Week 06: Did This Jesus Really Exist? part 2

Tonight’s class will continue our focus on challenges to the historical Jesus: was he a liar, a lunatic, or a legend?

Recording (1:20:48; 73.9 MB)

Notes (PDF)

Additional Resources

Bill Maher confronts Christians at a theme park (from 'Religilous') 

Zeitgeist: The Movie

Learned Christian Response to Zeitgeist

Learned Atheist Response to Zeitgeist (yes...even they don't buy it either)

"Horus Ruins Christmas"

Week 05: Did This Jesus Really Exist?

Jesus asks, “Who do people say I am? Who do you say I am?”

Ever since the Enlightenment, the answer seems to be “I’m not sure". Since then, the quest for the historical Jesus began and continues on today with “The Jesus Seminar”, Gerd Ludemann, and others.

Tonight’s class will focus on answering a couple challenges to the historical Jesus:

• Why didn’t anyone else write about him?
• You cannot use the Bible as a source because…

Recording (1:15:24; 69.0 MB)

Notes (PDF)

Additional Resources

“Jesus’ Followers Fabricated the Stories and Sayings of Jesus” (a critique on a common objection)

A critique of the Jesus Seminar by NT Wright

Nashville Scene article on Gerd Ludemann (who denies the Resurrection among other things)

One Solitary Life

Week 04: Why is There Evil?

This week we'll be looking at how we might respond to the problem of evil and suffering.

One does not have to search hard to find evil in our world or the great lengths taken to avoid suffering. We have wrestled with it ever since the fall of man. And whenever it rings out, there comes a chorus of questions:

• Why is there evil?
• Why would a good and loving God allow evil to exist?
• Why does suffering come to those who follow hard after him?
• Is God just? Fair? Can He be trusted?

For Christians, these questions present a serious challenge but we will find they need not be insurmountable.

Recording (1:22:56; 75.9 MB)

Notes (PDF)

Links on Suffering

http://rzim.org/just-thinking/if-god-why-suffering

http://www.peterkreeft.com/topics/suffering.htm

Week 03: How Did We Get Here?

Last week, we began looking at “Is There a God?” We considered:

• Argument from First Cause (Cosmological)
• The Moral Argument

Tonight, we will be discussing the Argument from Design

Resources

Class Material

Recording (1:25:33; 78.3 MB)

Notes (PDF)

Links

Eric Metaxas, “Science Increasingly Makes the Case for God”

Lawrence Krauss, “Response to Eric Metaxas”

Shawn Schuster, “Biblical Scholars Refute Eric Metaxas’ Wall Street Journal Article…”

http://www.existence-of-god.com

TwentyArguments For The Existence Of God

Books

Link to Amazon Book List

Flew, Antony, and Roy Abraham Varghese. There Is a God: How the World's Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind. New York: HarperOne, 2007. Print.

Nash, Ronald H. Faith & Reason: Searching for a Rational Faith. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Academie, 1988. Print.

Geisler, Norman L., and Frank Turek. I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist. Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway, 2004. Print.

Lennox, John C. God's Undertaker Has Science Buried God? Updated ed. Oxford: Lion, 2009. Print.

Little, Paul E. Know What You Believe. Wheaton, Ill.: Scripture Publications, 1970. Print. 

Week 02: Is There A God?

You and another survivor wash up on the shore of a deserted island. There are no books, no smart phones, no other people - nothing but sand and time. Or at least time for one of you. Your fellow survivor was severely wounded in the accident and death seems likely. You begin to pray for them when they tell you not to waste your time; they don't believe in God. As foolish as unbelief is at a time like this, they are insistent that God doesn't exist. "After all", they ask, "why are you both on this deserted island?"

What would you say that could help this person see that there is a God?

Tonight's class focuses on some potential answers that might help us when we're faced with that question.

Resources

Class Material

Recording (1:25:33; 78.3 MB)

Notes (PDF)

Links

"Martian" movie trailer (Moral Arguments from Hollywood?)

"Right and Wrong as a Clue to the Meaning of the Universe" by C.S. Lewis (PDF)

http://www.existence-of-god.com

Great site discussing classical arguments for God's existence. Author unknown.

TwentyArguments For The Existence Of God
Peter Kreeft is a brilliant Roman Catholic philosopher and author. Warning: Very deep waters here!

Books

Link to Amazon Book List

Flew, Antony, and Roy Abraham Varghese. There Is a God: How the World's Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind. New York: HarperOne, 2007. Print.

Nash, Ronald H. Faith & Reason: Searching for a Rational Faith. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Academie, 1988. Print.

Geisler, Norman L., and Frank Turek. I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist. Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway, 2004. Print.

Lewis, C. S. Mere Christianity: A Revised and Enlarged Edition, with a New Introduction, of the Three Books, the Case for Christianity, Christian Behaviour, and Beyond Personality. Macmillan Paperbacks ed. New York: Macmillan Pub., 1960. Print.

Little, Paul E. Know What You Believe. Wheaton, Ill.: Scripture Publications, 1970. Print. 

Week 01: Introduction and Dealing with Doubt

This semester should be called “Essential Apologetics: Dealing with Doubt”. Because doubt is precisely what we are going to be dealing with.

Apologetics and doubt are closely tied together. Christian apologetics in particular seeks to provide rational arguments for faith in Jesus Christ. These arguments build bridges over doubts that may help people more clearly see the beauty of Christ.

So the first aim of this class is to help you settle some things in your own mind – to deal with your doubts. Then you can help people with theirs. Or to paraphrase Christ: to deal with your planks that you may deal with other’s specks.

But no matter how persuasive our arguments may be, none of them can stand in for the work of the Holy Spirit. As the great Ravi Zacharias puts it:

"Apologetics is the seasoning, the Gospel is the main course. You do not want too much of the seasoning or it will make the main course insipid. Apologetics does not dominate our message; it undergirds our message. Argument doesn't save people, but it certainly clears the obstacles so they can take a direct look at the Cross. Support the argument justifiably, but recognize it is Jesus Christ who you need to lift up, and it is the Holy Spirit who brings about change within the human heart. An argument may remove doubt, but only the Holy Spirit can convict of truth."

Resources

These resources are supplemental to tonight's topic. They are completely optional and are provided here to give you some additional depth.

Online

http://www.bethinking.org/apologetics/an-introduction-to-christian-apologetics

A great (and lengthy!) article that defines apologetics, discusses various approaches, and refutes some common objections to its use in evangelism. Lots of information to glean and plenty of secondary sources to whet your appetite.

http://www.icr.org/article/understanding-effective-biblical-apologetics/

A good primer on what apologetics is and how one should go about it. Note: This article comes from the Institute on Creation Research and represents a Presuppositional approach. If you don’t know what that is, then read the article above.

http://enrichmentjournal.ag.org/200804/200804_020_Defend_Christian.cfm

A brief interview with Ravi Zacharias where he traces the origins of the current spiritual climate and how apologetics can speak to it. Great read.

Books

Link to Amazon Book List

Craig, William Lane, and Lee Strobel. On Guard: Defending Your Faith with Reason and Precision. David C. Cook; New Edition, 2010. Print.

Geisler, Norman L., and Frank Turek. I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist. Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway, 2004. Print.

Guinness, Os. God in the Dark: The Assurance of Faith beyond a Shadow of Doubt. Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway, 1996. Print.

Lewis, C. S. Mere Christianity: A Revised and Enlarged Edition, with a New Introduction, of the Three Books, the Case for Christianity, Christian Behaviour, and Beyond Personality. Macmillan Paperbacks ed. New York: Macmillan Pub., 1960. Print.

Little, Paul E. Know What You Believe. Wheaton, Ill.: Scripture Publications, 1970. Print.

Wallace, J. Warner. Cold-case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels. Print.