Apologetics & Biblical Literacy

Revealed Apologetics

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Welcome back to another episode of Revealed Apologetics. I'm your host Eli Ayala and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, we're not there just yet, but I hope everyone

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Has had a Merry Christmas and just a happy time with their families and friends and I hope for some people who may just be lounging around and are you know, the kids are playing with the presents and Everyone else is just sitting around perhaps you'll find this surprise live stream

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Of some usefulness. I didn't plan to do this beforehand. So it's kind of like a last -second thing.

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So I don't I don't expect a lot of people to be listening in but Here's how things work in my mind.

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So When I'm reading when I'm studying Sometimes there are a lot of things bouncing around in my head

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And so the best way to get it out is to do a live stream So sometimes doing a live stream on YouTube or something on Facebook.

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It's just kind of an opportunity to To vent the things that I'm learning and hopefully with all the things bouncing around in my head

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It'll be helpful to someone who's who's listening. So so today is not an interview. It's just gonna be me sharing

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My thoughts on what I think is a very important topic And I think it's very relevant to people who are not simply just starting in apologetics

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But seasoned apologists this issue of the importance of biblical literacy when doing apologetics

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And so I'm gonna kind of unpack that a little bit as to the details of what that means and it's gonna be based upon My reading of this book here.

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I haven't read the book It's in its entirety is there's one particular section that I read that I found super helpful

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But first this is this is urban apologetics restoring black dignity with the gospel And I think this is the general editor

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Eric Mason, but each chapter is written by a number of people and Again, I haven't read the whole book, but there is a section on biblical literacy and I think they frame

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Let me see if I can get the author here. He he frames the issue of biblical literacy I think in a very important way and I want to kind of share my thoughts on it.

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It's not a critique I I agree with him. Let me see if I could find the section here

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Yeah, so on page 217 of urban apologetics There's a section called knowing your

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Bible by Blake Wilson and in that specific chapter. He highlights the importance of biblical literacy

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In doing apologetics and I think the way he highlights How that should be understood

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I think is very useful a lot of people think of biblical literacy as kind of just like oh, you know

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The church lacks biblical literacy because people don't read their Bible and things like that that's kind of true, but I think he puts it in a particular a particular way that I think is going to be relevant to connecting the intellectual life of the apologist and the practical outflow of Thinking biblically, right?

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So it is connecting the dots between Knowing what you believe and how that knowledge should impact the way we actually live our lives and how that full picture

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Is in itself an apologetic as a matter of fact when I was when I was in seminary

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There was a book. I don't remember the book what the book was, but it dealt with the topic of what they called

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Incarnational apologetics Incarnational apologetics and if you know anything about the appropriate because of Christmas But if you know anything about the incarnation of Christ the in fleshness of the second person of the

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Trinity so that the father Sent the son and the son Became a man and dwelt among us.

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That's John 1 1 John 1 14. The word became flesh this idea of In -fleshness.

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Okay is is is very important in this connection here? So incarnational apologetics is

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Defending the Christian faith in your flesh not to be understood in your sinful flesh but to be understood in the way that you live your life so that the manner in which you live your life is itself an element of the

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Christian apologetic so that we do we don't only Defend the faith by the arguments and the the answers to objections that we give but we defend the faith with those things

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Coupled with a life that is truly transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit and by the power of the

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Word of God Implanted in the hearts of the believer. And so this is really really important It it it it's not a topic that people get overly excited about because a lot of people want to hear like the arguments and They want to hear debates and arguments and things like that, but I think it's very important as a reminder

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That and you guys have heard me say this many times on my channel The actions of our hands need to be consistent with the words of our mouths, right?

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I'm gonna say that again the actions of our hands must be consistent with the words of our mouths and that is

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Not simply Christian consistent Christian living but that is also That is also apologetics, right?

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Apologetics includes not just the words we speak but the things that we do the manner in which we live

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Our lives, okay now just as a heads up if anyone has any questions about anything

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I will try my best to take some questions And I'll try my best to answer them again.

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The topic is biblical literacy. I'm not pretending that I am the Bible guru You know,

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I'm not the Bible answer man, of course when he was Orthodox and I don't mean Eastern Orthodox I mean the other

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Orthodox But I will try my best to answer any questions that folks have and if you don't have any questions, that's okay once again

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I'm not expecting too many folks to be listening in. It's the holidays and I didn't plan this this live stream

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But if folks are listening in feel free to ask your questions and preface your question with the word question

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Okay. All right, so I'm gonna share my screen here again just for folks just tuning in I'm gonna be talking about the importance of biblical literacy and apologetics and it's very much based upon this book here a section in this book urban apologetics restoring black dignity with the gospel again

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Folks might you know, hey listen, I'm not black. I'm I'm not part of that that culture however, there are certain things that I think we can draw from An apologetic that is geared towards a specific community that I think touches on something that that connects with all of us

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I think the idea of biblical literacy especially placed within the context of this book But more broadly speaking placed within the context of Christian apologetics.

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I think is is hugely hugely important And so so yeah, so I'm gonna share my screen

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I have a couple of slides here that I want to share. And again, if you have any questions, feel free to Send in your question through the comments.

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All right. Okay, so let's take a look here My first slide here is entitled knowing your

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Bible the key to biblical literacy is knowing your Bible and it sounds simple enough

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But you will be surprised that in my interactions with people educated people seasoned

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Christian apologists I have actually noticed and in a lot of people and I won't mention any names and again

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We could all be guilty of this but I have noticed in many Christian apologists a vast knowledge in the philosophical literature and a broad

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Overview knowledge of the Bible, but when you get into the details There's a lot of knowledge that's lacking.

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We focus sometimes we can we can commit this this I mean,

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I'm not calling it a sin, but we can commit the sin of focusing so much on books about the

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Bible that we are not really living in the scriptures and So knowing your Bible really is a key component to biblical literacy.

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So that's that's kind of the the first step here So let me kind of speak a little bit more about this this book here

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If I can kind of go through the slides here, I'm gonna make it full screen here. All right, so urban apologetics if you're interested in Really defending the faith within the context of like the inner city and the sort of topics that come up in in that context this book is super interesting in that regard

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Primarily this book focuses upon addressing the sorts of objections raised against Christianity from the urban black community

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So it's a very niche a very focused It's very focused upon that particular context

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So it has chapters responding to what is known as the black consciousness community or the black

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Hebrew Israelites movement Many folks might be familiar with the black Hebrew Israelites through the work of vocab

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Malone who is another Christian apologist who really centers his attention on Addressing and providing a

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Christian apologetic against objections coming from that from that movement You also have what's called the black atheism movement or the

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Egyptian Kemetic spirituality movement African mysticism Which a lot of these movements are characterized by a revisioning of history of various conspiracy theories

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Misinformation about Jesus and Christianity. Um, and again, it's very niche It's dealing with specific groups, but how often do we when doing apologetics?

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Do we confront? Misunderstandings of the Christian faith, right? this is this is the the primary thing that I've experienced that some of well most of the objections against the

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Christian faith are predicated upon Misunderstandings of the Christian faith. And so while this book in particular has a specific focus.

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I think it's very useful to apologists in any context to recognize that one of the best and most powerful ways to defend the

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Christian faith is Understanding the Christian faith one of the most powerful and potent ways to defend the

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Christian faith is to have a thorough knowledge of what the Christian faith actually teaches from the scriptures and of course

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Systematic theology and all these other sorts of things if you listen to my last live stream also the issue of church history

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So all of these things come into a very important focus when dealing not only with specific context like this book reflects the urban Set the context but in any context so that's super super important to to keep in mind

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All right. Well, well first when we're defending the faith we want to keep in mind and this is a passage of scripture that comes to my mind when

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I think of Apologetics and and defending the Christian faith is Jude chapter 1

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Verse 3 actually want to get it up here not on the screen But I have kind of let me get this up here.

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So Jude chapter 1 Jude Chapter 1 it's the book before the book of Revelation.

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So it's the second to last book in the Bible Jude chapter 3 verse Let's let's go with verse

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Let's go in verse 3. So Jude 1 3. Here's what it says. It says beloved Although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation

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I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith

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That was once for all delivered to the Saints and I want you to focus on that last portion there

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He says I found it necessary He was Jude found it as a necessity to write to them concerning the contending for the faith

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And what what faith is that it is the faith once for all delivered to the Saints that body of Christian truth and so What kind of comes out in this passage to me is is this idea that we are defending a specific body of beliefs?

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And we can call that the Christian the Christian worldview, which is comprised of you know, elements of reality

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There are metaphysic or epistemology or ethic, you know, we've talked about these things on on this channel

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It it it comes with thoroughly understanding what the Bible has to say with respect to those areas with what the

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Bible has to say with respect to the Christian worldview But the Bible has to say with respect to itself This is what is necessary to do

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Christian apologetics know what we believe all right, and so I don't remember where this quote comes from and maybe someone could could help me out, but There was a quote by some

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Christian thinker. I don't remember off the top of my head where he said something to the effect Visit many books visit many books, but live in the scriptures visit many books, but live in the scriptures

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I like that and I think that's it's very helpful We need to be able to live in the scriptures know the scriptures so that the the truths of the

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Bible become the background Music of our mind. All right, so that when you know the opportunity to you know

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To give an answer for the reason for the hope that's in us comes then we're able to address those Objections address address those issues that people bring up from a biblical foundation

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Okay, so know what you believe you can't defend what you don't understand. That's that's that's key

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All right, and it's simple enough, but it's super important. All right Understanding the word must be a key goal of the apologist.

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All right now I say this as a joke sometimes, but I don't mean it as a joke All right, a lot of people will ask me

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Eli. What is the best book that you can possibly get on Christian apologetics? What book should I master?

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Well, there are a bunch of books covering a wide variety of topics but the Christian apologist the one who is going to defend the

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Christian faith must be Focused on mastering the contents of Scripture, okay

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This is so vital given the reality that the primary attacks upon the Christian faith come from misunderstandings of the

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Christian Faith, so knowing the Bible is is gonna be vitally important to that end

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Okay, so as I mentioned in this book urban apologetics and more specifically the chapter the section that was written by Blake Wilson entitled knowing your

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Bible on page 217 He kind of lays out what what he understands as biblical literacy

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So I'm gonna be under using that term that phrase from within the context of this book so if you have a different understanding of what biblical literacy might mean

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I'm taking it within this particular context as I think the Author here has I think he frames the the issue in a correct context here

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Okay, so what is what isn't biblical literacy? What is bib? What how can

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I pray this biblical literacy is not? Okay, I'll say it that way Biblical literacy is not and here's a direct quote from the book and I like I like what he puts here

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He says biblical literacy is not the ability to study and know key doctrines to the degree that one is able to divide themselves from other believers based on a

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Disagreement in theology or to win a debate against another group in a contrary belief system.

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I'm gonna read that again Biblical literacy is not The ability to study and know key doctrines to the degree that one is able to divide themselves

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From other believers based on a disagreement in theology or to win a debate against another group in a contrary

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Belief okay a belief system. Now. Here's what I'm not saying

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I'm not giving the the fluffy kind of How can

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I say this? Gee whiz, let me see how I could how I could phrase this what I'm not saying.

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Okay, is that the ability to know key doctrines

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Okay, the importance of dividing over certain doctrines

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And the ability to win a debate from particular perspective I'm not saying any of those things are not important.

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I actually think they are incredibly important There are people who will say, you know, we shouldn't argue about the

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Christian faith. I disagree with that people say well You shouldn't engage in debating.

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I disagree with that. I believe we should debate Well, we shouldn't divide over over doctrine.

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I believe we should divide over doctrine I think division to a certain degree is very important because we want to clearly define where we stand on very key

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Important issues now, of course to that end. We want to make a differentiation between what we would call essential doctrine and non -essential doctrine

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I believe for example, it is a valid reason to divide in a sense between those who hold to infant baptism and believers baptism pedo baptism and credo baptism

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But the nature of that division is only on the surface level where it's an important division and you want to stand on those

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Issues from where you're coming from, but they don't deal with essential doctrine So I don't support the kind of division there that I cut them off as my brother and sister in Christ If for example,

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I hold to a more reformed Baptist perspective So if you hold to a a pedo baptism perspective or you you believe that you should baptize infants

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I don't practice that but I believe say for example Presbyterians are my brothers in Christ, right?

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so we want to make a differentiation between non -essential and essential

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Doctrine, okay. So I do believe that there is an appropriate time to divide

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I believe that when we are engaged in apologetics and we are debating. I think we should debate

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I think we should argue. I think we should tear down Strongholds intellectual strongholds that are setting themselves up above the knowledge of God I believe that we in the biblical language of that military destruction.

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We should destroy Arguments, that's not what I'm saying With respect to I'm not saying that we shouldn't be focused upon those things

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But the author here defines biblical literacy as not the simple ability to do those things

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Okay, they're important but it's more than that to be biblically literate is more than that The goal of biblical literacy is not to win a debate but to win souls from all nations

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Think of the Great Commission. Okay, so so check that out. The goal is not to win a debate

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That doesn't mean we shouldn't try to win the debate, right? I don't want to win a soul by using wrong arguments or you know fallacious forms of reasoning

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I want to think logically I want to think biblically I want to win that debate But my goal is not to win

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My goal is to see a person converted to Christ as God through the Spirit uses the words that I'm saying to to bring regeneration upon that that person who needs who needs to hear the gospel so I Think that's important before we define what biblical literacy is within the context of the book here.

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Okay? It's important to understand what biblical literacy is not okay, so so that there's there's that all right

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So let's continue on I want to go to the next slide here All right. So how does our author here?

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Define biblical literacy. Okay. Well, he says biblical literacy is the ability

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To know God's heart and mind having been opened up by Jesus upon salvation

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To know the scriptures How to use them to experience his transforming power personally and how to share them with others

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So they may experience him as well Okay, and he gives kind of a scripture there in Luke chapter 24 verses 44 through 49.

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I actually want to read that Let's see here Luke the gospel of Luke chapter 24 verses 44 through 49

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All right Let's go there. Okay, and this is This is in reference to Jesus walking with those two

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Disciples on the road to Emmaus and it says here then he said to them These are my words that I spoke to you that while I was still with you that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the

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Psalms must be fulfilled Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures and said to them

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Thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead and that Repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations beginning from Jerusalem You are witnesses of these things and he continues to go on you guys know the story there.

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Okay, so biblical literacy involves the goal of knowing the heart and mind of God as Given to us in Scripture and and that and having that knowledge is itself a work of God within us

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Just as Jesus opened the disciples minds to understand the scriptures So to true biblical literacy doesn't come in the knowledge of bare facts

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But it also comes with the simultaneous supernatural opening up of our minds that is done by by Christ and the

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Spirit Okay, and so biblical literacy in this context and I agree with the author here

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It's not simply Bible knowledge rather biblical literacy is

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Incarnational it is it is Exemplified not only in the apprehension of facts, but allowing the facts to transform our lives, okay, that's

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Super important. I Can't even count because there's so many instances where I've heard

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Christian apologists give razor -sharp Responses to atheists to Muslims and things like that.

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However Much of what they say falls flat Because it is said in arrogance it is said in a rudeness and in a type of arrogance and rudeness that is not fitting

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A servant of Christ now, I know there are people out there who will say well listen, you know Jesus flipped the tables and things like that.

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Listen. I'm not against righteous anger But I've I've been in this game for a while I've seen a lot of people

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Use that as an excuse and when you see the fruit of how they act in light of what they're saying.

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There is a vast inconsistency and so I think this Incarnational aspect of biblical literacy is is vitally important here.

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All right, let's move on to the next point all right, so Now the author in the book here he mentions what he calls the the foundational biblical literacy and and one thing that he identifies as a foundation a form of foundational biblical literacy is

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Is the believer having an appetite for the Word of God? Okay So for example first Peter chapter 2 verses 1 through 3 says therefore rid yourselves of all malice all deceit hypocrisy

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Envy and all slander like newborn infants desire the pure milk of the Word so that by it

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You may grow up into your salvation if you have tasted that the Lord is good

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Okay for the believer. We must we must Develop an appetite for God's Word to be biblically literate and to have that foundation of growth

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We need to have a hunger for God's truth, right? And this is this again We need to seek after it as a baby seeks after the pure of the milk of their mother

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Okay, so this is something that we need to be urging for we need to be striving for we want to The new

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Christian who is who for the first time falls in love with Christ needs to be yearning to hear his voice

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Speak in his word and allow that word to transform our lives, right? and that transformation element in biblical literacy is important because biblical literacy is

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Also connected to our sanctification, right? We are moving towards growth into the image of Christ.

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And so we cannot grow into the image of Christ We cannot progress into the image of Christ if we are not doing anything with that which we learn, right?

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If we're learning the Word of God, we're not putting it to practice. Are you really growing? Are you really maturing you see spiritual maturity has nothing to do with how long you've been a

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Christian, right? You can be a Christian for a long time to be very spiritually immature

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You could be a Christian for 70 years and still be wearing as it were spiritual pampers

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Okay. So again, this transformation element is vitally important. All right

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Foundational biblical literacy The author kind of highlights a couple of goals here okay, and the first goal of foundational biblical literacy is to help remove the remnants of fleshly attitudes and actions that Reigned and ruled in our hearts and minds as non -believers

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I'm gonna say that again foundational biblical literacy goal number one is to help remove the remnants of fleshly attitudes and actions that Reigned and ruled in our hearts and minds as non -believers to help remove the remnants of fleshly

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Attitudes again, you see this very important Sanctification element right to be biblically literate is to not only know

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But also allow the knowledge to transform and in the midst of transformation

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We are by the help of the Spirit removing Remnants of fleshly attitudes and actions that had previously reigned in our members

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Prior to being believers in Christ All right So in essence if I can sum this up really briefly the goal of the

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Christian apologist and the Christian in general to attain biblical literacy is to Grow in sanctification and allowing that sanctification process to occur within the context of being exposed and transformed

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By the scriptures. Okay, so that's the the first goal there Alright, let's continue on All right

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Foundational biblical literacy goal number two as I said is spiritual maturity It is important for those both within and without the church to recognize

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The gospel's power to transform a person's life for God's renewed purposes I'll read that again.

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The goal number two is If that it is important spiritual maturity and that's important for those within and without the church to recognize

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Pardon to recognize the gospel's power to transform a person's life for God's renewed

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Purpose. Okay. It is not simply a Transformation that occurs within but the reality of that transformation that occurs within is

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Evident from without by people who observe you right people should be able to see the reality of that Transformation, right?

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This is what Jesus says He says, you know blessed is the one not who simply hears the word But here's the word and obeys it and of course what comes along with obeying

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God's Word The recognition of others that there is a change that has occurred now granted we live in a sinful world

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There will be people who will always find fault and always try to accuse but Let that never be the case because of what you're doing

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Right blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake if you're gonna be persecuted and pointed at let it be for the fact

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That you are obeying God's Word Both in thought and in conduct and in the way that you treat other people

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Don't be that Christian apologist who is known for great arguments, but is just a jerk. Okay now again

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People call me a jerk. I know I'm not perfect. I know I've been snarky at times. I've done a couple of debates

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Maybe I've I've said something or whatever. I mean, we're all a work in progress in that regard

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But we want if insults are gonna come and they will come We want it to be because we are being obedient to God and we are and that obedience is

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Manifested not simply in our own personal devotion But it also is flowing out of our interactions with people as well

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Right the manner in which I interact with the unbeliever is itself an issue of obedience to Christ, right?

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What is first Peter chapter 3 verse 15 said set apart Christ as Lord in your heart always being ready to give a reason for the

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Hope that's in you yet doing so with Gentleness and respect if I fail to do so with gentleness and respect and instead

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I am arrogant right I am prideful Right. I am unnecessarily demeaning towards the person

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I'm speaking with am I fulfilling first Peter chapter 3 verse 15? I don't think so. I don't think so and I'm talking more specifically to folks who tend to be very aggressive in their debate tactics and their interactions and they try to Justify that as kind of like holy anger righteous anger and again, that's a thing

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I mean Jesus, you know being angry is not a sin Bible says that when you are angry do not sin in your anger

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Which presupposes that there is a context in which it is appropriate to be angry. That's not what I'm saying

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What I'm saying are those I'm referring to those people who hide behind the language of righteous anger

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But in reality their actions and their words don't reflect the teachings of the master, right?

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So there needs to be that very important Consistency there. All right. Okay So spiritual maturity is goal number two

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It is important for those both within and without the church to recognize the gospel power to transform a person's life for God's renewed

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Purpose let people see not for the purpose of putting on display But because it is organic it is a part of who you are in light of the fact that you have

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Christ within you You have the spirit dwelling within you and you have this this Hunger towards God's Word and this is is kind of overflowing and spilling out of the way you interact with people

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Let that be the thing that people see and allow that to be an aid

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Right the way we act the way the world perceives let that be an aid to our apologetic all right, it is a very powerful thing to have great arguments coupled with gentleness and respect and A loving a loving disposition towards those you're speaking with but at the same time being sharp logical biblical

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Non -compromising on biblical truth that is a powerful duo to have those things coupled with the lifestyle that reflects the life

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Transforming power of God's Word when it is applied to your life. All right

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All right Well, once again if there are folks who have any questions about what I'm saying or anything related to apologetics or theology or the

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Bible Just be sure that you preface your question with questions so that I know that it's a question. All right, let's continue on Let's move along here

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Do to do to do? Okay, so a little bit more on spiritual maturity here a true spiritual maturity

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Okay, we mentioned this towards the beginning here and this is mentioned in the book urban apologetics page 219

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The author says here and I think he's spot -on True spiritual maturity does not come from simply knowing information about the

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Bible but applying that information and Allowing it to transform us.

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I want to read that again And I want to read it slowly and I want it to sink in for folks. Okay True spiritual maturity does not come from simply knowing information about the

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Bible but applying that information we got to apply it and Allowing it to Transform us with that transformation aspect the transformed life

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Okay, check this out the transformed life Validates the message of the gospel.

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Okay. Now I want to speak a little bit to that Okay, the transformed life validates the message of the

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Bible now in an ultimate sense That's not necessarily true I mean my my inability to be obedient to God is not what validates or invalidates the gospel

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The gospel is true regardless of how I live my life. However the transformed life gives

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Evidence of the power of the gospel as it works in me, right? Talk is cheap.

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We can say Jesus has changed my life but how powerful of a witness it is when we're actually exemplifying that change because we're allowing the

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Word of God to Transform us. Okay. So again, I'm not saying that we have the power to validate or invalidate the gospel

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The gospel stands on its own and is proclaimed in the Word of God. The Word of God is self -attestingly true It comes with the very authority of God himself

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However, we are pretty crummy apologists If we are not actually being transformed by the very truth that we are telling the world can transform them

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You see so it's very important to keep that in mind this whole issue of consistency consistency

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Consistency consistency is super important, right if we're gonna say something with our mouths we need to be

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Walking the walk if we're going to be talking the talk, right? And so Again, very very important.

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All right Here our last slide here and here's a an important note. I just wanted to jot down For example just because a believer is exposed to solid doctrine and sound theology

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Does not mean that that believer will become biblically literate Okay So for example, if you are in a church a solid church that teaches solid doctrine sound theology that does not guarantee

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That a person in that church will automatically become biblically literate Okay, for example of the

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Corinthian Church the Corinthian Church was exposed to some of the best teachers the Apostle Paul Peter Apollos, okay, but they were still they still were struggling to become biblically literate in the sense that They were able to move from intellectual content to life application and hence

34:08

Transformation. Okay. So again, you could be in the context of a sound church a sound

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Doctrinal context but that doesn't mean squat don't mean squat if If that's not actually having a life -transforming effect upon you such that it is evident to those around you and things like that So this is super important.

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So for example here Yes, I'm gonna share a quote well,

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I guess a comment here by someone who's listening in thank you so much EM I suppose that's M short for M She says here sadly some apologists call

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Christian tools For Satan demonic and worse if you dare to ask a question or disagree with their position

34:50

They use their biblical knowledge to belittle others. Yes. These are the sorts of things that I'm referring to right?

34:58

Yeah, you can be intellectually bullied by a Christian apologist or anyone within the church that has a lot of head knowledge

35:07

Right But what is lacking? Is that application of the knowledge apps?

35:13

That's absolutely correct. Yeah So I think that's a that's a good a good a good point to be made there.

35:21

All right now Let's see here. Someone did have a question So creationist creationist creationist to the second power ask a question off -topic question.

35:34

What's the meaning behind these black rings? Been seeing a lot of them. No idea what they mean.

35:40

Sorry if that's irrelevant Well, it is irrelevant to what I'm talking about here. And unfortunately, I don't know what black rings you're talking about So I'm actually unable to help you out there.

35:49

Sorry creationist creationist All right. Let's see here Do to do to do

35:58

Yeah, no problem Erica Erica Mendez says I'm grateful you decided to address this this subject we all need a reminder

36:04

Yeah, that that's that's the reason why I did it it says a reminder I'm not saying anything new and and you know

36:11

Rev, I'm not giving a new revelation this book here again. I haven't read the whole book I mean there may be things in this book.

36:17

I don't necessarily agree with But this particular chapter it really struck me in the importance of recognizing that biblical literacy goes further than just having

36:26

Having knowledge. So yeah, thank you for that Yes, okay,

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I think it was Spurgeon so Spurgeon said the quote I was I was thinking before visit many books but live in the scriptures.

36:38

I think I think that was Charles Spurgeon All right Let's see here.

36:43

Do do do do do. Okay, so no more comments there So so some concluding thoughts here as I'm kind of thinking about this now

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Focusing on the importance of allowing the truth of God's Word to transform our lives as a part of our apologetic is

36:59

The important aspect. However, I don't want to minimize the importance of head knowledge

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Okay, that is I'm not promoting here a form of anti -intellectualism You know, you know what

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I'm talking about, right? You know You have that family member who's a believer and you're sharing with them all the different things that you're learning

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Perhaps you went to seminary or something like that and and you're talking with them. Hey, I learned this from my professor

37:23

I learned that from this philosopher and they'll say well listen It's all well and good that you're going to seminary it's all well and good that you're reading your

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Bible, right? But that doesn't matter because at the end of the day you shouldn't really argue about these things

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God will take care of it Right, you have this idea of a person who almost belittles you for the knowledge

37:45

You do have and I think that's an opposite extreme that we want to be careful careful of so I'm not trying to belittle

37:52

Bible knowledge, right? You should have Bible knowledge, right? I'm not trying to belittle the mastering of facts.

37:58

You should have facts. These are important. You want to master the content, okay?

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But what I'm saying is that biblical literacy goes beyond that All right.

38:09

All right. Well, that's all I wanted to say on this topic now if there are any questions I will stay on a couple of minutes if there are some questions if not,

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I will end it here If you are just listening in or it's your first time listening to one of my live streams

38:23

I will be going live on December 30th. I believe that's this Thursday with Nate Sala He is part of the

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YouTube channel called the wise disciple and he puts out a lot of these really cool videos

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Called the the debate teacher reacts. He's a former debate teacher where he kind of gives his comments on famous Christian apologetics debates with atheists and things like that So I'm gonna be having him on to talk about debate tactics and how to debate how to prepare for a debate

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How does that connect with? Evangelism, what's the difference between being in debate mode and evangelism mode?

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We're gonna talk about all those sorts of things now folks who might be listening and who are aware of The wise disciple

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YouTube channel you may have noticed that he had recently interviewed Trent Horne who is a

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Roman Catholic apologist And so no not by by having a

39:19

Nate on of the wise disciple I am NOT giving my support for Roman Catholicism.

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I am a bloodthirsty Protestant I would preach the gospel to a Roman Catholic. I do believe that Roman Catholicism does not have a genuine gospel however

39:34

For educational purposes. I do think that he had a very very good interview with Trent Horne who is a seasoned debater just in terms of Their ability to debate and to prepare

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I think that there's much to be learned there And so I think there's great value in listening to those sorts of discussions

39:53

Even when we obviously disagree with the content of someone's belief. So you might want to check that out.

39:59

It was really good I listened to it the other day and Yeah, so I'm looking forward to having Nate on to discuss debate evangelism and things like that So if there are no questions as I do not see questions here, which is fine

40:13

I'm going to conclude this live stream and just maybe in a couple of days. It'll be on the the podcast

40:21

Also, if folks are interested in listening to my last discussion with dr.

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Gavin Ortlin On the topic of the importance of church history and apologetics.

40:31

You really want to listen with an excellent discussion That's on the podcast as well and on the

40:37

YouTube channel So well, if this channel has been a blessing and you're learning a lot about apologetics presuppositional apologetics

40:44

We're gonna we're gonna be jumping back on that train in the new year with a vengeance I want to do a lot more focus on presuppositional apologetics.

40:51

I'm I'm in talks Having Jeff Durbin pastor Jeff Durbin on to talk about presuppositional ism abortion and other things and I will be having

41:01

If all things work out Dr. Jeffrey Johnson who has an excellent apologetics book that has a presuppositional bent called the absurdity of unbelief

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So you want to check that out? So I'll be having him on We're in the process of scheduling a debate.

41:16

So I'll definitely not a debate an interview. Sorry I'll let folks know when that's going down All right, if you're interested in supporting reveals apologetics, which

41:25

I would greatly appreciate it It takes a lot of time to do this stuff and to read the material and have the time to do this if you're looking

41:31

To support reveals apologetics financially you can do so on the revealed apologetics website. Just go to revealed apologetics comm

41:38

There is a donate section there and you can donate that way What greatly helps the ministry as well as if you sign up for one of my online?

41:46

Apologetic courses where I teach a five -week course on presuppositional apologetics. It's called pre sup you short for pre sup

41:53

University And while I do do a version of the class where I personally meet through zoom with the students

42:00

When I'm not doing that folks can still sign up for the class because all of the lessons are pre -recorded

42:06

So you sign up for those classes? You got the pre -recorded lessons you get the PowerPoint slides from each lesson and all of the outlines for each lesson

42:13

You get some education there if you can't afford seminary, which is great and helpful and useful And at the same time you financially support revealed apologetics

42:22

So if you are thinking of a ministry to support I'd greatly appreciate it. If not,

42:27

I definitely would appreciate your prayer. So That's it for this episode here guys Thank you so much for listening in and that's all