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Lesson OneWhat is Apologetics?4 Activities1 Assessment
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Lesson TwoArguments from Design4 Activities1 Assessment
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Lesson ThreeMoral Argument4 Activities1 Assessment
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Lesson FourIdentity of Jesus4 Activities1 Assessment
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Lesson FiveChristianity and Other Religions4 Activities1 Assessment
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Course Wrap-UpCourse Completion1 Activity1 Assessment
Participants 353
Discussion Questions
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Give a couple of examples from 1 Peter 3:15–16 as to why and how we should embrace apologetics in our faith journey.
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Be Prepared to Give an Answer (1 Peter 3:15a): The verse begins with, “Always be prepared to answer everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” This teaches us that we should be ready to explain and defend our faith with clarity and conviction. Apologetics is a way to respond to questions and challenges about our beliefs thoughtfully, helping us articulate why we trust in Christ.
Do It with Gentleness and Respect (1 Peter 3:15b-16): The passage continues, “But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience.” This emphasizes that how we engage in apologetics is just as important as the content. We are called to defend our faith not through argument or aggression but with kindness and humility, ensuring that we reflect Christ’s love even while addressing difficult questions.
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The two examples from Peter are so that others will see the good in you and others that don’t see will be ashamed.
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Worship God as our Lord and always be prepared to explain why you believe. Be kind and gentle when others ask questions about your faith and God. If people speak harshly toward you or about your beliefs, remain calm and gentle and they may be ashamed of their own behavior as you don’t retaliate.
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Being That we are Christian. We should spend time in God’s word. This allows us to be able to grow in knowledge of his word and truth. This allows us to be able to defend the apologetics along our journey of life as we continue reading scripture.
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Being a new creation in Christ should lead us to transform our hearts and souls and minds so that we are aligning more with the mission of God. We should want to know what we believe and why and this should propel us out towards others with sound arguments. I like the part of gentleness and respect, of forming our character and will towards God so that His love flows through us as we proclaim our faith.
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How is Christianity more than just a worldview? Provide some examples.
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Every religion needs a worldview, a kind of philosophical synopsis of a particular perspective. It depends on theology. It is a set of assumptions about the basic makeup of the world. Not all worldviews can be true, so to be an intellectually responsible person, you have to ask is there a God, do I have a soul, an afterlife, what is the good life? We should care about our beliefs and how can we support what we believe. It is a way of distilling your foundation or core beliefs into intellectual terms, but not necessarily through a sound intellectual process.
The Christian worldview is more in the sense that it is reality, Jesus did rise from the dead and there is evidence that Jesus changes lives. Other religions claim truth, but are they successful in that? We should derive our worldview from what the bible teaches. God is the creator, designer of the universe, three persons, three in one. God is eternal, He has no beginning and end. He does not depend on anything outside Himself to exist. We have the ultimate reality, the infinite, personal, triune, incarnate God. Our worldview offers a new way of life. If we follow Jesus, we have a biblical worldview, we can be freed from self-deception, we can confess our sins before God. Our worldview is a real personal relationship with God not a set of religious ideals.
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Living and showing others the Love of Jesus. Love like He does. The best example of who Jesus is and how He wants us to be!
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While the questions of worldview are important to Christian apologetics we must not forget the whole history of and evidence for Christianity. Eyewitnesses such as Isaiah, recorded in Isaiah 6, confirm God has high, lofted and lifted up. Moses encountered God through the burning bush as recorded in Exodus 3. God instructed Moses to take off his sandals as the place he was standing was holy ground. Moses was also an eyewitness to the miracles of God, one being the parting the Red Sea (Exodus 14).
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More than just a worldview, or the way we filter everything we know about life, Christianity provides our lives with meaning and purpose. Most worldviews, as seen through our lecture, contain many contradictions and really do not address these 2 very essential issues that all face in their daily lives. Christianity provides meaning in that it defines who we are, not just providing a way to filter our decisions or viewpoints; it even goes so far as to tell us Whose we are. When we know these things, we are able to then look at what our purpose is to bring not just the knowledge of our meaning, but also depth and breadth to our meaning. When we understand who/whose we are in God, we are now able to define our purpose, which is to bring Him glory. As we further explore Scripture, we find that the way we bring Him glory is through living uprightly, which means we are constantly changing and growing in His ways to reflect him more, and that example of upright living will lead us to bringing others in understanding of who/whose they are and that they have the same purpose. This all brings glory to God and brings so much more than just an outlook on life to those who come to know Him. This is a very basic and brief explanation, but I feel it gets to the heart without bringing too much to the table.
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My Christian faith is based on facts of what Jesus Christ has done for me in my life. I see the Bible as books of God’s History, Character, Redemption, Salvation , and how to live the Christian life with a relation in Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit.
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What is a simple explanation of apologetics? What is apologetics not?
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Apologetics is the defense of the Christian worldview. It is the explanation of why we believe it to be true, and provable, and all important. It is not an apology for your faith, or a defense from weakness. You do not need to abandon reason to be a Christian.
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Enough reasons to believe in God. Being afraid of defending Christ as God-Man.
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“So if you want a formal definition, I say that apologetics is the
defense of Christianity as objectively true, compellingly rational,
and pertinent to all of life”.
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Apologetics is the branch of theology or philosophy that aims to provide a rational defense or justification for a particular belief system, typically focusing on religious beliefs. The term “apologetics” is derived from the Greek word “apologia,” which means a defense or a reasoned argument.
In simple terms, apologetics involves presenting reasoned arguments and evidence to support or defend a specific set of beliefs, often in the context of religion. It seeks to address questions, challenges, or criticisms raised by skeptics or those who hold opposing views.
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Apologetics is defending the Christian faith as objectively true. It is for the purpose of bringing unbelievers to belief in Christ. It is not simply an intellectual exercise whose purpose is to take out the mystery of Christianity, but rather to defend and give a case for the cause of Christ.
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What is the purpose of defending truth?
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Defending truth sets people free. In John 8:31 Jesus says we will know the truth by His word and it will set us free. Today in a world where truth can be twisted into different ideas, people need to know the truth. They will only find it through the Hoy Spirit, through us. People will find freedom, be saved, healed set free from futility and hopelessness. Jesus said He was the only way back to God, the way, the truth and the life, John 14:6. Either he was a liar or He was telling the truth. From experience and developing a relationship with Him, I have found this to be true. Jesus commanded us to go out and make disciples, so we need to be defending what we have found to be truth. We are inviting people into this new way of life.
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The purpose of defending truth is to invite “someone into a new way of life, an eternal fellowship with Christ and all the redeemed.”
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Again, according to our lecture, the purpose of defending truth, or the purpose of apologetics is “to bring unbelievers to belief, to faith in Christ, to know Him and to confess Him as Lord and to follow Him. And to provide intellectual satisfaction because people have questions about, is there a God, is Jesus the way, are there problems within the Bible and so on.”
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We defend Christianity as truth, rational, and how it pertains to life. If I cannot defend it, then why am I believing in it?
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The purpose of defending truth is to exercise apologetics in defending Christianity by justifying why these truths are sound foundational ideals for living a Christ-centered life. It also acts as a way to invite others into this way of life so it has an inherent evangelical quality that links Christians to the Great Commission: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19–20, ESV).
The Bible presents the Correspondence View of truth that links true statements to life conditions that act as a basis for Christian living that recognizes Jesus as the Son of God and our savior resulting from his sacrifice. Christians are mindful that contradictory ideas cannot both be true and that defending the Christian Worldview as objectively true, compellingly rational and pertinent is of the utmost importance.
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Why does Dr. Groothuis use the “cumulative case” as his apologetic method for Christianity?
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This approach is taken because it provides many avenues to the truth through science, history and philosophy and builds a case that is multifaceted.
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Without knowing all of the other options, I see that the evidences that are brought to support the truth of apologetic understanding and study are multi-faceted. As he explains, in a courtroom, you will receive evidence from numerous sources of different backgrounds and perspectives. By accumulating all of these perspectives, one can devise the most accurate understanding of the whole picture, providing a deeper and more thorough understanding.
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Using the Apologetic method of cumulative case is combining biblical history, various forms of science, a collective of philosophy, and human experiences to bring forth God’s truth.
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The Cumulative Case is the multi-faceted analysis of the truth claims that encompass Christianity. It would be to take a holistic approach in exploring the foundational facts and truths pertaining to a certain aspect of Christianity and the reasonable approaches that can be employed to conduct subject research while incorporating historical context, science, philosophy, documented evidences and scholastic disciplines based on logic and reason.
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He focuses on the laws of logic. This means that something cannot BE and NOT BE at the same time.
He states that something IS what it IS.