Intro A: The Attitude, Definition, and Place of Apologetics
Related Media- The proper approach to theology and apologetics; truth and love
- The definition of apologetics
- The relationship of apologetics to theology and philosophy
- Answering objections to apologetics
Download this PowerPoint Teaching Course here (or in the Related Media block).
Intro B: Assumptions of Faith, the Ground of All Unbelieving Arguments
Related Media- A possible but difficult approach to apologetics
- A simple, effective, and faith-building approach to apologetics
Download this PowerPoint Teaching Course here (or in the Related Media block).
1. God Has No Beginning Or Needs
Related Media- Apart from God nothing exists
- God created and upholds all “natural laws”
- Fixed and universal “laws” are inexplicable apart from God creating and sustaining them
- We depend on God for life, knowledge, truth, authority, and a moral compass
- Created and sustained by God we owe God everything
- God is entirely separate and independent from His creation
- All things display God’s power and genius
- The Law of God is written on every heart
- Scripture displays God’s power and genius
- All unbelief is contrary to the evidence
- Neutral or innocent unbelievers do not exist
- God and created reality exist regardless of human beliefs
- God necessarily exists, He does not probably exist
- All people, including scientists, presume God’s existence, even if they deny Him
- The chicken and the egg riddle
- Arguments for the probability of God excuse unbelief, require blind faith, and hinder assurance
Download this PowerPoint Teaching Course here (or in the Related Media block).
2. God Is Too Great To Be Known Unless He Makes Himself Known
Related Media- Speculation without revelation cannot explain God
- Logic alone is insufficient to know God
- The ordered laws of logic reveal God’s existence
- The beauty of God’s excellence is known immediately and intuitively
- Mystery is proper and reasonable
- Earthly analogies cannot fully explain God
- Finite people are unqualified to deny the truth of Scripture
Download this PowerPoint Teaching Course here (or in the Related Media block).
3. God Is Limitless
Related Media- God is the highest authority and standard of truth
- God is not limited by what He created and sustains
- People cannot know that God is limited by what He created and sustains
- Knowledge of everything and beyond is required to know God is limited
- To presume God is limited by creation repeats the sin of Adam and Eve
- God is infinitely above all things and intimately involved in all things
- Deep suffering is only viewed rightly in light of God and eternit
Download this PowerPoint Teaching Course here (or in the Related Media block).
4. God Is Unchanging
Related Media- Unbelief and the need of salvation are the same in any age or culture
- The requirement for eternal life is the same in any age or culture
- Christ is the only way of salvation in any age or culture
- The truth, validity, and relevance of Scripture are the same in any age or culture
- God remains trustworthy regardless of arguments or circumstances
Download this PowerPoint Teaching Course here (or in the Related Media block).
5. God Is Undivided Unity
Related Media- The “problem of evil”
- Related “problems”
- Responding to apparent contradictions
- Apparent conflicts in God and Scripture reveal our limitations, not problems with God
- Making God acceptable to unbelief denies the infinite excellence of God
- To deny a single attribute of God denies God as God
- God needs no defense
Download this PowerPoint Teaching Course here (or in the Related Media block).
6. God Is Spirit
Related Media- Denials of God based on physical laws are worthless
- Denials of God based on not seeing Him are worthless
- To say God is unknowable because we only know what we know by our senses is unjustified and self-contradictory
- Appeals to “knowledge” and “senses” to deny God presume God’s existence
- Presuming our senses and experience to be the ultimate standard of truth and possibility assumes the place and authority of God
Download this PowerPoint Teaching Course here (or in the Related Media block).
7. God’s Knowledge Is Perfect
Related Media- God alone is the source of all truth and knowledge
- Human knowledge is acquired by discovering God’s revealed knowledge
- Truth is whatever God says it is
- We know truth when our knowledge agrees with God’s explanation
- We cannot know any truth as thoroughly and exhaustively as God
- To reject truth because we don’t understand it denies reality
- To reject truth because we don’t understand it assumes our understanding is the standard of truth
- To reject truth because we do not understand it assumes the place and authority of God
- The omniscience of God is required to deny God
Download this PowerPoint Teaching Course here (or in the Related Media block).
8. God’s Wisdom Is Perfect
Related Media- Human wisdom is gained by knowing and applying God’s revelation
- God’s wisdom in Scripture is the only sure basis for defending the faith
- Limited and dependent people are unqualified to question God’s wisdom in our circumstances
- Limited and dependent people are unqualified to question God’s wisdom in history
Download this PowerPoint Teaching Course here (or in the Related Media block).