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| Faith Has Its Reasons |
| "How Do I Know I Can Trust The Bible?" |
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| I. Answering non churchgoers' questions: |
| A. Read 1 Peter 3:15, 16. |
| B. What do these verses say to Christians who think Christianity is "blind faith"? |
| C. What is the reason for the hope you have? |
| D. Have you ever met (or yourself been) a Christian that gives answers without gentleness & respect? What were they like? How do you think they made the questioner feel? |
| E. How can answering with gentleness & respect help us to be heard? |
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| II. "How do I know I can trust the Bible?" |
| A. Think of a time before you were a Christian, or weren't going to church. What did you think about the Bible? |
| B. What kinds of skeptical comments have you heard from non churchgoers about the Bible? |
| C. Many Christians think "The Bible is God's Word, and you should just believe it". Why won't that answer cut it with the unchurched? |
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| III. Here's how you can know that you can trust the Bible! |
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| A. Practical Evidence: |
| 1. The Bible is a book of real life stories about real life people touched by a real God. The Bible doesn't gloss over people's doubts, struggles, sins, joys, victories, defeats, and faith or lack thereof. See the stories of : |
| Joseph (Genesis 37-50) |
| Ruth ( Book of Ruth) |
| Hannah (1 Samuel 1-2:11) |
| David & Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11 & 12) |
| Peter (Mark & Acts) |
| Thomas (John 20:24-31) |
| 2. Millions of changed lives (and, yes, some pretenders). Consider: |
| Jesus' 12 disciples |
| Sir Francis of Assisi |
| Malcolm Muggeridge |
| Lee Strobel |
| Mother Theresa |
| 3. Your own life-- If you're like me, God has used the Bible to comfort, challenge, inspire, and motivate you while changing your patterns of thought and action. |
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| B. Manuscript (MSS.) Evidence: |
| 1. The Bible is unmatched in ancient literature for quantity of manuscripts and their proximity to the date of writing: |
| Leaders & Assistant Leaders |
| Babysitters |
| 2. Where MSS. of the Bible disagree, it doesn't affect the essential teachings of Christianity (See Mark 16:9-20). |
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| Author |
Date Written |
Earliest Copy |
Time Span |
# of copies |
| Caesar |
100-44 B.C. |
900 B.C. |
1,000 years |
10 |
| Homer (Iliad) |
100-44 B.C. |
100-44 B.C. |
500 years |
643 |
| Aristotle |
100-44 B.C. |
100-44 B.C. |
1,400 years |
49. |
| New Testament | 100-44 B.C. |
100-44 B.C. |
0 |
24,000 |
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| C. Internal Evidence: |
| 1. Lack of major disagreement in a volume of 66 books written over a period of about 1500 years, 3 languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek), and dozens of (inspired) human authors. |
| 2. Primary source NT evidence, see: |
| Luke 1:1-3 |
| 2 Peter 1:16 |
| 1 John 1:3 |
| Acts 2:22 |
| John 19:35, 20:30-31, 21:24 |
| Luke 3:1 |
| Acts 26:24-26 |
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| D. External Evidence: |
| 1. The Early Church Fathers (Ignatius, Polycarp, Irenaeus) |
| 2. Flavius Josephus1st. Cent. A.D. Jewish historian. |
| 3. Archaeological evidence: |
| a. Moses and the "Ebla" Tablets. |
| b. William Ramsay and the historicity of Luke/Acts. |
| e.g.--Quirinius was governor of Syria between 7 B.C. and 6 A.D., during which time there was a census (See Luke 2:1-3). |
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| Note--the Bible has been exposed to more brutal criticism than any book in history, and it has withstood that criticism time and again; if the standards applied to the Bible were applied to other ancient documents, no one would believe them! |
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| IV. For additional reading/research: |
| A. Give Me An Answer, Cliff Knechtle. |
| B. More Than A Carpenter, Josh McDowell. |
| Evidence That Demands A Verdict, Josh McDowell.
More Evidence, " " " " |
| C. The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable?, F.F. Bruce. |
| D. St. Paul the Traveler and Roman Citizen, William Ramsay. |
| The Bearing of Recent Discovery On The Trustworthiness of the |
| New Testament, William Ramsay. |
| E. Antiquities, Flavius Josephus. |
| F. Handbook of Christian Apologetics, Kreeft & Tacelli |
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| Faith Has Its Reasons |
| "How Can a Rational Person Believe Jesus Rose From the Dead" |
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| Note--it's important to remember from the last session's discussion the reliability of NT writings as eyewitness documents! |
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| I. Biblical Christianity depends upon the resurrection of Jesus from the dead being a true, historical event--no resurrection, no Christianity. Fortunately, God gives us plenty of evidence that the resurrection did happen! |
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| The Context: Love |
| A. Read 1 Corinthians 15:1-8, 12-19. |
| B. What about Christ is "of first importance"? Why does it matter that Jesus was seen by so many witnesses after rising from the dead? Why would it matter that some of the witnesses were still alive (vs. 6) when Paul was writing? |
| C. If Jesus hasn't been raised, then why would Paul's preaching, and his followers' faith, be in vain? What does vs. 19 have to say to us about our faith? |
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| II. "How can a rational personal believe Jesus rose from the dead"? |
| A. What kind of assumptions might lead someone to ask the question above? How might those assumptions affect the way they think about the question? |
| B. As you discuss this question with people, how might you help them to hear what you're saying?
the skeptic's assumption: no rational person would believe in the resurrection |
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| III. Here's how a rational person can believe that Jesus rose from the dead! |
| A. Jesus really died and was buried: |
| Matthew 27:45-61 |
| Mark 15:33-47 |
| Luke 23:44-56 |
| John 19:28-42 |
| B. Jesus really rose from the dead: |
| Matthew 28 |
| Mark 16:1-8 |
| Luke 24 |
| John 20-21 |
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| remember we said last week that the Bible is a book of "real life stories about real life people touched by a real God"? The Gospel accounts of Jesus' death & resurrection ring to real life, different people reacting with amazement, fear, disbelief, and relief. |
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| Theories regarding Jesus' resurrection: |
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| Theories about Jesus' Death |
Theories about Jesus' Resurrection |
Explanations For Theories |
| Jesus Died |
Jesus Rose |
Christianity |
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Myth |
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Hallucination |
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Conspiracy |
| Jesus Didn't Die | |
Swoon |
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| Rational refutation of the anti-resurrection explanations |
| 1. The Resurrection is a myth or legends |
| * Wrong style |
| * No evidence for "non-miraculous" Jesus |
| * Discovered by women |
| * Internal & external evidence for the gospels |
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| 2. The Resurrection was a conspiracy by the disciples (they stole the body) |
| Started by Jewish leaders (Mt. 28:11-15); refuted by disciples (Acts 2:22-24, 4:13-20, 5:27-32). Note the response to refutation: silence! |
| * Disciples' character transformation. |
| * The story is too detailed and personalized |
| * No one broke the conspiracy. |
| * No motive for the disciples to lie. |
| * Why didn't the Jews & Romans produce the body?! |
| So then…when & where should we "worship"? Is it a one-time thing, a some-time thing, or an all-the-time thing? |
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| 3. Jesus only "swooned" (fainted) on the cross, and was revived in the tomb |
| * Jesus died (JAMA, April 1986) |
| * Roman soldiers' familiarity with death, penalty for escapes. |
| * Eyewitnesses saw Jesus' side being pierced (John 19:31-35). |
| * Jesus' body wrapped & entombed. |
| * Incredible feats for a crucified man: revive, move a several ton stone, & appear healthy in spite of massive injuries & blood loss! |
| * Seeing Jesus changed his followers from fearful to fearless. |
| * Say Jesus (for argument's sake) didn't die--what happened? |
| * Absolutely no evidence about a "post-swoon" Jesus--Where did he go? |
| * Where's his tomb & body? He must've died some time! |
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| 4. The Disciples didn't actually see a risen Jesus; they just had visions or hallucinations |
| * The Nature of Hallucinations |
| * The Nature, Number, & Quality of the Resurrection Accounts |
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| The Believer's assurance: the only way to not believe Jesus rose from the dead is to willingly disbelieve every shred of available evidence. It takes more of an act of faith not to believe the resurrection than to believe it. As Christians, we should be asking non believers "How can a rational person not believe in Jesus resurrection?" |
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| FAITH HAS ITS REASONS |
| "Doesn't science disprove the Biblical account of creation?" |
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| Application: |
| In what ways do you tend to "conform to the pattern of this world"? |
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| I. Doesn't science disprove Jesus' miracles? No! |
| A. C.S. Lewis on the possibility & probability of miracles. |
| B. Practical evidence. |
| C. Jesus' resurrection--if he can rise from the dead, why wouldn't he be able to heal people, cast out demons, multiply loaves & fishes, and turn water into wine? |
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| II. Doesn't science disprove the Biblical account of creation? Let's see: |
| A. The relationship between Christianity, the Bible, and Science. |
| 1. The Bible is not a science textbook. |
| 2. The Bible is accurate where it addresses science. |
| 3. The Bible's terminology is the terminology of the time
that it was written. |
| 4. The Bible is explanitive; science is descriptive. |
| B. The nature of the Biblical account of creation (See
Genesis 1, 2): |
| 1. Literary form: metaphorical. |
| 2. Intended meaning: doctrinal (God created, the creation was/is good, humanity's intended relationship to God/creation). |
| C. A major strength of creation argumentation: intelligent design. |
| D. Three flaws in evolutionary argumentation: tautaulogies, the "inevitability of chance", no evidence of new species from old. |
| E. Differing Worldviews: their assumptions and biases. |
| F. Can science define & explain ultimate meaning and purpose? Can it answer the "why" of life as well as the "how"? Has science been able to change the human mind/heart (consider: more people have died from warfare & genocide in the 20th century than in all history combined due to scientific advances in military technology)?
Some conclusions: |
| 1. Science is neutral; it is not God. It can be used for good or evil, depending on people. |
| 2. The evolutionary theory and the Biblical account of creation have distinct points of disagreement, but given their different purposes those differences are few and not necessarily irreconcilable (consider the order of creation in both the Biblical and evolutionary accounts: matter, water, plants, animals, man). |
| 3. While Christianity may coexist with evolution, it is absolutely incompatible with evolutionism. Evolutionism is a world view, a "secular religion" that seeks to explain what science can only describe; it puts science in the place of God. |
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| Some scriptures to look up: |
| Genesis 1-3 |
| 2 Peter 3:8; Psalm 90:4 |
| Colossians 1:15-20 |
| Acts 17:24-31 |
| Psalm 139 |
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| Books for further research: |
| Michael Green, Was Jesus Who He Said He Was? |
| *Phillip Johnson, Darwin on Trial, Defeating Darwin, IVP |
| *Peter Kreeft & Ronald Tacelli, Handbook of Christian Apologetics, IVP
Lesslie Newbiggen, Foolishness To The Greeks. |
| C.S. Lewis, Miracles: A Preliminary Study, Mere Christianity, Simon & Schuster |
| How do we grow and become spiritually mature (13-16; cf. 3:17 & 1:18)? What is the result of spiritual maturity? |
| *Ravi Zacharias, Can Man Live Without God? |
| *these books are especially well written: rational, readable, & relevant |
| www.templetoncommunitychurch.org
|templetoncommunitychurch@yahoo.com | 805.434.5040 |
