Apologetics

Apologetic Thought #1 Before someone is going to accept your worldview, they have to start doubting their world-view.

Apologetic Thought #2 If someone argues that there is no purpose to life. (If true, then there is no right or wrong way to live it). Ask them, can everybody do anything that they want to anyone else? If they answer yes (then take their car keys and walk away, **joking** but it will prove that they were not telling the truth, as they will protest). If they say no, then they are agreeing that there are moral standards that universally exist. There are no rights and there are no wrongs unless God exists.

Apologetic Thought #3 If I were to pick just one word to sum up the Bible it would be “redemption”. Paradise lost in Genesis, paradise regained in Revelation and the central figure of the entire Bible is the Messiah, Jesus.

Apologetic Thought #4 Many people argue against the Bible because it contains “incest, rape, murder, slavery etc.” it is important to remember scripture contains many “descriptions” that aren’t “prescriptions”. For example, polygamy. It is described, not prescribed, we know that as it is commanded against and God’s Word never contradicts itself.

Apologetic Thought #5 One of the most raised questions is, why does a good God allow evil to exist. Well, what if He started to clean it up and started with you and I? We all know we have sinned and done wrong. God is responsible for the fact of freedom. Humans are responsible for their acts of freedoms.

Apologetic Thought #6 Most doubts are emotional not intellectual. Emotions are relative truth, not objective truth.

Apologetic Thought #7 When in a discussion with someone. It isn’t your job to refute what they said, it’s up to them to support what they said.

Apologetic Thought #8 A 5-year-old to when they are 50, genetically are the same. The difference is time, food and water. A newly fertilized egg in the womb genetically is the same as that 50-year-old. The difference is time, food, and water.

Apologetic Thought #9 Most people aren’t on a truth quest but rather a happy quest. Even knowing the truth, they won’t accept it.

Apologetic thought #10 Some think Christianity has a higher burden of proof based on the claims we make. But all world views have the burden of proof, including atheism and agnosticism.

Apologetic thought #11 There were new covenant Christians before the New Testament was written. Don’t use inerrancy as a premise it is a conclusion.

Apologetic thought #12 Cosmological argument for God: The cause of the universe must be: Uncaused, beginningless, changeless, immaterial, timeless, spaceless, unimaginably powerful, and personal creator of the universe.

Apologetic thought #13 If someone states that religion is the reason for most of the wars and atrocities. Point them to the fact that while perversions of the Bible have led people to commit horrible things. Exponentially more people have been killed and far worse wars have resulted from atheistic regimes. Take Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Mao Zedong and you are almost at 100 million deaths. Historians almost universally agree that most wars had little to nothing to do with religion. Territory is the most common reason for war.

Apologetic thought #14 How free will and God’s omniscience are compatible: “God fully foreknows what I will freely do”.

Apologetic thought #15 Satan’s tactic with Eve is the same that he has used for all of time. – If you can get people to doubt the Word of God, then sooner or later they will deny. Because you have to doubt first before you deny. Then, if they deny it, they will disobey it.

Apologetic thought #16 Critics say that Jesus did not address homosexuality. In Mathew 5 and Mathew 19 He addresses the issue of marriage in both and aligned it with the teaching in Genesis 2 of a man and a woman. God is the author of marriage so only He can define it, not humans.

Apologetic thought #17 The gospel message is the same no matter where it is being preached be it to a tribe in Africa, a major world city or in the suburban streets of America. The foundation of your desire to preach the gospel should be to please the Lord out of obedience and that He be worshipped in that place as He should be. People will fight against you, throw you out, let you down and if they are the basis of your motivation then you will get demotivated.

Apologetic thought #18 Ask someone to check their worldview. Does it explain and even allow for the true reality of; the universe, design, morality, laws of logic, conscience etc.

Apologetic thought #19 Ask do you believe in miracles? All world views come down to us living in a miraculous world. Either 1) God created everything, 2) At one point things just popped into existence out of nothing, 3) Everything has existed for infinity. All of those require faith to believe in and all of them would be quite miraculous. This will have them question their worldview which is a good place to start a conversation to share the Truth.

Apologetic thought #20 A major difference between the Christian martyrs who had firsthand witness of Jesus Christ to today’s martyrs of Islam is this: “Many people will die for a lie that they think is true. Nobody would die for a lie that they know is a lie”.

Apologetic thought #21 Every other religion is advice. Christianity is different because it’s news (what Jesus did). Advice tells you how to respond going forward. News tells you what has already happened, and you need to respond to it.

Apologetic thought #22 We should study the Holiness of God, not because we are holy, but because we are not holy apart from God. The more we understand about the character of God, the easier it is for us to love Him and the easier it is to see what this world offers is against Him.

Apologetic thought #23 People don’t have a problem with judgements. They have a problem with judgements they don’t like (A compliment is a judgement).

Apologetic thought #24 The miracles described in the Bible are most often centered around new revelation from God. Moses, Elijah/Elisha, Jesus/apostles. New revelation required new confirmation. We don’t need people with those gifts today as there will be no new revelation. If miracles happen today, it is God doing it directly, not through new prophets/apostles.

Apologetic thought #25 Christians are called to be the most loving person while being the most hated. That is why we cannot live the Christian life in our own strength but rather by Christ in us.

Apologetic thought #26 Spiritual defects in our life often come from forgetting what Gods Word says. Scripture constantly exhorts us to remember. When you have fallen away – Remember, repent, repeat.

Apologetic thought #27 What is the greatest miracle in the Bible? Arguably Genesis 1:1 – God created everything from nothing. If that is true, then all other miracles in the Bible are reasonable.

Apologetic thought #28 People will often argue separation of church and state must be absolute. But what they don’t realize is that all laws legislate morality. Everybody is trying to legislate one side or the other of the moral position.

Apologetic thought #29 Nature came from the cause of nature, so nature can’t be the cause of nature. (Just as I can’t be the cause of my mother). I believe that cause to be the triune God of whom Jesus is specifically credited as the role of creator in the scriptures.

Apologetic thought #30 The Bible is historically verifiable all throughout its writings. (Ex. This happened here, with this person, etc.) That is because the Word of God is not merely “adjective” the truth but “noun” The Truth. All other books claiming divine inspiration, are nowhere near verifiable as the Bible.

Apologetic thought #31 When is the last time you waxed or changed the oil on a rental car? Scripture talks of ownership as a good thing as it gives a personal accountability to how you care and use what you own. The socialism/communism argument does not align with scripture regarding this in any way.

Apologetic thought #32 Which came first the chicken or the egg? Chance doesn’t create, so the egg couldn’t have gotten there by chance, and neither would have the chicken. So, whatever came first must have been created by God the way He planned it.

Apologetic thought #33 While people are certainly entitled to their own opinion they are not entitled to their own facts.

Apologetic thought #34 The fact of the matter is that at our core we are moral beings. Those who deny God’s existence often invoke that there is too much evil and suffering for there to be a good God. On what basis do they arrive at that? Moral reasoning.

Apologetic thought #35 The Christian worldview is the only world view that can claim anything matters. Why? Because of Jesus. He is the foundation of why anything matters at all.
⁃ There is 1 creator – Jesus Christ
⁃ There is 1 race – Human
⁃ There is 1 blood – Red
⁃ There is 1 problem – Sin
⁃ There is 1 solution – Jesus Christ.

Apologetic thought #36 Some say “God loves the sinner, He just hates the sin”. Then why does God send the sinner to Hell and not just the sin? The Bible tells us God hates and abhors the wicked. When you have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb you are no longer considered as wicked but are righteous because of Jesus.

Apologetic thought #37 Christian Faith isn’t blind faith. Christian Faith is trust based on knowledge grounded in evidence.

Apologetic thought #38 If you think we are messing up the planet. Wait till you see what Jesus does with it when he comes back as the conquering King.

Apologetic thought #39 One of the defenses of the scriptures is that the apostles who were firsthand witness to the death and resurrection were willing to die for that truth and the promises it holds too. This is entirely different from Islamic martyrs. As the Christian is willing to die for the faith and not die while murdering for the faith. The promises of scripture and what is in store for the Christian to be in the presence of a holy God and to worship Him are entirely different from the Islam promise of 72 virgins.

Apologetic thought #40 In a conversation don’t let someone out of the responsibility of forming an opinion by saying they just have a lack of belief and that’s that. They either believe (theist), don’t know what to believe (agnostic), don’t believe (atheist). Those are the only three options. All three still have a burden of proof to explain reality.

Apologetic thought #41 The cultural war is not what it seems. What it is about is making sin public and applauded and making God and values private and shamed.

Apologetic thought #42 From the telescope to the microscope there is a testimony of a design. There can’t be a design without a designer.

Apologetic thought #43 As a Christian who has been saved by grace. You will be as righteous in heaven before God the Father as much as you are right now, because of Jesus and what He did.

Apologetic thought #44 The good Samaritan story is lavish love on your enemy as you would take care of yourself. The real question isn’t who is your neighbor, but are you being a neighbor?

Apologetic thought #45 The world tells you to glorify and promote yourself. What does God tell us to do with self in His Word? Deny it – daily.

Apologetic thought #46 The heart of the problem, is the problem of the heart (see Mathew 15:18-19).

Apologetic thought #47 Justice is not a word that needs an adjective. If someone adds a word to it, they have something else in mind, justice is justice.

Apologetic thought #48 You don’t come across information like a message written in sand, Jason loves Jen and think “wow that randomly happened”, you assume it was written by a mind, a creator and author. DNA has billions of lines of logical genetic code. It clearly came from a mind, a creator and author.

Apologetic thought #49 People who claim to leave Christianity often leave because of a moral reason not often from an intellectual reason. (Check out Mathew 13:1-9 Parable of the sower)

Apologetic thought #50 Satan has been defeated by Jesus. He isn’t our problem, but he can be a problem, sin is our problem. The power he has in our life is what we give him when we give into temptation and sin.

Apologetic thought #51 Opponents of God sometimes say, “how can you punish finite sin with eternal punishment”? Well, who says you stop sinning in Hell? You remain in your defiance of God and we know that God is just. All people will be treated justly by Him for eternity.

Apologetic thought #52 Don’t let the world’s lies and tactics make you afraid to “hurt their feelings” with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The kindest thing you can do for someone is to share with them the truth of the Gospel.

Apologetic thought #53 Fact – Faith – Feeling. The order is important. It often gets switched around which produces false beliefs and confusion. Our feelings have no impact on the fact of Jesus birth, sinless life, bearing our sins to death on a cross, and His resurrection. When we know that to be a fact and we have faith, it results in a willful decision to believe in Jesus Christ, surrender and commit to Him by acknowledging our sin and that He is our savior and Lord. We then respond with feelings, shown by our love for Christ as our motivation to obey and live for Him for His glory by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Apologetic thought #54 Truth is like a lion, it doesn’t need a defense, simply let it out of the cage.

Apologetic thought #55 Truth is what corresponds with reality. If in my hand is a water bottle and that’s what I say it is, that is true. If I say it’s a book that’s not true. John 17:17 Jesus uses a noun for truth, to say that God’s Word is not simply “true,” but it is truth itself.

Apologetic thought #56 We should read/study the scriptures in a mindset of submission. Wanting to hear what the Living Word of God is saying not what we want it to say. The reason we read/study it, is to get to know the Divine author. The same author of us. He is revealed in His Words.

Apologetic thought #57 The scriptures consistently bring us to the end of ourselves as we study it in order that we might find again and again our sufficiency in Christ.

Apologetic thought #58 If you are unregenerate the more you know about God and His character the more you will hate Him and run from Him. If you are regenerate the more you know about God the more you will love Him and be pulled to Him.

Apologetic thought #59 Is it any wonder why politics, law, media, education have become godless? It is because roughly 100 years ago Christians started pulling out of those. Take the godly influences out, and of course they become godless. Separation of church and state is not a law, it is a concept. By law the government has to stay out of the church, but the church does not have to stay out of government.

Apologetic thought #60 No one in the Bible that encounters God is the same. There is nothing boring about it. If you read the Bible and are bored then you are not encountering God in it.

Apologetic thought #61 If our joy as a Christian comes by faith before obedience, then it is grounded in the work God has done and will do. So then our joys foundation Is unchangeable. If it’s based on our obedience, then it is grounded on a shaky crumbling foundation.

Apologetic thought #62 People often criticize the Bible because it doesn’t address certain topics or “isn’t relevant to today”. It’s important to remember the Bible is a specific compilation of books from 66 writers over 2000 years. It doesn’t tackle everything because its purpose is the story of redemption, of man’s fallenness, centered on Gods plan of salvation in Jesus Christ. In 2 Timothy 3:15-16 the Bible’s purpose is stated “to make you wise unto salvation”.

Apologetic thought #63 If God does not exist then objective moral values do not exist as there would be no source/standard that they are based in. Yet, everyone knows that there are right and wrongs, and that morality exists. As this is true worldwide, this “law” is outside of man and must come from a lawgiver. That lawgiver is the creator of the universe – Yahweh.

Apologetic thought #64 Have you heard the question asked. How can a good God send people to Hell? Why isn’t the opposite asked? How can a just God allow people into heaven? It all comes down to Jesus. It’s a free gift but many don’t want God, they want to be their own god.

Apologetic thought #65 Don’t ask someone if they are a Christian. Ask rather – if you stood before God tonight, what would you say for why should you be able to enter Heaven? This will give you the true answer and let you know if they are a mission field or not.