Apologetics Test Flashcards
Defending our worldview
Apologetics
Which argument: whatever begins to exist has a cause - the universe began to exist
Cosmological
Which argument: The universe resulted either from chance of from design - highly improbable that it resulted from chance
Teleological
Which argument: Unlike anything else on earth, humans have self-awareness - consciousness cannot evolve from unconscious matter
Argument from consciousness
Which argument: everyone on earth has a system of ethics - if no “first cause” exists above the human race, there can be no basis for morality
Argument from morality
Which argument: Humans understand that life has meaning and purpose, but if the cosmos was a byproduct of meaningless chance, then there can be no higher meaning in life
Meaning of life argument
Which argument: Argument based on personal experience of God
Changed life argument
Who invented the watchmaker analogy
Paley
1200’s theologian that helped make argument famous
Aquinas
What are the four Los of the quadrilemma?
- Lord
- Lunatic
- Liar
- Legend
List the five Es of the resurrection
- Execution
- Empty tomb
- Eye witnesses
- Early accounts
- Event following
The universe by design has been clearly designed with humans in mind
Anthropoid Principle
This term translates - the defense for the gospel
Apologia / apologetics
These two people helped define the teleological argument
- Paley
2. Aquinas
The approximate number of people who witnessed the resurrected Jesus
500
“God-breathed”
Inspired
“I think, therefor God exists”
Consciousness
The complexity of the human cells suggests that God exists
Teleological
The orderliness of the food chain suggests that God exists
Teleological
God exists because deep down I know right form wrong
Morality
God exists because something put all the universe in motion
Cosmological
I believe in God because I am becoming more like Him
Changed life
Absolute values suggest that God exists
Morality
The world is running out of energy, therfor God exists
Cosmological
The beauty of a sunset suggests God exists
Teleological
Our self-awareness suggests God exists
Consciousness
The expansion of the universe suggests that God exists
Cosmological
The 4 L’s used to defend Jesus as God
Quadrilemma
Who created the quadrilemma
CS Lewis
L - Jesus is who he said he is
Lord
L - Jesus preformed miracles and lived up to all the prophecies
Lord
L - All accounts of Jesus showed that he was perfectly calms and sound
Lunatic
L - Jesus was willing to die for what he preached, and suffered the most painful death in human history. Even his enemies found no fault in him
Liar
L - Jesus is a historical figure within all religions. Even our calendar is based off of him
Legend
E - Jesus was crucified by professional executioners with many witnesses
Execution
E - even his enemies acknowledged that his Tomb was empty - tried to account for missing body
Empty tomb
E - Jesus appeared to over 500 witnesses before his ascension
Eye witnesses
E - the gospel records of the resurrection were written to early to be legend
Early accounts
E - the resurrection of Jesus sparked the beginnings of the church and the transformation of the disciples
Events following
STUDY PAGE 19 ON SCRIPTURE
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Match to Case for Faith: “How can you believe in a loving God while there are school shootings and terrorist attacks happening constantly?”
Suffering / evil
Matching CFF: “I believe in evolution so I can’t believe in God.”
Creation / evolution
Matching CFF: “You believe in the resurrection? You might as well believe in Santa Clause”
Miracles / science
Matching CFF: “You Christians constantly think you’re the only one who is right, and that everyone else is in the wrong”
Intolerance
Matching CFF: “How can you believe in a loving God that could send innocent children to Hell?”
Hell / loving God
Matching CFF: “I don’t really believe the entirety of it, so I can’t be a Christian”
Doubts
CFF reasoning: “God is more concerned with our character than our comfort”
Suffering / evil
CFF reasoning: “Sometimes God uses it to steer us onto another path, and as a form of discipline”
Suffering / evil
CFF reasoning: it can point out our desperate need for Jesus and grab our attention
Suffering / evil
CFF reasoning: It can draw us closer to Him and teach us faith in our time of need
Suffering and evil
CFF reasoning: It keeps the world from becoming too attractive - would we desire heaven if we loved our current conditions?
Suffering / evil
CFF reasoning: Teaches us thankfulness / allows us to appreciate our blessings
Suffering / evil
CFF reasoning: It purifies / refines us
Suffering / evil
CFF reasoning: A miracle is no big thing to an all powerful God
Miracles and science
CFF reasoning: God is a God of science - the more we study science, the most we know Him
Miracles vs science
CFF reasoning: evolution is as probable as a 747 Boeing airplane being assembled from a tornado in a junkyard
Creation / evolution
CFF reasoning: All religions make exclusive claims
Intolerance
CFF reasoning: Jesus is the only way, but he came to save everyone
intolerance
CFF reasoning: not literally a torture chamber - hell is eternal separation from God
Hell / loving God
CFF reasoning: God doesnt send people to hell, they deliberately choose it by continuously refusing His grace
Hell / loving God
CFF reasoning: Doubts can be a good thing, they force us to search for answers and grow in our faith
Doubts
CFF reasoning: Faith doesn’t equal good feelings
Doubts
CFF reasoning: Faith doesn’t equal lack of doubT
Doubts
Number of prophecies fulfilled in scripture
1,817
Number of Messianic prophecies fulfilled by Jesus
191
Consistency in scripture - many authors with the same message
Coherancy
Timetable of the Bible
1400 BC - 100 AD
1400 BC - 100 AD is what ??
Timetable of the Bible
Fulfilled prophecies that point to the omniscience behind the Bible acts as a remind of the Bible’s …?
Inerrancy
Another word for the Bible’s infallibility
Inerrancy
The ability to choose - given by God to allow for a genuine relationship
Free will
That which results from humans actions
Moral evil
Murder, rape, and war are all example of this
Moral evil
That which results form natural process - cannot be traced to a human action
Natural evil
Earthquakes, floods, droughts are all examples of this
Natural evil
Reasons for suffering (9)
- Maintain free will
- God cares about our character and not comfort
- Steering us another way - discipline
- Taking good out of a bad situation
- Shows us the need for Jesus
- Draws us closer to Him
- Keeps world from looking too attractive
- Teaches us thankfulness
- Purifies and refines us
Intervention by God that cannot be fully accounted for by human reason or science
Miracle
Gradual changes within a species
Micro-evolution
Change from one species to another
Macro-evolution
The idea that claiming Jesus is the only way to heaven is narrow-minded
Intolerance
Eternal separation from God
Hell
The drive to ask questions in our faith
Doubts
Paragraph: “God is an opiate for the masses, i dont know why you believe in Him!”
- Logical: teleological argument: design
1. Complexity- Big things like evaporation, boiling point and distance from the sun so we dont fry.
- Little things down to the size of your fingertips - literally no two fingerprints the same - formed from ridges of mothers womb.
- Beauty
- Beauty of a sunset or the vastness of the ocean - all show the creativity and power of a creator
- Personal: Changed life / personal experience:
1. changed character- God changed my life and completely turned it around.
- Lived half my life with a bible and half my life without, and one is infinitely more enriching than the other - transformed character.
Paragraph: Your professor says Jesus is a great moral teacher but not God
- false statement: can’t be both
- 4 L’s
- would have to be a liar and deliberately deceive people to Hell - cannot be good and bad at the same time
- wouldn’t die for a lie
“Anyone who celebrates Easter may as well believe in Santa Claus!”
- Execution: crucified by professional executioners with many witnesses - officially dead
- empty tomb - Even his enemies acknowledged that the tomb was empty and tried to account for the missions body
- eye witnesses: Over 500 people witnessed Jesus prior to his assention
- Early accounts - records of the resurrection were written far too early to be legend
- events following - resurrection sparked the beginnings of the church and transformation of the disciples
“Why do you think Bible is better than any other book?”
- Prophecieis point to its divine infallibility:
- 1,817 prophecies in scripture written too early to be legend or false, 191 Messianic prophecies that were fulfilled (including things of which Jesus had no control over birthplace, virgin birth etc.) - Consistency show its substance:
- for over 2,000 people have tried to prove it false and fail
- dates span from 1400 BC - 100 AD from multiple writers, some of which havent met each other, and have a consistent message
Paragraph: “Why does God allow suffering and evil?”
- God didn’t create evil but allows it to happen
- free will
- genuine love involves a choice
- Get our attention
- reminds us of how much we need Him
- Keeps the world from becoming too attractive
- wouldn’t desire him is our life was perfect here
- Draws us closer to Him
- can either run away or toward Him
- offers comfort in our time of need
Paragraph: “Miracles? You have to be crazy to believe that stuff!”
- intervention by God: doesnt change the laws of science, just halts them for a moment
1. Miracles DO happen - naive to say they don’t- friend got in a huge car accident, smashed glass, car burst into flames, walked out without a scratch when she should have been dead. Some things that science simply cannot explain because it was divine. POINTS TO THE EXISTENCE OF A GOD
- Believe in a God who created the universe and everything in it, saving one person from a burning car is child’s play to Him
- friend got in a huge car accident, smashed glass, car burst into flames, walked out without a scratch when she should have been dead. Some things that science simply cannot explain because it was divine. POINTS TO THE EXISTENCE OF A GOD
Paragraph: Creation vs. evolution
- Different types of evolution
- Macroevolution = change from species to species
- Micro-evolution = changes within species
- there is some sort of evolution from species to species (eye color, hair color, taller, more lean etc), but none from species to species - saying there is no evolutionary development is naive
- Probability of evolution - all this time and space on your hands youre bound to get lucky just once
- statistics say that even with how old the universe is believed to be, even in the most ideal circumstances evolution is just about impossible
- probable as a tornado sweeping through a junkyard and assembling a functioning 747 Boeing aircraft with the parts found in the yard itself
- it makes sense that if there is design, there is a designer. It is hard to believe that an explosion cause intelligent life
Paragraph: “You Christians think you’re right about everything!”
- All religions make exclusive claims
- Buddhists dont believe in Hindu practices
- Athiests deny there is a God
- Christians believe they are right, but so does every other religion
- Makes sense that one view can be true, or none can be true. Atheism and Christianity cannot both be true, one has to take priority over the other
- Jesus is the only way, but he came to save EVERYONE
- No caste system that cannot be broken, don’t have to be born in a certain place to practice the religion, no certain steps up a ladder to reach nirvana, it is open to ANYONE who accepts God’s grace. That is just about the farthest you can get from intolerance
Paragraph: “A loving God would never send someone to Hell”
- Hell is eternal separation from God
- difficult to interpret the Bible regarding Hell and its logistics, but what is known for sure is that it is eternal separation from God. It may not be the absolute torture chamber people recognize it as, but it is separation from everything good and everyone who praises God
- possible that we cannot know how good heaven is without an alternate
- difficult to interpret the Bible regarding Hell and its logistics, but what is known for sure is that it is eternal separation from God. It may not be the absolute torture chamber people recognize it as, but it is separation from everything good and everyone who praises God
- He doesn’t send people there, they continuously refuse His grace
- people are given multiple chances (special and general revelation)
- dont have hearts soft enough to repent, or ears willing to listen to Him
- once their time is up, allowing them a second chance to change their mind shows that they do it only to receive salvation, and it is no longer a decision made to bring Him joy
Paragraph: “a Sunday school student is struggling with her faith and feels far away from God at the moment”
Doubts
- Faith doesn’t equal good feelings
- being Christian doesn’t mean that life is easier - life is hard and Jesus says that we will face trial of many kinds because of our faith
- inconsistency in faith is normal - growth happens over a long period of time
- Doubts allow us to grow in our faith
- Asking questions pushes us to search for answers
- we become better in the process
- Faith without reason is pure hope