Introduction toApologetics

Text

BE PREPAREDcontent

approach

ONE Reasons I believe in a supreme being

Religious Experience

CausalDirect Perception

Religious Experience

TWO Reasons I believe in the God ofChristianity

THREE How, then, to choose a religion

the cause of the universe is...• powerful

• intelligent

• willful / personal

• necessary

• immaterial

• timeless

• spaceless

• MORAL

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

BuddhismJesus is an incarnation

of the Buddha

HinduismJesus is an avatar of Vishnu

IslamJesus is a great prophet, second

only to Mohammed

JudaismJesus is an astute rabbi

New-AgeJesus is the perfectly evolved person that came to show us

how to gain this state

FIVE

BE PREPAREDcontent

approach

TACTICSby Greg Koukl

Becoming an Ambassador

http://ca.eonline.com/eol_images/Entire_Site/2013122/reg_1024.Argo.ms.022213_copy.jpg

Temper the often combative and acerbic nature of apologetic discourse with a humble, generous, open and loving approach, wisely realizing that apologetic arguments “will all be wasted unless the allure of gentleness pervades all that we do.” DALLAS WILLARD

GOAL

http://arweddindevon.blogspot.ca/2012/07/like-pebbles-on-beach_31.html

Tactics

http://leopoldmethod.com.au/a-league-general-tactical-themes-for-201314/

The Columbo Tactichttp://www.ibtimes.com/columbo-detective-peter-falk-dies-83-photos-707424

“What did you mean by that?”

“How did you come to that conclusion?”

3 QuestionsAsk yourself

Direct the conversation

through questions

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3 Great QuestionsHave you considered...?

Can you clear this up for me?

Can you help me understand this?

Nicolas Poussin, Joshua’s Victory over the Amorites

VIOLENCE IN THE OT

Ethnic CleansingBloodthirsty God

“Only in the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, you shall not leave alive anything that breathes. But you shall utterly destroy them: the Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite and the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, as the Lord your God has commanded you, so that they may not teach you to do according to all their detestable things which they have done for their gods, so that you would sin against the Lord your God.”Deuteronomy 20:16–18, NASB

Preliminariesall the ites; crossroads in Canaan

• Jesus / NT writers never complained about this

• Gen.12-50: Israelites had inhabited Canaan for centuries before their time in Egypt

• Victory depended on the gods

• Canaan was suffering under Egypt’s harsh rule to which Israel brought order, justice & peace

• Israel was outgunned

• A violent world of professional armies

IssueWhy would a good

God divinely sanction or command violence?

Holy War Joshua

God is the main combatant; everything is devoted to God

7 FACTS 1. divinely commanded 2. miraculous victory

3. mercy & warnings 4. response to aggression

5. against network of city kings, not Canaanites 6. genre uses extreme language to give all tribute to the victor

7. calls the Israelites to be faithful to God, to love and obey him only

Hero War Judges

Anthony van Dyck

In defense of themselves and God’s lordship

7 FACTS 1. ancient genre 2. Israel’s apostasy

“The Israelites did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord.”

And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals. And they abandoned the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them. And they provoked the LORD to anger. Judges 2:11-12

3. sequence starts with most heroic 4. hero becomes the weakest link

"Samson and Delilah" Peter Paul Rubens - 16095. trail of tragedy

6. Israel descends into chaos and pagan practices 7. Israel abandons their call to embody character of God

Nicolas Poussin, Joshua’s Victory over the Amorites

VIOLENCE IN THE OT

Ethnic CleansingBloodthirsty God

“Only in the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, you shall not leave alive anything that breathes. But you shall utterly destroy them: the Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite and the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, as the Lord your God has commanded you, so that they may not teach you to do according to all their detestable things which they have done for their gods, so that you would sin against the Lord your God.”Deuteronomy 20:16–18, NASB