Apologetics: The Basics
Session 14 – Some Other Arguments

5 of these 6 objections are what I call “I don’t like…” arguments. They don’t disprove God, or Jesus, or Scripture, or religion…or anything…”

It might be a great exercise to ponder, or discuss if you are in a group, other arguments besides the ones given…

There are great answers to these, we will only give 3 points for each…then suggest resources at the end…

The Nature of the Old Testament God
Aka..God is Mean

“There is not the slightest question that the God of the Old Testament is a jealous, vengeful God, inflicting not only on the sinful ‘pagans’ but even on his Chosen People fire, lightning, hideous plagues and diseases, brimstone, and other curses.” – Steve Allen

Close cousin to the evil and suffering discussion

What you need to know:

  1. As the creator and owner of life, God also has the right to take life away. What is wrong for us is not necessarily wrong for God.
  1. In addition to God’s love, grace, and mercy, his character also includes justice and holiness. This requires him to execute judgments he might often prefer to ignore.
  • Justice requires Judgment,
  • Judgment requires consequence
  1.  God’s mercy ALWAYS kept his justice on hold until his omniscience told him it was time

“He’s not capricious, he’s not arbitrary, he’s not cruel. But…his nature demands that he deal with corrupt people who stubbornly and willfully persist in their evil. And isn’t that what he should do? Isn’t that what we want, for justice to be done? One of the key things to remember is that throughout history, for those who repent and turn to him, he’s compassionate merciful, gracious and kind. In the end, we’ll all see his fairness.” – Norm Geisler, CFF

  • As previously…God’s primary priority is not on temporary or physical existence. Focus on earthly contentment is a human characteristic.

Conclusion:

The Old Testament IS full of stories that would seem to include a vindictive and vengeful God. However, that perception changes when God’s sovereignty, holiness, justice, grace, and mercy are taken into account. God desires an eternal relationship with our eternal spirit, not our temporary physical bodies.

Resources:
Case for Faith, Lee Strobel, question 4
Know What You Believe, Paul Little

The Existence of Hell

“God says, ‘do what you wish, but make the wrong choice and you will be tortured for an eternity in hell.’ That…would be akin to a man telling his girlfriend, do what you wish, but if you choose to leave me, I will track you down and blow your brains out. When a man says this we call him a psychopath and cry out for his imprisonment and execution. When God says the same we call him ‘loving’ and build churches in his honor.” – William C. Eastom II

What you need to know:

  1. Hell IS Real
    • The one person who would know more about hell than anyone, Jesus Christ, spoke more about the reality of hell than anyone else
    • The punishment of hell may simply be the separation from God, as opposed to the ‘torture chamber’ it is often represented as

“In the Bible, hell is separation or banishment from the most beautiful being in the world, God himself. It is exclusion from anything that matters, from all value, not only from God but also from those who have come to know and love him…Make no mistake: hell is punishment – but it’s not a punishing. It’s not torture. The punishment of hell is separation from God, bringing shame, anguish and regret.” – J.P. Moreland, CFF, p174

  1. If God is real, He hates hell and He hates people going there (Ez 33:11, 2Pet 3:9).

“…he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” 2Peter 3:9

  1. God does not arbitrarily hand out eternal punishment for not ‘playing by the rules’.
    • Hell is voluntary, it is the result of the rebellion of the individual
    • God IS love but he is also just, moral and holy

“Hell is not simply a sentence. It is that, but it’s also the end of a path that is chosen, to some degree, in this life right here and now, day by day.” – J. P. Moreland, CFF,

Conclusion:

God himself hates the idea of hell, but it is a reality required by the holiness and justice of God in light of the rebellion in the lives of so many. God abhors hell so much that he sent his Son to be crucified so that we might avoid hell by making a simple choice. God does not choose for someone to spend eternity in hell, but rather honors the freedom of choice that was given to mankind. As C.S. Lewis said, there are two kinds of people, the ones who say ‘Thy will be done’ and the ones to whom God says ‘thy will be done’.

Resources:
Case For Faith, Lee Strobel, #6
Handbook of Christian Apologetics, Peter Kreeft

 Christ’s deity was the result of 4th century Church leaders choosing certain books.
(Who Decided What Writings Could Be Included in the New Testament?)

“Constantine commissioned and financed a new Bible, which omitted those gospels that spoke of Christ’s human traits and embellished those gospels that make him Godlike. The earlier gospels were outlawed, gathered up, and burned”. -Leigh Teabing, The DaVinci Code

“Anyone who chose the forbidden gospels over Constantine’s version was deemed a heretic…those who ‘chose’ the original history of Christ were the world’s first heretics.” -Robert Langdon, The DaVinci Code

Already covered much of this in previous sessions but…

What you need to know:

  1. The New Testament canon (the officially accepted books of scripture) were officially confirmed to counter threats against the recognized authoritative scriptures
  1. The New Testament consists of books recognized as scripture by the early church. The readings and writings of the early church and church fathers were almost exclusively from the canon.
  • So the church did not create the canon, but rather recognized the canon. 20 of the 27 books were pretty much unanimous in their acceptance.

“…a book is not the Word of God because it is accepted by the people of God. Rather, it was accepted by the people of God because it is the Word of God. That is, God gives the book its divine authority, not the people of God.” – Geisler, NETDAV,p21

  1. The accepted writings were from first century eye witnesses, the rejected writings were from second century and later.

“Just read these other documents for yourself. They’re written later than the four gospels, in the second, third, fourth, fifth even sixth century, long after Jesus and they are generally quite banal. They carry names like the Gospel of Peter and the Gospel of Mary, that are unrelated to their authorship.” – Bruce Metzger, CFC

The misunderstanding is this…it wasn’t like they looked around at 40 or 50 different books that were all pretty much equal and just picked the ones they liked.

CANON LISTS / MANUSCRIPTS / QUOTATIONS / FIRST CENTURY / EYEWITNESS / APOSTOLIC

Conclusion:

Christianity has powerful reasons to feel secure that the books included in the current Bible are indeed qualified to be called the Word of God.

Books did not become scripture because they were included in the canon, they were included in the canon because they were scripture. Even if all the books that were considered questionable were removed from the Bible, the message of the Bible would remain unchanged.

Resources:
The Case for Christ, pp. 66-71
A Ready Defense, pp. 34-41
When Skeptics Ask, pp. 152-157
Tough Questions section 3, lesson 1

Christians Are Arrogant to Think
They Are the Only Holders of Supreme Truth

“I am absolutely against any religion that says that one faith is superior to another. I don’t see how that is anything different than spiritual racism. It’s a way of saying that we are closer to God than you, and that’s what leads to hatred.”– Rabbi Schmuley Boteach, CFF

“We [Hindus] accept all religions to be true.”
– Indian philosopher Swami Vivikenanda, CFF, p146

This has also previously been covered but deserves a quick review…

What you need to know:

  1. Arrogance and Intolerance ARE wrong
  2. But it is not Arrogant just to believe something to be true or false

“Webster’s New World Dictionary of English defines “tolerate” as “to recognize and respect [other’s beliefs, practices, and so forth] without sharing them and to bear or put up with [someone or something not especially liked].” – Josh McDowell, NETDAV

“[The new] tolerance is that every individual’s beliefs, lifestyle, and perception of truth claims are equal…Your beliefs and my beliefs are equal, and all truth is relative…The fact, however, is that all truth is exclusive…for it must exclude as false that which is not true…The question of tolerance isn’t the issue. The question of truth is.” – Josh McDowell, NETDAV

  • All religions, not just Christianity, make exclusive truth claims, see Schmuley Boteach quote
    • It is irrational to claim that all religions are true or that religious relativism is true, and evidence must be examined between contradictory claims. see Vivekenanda quote

3. What is called the arrogance of Christianity, which we call truth, is not based upon the wisdom or insight or understanding of Christians, but on the authority of Jesus Christ

Conclusion:

Today, arrogance is defined as believing something is true and something else is false. This means truth, by definition, is arrogant. This would make EVERY religion arrogant, even the relative ones. Different religions believe contradictory things, and it is irrational to believe contradictory things are true. Christianity is a rational faith given to us by a rational God. Christianity’s claims do not stand on the authority of its believers, but upon the authority of Jesus Christ.

John 14:6 – Jesus answered, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.”

Resources:
Case for Faith, Chapter 6, Lee Strobel
New Evidence that Demands a Verdict, Josh McDowell

Isn’t Sincerity Enough?

Challenge:

If God is truly a God of love, he would not condemn someone forever because they were human and made a wrong choice. If they are sincere in seeking God and doing good deeds and serving their fellow man, a loving God will see their heart is good and reward them.

What you need to know:

  1.  Sincerity is necessary, but not sufficient.
  2.  Sincerity alone contradicts the sovereignty, truthfulness, and justice of God.
    •  Sincerity alone proclaims that Jesus died in vain, and that all religions are in error for their truth claims regarding salvation.
  3.  Sincerity does not distinguish between good and bad, much less true and false.

“I sincerely believe that (fill in ANY behavior), and because I sincerely believe this you must accept my belief as equally as valid as your belief…”

When this comes up…best question is…Columbo…how did you come to that conclusion? (What do they know what you don’t?)

Conclusion:

Sincerity is vitally important, but it is possible to be sincerely wrong. As humans, we do not have the authority to define what is required for Salvation, only God can do that. And God has said that sincerity alone is not enough.

“Suppose you call a tail a leg. How many legs does a dog have? The answer is four; calling a tail a leg doesn’t make it one.” – Abraham Lincoln, TQ LG, p54

“No one comes to the Father except through me.” – Jesus in John 14:6

“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” – Acts 4:12

Resources:

What about People Who Have Never Heard of Jesus?

Christians say that one must accept Jesus as their personal Savior to be saved. Does that mean that even if someone has never even heard of Jesus that they will be condemned to hell forever?

Apparently my position is controversial…feel free to disagree…

What you need to know:

  1. The Bible clearly tells us that Jesus really is the only way
    • But Jesus is not just a Jewish carpenter that lived two thousand years ago, he is the Creator of all things and has existed forever
  1. The Bible tells us how we can be saved and it spells out things that will condemn us, but people who have never heard of Jesus are not addressed
    • The eternal fate of one who has never heard of Jesus will be between them and God
  1. We do know that God is just and that no one will have an excuse for their lives on judgment day

Note: This also covers other questions like babies, mentally handicapped, etc.

Some academics say, “The Bible clearly says we can have knowledge about God through nature, but we can’t have ‘saving’ knowledge?”…why is that? Says who?

Conclusion:

Only God can decide who will be saved or condemned. He HAS told us that Jesus IS the only way, but we are NOT told how those who have not heard of Jesus will be judged. What we do know…God’s judgment will be fair…and on that day all will be without excuse.

“Men will be judged on the basis of the light they had, not on the basis of a light they never saw. The person in the remote jungle who never heard of Jesus is judged differently than the person who is only a broadcast or an open Bible away from the gospel.”-Max Lucado, When Christ Comes, p112

Side note: This does not excuse us from obeying the call of the Great Commission. Hearing the written gospel gives the believer greater stability in his faith as well as allowing him access to the blessings that are available to believers who have knowledge of God’s word. 

Resources:
Handbook of Christian Apologetics – Peter Kreeft

Know What You Believe
Know Why You Believe It