Restitutio

Apologetics 14: Science (Objection 2) Although our culture commonly pits science and faith against each other, as if they’ve been at war for centuries, the truth is that faith gave birth to science.  In this lecture, you’ll learn about some of the main science objections that skeptics bring against Christianity and how to respond to them. If you would like to take this class for credit, please contact the Atlanta Bible College so you can register and do the necessary work for a grade. Notes: Why Isn’t God’s Existence Obvious? no scientific test you can use to prove God’s existence “Confronted with the Almighty, [Bertrand Russell] would ask, ‘Sir, why did you not give me better evidence?'”[1] Isaiah 45.15 talks about the hiddenness of God Dembski’s point in In Defense of the Bible ch 14 is that God is hidden enough not to coerce belief God is visible enough to be found by those who seek him “This seems to be the pattern in God’s revelation of himself: provide enough evidence to convince those who are honestly seeking truth but not so much evidence as to force belief on those who prefer to believe a lie.”[2]   Theists Pioneered Most Branches of Science belief in God led to belief in rational universe belief that external world cohered w/ our observation/perception belief that God used stable physical laws belief that studying creation was a good b/c it indirectly extolled the Creator Copernicus, Kepler, Newton, James Clerk Maxwell “To know the mighty works of God, to comprehend His wisdom and majesty and power; to appreciate, in degree, the wonderful workings of His laws, surely all this must be a pleasing and acceptable mode of worship to the Most High, to whom ignorance cannot be more grateful than knowledge.” –Nicolaus Copernicus, the mathematician and astronomer (1473-1543) who formulated a heliocentric model of the universe “…Those laws are within the grasp of the human mind. God wanted us to recognize them by creating us after his own image so that we could share in his own thoughts.”  –Johannes Kepler, the German mathematician and astronomer who discovered the laws of planetary motion “If you study science deep enough and long enough, it will force you to believe in God.”  —Lord William Kelvin, who was noted for his theoretical work on thermodynamics, the concept of absolute zero and the Kelvin temperature scale based upon it. “In the absence of any other proof, the thumb alone would convince me of God’s existence.” “I have a fundamental belief in the Bible as the Word of God, written by those who were inspired. I study the Bible daily.”—Sir Isaac Newton, who is widely regarded to have been the greatest scientist the world has ever produced. “There can never be any real opposition between religion and science; for the one is the complement of the other. Every serious and reflective person realizes, I think, that the religious element in his nature must be recognized and cultivated if all the powers of the human soul are to act together in perfect balance and harmony. And indeed it was not by accident that the greatest thinkers of all ages were deeply religious souls.”  —Max Planck, the Nobel Prize winning physicist considered to be the founder of quantum theory, and one of the most important physicists of the 20th century, indeed of all time. “The gift of mental power comes from God, Divine Being, and if we concentrate our minds on that truth, we become in tune with this great power.”  –Nikola Tesla, the inventor and futurist scientist known for nume

In this episode, we pick up the conversation where the last lecture in my Apologetics class left off.  We review six reasons the bible gives for suffering as well as how to face pain and hardship. By looking at Jesus and Paul, we see that God did not spare either of them from adversity.  Jesus came into this world as a hunted refugee, faced conflict and opposition his entire ministry, and then, in =the end, faced torture and execution.  Similarly Paul endured rejection, whippings, beatings, shipwreck, and martyrdom.  We can learn from these examples about how we can deal with difficulty in our own lives. Also, we discuss the prosperity gospel and play a clip from John Piper who puts his finger on why such a theology is so dangerous.  Lastly, we draw inspiration from the words of the prophet Habakkuk who cried out to God to do something to deal with the rampant injustice of his day. If you haven’t already, I encourage you to first listen to podcast episode 62: Why Does God Allow Suffering? before listening to this episode.  It should be the one right before this one.  Here now is off script episode 19: more on why God Allows Suffering Notes and Links: Episodes in this series on Overcoming Objections to Christianity: Is Jesus the Only Way to God? Christians Are Hypocrites Why Does God Allow Suffering? The Bible Is Too Antiquated Christianity Is Lame Intro music: “Protofunk” by Kevin MacLeod.  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.

Apologetics 13: Problem of Evil (Objection 1) Now that we’ve established the existence of God, the historicity of Christ’s resurrection, and the bible’s veracity, we come to objections commonly brought against Christianity. The chief classical question posed to Christians throughout the eons is, “How can you believe in God when there is so much pain and suffering in the world?” Thankfully, the bible provides a range of answers to that question though, it’s not always clear which answer applies to a given situation.  In what follows I address the logical argument against God’s existence before going on to cover 6 major reasons why God allows suffering, including: (1) the Fall, (2) the devil, (3) God’s judgments, (4) using suffering for good, (5) lack of faith, and (6) time and chance.  Lastly, I explore some of what the scriptures teach us about dealing with suffering. If you would like to take this class for credit, please contact the Atlanta Bible College so you can register and do the necessary work for a grade.   Notes: The Problem of Evil This is a serious problem I don’t have the problem of evil totally figured out, however this is the way I understand it right now. Your thoughts, doubts, and comments are appreciated. “The problem of evil is the most serious problem in the world. It is also the one serious objection to the existence of God. More people have abandoned their faith because of the problem of evil than for any other reason. It is certainly the greatest test of faith, the greatest temptation to unbelief. And it’s not just an intellectual objection. We feel it. We live it.” –Peter Kreeft[1] outline show how this objection fails to disprove God’s existence explore reasons why God allows evil consider how to deal with suffering   1. How the POE Fails to Disprove God’s Existence The problem stated and some possible solutions the problem of evil is “If there is a God then why is there so much pain and suffering?” Proof against God’s existence God is all-loving God is all-powerful Evil exists \There is no God Some suggested solutions God is not all loving: He really can stop all evil but he doesn’t care enough about our puny lives to put forth the effort. he is distant (deists) hard predestination (you’re a worthless maggot to whom God owes nothing) molinism (God’s arranged the proper amount of suffering to maximize the number who would freely choose him) his focus is not on individual but the group (utilitarian) God is not all-powerful: Harold Kuschner: “God does not reach down to interrupt the workings of laws of nature to protect the righteous from harm. This is a second area of our world which causes bad things to happen to good people, and God does not cause it and cannot stop it”[2] reformulating the proof proof God is all-loving God is all-powerful evil (still) exists God has not eliminated evil yet can’t prove God doesn’t have some reason(s) for allowing evil a world w/ minimal suffering might not be best from God’s perspective a world w/ constant gratuitous evil would probably crush people’s faith a world w/ lots of suffering, lots of beauty, lots of kindness would probably maximize the number of people who turn to God and freely choose to put their faith in him evil points to a source of evil shouldn’t presume the absence of a source of good

In part two of our series on objections to Christianity, we look at the issue of hypocrisy.  Many are unwilling to even consider Christianity as a viable option because they’ve witnessed or heard about some horrible act of hypocrisy by a Christian leader.  It’s hard to deny that hypocrisy is a major problem in Christianity today.  Whether we look at child molestation among Catholic priests, evangelicals who fall into adultery, or prosperity gospel preachers who squeeze every penny out of their poor congregations, hypocrisy is a black eye on the bride of Christ.  How can we talk to skeptics and unbelievers about this issue?  How can we avoid hypocrisy in our own lives?  The cure lies in the teaching and example of Jesus.  Listen to this frank discussion and learn how to respond to this ubiquitous objection. Notes and Links: For more on Rosaria Butterfield’s story, see this post. Episodes in this series on Overcoming Objections to Christianity: Is Jesus the Only Way to God? Christians Are Hypocrites Why Does God Allow Suffering? The Bible Is Too Antiquated Christianity Is Lame Intro music: “Protofunk” by Kevin MacLeod.  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.

Apologetics 12: New Testament Trustworthiness For the New Testament we can employ several of the same lines of reasoning as the Old Testament, though there are a couple more to consider like internal evidence and messianic prophecies that help bolster the case. Furthermore, many people’s lives have been changed by reading and believing the words of the New Testament. No other book has such a legacy for radical life transformation. If you would like to take this class for credit, please contact the Atlanta Bible College so you can register and do the necessary work for a grade. Notes: Reason #1: Archeology Supports the Bible Handout from Skeptics Search for God pages 227 to 234 Handout from Case for Christ pages 92-99 Building Belief, pages 145-146 In Defense of the Bible ed. by Cowan and Wilder pages 236-239 Reason #2: Unflattering Honesty Consider the heroes of faith and their recorded failures: If they made it up, why would they paint themselves so true to life (moles and all)? Peter’s denials (Matthew 26.69-74) Paul’s persecution of the church (Acts 8.1-3) All of this is evidence that the Bible is legitimate—it honestly chronicles what happened. And if we can trust it when people would be inclined to change it for the sake of embarrassment, we can certainly trust it on matters such as the kingdom and the crucifixion/resurrection of Christ. Reason #3: Changed Lives There is an old story about an atheist who challenged a Christian to a debate. The Christian responded, if you can provide me with one person who has been delivered from alcoholism, drug addictions, sexual perversion, violence, or another significant vice by atheism then I will debate you. And I will bring a dozen who have drastically changed as a direct result of their belief in the Bible. Reason #4: Preservation Antiochus Epiphanes tried to destroy the Hebrew bible and Jewish practices The Roman Emperor Diocletian, following an edict in ad 303, attempted to destroy every New Testament 25 years after Diocletian, the next emperor, Constantine, paid for 50 more bibles to be copied Voltaire (18th century) predicted within a hundred years the bible would be gone, but 50 years after he died, the Geneva Bible Society used his house and printing press to produce many more bibles Today the bible is available in more languages than any other book (over 500) This reason alone does not prove the bible is true, but it coheres with the idea.  In other words, if the bible were from God, we would expect he would have his hand on it to preserve it throughout the centuries Reason #5: Internal Evidence What sort of books are the Gospels? What did the writers think they were doing? Luke 1.1-4; 2 Peter 1.16; 1 Corinthians 15.6 they claim to have reported historical facts accurately Reason #6: Messianic Prophesies Ralph Muncaster has calculated the odds of 118 non-messianic historical prophecies being true to be 1 chance in 10118. Thus it is more likely that the Bible is true than this pen will hit the floor when I drop it! In other words, to not believe in the Bible is more suicidal than to jump off a cliff and think that the law of gravity will not take effect! Promise to Abraham (Genesis 12:3, 18:18, 22:18) (Acts 3:25-26) Prophet like Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15-19) (Acts 3:22-23, John 1:43-49, 6:13-14) Raised from the dead (Psalm 16:10) (Acts 13:33-37

With this episode we are beginning a series on overcoming objections to Christianity.  To start with we want to address the criticism often leveled at bible-believing Christians today that our perspective on salvation is too narrow-minded and exclusive.  Who are we to say that all the other religions are wrong?  In order to tackle this issue, we begin with the words of Jesus himself who said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14.6).  If we remain committed to scripture then the question is not, “Is Christ the only way to salvation?” but “How is that fair?”  What about the old lady in Fiji who never got a chance to hear about Jesus?  Listen in as we explore five answers to this important question. Notes and Links: For a masterful presentation concerning Christian exclusiveness, check out Tim Keller’s lecture at Berkley. See also Podcast 51: Pluralism, Post-Modernism, Relativism, and Truth Episodes in this series on Overcoming Objections to Christianity: Is Jesus the Only Way to God? Christians Are Hypocrites Why Does God Allow Suffering? The Bible Is Too Antiquated Christianity Is Lame Intro music: “Protofunk” by Kevin MacLeod.  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.  

Apologetics 11: New Testament Transmission With the New Testament we can’t argue for a reliable transmission on the basis of meticulous Hebrew scribes. More often, especially early on, the Christian scribes focused more on quantity than quality so they could get the word out as quickly as possible. However, the sheer number of manuscripts that survived and the relatively early date of several ensure that we can employ a range of strategies to recover the original text with 99.5% accuracy. In fact, when we compare the New Testament to other ancient literature it is almost embarrassing how much better it is than the others. If you would like to take this class for credit, please contact the Atlanta Bible College so you can register and do the necessary work for a grade. Notes: How To Determine Reliable Transmission Two factors that need to be tested to prove reliability number of copies time span between extant copy and autograph extant means the existing copy autograph means what was originally written A Wealth of Manuscripts extant means currently in existence Uncial manuscripts all-capital Greek letters 306 manuscripts dating to as early as the third century (200’s ad) Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus (both date to around ad350 about 250 years between the completion of the NT and the first full copies of it Minuscule Cursive writing emerged in ad 800 2,856 manuscripts Lectionaries Contain NT Scripture in the sequence that it was to be read in the early churches at appropriate times of the year 2,403 manuscripts Total Greek Manuscripts = 306 + 2856 + 2403 = 5,565 currently (according to Bruce Metzger) Also there are ancient translations Approximately 10,000 copies of the Latin Vulgate 9,300 copies in Ethiopic, Syriac, and Aramaic. Grand Total = over 24,000 manuscripts critical editions NA28  \ all modern translations for the NT are based on one of these UBS4 / Stephanus[1] (KJV was translated from Stephanus) see footnote and next page originated from Erasmus’ 1516 critical edition and complutensian polyglot of 1522 based on 20 to 25 mss, mostly medieval 8th c. or later notable differences Comma Johanneum two later additions that still appear in our Bibles are Adulteress woman and long ending of Mark resources Bruce Metzger’s A Textual Commentary of the Greek New Testament NET Bible Translations major strategies formal equivalence (word for word) dynamic equivalence (thought for thought) translations using outdated Greek manuscripts KJV, NKJV, YLT, ASV, Amplified range of Bibles from most literal to least NASB HCSB ESV NRSV NET NAB NJB NIV NCB GNB CEV NLT Living Message Time Between Autograph and Extant Manuscript see chart on pp. 142-143 in Building Belief The John Rylands papyri manuscript found in Egypt, which is a small portion of the Gospel of John, is dated from ad 117-138. This means that we have a manuscript within nearly 30 years of the autograph. (Only 30 years between Gospel of John and P52 – John Ryland’s Papyrus) Variants between Manuscripts If we

What do you believe about holiness?  Do you view it as an impossible ideal?  Slogans like “I’m not perfect, just forgiven” and “I don’t want to be holier than thou” show how uncomfortable we are with this whole subject.  Even so, God calls us to be holy as he is holy.  We cannot ignore or dismiss such a calling.  There must be some way to live up to his ideals.  In this episode, Keith Daniel, the revival preacher and evangelist from South Africa, brings a convicting and much needed message about holiness.   Notes and Links: Other Restitutio podcasts with Keith Daniel Find more Keith Daniel sermons at Sermon Index To get more information about Winter Teen Camp in RI (Dec 28-30, 2016), visit http://livingfaithri.org/events/wtc For our young adult retreat, Revive, held in CT (Jan 6-8, 2017), visit http://lhim.org/register/?id=205 Intro music: “District Four” by Kevin MacLeod.  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.  

Apologetics 10: Old Testament Trustworthiness Last time we looked as reasons to believe the Jewish scribes reliably transmitted the Old Testament so that what we have today is what they actually wrote. This time you’ll learn five main reasons why we believe the Hebrew bible is true: (1) archaeology, (2) medical insights, (3) unflattering honesty, (4) predictive prophecy, and (5) martyrdom. Although some of these are stronger than others, cumulatively they establish the veracity of scripture quite convincingly. If you would like to take this class for credit, please contact the Atlanta Bible College so you can register and do the necessary work for a grade. Notes: Five reasons to believe the bible is true: archeology medical insights brutal honesty predictive prophecy martyrdom Reason #1: Archeology Supports the Bible Archeology is a soft science based on hard evidence. The clay pot is hard evidence but when it is dated and what it means are based on interpretation. The longer that archeology exists the more detail we get on antiquity Why would the author take the time to report so many things accurately and then make up a story in between? Many times when Israel had conflict with other nations we can look in the secular history and find corroborative evidence of the event Sennacherib’s Prism chart on pp. 140-141 in Building Belief Reason #2: Miraculous Medical Accuracy Leviticus continues incredible medical insights far ahead of its time http://www.apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=13&article=2024&topic=102 8th day circumcision http://www.apologeticspress.org/apcontent.aspx?category=13&article=1118 Reason #3: Brutal Honesty If they made it up, why would they paint themselves so true to life (moles and all)? Consider the heroes of faith and their recorded failures: Noah gets drunk (Genesis 9.20-24) Abraham is deceptive about Sarah (Genesis 12.19; 20.5) Moses disobeys and speaks presumptuously (Numbers 20.7-12) David’s sin with Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11.1-27) Reason #4: Predictive Prophesy Prophecy is an objectively testable criterion that could prove the bible true or false. Objective is true no matter who believes it; Subjective is true depending on how it is perceived. Amazingly, the bible repeatedly predicts historical events before they happen! This is the strongest argument for the bible being true because it is testable. The bible is made falsifiable by predictive prophecy. Some allege that it is easy to predict the future. Try predicting the weather, stock market, gambling, lottery ticket (and don’t forget that if you are wrong once, then you are stoned to death!) Nostradamus made extremely vague prophecies. For more information on what he prophesied and how it has to be twisted in order to fit modern events see EvangelicalOutreach.org/nostradamus.htm “Jeane Dixon’s supposed “prediction” about John F. Kennedy’s election and assassination. In reality, her prediction in Parade magazine in 1956 said that “a Democrat” would win the election and would “die in office.” This was far less specific than predicting “John F. Kennedy would be assassinated,” as some later retold the “prophecy.” Just how amazing was this prediction?” Let’s figure out the odds here: Dem

Kegan Chandler joins me once again to talk about the history of theology.  If you haven’t yet heard his story, check out Interview 8: A Restorationist Finds the God of Jesus.  In this episode, I ask Chandler about his book, The God of Jesus in Light of Christian Dogma.  If you are at all interested in the history of ideas that influenced what Christians in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th centuries believed about Jesus, this show is for you.  Chandler address the how Plato’s Greek philosophy influenced Christian theologians as well as how the Gnostics not only anticipated much trinitarian language, but also how they influenced “orthodox” theology.  After exposing the pagan influnences on the development of the Trinity, Chandler goes on to offer a better way of reading the New Testament–through the lens of second temple Judaism.  Instead of reading later ideas into scripture, why not read it in light of the Hebrew bible and contemporary Jewish literature, like the Dead Sea scrolls.     Notes and Links: Review Kegan Chandler’s The God of Jesus in Light of Christian Dogma: The Recovery of New Testament Theology on Amazon. Chandler’s websites include: thegodofjesus.com and burieddeepblog.wordpress.com R. P. C. Hanson wrote the definitive history of 4th century doctrinal development in his The Search for a Christian Doctrine of God. Richard Rubenstein wrote a much shorter, easier history of Trinity history in his When Jesus Became God. Intro music: “District Four” by Kevin MacLeod.  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.