Session Notes

Supposed Bible Contradictions

Apologetics – Session 6

We, Christians, have presuppositions and these presuppositions are important as we think through these potential contradictions.

We believe in Plenary Verbal Inspiration

• Definition:
• God so superintended the writing of scripture, that every single word of scripture was exactly the word the human author wanted to write and exactly the word God wanted written.
• The claim of scripture is that ALL of the words of scripture are inspired by God. Scripture is not onlyGod's word (it is that), it is also man's word.
• Scripture always has 2 authors.
• How do we know human authors employ their own minds to writing of scripture?

 Inerrancy of Scripture

• Scripture, since God is true and does not lie, and inspired scripture, then scripture is Inerrant
• In the original autographs the Bible cannot communicate anything contrary to fact, or anything contradicting itself.
• Only the original autographic texts are inerrant.

We believe in the law of noncontradiction:

• “If the Bible is truly from God, and if God is a God of truth (as He is), then…if two parts seem to be in opposition or in contradiction to each other, our interpretation of one or both of these parts must be in error.” -James Montgomery Boice

Popular Supposed Contradictions

Textual Contradictions

• What is the order of the temptations of Jesus by Satan?
  • Matthew 4:1-11 and Luke 4:1-13
  • Reading the gospels vertically and
    • Reading the gospels vertically
      • Looking only at one gospel, in order to try to understand the major meaning the authors (divine and human) were seeking to communicate. In reading vertically, you seek to divide the gospel into sections, noticing the themes and major points given by the authors.
      • Example: 5 conflict stories in Mark 2-3. Meant to give the reader insight into the question: Why do the Scribes and Pharisees hate Jesus?

• Four questions asked and the fifth asked by Jesus.
• Mk 2: 7-8 Why does he say he can forgive sins?
• Mk 2:16 Why does he eat with tax collectors?
• Mk 2:18 Why doesn't his disciples fast?
• Mk 2:24 Why do they do what is unlawful on the Sabbath?
• Mk 3:3 Jesus asks whether it is right to do good or do harm on the Sabbath?
• Response of the Pharisees (v. 6) they go and plot how to destroy Jesus.
• Reading the Gospels horizontally- reading synoptic gospels side by side, comparing the story in one gospel with the same story in another gospel. Does something in this gospel highlight something specific compared to the same story in another gospel?

• Temptation of Jesus
  • Why is there a different order? Is there something Matthew or Luke are emphasizing by their order? Which one is intending to give a chronological order?
  • “The majority of scholars conclude that Matthew preserves the original order with the purpose of narrating chronological sequence, while Luke reverses the second and third in order to emphasize Jerusalem as the place of the climactic temple test, in accord with the temple theme of Luke-Acts…Luke uses simple connectors, ‘and’,which do not imply chronological progression. ” (955). – Joel Green
• How many angels were at the tomb of Jesus?
  • Matthew 28:2-5 – one angel; John 20:12 – two angels
  • How do you resolve this potential conflict?
• How many Gadarene demon-possessed men were there?
  • Matthew 8:28 - two
  • Mark 5:2-3- one
• Who was created first animals or humans?
  • Genesis 1:24-27 – animals then humans
  • Genesis 2:19 – seems to says humans then animals
    • “And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them.” (KJV) 

Theological Contradictions

• Saved by Works or Faith?
  • The most common theological supposed contradiction is between James 2:24 and Galatians 2:26.
  • What is your resolution to this potential contradiction and what other Scriptures might you use to reinforce your position

Omission of verses (sometimes bracketed)

• Mark’s ending – Mark 16:9-19
• Woman caught in adultery – John 7:53-8:11
• Notice in your ESV that both contain a disclaimer “the earliest manuscripts do not include…” and brackets the section as a reminder. 

Reliability of the Scriptures v Islam

• We are thankful to have so many early manuscripts of the Old and New Testaments. This allows us to be able to have translation teams who put disclaimers like the ones we just looked at in your Bible.
• Unlike Christianity, Islam does not have the same history concerning their manuscripts for the Qu’ran.
• The 1^st Caliph Abu Bakr (573-634) commissioned an official rescension or version of the Qu’ran. After this, copies were made and copies were made of those copies. This itself is not a problem, after all that is how the Bible spread with people making meticulous copies. Regardless of how well the copiers did, we do not have their manuscripts to compare against because…
• The 3^rd Caliph Uthman (579-656), afraid of textual variants and scribal errors took Abu Bakr’s official rescension and said that anyone with a copy must dispose of that Qu’ran. The authorities gathered up the Qu’rans and had them burned.
  • Let’s hear this from an Islamic perspective. Notice how this historical event is justified by the speaker as strengthening the authority and reliability of the Qu’ran: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBxN3iwF9YE
• What is your response to this? Should we consider the Qu’ran more or less reliable than the Bible and why?

 

 

Session Notes

Reliability of the Bible

Apologetics – Sessions 4&5

General Revelation

• General Revelation = God’s revelation of Himself through creation and the conscience
• God has revealed His existence and aspects of His nature to all people by means of His creation.
  • Psalm 19:1
  • Romans 1:18-32
  • Romans 2:15 –
• General Revelation is sufficient to condemn, but cannot save.
• Logic is an aspect of General Revelation.

Special Revelation

• God’s revelation of Himself by His word, or His mighty deeds to specific people, in specific places, at specific times.
• Types of Special Revelation
  

• All scripture is special revelation, but not all special revelation is scripture.
• What does special revelation reveal?
• Name and identity of God
• Love of God and what that means
• The Triune nature of God
• Plan of Salvation through Christ

What is the relationship between Apologetics and Scripture?

• Defense of the Christian faith requires defense of Scripture.
• Christian Apologetics may include more than defense of Scripture, but it cannot include

Historical Reliability of the Bible

The most common “hard” question to answer is typically as follows: How can you believe that the Bible is completely true when it is so old and was transmitted like a giant game of telephone?

This question is actually comprised of a series of mini-questions, each of which we ought to address. Here are the various topics being covered in this question:

1. How does the age of a document affect its validity?
2. How is an ancient document validated and how does the Bible fare in comparison to other texts of antiquity?
3. Does the transmission of documents affect the document’s validity and if so, how?

There are also other topics that are helpful to address when considering an apologetic of the Reliability of the Bible:

4. What do we know about the validity of the Old Testament?
5. How did we get the books of the New Testament? (Canonization)
6. How does Scripture validate its own claim of divine authorship?
   1. Prophecy Fulfillment
   2. 2 Peter 1:16-21, 2 Timothy 3:15-17, Hebrews 4:12-13

1. How does the age of a document affect its validity?

• A common presupposition that we must expose is that the age of a document does not affect its validity.
  
  

2. How is an ancient document validated and how does the Bible fare in comparison to other texts of antiquity? 

• If the Bible is not valid then the rest of our works of antiquity are not valid either.
  • The way works of antiquity are validated is by three categories:
    • Time Gap between the events and when they were written,
    • the number of manuscripts,
    • and the agreement between the manuscripts.
  • Time Gap
    • The Bible has the closest time gap between the events and when the manuscripts were written (in the case of the Gospels it is around 20-70 years). The NT was written within the 1^st generation while the eyewitnesses were still alive.  The next closest is Homer’s Iliad which has a gap of 500 years.
  • Number of Manuscripts
    • The Bible has more manuscripts than any other work of antiquity, with 24,000 manuscripts (not full texts) in many different languages (Greek, Latin, Sahidic, and Coptic).
  • Agreement between the Manuscripts
    • The Bible also has the highest text to text agreement with 99.5% agreement.

Reliability of the NT text.

• Here’s the worst case scenario: If we take all of the handwritten NT texts before the invention of the printing press (~ 1600 yrs of texts) we have ~ 400,000 variants (text to text differences).
  • There are 138,162 words in the NT so that would mean we would have nearly 3 variants per word. So we would have 2 other options for every word…how can we trust the NT?
  • Well, 99% of all variants do not impact the meaning of the text. They are common spelling errors or differences in word order. 
  • Remaining 1% of 400,000 variants = 4,000 meaningful variants out of 138,162 words.
    • Only half of these are viable (feesable) because many are scribal errors.
      • What I mean is, the not viable ones are often the author copying the text in a hurry to get it back to their city. Often the scribal error is a mistaken ending similar to the English “ing’, “es”, or “ed” in the wrong place or tense.
    • There are only 1500 - 2000 meaningful variants.
      • The more manuscripts you have the more variants you have. If we only had 10 manuscripts and have this many variants that would be more of a problem.
        • We have ~5780 manuscripts which at an average of 200 pages each = 1.3 million pages of hand written text. This means we have about 0.0013 meaningful variants per page.

END SESSION 4

3. Does the transmission of documents affect the document’s validity and if so, how?

• The “telephone game”
  • All Bibles are originally translated from the Greek and Hebrew texts.
    • “We have plenty of different “versions” (CSB, ESV, NASB, KJV, etc.) but each of those versions are seeking to be a faithful translation of the Greek and Hebrew manuscripts into English, utilizing either a word-by-word or phrase-by-phrase methodology for translation. The Bible did not transmit like this. We have access to the manuscripts and they can be read.
  • The initial NT wasn’t all compiled into 1 work. The gospels were written mostly for local distribution and the epistles were letters sent to a location.  Then the copies of these were made and sent elsewhere.
    • Because the Bible didn’t follow one single stream, if you wanted to change it, you would have had to round up every single manuscript and change them. This is impossible and even if it were possible, all we would need to do is discover one manuscript that is older than all of the changed ones and it would be obvious that changes were made. As older manuscripts have been found they have only said the same thing as the rest.

4. What do we know about the validity of the Old Testament?

Read excerpt from “How We Got the Bible” by Dr. Timothy Paul Jones (p.39-40

Dead Sea Scrolls video – “Why are the Dead Sea Scrolls So Important?” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUwLDzs91CI

5. How did we get the books of the New Testament? (Canonization)

Canonization

• By 100 AD all 27 books of the NT were in circulation and all but Hebrews, Peter, James, 2 & 3 John, and Revelation were universally accepted.
• 170-175 AD Tatian created a harmony of the 4 Gospels known as Diatessaron.
• 170-200 AD the Muratorian Canon is written. It is the oldest known orthodox list of the NT and it contains 23 of the 27 NT books omitting Hebrews, 1&2 Peter, and 3 John.
• 325 AD Council of Nicea.
• 363 AD Council of Laodicea stated that only the OT and the 27 books of the NT were to be read and used in churches as canon.
• 367 AD Athanasius of Alexandria declares the list of authoritative books as the OT and the 27 books of the NT.
• 393 AD Synod of Hippo and 397 Council of Carthage ruled on the list of “inspired writings” affirming the 27 books of the NT as canon.
• Councils used the following to determine if a NT book was inspired by the Holy Spirit.
  1. The author had to be an original apostle or have a direct connection to an apostle (such as Luke or Mark). Eyewitness testimony was important.

Eyewitnesses

The NT was written by eyewitnesses or associates of the eyewitnesses in the 1^st generation after the events while the eyewitnesses were still alive and could be consulted or could correct if the account was not accurate. 

• Luke 1:1-4
• John 1:14
• 1 John 1:1-3
• 1 Corinthians 15:1-8

Canonization continued (repeat #1)

1. The author had to be an original apostle or have a direct connection to an apostle. Eyewitness testimony was important.
   2. The book had to be accepted by the body of Christ at large.
   3. The book had to contain consistency of doctrine and orthodox teaching.
   4. The book had to bear evidence of high moral and scriptural values that would reflect a work of the Holy Spirit.
      
      
2. How does Scripture validate its own claim of Divine Authorship?

Prophecy Fulfillment

The Bible is full or prophecy and the fulfillment of prophecy.  This shows that God wrote it (which we will touch on more next week) because only God knows the future.  The fact that these prophecies are given and then sometimes hundreds of years later are fulfilled exactly shows that the scriptures are solid and that they have Divine Authorship

• Prophecy: Genesis 15:18-21
• Fulfillment: Joshua 21:43-45
• Prophecy: Daniel 5:24-31
• Fulfillment: Daniel 5:30
• Isaiah 53, Psalm 22 are prophecies foretelling the crucifixion of Jesus.
  • Isaiah 53: (v.3) He was despised and rejected by men. (v.4) he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. (v.10) it was the will of the Lord to crush him. (v.12) he bore the sins of many.
  • Psalm 22: (v.1) my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? [Matthew 27:46] (v.16) dogs encompass me a company of evildoers encircle me; they have pierced my hands and feet. (v.18) they divide my garments among them and for my clothing they cast lots. [John 19:23-24]
• Matthew 24:1-2, Mark 13:1-2, Luke 21:5-6: Destruction of the 2^nd Temple
  • This was fulfilled in 70 AD when Rome destroyed the temple.

Scriptural Testimony concerning Divine Authorship

• 2 Peter 1:16-21,
• 2 Timothy 3:15-17
• Hebrews 4:12-13

Conclusion

It is rational to believe that the Bible, both Old and New Testaments, are reliable documents of antiquity. We can be very confident that the message of the manuscripts we have for the Old and New Testament is a reliable copy of the original autographs and has been translated faithfully from the Greek and Hebrew texts into English and other languages.

Additionally, all that Scripture records accurately concerning fulfilled prophecies, especially concerning the person and work of Jesus Christ and His resurrection, and Scripture’s own appeal to Divine Authorship puts the individual at a fork in the road where they must either accept the strong plausibility that the Scripture is indeed the Word of God or reject the faithful and reliable argument presented, despite its accuracy.

Ultimately, however, we recognize that the reason the Bible is rejected and misinformation is spread about its reliability is due to the reality of the depraved nature of mankind that rejects the truth about God. This brings us full circle back to our discussion of General and Special Revelation. Though we believe that Romans 1 teaches that all humanity has a knowledge of God’s existence and limited knowledge of His character, that knowledge is only sufficient to condemn and cause the sinful heart to respond in rebellion.

Christians understand that for someone to believe that the Bible is indeed God’s very word occurs experientially when God gives us new life in Christ. Apart from the work of God Himself, we would not have faith.

Romans 10:17  

Luke 16:19-31

Session Notes

Reliability of the Bible

Apologetics – Session 5

1. How does the age of a document affect its validity?

2. How is an ancient document validated and how does the Bible fare in comparison to other texts of antiquity?

3. Does the transmission of documents affect the document’s validity and if so, how?

• The “telephone game”
  • All Bibles are originally translated from the Greek and Hebrew texts.
    • “We have plenty of different “versions” (CSB, ESV, NASB, KJV, etc.) but each of those versions are seeking to be a faithful translation of the Greek and Hebrew manuscripts into English, utilizing either a word-by-word or phrase-by-phrase methodology for translation. The Bible did not transmit like this. We have access to the manuscripts and they can be read.
  • The initial NT wasn’t all compiled into 1 work. The gospels were written mostly for local distribution and the epistles were letters sent to a location.  Then the copies of these were made and sent elsewhere.
    • Because the Bible didn’t follow one single stream, if you wanted to change it, you would have had to round up every single manuscript and change them. This is impossible and even if it were possible, all we would need to do is discover one manuscript that is older than all of the changed ones and it would be obvious that changes were made. As older manuscripts have been found they have only said the same thing as the rest.

4. What do we know about the validity of the Old Testament?

Read excerpt from “How We Got the Bible” by Dr. Timothy Paul Jones (p.39-40

Dead Sea Scrolls video – “Why are the Dead Sea Scrolls So Important?” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUwLDzs91CI

5. How did we get the books of the New Testament? (Canonization)

Canonization

• By 100 AD all 27 books of the NT were in circulation and all but Hebrews, Peter, James, 2 & 3 John, and Revelation were universally accepted.
• 170-175 AD Tatian created a harmony of the 4 Gospels known as Diatessaron.
• 170-200 AD the Muratorian Canon is written. It is the oldest known orthodox list of the NT and it contains 23 of the 27 NT books omitting Hebrews, 1&2 Peter, and 3 John.
• 325 AD Council of Nicea.
• 363 AD Council of Laodicea stated that only the OT and the 27 books of the NT were to be read and used in churches as canon.
• 367 AD Athanasius of Alexandria declares the list of authoritative books as the OT and the 27 books of the NT.
• 393 AD Synod of Hippo and 397 Council of Carthage ruled on the list of “inspired writings” affirming the 27 books of the NT as canon.
• Councils used the following to determine if a NT book was inspired by the Holy Spirit.
  1. The author had to be an original apostle or have a direct connection to an apostle (such as Luke or Mark). Eyewitness testimony was important.

Eyewitnesses

The NT was written by eyewitnesses or associates of the eyewitnesses in the 1^st generation after the events while the eyewitnesses were still alive and could be consulted or could correct if the account was not accurate. 

• Luke 1:1-4
• John 1:14
• 1 John 1:1-3
• 1 Corinthians 15:1-8

Canonization continued (repeat #1)

1. The author had to be an original apostle or have a direct connection to an apostle. Eyewitness testimony was important.
   2. The book had to be accepted by the body of Christ at large.
   3. The book had to contain consistency of doctrine and orthodox teaching.
   4. The book had to bear evidence of high moral and scriptural values that would reflect a work of the Holy Spirit.
      
      
2. How does Scripture validate its own claim of Divine Authorship?

Prophecy Fulfillment

The Bible is full or prophecy and the fulfillment of prophecy.  This shows that God wrote it (which we will touch on more next week) because only God knows the future.  The fact that these prophecies are given and then sometimes hundreds of years later are fulfilled exactly shows that the scriptures are solid and that they have Divine Authorship

• Prophecy: Genesis 15:18-21
• Fulfillment: Joshua 21:43-45
• Prophecy: Daniel 5:24-31
• Fulfillment: Daniel 5:30
• Isaiah 53, Psalm 22 are prophecies foretelling the crucifixion of Jesus.
  • Isaiah 53: (v.3) He was despised and rejected by men. (v.4) he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. (v.10) it was the will of the Lord to crush him. (v.12) he bore the sins of many.
  • Psalm 22: (v.1) my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? [Matthew 27:46] (v.16) dogs encompass me a company of evildoers encircle me; they have pierced my hands and feet. (v.18) they divide my garments among them and for my clothing they cast lots. [John 19:23-24]
• Matthew 24:1-2, Mark 13:1-2, Luke 21:5-6: Destruction of the 2^nd Temple
  • This was fulfilled in 70 AD when Rome destroyed the temple.

Scriptural Testimony concerning Divine Authorship

• 2 Peter 1:16-21,
• 2 Timothy 3:15-17
• Hebrews 4:12-13

Conclusion

It is rational to believe that the Bible, both Old and New Testaments, are reliable documents of antiquity. We can be very confident that the message of the manuscripts we have for the Old and New Testament is a reliable copy of the original autographs and has been translated faithfully from the Greek and Hebrew texts into English and other languages.

Additionally, all that Scripture records accurately concerning fulfilled prophecies, especially concerning the person and work of Jesus Christ and His resurrection, and Scripture’s own appeal to Divine Authorship puts the individual at a fork in the road where they must either accept the strong plausibility that the Scripture is indeed the Word of God or reject the faithful and reliable argument presented, despite its accuracy. 

Ultimately, however, we recognize that the reason the Bible is rejected and misinformation is spread about its reliability is due to the reality of the depraved nature of mankind that rejects the truth about God. This brings us full circle back to our discussion of General and Special Revelation. Though we believe that Romans 1 teaches that all humanity has a knowledge of God’s existence and limited knowledge of His character, that knowledge is only sufficient to condemn and cause the sinful heart to respond in rebellion.

Christians understand that for someone to believe that the Bible is indeed God’s very word occurs experientially when God gives us new life in Christ. Apart from the work of God Himself, we would not have faith.

Romans 10:17

Luke 16:19-31

Watch/Critique Video (concerning Qu'ran's reliability) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBxN3iwF9YE&t=202s

 

Session Notes

Miracles

Apologetics – Session 3

 

What is a miracle? How would we define a miracle?

• “an event that involves the direct and powerful action of God, transcending the ordinary laws of nature and defying common expectations of behavior.” (gotquestions.org)
  • Natural Law
  • Transcending the ordinary laws of nature

 

Why are we talking about defending miracles?

• If we are using a Classical Apologetics Method, we will follow the two-step method by first arguing for God’s Existence and then moving on to the defense of a miracle, typically the resurrection of Jesus.
• When using a Presuppositional Apologetics Method, providing a defense for the rationality of miracles is a way to undermine a naturalistic presupposition.
  • Naturalism – Naturalism is a system of belief that all things have a natural cause. This system excludes supernatural explanations for anything that occurs in the universe.
  • Someone with a Naturalistic presupposition presupposes that nothing supernatural can occur and, thus, discounts the Bible and its claims as irrational.
    • David Hume – 1700s Enlightenment Philosopher

Analyze the following quotation from David Hume. What is his main argument? What are some of his presuppositions that are causing him arrive at his conclusions? What critique(s) do you have of his argument?

“A miracle is a violation of the laws of nature; and as a firm and unalterable experience has established these laws, the proof against a miracle, from the very nature of the fact, is as entire as any argument from experience can possibly be imagined. Why is it more than probable, that all men must die; that lead cannot, of itself, remain suspended in the air; that fire consumes wood, and is extinguished by water; unless it be, that these events are found agreeable to the laws of nature, and there is required a violation of these laws, or in other words, a miracle to prevent them? Nothing is esteemed a miracle, if it ever happen in the common course of nature. It is no miracle that a man, seemingly in good health, should die on a sudden: because such a kind of death, though more unusual than any other, has yet been frequently observed to happen. But it is a miracle, that a dead man should come to life; because that has never been observed in any age or country. There must, therefore, be a uniform experience against every miraculous event, otherwise the event would not merit that appellation....

The plain consequence is (and it is a general maxim worthy of our attention), 'That no testimony is sufficient to establish a miracle, unless the testimony be of such a kind, that its falsehood would be more miraculous, than the fact, which it endeavours to establish....' When anyone tells me, that he saw a dead man restored to life, I immediately consider with myself, whether it be more probable, that this person should either deceive or be deceived, or that the fact, which he relates, should really have happened. I weigh the one miracle against the other; and according to the superiority, which I discover, I pronounce my decision, and always reject the greater miracle. If the falsehood of his testimony would be more miraculous, than the event which he relates; then, and not till then, can he pretend to command my belief or opinion.

In the foregoing reasoning we have supposed, that the testimony, upon which a miracle is founded, may possibly amount to an entire proof, and that the falsehood of that testimony would be a real prodigy: But it is easy to shew, that we have been a great deal too liberal in our concession, and that there never was a miraculous event established on so full an evidence.

From David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, L. A. Selby Bigge, ed. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1902), pp. 114-16.

We want to argue that it is, indeed, rational to believe that miracles have occurred and that such miracles have a supernatural agent as the cause of the miracle.

 

Argument for Miracles (Another argument for the existence of God) [1]

1. There are kinds of possible circumstances and events the best explanations for which invoke supernatural agency.
2. Some circumstances and events of those kinds have actually occurred.
3. Therefore, there is a supernatural agent.

 

1. There are kinds of possible circumstances and events the best explanations for which invoke supernatural agency.
   1. 1 Corinthians 15:3-17
      1. Eyewitness testimony.
      2. The eyewitnesses of the miracle died for their belief that Jesus resurrected from the dead.
   2. A higher frequency of miracles lends credibility to the legitimacy of the miracles.
   3. Thus, it is rational to believe that there are events for which supernatural agency is the most probable explanation, aka. Miracles occur and a supernatural being causes them.
2. Some circumstances and events of those kinds have actually occurred.
   1. Many stories of supernatural healing that have been verified by medical professionals have occurred.
   2. Scripture is reliable in its record of miracles.
3. Therefore, there is a supernatural agent.
   1. Depending on how you argue this, you may not actually establish that the supernatural agent is the Christian God.

 

Hard Question: What about miracles from other religions? Doesn’t this apologetic potentially validate other “gods”? 

 

Lady Fatima - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9QO9Wxo8Ek

 

These quotations are pulled directly from www.fatima.org

"The Angel demonstrated to the children the fervent, attentive, and composed manner in which we should all pray, and the reverence we should show toward God in prayer. He also explained to them the great importance of praying and making sacrifices in reparation for the offenses committed against God. He told them: 'Make of everything you can a sacrifice and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended, and in supplication, for the conversion of sinners.' In his third and final apparition to the children, the Angel gave them Holy Communion, and demonstrated the proper way to receive Our Lord in the Eucharist: all three children knelt to receive Communion; Lucy was given the Sacred Host on the tongue and the Angel shared the Blood of the Chalice between Francisco and Jacinta.

"Our Lady stressed the importance of praying the Rosary in each of Her apparitions, asking the children to pray the Rosary every day for peace. Another principal part of the Message of Fatima is devotion to Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart, which is terribly outraged and offended by the sins of humanity, and we are lovingly urged to console Her by making reparation. She showed Her Heart, surrounded by piercing thorns (which represented the sins against Her Immaculate Heart), to the children, who understood that their sacrifices could help to console Her.

"The children also saw that God is terribly offended by the sins of humanity, and that He desires each of us and all mankind to abandon sin and make reparation for their crimes through prayer and sacrifice. Our Lady sadly pleaded: 'Do not offend the Lord our God any more, for He is already too much offended!'

"The children were also told to pray and sacrifice themselves for sinners, in order to save them from hell. The children were briefly shown a vision of hell, after which Our Lady told them: 'You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to My Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace.'

"Our Lady indicated to us the specific root of all the troubles in the world, the one that causes world wars and such terrible suffering: sin. She then gave a solution, first to individual people, then to the Church’s leaders.God asks each one of us to stop offending Him. We must pray, especially the Rosary. By this frequent prayer of the Rosary, we will get the graces we need to overcome sin. God wants us to have devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and to work to spread this devotion throughout the world. Our Lady said, 'My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the way that will lead you to God.' If we wish to go to God, we have a sure way to Him through true devotion to the Immaculate Heart of His Mother.

"In order to move ever closer to Her, and therefore to Her Son, Our Lady stressed the importance of praying at least five decades of the Rosary daily. She asked us to wear the Brown Scapular. And we must make sacrifices, especially the sacrifice of doing our daily duty, in reparation for the sins committed against Our Lord and Our Lady. She also stressed the necessity of prayers and sacrifices to save poor sinners from hell. The Message of Fatima, to individual souls, is summarized in these things."

 

The reality of Satanic Miracles

• We might answer the individual questioning concerning the miracles of other religions (like the Lady of Fatima, for example) by talking about the reality that Satan can perform miracles.
  • 2 Corinthians 11:14 – Appear as angel of light
  • Exodus 7:8-11 – Magi of Egypt repeat some of the 10 plagues
  • 2 Thessalonians 2:9-10, Matthew 24:24 – Antichrist will perform miracles in order to deceive
• Thus, we must test the spirits as John exhorts in 1 Jn 4:1-3:
  • If we apply John’s principle to the apparition of Mary (message of Fatima), what does the overall message tell us about Jesus and the gospel message?

 

Ultimately, using this apologetic of defending miracles serves to get us to the point in the conversation where Scripture will likely become the next topic.

• Why believe in this God?
• Who is this God?
  • Miracles reveal God’s character.
• The greatest miracle that we definitely want to employ in our apologetic conversations is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This miracle gets us into a gospel conversation because believing in the resurrection of Jesus is rational and it is believing in Christ’s resurrection that is a crucial component of saving faith.

 

[1]Daniel Bonevac. The Argument from Miracles (2009), 3.

Session Notes

The Existence of God

Apologetics – Session 2

 

**As with other Lectures, this material is heavily influenced by Lectures by Dr. Timothy Paul Jones and Dr. Kyle Claunch at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary**

 

Philosophical Arguments

• Ontological Argument
  • Logic-based Argument rather than Observation-based argument.
  • Anselm of Canterbury 7^th Century AD
  • Anselm’s argument (Ontological Argument)
    • God is “a being than which no greater can be conceived.”
    • Existing is greater than not existing, therefore the greatest possible being would have existence as a necessary attribute otherwise a greater being who actually exists is possible.
    • This greatest possible being is God and for Him to truly be God (aka the greatest) He must exist.
    • This supreme “greatest” being must also be good because to be good is better than to be bad. Thus, the greatest being must also be the most good being possible.
  • Cosmological Argument
    • Observation-based argument, typically more effective.
    • Cosmos = world.
      • Observation of the world and the way the universe works.
    • Uses the concept of “causality” to establish God’s existence.
      • Everything in the cosmos depends on a being that must exist necessarily (cannot not exist) because of causality.
      • Unmovable mover theory (Aristotle)
        • How might we move to sharing the gospel if we are using this method with someone?
      • Teleological Argument
        • Observation-based argument
        • The argument is that the appearance of design and purpose in the universe implies a designer.
      • What are some evidences of design in the universe? (4 categories)
      • Fine tuning of the universe
        • Everything must be “just perfect” for there to be life. The slightest variation of a universal constant would mean extinction.
        • Examples
          • If gravity had been stronger or weaker by one part in 10^40, then life sustaining stars like the sun could not exist. This would make life impossible (Robin Collins).
          • As the Earth moves in its orbit around the Sun, it departs from a straight line by only one-ninth of an inch every eighteen miles. If it departed by one-eighth of an inch, we would come so close to the Sun that we would be incinerated; if it departed by one-tenth of an inch, we would find ourselves so far from the Sun that we would all freeze to death (see Science Digest, 1981)
          • If the Moon were moved closer to the Earth by just a fifth, the tides would be so enormous that twice a day they would reach 35-50 feet high over most of the surface of the Earth.
        • “The probabilities involved with the fine-tuning of the universe aren’t comparable to winning the lottery or being struck by lightning. Lottery odds are represented using eight or nine digits, e.g., 1:10⁹. Randomly dealing a deck of 52 playing cards in perfect order presents odds of 1:10⁶⁸. Physicists express the odds of “randomly” arranging universal physical constants in the present arrangement using numbers more like 1:10¹²⁰.” https://www.gotquestions.org/fine-tuning-argument.html
        • It is far more probable that there is a designer, and this designer is God.
      • Intelligent Design Theory
        1. Creation is ridiculously complex and intricate.
        2. An intelligent cause is necessary to explain the complex structures of biology.
           1. Ex) Human eye
        3. It is impossible for such complexity to occur due to random processes
           1. For example, a room filled with 100 monkeys and 100 computers may eventually produce a few words, or maybe even a sentence, but it would never produce a Shakespearean play. And how much more complex is biological life than a Shakespearean play? https://www.gotquestions.org/intelligent-design.html
           2. This improbability of random chance suggests that it is more logical that there is a God who designed than it is to believe that what we see in all its complexity came about by chance. The odds are simply too great.

• Irreducible Complexity
  1. There are systems that are so complex that to reduce one of the system’s parts would negate the function of the entire system.
  2. There is codependence between the various parts of a system and to remove one is to render the system unable to serve the function it was created for.
     1. Ex) Mousetrap
     2. Ex) E Coli flagellum system
  3. The reality that there are so many irreducibly complex systems necessitates the existence of a designer because such systems could not evolve (we can talk more on this when we get to Evolution Topic)

• Argument from Beauty
  1. In a utilitarian or Darwinian Evolutionary view of the world, beauty is unnecessary.
  2. Beauty is not needed in an evolutionary worldview (naturalistic worldview). Such a worldview only necessitates reproduction, aka. the survival of the species.
  3. Beauty is an element of design that strongly suggests a designer. That designer is God. There are reasons we find a sunrise or sunset beautiful. As we will discuss in just a moment “The heavens declare the glory of God” (Ps 19:1)

 

Can you actually convince someone that there is a God? Is reason enough?

• This is a good question. Philosophical arguments for God’s Existence are logical and convincing.
• I believe that these Philosophical arguments work together with General Revelation and can convince someone of theism, but cannot help them understand who God is and how someone can be made right with Him sufficiently to be saved. That requires Special Revelation.

 

Session Notes

Introductory Matters

Apologetics – Session 1 – 12/1/21

 

**Much of what I will be using comes from a series of Apologetics lectures given by Dr. Timothy Paul Jones in Spring 2019 at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Additionally, I utilized material in the book “Apologetics at the Cross” by Joshua Chatraw and Mark Allen for this teaching.**

 

What is Apologetics?

• Apologetics isn’t:
  • Learning how to destroy people’s ideas so you can win an argument.
  • Learning a bunch of knowledge so you can do nothing with it.
  • Convincing teenagers of a bunch of information so they don’t walk away from Christianity if they go to college.
• What is Apologetics? How would you define Apologetics?
  
  
  
  
• Apologetics Definition (Dr. Jones):
  • “Apologetics is the reverent, reasonable, humble defense – through our words and through our lives – of the hope we have in the risen Christ, as this hope has been revealed in His word and in His world.”
  • Defense
    • ἀπολογία = a defense, argument
    • Acts 22:1; Acts 25:16; 1 Cor 9:3; Phil 1:16
    • 1 Peter 3:15
      
      

Apologetics Methods

• Why do methods matter? (3 reasons)
  • Congruity
    • Apologetics methods help you make certain that your approach to defending the faith matches your theology.
  • Humility
    • Past Christians have testified faithfully to the gospel and the truth of Scripture using apologetics methods. We don’t need to be innovative.
  • Intentionality
    • Apologetics methods help you to have a strategy when you encounter objections to the truth of Christianity.
  • Classical Apologetics - “two step approach”
    • Argues first for theism. (Prove there is a God)
    • Then for Christianity. (Prove that the God of the Bible is God)
    • A person must first accept that there is a God before they can put their trust in Him.
    • This method assumes that reason and evidence can establish theism and Christianity.
  • Evidentialist Apologetics - “one step approach”
    • This approach bypasses the need to argue for theism, this approach sees proving theism as optional, and goes straight to arguing for a historical case regarding, typically, one of the following:
      • The reliability of the Bible
      • The identity of Jesus
      • The resurrection of Jesus.
    • This method believes historical evidence concerning these topics may be sufficient enough to convince someone of Christianity without having to first establish theism.
  • The weaknesses of Classical and Evidentialist Apologetics
    • They appeal to people as primarily thinking beings who can be convinced by mere rationality of argument. If the argument is logical, they ought to simply believe it.
    • Our postmodern society has moved authority out from being external to internal
      • “The truth isn’t outside of me, it is what I deem as truth, my truth.”
      • Relativism in society prevents these logic based approaches from ultimately being as effective as they should be.
    • Presuppositional Apologetics
      • “Presuppositional apologetics is an approach to apologetics which aims to present a rational basis for the Christian faith and defend it against objections by exposing the logical flaws of other worldviews and hence demonstrating that biblical theism is the only worldview which can make consistent sense of reality.”
      • In Presuppositional Apologetics, you recognize that someone’s beliefs are filtered through the lens of their presuppositions or assumptions. People view the world through their preconceived notions.
      • Thus, we must help them to see that the Christian worldview is the only worldview that is logically consistent.
      • Example:
        • Morality
      • In Presuppositional Apologetics, we listen for someone’s presuppositions, expose them to them, and then help them to see the inconsistencies in their view so we can present the Biblical worldview.
    • Ultimately, I favor both Classical Apologetics and Presuppositional Apologetics. There are times for both Methods.
      
      

Purpose of Apologetics (4 Purposes)

1. Tolerance
   1. The defense of Christian practices for the purpose of preserving the free proclamation and practice of the gospel.
2. Protection
   1. The defense of Christian doctrine for the purpose of safeguarding the faith of believers.
3. Rationality
   1. Philosophical arguments for Christian theism for the purpose of strengthening the faith and worship of believers.
4. Evangelism
   1. The defense of Christian truth for the purpose of calling unbelievers to faith in Jesus.

 

Apologetics and Evangelism are Partners