Know Why You Believe
What You Believe
Lecture 3: Christian Apologetics
Paul R. Shockley
www.prshockley.org
Consider the following quote…
“I believe in Christianity as I believe that
the Sun has risen, not only because I
see it, but because by it I see everything
else.” ~ C. S. Lewis
~ “Is Theology Poetry?” Essay Collection (London:
HarperCollins, 2000), 21.
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I. Why do you believe what you
believe?
SOCIOLOGICAL
REASONS
PSYCHOLOGICAL
REASONS
RELIGIOUS
REASONS
Parents
Comfort
Scripture
Friends
Peace of mind
Pastor/Priest
Society
Meaning
Guru
Culture
Purpose
Rabbi
Geography
Hope
Imam
Community
Identity
Church
Peer Pressure
Feelings or
Intuition
Tradition
PHILOSOPHICAL
REASONS
BIBLICAL
Consistency
Accurate
Exegesis
TRUTH
Coherence
Completeness
Biblical,
Theological
Systematic
Coherence
Mysticism
Adapted from: James Sire, “Why Should Anyone Believe Anything At All” in Telling the Truth, D.A. Carson, ed.
II. Explanatory Power:
The Christian worldview possesses many benefits. Among
them I would like to summarize three:
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A.
Christian worldview possesses the greatest explanatory
power among its rivals (e.g., Darwinian naturalism;
postmodernism).
B.
Christian worldview is able to answer the greatest
questions asked in life.
C.
Christian worldview is able to harmonize both natural
revelation and special revelation.
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A. Explanatory Power
• Christian worldview is able account for the following:
1. Physical beginning of the universe;
2. Empirical design, order, and complexity that
is evident in our universe and in our biological
systems.
3. The unity and diversity in biological life-forms.
4. The reality of abstract, non-physical realities
(e.g., First principles of logic; mathematics);
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A. Explanatory Power:
5.
Objective moral values, duties, virtues, & accountability;
6.
Objective Beauty & our capacity to experience beauty;
7.
Existential human need for God (inward knowledge of
the divine-a hole in the heart);
8.
The intrinsic need for meaning, purpose, and value in
life (and fulfillment thereof in Christ);
9.
Inherent value and depravity of man;
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A. Explanatory Power:
10. Human Conscience
11. Both moral & natural evil & suffering in the world;
12. Miracles;
13. The person and work of Jesus Christ;
14. The historical bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ;
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A. Explanatory Power:
15. The inherent search for both redemption from sin &
immortality;
16. Value and respect of all persons (all made in the image of
God);
17. Similar accounts of life-after-death type experiences;
18. Our capacity for critical thinking skills;
19. Our relationship to, distinction from, and stewardship of
environment.
20. Abiding joy and comforting hope.
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B. Answers the Greatest Questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Origin:
Identity:
Meaning:
Morality:
Destiny:
Evil:
7.
Hope:
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Where did we come from?
What are we? Who are we?
Why are we here?
How should we live?
Where are we going?
What’s gone wrong with the
world?
What can be done to fix the
problems of the world?
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General
Revelation
Salvation
MeaningSignificance
Cosmological
Peace
Answered
Prayer
Experiences
Teleological
Innate Idea
Ontological
Conscience
Intuition
God
Arguments
Moral Law
Existential Need
Obj. Beauty
Cross-cultural
Awareness
Evidences
Big Bang:
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Morals:
Anthropic Principle
Objective Values
Specified Complexity
Objective Duties
Irreducible Complexity
Altruistic Acts
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Continuity
Early
Attestation
Multiple,
Independent
Sources
Fulfillment of
Uniqueness of
Predictive
Prophecy
Scripture
Jesus Use of
Scripture
Experiences
Reliability of
Scripture
Predictive Prophecy
Historical Accuracy
Archeological
Accuracy
Arguments
Predictive Prophecy
If God exists,
miracles are
possible
Performed
Miracles
Seen by over 500
witnesses;
Intuition
Testimony from multiple
sources
Sinless Life
Greatest Words
Ever Spoken
Evidences
The Person &
Work of Christ
Greatest Positive Influence
Trustworthy
Historical
people who taught &
Bodily
lived by highest ethics
Resurrection
and who died for
testimony
of Christ
Ideal Exemplar (e.g., loved the unlovely).
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5,800+ N.T.
Manuscripts
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Early Written
Attestation (mostly 1540 yrs) after event.
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C. Harmonized Starting Point for a Christian
Worldview (natural & Special Revelation)
Uniqueness of
Scripture
Existential
Experiences
Arguments
to and from
Natural
Revelation
The God of
the Bible
The Person &
Work of Christ
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Reliability of
Scripture
Intuition
Evidences
From and
to Natural
Revelation
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Historical
Bodily
Resurrection
of Christ
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One goal of apologetics is to (1)
expose inadequate justifications
for belief and (2) provide a solid
basis for validating or
invalidating truth claims.
Evaluating the Strengths of One’s Worldview:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
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Logical Coherence
Empirical Adequacy
Existentially Relevant
Workable.
Viable
Explanatory Power
Aesthetic and Moral Quality of
Excellence.
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Various Types of Apologetics:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Classical Apologetics
Evidential Apologetics
Historical Apologetics
Relational Apologetics
Experiential Apologetics
Presuppositional Apologetics
Cumulative Apologetics
Cultural Apologetics
Reformed Epistemological
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12-Step Methodology for doing
Christian Apologetics
by Norman Geisler & Frank Turek in their book,
I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be An Atheist
1. Truth about reality is knowable.
2. Opposites cannot both be true (Law of NonContradiction).
3. The theistic God exists.
4.
5.
Miracles are possible.
Miracles performed in connection with a truth claim are
acts of God to confirm the truth of God through a
messenger of God.
6. The New Testament documents are reliable.
7. As witnessed in the New Testament, Jesus claimed to be
God.
8. Jesus’ claim to divinity was proven by an unique
convergence of miracles.
9. Therefore, Jesus was God in human flesh.
10. Whatever Jesus (who is God) affirmed as true, is true.
11. Jesus affirmed that the Bible is the Word of God.
12. Therefore, it is true that the Bible is the Word of God and
whatever is opposed to any biblical truth is false.