Grace Life CommunityChurch APOLOGETICS CONFERENCE: SHOW AND TELL

Grace Life Community Church

APOLOGETICS

CONFERENCE:

SHOW AND TELL

Where are we Going?• Where are we now: A look at who we are and how

we think . . . AND WHY?!?

• The Big Questions– Does God exist?– What about Neo-Darwinian Evolution?– Are there errors in the Bible?– Why is Christianity exclusive – why are we the only ones

who are right?– Theodicy – if God is Good and Omnipotent, why do we

suffer?

• SPEAK: A better method for apologetics- or, How to do apologetics without being sorry.

• Q&A

Apologetics is first for . . .

YOU

So . . . we could be in troubleI wonder . . . Do you believe? . . in the CHRISTof Christianity . . .

Apologetics is first for . . .

YOUYOU CANNOT MAKE A DISCIPLE . . . UNTIL YOU ARE ONE.

ReviewBooks and resources mentioned:

Francis SchaefferHow Should We Then Live*

Escape from Reason

Books recommended:D.A. Carson

The Gagging of God*

Will DurantThe Story of Philosophy°

Neil PostmanAmusing Ourselves to Death°

James SireThe Universe Next Door

The Big Five

The Questions Everyone is Asking

Does God Exist?

Some Arguments for God’s Existence

Aquinas’ Five WaysMotion

First Cause

Contingency

Degree

Teleology

Beauty

Morality

Love

Ontology

Atheism

Religion

Singularity

Judaism

Christianity

The Holy Scriptures

The Incarnation

Jesus

The Resurrection

Some Definitions

Motion: all things in motion need a mover, but there must be something unmoved that begins other things in motion; God is this Unmoved Mover

First Cause: all effects must have causes, but there cannot be an infinite series of causes into the past; thus God is the first or Uncaused Cause - cosmology

Contingency: all things exist in dependence on something else, that is, contingent; therefore there must be something that is absolutely independent, that is, necessary; this necessary being is God

Some Definitions . . .

Degree: there appears to be an increasing degree of perfection among things; therefore there must be a being who is the height of perfection; this Being is God

Teleology: the observable design in the world suggests that there must be an intelligent designer—God

Some Definitions . . .

Beauty: aesthetics, much like degree, demands levels of increasing preference toward a perfection of not only ontology, but pleasure – This must be born from a necessity to conform

Morality: with all mankind having an innate sense of right and wrong, there must be a set of justice scales, therefore One who holds the scales

Love: Affection requires being affected. Love comes from being loved. God is love

Some Definitions . . . Ontology: if it is logically possible for God (a necessary being) to exist, then God exists. Concepts must be tied to reality.

Atheism: All men know there is something greater than them, what some call the Numinous, even if unnamed. This is God. The strong denial of what all men know, is an ethical denial of what all men know.

Religion: In all cultures in all times, religion has been a prominent part of all people groups, even if but prominent denial of religion in the modern era

Singularity: an infinite Being cannot be understood by finite beings unless He reveals Himself and must do so in a such a way as to be understood and therefore would only do so in a singular, non-confusing way

Some Definitions . . .

Judaism: One of the major world religions that has at its absolute core a monotheistic approach to life. Yahweh IS. Their place in history is prominent.

Christianity: The followers of Jesus, the Christ have as their core a monotheism, within a Triune Godhead – of which the founding “prophet” is God Himself. The most impacting worldview for the entire history of the Western Civilization, Christianity builds all ideals on the predicate of the existence of God.

The Holy Scriptures: The Christian Book of Scriptures has more literary and cultural veracity than any other religious book and has as its main Character, God.

Some Definitions . . . The Incarnation: An event that has defined the Western world and been taken across the globe, the coming of God to men, showed us the existence of God, tangibly.

Jesus, the Christ: The man Jesus, claimed not only to affirm the existence of God, but promoted Himself to be God with irreconcilable claims to have the authority to say such. His claims were affirmed by His deeds, signs and ultimately, His resurrection from the dead.

The Resurrection: The most unique event of all human history was the event of the Incarnation, but this was fulfilled when the One who claimed deity proved it by coming back from the dead. He accomplished this to bring life to humanity, because that is God’s will.

What about Neo-Darwinian Evolution?

Evolution?What aboutThe Danger

The dum-dum head

It’s bad science . . . Scientific Method

Ask a Question

Do Background Research

Construct a Hypothesis

Test Your Hypothesis by Doing an Experiment

Analyze Your Data and Draw a Conclusion

Communicate Your Results

Neo-Darwinian Evolution

• Do species evolve from one to another?

• Observe life and look at fossil record

• Noticed inner-set changes

• Assume intra-set changes

• Interpret based on assumptions

• Translate from theory to fact without proof

It’s bad science . . .

• Still just a theory – yet, taught as fact

• Darwin observed micro-evolution and wondered about macro-evolution

• Darwin caved to irreducible complexity

• So-called “missing links” are missing significance

• Fossil record does not bear Darwin’s Tree of Life

(Origin of Species, 1859, p. 158)

“If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed,

which could not possibly have been formed by

numerous, successive, slight modifications, my

theory would absolutely break down”

It was shown . . . It breaks down

Michael Behe*Darwin’s Black Box

Stephen Meyer*Darwin’s Doubt

Ray ComfortIntroduction to 150th Anniversary of Origin Of Species

Dissent From Darwinism List

It’s bad science . . .

• Still just a theory – yet, taught as fact

• Darwin observed micro-evolution and wondered about macro-evolution

• Darwin caved to irreducible complexity

• So-called “missing links” are missing significance

• Fossil record does not bear Darwin’s Tree of Life

It’s bad science . . . So-called missing links

• Archaeorapter

• Pakicetus

• Piltdown man

• Nebraska man

• Java man

• Heidelberg man

• Neanderthal

• Ida

• Lucy*

What it actually was• Fake – “Frankenstein’s

dino”

• A few skull fragments from aquatic animal

• Fake – reconstructed bones and teeth

• A single (pig) tooth

• A piece of a skull, a thigh bone and 3 molars

• Jawbone, large chin section and a few teeth

• A dude

• A lemur

It’s bad science . . . as good as it gets

• Lucy is a total of 47 discovered bones

• Relates to a shin bone and knee fragment 1.5 miles away and 230 feet deeper in the earth

• Related to footprints up to 1000 miles away

• Described as, “about the size of a chimp”

It’s bad science . . .

• Still just a theory – yet, taught as fact

• Darwin observed micro-evolution and wondered about macro-evolution

• Darwin caved to irreducible complexity

• So-called “missing links” are missing significance

• Fossil record does not bear Darwin’s Tree of Life

It’s bad science . . .

• Still just a theory – yet, taught as fact

• Darwin observed micro-evolution and wondered about macro-evolution

• Darwin caved to irreducible complexity

• So-called “missing links” are missing significance

• Fossil record does not bear Darwin’s Tree of Life

Let’s look at the Text

Read the Text: Genesis 1-2

What do you notice?

Three important formulas“And God said, Let . . . “

It was Good

“Morning and Evening”

“Each according to their kind”

Is that a black hole between Genesis 1:1 & 1:2?

Is there room in the Creation Account for Long Eras

What about the so-called Gap Theory?

Let’s look at the TextThe Viyictol

But a Straw Man, man

WHY DO IT?Attempts to match the Geological Record

Some problems with the Geological Record

Bad angles of Strata

Inconsistent angles

The mastodons of Siberia

Frozen solid

Mt. St. Helens150’ canyon in a day

The “ageless” trees

Sorry . . . No gap

It was shown . . . It breaks down

Michael Behe*Darwin’s Black Box

Stephen Meyer*Darwin’s Doubt

Ray ComfortIntroduction to 150th Anniversary of Origin Of Species

Dissent From Darwinism List

TOPICS COVEREDDarwin’s History

The particulars of evolution

Micro-evolution

Macro-Evolution

The Fossil Record

The Nature of things

Darwin in time

Social/Theological significance of NeoDarwinian Evolution

Some Issues• Spiritual background of Darwin halted most

particularly at the death of a child

• Darwin leaving room – He likely would not be a NeoDarwinian evolutionist today

• The Cambrian Explosion

• The failing Family Tree of Darwin’s design

• Irreducible complexity

• Microbiology tells another story than did the Galapagos Islands

Some BIG Issues

To remove God as Creator removes our reason and purpose

Neo-Darwinian Evolution is bad science – The Descent from Darwinism

The social Aspects of Neo-Darwinism are devastating

Hitler becomes the hero

Are there errors in the Bible?

What is the Bible?

ALL ANSWERS

The Bible says…

2 Timothy 3:16-17      16     All Scripture* is inspired by

God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;

 17     so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

NAU

2 Timothy 3:16-17

All Scripture Old Testament 1 Tim 5:18 2 Peter 3:14-16

Inspired Theopneustos – breathed of God

Profitable DiReCT

The Bible says…

2 Peter 1:20-21 20     But know this first of all,

that no prophecy* of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation,

21     for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

NAU

2 Peter 1:20-21

Prophecy Does this just refer to prophecy –

foretelling? Context of verses 16-19 What does this do for the veracity of the

Biblical account?

Moved Present passive participle – “constantly

being moved along” Luke 27:15 & 17

The Bible Says…

Psalm 119:160

John 17:17

Do you agree?

Some disagree

Some attack

Is this valid?

Does the Bible have veracity?

Some false assumptions…

We are more advanced in all ways todayLiterarily

Logically

Forensically/Ethically – trustworthiness of report

We can use the logic of today to understand the Biblical text

The Fact is…

The Gospel accounts are eyewitness and researched accounts that circulated within the communities in which the original events occurred in the same and adjacent generations during which the events occurred. To imagine that these accounts could circulate freely, without significant challenge is imagination, indeed!

Not enough motivation to lie

The disciples had no money and no practical gain

The Jewish people had no Messiah

Suffering and persecution

Jewish and Roman government conspiracy

Yet, they grew and flourished

The accounts were spread in copious copies

His word is truth

The witness of the texts

NT Greek Manuscripts – 5300+ Within 100 years

Homer’s Illiad – less than 650 After 1000 years

Tacticus’ Annuls of Imperial Rome – 1 After 700+ years

Josephus’ The Jewish War – 9 400-1100 years after

Originals, copies and variants

No Originals in possession (Picture slideshow)

Copies span several regions, several languages – tremendous agreement

200,000 variantsMisspellings – if a word is misspelled and then appears in 3000 copies, that is considered 3000 variants

Numbers

Order

Nothing doctrinally crucial

Originals, copies and variants

Different families of copies (Alexandrian, Byzantine, Western)

The King James Bible Textus Receptus 1 John 5:8

Those footnotes in your English Bibles A better translation is.. Brackets

John 8 Mark 16

Unmatched agreement, veracity and doctrinalconsistancy

The point is…

The ultimate burden of proof is not on you, but the Spirit

The reality is…

Reasons to believe

Proofs, archeological evidences, etc.

Church Authority

Experience of self and others

Internal Testimony of the Holy Spirit

Terms for discussion

Inerrancy

Infallibility

Inspiration

Illumination

Preservation

Inerrancy

The idea that Scripture is completely free from error. It is generally agreed by all theologians who use the term that inerrancy at least refers to the trustworthy and authoritative nature of Scripture as God’s Word, which informs humankind of the need for and the way to salvation. Some theologians, however, affirm that the Bible is also completely accurate in whatever it teaches about other subjects, such as science and history.

Stanley Grenz, David Guretzki and Cherith Fee Nordling, Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1999), 66.

Infallibilty

The characteristic of being incapable of failing to accomplish a predetermined purpose. In Protestant theology infallibility is usually associated with Scripture. The Bible will not fail in its ultimate purpose of revealing God and the way of salvation to humans. In Roman Catholic theology infallibility is also extended to the teaching of the church (“magisterium” or “dogma”) under the authority of the pope as the chief teacher and earthly head of the body of Christ.

Stanley Grenz, David Guretzki and Cherith Fee Nordling, Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1999), 66.

Inspiration

A term used by many theologians to designate the work of the Holy Spirit in enabling the human authors of the Bible to record what God desired to have written in the Scriptures. Theories explaining how God “superintended” the process of Scripture formation vary from dictation (the human authors wrote as secretaries, recording word for word what God said) to ecstatic writing (the human authors wrote at the peak of their human creativity). Most evangelical theories of inspiration maintain that the Holy Spirit divinely guided the writing of Scripture, while at the same time allowing elements of the authors’ culture and historical context to come through, at least in matters of style, grammar and choice of words.

Stanley Grenz, David Guretzki and Cherith Fee Nordling, Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1999), 66.

Illumination

The ongoing work of the Holy Spirit in the Christian person and community in assisting believers to interpret, understand and obey the Scriptures. Illumination is a matter of faith as well as intellectual assent—the Spirit’s goal in illumination moves beyond mere intellectual assent to propositions of Scripture to the moving of the human will to trust Christ and obey him.

Stanley Grenz, David Guretzki and Cherith Fee Nordling, Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1999), 62.

Preservation

The standard belief that along with God divinely inspiring the text of Scripture, He has been involved in preserving that text for us today.

Psalm 119

Challenge for you

SOME HELP

StrobelCase for Christ

Norman GeislerFrom God to Us

BE CAREFUL: BART EHRMAN

Why is Christianity Exclusive? Are we the only ones who are right?

Resurrection

1 Corinthians 15

The “Resurrection Passage”

17 And if Christ has not been raised,

your faith is futile and you are still in

your sins. 18 Then those also who have

fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

19 If in Christ we have hope in this life

only, we are of all people most to be

pitied.

SOME HELP

StrobelCase for Christ

Case for the Real Jesus

HabermasCase for the Resurrection

If God is Good and Powerful, why do we suffer?

Some helps

D.A. CarsonHow Long O’Lord?

Lee StrobelThe Case for Faith

John MacarthurSafe in the Arms of God

BE CAREFUL: OPEN THEISMClark Pinnock

John Sanders

Greg Boyd

TheodicyIf God is good and sovereign, how can pain and suffering exist? (Addition: How do we go from recognizing that God is in control to accepting it?)

Basic Principle

GOD AND THE PROBLEM OF EVILTHEODICY

Line of ReasoningHow can God be all-loving, all powerful, and all-holy, when there is evil in the world?

Premise 1: If God were all-powerful, He would be able to prevent evil.

Premise 2: If God were all-good, He would desire to prevent evil.

Conclusion 1: So, if God were both all-powerful and all-good, there would be no evil.

Premise 3: But there is evilConclusion 2: Therefore, there is no all-powerful, all-good God.

How about You?

ANY EXPERIENCE HANDLING THIS PROBLEM?

Any Scriptural Support for the Problem?

1 Kings 22:20-23

2 Thessalonians 2:11

Isaiah 45:7

Romans 9:18

The Real line of reasoning

God is CreatorHe alone createsHe made everything (Rom. 11:36, Col. 1:16)He uphold everything (Col 1:17)

God is SovereignSovereignty presupposes Omnipotence (Heb. 11:3; Eph. 3:20)Sovereignty must be singular (Isaiah 46:9)

God is GoodHe is Light, in Him there is no darkness. (Mark 10:18; 1 John 1:5)He works all things for good for His elect (Romans 8:28)

Any Scriptural Support for the Solution?

Romans 3:3-18

Romans 9:14-24

Job 38-42*

James 1:12-18

How about You?ANY EXPERIENCE THINKING THROUGH THIS PROBLEM?

C.S. Lewis’Till We Have Faces

“HOLY PLACES ARE DARK PLACES”

Temptations in this Issue

We must maintain an equal balance of God’s Sovereignty and man’s free will

Our experiences drive our thoughts and conclusions

The text only makes Him more aloof, transcendent

“You just don’t understand!”

False theological viewsOpen Theism

Wider-Hope

Universalism

Theistic Existentialism

One Common ApproachTo Summarize . . .

God gave mankind Free Will

For without it, one could not choose to be good

To have the freedom to choose good, one must also have the freedom to choose evil

A world without the potential for evil is not a good world at all, it is a world of cold robotics

Love without choice is not love worth having

God willed that His creatures could go against His will

God thought this was worth the risk

Some problems with these approaches

What about Heaven?No moral choice

Absolute moral good and love

Free Will doesn’t existDefined as the ability to do anything you want, anytime you want to do it – that’s a FREE will

Libertarian freedom requires self-existent, self-sufficient autonomy – yea, sovereignty . . . Hmm . . .

Mankind cannot choose moral goodness on their ownRomans 8:5-7; 1 Cor. 2:14-16

Slavery is our lot – Romans 6:15-18

Don’t do this…

Or this…

Do this…

And this…

So, what is…

Evil?A savoring in sinful behavior as a lifestyle.

Sin?Any act or thought in antithesis to the Person and character of God. Disobeying God. Saying “No” to God

Man?

What is the greatest Evil?

THE CRUCIFIXION OF THE SON OF GOD

Who did it?

ACTS 2:22-23ACTS 4:27-28

Let’s go bit deeper…

JOHN PIPER

John . . .

What is the greatest act of Love?

THE CRUCIFIXION OF THE SON OF GOD

So, to fly over from very far up…

Evil is sinful life that is in essence disobeying God

Evil is only in relation to God

God does not disobey Himself

A seemingly sinful act by God can never be that by definition

Joseph as a type – Gen 50:20

Think Romans 8:28

. . . Good . . .

What I am NOT sayingI am not saying that God sins

I am not saying that God get’s away with a double standard

I am not saying that God is somehow unfair

I AM SAYING that when God does something, whatever it is, it is not sin

What I AM sayingNo one else has an answer for this problem – KNOW THAT

With God working EVERYTHING for good, theodicy is not a problem for Christians. It’s really hard, but that is not the end.

In fact, suffering is redemption.

Men intend evil acts, but they are not the only ones working

Remember the promises: Jonathan Edwards on Happiness

GOD