APOLOGETICS
Module 10 equips you to defend your faith if someone attacks Christianity.
Jesus appointed 72 and sent them out two by two.
Module Bible Reading Assignment
John - Chapters 15 & 16
“There are five gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and the Christian. Most people will never read the first four.”
Gipsy Smith
“But in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give a defense (apologia) to everyone who asks you the reason for the hope that is in you. But respond with gentleness and respect.”
1 Peter 3: 15
The Latin word apologia is derived from a combination of the Greek prefix apo-, meaning "away from," and the word logia, from Greek lógos, meaning "speech." In their earliest English uses, apologia and apology meant basically the same thing: a formal defense or justification of one's actions or opinions.
The Christian Apologetic
Behind every question, there is a questioner.
It is imperative to understand the context of the question. “Why are they asking the question?”
Romans 2: 4
Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that His kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?
Chaplain Bill O’Brien
Observations indicating hope
Honoring others
Why would anyone want to join a “group” that hates them?
Listen to the first 12 minutes of the video
C. S. Lewis makes the case for Christianity
1. "Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and, if true, of infinite importance. The one thing it cannot be is moderately important."
2. "A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic– on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg – or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to."
3. "To be ignorant and simple now – not to be able to meet the enemies on their own ground – would be to throw down our weapons and to betray our uneducated brethren who have, under God, no defense but us against the intellectual attacks of the heathen. Good philosophy must exist, if for no other reason, because bad philosophy needs to be answered."
4. "Supposing there was no intelligence behind the universe, no creative mind. In that case, nobody designed my brain for the purpose of thinking. It is merely that when the atoms inside my skull happen, for physical or chemical reasons, to arrange themselves in a certain way, this gives me, as a by-product, the sensation I call thought. But, if so, how can I trust my own thinking to be true? It's like upsetting a milk jug and hoping that the way it splashes itself will give you a map of London. But if I can't trust my own thinking, of course I can't trust the arguments leading to Atheism, and therefore have no reason to be an Atheist, or anything else. Unless I believe in God, I cannot believe in thought: so I can never use thought to disbelieve in God."
5. "If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world."
6. "All I am in private life is a literary critic and historian, that's my job... And I'm prepared to say on that basis if anyone thinks the Gospels are either legends or novels, then that person is simply showing his incompetence as a literary critic. I've read a great many novels and I know a fair amount about the legends that grew up among early people, and I know perfectly well the Gospels are not that kind of stuff."
7. "If Christianity was something we were making up, of course we could make it easier. But it is not. We cannot compete, in simplicity, with people who are inventing religions. How could we? We are dealing with Fact. Of course anyone can be simple if he has no facts to bother about."
8. "If you had gone to Buddha and asked him: 'Are you the son of Brahma?' he would have said, 'My son, you are still in the vale of illusion.' If you had gone to Socrates and asked, 'Are you Zeus?' he would have laughed at you. If you had gone to Mohammed and asked, 'Are you Allah?' he would first have rent his clothes and then cut your head off. If you had asked Confucius, 'Are you Heaven?' I think he would have probably replied, 'Remarks which are not in accordance with nature are in bad taste.' The idea of a great moral teacher saying what Christ said is out of the question. In my opinion, the only person who can say that sort of thing is either God or a complete lunatic..."
9. "If you are concerned about your loved ones that won't be in Heaven, the most irrational thing you could do if you are truly concerned about those on the outside is to remain outside yourself."
10. "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."
REASONABLEFAITH.ORG
APOLOGIST - WILLIAM LANE CRAIG
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