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8/3/2019 Apologetics World Religions(or Cults)
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Apologetics
What is Apologetics
The Apologists Toolbox
Rules of Engagement
Why Should I Be An Apologist?
OT and NT Apologists
Jesus the GREATEST apologist
Apologetics and World Religions (or Cults)
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What is Apologetics?
The word "apologetics" comes from the Greek word "apologia,"
pronounced, "ap-ol-og-ee-ah." It means, "a verbal defense." It is
used eight times in the New Testament: Acts 22:1; 25:16; 1 Cor. 9:3;
2 Cor. 7:11; Phil. 1;7,17; 2 Tim. 4:16, and 1 Pet. 3:15. But it is the lastverse that is most commonly associated with Christian apologetics.
"but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to
make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for
the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence," (1 Pet.
3:15).
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Apologetics can be defensive and offensive. The
apologist can and should defend his reasons forbelieving (1 Pet. 3:15). But, he can also go on the
attack. He can seek out those who oppose Christianity
(2 Cor. 10:5). Of course, he should be prepared to do
this before hand and all apologetics is to be done with
gentleness.
Remember that there is a right way and a wrong way
to give a reason for the hope that lies within you.
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Apologetics can either be evidential (often called
"classical") or presuppositional.
Evidential apologetics deals with the evidence for
Christianity: Jesus resurrection, the biblical
manuscripts, fulfilled prophecy, miracles, etc.
Presuppositional apologetics deals with the
presuppositions of those who oppose Christianity,
because they dont believe in God; the Bible or the
supernatural.
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The Apologists Toolbox
To defend the faith, the Christian must use:
Truth;
Facts;
Logic and
Prayer.
The Christian should listen to objections and make cogent
and rational comments in direct response to the issues raised.
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As Christians we understand that truth is the
foundation upon which our belief stands of falls. As Christians we believe in the concept of
Absolute Truth and that ALL truth originates with
God who has chosen to reveal this truth to
mankind through the Bible.
Truth
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It is critically important when attempting to
share your faith with someone that youestablish the fact that absolute truth exists.
The prevailing belief in the world today is thattruth is relative to what a person perceives it
to be.
This begs the question: What is absolute
truth?
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Absolute Truth - Inflexible Reality"Absolutetruth" is defined as inflexible reality: fixed,
invariable, unalterable facts. For example, it isa fixed, invariable, unalterable fact that there
are absolutely no square circles and there are
absolutely no round squares.
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Absolute Truth vs. RelativismAbsolute truth is a logicalnecessity, even though many irreligious groups (atheistic
humanists, secularists, pantheists, etc.) argue against the
existence of absolute truth.
Humanist John Dewey (1859-1952), co-author and signer
of the Humanist Manifesto 1 (1933), declared, "There is noGod and there is no soul. Hence, there are no needs for the
props of traditional religion. With dogma and creed
excluded, then immutable truth is also dead and buried.There is no room for fixed, natural law or moral absolutes."
Humanists believe one should do, as one feels is right.
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It goes without saying that your defense of the faith
MUST be based on PROVABLE fact. Therefore it is
CRITICALLY important for you to have studied the
facts so that you can present a compelling case for the
biblical world view. Dont embellish the truth in your
zeal to win your case unless you be found out to be a
liar and thus cause the truth to be ill spoken of.
Fact
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Logic
When defending the faith, be sure that your use reasoned
arguments to make your case. Logic is another way of saying
that what you are saying must be reasonable to the average
human mind. It must make sense to those who hear it.
It should be noted that just because an argument is logical, it
is not necessarily truthful. Opponents to the biblical world
view attempt to use logic to prove for example that God does
not exist.
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Let us consider the following argument that atheists have
sited to prove that God does not exist.
Proposition: God can do all things.
Statement: Can God make something so big he cannot
pick it up? If He can, then he cannot do all things because
he could not pick up the rock. If He cannot, then He cannotdo all things because he cannot make a rock so big He cant
pick it up.
Conclusion: Since God can do all things and we have shownthat there are things he cannot do, therefore, God does
not exist.
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It would appear that this argument has
backed the Christian into a corner until we
look at this a little closer. Remember that we
agreed earlier that logic must use reasonable
arguments. Another way to say this is that itmust make common sense.
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Based on what we have just said lets give a rebuttal to
this argument against the existence of God.
Proposition: God cannot violate His own nature; that
is, He cannot go against what He naturally is.
Statement: God's nature does not permit Him to lie, tonot be God, etc.
Conclusion: Therefore, the statement that God can do
all things, is not true. Therefore we can not conclude
that God does not exist.
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Prayer
We should ALWAYS bear in mind that We are fighting a spiritual
battle and need spiritual tools. Prayer is perhaps the most
important of them all. It is the Lord who opens the heart and mind,
not you (Acts 16:14). Ask God for guidance (John 14:14). Ask for
blessing in your understanding (James 1:5) and your speech (Col.
4:6). Ask the Lord to also open their understanding to Gods word
(Luke 24:45). This is what He does. Prayer brings humility to the
one praying and highlights a dependence on God. If we are humbleand depended on God, we are more likely to hear His voice and
thus know how to give a reason for the hope that lies within us.
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Rules of Engagement
When you are challenged to give a reason as to why
you believe the gospel; remember what Jesus said to
his disciples. He told them that he would give them a
mouth and wisdom that their adversaries would not be
able to refute. (Luke 21:15) The point being made here
is that you should not try to figure out how to win the
debate before you have the debate. Trust God to give
you the words needed to refute all charges made
against God and the Bible. (Prov. 3:5-7)
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Pray: Everything MUST begin and end with
prayer. Jesus said to his disciples that without
him they could do nothing, (John 15:7) and
neither can we.
Memorize scripture: this is VITALLY important
because you may not always have time to
lookup every scriptural verse when you are
making your defense of the faith.
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Listen : Pay attention to what is being said to
you and then respond to what is said.(Col 4:6)
Listen for errors in logic. Listen for motives,
for hurts, for intent.
Dont interrupt : This is just common
courteously. You need to earn the right to
speak. Speaking out of turn will turn a debateinto an argument.(James 1:19)
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Be Bold : Dont allow the fact that you dont
know all there is to know about a particular issue
stop you from talking about it. Remember
Christs promise to his disciples in Luke 21:15.
Dont be afraid to take a chance : All you have to
do is be available, speak up, and be willing to
defend the Christian faith. Remember this: You
can do all things through Christ who gives you
strength.
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Learn from your mistakes : Go back and study
up on those questions you were unable to
answer; or objections that you were unable toovercome. Remember that (2Tim 2:15) is a life
long process.
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Rehearse : Perhaps the best place to do
apologetics is in your head. Think of a situation, a
scenario that you need to have an answer for,
and develop an answer. Practice in your mind.
Try and corner yourself and then get out of it.
Research : Study up on what other have had to
say about how to answer those questions about
or overcome those objections to the faith.
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Why Should I Be An Apologist? The primary reason why you should be an
apologist is because God has told you to
become one. (1 Peter 3:15)
Throughout the New Testament we see
Christs disciples boldly proclaiming the birth,
doctrine, miracles, death, burial, resurrection
and second coming of Christ. (Jude 1:3)
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Old Testament Apologists
The greatest Old Testament apologist has to
be God himself. In Isaiah Chapters 43 thru 45God gives a defense of Himself as being the
One true God and Saviour of the nation of
Israel who had rejected him to serve idols.
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After God Himself, the Psalmists (David being
the most prominent among them) gave the
best defense for the existence of God, Hisattributes and the immutability of his word.
Psalm 14:1 and 53:1 ; Psalm 19 ; Psalm 107;
Psalm 119 and Psalm 136
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New Testament Apologists
Matthew : Gave a defense of Jesus claim to
be the messiah based on Old Testament
prophecy. (Matt. 1:22; 2:5, 15, 17 & 23; etc.)
Mark: Gave a defense of Jesus claim to be
the messiah based on all the miracles he wasable to perform. (Mk. 4:37-41; 5:37-39 & 6:48-
51.)
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Luke: Gave a defense of Jesus claim to be the
Saviour of the Gentile world.
(Luke 2:32 and Luke 18:32)
John: Gave a defense of Jesus claim to be the
divine Son of God who is co-equal with God.
(John 1:1-3; John 5; John 10: 26-30; John 14: 1-
3 & 9)
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The Apostle Paul : who wrote two-thirds of
the New Testament gave a vigorous defense
for the hope that he had in Christ before the
Jews and the Gentiles. (Acts 9:29; Acts 17:17,
22-31; Acts 22 and Acts 26)
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Jesus The GREATEST Apologist
The reason why I dub Jesus as the GREATEST
apologist is not just because of who he is; but
because of what he did. Jesus repeatedly lefthis detractors speechless after answering
their objections to his claim to be the
Anointed Son of God, The Saviour of the
world.
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For instance; when the Pharisees and
Herodians tried to put Jesus in a catch 22
situation over the payment or non-paymentof taxes Jesus answer silenced his critics.
(Mark 12:13-17)
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Another example of Jesus silencing his
opponents can be found in (Mark 12:18-27).
In this example Jesus proves that man has an
eternal soul.
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One VERY effective method of apologetics
that Jesus used was to question those who
questioned him. This method is effective
because it forces the opponent to give a
reason for the hope that lies within them. This
them gives you a chance to show the fallacy in
taken the position that they hold.
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For example, in Matt 21:23-27 Jesus is
challenged about his authority to drive out
the money changers from the temple. Rather
than justifying his actions, he questions their
reason for challenging him by asking them a
question that puts them in an inescapable
catch 22 situation. (see also Matt. 16:1-4)
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Jesus also used reasoned logic to drive home
his point to his opponent. An example of this
can be found in Mark 12:35-37. Here Jesus
shows that the messiah has a divine origin. He
makes a more compelling case for his divine
origin in John 5 and 10. The Jews knowing
exactly what he was saying tried to stone him.
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Jesus said that The Spirit would lead and
guide them into all truth. He said that there
was much more that he wanted to say to
them but couldnt because they wouldnt be
able to understand everything he wanted to
say to them at that time. (John 16:12-15)
Apologetics and World Religions (or Cults)
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Jesus later went on to say that they should go
out into all the world and make disciples.
(Matt 28:19 & Mark 16:15) But before they set
out he told them to wait until they had
received the promise of the father; which we
know to be the Holy Spirit. (Acts 1:8 and Acts
2:1-4)
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Jesus also said through the apostle Paul that
we should study to show ourselves approved
before God and that we should be able to
correctly interpret and thus teach the word of
truth so that we would not be put to shame
by those who we were proclaiming it to.
(2Timothy 2:15)
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Lastly Jesus warned us through his apostles
that in the last days the gospel would come
under attack from those who would want to
change its meaning. There would be those
who would oppose his claim to be the divine
Son of God. There would be an explosion of
Heresies and false teachers.
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Some would claim that Christ would not be
coming again. Some would claim that he
already had come again. Some claimed that
Christ death on the cross was not sufficient tosave and that a person still needed to observe
the Law or some other moral code and/or
abstain from certain foods and bodily
comforts.
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(Col 2:16-23, 1Tim 4:1-4, 2Tim 3:1-7, 2 Pet 3:3-7,
1 John 4:1-4)
The purpose of this study is to equip you to
be able to effectively witness to all those whohave been deceived by the devil into believing
a different gospel or way to have a
relationship with God; or into believing that
there are many gods or no God at all.
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Over the next 11 to 12 weeks we are going to
look at these alternate belief systems and
discover how we can prove that what theybelieve can not and will not save them. Jesus
said I am the Way, the Truth and the Life; NO
one comes to the Father accept through him.