Religions, Faiths and Christianity
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I hate to give this big fat slide, because there’s so many words on it. But in all of the years of traveling and speaking, this is my definition of Apologetics, which resulted in among other books, The 10 Most Common Objections and how to Effectively Answer Them. I know this is a mouthful. I’m going to give these and we’re going to put them on the server. If you want these slides they’re yours.
But Apologetics refers to content and methods, which may be used by the holy spirit to contribute toward the discipleship and mobilization of believers, the evangelization of non-believers, so that people will be amazed at all the data we know and they’re going to think we’re really, really smart. No. So that Jesus is exalted and his kingdom is expanded.
I really think the primary motive for being able to defend your faith, being able to refute the Quran as a source of God’s revelation, because I don’t think it is. Being able to respond to Bart Ehrman’s books critiquing the new Testament, being able to respond to Christopher Hitchens writings against believe in God.
The reason we do Apologetics, we can present, we can explain, we can defend the primary motive is the glory of God. People need to know that God’s word is true here. Here’s a verse for you Psalm 115 verse one, it says, “Not unto us oh lord give glory not unto unto us, but unto thy name give glory for the sake of the truth.” We’re doing what we’re doing. You’re at summit, not just so you can survive the vicissitudes of a hostile college environment. Though college is hostile and vicissitudeness. No, you’re here for the glory of God. Really, to expand your mind and save your soul. And the primary motive of Apologetics is for God’s glory. And also because it really is true. Psalm 119 verse 93 says, “I will never forget your words for through them I found life.” You got friends that need the biblical message.
Why is this relevant? Because the world is growing darker. Because Christ has commissioned us, because he said go into all the world and make disciples. Now there are objections that are going to come along and I’m going to go ahead, go forward just a little bit. And in the interest of time, get into some of the big five. Truth, God, the Bible, Jesus, the problem of pain.
Now we went around the room and we listed a number of the objections that we hear Christians or hypocrites. Why would a loving God send somebody to hell? Things like that. What about the trustworthiness of the Bible? Now, before I go too much farther, let me ask this question. What time do I need to land this airplane? What time do we to be done?
11:50.
11:50, 11-5-0, 11:50. Praise the Lord I have 29 minutes. We can solve world problems in 29 minutes. This is awesome. Praise God. Let’s talk a little bit about the fact that most people really do believe in God.
If you talk to people, virtually everybody believes in God. Now you will meet roughly 4 to 5% of the population that claims to be atheists. Sadly though, atheism is kind of a fad. Let me do a show of hands. And over the last decade, this has really increased. How many of you have a friend or a relative, you know somebody that would identify as an atheist?
Unbelievable. I’m going to say that’s 55, 60% of the people. How many know somebody who would claim to be an agnostic? They would say, “There may or may not be a God. I just don’t know. I’m an agnostic.” All right, well, now, just in the spirit of clarity, let’s throw some definitions out. Theism, T-H-E-I-S-M, theism is belief in God. What kind of God? An eternal God, a God that created the universe. A God that can intervene.
Now, theism may not necessarily mean that you can know this God personally. But Judaism, Islam and Christianity are theistic religions. They believe there’s a God, this God is eternal. This God created the world. This God can reach in the box and do stuff.
Now, in Islam, God is not really knowable. Not in the sense that we know the Lord, have a relationship with the Lord, but atheism, you add the Greek prefix a, which means the negation of, so an a-theist means not theism.
If somebody is an ah-theist, they don’t believe in God. Now G-N-O-S-I-S, GNOSIS. The G is silent. An agnostic a-gnosis means not knowledge. Now we say gnosis, the G is silent. Because if the G were pronounced GNOSIS, it’s not that, otherwise we would have kaknowledge. We don’t have that. So gnosis refers to knowledge. Agnostic means not knowledge. Maybe there’s a God, but I have found that most professed agnostics really are de facto atheists. They really don’t believe there’s a God. They’ll say, “Maybe there is, maybe there isn’t. We just can’t know.” But 95% of people will say they believe in God, but it’s not really the biblical God. It’s a God. That is anti-supernatural, impersonal non-moral and non-judgmental.
Now let me say this. The biblical God, the real God. The true God, is definitely a supernatural God by supernatural. I mean he does stuff in nature. See there’s the natural world. There’s wood. There’s matter. There’s stuff. There’s the natural world. But then there are things that are beyond nature, supernatural. God is a supernatural god, he can hear your prayers. He can do stuff. He can work a miracle. God is a God that intervenes in this world.
The God of the Bible, the real God is definitely a personal God. You can know him. Yay. That’s really good. He is a moral God. And yes, hate to break it to you. The biblical God, most definitely is a judgemental God. It says in Hebrews 9:27, “It is appointed once to die. And after this, the judgment,” believe it or not, God is going to have you answer up for what you did with your life. You will give an account. I will give an account. That’s why we need to come to Jesus and the appropriate measure of God’s wrath that we deserve was poured on Jesus.
Listen, I don’t want to suffer for Alex McFarland’s sins. And thanks to Jesus I don’t have to, because Alex McFarland is a sinner deserving judgment. And so God is a God that look, it’s been said he can forgive any sin. He can overlook none. But, but RC Sproul, you probably heard of RC Sproul on the radio. Really cool, great Ligonier ministries. Somebody wrote in one day, “Dr. Sproul, what’s the difference between the God of Christianity and the gods of all the other religions?” RC Sproul, great answer too. He said, “Well, the main difference is this. The God of Christianity exists.” It’s a pretty big difference isn’t it? But people believe in God. People are very spiritual. But spirituality is not the same thing as Christianity.
Now let me give you some doctrines. God exists. Christ is the second person of the Trinity, God the son. Jesus was born of a Virgin. Jesus is deity. Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Jesus was crucified at Passover. Jesus rose from the grave. Jesus is coming back. Jesus will rule and reign victoriously for eternity. Those are good doctrines aren’t they?
Somebody that would affirm and embrace and say, “I know those things are true.” Pretty good guy, right? James 2:19 says, “The devils believe yet tremble.” I mean just think about it. You could ask Satan, are you aware that God exists? And even the devil could say, “Yes, I’m aware of that.” Did you know Jesus is the son of God. He’s going to rule and reign forever. Jesus is coming back. Even the devil could say, “Ah, yeah, I know that.” So what’s the difference?
Look, in the English translation of James 2:19, it says, “The devil believes, yet trembles.” It’s the word gnosis, G-N-O-S-I-S, gnosis, awareness. There’s another word though in the new Testament that is often translated in the English Bible believe, and it’s not gnosis, It’s pisteau, P-I-S-T-E-A-U. Now pisteau is from which we get, boy this is the extra credit, I will give you a book if you know this, what word that probably is definitely a summit-type word do we get from the word pisteau duo, which is knowledge and how we know stuff. It’s what?
Epistemology.
Yay. What is your name?
Andrew Williams.
Andrew, see me after class. I want to give you a book, epistemology. Very good from the word pisteau, how we know stuff. Now pisteau, P-I-S-T-E-A-U refers not to just a fact in your mind, but a life-changing truth, reality, intimate, personal knowledge, apprehension. When you read in Acts 1631, “What must I do to be saved?” Paul said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. You will be saved.” John 3:16, “Whoever believes on Him will not perish.” That word for believe is not just a fact in your brain. Even the devil knows God exists, but we’re called to a truth that’s not merely the acknowledgment of a fact, but the surrender to a life-changing truth and Christianity is not just saying, “I acknowledge Jesus is the son of God.” Christianity is saying, “I want to be your follower.”
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