A very basic introduction to...Apologetics

8/16/2019 A very basic introduction to...Apologetics

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UNDER ATTACK :DEFENDING YOUR FA I

The importance of Christian

apologetics in 21st century


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APOLOGETICSGREEK WORD :”SPEAK ING IN DEFEN

REASONED ARGUMENTS TPROVE THE CHRISTIAN FAI


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APOLOGETICS…

- EVERY CHRISTIAN

- KNOW GOD’S WORD

- BE ABLE TO ANSWERQUESTIONS AND OBJECTIO


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( I S THAT ) A GOOD PO INT?


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…from the Bible that we should be engage

apologetics - what are the important text

Could you…


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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.


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Romans 10:11-15

How then will they call on him inwhom they have not believed? And

how are they to believe in him of

whom they have never heard? Andhow are they to hear without

someone preaching [telling them]?


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Acts 1:8

But you will receive power when theHoly Spirit has come upon you, and

you will be my witnesses in

Jerusalem and in all Judea andSamaria, and to the end of

the earth.


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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…”


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WHAT WOULD YOU SAY…


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I am not a sinner / I am a good person


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I already believe in God


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


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


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

What makes you think the Bible is

the word of God?


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OPEN DOORS WORLD WATCH LI ST 2


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OPEN DOORS WORLD WATCH LI ST 2


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A FEW EXAMPLE

OF EVIDENCE


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EARTH ISPERFECTLY

DESIGNED FORLIFE


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! If Earth were smaller it couldn’tsupport an atmosphere, like on

Mercury. If it were larger, like Jupiter,

the atmosphere would contain free

hydrogen, which is poison for us.


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! If Earth were smaller it couldn’tsupport an atmosphere, like on

Mercury. If it were larger, like Jupiter,

the atmosphere would contain free

hydrogen, which is poison for us.


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! The Earth is at a “just

right” distance from the sunand 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.


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! 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 ordeflect the sun’s energy.


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A SENSE OF

MORALITY


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IF WE JUST EVOLVED FROM

APES, AND THERE IS NOTHIEXCEPT SPACE, TIME, AND

MATTER, THEN FROM WHE

DID OUR MORAL SENSE ORIGHT AND WRONG ARISE


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DOSTOYEVSKY,“IF THERE IS NO GO

THEN EVERYTHING PERMISSIBLE.”


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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.


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Certain values can be found in all

human cultures…

! Murdering people is wrong.

! Lying and cheating are wrong.

! Stealing is wrong

!...etc.


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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.


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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.


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POPULAR CULTURE SAYS


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POPULAR CULTURE SAYS…

POPULAR CULTURE SAYS


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POPULAR CULTURE SAYS…


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FINE TUNING O

THE UNIVERSE


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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 andcosmology in the last 50 years strongly

support God’s existence.


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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.


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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 maenergy of the universe at the time of the big

T W O EXAMPLES


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T W O EXAMPLES

The value of the weak force (the force operat

inside the nucleus of an atom) is so fine tuned

it were changed by even one part in 10x100 a

permitting universe would not have occurred.

T W O EXAMPLES


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T W O EXAMPLES

A change in the cosmological constant (which

the acceleration of the universes expansion) b

little as 10x120 would have prevented a life

permitting universe.


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Roger Penrose of Oxford University, the odds

low entropy state which exists in our universe,

existing by chance are 10x10(123)!

To put this fine tuning in context - an accuracy

part in 10x60 is like firing a bullet towards the

side of the observable universe, 20 billion ligh

away, and hitting a one inch target.


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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


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THE BIBLE


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“YOU CHRISTIANS LOOK AFTER A


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“YOU CHRISTIANS LOOK AFTER ADOCUMENT CONTAINING ENOUGH

DYNAMITE TO BLOW ALL CIVILI SATTO PIECES, TURN THE WORLD UPSIDOWN AND BRING PEACE TO A BAT

TORN PLANET. BUT YOU TREAT IT

THOUGH IT IS NOTHING MORE THAPIECE OF LITERATURE.”! MAHATM

GANDHI


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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 T ES


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The number of copies

The time interval between the original

and the existing copies

The degree of accuracy of the copies

5 686 hand written Greek N T manuscripts


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5,686 hand written Greek N.T. manuscripts

10,000 Latin Vulgate

9300 Old Latin, Slavic, Arabic, Anglo

Saxon, etc. Other Languages –

A total of 24,970 manuscript copies of

portions of the New Testament exist today

Josh McDowell, The New Evidence That

Demands A Verdict P. 34

A Ti


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AuthorDate Written

Earliest Copy

Approx Time

betweenoriginal &copy

Number ofCopies

Accuraof Cop

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

years5600 99.5

Approx Time


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AuthorDate Written

Earliest Copy

Approx Time

betweenoriginal &copy

Number ofCopies

Accuraof Cop

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

years5600 99.5

The Amount of Time


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The Amount of Time

Mode

versio

Earliest

Copy

x Years

Is it better for X to be longer or shorter?

The shorter time (X) between the earliest


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The shorter time (X) between the earliest

and the original copies, the less chance th

have been changed or added

Mode

versio

Earliest

Copy x Years

For the New Testament X = 75 years

ARCHAEOLOGY


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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.


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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.


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In 9:7 John mentions the

Pool of Siloam. People hadsuggested it didn’t exist.

This pool was discovered in

1897, showing the accuracyof John.


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A stone bearing the

writing,

“Pontius Pilate Prefect

of Judea” 26-37 A.D.

(Discovered 1961)


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THE

RESURRECTION


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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 thegreatest event in human history.


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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.


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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.

h b d d


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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.

5 Theories about the resurrection


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Jesus Died Jesus Rose 1



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2. H

Jesus didn’t rise

The apostleswere deceivedJesus didn’t

rise



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2. H

Jesus didn’t rise


rise



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2. H

Jesus didn’t rise


riseThe apostles were

myth-makers



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2. H

Jesus didn’t rise



myth-makers



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2. H

Jesus didn’t rise



myth-makers

4. ConThe apostles

were deceivers



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2. H

Jesus didn’t rise



myth-makers

4. ConThe apostles

were deceivers



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2. H

Jesus didn’t rise



myth-makers

4. ConThe apostles

were deceivers

Jesusdidn’t die



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2. H

Jesus didn’t rise



myth-makers

4. ConThe apostles

were deceivers

Jesusdidn’t die


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THE SWOON(FAINTING)

THEORY


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1. Jesus could not have survivedcrucifixion. Roman procedures

were very careful to eliminate

that possibility.


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2. The Roman soldier did not break

Jesus' legs, as he did to the othertwo crucified criminals (Jn 19:31-33)

This means that the soldier was sure

Jesus was dead.

3 J h it


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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 haddied of asphyxiation.

4 The body was totally covered


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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 andcrucified?


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THE CONSPIRAC

THEORY

Did the disciples make up the


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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


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- 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


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THE END


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THE END

Documents

A very basic introduction to...Apologetics