A Method for Sharing the Gospel

We are commanded to:
- contend for the faith (Jude 3)
- pull down strongholds that stand against Christ (2Cor 10:4)
- eliminate doubts in the mind of the converted (2Cor 10:5)
- give a reason for our hope in Christ (1Pet 3:15)
- address false doctrines and ideas (Tit 1:9-11)

Obstacles to Evangelism Today
Barriers to Communicating the Gospel:
--Rejection of moral absolutes
--Skepticism
--Indifference towards truth
--Rejection of Moral Absolutes
--Our methods must deal with these barriers
--Our methods must accommodate those who are not ready to consider the claims of Christ now!

--Pre-Evangelism
If evangelism is planting seeds of the Gospel, pre-evangelism is tilling the soil of their mind and heart, preparing them to at least be willing to listen to the Truth.
(Mark 2:22, 4:8)

--Understanding the Times We Live In

Objectives
--To know what we believe and why we believe it.
--Why the Christian worldview best represents true reality
--Explain how the truth claims of Christianity are both reasonable and highly probable.

--Remember the Goal in Using Apologetics in Evangelism!

--To remove the obstacles so that we can help people take one step closer to Jesus Christ each day.
(I Cor. 3:6)

Questions to Keep in Mind

The THINK Model in a Nutshell

A Method of Sharing the Gospel Using Worldviews and Apologetics
--Remember we are just the instrument!

What is a Worldview?

--A Worldview is the sum total of a person’s answers to important questions in life.
--It is a philosophical system and a set of beliefs that tries to explain all of reality.
--A worldview provides the basic foundation for the various religious and philosophies of life. (Unshakable --Foundations by Norman Geisler)
--each w.v. holds to central beliefs that are opposed by the others, then logically only one worldview can be true; the others must be false.

Requirements of a Worldview (Tests)

--Coherent– make logical sense
--Consistent– Exp. if there is no right or wrong then any action (murder or racism) is neither right or wrong.
--Comprehensive- must answer life’s most important questions.

Types of Worldview Questions

Metaphysical:
--Is there something?
--Why is there something rather than nothing?
-- What is the origin of the universe?
--What is real?

Theological:
--Is there a God?
--Who or what is God?
--What is His relationship to the universe?
-- Can miracles happen?
-- How doe we get to know God?
--Who do you believe Jesus was?

Epistemological:
--What is truth?
--Can truth be known?
--How is knowledge attained?

Ethical:
--Are there moral laws (right and wrong)?
--What is the basis for moral laws?
-- Where do they come from?
--Do laws apply to all people?
-- What is evil? Why is there evil?

Anthropological:
--What is the nature of man?
--Are human actions free or determined?
--Is man essentially good, evil, or neutral?
--What happens after death?
-- What is the meaning of human history?
-- Do you believe you are a good person? Why?

Present The Christian (Biblical) Worldview

Apologetics (Christian Answers)

--Present evidence why CW best represents reality using First Principles, Laws of Logic, Tests for Truth, Arguments for Existence of God, Historical Reliability of Bible, Fulfilled Prophecies…
--A Formula for Clearing Away Smokescreens
“If I could answer your questions in a way that would make sense to you, would that help you to more seriously consider a belief in God and Christianity?

--Question their Worldview
--Illuminate the Discrepancies by Asking Questions

1. Listen to what others say and ask follow-up questions based on what they say.
2. Ask questions that clear up terms and expose false belief systems
3. Find their biggest barrier to the CW

Objective Truth

--If there is no such thing as objective truth, then you can believe contradictory things like God exists and God doesn’t exist at the same time and the same sense.
--Truth consists of ideas or statements that match what is (reality).

--A true statement matches its object
--Truth does not depend on or change as a result of our personal belief or feelings
--Something cannot be true for one person yet not true for another.
--Belief is a personal view of how things are, but truth is the way things actually are in reality.
-- False is what does not: correspond to the facts, match its object or Tell it like it is.
--Something is worth believing if we have reason to believe it is true.

--Objections to Objective Truth:

--Objection 1: There is no such thing as truth!
--“Then how do you know that is true?”
--Agnosticism Fails because:
It is self-defeating (by claiming to know the truth about reality that we cannot know any truth about reality).
--Skepticism Fails Because:
Either it is self-defeating (by claiming we should be skeptical about everything including skepticism).
Or, it begs the question by claiming that doubt is the only thing that should not be doubted.
--Post-Modernism Fails Because:
Either it claims to be true (and is thereby self-defeating);
Or else it makes no truth claim (and is not even in the “ball game” of truth.
Ignoring the truth does not make it go away!
--Relativism fails because:
It either affirms that relativism is absolutely true (which is self-defeating).
Or else it claims its view is just another relative statement (and hence is unsuccessful in establishing that it is true).

“It’s true for you but not for me!”
“Is that just true for you but not for me?”

--The correspondence view of truth cannot be denied without using it since:
a. Those who deny it assume their view corresponds to reality.
b. In reality everyone holds to a correspondence view of truth.
c. Those who deny it in theory, use it in practice.

Relativism—denies absolute truth
Agnosticism—denies knowing any truth
Skepticism—doubts all truth
Post-Modernism—affirms no truth

--Jesus said: “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:32

--Not All Religious Viewpoints Can Be Right!
--The Law of Noncontradiction =First Principle of All Knowledge
--Opposite ideas cannot both be true at the same time and in the same sense.

--Objection 2: Belief in absolute truth is a narrow view.
--Truth is by its very nature narrow.
- “I am here” and not anywhere else.
-“4+4=8” and ONLY 8! (not 7, 9, 10, etc.)
-These are narrow, but they are TRUE!

-Saying “Atheism is true” is narrow since it excludes all opposing views.
-Claiming “Skepticism is true” is narrow too.
-Affirming “Pluralism is true” is also narrow.
-All truth claims are narrow and exclusive!

--Objection 4: There are examples of relative truths.
--Alleged examples of relative truth fail.
--Whatever is true, is true for everyone, everywhere, and always.
--Truth doesn’t change; our view does
--Relativists believe that relativism is true for EVERYONE.
But if relativism is true for EVERYONE, then it is no longer a RELATIVE truth, but an ABSOLUTE truth.
Relativism is self-defeating.
--If something is true for me but false for you, then opposite conditions exist since true is what matches the conditions.
--If truth is always relative, then I can never be wrong. If someone claims I’m wrong, then I can just say, it’s wrong for THEM but not for ME.
--Contrary beliefs are possible, but contrary truths are not possible.
--You can believe everything is true, but everything can’t be true.
--Objective Truth Can’t be Denied
a) The denial of objective truth makes a claim to be an objective truth.
b) The claim that “There is no objective truth” is an objective truth claim.
--If all views are true, then nothing is true!: A point in every direction is the same as no point at all

--Romans 1:20
--Genesis 1:1 – In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth

Cosmological (Law of Causality)
1) every effect/event has a cause (everything that had a beginning)
2) universe (space-time; matter) is an effect and is finite
3) there cannot be an infinite regress of causes and effects
4) there must be an uncaused Cause of all finite things

Colossians 1:17
“He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” (NIV)

Teleological
1) if there is design/order, there must be a designer
2) universe in all its parts has a design/order: fine tuning of the universe
3) there must be an undesigned Designer
(Psa 19:1-4)

Moral Argument
1) moral laws imply a moral law giver
2) there are universal objective moral laws: murder, rape, killing infants…
--why “ought” we behave morally?
--what do we compare evil and injustice with?

It is possible to say that objective moral laws don’t exist but it is impossible to live your life that way.

Second Law of Thermodynamics
Conclusions
1) universe if finite
2) evolution could not work

“In a closed, isolated system, the amount of usable energy in the universe is decreasing.” Overall, things left to themselves tend to disorder.

--The Important Point is:
--The universe is running out of usable energy
--If the universe is running down, it cannot be eternal.
--The universe must have had a beginning, so there must have been a cause.
--Therefore, the universe had a Cause called God.

Intelligent Design Theory
1) information and specified complicity in biosystems like DNA
2) irreducible complexity
3) complex specified information (machines, paintings, cars) produced by an intelligence
--Intelligent design is the best explanation for events and things that are unlikely to happen (complex) and that conform to a pattern (specified) such as Language, Airplanes, Arrowhead and Machines
--Do things happen to come together randomly?

--In biology, we find machine like structures that are both specified, having particular arrangement of parts that are necessary for them to work and complex, having an unlikely arrangement of interacting parts
--There are irreducibly complex, any change in the nature or arrangement of part would destroy their function.

--Can a Tornado really assemble an airplane?

Anthropic Principle (Fine Tuning of the Universe)
--the observation that numerous factors inherent in the universe appear to be just right for sustaining a universe in which life has even the possibility of existing

--Astronomer Hugh Ross at www.reasons.org lists 154 conditions that must be just right in order for us to maintain life.
galaxy cluster type
galaxy size
galaxy type
galaxy mass distribution
galaxy location

Natural Law
1) first principle upon which all law ought to be based
2) absolute, objective moral laws exist
3) self-evident and discoverable
4) exp. declaration of independence
5) Nazis Germany and Holocaust: survival of the fittest
6) basic human rights of life, liberty and justice
7) crimes against humanity must be based on a standard of justice outside of world and governments
8) what do you compare injustice with?

Did Jesus Exist?
1) NT and OT are historically accurate and irrefutable
2) legal historical proof
3) 3 Tests
a) bibliographical— reliable
b) internal—eyewitnesses
c) external—outside sources
4) 2500+ manuscripts in Gk and other languages
5) Dead Sea Scrolls (date: 3rd Cent. BC to 1st Cent. AD; found 1947)
6) NT written before 70AD
7) fulfilled historical prophesies
8) archeological evidence

The Number of Copies
There are:
5,686 hand written Greek N.T. manuscripts
10,000 Latin Vulgate
9300 Old Latin, Slavic, Arabic, Anglo Saxon, etc. Other Languages –

A total of 24,970 [i] manuscript copies of portions of the New Testament exist today

--The Time Test
--Extra-Biblical Christian Sources
--Extra-Biblical Secular Sources

For More See:
1. Did Jesus Exist?
2. Who Was Jesus?
3. Evidence for the Resurrection

Ethics/Morals
1) Ethics – “ought to be”; standard , law (morals)
2) mores—“what is” ; behavior
3) justice requires objective and universal moral standards
4) nature of man
5) what is conscience? Guilt?
6) how did we get a bad society to start with if people are basically good?
7) morality (ought) precedes behavior (mores)
8) why ought we be good?

Evangelism
--Share the Gospel using CW of Anthropology: fact of sin, penalty of sin... or Way of the Master Method:

W: Would you consider yourself to be a good person?
D: Do you think you have kept the Ten Commandments
(Exod 20:3-17)?
a. have you ever lied?
b. have you ever stolen anything?
c. have you ever murdered anyone?
J: Judgment: If God judges you by the Ten Commandments on the Day of Judgment, will you be innocent or guilty?
D: Destiny: Will you go to heaven or hell?

--Remember the Goal in Using Apologetics in Evangelism!
--Uses first principles (which are foundational for all thought) and addresses questions regarding: truth, worldviews, science, the origin of life, macroevolution, intelligent design, law, justice, God and evil, History and Jesus, the Deity of Christ, ethics and morals…

Notes:
Conversational Evangelism:How To Listen and Speak So You May Be Heard By Dr. David Geisler
Unshakable Foundations by Norman Geisler and Bocchino Peter
Additional Resources: http://worldviewcafe.blogspot.com/

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