Apologetics and Evidence

How do People Begin Believing in False Religions and False Teachings ?   I have written on the topic of  Barriers to the Gospel , which I encourage you to read, but what is it that  initially  tickles the ears of those who are opposed to it? Where does deception begin? We know that someone is not born opposed, but opposition in one’s life seems to grow stronger in many cases.  I find that barriers to the gospel are  nurtured  into a personal defense for not believing, versus the idea that barriers are the  seed  which began it all . I don’t think we should confuse these categories because it can be quite helpful to understand the flow of things for our discussions in apologetics and evangelism.    A bonsai tree begins its life as a seed like all trees begin, but this tree is different. It grew and was nurtured in a manner that defies a natural path. This is like how barriers to the gospel are nurtured. Much time and work took place ...

Let’s dive right in. The Bible says in Acts 2:37-41,    Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.   The phrase in Acts 2:38 that reads, “for the forgiveness of your sins” modifies the word repentance, not the word baptism.  See more about this Here .   What is interesting is that those who translate the above verse as meaning that baptism is a requ...

How and Where to Make Divisions... Sometimes, I get asked “Why do you get so up at arms about other religions?” or, “Why do you pick on other religions so much?” I think the following will help you see where I’m coming from, before I spill the beans on such.   We have difficulty sometimes in discovering where to make divisions when considering where to spend our money, and who to support, where to make purchases, and where not to do such. We also often have difficulty on how to know if a church or a congregation is a place where someone can actually become saved. Like, how can we know that a Mormon is likely not saved but we can know that a regular church attender at a gospel sound church is likely saved? What is it that would make my church attendance at a specific body no longer appropriate? Both answers to these questions deal with doctrine. If a company is pushing false doctrine using their influence and power to push a heretical doctrine or teaching, this is often when the red...

You may have heard of the phrase,   Classical Apologetics , from studying under people such as, William Lane Craig, Frank Turek, Norman Geisler, Thomas Aquinas, Augustine, B.B. Warfield, R. C. Sproul, and others, and perhaps you wondered what it means.   Classical Apologetics is one method of doing apologetics… I personally like to think that it is classical for a reason. Some other methods of doing apologetics are first,  Presuppositionalism , which is that a person presupposes that God exists, and that the reason that a person does not believe in God is because he does not believe the Bible is the word of God. The issue is that from an unbeliever’s perspective, this is circular reasoning. It emphasizes revelation as opposed to reason.  Another method of apologetics is  Evidentialism , which is essentially to follow the evidence where it leads and using this evidence to support Christian claims. Sometimes people refer to it as being a subtype as Classical Apolo...