Apologetics Acts: Part Two
Good afternoon everyone, it is once again a privilege to open the word for you again, continuing on my two part sermon looking at apologetics, the art and science of explain what we believe and why we believe it. And we have been going through two sermons by Paul in the book of Acts, his sermon to the synagogue in Antioch Pisidan, in modern day Turkey, and in the Areopagus in Athens, in modern day Greece. And we used these two examples to apply to the two different groups that we Christians interact with in today’s society. You have...
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Apologetics Acts: Part One
Pastor Nick is away in the North Island and so I will be bringing the word to you this morning and this afternoon, and we will be taking a break for Pastors Nicks exposition through the book of Luke and Ephesians. And just like the last time I preached, I will be preaching this morning on the topic of my current course this morning, and when I tell you what it is, some of you will probably inwardly sigh. And the course I am taking is about apologetics. And if you aren’t already jumping out of your seat in...
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Luke 11:14-23: Whose Side Are You On?
Imagine being raised in a religion where you were taught that you were right and everyone else was wrong; you are God’s people and everyone else is of the devil; and you have the truth and everyone else believes lies. Then suddenly someone comes along and turns your world upside down and you too are wrong, you too are of the devil, and you too have believed lies. This is the situation we are facing in the next section of Luke which focuses on Jesus conflict with the people and the religious leaders. There are only two sides, those...
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Big Bang or Creation?
Introduction: In my last talk on apologetics we dealt with the objection to miracles, that was the first of three talks on the scientific objections to Christianity. Today we want to consider the objection to the Christians view of the beginning of the universe, and next week we will look at the objection to the Bible’s teachings on the origins of life. Today many people believe that the Bible’s view of Creation is incorrect and that a Big Bang cosmology has done away with the problem of a Creator and makes them satisfied atheists. Big bang cosmology has a...
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The Objection to Miracles
Introduction: One of the most common reasons why people reject Christianity today is because the modern person rejects miracles on principle. There is a common retort that the modern person who is educated and has benefitted from all the progress of science and can cast our eye over history to all the negative effects of religion can happily put ignorant and superstitious thinking away and boldly accept that there is no such thing as miracles. It is common to have a conversation with someone who says that the miracle of the virgin birth is false, or a borrowed myth...
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The Objection of Homophobia
Introduction: A major reason why people will not become Christians and have less and less time for the Bible and Christianity is the objection of homophobia. It will not be long in any conversation about the bible today that someone will ask you, ‘Do you believe that gay people are going to hell?’ The accusation in the question is clear and a wrong answer will immediately shut down the conversation. For many today this is a gatekeeper issue, if you don’t tick the right box you are not worth continuing the conversation with. To disagree on this issue demonstrates...
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The Problem of OT Genocide
Introduction: Richard Dawkins once described God as: “…the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.” The ethics of the OT and in particular the commands to eradicate the Canaanites from the promised land, the so called commands to commit genocide or ethnic cleansing are a strong reason for disbelief in the God of the Bible today. Today we want to spend some time thinking about the commands of God to enter...
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The Problem of Christianity Being Detrimental to Society
Introduction: Today there are many people who believe that Christianity is not only wrong and backward but actually dangerous and inhibiting. The New Atheists have laid almost all social evil at the foot of religion. The trouble with this critique is that it is historically uninformed. There is a false narrative that tries to make out that science, or progress, or freedom, has been trying to break out of the mould and the church has been the biggest hindrance. This accusation that the church can only do harm can only come when people are historically ignorant to all that...
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Pluralism, Secularism and the Problem of Exclusivity
Introduction: John 14:6, ‘Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’ How do people respond today to the statement that Jesus is the only way to heaven? Here is an excerpt from the Phil Donahue Show, where he is interviewing conservative Evangelical scholar, and principal of the Southern Baptist Seminary, Albert Mohler, along with Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, DONAHUE: Well, Dr. Mohler, sir, nice to see you again. You’re how many strong these days, the southern Baptists? REV. ALBERT MOHLER, SOUTHERN BAPTIST MINISTER: About 16...
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The Problem of Hell
Introduction: One of the most emotional arguments against Christianity is the problem of hell. Many are ready to accept a God of love but will not believe in the God of the Bible because of the doctrine of endless conscious torment. The Bible’s teaching on hell is one of the most nightmarish images we can imagine, and our minds and emotions have drawn back in horror from them. The enemies to this teaching are everywhere, outside Christianity, inside the church and even our hearts cringe in the face of such harsh realities. We must recognise as we begin this...
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The Argument of Christian Hypocrisy and Injustice
Introduction: One of the most common objections to Christianity goes something like this: I would never join the church because there are too many hypocrites in it; or, if the church is supposed to be preaching the truth, why is it responsible for so much evil. Or as famous Atheist Madalyn Murray O Hair put it, ‘Religion has caused more misery to all of mankind in every stage of human history than any other single idea.’ I have mixed feelings about how good an argument against Christianity this really is. On the one hand I am sympathetic to the...
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The Problem of God and Suffering
Introduction: Today we begin the second half of our apologetics study where we handle objections to the faith. In the first part we laid out some of the most common ways to present the rationality of Christian belief. This was by no means an exhaustive survey. We presented the following list of arguments for God: the resurrection; the authority of Scripture; the unity of Scripture; the uniqueness of Scripture; the prophecies of Scripture; archaeology and the Bible; the manuscripts of the Bible; Jesus as an argument for God; the moral argument; the ontological argument; the cosmological argument; the teleological...
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The Argument from Experience
Introduction: Last week we began to enter into some of the more subjective aspects of apologetics looking at the argument from desire. Today we want to go a little deeper into the subjective side of things looking at the argument from experience. The argument is a simple one: millions of Christians of all ages, education levels and cultural experiences testify to a real experience of knowing God. The various experiences include, answers to prayer, sightings of the miraculous, a transformed character and life, joy inexpressible and full of glory, a sense of presence, an overwhelming sense of guilt and...
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The Argument From Desire
Introduction: We have been looking at the traditional arguments for God such the moral argument, the ontological, the cosmological, and the teleological argument for God. However, we have not been using them in the traditional way. The traditional way built upon Catholic or Arminian notions of man’s depravity makes it appear as if man’s mind is neutral before obvious facts, and that man can reason himself into believing in God. We have disagreed with this from the start. We have insisted that man’s sin makes him unable to be neutral or willing to believe what is present to be...
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The Transcendental Argument
Introduction: Today we want to move on from traditional arguments for God, the ontological, the cosmological and the teleological to some new arguments advanced for the existence of God. Today we want to look at what is known as the transcendental argument for God. This is an argument implemented by Cornelius Van Til, perfected by Greg Bahnsen and is now widely used by Presuppositionalists, this is a particular brand of Reformed apologists. The transcendental argument as a type of argument was first used and named by Immanuel Kant. He proposed the transcendental argument to demonstrate contrary to the scepticism...
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Traditional Arguments For God Part Two
Introduction: This is perhaps the oldest and most popular argument for God, it is the argument from design. The Greek word telos which means ‘end’ is used because if we are able to discern design because something is purposed for a particular end, this betrays an intelligent purposer, namely God.
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