APOLOGETICS SECTION #4

The Bible vs. Philosophy & Other World Religions

             I.      Paul at the Areopagus

a.      Acts 17

                                                               i.      v. 18 – the audience

1.      Epicureans – materialists; did not believe in divine intervention; sought to find happiness by a) seeking pleasure (avoid pain) and b) finding freedom from fear through knowledge

a.       Democritis (Dalton’s atomic theory), Nietzsche

b.      Atheism (or at least Deism)

2.      Stoics – determinists; believed one should train oneself to become indifferent to pain or pleasure to remains dispassionate and logical; you are in control of your own emotional responses/attitudes

a.       Marcus Aurelius, Seneca

b.      Determinism, you decide your fate

                                                             ii.      v. 21 – talking and listening

                                                            iii.      v. 26/27 – Who is in control and for what purpose?

1.      Fatalism – belief that things happen to you like it or not; you have no control over you situation or choices; chance; luck; destiny

2.      Determinism – belief that you have free-will and self-determination; you can change the future by your actions in the present

3.      The Omniscience of God

a.       Predestination vs. Free Will

                                                                                                                                       i.      Rom. 8:27-30

                                                                                                                                     ii.      Eph. 1:11-15

                                                           iv.      v. 31 – the presentation

                                                             v.      v. 34 – the result of apologetics…

b.      What is a world-view?

c.      What is your philosophy of life?

d.      Moral Relativism

                                                               i.      The philosophy of today’s worldview; a vacuum of absolutes

          II.      Examination of selected philosophies

a.      Deism 

                                                               i.      Subcategories: --

                                                             ii.      Key Thinkers: Descartes, Voltaire, Locke, Einstein, Hawking, Hume

                                                            iii.      Basic Teaching:

1.      Clockmaker hypothesis

2.      There could have been a God, but not necessarily, that began the universe

3.      But now He does not intervene; things are set in motion and cannot be changed

                                                           iv.      Major Objections:

1.      Denies God’s personal involvement in human history

b.      Naturalism

                                                               i.      Subcategories: Humanism, Atheism, Determinism

                                                             ii.      Key Thinkers: Bertrand Russell, Karl Marx, Carl Sagan, Kant, Darwin, BF Skinner

                                                            iii.      Basic Teaching:

1.      Matter exists and that’s it; God does not exist

2.      Universe follows cause and effect in a closed system; there is nothing else beyond the observable; or outside of time

3.      Humans are complex ‘machines’ that operate on chemical and physical properties we are beginning to understand

4.      The belief in God is irrelevant and runs counter to our evolution as a species, as humanity

a.       ie. Man’s next evolutionary step is deity

5.      Death is the extinction of self; there is nothing beyond

6.      History operates strictly by ‘cause and effect’ interaction

7.      Ethics/morals/religion are human inventions

8.      Marxism – communistic system of pooling resources for the greater good of the whole; machines serving the larger machine

9.      Determinism – we can control our responses; we create our own values; we are all there is

                                                           iv.      Major Objections:

1.      Denies God’s existence

2.      Teaches we are the pinnacle of creation; puts us on the throne, though we are still ignorant of all things

c.      Nihilism

                                                               i.      Subcategories: Fatalism

                                                             ii.      Key Thinkers: Nietzsche, Kafka, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Douglas Adams (Hitchhiker’s Guide)

                                                            iii.      Basic Teaching:

1.      Fatalistic, despairing; the world acts on Man and we are helpless

a.       Carries Naturalism to it’s logical end – no God, no meaning, no point

                                                                                                                                       i.      Many Naturalists don’t want to go this far and adopt inconsistent standards to live by; believing in a perceived free-will p98

2.      Life is meaningless; good or evil is irrelevant and non-defined

a.       “Out, out, brief candle!  Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more; it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.”                          - Shakespeare, Macbeth

3.      Humans are not valuable; we are animals with no self-worth than that of a worm

4.      Humans are links in a chain of events, another domino to fall; our environment makes us act not of our own choice

a.       ie. ‘not guilty’ because something else made me do it – too much sugar, mistreatment, anger, bigotry, ad infinitum

                                                           iv.      Major Objections:

1.      Denies existence of God

2.      Teaches no one is on the throne; anarchy

d.      Existentialism:

                                                               i.      Subcategories: Atheistic existentialism, Theistic existentialism, Agnosticism,

                                                             ii.      Key Thinkers: Kierkegaard, Sartre

                                                            iii.      Basic Teaching:

(Atheistic Model)

1.      Accepts all of Naturalism except our relationship to the universe; seeks to find how we can have value in a meaningless (Nihilistic) universe

2.      Optimistic; believe in total free-will; self-determination

3.      Humans are working toward a common consensus of ideas and beliefs that define us; we define value; we are valuable machines

4.      We can make the world better by shedding the old way of thinking that includes constraining moral codes as from God; we can be virtuous without that

5.      There is no life after death; we better make this life as good as we can now

a.       Carpe diem – seize the day (it’s all you’ve got!)

6.      Agnosticism fills the middle ground; we cannot know if there is or isn’t a God based on the evidence; you can choose for yourself

(Theistic Model)

1.      Belief in God is made in spite of evidence of evil in the world; leap of faith

2.      Knowledge is subjective

3.      History is not important for dates and events, but is vital for the myth, model, or type that it teaches

a.       ie. The Bible can be seen as textually inaccurate but still valuable if it’s stories can still lead to salvation

b.      Truth and doctrine are then open to debate and an agnostic-influenced interpretation

                                                           iv.      Major Objections:

1.      Atheistic Model: denies existence of God

a.       Again, puts us on the throne, only now we are a more knowledgeable, compassionate, good god unto ourselves

2.      Theistic Model: Denies authority of Scripture

a.       Makes faith a “leap” rather than a rational “decision”

e.      Postmodernism  (see Table 1:1 below)

                                                               i.      Subcategories: A blend of optimistic Naturalism/Existentialism against despairing Nihilism

                                                             ii.      Key Thinkers: --

                                                            iii.      Basic Teaching:

1.      Nothing is certain; there are no absolutes; morals are relative

2.      Language is an invention; language is power; stories in a culture shape society which shapes people

a.       ie. the “Politically Correct” movement

3.      Narratives (stories) must be taken as a whole; any one narrative taken alone becomes a meta-narrative and is oppressive

a.       ie. “It takes a village to raise a child”

4.      Social good is whatever society takes it to be; ethics are merely an linguistic construct

5.      History is not fixed, it is subject to the interpretation of the historian; again because language is fluid, meaning may be interpreted in multiple ways

a.       ie. History text books rewritten, “updated”

b.      ie. “re-imagining” of movies and books

                                                           iv.      Major Objections:

1.      Denies God as a transcendent, moral anchor in the universe (if it recognizes Him at all)

2.      Places us on the throne again in a group effort to rule the universe benevolently

3.      Subjugates morality to relative, situational inventions of man

f.       Theism

                                                               i.      Subcategories: Pantheism, Monotheism

                                                             ii.      Key Thinkers: --

                                                            iii.      Basic Teaching:

1.      There is a God (or gods); He is infinite, personal, transcendent, omniscient, sovereign and good

2.      God created the universe from nothing to operate with cause and effect in an open system

3.      Humans are created in the image of God; we can know something of God; we can act significantly in our universe

4.      God can and does communicate with us

5.      We were created good, but have fallen, need to be restored (through Christ)

6.      Death for humans is to enter life with God or spend forever separated from Him

7.      Ethics are transcendent and based on God’s character

                                                           iv.      Major Objections:

1.      Which God or gods are the correct one(s)?

       III.      Examination of the Bible’s core teaching/doctrine

a.      God and Man and sin [Heb. 10:1]

                                                               i.      God related to Man first with Law

                                                             ii.      Man violated that Law and repeatedly was unable to live up to a code of law

1.      This is sin; lawlessness; rebellion against God

                                                            iii.      Law was and is unable to restore the relationship of Man with God due to the inability of Man to keep it

b.      Substitutionary death [Heb. 9:27-28; I Pet. 2:24; John 3:16-17]

                                                               i.      God then related to Man with Grace

                                                             ii.      Jesus fulfilled the Law with His death, thus ushering in the era of Grace and forgiveness

1.      This is imputed righteousness; justification

                                                            iii.      Man is then able to approach God through Jesus once we have accepted Him as Lord and Savior by Free Will

c.      Purpose of Man [Matt. 28:19-20]

                                                               i.      Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever [Westminster Shorter Catechism]

                                                             ii.      As Paul said, “to reach out to Him…” (Acts 17:27)

d.      So, why isn’t everyone a Christian?

                                                               i.      Confusion, Lordship, etc.

        IV.      Examination of selected world religions

a.      Islam

                                                               i.      What it teaches:

1.      Accept most of OT and Jesus as a prophet

a.       But they believe much of Bible has been misinterpreted, edited or lost over time

2.      Their god Allah is different from the Christian God because Allah is mixed with ancient moon-god origins

3.      Muhammad believed to be the last and greatest prophet

4.      Qu’ran is written record given to Muhammad in a vision by the angel Gabriel

a.       But even this document is debated as to interpretation and has variants

5.      Basic beliefs

a.       Allah (god)

b.      Prophets & Messengers

c.       Books sent by God (some lost, some incomplete)

d.      Angels

e.       Day of Judgment

f.        Fate

                                                             ii.      What’s the problem?

1.      The God revealed in the full Bible and Allah are not the same

2.      Islam seeks differing goals than that of Christians, most obviously in conversions/discipleship

b.      Judaism

                                                               i.      What it teaches:

1.      Accepts OT cannon the same as Christians; Does not accept the NT

2.      Believe Jesus was a prophet

3.      Do not accept Jesus’ divinity or substitutionary death

4.      Still seek to obey God through old Law

                                                             ii.      What’s the problem?

1.      Reject Jesus as Christ

c.      Hinduism 

                                                               i.      What it teaches:

1.      There exists a universal consciousness that transcends man’s observable universe or man’s constructs; it is a pure spiritual consciousness existing within and beyond our existence

a.       Brahman – Supreme immanent, transcendent Reality or Cosmic Spirit; God for all intents and purposes

                                                                                                                                       i.      Has qualities of both monotheism & pantheism

                                                                                                                                     ii.      May appear in different forms with different attributes and names: Ishvara, Vishnu, Shiva, etc.

1.      Devas – demi-gods or spirits or angels that serve the Brahman (330 million of these)

2.      Basic beliefs

a.       Dharma – duties

b.      Samsara – reincarnation

c.       Karma – “actions” leading to cause and effect

d.      Moksha – salvation found through variety of ways:

                                                                                                                                       i.      Devotion, action, belief, knowledge, etc.

3.      You free choice actions leave imprints on the soul and determine things in the next reincarnation of yourself; eventually you want it all to lead to your salvation

a.       After a series of life/death cycles your salvation will eventually be melting into the universal consciousness

4.      Practice of Yoga is used to tune into the universal consciousness

5.      Receive instruction, ideally, under a Guru to trains one’s mind for the realization of truth

                                                             ii.      What’s the problem?

1.      Not remotely connected to the God of the Bible

2.      Pluralistic and self-determined fatalism (if all that is possible…) in regard to salvation

d.      Buddhism

                                                               i.      What it teaches:

1.      Based on teachings of the Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama of the Shakyas in ancient India c. 566-483BC.

a.       But this Buddha is one of a long line of spiritual Buddhas stretching into the past and future

b.      Not omniscient; can come back as an animal

                                                                                                                                       i.      Animals can achieve enlightenment, though very difficult (!)

c.       Buddha is Dharma – the Ultimate Truth (like Brahman)

2.      Goal is to end the cycle of samsara rebirth, by awakening to true reality and achieving nirvana, total freedom

3.      Also, follows the laws of karma as you advance through lives

                                                             ii.      Buddhism & Hinduism similar

1.      Some Hindus believe Buddha is the 9^th incarnation of Vishnu

2.      Some Hindus consider Buddhism a heresy of Hinduism

3.      Some Muslims believe Buddha to be Dhul-Kifl, a prophet in the Qu’ran

                                                            iii.      What’s the problem?

1.      Again, not related to God revealed in the Bible

2.      Salvation is human-based

e.      New Age Movement

                                                               i.      Key Figures: Shirley MacLaine, George Lucas (Star Wars), Kubrick, Clarke, Heinlein (sci-fi writers), The Matrix movies

1.      Seen in the 1970’s drug revolution – finding a higher plane of reality

2.      Now in cyberspace obsession; virtual reality; and holistic medicines; music genre

3.      Borrows from just about all religions & philosophies, including paganism and concepts of demonic hierarchy

                                                             ii.      What it teaches:

1.      Looks for a way out of the pessimistic Nihilism by embracing Eastern thought – teachings on the universal consciousness

2.      Man is on the verge of its next evolutionary step to transform humanity into the New Age

a.       Elevates man to God-level (or Brahman-level)

3.      Reality is made of visible universe – accessible through reason – & the invisible universe – accessible through altered states of reality

4.      Pursuit of cosmic consciousness; a higher consciousness, one you can become

5.      Death is just another journey into that consciousness

6.      Awareness of true reality ranges from occult to psychedelic to a scientific approach

a.       Who can argue what is real then; experiences are subjective; absolute truth vanishes

b.      Spirit guides are often seen in these journeys as you ‘open’ yourself to new awareness

                                                            iii.      What’s the problem?

1.      Replaces God with self

2.      Dealing with spiritual forces and inviting them to control your awareness

3.      It all leads away from God and toward altered realities

           V.      Is Jesus the ONLY way to God or what?

a.      In His own words…

                                                               i.      John 14:6 “I am the way, the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

b.      The uniqueness of Christianity

                                                               i.      A transcendent Savior; God and Man united

c.      What about those that don’t know the Truth?

                                                               i.      Hell, a loving God, and free choice…

1.      Romans 1

a.       esp. v.20 “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – His eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”

2.      GK Chesterson, “Hell is a monument to human freedom.”

3.      II Pet. 3:9 God delays for our sake and others

4.      John 3:16-21 God doesn’t want anyone to perish; Light vs. Darkness

Table 1.1 Postmodernism