TYPES OF APOLOGETICS. Psalms 19; Romans 1

Transcription

1 TYPES OF APOLOGETICS Psalms 19; Romans 1

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4 WAYS GOD REVEALS HIMSELF! General Revelation Creation - Psalms 19; Romans 1 Conscience - Romans 2:12-16 Why do so many reject this message? (Romans 1:21-ff) Imaginations are Darkened Ignorance is Demonstrated Images were Dignified Immorality is Dominant

5 WAYS GOD REVEALS HIMSELF! Special Revelation Bible - Psalms 19:7-14 Christians - Romans 10:13-ff This is all important as we discuss three types of Apologetics!

6 THREE TYPES OF APOLOGETICS Classical Evidential Presuppostional

7 CLASSICAL Is a reasoned basis for Christian Faith based on: Historical evidence Philosophical arguments Arguments from other disciplines

8 EXAMPLES Cosmological - because things exist there had to be something to bring it into existence. Teleological - all the intricate design in the universe argues for a purposeful first cause. Ontological - argument for God's existence based entirely on reason.

9 REFUTATION If they want to leave out the Bible entirely, then we must reject this. We need the Bible! Since man s minds are darkened then they can t be expected to reach accurate decisions.

10 RATIFICATION All of these arguments can be used in conjunction with the Bible. They are powerful arguments for someone who does not believe the Bible.

11 EVIDENTIAL Evidence to demonstrate that God exists both believers and nonbelievers share. It doesn t presuppose the existence of God.

12 EXAMPLES Intelligent Design Archeology

13 REFUTATION God presupposes His existence Genesis 1:1. General revelation makes one without excuse but one needs the Bible to receive salvation. What happens when the evidence points away from the Bible?

14 RATIFICATION All the evidence points to the accuracy of the Bible and therefore lends credibility from a lost person s mind. Again these arguments can be used in conjunction with the Bible.

15 PRESUPPOSITIONAL Presuppositions are simply beliefs that everyone has that affect how they think, view the world, interpret evidence, and read the Bible. Apologetics is a reasoned defense of beliefs. So presuppositional apologetics is a reasoned defense of Christian beliefs based on recognizing our presuppositions.

16 If we start off believing the Bible is the Word of God then we use it as our axiom. An axiom (often used in logic) is a proposition that is not susceptible to proof or disproof; its truth is assumed. The Bible takes this stance, assuming God s existence to be true and not something to be proven. The battle is not over evidence but over philosophical starting points: presuppositions. As Christians, we should never put away our axiom the Bible when discussing truth with others. This would be like a soldier going into battle without any armor or weapons. Asking a Christian to abandon the Bible for the sake of discussion is like asking an atheist to prove there is no God by using only the Bible. You would be asking the atheist to give up his axiom. David Wright

17 CORNELIUS VAN TIL Taught at Westminster Theological Ordained Orthodox Presbyterian Reformed Presuppositionalist

18 Whatever he might have in common with other apologists, Van Til s approach is uniquely Reformed in a way others are not. Jonathan Barlow

19 Because Van Til sought self-consciously to make apologetic methodology conform more closely to the Reformed theology he held, his method most explicitly aligns with that theology. Jonathan Barlow

20 REFUTATION Because it is Reformed, they rely on the fact that God will enlightened those who are elect. Without His enlightenment nothing else matters. We can depend on general and special revelation since God used both of them. Sometimes they allow their presupposition of a theological position or system to blur other lines.

21 RATIFICATION Reason can never be a substitute for Revelation. The Spirit must illuminate the mind to draw the individual to truth. If all other arguments proved inadequate or apparently contradicting, I would still believe the Bible by faith.

22 POLEMICS Refers to the practice of challenging and refuting doctrinal errors or providing correctives within the same belief system (or religion). This may be contrasted with apologetics which attempts to defend one's beliefs to outsiders. Polemics, therefore, may be viewed as dialogue internal to Christianity, and apologetics as dialogue to defend Christianity to non-christians.

23 But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to blame. Apostle Paul (Gal. 2:11)

24 Polemics is medicine, not food. Without medicine we will surely die we can t live without it. This is why polemical theology must be a required part of every theological curriculum. Yet we cannot live on medicine. If you engage in polemics with relish and joy if polemics takes up a significant percentage or even a majority of your time and energy it is like trying to live on medicine alone. It won t work for the church or for you. Tim Keller

25 CONCLUSIONS All of us approach any subject with a certain amount of prejudice. No one can be totally unbiased when it comes to decisions. I believe the best approach is to use a combination of these methods. It is important to understand no matter what approach I take the Holy Spirit s work of inner persuasion will allow my arguments to achieve their desired goal. I must use the Word for the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation.

26 I believe in Christianity as I believe the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else. C. S. Lewis