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Contending For The Faith
Unfortunately, much of the Christian world seems to regard debating the Gospel as not only in opposition to 'faith', but also condemned by Scripture. This due, in part, to an unfortunate decision made by the translators of the King James version that conveys the impression that 'debates' are to be avoided at all cost. On the other hand, when Jude told us to contend earnestly for the faith, he used the Greek word epagonizomai, which is derived from two other words, one of which is agonizomai... which literally means to struggle, to labor fervently, strive or fight. In other words, to contend earnestly for the faith means to intensely contest everything that is opposed to it, which it is impossible to do by being non-controversial.
Why We Should Learn How To Defend The Faith..
What Christianity Is About
Christians have to be able to communicate to the rest of the world. We've got to be able to make coherent sense of our message, even before we demonstrate that our message is actually true..
Faith And Facts
Somehow people think that genuine faith is eviscerated by knowledge and evidence. We've made a virtue out of believing against the evidence, as if that's what God has in mind for us. On the contrary The Bible knows nothing of a bold leap-in-the-dark faith, a hope-against-hope faith, a faith with no evidence.
Apologetics and Evangelism
Most Christians today seem to prefer experiencing Christianity to thinking about or explaining it, But Christianity thrives on intelligence, not ignorance.
The Need For Apologetics
Many people refuse to believe without some evidence, as indeed they should, but there is a common misnomer among many Christians that apologetics never helps to bring anyone to Christ. This is a serious misrepresentation of the facts.
On the Failure of the Church to Educate
We have woefully neglected our responsibility to train our young people in the solid case for Christianity, and then we wonder why they depart from the faith under the influence of secular university instruction. We give our parishioners and our missionaries no foundation in the defence of the faith, and then wonder why our evangelistic efforts show so little fruit in a world where people have long moved beyond accepting something just because someone else believes it.
The Challenges
Where Sincere Christians Sometimes Make Bad Witnessing Mistakes!
Why Christians Should Never Argue Beyond Their Personal Level of Knowledge...
Six Enemies of Apologetics
Six factors that illegitimately inhibit apologetic engagement today. If these barriers are removed, our apologetic witness may grow into what it should be in Christ.
The Importance of Knowledge.
Knowledge is the foundation of being able to put forward a clear, well-reasoned defense of the faith. Unless you know what you believe and WHY, the average atheist, evolutionist, pluralist, or Jehovah’s Witness will be more than capable of turning you into a theological pretzel. However ‘being ready to give an answer to every man’ does involve some work and study. To this end, the articles listed below will help. Links are also included to whole sections of this site which contain crucial knowledge for anyone who is tired of being steam rollered by the critics of Christianity.
Single Articles
Four Killer Questions
Dr. Jeff Myers of Bryan College and Summit Ministries suggests four "killer questions" to help anyone think critically.{1} The first question is, What do you mean by that? In other words, define your terms. The second question is, Where do you get your information? The third is, How do you know that's true?, and the fourth killer question is, What if you're wrong?These four killer questions are powerful to spark meaningful conversation and encourage yourself, and others, to think critically. Use them wisely, be prepared for some interesting conversations.
Do Extraordinary Events Require Extraordinary Evidence?
The Christian position only asks that we use the same reasoning and rational thought that we use to derive what are considered good conclusions in historical investigation, and apply those same means and methods to the New Testament and the resurrection of Jesus.
What Do I Say Now?
Deflating the Slogans That Leave Christians Speechless.
Sections
Choose Life That You Might Live
This section presents the evidence as to why we can believe that the Bible is what it claims to be... the Word of God, and why we can believe Jesus is exactly who He said He is... The Son of God. Many, if not most, non-Christians assume that Christianity is a "blind faith"... that Christians ignore reality and have unquestioning loyalty to an absolute belief system without proof or evidence. In fact that they believe contrary to all evidence and facts.
Much to the contrary, the Christian faith is a commitment based on evidence. The Judeo-Christian faith consistently stresses the importance of truth, and makes appeal to evidence to support it's truth claims. In fact, it is actually quite remarkable as to how many times, God, Jesus, and the prophets of both the Old and New Testaments, appealed to facts to support what they said and taught. This evidence includes the Bible’s humanly impossible authorship, it's candor about the faults and failings of it's main characters, fulfilled prophecy, and it's archaeological and scientific accuracy... none of which are seen in the books of other religions.
However, the Christian position only asks that the same criteria used to judge the truth of other ancient documents, that told us about historical people and events, be applied to the Bible. Bias aside, do the New Testament records fulfill the historian's requirements of internal, external and transmissional reliability. In other words, when were the Gospel accounts written, were they authored by the people whose name they bear, did the authors intend to record history, or did they have a hidden agenda? Finally, can we be reasonably certain that the text we have to today is what was originally written.
And why is this important? Simply because far from being outdated, out of touch, and largely irrelevant to modern society, the Kingdom of God Jesus was sent to earth to proclaim (No, His main message wasn’t about ‘love’) is exactly the utopian world most men and women can only dream of. However, there is also a warning. The Bible very clearly tells us that we all have a choice to make in this life - the most important decision we will ever make. And, if the Bible is indeed the word of God, the consequences for the individual who chooses to ignore, or counter the evidence with clever arguments, will be fatal.
Barriers To Faith
There are and always have been tough arguments against Christianity.
Questions Skeptics Ask
Most critics of the Bible assume that because something is unexplained it is unexplainable. Constraints of space demand that the issues addressed in this section are the more common ones, with links to more detailed resources
Evolution
Many believe in evolution for the simple reason that they think science has proven it to be a ‘fact’ and, therefore, it must be accepted.
Want to give Yourself a Little Quiz?
From (Knowledge and Relationship in Balance. Greg Koukl)
“Get yourself a couple of sheets of lined paper and then list all the books of the Bible in order. Then, on the blank line after it write a one-sentence summary of what the book is about. One sentence, that's all.
Sound too hard? It might be, but it strikes me that if we are Christians and believe that this is the guide for our lives, then we ought to be able to know what each of the books is basically about.
Is that too hard? Let's try something else.
Take any book. One book of the Bible. List the author's name, the theme of the book, what the book is about, and then a short outline of what the flow of thought is, the reasoning, the arguments in the book, how the thought is developed.
It seems to me if we are children of the book, if we take the truth seriously, if we say the Bible is the Word of God, by golly, we ought to know what Paul was up to in the book of Philippians. Or what Hebrews is about so that we're not just grabbing a verse that assuages our need for an emotional lift in the moment, seize it right out of the context, and use it for our own personal ends rather than addressing it for the purposes that God and the author intended. [Also See Never Read a Bible Verse]
If somebody you really loved wrote you an important letter, don't you think you'd read in entirety to find out what they meant to say? Or would you just find a couple lines that you liked and then feel that you were doing a service to that person? You'd do the former, not the latter.
The Bible, the New Testament, is letters. A lot of them. To the degree that we can't pass that simple test, it's to that degree we turn out to be somewhat bankrupt. Is that fair to say? I'm not appealing here for theological degrees. I'm just saying basics.
Do you know what the books are about? Can you give me an outline of one of them? That's the test.”
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Index To Section 7...
