Sermon Tone Analysis
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Apologetics
Apologetics
Apologetics is the branch of Christianity that deals with the defense and establishment of the Christian faith.
Apologetics is the branch of Christianity that deals with the defense and establishment of the Christian faith.
Dictionary Definition: “reasoned arguments or writings in justification of something, typically a theory or religious doctrine.”
The classical Greek word apologia referred to a formal speech or an explanation delivered in response to a charge.
Unbelievers don’t have a properly reasoned argument.
We don’t stand on neutral ground.
Why Study Apologetics?
The Lord commands us to be “ready to make a defense.”
We want to please Him.
We want to be used by God to reach others with His truth.
We want to have confidence in evangelism and under persecution.
We want to think about the world around us through the lens of Scripture.
Different Approaches to Christian Apologetics
Classicalism
Reason undergirds faith.
Defend the Christian faith by appealing to the unbeliever’s capacity to reason using logical argument (man) as the final authority.
Teleological, Cosmological, Ontological arguments, etc.
Teleological, Cosmological, Ontological arguments, etc.
Progressively build a case for the Bible starting with blank theism and adding components.
Plato, Thomas Aquinas, R.C. Sproul, William Lane Craig
Evidentialism
Evidence undergirds faith.
Defend the Christian faith by appealing to the unbeliever’s capacity to reason using historical and scientific evidence (man) as the final authority.
Resurrection argument, creation arguments, fulfilled prophecy, etc.
Prove a bare-bones or “mere” Christianity by proving that certain truths in the Bible are accurate based on modern historical methods.
B.B. Warfield, John Warwick Montgomery, Gary Habern, Frank Turek
Presuppositionalism
Faith undergirds reason.
Defend the Christian faith by appealing to what the unbeliever already knows concerning the Christian faith using Scripture (God) as the final authority.
tells us that the unbeliever already knows there is a God.
Transcendental Argument: The proof for God’s existence is that you can’t prove anything without God.
The atheist has to assume the Christian worldview in order to attack it.
Prove the Biblical Christian worldview as a “package deal” that cannot be rejected without appealing to logical absurdity.
The Apostle Paul, Augustine, Calvin, Cornelius Van Til, Greg Bahnsen, Jason Lisle, Ken Ham
Acts 17:
Advantage of Presuppositional Formation
Classical “Argument From Design”
Senses/minds are reliable
We see Design in the Universe
Design requires a Designer
God is the Designer
Presuppositional Argument
Triune God of Scripture is Designer (the Bible says so)
Therefore, Senses are Reliable
We see Design in the Universe
Design Requires a Designer
Triune God of Scripture is Designer
In the case of transcendentals or final authorities we can’t get away from “circular arguments” — every worldview ultimately breaks down into a circular argument.
Worldview is made from foundational presuppositions:
Epistemology: How do we know?
Metaphysics: What can be known?
Ethics: What types of things are good or bad?
Humanism
Epistemology: Sense Perception/Human Reason
Metaphysics: Material World
Ethics: Humans are the ultimate standard
Christianity
Epistemology: Revelation from God
Metaphysics: Natural and Supernatural
Ethics: Revelation From God
Ultimate Authority
An individual’s ultimate or “final” authority can be defined as his ultimate standard by which all is measured.
It is an independent standard that relies on no other source for authentication.
All worldviews, and thus all people, have a final authority, though most or not conscious of this fact.
Our duty as evangelists and apologists is to make people epistemologically self-aware.
In other words, we attempt to shed light on their ultimate faith commitment, which, if humans are to be rational, must be the Word of God.
Unbeliever’s Ultimate Authority
Is not God’s Word (, )
Is in opposition to what he knows is the ultimate authority (, )
Resides in creation itself (, Rom.
1:25)
Results in foolishness (, , , , )
Believer’s Ultimate Authority
Is God Himself (, , , , )
Is understood through God’s Word (), , , , )
Is self authenticating (, , ; El Shaddai lit.
means “all-sufficient”)
Conclusion
When engaging with someone from an anti-Christian viewpoint we must put on their glasses by entering their worldview (an internal critique).
When we enter their worldview we will find it to be a world of inconsistencies, contradictions, arbitrariness, and the inability to provide the preconditions for intelligibility.
There is only one final authority that gives meaning to life—the invariable, absolute, and unchanging triune God of Scripture.
Which is a true court of justice?
Contradictory laws
Changing laws
Variable laws
Unappointed judges
Absolute laws
Unchanging laws
Invariable laws
Rightful judge
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