Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
The Evangelism Weekend 2010 Page 1 of 5 Evangelism & Apologetics Intro i. Definitions: Evangelism = telling people that Jesus is Lord. Apologetics = telling people why they should believe that Jesus is Lord ii. You don’t need to be an expert in science / philosophy Islam before you talk to people about Jesus, all you need is a Bible. 1. The task: defending our hope Key Bible verse: 1 Peter 3.15-16 ‘But in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.’ - Answering people’s questions is part of what it means to be godly - God’s demands of me are quite high: always… anyone… - Includes: testimony, why believe, answers to common questions - My ‘direction of travel’ matters more than my current level of expertise NB: beware the twin dangers of defeatism & plateau-ing expect ‘being prepared’ to be hard work 2. Sin & salvation Our approach to evangelism flows directly out of our understanding of sin & salvation 2.1 Sin Key Bible verses: Romans 3.10-12 ‘As it is written: "None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one."’ Temporal consequence of sin: unbelievers are ‘dead’ (Jn 5.24), under God’s wrath (Jn 3.36), evil (Jn 7.7), blind (Jn 9.39-41), children of the devil (Jn 8.44), and ‘unable to enter the kingdom of God’ (Jn 3.5). The Evangelism Weekend 2010 Page 2 of 5 Note especially the ‘noetic’ effects of sin: ‘Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.’ Ephesians 4.17-18 ‘Total depravity’ – not that we are all as immoral as we could be, but that every part of our life is tainted by sin. ‘When people stop believing in God, they don't believe in nothing— they believe in anything.’ G. K. Chesterton ‘False faith’ – Turretin Implication 2.2 The absolute necessity of ‘new birth’ – salvation is ‘all of God’ Salvation Key Bible verse: 1 Peter 1.23 ‘… you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God.’ The Spirit regenerates by the word Implications Positively: The Word is sufficient for belief ‘Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.’ John 20.30-31 The Evangelism Weekend 2010 Page 3 of 5 Negatively: The insufficiency of ‘evidentialism’ as an apologetic method - people are not unbelievers because they lack information about God - we will never argue anyone into the kingdom, so we will never rely on extra-biblical arguments in our evangelism (if you could give one book to a friend…? - so why does so much ‘apologetics’ take people away from God’s word? 3. Evangelism & apologetics: These convictions feed our understanding of the relationship between apologetic argument and the proclamation of Scripture. NOT: Two distinct categories Teaching the Bible to non-Christians Apologetic argument NOT: Apologetic argument as a sub-set of evangelism BUT: Two largely overlapping categories Teaching the Bible to non-Christians Additional apologetic arguments Directly biblical apologetic arguments Implication ‘Normal’ evangelism is reading the Bible (Mark’s gospel?) with a friend Who is Jesus, why did He come, what does He require? The Evangelism Weekend 2010 Page 4 of 5 4. How then do I answer people’s tough questions? i. Work out what they believe: The ‘worldview’ of Jesus The ‘worldview’ of the world Christian life Some other way of life Christian beliefs Some other beliefs THE PERFECT WORD OF THE LIVING GOD SOME OTHER FOUNDATIONAL AUTHORITY – what is yours? Learn to think Christianly about the things that other people believe: Are their beliefs intellectually credible? Why do they believe what they believe? Are they existentially satisfying? ii. In apologetics, we want both to attack unbelief & to proclaim belief a. Attacking unbelief: i. For its implausibility ‘Why do you believe that?’ ‘Why have you decided NOT to worship Jesus?’ ii. For its inconsistency ‘Didn’t you just say that there’s no ultimate morality?’ iii. For its impracticality ‘Can you really live like that?’ ‘Do you really want to live in a world like that?’ iv. For its ultimate futility ‘Do you have any hope in the face of death?’ Tolstoy, ‘Is there any meaning in my life that will not be destroyed by the inevitable death that awaits me?’ The Evangelism Weekend 2010 Page 5 of 5 b. Proclaiming belief in Christ: i. Defend belief in Christ against its detractors: it is true & it does work a. Evidentially: Reliability of the Scriptures Arguments for the resurrection b. Morally: The goodness of God in a world of suffering The justice of God in the light of hell c. Philosophically: The exclusive truth of God in a world of pluralism d. Existentially: It really works for individuals (testimony) for families for society for eternity ii. Declare Christ as Lord a. Sooner rather than later, cf. Francis Schaeffer THE BIG QUESTION: What does this person think about Jesus? Why do they believe what they believe about Jesus? What is their authority for what they believe? Have they ever investigated his claims seriously? Why do they think Jesus had to die? b. Tell the truth… in a loving way c. Remember you are talking to a person: why are they asking this question? d. Keep the discussion open – end with a ? not an !