2.6.10
Intellectual Problems
I. What are intellectual problems?
A. Intellectual Problems are when a claim or tenant of a philosophic system appears to be in conflict with other known or accepted philosophy.
B. A desire to have things be different is not an intellectual problem, but is often offered as such.
II. The supernatural world.
A. The Bible claims that:
1. There is a God
2. Angels
3. A Devil
4. Demons
5. The Devil and demons are:
a. Powerful, influential, deceitful
b. Able to work miracles
c. Weaker than God
III. The Problem of Evil.
A. If God is good, all powerful, and all knowing; how could there be evil in the world?
B. This leads some to say that maybe God is not:
1. Good
2. All powerful
3. All knowing
C. The Answer:
1. God defines good. God says that it is better to let some evil exist, rather than override our will. He also promises that he will be able to make everything right, even paying the price for every sin ever committed, so that we could be in relationship with Him again.
2. Remember that omnipotent means all powerful. All powerful includes the capacity to give choice to another.
3. How could you test omniscience? God claims to be all knowing, so far as we can tell he is. We simply cannot test this claim.
IV. The Problem of Exclusivity.
A. Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father
except through me.” John 14:6
B. The objections:
1. There has to be another way.
2. What about the people who have not read.
C. The Answer:
1. Many things can only be done one way. While we may want to have multiple ways to do things, often we are not given that as an option.
2. What about those who haven’t heard.
a. Romans 10
2.5.10
At the Right Time
the Gospel
You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Romans 5:6
The Gospel is the story of how God intervened in history to save people from destruction for himself. This event is the pinnacle of history. It defines God’s relationship with mankind and offers us a bridge to eternity.
The Fall (the death of mankind):
In Genesis the Bible tells the story of Mankind’s fall. God told Adam and Eve,
“you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.” Genesis 2:17
On the day they ate the fruit they did not die physically, but spiritually. God defines life as:
Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. John 17:3
Furthermore, in some way we all died spiritually with Adam and Eve.
For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. I Corinthians 15:22
As a result of this death we are all separated from God (See Romans chapter 3). Furthermore:
The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23
What is sin? Sin is falling away from the will of God. Jesus said in Matthew 5:48
Be perfect, therefore, even as your Heavenly Father is perfect.
As you can see this leaves us in a bit of a predicament.
The problem (How can we come back to God?):
Thus far we have seen that mankind has sinned and become separate from God. We are as sinners dead and dead people have very little capacity to help themselves. Fortunately, God came after us. Even as He was pronouncing judgement against us in the Garden of Eden, He began to reveal His plan to bring us back to Himself.
And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head and you shall bruise him on the heel. Genesis 3:15
This plan is not very clearly laid out here, but as we move through the Old Testament it becomes clearer and clearer. With each generation the plan for the Messiah is further revealed, until He (Jesus) comes.
Additionally, from the earliest passages of scripture we find that God offers relationship with himself on the basis of faith.
Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness. Genesis 15:6
And again in Psalms David states:
Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not count against him Psalm 32:2
This impartation of righteousness is further defined in the new testament:
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast. Ephesians 2:8-9
At the same time that God is teaching us that we are made righteous by faith, He tells us that a sacrifice is required. When Adam an Eve are sent fro the garden they are clothed in skins, the first evidence that blood was required to cover for sin. Later, Cain killed Abel, because God was happy with Abel’s animal sacrifice, but not Cain’s vegetables. As we move on to Exodus God institutes the Passover, in which the death of a lamb was needed to avoid the Angel of Death. This system of sacrifice was then further clarified in the Law with an entire system of sacrifice for the atonement of sin. (To atone means to cover, not remove).
The problem with animal sacrifice was that:
...it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Hebrews 10:4
So Jesus came and offered Himself.
For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. Hebrews 10:14
The Solution:
For God so loved the world that he gave is only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16
If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead you shall be saved. Romans 10:9
The Cost:
For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost, to see if he has enough to complete it? Luke 14:28
Jesus often warned that the cost of following Him would be high. In fact it will cost you everything.
I urge you therefore, bretheren, by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. Romans 12:1
The Questions that Remain:
Predestination versus freewill:
219 times in the New Testament, God uses the word electos (which means chosen, elected) to refer to those who He calls to Himself. He does not, however, choose to spend any time defining the difference between predestination and free will. He simply states that He has chosen and that you and I must chose Him and believe in Him.
What about those who have never heard the name of Jesus?
The Bible is not written to those who have never heard. If you are reading it you are obviously responsible for the information that it contains, but it does give us hints about those who have not heard.
For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. Romans 1:20
Additionally, the Bible calls us to tell the world.
What about good people who reject Jesus?
Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. John 17:3
What now?
At this point I would urge you to consider your position. On which side of life and death do you stand? Have you counted the cost of following Jesus?
There is only one way to get to life.
Jesus answered, “I am the way ans the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6
Jesus is your only lifeline, the only bridge from death to life. Will you walk across?
2.4.10
Considering Evidence
I. What is Apologetics?
A. Apologetics comes from a Latin legal term which means to give a defense during a trial.
B. I Peter 3:15b-16 Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks
you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness
and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously
against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.
II. What Apologetics is not.
A. An intellectual half-nelson.
B. An apology, though it may include one.
C. An argument.
IV. Definitions
A. World View - A comprehensive personal philosophy or conception of the world. A series of assumptions by which reality is understood.
B. Truth - The quality of being in agreement with experience, facts, or reality.
C. Fact - A verifiable event, condition, or assertion.
D. Wisdom - Following the best course of action based on knowledge, experience, and understanding.
VI. The Scientific Method
A. Uses a process of observation, hypothesis, testing, re-hypothesis, and theory. To establish facts and truth.
B. The best scientific evidence is from multiple randomized, prospective, blinded studies.
C. Followed by single well designed studies.
D. Followed by limited studies.
E. Followed by observed data.
F. Followed by opinion.
VII. Legal/Historical Method
A. Uses a system of comparisons between evidence based on the number, quality, proximity, bias, and acceptance of facts.
B. The best evidence is based on multiple, unbiased, eye-witnessed, observations, close in time to the events in question, and consistent with accepted processes.
C. Lower quality evidence is lacking in one or more of these traits.
VIII. Which is better?
A.Depends on what you want to know.
B. The Scientific System is designed to test and evaluate repetitive physical phenomena. It does very poorly when evaluating one time events, and non-physical questions.
C. The Legal/Historical System is designed to test documents, physical evidence, and eye-witness accounts. It does poorly if asked to answer the causes of physical phenomena.
IX. Mistakes
A. G.I.G.O. Garbage In Garbage Out - The best logic or mathmatics applied to bad data or bad assumptions results in bad conclusions.
B. Asking the wrong question: If you ask how a process results is a condition you may miss a process that actually responsible.
C. Category mistakes: what does the color blue small like. This is a classic catigory mistake; another example is the question could God make a rock so heavy that he couldn't lift it? The answer is that the question puts God in the wrong catigory (it puts him as a physical law follower instead of a physical law creator). As the creator, God made a universe where it always takes more energy to make a rock, than to move it. He could have made things otherwise, but is not bound by the laws he makes.
D. Bias: bias clouds conclusions.
E. Asking for an inappropriate level of evidence: many people ask for more evidence than exists for any condition, or more evidence for conclusions that they don't like, that for those that they do like.
X. Evaluating the Canon
A. The 66 books in the Bible were added based on their authorship, authenticity, consistency with the rest of scripture, prophecy, and their acceptance by the people of God.
Many people feel uncomfortable with this level of evidence, but it actually quite substatial, and can be reconfirmed in modern times.