Apologetics 102, WK1: Intro and Epistemology

Introduction toApologetics

Text

Apologetics is simply getting rid of peoples’ hurdles so they can consider the claims of Jesus.

Revelation 3. 20-12

1 PETER 3.15 Biblegateway.com

Acts 26.2Philippians 1.7, 17

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www.enumclaw.com

A Reasoned Caseproving innocence

www.enumclaw.com

The Correctnessof an argument or belief

demonstrate

“...is that branch of Christian theology which seeks to provide a rational justification for the truth claims of the Christian faith.”

William Lane Craig, Reasonable Faith

APOL

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Physics of Santa Claus This is an example of physics majors with way too much time on their hands... 1) No known species of reindeer can fly. BUT there are 300,000 species of living organisms yet to be classified, and while most of these are insects and germs, this does not COMPLETELY rule out flying reindeer which only Santa has ever seen. 2) There are 2 billion children (persons under 18) in the world. BUT since Santa doesn’t (appear) to handle most Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist children, that reduces the workload to 15% of the total - 378 million according to Population Reference Bureau. At an average (census) rate of 3.5 children per household, that’s 91.8 million homes. One presumes there’s at least one good child in each. 3) Santa has 31 hours of Christmas to work with, thanks to the different time zones and the rotation of the earth, assuming he travels east to west (which seems logical). This works out to 822.6 visits per second. This is to say that for each Christian household with good children, Santa has 1/1000th of a second to park, hop out of the sleigh, jump down the chimney, fill the stockings, distribute the remaining presents under the tree, eat whatever snacks have been left, get back up the chimney, get back into the sleigh and move on to the next house. Assuming that each of these 91.8 million stops are evenly distributed around the earth (which, of course, we know to be false but for the purposes of our calculations we will accept), we are now talking about .78 miles per household, a total trip of 75-1/2 million miles, not counting stops to do what most of us must do at least once every 31 hours, plus feeding and etc. This means that Santa’s sleigh is moving at 650 miles per second, 3,000 times the speed of sound. For purposes of comparison, the fastest man- made vehicle on earth, the Ulysses space probe, moves at a poky 27.4 miles per second - a conventional reindeer can run, tops, 15 miles per hour.

4) The payload on the sleigh adds another interesting element. Assuming that each child gets nothing more than a medium-sized lego set (2 pounds), the sleigh is carrying 321,300 tons, not counting Santa, who is invariably described as overweight. On land, conventional reindeer can pull no more than 300 pounds. Even granting that “flying reindeer” (see point #1) could pull TEN TIMES the normal amount, we cannot do the job with eight, or even nine. We need 214,200 reindeer. This increases the payload - not even counting the weight of the sleigh - to 353,430 tons. Again, for comparison, this is four times the weight of the cruise ship Queen Elizabeth II. 5) 353,000 tons traveling at 650 miles per second creates enormous air resistance - this will heat the reindeer up in the same fashion as a spacecraft reentering the earth’s atmosphere. The lead pair of reindeer will absorb 14.3 QUINTILLION joules of energy. Per second. Each. In short, they will burst into flame almost instantaneously, exposing the reindeer behind them, and create deafening sonic booms in their wake. The entire reindeer team will be vaporized within 4.26 thousandths of a second. Santa, meanwhile, will be subjected to acceleration forces 17,500.06 times greater than gravity. A 250-pound Santa (which seems ludicrously slim) would be pinned to the back of his sleigh by 4,315,015 pounds of force. In conclusion - If Santa ever DID deliver presents on Christmas Eve, he’s dead now. Please do not tell your kids about this as they will inevitably shoot holes in these calculations and make a fool out of you. Contributed by: David Olsen

REASONABLEDemonstrate Christianity is

GOOD REASONSPresent

QUESTIONSAnswer

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PEBBLE“put a

in their shoe”

LEARN

so that . . .

You can defend the claims of Christianity,

and you can explain your beliefs. . .

gentleness and respect.

With

2 TYPESApologetics

OFFENSIVEApologeticsBuilds a positive case for faith by

giving good reasons to believe

Show God existsShow Christianity is true

REASONSJesus gave people

to believe

Acts 1.3

Jesus’ disciples provided

REASONSto believe

Luke 1.1-4Acts 17.2-4, 26.2

DEFENSIVEApologeticsResponds to challenges by refuting

arguments against the faith

Problem of evilTruth vs. Relativity

3 SPHERESApologetics

#1 EVIDENTIAL Apologetics

fineartamerica.com

Scientific Evidence

Jim Mackenzie, http://anthro.ucsc.edu/undergraduate/sub-fields/anthro-archeaology.html

Archaeological Evidence

Historic Evidence

thepassionoftheChrist.com

Texthttp://uribaani.deviantart.com/art/The-Prophet-Wallpaper-67870514

Prophetic Evidence

Moral Evidence

Creative Commons: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mitzabot_goes_boom/1003687878/

#2 PHILOSOPHICAL

Text

Apologetics

#3 EXPERIENTIALApologetics

TESTIMONYmillions of people

over thousands of years

Know why you believe.

WHAT ISApologetics

2 TYPES WHAT IS

Apologetics

3 SPHERESApologetics

KNOWLEDGE, FAITH & REASON

Proof, Certainty, Belief & Faith

Knowledge3 types of

1. Knowledge by Acquaintancehttp://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/amphibians/red-eyed-tree-frog/

2. Propositional Knowledge

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Adequate Reason

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http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005142

Don’t need to know how you knowhttp://gretachristina.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341bf68b53ef01348690470d970c-800wi

Don’t need to know you knowhttp://aenstall.lenderama.com/files/2014/02/confidence-words-1024x825.jpg

3. Skill or Know Howhttps://worldbookinc.wordpress.com/2013/11/04/thinking-through-the-wheel/

Knowledgedoes not requirecertainty

Certainty

Proof and Certainty

2 + 2 = 4http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&docid=CL7W-tL3qDelhM&tbnid=GceCZ8M4UlgLwM:&ved=&url=http%3A%2F%2Fstatic.freepik.com%2Ffree-photo

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1. Absolute Certaintyhttp://0.tqn.com/d/chemistry/1/0/E/1/1/chemistry-glassware.jpg

2. Intellectual Certaintyhttp://now.uiowa.edu/files/now.uiowa.edu/linn_county_iowa_courtroom.jpg

3. Moral Certaintyhttp://www.charlesstone.com/images/uploads/morals.jpg

4. Emotional Certaintyhttp://www.kidsarelovely.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/naslovna-2.jpg

Intellectual Certainty

Inference to the best explanation

Proof, Certainty, Belief, Faith . . .http://lexi.hu/image.aspx?id=f51fd37f-14d9-4ede-bf69-38cf54c9342d&view=4ba2f4bd-ac5e-4202-b92c-ceca184660c2

and Doubt

Degree of Certainty

Doubt Belief

0% 100%

"Faith is the great cop-out, the great excuse to evade the need to think and evaluate evidence. Faith is belief in spite of, even perhaps because of, the lack of evidence. Richard Dawkins

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“Faith is walking face-first and full-speed into the dark. Elizabeth Gilbert

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Faith3 aspects

Orthodox

1. Notitia

2. Assensus

Degree of Certainty

Doubt Belief

0% 100%

3. Fiducia

tmcnews.blogspot.com; 2006

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Is Christianity true?Evidence and Argument

Faith and Reason

http://www.olgcblog.com/lord-liar-or-lunatic/

Which Christianity?

Christian FaithHistoric, Orthodox

1 Corinthians 15 (NIV) The Resurrection of Christ 1 Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you…3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.