APOLOGETICS: Answering Skeptics - presentation

29 Pages·2013·0.77 MB·English

by  Malcolm Lithgow

ANSWERING
SKEPTICS
Always being prepared to make a
defence to anyone who asks you for
a reason for the hope that is in you;
yet do it with gentleness and respect.
— 1 Pet. 3:15
PLAN
 Who am I?
 Claims skeptics make
 Two ways to answer
 Developing your knowledge
 Developing your tactics
 Practice

 Ask questions as we go along
WHO AM I?
 Malcolm Lithgow
 ECC Elder
 ECC Sunday Axiom teacher
 Co-Founder of Think Christianity (www.thinkchristianity.org)
 Original creator of Reality Bites, now Telos
 Previously a Software Engineer (most recently in smartphone apps)
 Now studying a Master of Arts in Science and Religion at Biola
University
CLAIMS SKEPTICS MAKE
 All religions are the same.
 All paths lead to God.
 The Bible is out of date.
 The Bible has been translated so many times that the original is lost.
 The Bible is corrupted.
 Religion is man-made.
 Science has removed the need for God.
 Christianity is just a crutch.
 Science and religion are at war, and science has won.
 Science is about facts, religion is about faith.
 Your beliefs are right for you, mine are right for me, so don’t preach.
 My beliefs are held by better people than yours, so they are true.
TWO WAYS TO ANSWER
Ideal: master both ways
KNOWLEDGE TACTICS
Know more than the Know how to engage
skeptic the skeptic
(1 Pet. 3:15a) (1 Pet. 3:15b)
DEVELOPING YOUR KNOWLEDGE
 Understand knowledge:
Epistemology
 Understand Christianity:
Theology
 Understand the evidence for Christianity:
Apologetics
 Understand how Christianity fits into other areas of life:
Worldview
EPISTEMOLOGY
 Subjective truth
 Truth is based on the subject
 E.g. each person (subject) has their own favourite flavour of ice-cream
 Objective truth
 Truth is based on the object
 E.g. diabetes is treated by insulin (the object—regardless of the patience’s preferences)
 Objective truth is not relative (insulin is not ice cream)
 Christian claims are objective (God exists, He created the world, etc.)
 Knowledge is a True, Justified Belief about something
 It corresponds to something in existence
 Resources:
 Intro: True For You, But Not For Me, Paul Copan
 Advanced: Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview, J. P. Moreland & William Lane Craig
THEOLOGY
 Understanding why the following are true
 The Christian God is spirit and created the physical universe
 The Christian is a “substance dualist”
 God is three persons in one being
 Jesus is fully man and fully God
 Jesus died for our sins that we might become adopted children of God
 We are justified (made guiltless before God) by grace through faith alone
 We are sanctified by the work of the Holy Spirit
 The Bible is the inerrant Word of God
 Jesus is coming again at the end of the age to usher in the new heavens and the new earth
 Resources:
 Intro: Basic Christianity, John Stott
 Advanced: Christian Theology, Millard J. Erickson
APOLOGETICS
 The uniqueness of the Bible
 Prophecies support the Bible’s supernatural claims
 Archaeology supports the historical accuracy of the Bible
 The four Gospels act as four reliable, independent witnesses
 Practice of science supports the Christian view of the world
 Transformed lives of believers through the ages point to the life-
changing power of the Gospel
 Resources:
 Intro: any of the Case for … series by Lee Strobel
 Advanced: On the Reliability of the Old Testament,
Kenneth A. Kitchen
A CHRISTIAN WORLDVIEW
 Christianity and science should provide “mutual epistemic support”
 What is a Christian moral and ethical code?
 How does Christianity relate to business?
 HR, finance, M&A, fund-raising, etc.
 How does Christianity inform finance & economics?
 Debt, budgeting, spending, etc.
 How does Christianity guide education?
 Child-rearing, school, university
 How does Christianity influence our leisure and arts?
 Resources:
 Intro: How Now Shall we Live? Charles Colson
 Advanced: Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview,
J. P. Moreland & William Lane Craig
 Also The Complete Works of Francis A. Schaeffer