on the lake. Inone place it says, "Master,we perish!"Another says, "Carest thou not whetherwe perish?" One is a statement, andthe other a question. Which is correct?

When Jesus was baptized, we read,"Thisis my beloved Son."Another Gos-pel says, "Thou art my beloved Son."Which did God say? Or did God sayboth? (Nobody believes that.) The factis, the words spoken conveyed bothmeanings. One meaning is only toChrist. The other is to us, who areincorporated in him.

Obviously, then, there are diver-gences in the Bible. Are these errors?No.

We should not claim for the Bibleanything it does not claim for itself.Fundamentalistsoften have. That is whyI have warned you about some thingsthat are not positive. I went throughmost of them as a young Christian. Ihave had to drop them off one by oneas I got older. Many things I was toldin my early years as reasons for trust-ing the Bible have not worn well. ButGod is a God of truth. We need tospeak the truth about things.

God and the Bible and JesusWhat approaches can we consider

as appropriate for apologetics? Thereare some very simple ones. I give athumbnail sketch in my book, Discov-ering God's Treasures.

On the first page I wrote that if

we believe in God, we would expectGod to speak to his people. If weexpect God to speak, we would ex-pect it to be written, because a wordspoken perishes, but a word writtenendures. If it is written, we would ex-pect God to have someone to lookafter the written revelation. The bestway would be to have a group lookafter it. And best of all, would be tohave someone to personify that rev-elation.

This, of course, is exactly what hap-pened. God has spoken. We have itwritten-the Bible. We have a peopleappointed to look after it-the Jews. Wehave Someone who personified it all-Jesus Christ.

But we have a lot more to say thanthat. I declare in public meetings-youmay have heard me do it-that for thehonest person, you can prove the ad-equacy of the supernatural view of theBible in three minutes flat. (By "prove"we mean weight of evidence.)

This is how I do it.

Proving the Bible in Three Minutes"Wehave manuscripts going back to thesecond century, A.D. They record thatJesus said, 'Heaven and earth will passaway, but my words will never passaway' (Mt24:35;Mk 13:31;Lk 21:33).

"There are six billion people on theface of the globe. Not one of them couldever say that. It may be that as manypeople as that have lived in the past. Notone of them could ever say it-exceptJesus.

"Thinkwhat Jesus said. 'As long asthere is a heaven above, as long as thereisearthbeneath, myword willbe known,taught, echoed, transmitted,reverenced,obeyed, believed, committed to.'

"Plato could not say that-anddidn't. The only One who could saythat is the One who could see the fu-ture as an open book. Only God couldsay that. No one else could say it, noone else ever has. No one is saying it,no one will. Jesus did.

"He put his hand of blessing onthe Old Testament by saying the Wordof God cannot be broken. Jesus ex-plained to his disciples the meaning ofthe law, the prophets, and the Psalms--himself. Jesus mentions the three OTgroups: the writings, the law, and theprophets (Lk 24:44). He says, 'When

he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he willguide you into all truth' On 16:13).'You will receive power when the HolySpirit comes on you; and you will bemy witnesses in Jerusalem, and in allJudea and Samaria, and to the ends of

the earth' (Acts 1:8NIV)."So, the One who demonstrated

that he was divine by an absolutelyunique statement-only God couldhave made such a statement-put hishand on both Testaments. He says thatScripture cannot be broken, neitherlaw, prophets, or psalms. And he pre-dicts in the New Testament, 'The Spirit... will guide you into all truth ... andyou will be my witnesses.'"

I think that takes about three min-utes.

How Did Jesus Know?I'm just giving you a short, popularapproach that I think wears well. Thereare many other arguments--Edward ].Carnell discusses them. If you thinkI'm deducing too much from any singlestatement, let me give a range of state-ments:

Christ was anointed by a prosti-tute, and he said, "Wherever this gos-pel is preached throughout the world,what she has done will also be told,in memory of her" (Mt 26:13;Mk 14:9).Here we are, twenty centuries later,twelve thousand miles away. How didJesus know this story would be pre-served?

We don't know most of the thingsChrist did or said. John said (with ob-vious hyperbole) that the world is notbig enough to hold the completerecord of all Jesus did On 21:25). YetJesus knew that we would have arecord of the story of the woman

11

anointing him.How did Jesus know he would

have a church that would endure? "Onthis rock I will build my church, andthe gates of Hades will not overcomeit" (Mt 16:18). How could Jesus be surehe would have such an institution?

He was no starry-eyed idealist. Hesaid that his church would have wheatand tares, good fish and bad; so hewas no positive thinker who never en-tertained a negative thought. He saidthat his church would be both goodand bad-a mixed bag-yet it wouldendure! How did he know?

He said that in the last generationthe gospel would be preached to allthe world as a witness to all nations.There were no publishing houses, noradio, no 1V. Yet this sandal-footedcarpenter, who had never been toschool, said, "Mywords will go to ev-ery nation on earth."

These typical statements of Jesusfortifythe deductions I have made fromMatthew 24:35, "Heaven and earth willpass away, but my words will neverpass away." Jesus reads the future asan open book. No one else has everdone that.

He says to the apostles, "You willreceive power when the Holy Spiritcomes on you; and you will be mywitnesses in Jerusalem, and in allJudeaand Samaria, and to the ends of theearth" (Acts 1:8).How did Jesus know?Tradition says Thomas got as far asIndia-that was the uttermost part ofthe earth in those days.

How did Jesus know these things?Because he is God.

Summary of ApologeticsApologetics is "proving" or defendingwhat you believe, or what the Chris-tian faith teaches.

How can we "prove" the Bible,the source of our belief?

The Bible says that Jesus madeclaimsonly God could make, and madepredictions only divine knowledgecould supply. This same Jesus, provedby the Bible, turns around and placeshis hand of blessing upon the Old andNew Testaments.

That's my shortcut approach toapologetics. You need more than that,of course, but for practical purposesit's often sufficient. .:.