Sketch 51 Jesus and Apologetics

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SKETCHES of Leadership o o o o >
esus @ and Apologetics
Mark 12: 18-27
Some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him and asked him
a question, saying, 19 `Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies,
leaving a wife but no child, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for
his brother. 20 There were seven brothers; the first married and, when he died, left
no children; 21 and the second married her and died, leaving no children; and the
third likewise; 22 none of the seven left children. Last of all the woman herself died.
23 In the resurrection whose wife will she be? For the seven had married her.'
24 Jesus said to them, `Is not this the reason you are wrong, that you know neither
the scriptures nor the power of God? 25 For when they rise from the dead, they
neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. 26 And as for
@
What do you notice about the question?
the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the story about
the bush, how God said to him, "I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and
the God of Jacob"? 27 He is God not of the dead, but of the living; you are quite
wrong.'
Consider:
What strategies does Jesus employ in
answering their question?
Read, reflect on, and answer the following questions:
b What are some apologetics questions you've been asked?
c What kinds of issues come up?
d How are they usually posed?
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C @
SKETCHES of Leadership o o o o >
ommon Apologetics Questions
Apologetics Question
Assumptions Behind the Question
How can there be a good God with so much > No good God would want suffering.
obvious suffering in the world?
> Any all-powerful God who allows suffering is not a good guy.
If God is good, he is not God. If God is God,
> Suffering never produces good.
he is not good.
> The best world would be one without any suffering of any kind.
How can Christianity say that Jesus is the
> All religions say basically the same things, especially in ethics, which is what is most
only way?
crucial.
> What matters most is intensity or sincerity of faith, not its object.
How can God send good people who don't
> Most people are basically good and deserve the reward of heaven.
believe in Jesus to Hell?
Hasn't science (Evolution) disproven much of > Evolution and the Big Bang shows that God wasn't involved in creation.
the Bible and Christianity?
> Genesis is meant to be literal account of creation from Christian perspective: Science
has disproven this account.
Why are Christians so arrogant? Why do
> Truth is relative. What is true and works for you may not be what is true or what
Christians insist on forcing their way of
works for me.
thinking on others?
Isn't Christianity a crutch?
> People shouldn't or don't need crutches.
> Only Christians have crutches.
How can you believe in miracles?
> Miracles don't happen because God doesn't exist. All that exists is the material
world.
> God may (or may not) exist, but he doesn't intervene in human affairs.
How can you believe that Jesus rose from the > The disciples so wanted Jesus to come back that they made it up/hallucinated it
dead?
How can Christians believe that Jesus--a
> Jesus was a good moral teacher.
good moral teacher--was God?
> Jesus' disciples advanced the claim that he was God, Jesus' didn't.
What about those who have never heard
> Ignorance of Jesus implies lack of responsibility for rejecting God.
about Jesus?
How can you believe the Bible?
> The ancient documents are too unreliable to base my life's beliefs on.
> The bible is full of errors and contradictions.
[Your own addition here]
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Sketches of Leadership #51
©2007 InterVarsity Christian Fellowship 6400 Schroeder Road, P.O. Box 7895 Madison, WI 53707-7895
tel 608.274.9001 email info@intervarsity.org web www.intervarsity.org

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J
SKETCHES of Leadership o o o o >
esus @ and Apologetics
Mark 12: 18-27
Some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him and asked him
a question, saying, 19 `Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies,
leaving a wife but no child, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for
his brother. 20 There were seven brothers; the first married and, when he died, left
no children; 21 and the second married her and died, leaving no children; and the
third likewise; 22 none of the seven left children. Last of all the woman herself died.
23 In the resurrection whose wife will she be? For the seven had married her.'
24 Jesus said to them, `Is not this the reason you are wrong, that you know neither
the scriptures nor the power of God? 25 For when they rise from the dead, they
neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. 26 And as for
@
What do you notice about the question?
the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the story about
> T hey try to use a reduction ad ab surdum
the bush, how God said to him, "I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and
argument: suppose the opposite of the
thing you believe is true, then prove it is
the God of Jacob"? 27 He is God not of the dead, but of the living; you are quite
absurd to believe this thing.
wrong.'
> They want Jesus to say, "Um, I never
thought of it like that before. I guess you
are correct--the resurrection is a logical
fallacy!"
Consider:
What strategies does Jesus employ in
Read, reflect on, and answer the following questions:
answering their question?
b What are some apologetics questions you've been asked?
> Jesus first corrects their faulty assump-
> Why would a good God create a world with such unjust suffering?
tion: the resurrection is not like earth--
> How can Christianity say that Jesus is the only way?
people aren't given in marriage.
> How can God send good people who don't believe in Jesus to Hell?
> Then he addresses their fundamental
> Hasn't science (Evolution) disproven much of the Bible and Christianity?
issue--the QBQ, question behind the
> How can you believe in miracles?
question.
> They really are asking about the
c What kinds of issues come up?
resurrection. Jesus presents logic:
1. God is God of Abraham.
d How are they usually posed?
(The Scriptures)
> Often these questions are posed as reductio ad absurdum arguments.
2. God is the God of the living.
The questioner asks the question in such a way that it puts us on the defensive
(the power of God)
- as if no reasonable person would fail to acknowledge that ... science has
3. Therefore, Abraham is living, hence
disproven God, for example.
raised from the dead.
> We can learn from Jesus' model, if we too 1) know the scriptures, and 2) know
(You are quite wrong.)
the power of God. Often, people will make assumptions about the faith they
think we have in the question they ask. If we can identify the assumptions, and
correct their impressions, it will be easier to answer their questions.
> Apologetics isn't the whole story in evangelism, but it is part of the story.
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Sketches of Leadership #51

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C @
SKETCHES of Leadership o o o o >
ommon Apologetics Questions
Apologetics Question
Assumptions Behind the Question
How can there be a good God with so much > No good God would want suffering.
obvious suffering in the world?
> Any all-powerful God who allows suffering is not a good guy.
If God is good, he is not God. If God is God,
> Suffering never produces good.
he is not good.
> The best world would be one without any suffering of any kind.
Think about it: is that what makes for the best literature, the best movies. Suffering in
proportion to pleasure--when we never know pain, disappointment, delay or unfulfilled
desire we never will know pleasure or joy. CS. Lewis: "God whispers to us in our plea-
sures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: in is his megaphone to rouse
a deaf world." Ultimately: Jesus Christ as the God who suffers: his death doesn't take
suffering away, but it is made purposeful, redemptive.
How can Christianity say that Jesus is the
> All religions say basically the same things, especially in ethics,
only way?
which is what is most crucial.
> What matters most is intensity or sincerity of faith, not its object.
Religions differ widely re: monotheism vs. poly-, nature of God, nature of humanity, na-
ture of sin/alienation, nature of heaven/afterlife, history (cyclical vs. linear). Fundamen-
tally, religions differ on what it takes to approach God. A works approach is common in
religions, but Christianity teaches faith apart from any works. Is 64:4: "From ages past
no one has heard ... [of] any God besides you, who works for those who wait for him."
How can God send good people who don't
> Most people are basically good and deserve the reward of heaven.
believe in Jesus to Hell?
Fails to recognize that even "good" life lived independent of God is the cosmic equivalent
of shaking our fists at God and declaring our independence from our maker. We tend to
think to highly of our own capacity for good and much to casually of the insult to God's
glory that rejection of him actually is.
Hasn't science (Evolution) disproven much of > Evolution and the Big Bang shows that God wasn't involved in creation.
the Bible and Christianity?
> Genesis is meant to be literal account of creation from Christian perspective: Science
has disproven this account
Science can explain the mechanism of creation but not its purpose. Evolution-theory
based atheism is as much a position of faith as is Christian theism, though with much
less evidence to support it.
Why are Christians so arrogant? Why do
> Truth is relative. What is true and works for you may not be what is true or what
Christians insist on forcing their way of
works for me.
thinking on others?
Distinguish between truth and values. "This building is beautiful" or "Chocolate chip ice
cream is great." These are statements of value, and are relative. "Jesus Christ is God" is
either true or it is false--for everyone.
Isn't Christianity a crutch?
> People shouldn't or don't need crutches.
> Only Christians have crutches.
Everyone has and needs crutches in this sense: unproven assumptions about life that
makes it possible to make sense of choices, actions, tragedy and disappointment.
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Sketches of Leadership #51
©2007 InterVarsity Christian Fellowship 6400 Schroeder Road, P.O. Box 7895 Madison, WI 53707-7895
tel 608.274.9001 email info@intervarsity.org web www.intervarsity.org

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SKETCHES of Leadership o o o o >
ommon Apologetics Questions (Continued)
Apologetics Question
Assumptions Behind the Question
How can you believe in miracles?
> Miracles don't happen because God doesn't exist.
All that exists is the material world.
> God may (or may not) exist, but he doesn't intervene in human affairs.
It is a much more rigorous statement of faith to believe that no miracles ever occur, than
to believe that at least some of the countless events people claim as miracles actually
were God's intervention in human life. Fundamentally, we must talk about the resurrec-
tion as the one miracle which is the make/break test for all miracles.
How can you believe that Jesus rose from the > The disciples so wanted Jesus to come back that they made it up/hallucinated it.
dead?
Why would the disciples have written the gospels in the way they did: they testify to the
fact that they looked like fools during the crucifixion and even after the resurrection. If they
were making it up, why not just tell it so it seemed that they expected him to rise from the
dead (if indeed, that was true)? No, they were not so brilliantly clever as to perpetrate this
deception in this way. They didn't expect the resurrection, they were resistant when told of
it before Jesus' death, and they didn't believe it when told afterwards. So they couldn't have
perpetrated the hoax in this way, or even have mass hallucinations.
How can Christians believe that Jesus--a
> Jesus was a good moral teacher.
good moral teacher--was God?
> Jesus' disciples advanced the claim that he was God, Jesus' didn't.
Jesus himself claimed to be equal to God, to be able to forgive sins (committed against
God or others). He said, "Before that Abraham was, I am." (Incorrect grammar or a
claim of divinity--as it was understood.) Furthermore, this never would have entered his
disciples' minds if he hadn't taught them--they were raised as strict Yahwists and would
never have ascribed divinity to any human. Jesus claimed to be God, and He was killed
because of these claims. No good teacher can claim to be God but be lying. Therefore,
Jesus left us with only three conclusions: 1) he was a liar, 2) he was a lunatic, or 3) he
was who he said he was, the LORD.
What about those who have never heard
> Ignorance of Jesus implies lack of responsibility for rejecting God.
about Jesus?
We will not be judged on the basis of what we do not know. Paul says in Romans, `They are
without excuse": they see the wonder of creation, and have the advantage of a conscience.
They see that a creator made the world and that creator has ethical standards, by which no
one lives.
How can you believe the Bible?
> The ancient documents are too unreliable to base my life's beliefs on.
> The bible is full of errors and contradictions.
The manuscript evidence for the NT (back to within a single generation of Jesus' life) is
much stronger than that of most of the rest of Greek and Roman history. We are not
working off of copies that were hundreds of years after the original writers, but were just
decades later than the original writers. Apparent inconsistencies in the gospel records, for
example, are evidence that they indeed are different eye-witness accounts. If they agreed
down to the minutest detail, one might question their overall historicity. Yet the Bible does
not contradict its core teachings: themes run all through scripture in tact--the holiness of
God, God's involvement in human history, faith as the response God desires for people who
come to him.
INTERVARSITY ®
Sketches of Leadership #51
©2007 InterVarsity Christian Fellowship 6400 Schroeder Road, P.O. Box 7895 Madison, WI 53707-7895
tel 608.274.9001 email info@intervarsity.org web www.intervarsity.org

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