What is Apologetics?

Well, class is beginning. Good evening, everyone. This is DS 200 Introduction to Apologetics. If you have your course syllabus, please take it out, and we are going to go over the course syllabus as we begin the class.

If you have been in my classes before, then you will notice that the course syllabus has changed somewhat. Not a lot, but there is a few small changes that I have made to the syllabus. First thing, I took it down from three pages to two pages.

That's just to make it a little easier to print and disseminate. And I also changed some of the grading requirements, and I want to go over them with you now. But let's just start at the beginning. Course overview and objections.

This course will introduce and compare the various methods of defending the Christian faith. Students will learn the differences between classical, evidential, and presuppositional apologetics, and how each addresses the most common questions from unbelievers.

Your required texts are, you should have a Bible, and you should have a copy of Apologetics, A Justification of Christian Belief by John Frame. Your course requirements are first attendance. This is a major change.

I changed that. That used to be part of the grade, but it's slightly different now, because I am offering this course online. So here's the way attendance will be judged. If you cannot be in class, you can make the class up on video, but you have to show me your notes, that you actually sat down and watched the video.

I'm not just going to take your word for it, not that I don't trust you, but for academic rigor, I want to see that you listened to the course and took notes, and that's how I determine whether or not you did the work if you weren't here.

I still would encourage you, though, to be here as much as possible. It's so important to be able to ask questions and interact. If this was just me talking, then just get the audio. There's no reason to come and drive all the way over here if you're not going to interact.

So we want to interact, and we want to have this personal interaction in class. So please keep in mind attendance is still important for those who can't be here and do it online. I understand there are certain people who have issues, but when I was in seminary, I can't imagine doing it.

People today go through their whole college career online. They never shake the hand of a professor. They never engage in intercourse in class where they're going back and forth with another student over a disagreement, and I think that's missing in so much of academics today, is the interaction of dealing with other opinions and other thoughts.

So the next thing is academic character. Using someone's work without proper citation or handing in another's work as your own is considered plagiarism. This includes materials taken from books or the internet, and intentional cheating in any form compromises your grade and may jeopardize your continuation in this program.

If I look at your paper and it doesn't look like you did the work, it looks like you copied it and you did not cite your sources, there will be an issue there, and if I find out you cheated, then your paper goes in the trash.

There's no call for that, especially in Christian and what we're doing. We're supposed to be believers. We're supposed to be above board. It's one thing to make a mistake. Well, I didn't know how to cite it.

Okay, we'll talk about that, but whole sections of your paper taken from a commentary or something, no citation, that's a major problem. All right, and both of those don't have a grade attached to them.

It doesn't say anything about percentages of grades. It used to, but now the percentages of grades are easy. Your grades are this way. Your reading assignment is 25 of your grade, and we're going to actually have conversations about the readings this semester, so I will know whether or not you read.

The second thing is your notebook assignment. That's 25 of your grade. You should be taking notes beginning tonight. You should have a notebook that has, and here's the thing, a well-organized notebook is not just for the class, it's for the future, because you can keep that notebook for later and remember some of the things that you, I still have notebooks from seminary, you know, 15 years ago when I was in school.

I still have some of my notebooks, and it's useful even to today, and then your research project. This is, if you don't do the research project, you can't pass the course. You don't get a certificate if you don't do the research project.

The research project will be assigned during the final class. Each student will choose and respond to one specific objection to Christianity. This response should include a comparison of the different apologetic methodologies and how each one would respond to the objection.

You'll understand that as we go along, and do not forget to include relevant biblical citations and notable historical references and responses to the objection. So, for instance, if you are dealing with an objection to the deity of Christ, for instance, let's say, you know, because apologetics isn't just about dealing with atheists, right?

It's about defending the Christian faith from all comers. So, you might be defending the deity of Christ against the Jehovah Witness. That's still apologetics, right? And so, not only would you be able and need to be able to cite relevant biblical citations, but you should also know how history has dealt with that question.

How has history dealt with the question of the deity of Christ? And so, that would be included in your final paper. The research project will be submitted in the following format, a title page, which includes a title, number, student name, and professor name.

The body of the project should be well organized. It should be no less than three pages, no more than five pages, double spaced. So, it's really not that long. I'm not asking for a book. I'm really just asking to see that you have gone and researched this subject and be able to describe it succinctly.

And a properly cited bibliography page. If you do not understand how to make a bibliography page, I understand that's something that not everybody knows how to do. You may ask questions and there is a wonderful resource that is available called The Internet, which can help you.

There's no reason to not cite your sources properly. And I ask that you use either APA format or MLA format. APA format is more common in universities now. At least it was when I was in school. That was several years ago.

But I don't care what format you use as long as you're consistent. Don't do half APA, half MLA.

I didn't know that. So, thank you, Janice. So, it will do it for you. There you go. Excellent.

Thank you. And so, you've got everything. Does anybody have any questions about the first page of the syllabus? Great. Turn your paper over to the course schedule. This is an eight-week course. Lecture one tonight will be an introduction to apologetics.

And you should have read page 35 of the introduction to the textbook. It really is only one section of the book. And we're going to read that section after the break tonight. So, we're going to read the whole thing together.

It's only like a page. So, we're going to read that together. If you didn't read it, we're all going to read it tonight. But by next week, you should have read chapter one. And then, by the third week, chapter three.

And then, chapter four, chapter five. There won't be any readings for week six. And week seven, you need to read chapter seven and eight, which means if you are a slow reader, maybe use the week off to read chapter six and make that your extra week.

And then, of course, week eight, you're going to read chapter nine. Now, you may wonder why we're skipping chapter two and chapter six because they were just two chapters I felt like were wasn't really pertinent to what we're dealing with.

I still, I encourage you to read the whole book as always. But as far as what you have to read for class, the chapters are there. And I'm going to mention this too. There are going to be times where I really tell you to focus on a certain part.

Focus on, because it's a lot. These chapters are heavy. And so, I'm going to try to give you little helps along the way. So, as you're reading this chapter, look for these things. Like, for instance, in chapter one, I really want you to focus on the transcendental argument because he's going to talk about that.

And I may even send out an email with a three-page article that was written by Dr. Frame on transcendental argumentation. And if I get a chance to do that this week, I want you to read that as well. It's only three pages and it's big type, so it's not hard to read.

So, tonight is introduction to apologetics. Next week is the myth of neutrality. Week three is the noetic effect of sin. Week four is objections and objectors. Week five is the objection to God's existence.

Week six, it says video presentation. Now, that may change. I am working right now on the possibility of having a guest speaker for week six. I'm not going to say who it is because I'm not certain I'm going to be able to get him, but I'm praying that he'll be able to come.

And if he does, he will give a very wonderful presentation. But if he can't come, then we're going to watch a video that night and we're going to discuss the video. So, I've got that kind of as a placeholder.

If I can get the guest speaker, I will. But if not, we'll watch a video. Week seven is the objections. Why does evil exist? And then finally, the last week, we're going to talk about going on the offensive.

And that's, people often think of apologetics as defending the faith, but you'll notice in Dr. Frame's book, he discusses the difference between defending and going on the offensive, you know, storming the gates of hell as it were.

So, we're going to talk about the difference and how we would approach apologetics in a little different way. That being said, I want to ask you to open your Bibles and we're going to begin with our key text for the entire course, which is in 1 Peter 3.

I'm going to read verses 13 to 17. Our focus is verse 15, but I'm going to read for the context verses 13 to 17, and then I'm going to pray for our class. 1 Peter 3, verse 17. I'm sorry, verse 13 to 17.

Now, who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled. But in your hearts, honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.

Yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil.

Father in heaven, I thank you for your word. I pray even now as we begin this course that you would, by your grace and in your mercy, walk with all of us through this lesson and help us to understand the keys to giving a defense for the hope that is within us.

Lord, help us to always remember that this idea of giving a defense is surrounded by remembering that you are holy and that we have a responsibility for both gentleness and reverence. Lord, I pray for all the students who are here in class and even for those, Lord, who are doing this by video.

Pray that you would bless them. Pray that you would open up their minds to understand what we're learning. And I pray most of all, Lord, that you would sanctify us by your truth, knowing that your word is the truth.

In Jesus' name we pray and for his sake. Amen. I was 19 years old when the Lord saved me and it was because of an interaction with an atheist, my first real interaction with an atheist, that I was confronted with my own lack of belief.

I grew up in church. I grew up in this church but it wasn't here. It was in a different location but it was this church and I grew up being forced to go to church every Sunday and many of you probably have at least have experienced that some way where you didn't really want to go but you're forced to and I would have said to anyone if they would have asked me that I was a Christian.

I would have put that on any form I filled out or any survey that I took. I would have said that I was a Christian but when I was 19 years old I went to work for America Online and while I was there I sat next to a man who was an atheist and I'll remember forever what he said to me when I was talking to him.

I mentioned to him that I believed in God and he said well I don't because I'm too smart to believe in all that and I'll never forget that statement. He said I don't believe because I'm too smart to believe all that which in a way was saying I was stupid.

You know there was an inference that could be drawn from what he was saying but also it caused me to begin to wonder did I really believe the things that I said I believed and it sent me into a really difficult time of a time of I've told the story before time of depression and anxiety and worry that was I was I trusting in something that wasn't true and then I realized I wasn't really trusting in it and it come to through through several weeks of difficulty finally came to realization that I really didn't believe the things that I said I believed and so I began to look at what the claims of Christianity were and through a process of God's grace he brought me to trusting in what his word says and I remember the day I was in my truck I was driving home and I cried out to the Lord for salvation and he saved me.

But after that it began to be a driving force in my heart to want to be able to give an answer for why I believe what I believe. And so I a few years later felt the call to preach preach my first sermon felt the call to seminary went to seminary and while I was in seminary I focused my attention on the subject of apologetics and so this course is really the outworking of not really so much what's in your textbook even though we're going to use that this really is an outworking of 21 years of being a Christian and defending what I believe and feeling like every day I'm standing on the truth of God's and I want to be able to stand on what's right and believe what is true.

And so when we talk about apologetics there's a lot of different ways you can define apologetics. But the word apologetics when we talk about that word it just means in a sense to give a to give a defense for something.

It is the word that is used in the legal sense especially in Greek. It was used in legal sense of someone who was in court and they were providing their apology their apologia their defense of their position.

And we use the word apology much different today we use the word apology today in the sense of saying I'm sorry. And so I remember the time I told my mother I said I'm really I'm really interested in apologetics I'm interested in the study of apologetics.

And she said what do you mean are you saying you're sorry for being a Christian. And I said no that's that's not what that means even though I understand where that would why she would think that and why other people might think that.

But it was the idea of of defending what I believed and doing so in a way that honored God. The term apologetics is a biblical term. We've already read the text Genesis or excuse me first Peter 3 verse 15 it says in your hearts honor Christ as holy always being prepared to give an apologia a defense to anyone who asks for the hope that is within you.

And I had you read verses 13 to 17 for a reason oftentimes people hear this passage and they don't understand the context that Peter is writing in. And if you've ever taken hermeneutics with me or you've taken any other course on how to study the Bible you know the most important thing about studying the Bible if you really want to know what a passage means is understanding the context of the passage and the context of the passage.

Peter is writing to those who are being persecuted. And so when he writes about giving a defense he's literally writing to people who may have to give that defense for their very lives. And oftentimes that doesn't hit us like it should because we're not in that situation at least not yet.

Most of us at best give an apologetic to our neighbor who may tease us about being a Christian. Or the man next to us at work who says he's too smart to believe in all that. Or maybe a family member who chides us at Christmas time for believing in the baby Jesus.

Most of us are not facing the tip of a spear or the edge of a sword for our faith. But that leads us to an idea of what Peter is saying when he says in this passage that when we do this we need to first honor the Lord as holy.

And what the text says it says to sanctify Christ in our hearts as holy. And what that really gets to the heart of is to be an apologist. You have to first be a believer. The whole concept of defending what you believe begins with believing what you believe.

To sanctify the Lord as holy in your heart means that the Lord is in your heart that you trust in him. And everything that builds out of this apologetic class must build out of that that you've come here already trusting that the Lord is the Lord.

If you don't believe that you're already on shifting sand you understand. So we must sanctify the Lord as holy believe in him trust in him in our hearts. And be ready to give a defense. And notice it says for those who ask we're going to talk about that in a later time.

But he says for those who ask for what. For the hope that is within you. I would ask you tonight do you have that hope. And is it more than just an intellectual hope. Is it genuine hope in the Lord Jesus Christ that is part of apologetics too that you believe and you live a life consistent with that belief.

And that you do this with gentleness and reverence. The word gentleness and reverence I don't like the word respect. ESV says respect. The word is phobu. What is phobu fear. So we get the word phobia means to do so with fear.

Now what. How. How do we. What does it mean. Gentleness and fear. Well I think it means in the simplest terms that we ought to understand that we are standing for Christ our Lord who is holy. Remember.

We said we sanctify him as holy. And anytime we engage in things that are holy then we ought to do so with a certain amount of holy fear. You guys remember in Nadab and Abihu right. Leviticus chapter 10 says they offered up a strange fire before the Lord.

And what happened. Fire came out from the temple consumed them and they were killed there before the altar. Their father having watched the whole thing. And Moses looks at their father and says for those who approach the Lord he must be considered holy.

The holiness of God should influence everything that we do not the least of which is our defending his truth. Yes sir I don't know. I'm always I'm always careful. Um just like last Sunday I preached on Noah and his tent being naked and drunk on his bed.

And I. And there's a lot that commentators try to introduce into that story that's not in the text have to be careful not to introduce things into the text that aren't there. I mean it's it's. Is it possible.

Yes um I think some people see Nadab and Abihu like two little boys playing with fire. They were grown men priests of the most high God and they were trying to worship God in a way that he did not command them to whether they were drunk or not is really beside the point.

What the main point is is that they were doing what God had not commanded which should remind us how important worship is. So apologetics is giving a defense of what we believe. In ancient Athens it referred to a defense made in a courtroom as part of a normal judicial procedure.

After the accusation the defendant was allowed to refute the charges with an apologia a defense and the accused would attempt to speak away. That's what the word apologia means. The root of uh apologia is logos word apo away.

Remember when we did greek class we talked about the prepositions apo away apologia to speak away the charges to speak and put away the accusations. We see this in practice where Paul makes a defense of the faith before the Sanhedrin and so did Stephen.

And what happened to Stephen when he made a defense before the Sanhedrin he was stoned. Paul makes a defense before Felix before Festus and before King Agrippa. And so we are in a line of great apologists.

And down through the ages there have been men who have stood for the truth and we're in that same line. Some people identify themselves as apologists and we're going to talk about some of them throughout the course.

You guys are probably familiar with Dr. James White. Dr. James White is often referred to as an apologist. Something to say that there is no biblical office of apologist. The biblical offices are only two.

The biblical offices are elder and deacon. And one might argue that there is the office of evangelist. But that's not a biblical office. That's a that's a biblical. That's a that's one of the one of the jobs that is done within the church is evangelist and and just like preacher things like that.

But an apologist is not necessarily a biblical ministry in the technical sense. Rather it is something that all believers are called to do. And some people just happen to have a ministry where they do it as their primary function in ministry.

But it's not a formal title. Some of my favorites as I mentioned James White. Greg Bonson. If you've never heard of Greg Bonson I would encourage you to look up him. It's b-a-h-n-s-e-n Bonson. Matt Slick is very good.

These are all men that you can learn from if you go back to the early church. If any of you who took church history with me remember we talked about the early church apologists men like Justin Martyr and Tertullian and others.

They wrote apologies for the faith. And oftentimes we can learn a lot about what the the early attacks against Christianity were by reading those men's writings and learning about them. And so the first question of tonight tonight we're going to deal with three questions.

The first question is what is apologetics. The second question is why do we study apologetics. And the third is are there different ways to study apologetics. And the first answer to the first question is what is apologetics.

It is defending the faith. That's what we've been talking about. Second question why do we study apologetics. I'm going to ask that as a conversation question. Somebody tell me why. Why do you study apologetics.

On the surface that sounds good but we need to be give a better explanation. Okay. Mike prepare to make a defense to anyone who asks you're. You're. That's true. That's right. Go ahead. Daring. No that's that's right.

So it's it's not just to give others answers to give ourselves answers. Part of why we study apologetics is so we know the truth as well. Yes frank okay goes with the territory of being a disciple. Anybody else I see hands back there nails.

We'll let him go first. Uh. Yeah. Yes mr jones. Yes. You may speak. It's a good thought. Studying the word helps us get closer to god part of our own sanctification. Anytime you're uh digging into and studying the scriptures.

That's the bread of life. That's true. I appreciate something that didn't get said. At least I don't think it did. Maybe I forgot. But the thing that didn't get said is the most common answer. Even though it's not the most common answer in this room which just means you guys are smarter than the average bears.

I got one leg. Good. Yeah. Most of the time when you ask somebody why do you study apologetics they will say to convert unbelievers. But that's not what it's for. That's not what it's for. And I'm glad that nobody said that.

Uh. But that's often the thought that goes into our mind. The reason why I'm doing this is because when that guy at work challenges me I want to not only do I want to give a good answer but I want to give an answer that is so good that he's going to bow the right.

Then he's going to fall on his face and he's going to believe in the lord jesus and I'm going to lead him through the sinner's prayer. And we're going to go to the we're going to go outside to the fountain and we're going to have a baptism.

Right there at at work. I mean that's it. I tell you what if I'm lying I'm dying. I I think I I've met people who who treat apologetics that way. I want to become an apologist. I want to become a better apologist so that I can take somebody from unbelief to belief.

They might not see it that way. I get what you're saying Brian. But it's more it's more an issue of this is the method to save people. Well quit being a Calvinist for a minute. No no no no no. It's my fault.

Yeah. I'm creating a bunch of you. Yeah something to write this down. This is important. No one will ever be argued into the kingdom of god. No one will ever be argued into the kingdom of god. And here's the reason why if a man can be argued into the kingdom he can be argued out.

If a good argument convinces him to believe then a equally good argument could convince him to not believe. Therefore apologetics is really not meant to convert the soul. The holy spirit converts the soul.

We are called to give an answer but we are not called to convert the soul. That is a key. I'll give you a good example. One of my favorite evangelists is Ray Comfort. Now Ray Comfort's not a Calvinist.

So uh you know. But he's still one of my favorite. And if you ask Ray Comfort how do you do apologetics. Or how do you defend the faith. He says I give him the gospel. And he says well what if they don't believe it.

I give them the guy I just keep giving them the gospel. Well if somebody says and I've seen him do it somebody will come up like a Muslim will come up and begin to challenge him about the historicity of the new testament or possibly the deity of Christ or something.

And he'll say yes but you have lied you have stolen you've committed adultery with your eyes and your heart. What are you going to do on the day of judgment with your sin. You know you go right to the heart of the matter.

So all that stuff is important. But at the end of the day what converts a man is the holy spirit of God. And the holy spirit of God uses the conviction of sin to convert the heart. It's very rarely that a man is argued by sheer reason into believing.

Because again if he can be reasoned into it he can be reasoned out of it. If you've ever read c .s lewis this is one of the issues that a lot of people have with lewis is lewis argues that he really came to the faith because of his intellectual uh it was an intellectual thing for him he he realized it was true and therefore believed.

Um and you know I I have a lot of good I have a lot of good thoughts about lewis. But I do I I wonder if that's really what happened or if that's just what he thinks happened. Uh you know there and and but that was you know the idea of rationalizing yourself into isn't that kind of what lee strobel did too in a way lee strobel is uh uh interesting character.

I remember meeting him. He had a well I'm gonna get into that story lately is uh uh he does not like calvinists. Uh no no no no no I that that I should have even said that lee uh you know the case for christ is based on an evidentialist approach to apologetics which we're going to get to in a minute to talk about the different ways people do apologetics.

He was a journalist. Okay I'm saying that's the method he used. I mean god. Obviously that was his method. It doesn't work for most people granted. But well I'm not again I'm not saying that no one has been ever been intellectually moved uh to christianity.

What I'm saying is that if we if we depend upon arguments to save people.

Then what we have to remember is that all it's going to take to unsave them is somebody with a and it was like the first passage he read. I don't even remember what it was but you know that whole his whole conversion and it was years because he would go constantly back and forth with his roommate you know refuting his position and I don't think that's an intellectual thing I think.

That's a heart thing god gives you the eyes to see and it jumps off. I remember the first time the bible jumped off the page at me. I was raised in a baptist church and I thought I had a lot of questions real quick to answer.

I started getting to the lens through the lens of reformed theology. And all of a sudden everything just kind of went oh whoa. Now I see it. But I don't think that came from my intellect. I believe really it came from god opening my eyes.

Yeah. And and and and. And I think janice would agree with that. I'm sure it's. It's um I don't want to feel like I'm cutting myself off at the knees when I say you can't argue somebody into the faith.

Because it almost may seem like well everything you're going to say from now on about talking to believers is unnecessary. God uses truth to confront the heart and god uses these truths to confront the heart.

And it is important that we consider the arguments of the unbeliever so that one as somebody else I remember which one of you said it uh that we are able to be satisfied in our own hearts about that question because there are answers.

But also uh there are times when you challenge someone on something and even though that may not be what converts them that may be one of the tools one of the seeds god uses in planting the seed of of uh the gospel and and bringing him to faith.

So I'm not saying apologetics doesn't have any place in evangelism. It does. I'm saying that you cannot strictly think that apologetics is for that purpose. That's that's the point of what I'm saying.

What. Why do we study apologetics. I think first and foremost because it helps us to understand better the word of god and it helps us understand better the world that we live in. And it helps us to give an answer in our own heart to the questions that we even have and to be able to give a defense for those who come to us with questions about why we have the hope that we have.

The main purpose of apologetics then is to demonstrate and defend the truth claims of the christian faith. And that only not only deals with believers but it deals with unbelief. Not only deals with unbelievers but it deals with believers as well.

Um I'll tell you this. I know some people and you may think this is a good thing. I know some people who believe and they have no reason for it. They believe but they don't know why they believe it. They either grew up around it or whatever.

They don't have a reason for why they believe what they believe. That may be true but should. Is that where we're supposed to stay. Yeah absolutely so. So apologetics has that purpose right of helping us to understand why we believe what we believe.

So it's not just about others it's also about ourselves. It's about justifying what we believe in our own heart. Well that helped me when I questioned my salvation. When I was I kept going back and forth like well how could I be saved if I keep living this way.

But then I had to examine my heart. Do I really believe what's in here. Yes. Do I believe what God says. Do I believe this is true. Yes. That's what helped me. Because I started off. I mean everybody has the doubts about that.

But that's what helped me. I went to church as a kid and uh I I took it. What the pastor said that Noah built an ark. I believed it was true that just because the pastor said I just in my mind it was like yeah he did it.

I didn't know why or how. But it took years. You know growing up. Yeah. And I'm not saying childlike faith is bad but I am saying we are not called to remain children in the faith. Absolutely that the Bible calls us to believe us at like children but at the same time it says we should move from the milk to the meat and there should be growth.

Brother Frank you want to say something. Just doing a good work. I don't understand. I mean it's good for the soul to learn and it's good for the soul to be able to defend what you believe. But I don't know.

No. No. Yeah. Certainly. Yeah. It's like in James where it says. So basically this is what I don't know why I went there. Yeah. I'm not. I'm I'm sorry. No you're fine. Don't be sorry. I'm just I'm not sure.

I quite understand but but maybe it'll come back around at some point. Apologetics reminds us. You may want to write this down. Apologetics reminds us we are not engaging in blind faith when we follow Jesus Christ.

But we have a reasonable and defensible faith. We are not engaging in blind faith. We have a reasonable and defensible faith. Now we're going to talk about the third question. What are the different ways to do apologetics.

Where the different schools if you will of apologetics. On your notes I want you to have three main headings. The first is the classical model. The second is the evidential model and the third is the presuppositional model.

I always do that writing on the board is different than writing on a paper. It's confused. So the different schools of thought in the area of apologetics fall into three primary subcategories and that is classical apologetics evidential apologetics and presuppositional apologetics.

Go ahead. Grab it. In your book Dr. Frame will describe all three of these but you will find that in the book we will be following more of the presuppositional model of apologetics. You may have noted that as of late that has become somewhat popular in reform discussion and you may even see people who get real excited about it.

And one of the things that I see online is people say I got into an apologetic conversation and I presupp the guy hashtag presupp it's it's honestly I don't like it. I'll tell you why most people who hashtag presupp don't understand.