Apologetic: Was Jesus God?

Topic:

In writing to the Corinthian church Paul discussed Jesus’ resurrection. He told them that if Christ had not been risen from the dead than our “faith is futile and you are still in your sins” (1 Cor. 15:17). He continues if our faith in Christ only gives us hope for this life we should be pitied. If Jesus wasn’t God and didn’t do the things he said he would do, then we are to be pitied and are hopeless. Paul argues Christ is risen. Jesus did what he said he would do. He was who he said he was. Jesus’ life and teaching have been under attack ever since. If Jesus is not credible, people can write him off and don’t have to follow him. If they are wrong then they fall under the judgement of those who rejected him.

Facts & Biblical Foundation:

Jesus was fully God and fully human. The truths below were affirmed church in the 5th century in the Chalcedonian Creed.

1. Jesus has two natures -- He is God and man.

Jesus is God

-Titus 2:13; John 20:28; John 1:18;

-He knows everything (Mt 16:21; Luke 11:17; John 4:29)

-He has all power (Mt 8:26-27; 28:18; Jn 11:38-44; Lk 7:14-15; Revelation 1:8),

-He rules over everything (Mt 28:18; Rev 19:16; 1:5)

-He never began to exist and never will cease to exist (John 1:1; 8:58) and

-He is our Creator (Colossians 1:16).

Jesus is Man

-He was born to a human mother (Luke 2:7; Galatians 4:4)

-He was hungry (Matthew 4:2) and thirsty (John 19:28)

-He experienced emotion (Matt. 8:10; John 11:35).

2. Each nature is full and complete -- He is fully God and fully man.

3. Each nature remains distinct.

4. Christ is only one Person.

5. Things that are true of only one nature are nonetheless true of the Person of Christ.

Extra Biblical accounts line up with what scripture teaches. Historical records outside the Bible affirm that: “Jesus was a wise and provocative Judean teacher, he was said to have performed miracles and made prophetic claims, Jewish leaders condemned him for acts they deemed as ‘sorcery’ and ‘apostasy,’ He was crucified by the Roman procurator Pontius Pilate, Jesus’ followers reported that he had risen from the dead, Christianity spread to Rome where Christians were persecuted, first-century Christians worship Jesus Christ as God, the followers of Christ were known for their courage and virtue.” (Reasons.org)

Where to Start:

What is the motivation for wanting to disprove Jesus? Is the student hurt by something that has happened to them and is struggling with their faith as a result? God is love. Jesus is an expression of God’s love and helps us see even more what the father’s love is like. Is there sin in the student’s life that they don’t want to give up? The message of Jesus is forgiveness of sins. When we turn from sin and follow Jesus we find the abundant life he intends for us. Sin doesn’t seem as worth it.

Where to Learn more:

http://www.gotquestions.org/is-Jesus-God.html

http://www.gotquestions.org/Jesus-Son-of-God.html

http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/how-can-jesus-be-god-and-man

http://www.reasons.org/articles/who-was-the-real-jesus

http://www.reasons.org/articles/did-jesus-really-consider-himself-to-be-god

http://www.reasons.org/articles/the-great-claims-of-jesus

Apologetic: Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?

Topic:

This question can be asked in a couple ways, as it is stated in the title is the most common way. This phrasing usually focuses on the the goodness of people and that those people deserve things in life to be better. Another way to to look at this question could be, “Why does God allow good things to happen to bad people?” This question looks at the badness of people and that those people don’t deserve good things. In light of both questions there is a reality that bad things happen to good and bad people and also that good things happen to bad and good people. What is God’s role in all of this?

Facts and Biblical Foundation:

-Every good thing is a gift not a right. James 1:17-18

-All people are broken and "bad" at their core. If people were truly good, we wouldn’t need a savior. Ecclesiastes 7:20; Romans 3:10-20; Romans 3:23; 1 John 1:8

-Trust God’s ways. He knows what we need better than we do. He is faithful and good. Prov. 3:5-6.

-Jesus was the good person and yet he gave himself up as a sacrifice for us. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21.

-Suffering may serve a purpose

-We can’t know what God is doing in everything Job 38-39

Note: Not all of these things are constructive to say to someone in counseling after finding out a bad situation they are in. These truths are still in play, but may hurt in a counseling setting. They are very applicable discussing the issue philosophically.

Where to Start:

Is a God who only has good thing happen really a God worth following? If this were the reality, God would be no more than a grandfather who spoiled his kids. There would be little need for a personal relationship, just the stuff. The real God is revealed to be more holy and loving in light of the evil in the world. He gives us hope, love, and redemption in dark places. Start with grieving the bad thing the student is experiencing, affirm the badness of it, and guide them to see that God is bigger than the bad things going on and extremely loving to all people even to the point of sending his son who was blameless to take on the sin of the world. Through Jesus, God understands that bad things happen to the good person, yet Christ considered it worth enduring the cross to demonstrate God’s love to people that don’t deserve it (all of us).

Where to Learn more:

http://carm.org/why-do-bad-things-happen-good-people

http://www.gotquestions.org/bad-things-good-people.html

http://412teens.org/qna/why-do-bad-things-happen-to-good-people.php - a question and answer format for students

http://www.everystudent.com/journeys/why.html - a resource designed for students

http://www.peterkreeft.com/topics/evil.htm

Apologetic: Why Does Evil Exist?

Topic:

This question is often posed in light of God’s love. “Why does evil exist if God is good and loving?” This question comes out of the tension we live in on earth. We see the mess, pain, and hurt around us and wonder where it is from. For some this question is a reason to discredit God because evil limits his goodness or love.

Facts:

• Evil is not a thing like the other things God created and said was good. Evil is the result of wrong choices. Genesis 3
• Evil is rooted in broken spirituality.
• Evil is the result of choices, not God’s design.
• The cross is God’s part of the practical solution to evil. Our part is to repent, to believe, and to work with God in fighting evil by the power of love. - Peter Kreeft.
• God is love (1 John 4:8).
• God hear God more clearly through pain, than when things are going well.
• As believers we have hope in pain. 2 Corinthians 4:17

Biblical Foundation:

After God made everything he said it was good (Genesis 1-2). He made man in his image and said it was very good. In creating man he did not make a robot or puppet, but rather a being that has choices and a will to make its own choices freely. Through the temptation of the serpent in the garden and the wrong choice Adam and Eve made, sin and evil entered the world. Genesis 3 record this event and the consequences that came from sin. Until christ returns and the new heaven and new earth are revealed we life under God hoping for his creation to be restored to the way he intended it yet facing the reality of its brokenness.

Where to Start:

The problem of evil as this question is often called tends to assume that evil is bigger than God. The reality is that the opposite is true. God is bigger than evil. God’s character is the opposite of evil. Through the cross God has defeated evil. At the end of time the new heaven and new earth will exist without pain, suffering, or tears. In the mean time, evil and pain point us and our students to God and develop Godly character.

Where to Learn more:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-small/why-evil-suffering-exist_b_2829441.html - A secular perspective of this question.

http://www.peterkreeft.com/topics/evil.htm - A philospher’s explanation

http://billygraham.org/story/if-god-exists-why-is-there-evil/ - An essay from Billy Graham’s ministry

http://www.josh.org/resources/study-research/answers-to-skeptics-questions/why-does-a-good-god-allow-evil-to-exist/ - A good article from Josh McDowell

Apologetic: How Do We Know God Is Real?

Topic:

The question of God’s reality is a stopping point in many life discussions. Why is there pain or evil leads to questions about whether or not God is real. Morality and moral issues or faith crises also lead to this question. In all of these debates, God is a gentleman. He has made his case in any number of ways and lets the evidence speak for itself. God is not a tyrant or a dictator that demands belief. God has shown grace and blessing to all his creation, as Lord, there will be a day when he holds his creation accountable for believing and trusting in him or rejecting him. What evidence suggests God is real?

Facts and Biblical Evidence:

• God’s power and nature are revealed in the beauty and complexity of creation. Romans 1:20; Psalm 19:1; 97:6; Job 12:7-10
• Through Jesus, God has come to earth. John 14:6-10
• Faith is not a haphazard belief in something (i.e. God). Faith is the result of knowledge and belief that can be trusted. Hebrews 11:1
• The reliability of the Bible is evidence of God’s work across history.
• God worked in the lives of individuals and nations since the beginning of time. We can read stories in the Bible about this, but we hear similar stories of healing (physically, emotionally, spiritually) and transformation today from all around the world and people in our lives. God is still working.
• In every person there is a sense that there is something more and bigger than this universe or life. God has placed eternity on the hearts of man. Ecclesiastes 3:11
• Many people without faith in God point to relationships as the point of life. Genesis 1:26 reveals that God made us in his image with the capacity for relationship that exists within the Trinity.  
• Consider the ways God has worked in your or your students’ life in the past. Acts of God (coincidences) were things worked out better than they should have, answered prayers, transformation, overcoming sin, healing from hurt, worship, and other ways God has ministered to you or your students.

Biblical Foundation:

Psalm 14:1 states that “the fool says in his heart there is no God.” This is not a compelling argument to most non believers or a good conversation point for believers to make, but from this we can consider other accounts of doubt from the Bible such as the king of Egypt who wouldn’t let the Israelites leave until God revealed himself through the plagues. Jesus’ disciples such as Peter and Thomas had doubts that Jesus lovingly responded to and showed them who he was.

Where to Start:

Is there a larger issue such as evil or morality that led to this question. Usually God’s reality is questioned in light of something else. It may be that sin has changed the way God intended things to be, or human free will has led to pain. Address these issues in light of who God is and deal with the bigger question of God’s reality if necessary.

Where to Learn more:

http://www.everystudent.com/features/isthere.html

http://askville.amazon.com/bible-god-real-proof/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=15467000

http://www.gotquestions.org/is-God-real.html

http://www.answersingenesis.org/get-answers/features/thank-god-youre-wrong

http://familyshare.com/are-you-there-god-how-to-know-god-is-real

Apologetic: Did the Resurrection Really Happen?

Topic:

The resurrection of Jesus is the basis of our salvation. In dying and rising from the dead Jesus conquered death and defeated sin. Paul writes that if Christ didn’t rise from the dead or faith is worthless and we are to be pitied (1 Cor 15:14-19). Is there really reason to believe Jesus rose from the dead as the Bible said he did?

Facts of the Resurrection: (Adapted from an article by Sean McDowell)

Miracles happen. Even today countless people have stories of being healed without any medical explanation, getting checks or money to cover expenses that a person had no money to pay for, and countless little miracles that we often miss.

Jesus Died. All four gospels agree about this. Jesus was crucified by Romans. The Romans were professional killers and would not make a mistake. Crucifixions have not been practiced for hundreds of years because of the brutality of them. If Jesus were sentenced to be crucified it would happen. In John 19 water and blood come out of Jesus’ side. Biologically this can only happen when someone is dead. Jesus’ death by crucifixion is recorded by ancient historians (Josephus and Tacitus)

The Tomb was Empty. It was a new tomb. When the women and the disciples went to see Jesus’ grave it was empty. Women would be the least credible people in Jesus day to report about anything let alone Jesus coming back to life. The government trying to cover up what happened by saying the apostles moved the body suggests they were scrambling and needed to come up with another plausible story.

Jesus Appeared to People After His Death. The gospels tell us that Jesus appeared to the women in the garden, the apostles, and even 500 people at once. When the gospels were written, many of these people were still alive and would have been able to speak up if something was being misconstrued.

Biblical foundation:

Read the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ death and resurrection in Matthew 27:33-28:20, Mark 15:22-16:20, Luke 23:33-24:53, Acts 1:1-11 (The end of Luke’s account), John 19:16-21:25.

Where to start: 

There is significant evidence for the reliability of the Bible including the Gospels. Many people try to discredit the Gospels because it means they don’t have to deal with what Jesus said and did. We can be confident in Christ and God’s work in us because of the resurrection.

Where to learn more:

The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel is one of the strongest apologetics for Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.

Evidence for the Reliability of the Gospels

Evidence for the Resurrection

Apologetic: Is The Bible Reliable?

Topic:

Faith plays a major role in Christianity. Many people criticize this fact, but our faith is not blind. We have knowledge about God from general revelation (nature) and special revelation (those things about God revealed by the supernatural, especially Scripture). We can trust this and have our own experiences with God through our relationship with him. The Bible is foundational in what we know about God. It is often described as his love letter to us that reveals who he is and what he has done. People try to discredit the Bible as a way to disprove God or poke holes in our faith. The Bible is historical and reliable.

Facts:

1. The Bible has 66 books written by 40 authors over 1600 years. 

2. All the books agree with each other and fit in to the same grand story of God. 

3. The Bible was written in Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic.

4. There are over 4000 manuscripts or copies of books of the Bible. Other ancient texts such as Plato and Aristotle are based on a handful of manuscripts from more than a thousand years later.

5. The copies can be traced back to within 35-100 years of when the original would have been written. 

6. There are multiple copies of each book. The “errors” from one manuscript to another can be credited to copying mistakes and do not significantly alter the meaning of what is written.

7. Our modern translations are based on the best and oldest manuscripts of each book and are translated by committees to remain faithful to the original message. 

8. Archeology has continually affirmed the historical accuracy of the Bible. Some places archeologists have discovered were only known about from the Bible.

Biblical foundation:

The Bible is the inspired word of God spoken through people (2 Tim 3:16). The Holy Spirit worked in them (2 Peter 1:21). The Bible can be trusted for salvation through faith in Christ, right beliefs, and growing in God. The Bible is inerrant (without errors) and authoritative.

Where to start:

There is a lot of research and a lot written about the reliability of the Bible and the Gospels. Start with what someone is challenging about the Bible and look into it. You can find solid answers to these concerns and learn a lot more in the process.

Where to learn more:

Most of these cover several topics about the reliability of Scripture. Find one that fits you or your students to learn more:

Why You Can Believe the Bible By Every Student, a Christian organization focusing on answers to questions from teens

What To Say When Someone Says The Bible Has Errors By the Resurgence, the theology branch ministry of Mars Hill Church. A thorough and focused answer.

Is the Bible Reliable? - Seven Questions By Bible.org

Can We Trust The Bible? The Top 3 Reasons the Bible is Reliable (Video) Is the New Testament Reliable? Academic and apologetic articles from Stand to Reason a Christian philosophical organization.

Is the Bible Reliable? By Focus on the Family, a leading Christian based family organization

Apologetic: Creation

Topic:

In popular opinion many people consider evolution to be a mainline belief about the origin of everything. While this is the majority position, many people still affirm creation and have doubts about the big bang starting everything. This topic has been controversial for years, while the Christian view is less prominent than it was, Christians are having better conversations about creation and God’s role in it. Much of this has come from proponents of Intelligent Design a movement to present an intelligent designer as a possible origin of everything alongside evolution in biology classes across the country. The question at the center of this controversy can be boiled down to “Does God exist?” Those who support creation or Intelligent Design(usually, but not always) point to God as the source of everything. People who deny God’s existence have to look for another way to explain how everything came to be and they do this by supporting evolution.

Purpose:

The origin of life and everything in the world is a fundamental place to look for God. In looking at creation we find evidence of God and can strengthen our faith in him. A professor once said “If God could create everything out of nothing, the virgin birth and resurrection are no problem.” Starting with creation gives us a sense of the eternality, power, and sovereignty of God.

Biblical foundation:

The Bible can lead to two conclusions about creation. The majority position is that God created the world and everything in it in a Literal 7 days, meaning that each day described in Genesis is a 24 hour day just as we understand days now. Others come to the conclusion of theistic evolution based on the Day-Age Theory. This theory assumes that the days mentioned in Genesis were not literal days, but periods of time. God was the creator, but creation came to be through evolution during the “age” that was each “day” recorded in the Bible. Genesis 1, Genesis 2, and John 1:1-18 give us the clearest understanding what was going on at Creation. God is understood as the creator throughout Scripture. One of the most clear claims by God about his role as creator comes in response to Job challenging God after he has lost everything. God begins to answer Job by saying “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements—surely you know!” (Job 38:4-5).

Where to start:

In “debating” or discussing this topic respect and grace are important. This topic isn’t limited to the question of origin, but extends beyond religion and science to politics and culture. People can get heated quickly when their views are challenged, which can cause them to stop listening. People can see a car crash and have two different stories about how it happened. The same is true with evidence about creation or evolution. Looking at the same data, people can recognize what supports their view point. Ask probing questions and be willing to listen. Keep in mind that God is the one that transforms people. Your best argument will help plant seeds for faith, but won’t change or save anyone.

What others might say:

Since the implications of this topic (views about God) can bleed into so many areas of life, discussing creation and evolution can get personal and nasty. Recognize that we are all sinners. God’s grace and Spirit in us are changing us, those who don’t know God are still hardened toward God and truth.

Where to learn more:

This subject is debated by some of the smartest people alive. These links will help you understand this topic, but may be a little bit academic.

Intelligent Design: Arguments for a designer

Facts vs. Faith in the debate about Creation and Evolution

Bill Nye Vs. Ken Ham debate. One of the most popular debates on this subject.

Expelled is a documentary looking at how Intelligent Design education is suppressed in favor of evolution. It goes to some extremes, but provides some context for the debate. 

The College Students Back to School Guide to Intelligent Design. This short ebook answers criticism teachers often give of Intelligent Design.