Christian Apologetics - Acts III Ministries Chapter 2

ACTS III Global Ministries

"Sometimes what you need the most...you don't even know you need."

The Battleground of Apologetics

	Ch. 2 - The Path of Apology
	The goal of this section is to outline the method that this book will utilize to equip you with a starting point for most apologetic situations.

The first thing that I want to do here is to talk about maps…yes maps! There is one principle in particular that I think applies to apologetics, and that is the principle of finding the shortest distance between two points.

Common sense would tell us that the shortest distance between any two points is a straight line. Of course on maps, you quickly notice that there are no such paths to get from point A to point B. There are always turns and curves that result in a lot of wasted mileage on your vehicle, wasted money on fuel, and wasted time in general.

Usually our trip would look more like this image instead. I believe this is an even bigger problem for us in witnessing, evangelizing, discipleship, and in apologetics as well.

Here is how it applies. All too often, we start witnessing or defending without knowing truly where the other person is. In order for us to reach that person, we have to know two things:

· Where they are (point A)
· Where we are (point B)

Once we know these two things, then we can plan the best route to get them where we are—in the Truth of God’s Saving Grace. If we do not know where they are, we are going to waste a lot of time, effort, and energy spewing things that are falling on deaf ears. Eventually, our opportunity to reach them may be lost forever. We need to plan and pray for our Path of Apology.

The worst part is that one-day we will have to stand before Christ and answer for what we did and did not do with the talents He gave us. When telling fishing stories it may be fun to talk about the one that got away, but I cannot imagine that conversation being any fun in heaven standing before a Holy and Righteous Judge—especially not when we are called to be Fisher’s of Men with eternal souls at stake. (See Matthew 4:19)

In the Beginning…there were Presuppositions

In order to have a fair and structured debate on any issue, you must have ground rules. This same principle applies to apologetics in the form of presuppositions. Presuppositions are the foundation that you will build your case and defense for Christianity on. In essence, a presupposition is a basic fact or set of facts that both you and the person to whom you are offering a defense can agree on. If you cannot agree here, there is little to go on from an apologetic standpoint.

We can look back at a few of the types of apologetic methods and see how their arguments are based on individual presuppositions. Notice the table below:

Apologetic Argument	Presupposition Built On
Cosmological	If God exists, He can do miracles
Causality	Everything has a cause. The cause of something is greater than that which is caused.
Moral	People have basic morals. This means that the morals had to result from somewhere. Law=Law Giver
Design	There is obvious design in the universe as a whole. A Design = A Designer.

While these may all seem like undeniable presuppositions, you would be surprised how creative our opponents can be when they are trying their best to deny God and His existence. Some debate whether or not we can know anything at all. For this reason, the method that God has shown me seems to be the easiest to build off of although it is rather lengthy when you get into the details. However, I think it is well worth the effort. Let’s get started.

The Starting Line

The first step is to ask a series of questions of the recipient of the apology so that you will know what you are up against and where to start your defense. In essence, it will help you determine points A and B and plan a path between them.

Hurdle 1 – Presupposition of Existence

I think the simplest place to start a defense is on our existence. The question should be asked, “Can we agree that we are both here, and that we exist?” This is the first presupposition. If they agree then continue with the next question. If they do not, you can leave them alone because they don’t really exist.

Hurdle 2 – Presupposition of Origin

The second question ties in with the first. Obviously, if we are here then we got here somehow. (Not just ‘we’ as individuals, but ‘we’ as in all life, etc.) So you can ask something like this, “Can we agree that we (meaning everyone and everything) only got here by one of two means…either we were created by a Creator or we evolved as the result of an accident?”

Most people will not have a problem with this unless they theorize that aliens put us here (called Directed Panspermia). If they raise this objection, it must be brought up that the aliens would be subject to the same test—either they were created or evolved. This protest only allows them to delay in answering the question. Once they affirm this presupposition, move on. You have now completed the warm-up lap and it’s time to choose the course of the race you will run with this defense. Keep in mind this Scripture as you undertake the challenge of apologetics:

“Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith…” (NASB) Hebrews 12:1-2 (emphasis mine)

Choose the Course

So far…so good. Now it is time for the probing questions to see where they are so you can plot your course to reach them in the shortest time.

Question 1 – Faith of Origin

This question is a very important one and determines the overall course of the defense. By scientific definition, neither creation nor evolution counts as a theory, because neither is observable or repeatable now. This means that both are faiths of our origin. The person should be asked where their faith is. Do they believe that we were Created or evolved?

If they believe we evolved, then your defense starts with a combination of a good offense against evolution and a strong defense of Biblical Creation. This is discussed in more detail in chapters 3 through 10. People that fall into this category are generally Atheists or may wrongfully claim to be agnostics.

If they believe that we were created, then proceed to the next round of presuppositions below:

Hurdle 3 – Presuppositions of Revelation

If you made it here, then you were able to bypass all of the Creation vs. Evolution debate material for the time being. This means you are one step closer to introducing them to Jesus. Once they have conceded that we were created, ask them if they will agree to these sequential and logical presuppositions:

1. “If we were created, then either our Creator revealed Himself to us or He did not.”

2. “If our Creator did not reveal Himself to us, we might as well believe in evolution because either way we have no knowledge of why we are here or what the rules are.”

3. “If our Creator did reveal Himself to us, we would expect that revelation to last and demonstrate His divine credentials as Author to us.”

If you have made it this far, your apology now must demonstrate the uniquely divine characteristics of our Holy Bible as God’s only truthful record of His revelation to mankind. Your offense will be focused on showing the failures of other False Religious Texts compared with the Bible’s divinely inspired traits. You will be simultaneously defending the Bible and Christianity while exposing cults and their false claims to inspired texts and doctrines.

Shortcut Quicksand

When I first started witnessing and tried to share and defend my faith, I would sometimes simply jump right into it and ask them what was keeping them from believing in God. Most of the objections are simple and easy to defend against, but they are never-ending.

Regardless of how old the person is that you are witnessing to, they have likely spent a lot of time formulating reasons in their own mind as to why they should not believe in God. For every objection you satisfy, they will likely have two more. These opponents almost always have a backdoor that allows them the opportunity to slip out of the conversation when you answer their objections and they start getting worried or uncomfortable.

The point here is that if you treat apologetics simply as a battle on a field without boundaries, you can spend forever chasing them. There must be boundaries set that they cannot go back across into covered areas—this is why the agreement of presuppositions are so necessary. Otherwise you are trying to hit a target that can always outrun you. If there are no boundaries, you will not likely catch them.

This is why I have likened this type of apologetic shortcut as Quicksand. The harder you try and fight, the faster you sink. You will fast become frustrated, tired, exhausted, and eventually you will go under unless you get out of the situation. That is when the Apology turns into an argument and there will be no winner—except the pit of hell as it maintains its grip on the lost soul.

By using presuppositions to set boundaries, you will also postpone discussing probably the hardest categories to defend against, such as God’s Character, His Righteous Judgment and especially His Sovereignty. The reason that these are even harder to successfully defend is not because the answers are not readily available and logical; it is because these types of questions are endless and nearly incomprehensible to the lost. They are applying corrupted fleshly morals (oxymoron) to a Sovereign God.

If I may use an overly simple analogy, if we as Christians are going to be successful at defending their faith to the lost, we must paint them into a proverbial corner. Just like in the cartoons when the character paints himself into the corner of a room, so must our systematic apologetics do to our opponents.

This is not to trick or trap the opponent, rather to make them realize that their excuses in doubting the God of the Bible are baseless. There is no logic in doubting or denying God’s existence or His True Identity. The corner we seek to have them paint themselves into is the realization that there is nowhere left to run. They must accept or reject Him. They will be without excuse on Judgment Day.

That is the whole point in laying a good foundation through the presuppositions and the starting questions listed above. Establishing first thing that God is the Creator, it follows naturally that God is the Sovereign Lord over His Creation. This entails logically that He makes the rules and anything that He chooses to do or let happen in His infinite Wisdom is just and righteous. That’s why the first line of the first Book in the Bible states that, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth.” This is where God’s revelation to man begins, and it is where our Faith begins. It is also where our Apology needs to begin.

To help with visualizing our Path of Apology, below is a decision tree outlining the basic flow of this apologetic book based on the above presuppositions and foundational questions. This graphic representation serves as a reminder that the essence of the discussion is our Origin. Where did we come from…and consequently, who is in control…

If we can establish that God is the Creator, then His Sovereignty over His creation is a given. It makes a lot of the side issues to deal with much simpler. It’s kind of like putting out a fire. When you use the fire extinguisher, you don’t aim for the flames, you aim for the base of the fire. The same applies to apologetics. Deal with the primary issues first, then the secondary ones will usually take care of themselves.

Decision Tree – fig. 2.1

Chapter Summary

This chapter showed but one method of getting to the true heart of the objection with the Christian faith by the skeptic. At this point in the Apology, you should have identified both where you are and where your opponent is (Point A & B). One thing that is important, although not specifically discussed until now, is to make sure that the person that you are offering a defense to has a good understanding of where you are and where you are coming from.

There are many things that a person might need or want to hear. These may include:

¨ Why do you care? Are you trying to win an argument? Are you just bored or is there some other reason?

¨ You should typically tell them both why you care and why you are supposed to care. You could also use a parable that symbolizes a lost person as someone stricken with a terminal disease that has the antidote right in front of them and does not even realize it.

¨ Maybe you could even share your testimony before you get started. Let them know not only what you believe, but why.

¨ Let them know that we are all born lost and that they are not alone.

¨ Let them know that you can relate to them in some way, and you are not judging them.

From here on in, we will be discussing the evidentiary apologetics from the various areas of evidence for our faith. The next few chapters will go in the basic order presented in the decision tree in figure 2.1.

As such, Chapters 3-10 will deal with evolution. This material will hopefully enable you to proceed to the next stage of getting the person to at least acknowledge that there is a God; from there it is easy. Picking apart the cults and their doctrines and comparing them with the integrity of the Bible is much easier to convey and comprehend than the occasional scientific jargon in the evolution chapters